The girl's  face was the color of sun. Her glowy yellow skin, tanned from the sharp contact with the sun, gave an eerie golden light. She wore solid light colored clothes, just like a commoner, that manly came just to her knees. She wore no makeup, or  pretty dresses.Her feet were large, not at all feminine, but it  that allowed her to run all around the field. The feeling on her feet was like a distant memory... from her little toddler years. It took a few moments to get used to it before the girl realized the difference...there was no feeling at all. There was no pain.  The girl ran for the first  time in 8 years,  through the field, ignoring the stares from the woman, politely walking across the street with their pale makeup, and ran with young boys as equals. She was free.

Fei-Yan Xiang woke up with a start under her soft, silk bed. Her parents, part of the Gong class who designed the king's clothes, were royally paid, despite what was considered a rather common employment. But they did the unthinkable...made it to the top. And in China’s Ming Dynasty, getting to the top of anything would get you the most prestigious title of wealthy. From silk beds and clothes, to servants, the benefits were endless.

“Xiang Feiyan!!” Her mother called. Feiyan hobbled up through my room. A servant came forward to help her but she pushed her off. She had not yet mastered the increasingly difficult art of walking, but was determined not to require another person to help her walk.

“Ma’? What is it?” Feiyan said politely.
“Ah, come here child. As you know , the auspicious year is coming.  Your father and I  are successful...but not enough. This is our chance to....increase our standard of living/”

She nodded. No matter how politely ma’ explained this, they both understood what she really meant. We are using you to get rich through your marriage.

“ From now on, you will be wearing these robes. Your makeup must be approved by I before you leave the house. Very pale makeup, Feiyan. And lastly, I brought a little smaller silk shoes for you.” Ma’ said, a soft smile crossing her red lips.

She brought them off, at least 2 inches smaller than my already current shoes. As she slipped it on, the pain brought a tear in my eye that I immediately pushed inside. Pain would not get herpity. She learned that when I was young.  She would have to learn to use these shoes again.

“Ah we have been blessed; Your already small feet, our special...procedures on them, and your tolerance to smaller shoes will bring prosper to this family. Go change now. I think the king’s advisors is looking for a bride for his son.” Ma’, clinging to a servant, hobbled away.  Born a peasant, it was her small, crushed feet that brought her up through the ranks  into my ba’ weaving business. They had bonded my feet as well, a bit too tight than needed, which resulted in the inability to walk normally.

Feiyan heard a wail from the back room.  Xiang Na,  her young sister, was going through her arduous years. Her sisters’ feet were getting binded for the first time. Remembering her pleasant dream, a smile came snuck onto Feiyan’s  face.   Maybe there was a way to let her younger sister forget the hardships of being a girl, if just for a couple minutes.

Turning to make sure ma’ had left,she turned not to my dressing room, but to her sisters sleeping room. Na was sitting on the bed, wailing and trying to push her legs up so that her feet didn’t touch the ground.

Feiyan picked her up, through her waist, carrying her on her shoulder like she did when Na  was   in a bad mood. Na  was so small for her age, so very small. She would be a much greater asset in marriage than  she ever would. Her feet did not really need binding but apparently mama’ and ba’ did not agree.

Feiyan  walked quietly through the house, ignoring her own pain and Na’s wails, until she reached the large field between the house. Hiding behind a clump of trees, she swung Xiang Na up and around her by her arms. Her legs spun  in a circle, again and again. Na was  flying  like a bird. her feet never having to touch the treacherous ground.

It was a funny sight. She was still crying, but now her crying was mixed with  soft giggles of excitement, as if she was trying to figure out if she was happy or sad. She chose happy and after a minute, she was shrieking along, enjoying what young boys took for granted everyday.

Feiyan started spinning her faster and faster, as she screamed for more , and soon she was only a whirl of the lightest tan and red, her skin entangling with the deep red of her robes. 

But now the spinning was out of control and she desperately tried to slow down. It wouldn’t, the momentum was too strong. Na flew out of her hands, her face already showing the silent message. I never thought you would drop me.

She was right. Feiyan sprinted, fire burning in every muscle right up to my neck, and caught her sister by her back. The catch was not gentle but again, she didn’t allow her sisters’ feet to touch  the floor.

At first, they just stared each other, relieved and a bit confused. Then, at the same time they started laughing, giving up the polite mask of young woman in  China. Feiyan tripped, falling into a pile of mud in the recent outpour and Na went with her,bringing red robes, makeup sprawn face, and black hair all covered in the dull, murky brown that infested much of the land in west-china.

“Ma is going to kill you.” Ya, said, incredulous. But Feiyan was laughing, a soft sound that came out almost like a hiccup, but her mouth, usually closed and polite on the streets, were wide open.     

“Thats okay.” She replied, just a bit sarcastically.

“Jiejie?”

“Yes?”
“Why are we not allowed to do this?”
  Because girls are needed to be prim and proper. But she just said, “ I  don’t know...  But you just keep dreaming of flying, Na, okay?”
“Okay.”

Feiyan was indeed married to the king’s advisors’ son. He treated her well, and she lived a good life. However, she was still forced upon the unfair treatment for woman in China : she was subject to the cruel bonding of the feet, and was not able to run and play like young boys and was forced to overly dress just for marriage at a young age. .

Feiyan and her sister, Na continued to secretly meet several times for fun like this, until she married. When her husband would go on trips with the emperor, Feiyan would continue her meetings with her sister but when Na got married, they grew apart.