Editing Tales of the Jade Mantis/The Jade Mantis (section)

===Pei Pei===
The engine room, as opposed to the rest of the ship, which was built for conspicuous luxury, is essentially utilitarian, a cramped metallic space filled with machinery. This independent domain is hidden from visitors and passengers, the door disguised as a carving of a Fenghuang, and the ship's design generally pretends it doesn't exist, giving the eery impression that it silently glides through space by means of sorcery.

This suits Pei-Pei, something of a recluse by nature, just fine. She spends most of her time "keeping the little bird company", by which she means being shacked up with the machinery, reading a book or playing the flute (her late mother's dizi is one of the few belongings of hers Pei-Pei still conserves, and she is a modestly accomplished player) while she monitors the engines. Although she formally has a bunk asigned in the crew's quarters, most of the time she'll curl up among the steel tubing and let the "little bird" sing her to sleep.