The Kanaka Helu
I'm just posting this here because my post on the main thread is too long. Expect this to be two posts.
Sisters of Ming Bai
xxxxBirdsong filled the air as the last of the day’s greyed clouds gently wafted away to the West. A single cherry tree sat in the middle of the courtyard, a colonnade ringing the outside with heavy white pillars and a covered walkway. The walls on the other side of the walkway were decorated primarily in red, but with intricate artwork and patternwork from generations of residents at the compound.
xxxxThe floor was lined in mosaics, and there was no lighting there. There was no need for lighting, where the courtyards opened up in the middle of the complex. There were a few rooms between each of the courtyard. Administrators, financers, planners.
xxxxThe majority of the courtyards contained farms, and gardens, growing food for the sisterhood, or else, other produce that they could sell on for necessary supplies. This one was a pleasant garden, with a large tree, a few small water features, but the majority of it taken up by a simple lawn. Tiny scultpures of various gods – of varying quality, but all painted in bright colours – hung from the tiling on the rooves of the walkways.
xxxxThe southern border of the courtyard lead straight into the sisters’ accommodation. A sizeable eating hall, open at all times for the homeless to eat from when the sisters weren’t eating there. A canteen, where food was prepared by the mothers, with a long bench, large vats where food was served.
xxxxA homeless person could earn a good meal with a good word and talk of how they had been seeking to improve their life over the last few days. A single good story could – rightly – cover their food for several days. Genuine effort was rewarded with genuine produce by the sisterhood.
xxxxStill on the downstairs, still in grand rooms of mosaic floors, white pillars, and decorated red walls with intricate murals were the public rooms. A hospice for those the Earth healers couldn’t heal. A physician’s room stocked by one of the few mothers with the distinctly Earthern talent of healing. A meeting room for when the elders wished to discuss with the mothers.
xxxxOf course, it was only ever the mothers that were allowed to discuss.
xxxxIt was only ever the mothers that were allowed to heal.
xxxxIt was only ever the mothers that were allowed to cook.
xxxxThe lodgings were nestled behind the rest of the compound. More run down, yes, but still fine enough in their own rights, if one could look past the bars.
xxxxThe bars inscribed with the names of a thousand gods.
xxxxThe walls inscribed with their vows.
xxxxIf one could overlook the meanings of all the inscriptions. It was hard not to understand the images.
xxxxTamarillo found it all fascinating.
xxxxTamarillo was neither sister nor mother. She was one of a very slim number of outsiders who had ever been able to visit the Sacrosanct Sisterhood. One of very few who had ever learned what it was like inside.
xxxxTamar was sure she knew the reason. She was slight, slender, skinny. She posed no threat. She was a scholar, bound by that oath; she would do nothing that risked her quest for knowledge. Her university had wanted to pursue a study on the Sisterhood, ever since they were first recorded within ethnography. But, among the Patapai, finding a suitable candidate was a challenge.
xxxxThe Sisterhood had very strict entry requirements. You had no hope of getting further than that food hall if you broke the requirements.
xxxxYou had to have deliberately cut yourself from those most intimate of knowledge forms.
xxxxAnd Patapaiarehe were all about knowledge.
xxxxThey had needed a woman. Someone who had never been trained in combat. Someone who was submissive, subdued, willing to play to the schedules and give up freedom. Someone who could give up that most precious of things to any member of the Wood phase.
xxxxIt was understandable why it had taken generations to be here.
xxxxAnd yet, Tamar was still separated out from the sisterhood.
xxxxThey could not speak to her; their oaths forbade it. While they were dressed in their robes – paradoxically covering so much of their body so loosely, and yet such an ostentatious red, she sat in the simple dress of the more general monks of the city of Ming Bai. The fabric stopped at the shoulder, revealing the pale sticks that passed for arms on Tamar.
xxxxThe sisters wore their hair in elaborate fashions that could only really be found to the West. Tamar’s was a simple top knot.
xxxxAs they sat, the sisters were all in neat rows, silently kneeling before the sculpture of whichever god they had been selected to pray to today.
xxxxTamar sat in meditation, cross legged, mouthing the words she would normally sing for the favour of her own gods, on the opposite shore of the Great Sea.
xxxxThe physical disparity in their appearances was also hard to ignore. Out in the city – where Tamar was regularly pushed during those most sacred of activities, during the festivals for each major god – it was obvious how much darker the skin tones of the people were. They were ethnic Earth Phase people. Ethnic members of the city of Ming Bai.
xxxxFew of the Sisters were.
xxxxThe Sacrosanct Sisterhood was not a native institution to Ming Bai.
xxxxNo.
xxxxIt was an import from far to the West. When those warriors had attempted to conquer the Earth Phase a thousand years ago, they had been stopped at Ming Bai by a great storm. They hadn’t exactly been cruel rulers, but it was only at Ming Bai where they had been weakened enough by the natural environment to allow the Earth Phase peasants – as they were at the time – to hold them back. By the time they had recovered, an uneasy alliance had been formed by the two sides. They had been there so long that they had already set up their institutions, and started to integrate together.
xxxxWhen that Western Empire sent ambassadors to see how their new colony was faring, they had instead found an alliance.
xxxxAn alliance that had facilitated trade. Trade that had built up Ming Bai into the main economic power house of Earth Phase.
xxxxAnd leaving this little pocket of foreign culture within the metropolis ever since.
xxxxThe Sacrosanct Sisterhood was simply too foreign to Earth Phase residents for them to be able to truly accept it. To truly integrate it.
xxxxIt really was a unique institution.
土
xxxxWhile his boat was most certainly still okay, Chai had long since run out of spices, and after a month of purely eating fish soup, without any added vegetables or carbs, even he was growing rather tired of it. No one to talk to, either.
xxxxFor some reason, trade had been growing sparser over the last few weeks, and those willing to employ a traveller from the Earth Phase were growing rarer and rarer.
xxxxIt looked more and more like just finding a job was not a likely option to manage.
xxxxAnd besides, he had run out of spices.
xxxxHarbour spaces at Ming Bai were premium, but the city was nestled within thick rainforests wherever it didn’t meet the sea, and thus, hiding anything from the general populus was easy. After the forests around Chinphuri, these were not so hard to navigate through.
xxxxHis boat really did need at least some repairs too, didn’t it? And the rainforest was a good opportunity for that.
xxxxAdmittedly, landing slow enough alongside these tall, limestone cliffs that his boat didn’t instantly sink was a challenge. A huge challenge. But it was manageable, after so many years out on the water, and with so much practice.
xxxxLittle cracks could be seen in the rock up their slopes. There had been an earthquake around a century ago, a huge one, and the land had been thrust upwards. There had been a property market upheaval within the city, much like the land upheaval.
xxxxThe relevant trace of it now to Chai was that those fissures, which, on almost any other shore would have been covered by water, were fully exposed, and not so far above the water to make the manoeuvre unfeasible. Chai took the mast down, carefully wrapping up the sail as neatly as he could, and stowed it within the hull of the boat, tying it into place.
xxxxFirst, he hitched the boat to a simple rock pillar that was poking out of the water. The rope slipped away for a moment as he tried the OXO knot he was used to at ports, and he laughed to himself, before slipping back into Round Turn Half-Hitches. Finished off with a Reef Knot… There. That would hold for the moment. He attached another rope to the boat, and worked his way up the rock, first leaping nimbly from the top of the stack onto a toe-ledge on the rock.
xxxxHe felt himself slip on the wet rock, but this was little issue. Hands did most of the work rock-climbing, and with the rope tied around his waist, there was little worry about busy hands not being able to grab the surface.
xxxxSmoothly, he used his precarious position to leverage his weight forward, and to seize a finger-grip into the clearly visible rock strata.
xxxxIt was only a few metres to work up.
xxxxRock-climbing was not Chai’s speciality, but one could hardly survive as a ship worker in Fire Phase unless you had learned how to scale sheer cliffs.
xxxxNow nestled into the curve in the rock, it seemed perfect.
xxxxThe night was still young, and there would be plenty of time for him to manoeuvre the boat up, and to get into Ming Bai before dawn. Give him a few days. He’d find some small piece of contract work that he could do to gain himself enough money for more Kaeng Karee… Maybe some other spice, too, now he thought of it. Maybe spend some time enjoying genuinely well-cooked food in that time.
xxxxChai’s thoughts were elsewhere, distracted by the thought of the food he would shortly be able to enjoy within a few days, and he quickly made the several trips with rope attached needed to build up a system of pullies between the cave and the prow. While a lot of muscle force was still needed to force the boat up out of the water, the rock face bore most of the weight, and Chai had long since grown into a muscular man.
xxxxHe lodged himself around a sharp protrusion in the rock, braced his feet against it, and used it for forced leverage, dragging the boat up.
xxxxWhile the cave had felt huge without his boat inside, the wood was fairly snug up against the rocks. It was more obvious than ever how much too big this boat was for just him.
xxxxChai sighed, and stopped to the mouth of the cave, walking on the hull of his boat, the familiar planks that were, by now, salted to a pale grey. A nimble jump brought him past the stern, and a twist in the air meant he landed with his toe on the prior toe grip. The cliff was around 10 metres tall in total, and, while steep, only the bottom was slick with moisture, and the rock had plenty of holes and fissures in for grips.
xxxxChai worked up it smoothly, emulating the movements of the abundant gibbons within the woods above.
xxxxIt was actually the move back onto solid ground that was hardest. Chai hadn’t stood on solid, smooth, ground in almost three months. He was not ready for the change. Being in the cave had been different; he’d been forced to stay low-down to fit his height, and this had helped him keep his balance.
xxxxThe shift in gravity – or rather the lack of it – caught him off guard, and he felt himself starting to slip as he stood.
xxxxUntil a hand grabbed his, and pulled him back.
xxxxChai’s gaze swept along the connecting arms, until he saw a young woman, dressed similarly to the Pataparaiarehe scholars from Wood Phase.
xxxxBut she was far too dark skinned to be a Patapai. She was olive skinned, with long, straight, flowing mousey-brown hair, and strange eyes that seemed to have no colour in them at all; maybe a slight pink hue.
xxxxChai had only seen eyes like that a very few times before. It was not a typical eye colour, rarely held outside nobles.
xxxxShe was pretty, but in the manner of a younger sibling or cousin, and most certainly not the manner of a potential romantic interest.
xxxxChai clasped her hand, and pulled himself upwards, using the scant strength she supplied.
xxxxNow easy on his feet, he bent over, trying to catch his breath from his panic.
xxxxThe woman was biting her lip, as if holding back laughter!
xxxxHer shoulders were shaking, and Chai looked at her, unimpressed. Or rather, he was unimpressed at the moment he looked, but considering further a moment, and on re-examination…
xxxxShe had a stout but lithe sort of build, looking like the sort of quietly athletic woman who would fit perfectly into any sort of active scenario. She was clearly muscular, even under the loose garbs of a Wood Scholar. She had a few little nicks and scrapes on her arms (where the skin had healed back noticeably paler than the rest), and she had the posture of someone who had been trained extensively in combat. If he was not mistaken, the bulge on her right hip was a sword, and there was absolutely no doubt as to the curve of wood over her shoulder; a hunter’s bow.
xxxx”There’s no need to laugh at that, man.”
xxxxShe smiled wider, showing off her round face and bright smile, even in the dark. She was beautiful, at least, in Chai’s mind, but, he was hardly picky. Months at see did that. She had a large nose, with a high bridge, but soft enough facial features elsewhere to counterbalance the effect of it. Chai was sure he would find her beautiful, regardless of his residence – or lack of it.
xxxxHer hand was still gripped around his, and she pulled him well back away from the cliff, rolling her eyes. She kept going until the slope leading down to the water stopped, and where the ground levelled out properly, and once there, she sat down very neatly, crossed-legged, with her feet over her thighs. She gestured at the ground opposite her.
xxxxChai stared for a moment, her looking at him more and more expectantly, before he sat down in the spot too, looking back.
xxxxShe was ruffling around in one of her pockets, and, a moment later, brought out a piece of flat rock, a cloth, and some chalk. Her hands moved in precise strokes, but once done, they were almost an art in how neat they were. The same thicknesses, the same sizes and shapes every time a character was repeated. It was like she’d been communicating by writing alone for a long time and had grown frustrated by people asking her to repeat writing things; it was far too neat to be more casual than that, and by the lack of vocalisation in her laughter… Once she was done, she held the stone out towards Chai, letting him read it, but keeping her grip on its dark grey surface.
xxxx”คุณกำลังปีนหน้าผาตอนเที่ยงคืนที่นี่คุณทำอะไร ใคร ๆ ก็คิดว่าคุณเป็นนักค้าของเถื่อนที่อันตรายโดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งการพูดคุยกับเด็กผู้หญิงที่แปลกและไร้เดียงสาที่นี่.”
xxxx”Wha’cha doing cliff-climbing at midnight here? Anyone’d think you were some dangerous smuggler, especially talking to strange, innocent girls in Ming Bai.”
xxxxShe adjusted her posture slightly, causing the hilt of her sword to glint a little in the light, where it lay out to one side, behind her. One eyebrow rose, amused, and she grinned widely back at him. Her neck twitched once. A snort of laughter, but silent; no doubt prompted by the complete lack of words Chai had in return to that for several seconds. She rubbed the stone down with the cloth, and started writing again, and, once done, held it out once more.
xxxx”ฉันไม่เคยพบใครที่นี่มาก่อน คุณมาทำอะไรที่นี่?”
xxxx”I’ve not met anyone else out here before. What are you doing here?”
xxxx”In Ming Bai or...?” She rolled her eyes, and gestured around, and then, more specifically, at the cliff, and then at the forest. ”Right, yeah, I didn’t want to pay the docking fees in the city.” She frowned slightly, and, after a moment, her head shook, and her wrist rolled, prompting him to try again. She waited, patiently, for him to continue. After a moment, he sighed. ”And, if I need to leave quickly, I don’t want anyone to know I’ve already left, and they would if I was in the harbour.”
xxxxHer head tilted slightly, and she nodded.
xxxx”ฉันไม่ชอบเจ้าหน้าที่ที่นี่เช่นกัน.”
xxxx”I don’t like the authorities here, either.”
xxxx”What are you doing out here, too, man?”
xxxxShe considered a moment, rubbing off the chalk from her rock again, and then, instead of writing more, she made her hands into the shape of a bird, and pointed at the sky, and then at her bow, and at the forest. She paused a moment, and then pointed towards where the city was, over and through the hills, made the bird with her hands again, mimed out the shape of a cage, and splayed the fingers of each hand through the other’s to make a lattice.
xxxx”You come out here to be free, yeah?”
xxxxShe nodded, once.
xxxx”What’s your name?”
xxxxShe mimed out the letters against her arm.
xxxxM. A. E.
土
xxxxChai did not sleep much that night.
xxxxIt was the first contact he had had with another human in several weeks – while Chai had met other voyagers while out on the water, they tended to come in clusters, several in quick succession, and then none for weeks. It was always good to have those meetings, however irregular they were.
xxxxMae left well before dawn, heading back towards the city.
xxxxChai didn’t leave all that much later. It wasn’t a long walk, but it was long enough that getting there in the morning required setting off early.
xxxxThere were walls to the city, but the gates were wide open, and getting through them was easy. The gap was wide enough for carts and chariots to get through easily, one going in each direction.
xxxxIt was easy to get inside without anyone noticing.
xxxxThere were houses outside the city, but no lights. As Chai entered, the only knowledge of how they looked was the outline of their undulating rooves silhouetted against the dawn sky, and the smell of the swampy ground beneath them, down in the hollow where they sat, on either side of the road.
xxxxThe streets within the walls were too narrow to have anything in addition to the carts, but this was no issue. Chai didn’t have too far to walk to get to the markets, and his first stop of interest was to start regaining more spices. He was good enough at collecting his own food that he rarely needed to buy the main components of his meals now, but spices and herbs were always in short supply on the water.
xxxxAnd after so long without, it was definitely his first priority. That said…
xxxxThere were so many dishes that he had not had in so long.
xxxxChai spent the next share of his money on the tools needed to repair his boat, and to upgrade it a little. On additional supplies and tools to collect a wider variety of food. A lobster trap and a crab trap, and nets fine enough to catch shrimp if let out low enough into the water, and fishing lines, and hard enough rocks to break coconuts on without risking any part of the boat, either.
xxxxBut once that was done, and it was all tied up on a hired mule, Chai stopped off at those stands, collecting enough of their food to feel he was going to be making up for having none in so long. The sheer quantity would be enough to last him throughout his time, realistically, as he was not planning to stay for too long, and several meals could still be made up for between the sea and the forest.
xxxxMalong Tod, fried insects, specifically grasshoppers, covered in fish-sauce and peppers, and making a satisfying crunch biting through their shells.
xxxxMoo Ping, marinated skewers of pork, and from a few different stands, each with a different sort of sauce on top. One sauce spicey, one sweet, one a little bitter, one lemony and fragrant. Each in their own little boxes, and labelled clearly, in the language of the Earth Phase.
xxxxPad Kra Pao, chicken stir-fried, fried egg alongside, and mixed with vegetables, with peppers and spices to give a strong kick, but a delicious texture, and certainly a change from purely fish.
xxxxKai Jeow, a deep-fried omelette, this one made with herbed oil, so that it worked its way into the egg… certainly less healthy than other options, but getting the luxury of eggs was worth it on its own.
xxxxKhao Krapow Gai Kai Dao, a hot and quick dish with chicken and rice and egg, prepared and served within minutes – fresh – and full of herbs and fragrance. Far too spicey for foreigners (bar for those from the Fire Phase) but beyond delicious to those who could handle the heat of it.
xxxxPoh Pia Tod, spring rolls, deep fried, cut into smaller bite-sized pieces. They came with a little smaller pot of sweet chilli, good for dipping, and each had a mixture of content. Beef and chicken and noodles, each in turn, and in their short sections.
xxxxRoti, a sort of almost-pancake, filled with banana and sweet sauces, honey or chocolate or milk (today, spiced chocolate, as this was hard to find outside the Fire Phase, even if it was more expensive here, and it took away from quite how sweet the chocolate was on Chai’s tongue).
xxxxKluay Tod, little still-green bananas, fried in coconut and spices, and battered. They were straight, long half-cylinders, the markings of the banana still clear, and the sesame seeds peppering their outside. Sweet overall, a little spicy, and warm.
xxxxAnd of course, that obvious staple, the Pad Thai, with thick noodles, and nuts and spring onions, a mixture of vegetables, all easy to pick up with a pair of chopsticks, and prawns fried to perfection stirred into it, shells cracked just before they were added so as to make things that much easier, the tails remaining in place.
xxxxChai had to physically restrain himself from getting more. As much as he wanted to try everything – and knew that this day would be the day with the most food on offer for this week - if he got more it’d go off. As it was, storing much of it for long while on his boat could be a challenge. But it was so very tempting with how long it had been since he had seen so many of these dishes…
xxxxAs he was leaving the town again at the end of the day, having worked out what he would do here briefly to make sure he kept up his supply of money overall, and having done all the shopping he needed (the poor mule seemed to be more boxes than animal now, although the weight wasn’t actually that high), there was a small boy who ran up to him.
xxxxChai was snacking, having opened the box with the roti in, when the boy approached.
xxxx”Sir!” Chai turned around to look, halting alongside the mule. ”Sir, can I have some food?”
xxxxChai looked the boy up and down, seeing his small height, his messy hair, his boney frame, his poorly-fitted clothes, the grime over his arms and legs, considered a moment, and handed over the rest of the box of roti.
xxxxThe boy’s eyes grew wide. He was no older than eight.
xxxx”Thank you sir!” He turned to the mule, patting his nose gently from below the animal’s snout, and ran off again, out of the city gates, smile wide. On a boy that skinny, that was probably all the food he was going to have today. Chai was glad he was going to get that much.
xxxxAs he moved out of the gate, leading the mule along behind him, he heard a little voice, an even younger child, maybe a four year old girl, almost sing, in a very bright voice. ”Thank you, mister donkey man!” It took a moment to realise that that meant him, and he waved back as she bounced in place, waving her soft toy lion toy back and forth quickly enough to make its tail whip around like a jellyfish’s tentacles.
xxxxChai lead the mule on further, slowly making his way down the valley path, to where the road split, turning left, and, when the woods grew thicker, moving through them directly, where there was no path (the mule took a little persuasion), bee-lining to the cliffs of the shore. The mule was tied up in place at the edge of the trees, and, item by item, the supplies were taken down to where Chai’s boat was stowed. The mule had long since turned to grazing by the time he finished. The sun had gone down, the sky ablaze with warmth and colour, stars shining down, twinkling everywhere, a lazy sprawl cutting across the sky at a strange angle, in a bright, light blue, almost like the sea when the light bounced off the sand beneath at tropical beaches.
xxxxHe was just about done, when he felt a prickle passing up his neck. The feeling of being watched – for a while.
xxxxHe turned to where he could feel the eyes upon him, and there - there were a wide pair of pale-pink eyes, watching him from high above, framed by neat silver hair.
xxxxMae, sitting on a large rock that Chai was sure hadn’t been there a moment before.
xxxxShe looked amused, and, after a moment, held out her little piece of slate again. ”One evening, I find you sneaking up the cliffs with Fire Phase symbols on your ship, ferreting it away where no one will find it, like some sort of spy, and the next I find you smuggling donkeys through the woods. It’s almost like you want to be charged with something.”
土
xxxxTamarillo had noticed, very early on in her stay at the Sisterhood, how, some nights, there would be strange creaking sounds from one of the rooms close to her own, that seemed to reverberate through the floor. She never made a big deal of it though. It never seemed to last more than a few minutes, even if she was consistently woken up twice a night from it.
xxxxThe sisterhood had rituals going on throughout the whole day, and this was the Earth Phase. And everyone here knew about the ancient sewers that Western empire had installed here – one of those great inventions they brought almost everywhere they went – and how close they came to the Sisterhood.
xxxxThere had been rumours for generations that the sisters performed some rituals in the bowels of the tunnels and catacombs running beneath Ming Bai, where they could be close to the earth.
xxxxTamarillo supposed this had to be true, but that it also had to be deeply held inside knowledge, as she had yet to see any sign (and of course, she had not heard of any) that any of the sisters were even aware of these rituals, yet alone joining in.
土
xxxxThere was a little routine that Chai found himself in easily. Each morning, he went into the city, to earn a little money with simple errands. Around lunch time, he bought some food for himself, and found the small boy and his little sister, who would sit with him to eat, thanking him for the food, and talking in very excited voices. He would go back to work, and, in the evening, on his way back from the city, one or more of the family’s members would thank him for the extra food, and the time looking after the children so that a little more work and earning could be done. He’d brush it off as the nothing it was, and he’d head back to camp in his boat, only to find Mae there, where they’d talk, and she’d get sassy.
xxxxIt was an easy habit, and quite comfortable, for Chai. Not for long, mind. The sea was calling. But, for now, for a few weeks? It was nice.
xxxxUntil, one day, suddenly, without warning, the route into town looked very different.
xxxxThere were no improvised buildings, made of waddle and wood, now. No random animals, browsing between the houses. No laughing children. No hanging lines between, covered in silken clothing drying in the sun. Most strangely, nothing blocking the view between the road and the marshy ground on either side.
xxxxThe housing had, quite literally, vanished overnight.
xxxxChai hurried himself along.
xxxxThere were more soldiers outside the city than usual…
xxxxWhere all the people had gone to became obvious the moment Chai was inside the city. Already, the panic had started to die down.
xxxxEveryone knew how Ming Bai maintained its record of being the most equal city around the great ocean. Or at least, everyone in the Earth Phase knew…
xxxxIt was so much easier to be equal if you only had to work out how to be equal with some people…
xxxxAnd these were clearly not really citizens, so far as the city’s government was concerned.
xxxxHow could they be, if they were living like insects in the marsh, and hadn’t even sought permission from the city government to build there? And, besides, it was hardly unreasonable to evict those who were illegally squatting!
xxxxNot that any member of the government would even admit to anything having happened. There wouldn’t be any record of it, and why, they would say, should they record what happens to insects and pests, when there are so many citizens living in perfect harmony?
xxxxOther cities often actually were equal in the Earth Phase – in fact most were that still were unexposed to the other Phases’ travellers. But the fact was, that those societies that ran more on personal gain than community gain tended to have a sort of corrupting allure, and the leaders stood to gain by copying and not admitting they were copying… And that led to greater corruption than other places.
xxxxAll people were equal, but where they had a taste of wealth or power, some people were more equal than others.
xxxxSome would try to say that was a human trait, but it was not. It was a simple fact of any creature that thinks it can benefit from cheating others of its kind.
xxxxAnd the results of it were all too clear; the homes were gone.
xxxxChai tried not to think about it too hard, and headed into the city again.
xxxxThere were far more people around than usual.
xxxxIn the crowd, Chai thought he saw a familiar head of black hair, and a flicker of a hand pointed towards him, but when he turned to see, it was gone, hidden behind the throngs of people.
xxxxAnd he went about searching for work again, for the day. It was all too predictable that there would be more competition for these quick hire jobs but the exact extent was still confounding.
xxxxChai had been nearly ready to go anyway but now it was clear he would have to take his leave sooner than he had previously thought.
xxxxPerhaps he should even go tonight.
xxxxIt was simple work, loading up boxes into the particular ships that had hired his time. After spending so much time on a boat, doing all the ropework himself, and having to work out how to stow his boat safely, he'd long since developed a strong enough build to be able to handle the crates in themselves... But it was more the sheer quantity and the complete lack of breaks that built up the strain on his muscles, and, by the end of the day, he was aching and sore.
xxxxAs the sun past far through its peak, Chai returned to his patrons, going through the steps needed to reclaim the money he had earned, and set off again, on his route out of the city walls, not looking forward in the slightest to the lonely walk left behind when there were no homes there.
xxxxOr at least, that was his intention.
xxxxAs Catachai moved out, heading towards the main trading road, he found the crowds starting to swell around him, growing thick, until, eventually, it was nearly impossible to move further forward. He was caught in a mass of people, like fish trapped against the shore by sharks. Hands patted against his back, and, without needing much thought, he pulled his bag of coins in tighter against his chest, protecting it from any thieves.
xxxxHe tried to step forward through, but he was pushed back by people on either side of him, pulled back by his clothes and his hair.
xxxxAnd so he stayed, and that feeling, like a shark was about to plunge among them, grew.
xxxxChai looked over the crowd carefully, meticulously, every few minutes. At one point, he considered just moving back from the crowd and trying to find his way around through a different gate, but, turning around to look, it was clear that there were far too many people, far too close, to manage that.
xxxx"Excuse me, bro, yeah, uh. What's the deal with this whole thing, man? There's just so many people, I've never seen this area like this before, what's caused it?" Chai asked, leaning down to whisper sideways into the ear of the woman beside him.
xxxx"The Sisterhood are going down to welcome some emissaries from the Fire Phase as they arrive. They should be coming past any time soon. Isn't it exciting to get to see them?"
xxxxIn all honesty, Chai didn't feel like he knew enough about the sect to comment truthfully with a valid opinion, so he just decided to nod at it, pretending he had some idea.
xxxxThe woman smiled back, and awkwardly pressed against his side, and Chai gently stepped away, the whole couple of inches he could fully manage in the tight space, and tried to ignore her.
xxxxIt was far too long a time before anything seemed to happen, and Chai's muscles were aching and painful. The muscles on the backs of his legs felt stiff and tight, indubitably from far too much lifting. Realistically it was no more than a quarter of an hour, but standing still, pressed in tightly together, it felt far longer.
xxxxThere they came, all with veils, all wearing a saturated orange set of robes, covering up almost all of their skin, all in tight grids between them, and guided through by the mothers circling them like dogs around their sheep. All their skin was covered, between the veils, and the very precise way each of them had their hands folded into the sleeves of their robes.
xxxxIt was... disturbing seeing them. Seeing actual people like that.
xxxxThere was just something a little unsettling about it. Like how people knew the uncomfortable movements of pasatsats. It was off. Like they were no longer home.
xxxxBut Chai said nothing, just staring at them, surveying cautiously, warily.
xxxxHe saw a slight twitch in one of the sleeves as the group approached, one of the sisters on the outside.
xxxxIt was hard to say how Chai knew it, but he was sure that she was looking at him.
xxxxAnd that certainty was only improved when she stumbled.
xxxxHer foot caught on the cobbles, her hands came out her sleeves, and she tripped.
xxxxNo one had time to stop him.
xxxxChai stepped forward, and passed out his hand in front of her, catching her weight on his forearm, and gently pushing her back upwards.
xxxxHe could feel her breathing, and her hurried step backwards, moving back into the group.
xxxxHe couldn't tell where she was looking now. But it wasn't at him.
xxxxChai stepped backwards, trying to step into the crowd, only to feel arms close around each of his forearms. He tried to pull them away, but they held tight, and kept holding him tight as they pulled backwards through the crowd.
土
xxxxThe cell was small, and dark.
xxxxChai came to in it, probably several hours later, with a pounding headache and a little patch of saliva beneath his chin.
xxxxA few candles flickered from a wall niche in corridor outside, and the blurred shadows thrown across the cell from their light highlighted the natural-hewn look of the bars.
xxxxThe bars themselves were rock, and the lack of any gap betrayed the form of their opening. Twice a day, two guards would approach; one would make just two of the stalictites lift up from the base of the cell, and drop them after the job of exchanging trays, while the other kept a stern eye on Chai, making sure he didn't attempt anything.
xxxxThe air was cool, and as such, Chai had been granted a rare luxury for prisoners; a pile of blankets, and a hot water bottle (crudely formed from clay; presumably this was some apprentice's first piece). There was no variation in the temperature throughout the day, and, this, combined with the lack of natural lighting, and the walls being formed entirely out of dirt, drew Chai to one conclusion; this cell was in the city's catacombs.
xxxxIt was a decent size, but size was no cost to Ming Bai. Deep under the earth, presuming they had any workers who could mould the earth at will, there was no limit to the space they could claim. The walls and ceiling and floor were all a dull reddish-brown, filled with striations, and Chai could recognise that it was no rock found on the surface near here. However deep they were, it was deep enough for the rocks to have changed colour; and to have changed texture, for when he ran his hand along them, they were far rougher than they would be at the surface. They were almost porous, and yet the rock never felt damp.
xxxxThe guards, in their pair, would come twice a day, each time with a meal. This was the only way to maintain track of time, and after a week, Chai was left questioning if he was even correct in his counting of twice a day. The time seemed to get both longer and shorter between each of their visits, and every day there was nothing to do, so that time blurred together like the slurry of leaves melting together in the autumn.
土
xxxxThe schedule being off was the first thing that alerted Chai that something had changed.
xxxxIt was still morning, and yet there was another round of feet down the corridor. There were more guards; four.
xxxxThe guard who normally - presumably, for it was hard to tell under his armour, even with them having the same build - lifted the bars to pass Chai his food and drink, lifted them far higher, right to the ceiling, and seeing the possibility of freedom for the first time, Chai struggled to process it, and stayed still. Just as well; the other three guards were very well armed indeed. Had he tried to run, they would have made short work of their prisoner.
xxxxOne guard bustled into the cell, barging Chai roughly against a wall, and dragging rope around his wrists, tying it harshly in place, so he had no chance of acting against them now. He was dragged out by a hand thrust deeply into his now-tangled hair.
xxxxHe was pulled out, until he was in the centre of the four guards, each of them a single step away; well in range to act should he do anything they didn't approve of.
xxxxSilently, they led him up from the lower depths of the catacombs, and through miles of tunnels.
