Weeping Blade Smile
Episode Three
"Waves"
I am the Omnipotent Dreamer, Ching Eng. Most of the time I am upon my charts too peer across the stars and see glimpses of events far and invisible. Today, however, I took a morning jog during the darkness before dawn and sought to see if Xiao Bao had hoped to escape my notice of him.
I caught the weak strains of a scream uttering from the familial grounds of the Xiao family.
I registered them to be the dulcet tones of Xiao Cai, the mother of the woman I feel great emotions towards. I leapt to the nearest tree and craned towards the window to see if she was in distress. What I see instead is Xiao Shaih Lin and Xu Rong Sai speaking with her. The doctor touches her arm as the beloved struggles to help her mother speak sense. The doctor finds a needle and I wonder if the hyperactive unbalance I had caused her was too much.
When the needle Xiao Bao deflected flew out the window, I caught it, and returned it into the darkness without a thought. I had thought I had thrown it harmlessly back into the room. I realize I had mistakenly struck the effervescent Xiao Cai instead. Foolish of me to have not checked properly.
I have no doubt they were reading the note I had returned to the bed pillow for them to find. "Gotta catch some strays" the old man's note said. Clearly it told me where to go. I suspected that Bai-Yan had hoped to uncover the secret of the Rabid Dogs, given the recent death that had befallen the governor. I knew, however, that is insecurities towards the Eagle Talons would be a concern worth arousing. It took a simple forged missive carefully crafted to match the dead governor's own handwriting to throw the suggestion to him that the Eagle Talons were in the governor's mind to be dissolved, and the slight push towards the law office (an act I had foreseen to surely come to pass given the suggestions I had whispered to the Dong brothers when I chanced upon them at that Mountain Pass) thanks to the recent attempts at clan impersonation.
By the time I had arrived at the usual grounds of the Rabid Dogs, Bai-Yan would have found Sheling Ying and attempted to gain his favor of replacing Gallant Eagle.
I anticipate the act would instead backfire, with Gallant Eagle grasping more that Bai-Yan's corrupt nature would eventually sway him to attempt to win over the city. This would mean -
Wait.
There is a new ripple in the lake I stir.
Someone...
Focus.
The intellectually seductive Yue Yi would be drawn to the governor's death. And if things go as I hope, she would find the clues I had left behind that point to Bai-Yan's treachery. She should find the brass tortoise dish that contains the gelatinous fungus. She should notice the intense reaction Bai-Yan will present when the concoction is presented to him (though it is doubtful she would realize it was the same poison he had used to kill the governor who held the position he holds now).
I could imagine her academically honed lips dancing as she would state, "Not an auspicious week to bury the dead."
Again the ripples. A counter-plan.
No... wait....
The confrontation should happen on the street. The guards will be uncertain whether Yue Yi should be followed, or if Xiao Wei Long should be arrested. The wine should-
My wave is broken.
The wine should have tasted of Bai-Yan's vintage. Of the fruity red he had offered my two beloveds when they watched the staged battle I had prepared. It should have been the final clue towards the magistrate. But somehow, the wines had been switched.
Someone knows.
I spy Xiao Shah Lin, travelling by carriage that bears the phoenix colors. She is like a rising sun. A soaring flame. A.. man. There is a man talking to her. There is a familiarity in his motions. A jut of the hip. An occasional wipe of the lower lip. He knows her. Desires her. But she.. does not recognize him? This man.
I do not know him. He is not part of my plans.
He is not...
"Not an auspicious week to bury the dead."
Xu Rui.
The man claims to be Xu Rui. But he appears nothing as the Xu Rui we have all met. Has Xu Rong Sai been playing us for fools? I cannot stand this. I must interfere.
***
"Balance must be restored. Even if today is a day of falsehoods. It is the truest truths that hide behind lies."
The words are painful and clear.
I lightfoot among them, chatter like friends, but soon the more painful words arrive.
I depart.
***
There is a letter.
It was hidden within the scarf.
"I will commit myself to the rocks, and if i live,
then the Ancestors judge me right."
The man lives.
The Ancestors choose him over me.
But Xiao Wei Long has arrived and the anger shows with each step.
He demands for the Frozen Needle and I realize he means someone has stolen it from its hiding place.
And it was not me.
***
I am certain now.
Someone has broken my waves.
The ripples still dance around me.
I must find who plays this game.
I must throw myself to the rocks.
May the Ancestors judge me right.
No comments:
Post a Comment