Under Heaven (42 page)

"Of course," he said.
She had slipped, effortlessly, into the mixture of formality and intimacy that had characterized her manner in the Pavilion of Moonlight. He tried to match it. Could not.
He said, "Why did you come tonight?"
She shook her head, suddenly impatient with him. He remembered that, too. "Wrong question, Tai. Would you have me shame myself with an answer?"
He looked at her. "I'm sorry."
She was angry now, he could see it. "I came because the Beloved Companion sent a note advising me not to sleep tonight, and she quoted the jade stairs poem."
"I see." He thought about it. "She told me you were alerted I might come. She kept Wen Zhou at Ma-wai. Gave me guards and a pass into the city after dark."
"So we are both serving
her
needs?" He heard amusement under the bitterness. "How compliant of us."
He smiled. "Rain, I would say the feel of your mouth, the taste of you, serves my needs very well."
She looked up at him for a long time. Then away into the dark, and then she said, with finality, "I cannot be your lover, Tai. There is no proper way for it to happen. I did not send a Kanlin to you for that."
"I know," he said.
Sorrow in the quiet dark. The astonishing truth of this woman: proud and seductive, more subtle than he was.
Needing
to be more subtle, he thought, in the life she'd lived.
"I could accuse Zhou of trying to kill me," he said. "It was almost said at Ma-wai today, not by me. He did have Yan murdered, and Lun. It might change your--"
"You would accuse the first minister of Kitai, governing this empire, of killing students or minor civil servants? And this would accomplish what, Tai? Who would care? How would you prove it?"
"Others would do that. Wen Jian has the man who killed Lun."
"What? Feng?"
He saw that she was startled by this. "He was heading south to Wen Zhou's family. She told us all that she had the man. There were important people in the room, including Prince Shinzu."
He didn't mention the emperor. It was not the sort of thing you spoke about. He said, "I think ... we think ... that she is giving her cousin a warning. He's in difficulty, Rain, mainly because of Roshan."
She crossed to the bench, sat down, looking up thoughtfully at him now. Moths darted around the one light. The air was cool. He remembered this about her, the way her mind could be so suddenly engaged.
"Who is
we
?" she asked. Not the question he'd expected.
"I was befriended on the road. Sima Zian has been with me since Chenyao."
She stared. Then inclined her neck, as if in submission. "The Banished Immortal? Oh, my. How may a singing girl from the North District, a simple girl, ever hope to keep the interest of a man with such illustrious connections?"
Tai laughed softly. "For one thing, she isn't simple at all. For another, she isn't in the North District. And her own connections are more potent than his." He grinned. "How else may I assist you?"
He saw her return his smile this time. "If I said,
You could kiss me again
, that would be wrong, wouldn't it?"
He took the one step necessary, and did so. Her mouth came up to meet his. It was Rain who pulled back this time. She looked away. "That
was
wrong," she said. "Forgive me."
He sat on the bench beside her. He was aware that she'd left room for him to do so. "Rain, your life has changed. I have been foolish in my dreaming."
"Most of us are foolish in our dreams," she said, still looking the other away. "The trouble comes when we bring folly out of dream."
"Rain, listen to me. If I am right, if Jian is sending a warning to her cousin and it has to do with me ... does that endanger you?"
She thought about it. "I don't think so. There is a servant who could destroy me, but he won't. If you were seen here I would be killed." She said it matter-of-factly. "But Wen Zhou is worrying about Roshan right now, not you. An Li left the city a few days ago, and so did his oldest son."
"I know," said Tai. "I spoke with him on the roadside, coming here."
He saw that he'd shaken her again. He was young enough to feel a flicker of pride in that, and old enough to know it was unworthy.
She said, "Tai, what is all this? You are in a swift river."
"Yes," he said. "Because of the horses. Only that."
"And the ghosts," she said. "What you did."
"The horses come from what I did. It is the same."
She was silent, considering that, then said, "Sardian horses."
"Second thing from that country to change my life."
She smiled. "I haven't changed your life."
"You might," he said. "Rain, we can't know what the next days will bring us. Sima Zian thinks something grave is happening."
He could see her thinking about it.
He said, "I have a house in the city now, in this ward. If you need to get word to me, can someone do that?"
"If I need to? Or if I wish to?" She turned to look at him.
His turn to smile. With every word they spoke some of the old manner was coming back, like the steps of another dance. It was unsettling.
He said, "You were always better at judging. You will know if there is danger for you, or something I need to be told."
She took his hand. Looked at the interlacing of their fingers. "I think I am not so much better than you any more, Tai. If I ever was."
"You were. You are. And you risked your life. What is it I can do? Please ask."
He was wondering how many men had said
I love you
to this woman, late at night. He wondered what Zhou said to her.
Her head remained lowered, as if she were fascinated by their twined fingers on her lap. She wore no perfume. He'd understood why immediately, but there was a scent to
her
, to her nearness after so long, and it conjured desire, drew it forth.
She said, "I will have someone learn where your house is. If I need to send word, I can. The man by the wall may be trusted with messages. They will get to me. The servant here to approach is named Hwan. No one else." She fell silent, still gripping his hand. When she spoke again her voice had changed. "I think ... Tai, you need to leave, or I will relinquish my pride. This is more difficult than I thought it would be."
He drew a breath. "And for me. I am sorry. But ... Rain, I am also pleased. Am I permitted to be both?"
She squeezed his hand hard for that. It was painful, because a ring of hers bit into his skin. She
meant
to hurt him, he knew, for so neatly echoing her phrase from before.
"How clever," she said. "You students are all alike."
She released his hand. Clasped hers together in her lap. Her gaze remained lowered, as if submissively. He
knew
she wasn't submissive at all. He didn't want to leave, he realized.
There came a rustling sound from the trees, then a voice beyond the spill of light. "Gracious lady, Master Shen. Someone is walking past the lake. We can kill him, but it would not be wise."
It was the Kanlin leader. "Where is Wei Song?" Tai asked quickly.
"Farther along the garden, awaiting instruction."
"Kanlin, is the man carrying wine?" Rain asked.
"He is, gracious lady."
She stood up. "That's Hwan. Do not harm him. Tai, I mean it ... you must go."
He hesitated, then did something she couldn't see, or the Kanlin. He stood up, looked at her in lantern light.
She clasped her hands before her, bowed formally. "My lord, it was too kind of you to visit your servant."
"I will see you again?" He found it difficult to speak.
"I would like that, but it is hard to know the winding of paths. As you said, my lord. Tonight's ... was not the greeting I would have most wanted to give you."
She still knew exactly what to say to set his heart beating.
"Nor mine for you," he said.
"It pleases me to hear that," said Spring Rain, eyes demurely lowered.
"Come, my lord!" said the Kanlin.
Tai turned, and went from her.
SHE WATCHES HIM go down the steps and away into darkness. She hadn't even seen the Kanlin, only heard a voice in the night. She looks to her
pipa
on the railing, sees the moths still fluttering.
Then she sees what he has left behind him on the bench where they've been sitting. She picks it up. Looks at it under the light. Her hand begins to tremble.
She swears aloud, in a voice that would shock many of the men who once valued her for serene grace in the Pavilion of Moonlight.
She looks up. The guard had said ...
She calls out, "Wei Song? Are you still there?"
A moment, no sound, no woman appearing from the blackness. Then, "I am, my lady. How may your servant be of use to you?"
"Come here."
Out of the night garden the woman comes. The one she'd met here earlier this year, had hired and sent west. The Kanlin woman bows.
"The servant will be here very soon," she says.
"I know. He has seen you before."
"I remember."
Rain looks at her. A small woman, hooded. She extends the ring Tai has left for her.
"Take this. Give it back to Master Shen. Tell him I could never sell it, or wear it, or even have it cut down to sell, without being at risk. There is writing on the band! This is from the emperor, isn't it?"
"I have never seen it," says the other woman. "He didn't wear it, riding." Her voice is odd, but Rain has no time to work that through. "I believe the emperor might have been with ..."
"Indeed. This ring suggests he was, or sent someone. Tell Tai he must have this, and be seen to have it. He has to wear it. It will
protect
him. He needs to learn these things. He can't go around making gifts of something like this. Take it."
The ring is stunningly beautiful, even in this light. It would match her eyes. She believes--in fact she is certain--that Tai will have thought of that. Not his
reason
for doing this, but a part of his wanting to.
The Kanlin hesitates, then bows again, takes the ring. "I am sorry I failed you," she says. "I did not reach Kuala Nor, and I--"
"Master Shen told me," Rain says briskly. "He also said you fought attackers for him. And he is alive. No one failed. Do I need to pay you more, to continue guarding him?"
The Kanlin, who is smaller than Rain remembered, draws herself up straight. "No," she says. "You do not."
"Why not?" says Rain.
"We have been retained by Lady Wen Jian. Ten of us. He is defended."
"She did that? I see. It is out of my hands, then," says Rain. She isn't sure why she says it that way. She looks at the woman more closely, but the light isn't strong, and the Kanlin is hooded.
The other woman seems about to say something. She doesn't. She goes down the stairs and east through the garden, the way the others have gone.
Rain is alone. Not for long, and she knows it. She picks up her
pipa
, is tuning it when she hears Hwan calling to let her know--quite properly--that he is approaching.
He comes into the gazebo bearing a round tray with a small brazier heating wine, and a cup for her.
"Why are you here?" she asks coldly.
He stops, shaken by her tone. He bows, handling the tray carefully. "My lady. It is cold now. I thought you might want--"
"I left instructions, did I not, Hwan?"
She
knows
why he is here. There is a balance to be achieved in this, as in all else. She needs his devotion, but he must not be allowed to assume, or presume. There are lines to be drawn, not to be crossed.
"My lady," he says, abjectly. "Forgive me. Your servant thought only that you might--"
"That I might want wine. Very well. Leave it and go. You will not be punished, but you are aware that the master has instructed that servants are to be beaten for failing to follow instructions. He said it is our task to ensure this."
It is not, she knows, the response he expected. That is all right, she thinks. He bows again, the tray wobbles slightly.
"Put it down and go," Rain says again. She allows her voice to soften. "It was a kind thought, Hwan. Tell my woman that I will be back shortly. I will want a fire, to take the edge off the night."
"Of course, my lady," he says, and backs away. "Do you ... do you wish an escort back through the garden?"
"No," she says. "I just gave you your instructions, Hwan."
"Yes ... yes, my lady."
She smiles, makes certain he sees it. She is in the light. "No one will be told of this. You are a loyal servant and I value you for it."
"My lady," he says again, and leaves her, bowing twice.
Dealing with men of all stations and all ranks, learning their needs and anxieties ... is this not what a girl from the North District, especially from one of the best houses, is supposed to be able to do?
She actually does want the wine he's brought. She removes the top of the warmed flask and pours for herself. Trained girls know how to pour, another skill they are taught.
She seems to be crying, after all.
She sips the spiced wine and puts down her cup. She takes the
pipa
and begins to play, for herself, but she knows someone will be listening, and she owes him this.
An emerald ring, she is thinking. From the emperor. Perhaps from his own hand. Tai hadn't said. A delicacy in that. The world is a place of surpassing strangeness, she thinks. And then she is thinking, without knowing why, of her lost home in the west.
QIN SAW THE MAN and his guards come back over the wall. It was harder to get up and out. You needed to be boosted over, and the last one had to be exceptionally skilled at climbing. The last Kanlin was the woman, Qin saw, and she seemed to do it easily.
The man seemed distracted, not even certain which way to walk. The Kanlins led him away, including the two who'd been waiting here in the street. The fellow--clearly an aristocrat of some kind, though he wasn't dressed like one--did pause long enough to offer Qin two
more
silver coins. That made four, in all, which was more money than anyone had ever given him out here.
He saw the last Kanlin catch up with the man and draw him aside. He saw them speaking, saw her hand over something small. They walked on, farther into the ward, and were lost to sight down the street.
Qin had managed to push himself to his feet, and offer what passed for a bow with him, when he was given the money, but he wasn't sure the fellow noticed. He sat down again, looking at the four coins. Silver! A breeze came up, stirring the dust. He was thinking about lychees, and when they'd reach the markets. Then he stopped thinking about that.
From within the garden,
pipa
music began. The sound came faintly to him, for she was some distance away from where he sat against the wall, in the small hut she'd had made to shelter him.
She was playing for him. Qin