Sun Tiger, Moon Serpent

Six

Dayaw

The door swung open and in walked Jeoyeol.

He looked at us, opened his mouth, stopped it, and then said: "Meom-ya. You're coming with me."

I blinked. I looked at Daesung in askance, and he simply shrugged. Narrowing my eyes, I turned to look up at him: "For what purpose, Jeoyeol? Do you not see that I am still learning the tongue of you Giroans?"

"You will pick it up as we go along," said Jeoyeol. "It is not a hard tongue to master once you've properly immersed yourself into our culture and way of living. Now heed my word, and follow me to the deck at once." And with that, he turned and shut the door behind him.

I turned to Daesung. "He really is a piece of work, is he not?"

Daesung managed a smile, and then began writing upon leather tome once again. "The Sage says: The Master is fickle, and the Subject must be the paragon of virtue."

"That sounds utterly stupid."

"What would your culture have said instead?"

I thought for a while, and then said: "Thus saith the wise: 'One must be accountable and responsible for thine own duties. We are all responsible to nature and Bat-Ala.'"

Daesung nodded. "An interesting tenet, to be sure. That however raises the obvious parallel--accordingly to the Bat-Alan faith of Osa, are we not all Subjects to a single Master, who is Bat-Ala? And is Bat-Ala not fickle?"

Sighing and shaking my head, I said: "I have not thought of it as such."

"Surely, it is not your fault. Having a singular perspective blindfolds one from the truth, dear Daughter of Osa."

I looked down at the table, thinking for a while. Well, I say thinking, but my mind was blank as I tried to comprehend several things at once, while at the same time having the single goal of finding a way to eat in my mind. I must have been a very good starer, and I suppose I was looking at the table with such fervency that one would have thought it to burst into flames under my gaze.

Something cold touched my cheeks. I inhaled and yelped, flinching away and turning at the same time.

Daesung had poked me with his brush.

I raised a hand and touched the dot he had made on the side of my cheek. My fingers came away dappled with black ink.

"Why did you do that?"

"You were so entrenched into your thoughts. Do not worry about it too much, Dayaw. If you seek answers, you must know that they naturally gravitate towards someone that asks questions. Live your life, and you will find the answers you seek."

In all honesty, I was not looking for any answers, but merely trying to comprehend. But, in an effort to be polite, I nodded and smiled. "Thank you for your wise words, seonsangnim."

Daesung snorted. "Next we shall work on your pronunciation."

Before long, I got up and walked out of the door and up into the deck. I felt a bit miffed, and also a bit uncomfortable that my only article of clothing was a simple white robe. In the seas, the winds are strong, and there are a great many men aboard the ship.

Nevertheless, as I rose to the top of the stairs and onto the deck of the Little Dragon, I saw Jeoyeol conversing with a white haired, Giroan man.

I approached him, and the Giroan man turned to me, raising an eyebrow. His face was small, and his skin was tanned, no doubt from all the days under the sun and above the waves. He said something to Jeoyeol, and Jeoyeol replied something back, both in the Giroan tongue.