The Wandering God

46 Travel Day And Night 2/2

日夜兼程
Rì yè jiān chéng
To travel day and night.
To travel without rest.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The room we were given was indeed fine, with wide, true glass windows overlooking the market square below. There was a kang to one side, as well as a large, curtained bed which Zakhar collapsed onto with a sigh.

"Ahhhh comfort," he said.

The rest of the room was decorated to similar quality, large elegant vases in one corner, and beautiful hand painted scenes hung on scrolls on the wall. Upon closer inspection, some of the scenes portrayed were more than a little erotic, and I wondered if The Golden Goose didn't perhaps double as Tuluye's brothel as well.

I made my way to the window, fingers tracing over the clear, cool glass. It was free of the tiny bubbles and opaque swirls that blurred most commonly made glass and must have been bought and brought to Tuluye from a town where glass was manufactured to a high quality.

Among the clear glass, slices and slivers of colored glass had been inlaid. The colored glass did not make any particular picture, and seemed to have been placed randomly, but I appreciated the effect nonetheless.

I watched the stage in the market below through a square of green. "What play is it?" Zakhar asked.

I watched a moment. "I don't know. Some nonsense about one of Zhu's many wives."

"Zhu? You mean The Red Duke?"

I looked to him, stretched out on the bed, arms crossed behind his head. "Of course? Who else?"

Zakhar laughed. "Most people don't call the gods by their names, Ao."

I could not resist a smile. "You just did."

Zakhar's smile mirrored mine. "I did, didn't I?"

A knock came at the door, and a servant appeared with our supper on a tray. She set it on the table beside the wide window, then curtsied herself out.

"What is it?" Zakhar asked, peering over my shoulder.

I lifted the lid off the large tureen. "Stew."

Zakhar groaned. We had been eating stewed game and whatever else we could get our hands on for the past two weeks. "What I wouldn't give for something my teeth can chew."

But despite Zakhar's misgivings, the stew was delicious, as well as the soft, freshly warm bread that came with it.

There was even a dessert, a sweet creamy bean curd with sugared berries in a small bowl.

I started to eagerly reach toward it, then saw Zakhar do the same.

"You can have it. I do not really care for sweets," I lied.

Zakhar winked. "Sure you don't." He took the bowl and spooned the dessert into his mouth. "You sh'ound like Kageyama," he said round a mouthful of bean curd. I snorted.

"Look out for them, yeah?" Zakhar added, dipping his spoon into the yellow pudding once more.

My eyes found his. "You will look out for them yourself, when we return to the valley. You can resume your old position."

"Hmm," Zakhar said around his spoon.

We sat back in our chairs, stomachs full, watching the play across the square.

"There was a play the night we all met in Nan'ye as well," I said, not sure why I was reminiscing. "I was watching from the roof of the granary building when I saw you all."