Recollections of Tea and Karma
(From "Recollections of Tea and Karma", the notes of a hitherto unidentified celestial bureaucrat.)
On the surface, it seems a frivolous use of my time and talents to watch over so trivial a concept as "tea". I started observing tea plantations and supply networks after the incident where the Firefly River estate was wiped out in the flood following the Appalling Mistake committed by a certain deranged savant in the south. The plantation was among the least of his victims, and yet it was a grievous blow to me; Firefly River was an unusually fine tea for meditation and reflection. I resolved henceforth to remain aware of the Creation-wide market for tea, so that in pursuing my primary duties I might find opportunities to safeguard this remarkable leaf that brings me calm, clarity, and respite - welcome gifts indeed for an operative such as myself.
Once I established my network of contacts and observers, I discovered that the tea industry is a remarkable source of insight on many topics. Put bluntly, tea is the lifeblood of civilized society. A single leaf of tea from the cheapest, muddiest field will find its way into an enormous silo, where it is powdered, measured, and distributed to cities far and wide by various roads. The powder from that single leaf may be consumed separately by ten thousand souls who are too poor, thrifty, or indifferent to buy a higher grade of tea. From that insight, it was a trivial task to refine a charm that permitted me to enter a trance state in which I may ritually brew and drink a cup of tea, and in the consuming I may observe glimpses of others who have consumed the same tea.
When I used this charm in conjunction with my last few remaining pinches of Firefly River Estate tea, I discovered, quite remarkably, that Firefly River was the preferred tea of many in the Blessed Isle's halls of power. And from there I discovered that those who had previously been afficionados of Firefly River, an extraordinary number had switched to a rare Marukani blend sold under the label of "Five-fold Monkey-Picked". This blend originally balanced the flavors and subtleties of five different Marukani mountain estates, although in recent years the a total of eleven estates have joined the cartel. With one exception, each of those estates also offers their own signature brands of tea that hails from that estate alone. Without exception, these single-source teas are inferior to the Five-Fold blend. The key difference that gives Five-Fold its admirable balance is in the inclusion of tea leaves from the elusive Estate of the Nameless Ravine, deep in the Marukani mountains. The estate does not publicize itself, and it does not produce its own brands. It sells its finest leaves directly to the cartel that owns the Five-Fold brand.
With great care and discernment, I managed to extract from a large and costly weight of Five-Fold tea a small quantity of leaf that unquestionably hailed from the Estate of the Nameless Ravine. To this single cup of tea, I applied my Tea Ceremony of Insightful Roots charm. The subsequent revelations were altogether unexpected. The tea's unmatched subtleties are directly related to the four personalities who have left a deep mark on the estate in the last twenty years.
The first of these is the Nameless God of the Nameless Ravine, an ancient god of not inconsiderable power who wishes, for its own inscrutable reasons, to remain anonymous and undisturbed. Until nineteen years ago, the estate's yields were low, because the estate's workers venerated the God in a misguided attempt to appease it. The God would typically respond by devouring many of the trained monkeys who harvested leaves from the sides of the ravine. Some of the older and wiser monkeys learned how to avoid the God's attentions through careful and precise action, and taught these techniques to the other monkeys. As a result of the Ravine God's anger, the estate has the smartest and most highly skilled trained monkeys in the entire Five-Fold tea cartel. Their touch gives the tea its spice, a sensation that gingerly and delicately clambers across the toungue.
The second of these is the late Chokhan Fifteenth Son Shatters the River, an Immaculate monk who purchased the estate following an illicit affair with an ostensibly Marukani woman known as Erdene. Chokhan brought great wisdom, teachings, and discipline to the workers at the estate. Chokhan also applied the Immaculate tenets of Spirit Veneration to the Nameless God, and rightly deduced the God's wish to be left undisturbed. Once the workers stopped worshipping the Nameless God, the estate's crafty monkeys were free to harvest tea from the deepest depths of the ravine, improving the estate's yields many-fold. Chokhan's influence gives the tea a foundation of straightforward excellence.
The third of these is Erdene, the woman whom so captivated Chokhan that he broke his vows of celibacy. I cannot tell what qualities she brings to the tea, because she vanishes from the history shortly after the birth of her son, the boy named Nameless Ravine. I suspect she may well have been a spirit in human form, or a God-Blood, a Dragon-blood, or even, a fellow Siderial. The latter is the most troubling possibility. Her involvement gives the tea a mysterious finish that haunts my palate long after I have finished the tea.
The fourth of these is, of course, Nameless Ravine himself. His presence, his history, and his passions loom large over the tea. In the years to come, he could bring the tea to new heights of excellence... or he could doom it to fire and destruction.
