Sha Yan Shi and the Monkey-Picked Messenger
The moment she heard that the Circle had returned, she made her preparations.
"Tonight, love! Tonight our little game shall end."
Sha Yan Shi cackled to herself as she took up position, her bokken raised high. Nameless Ravine's suite in the Plum Blossom Retreat was little more than two spare cells. The outer room had a writing desk, a small charcoal heater for a kettle of tea, and an armor-stand displaying an ancient shirt of orihalcum mail. The inner room had a magnificent weapon-rack with room for three; the lowest rung held the Unconquered Staff, while the middle rung held the battered greatsword dubbed A Promise to Come. The highest rung was empty, for the first masterwork of Rivers Between Us was needed elsewhere this day. But it - and its master - were expected to return shortly. It was here upon the highest rung that she perched, in the place of honor reserved for The Promise, her own weapon at the ready.
The catgirl waited, knowing that Nameless Ravine would be here any minute. She had studied his habits, and he knew that he always returned to his humble study after a battle, to write a few words in his private journals. She had flipped through the journals the last time she snuck in here, and found that she couldn't read a word. And not just because the calligraphy was so distractingly strong and bold and forthright and handsome... it sent shivers of glee up her spine just thinking about it... but because every page was safeguarded by the Letter Within a Letter Technique. She would never be able to read those words, but he could still use them to her advantage. Soon, Nameless Ravine would walk through the outer door and sit down, his mind filled with thoughts of linguistic excellency. How could he use the Surprise Anticipation Method while simultaneously focusing his essence on his brushwork? This was her chance to catch him unaware. This time, for sure!
There was only one problem - he didn't come. Five minutes went by. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as she struggled to maintain her concentration. Ten. Sha Yan Shi's arms and legs began to cramp up from holding her attack posture for so long. Twenty minutes.
Now, she was bored.
Thirty minutes. Her left leg had gone to sleep. She slipped down from the weapon-rack, grumbling to herself as she gingerly hopped on her left foot, hoping to wake it up. "All this preparation and study, and he doesn't even bother showing up? So inconsiderate. I shall have to punish him all the more vigorously! And then maybe he will have to punish me. Vigorously. Mrow." She grinned as she slipped into a daydream and sat down on Nameless Ravine's cot. "Hmph, this mattress is as hard as a rock! We'll need to get something softer. Larger, too..."
Her reverie was broken by sounds of the outer door opening. He was here! It always took him three minutes to prepare his tea, and two more to prepare the ink for his writings. She counted quietly to three hundred... and at three hundred and two, she acted. Sha Yan Shi threw open the the sliding door between the inner room and the outer, and screamed at the top of her lungs: "Infinite patient panther puissance!"
She charged into the room, and her bokken struck home. Her target let out an utterly undignified yelp and went sprawling into the corner. She stopped abruptly and took a closer look. It wasn't him - this man was too short, too portly! Plus, his robes bore such a strange cut, in so many shades of shimmering grey fabric. The newcomer nursed a nasty bruise on his tonsured head as he stood back up and tried to speak. "What the devil - "
"Quiet, interloper! Who are you to dare violate the inner sanctums of the mighty Nameless Ravine? Breaking and entering is a serious crime!"
The newcomer's face was beet red as he staggered to his feet and puffed up his chest. "I am Grey Horizon, and I am a celestial messenger. I have a writ of unbarred passage."
"So, little man?"
"So, I'm allowed to break and enter anywhere in Creation if I need to. Now tell me this - who are you, that you skulk where you're not welcome?"
"I... uh..." she paused for a moment and scratched herself behind the ear. "erm. mrow."
"Well? I haven't got all day."
"err... I, Sha Yan Shi, do not have to explain myself to the likes of you! I'm here because... um... for very important reasons! You see, I'm supposed to ma-"
"Yes, yes, whatever. Well, 'Sha Yan Shi', thanks to your antics I'm two minutes behind schedule. I shall have to expend a proxy charm to make up for lost time." The celestial functionary pulled a thin prayer strip from a hidden pocket up his sleeve.
Sha Yan Shi regarded it skeptically. She couldn't read the words, but the calligraphy was stellar. "Hmm, not bad brushwork. But not as good as Nameless Ravine's work. Hey wait a second, those characters are... moving. It's like they're made of a thousand tiny stars!"
"Indeed. Now, Sha Yan Shi, repeat after me. I never saw Grey Horizon enter this room."
She stared at the prayer strip blankly. "I... never saw... Grey Horizon enter this room."
He nodded. "He was never here."
"He was... never here."
"And now, I'm going off to the gardens to admire the first plum blossoms of spring. I expect that I will remain there for quite some time."
"Hmm, why am I wasting my time here? I should go admire the plum blossoms." With that, the catgirl trotted out the door and around the corner and out of sight.
Grey Horizon sighed, and walked into the inner room. He spoke a word, and a silk bag full of fragrant tea appeared in his hand. He smoothed out the rumpled blanket where Sha Yan Shi had sat on the cot, and set the bag of tea down upon that spot. He then sighed, clutched the aching lump on his head, and hurried home.
"So fragile, so delicate the plum's blossom." As Sha Yan Shi strolled beside a reflecting pool idly playing with a forking, blossom-covered twig, she stopped suddenly. "Wait a second, what am I doing here? I don't like fragile, delicate things. I like strong, mighty things! Things like... wait, wasn't tonight supposed to be the night that..." her eyes widened and she burst into a run.
Swiftly and silently she sped through the gardens, leaping from tree to tree, vaulting over a low wall into the inner courtyard. On silent cat's paws she padded her way into the residential halls, eluding the watchful eyes of the Tiger Warrior guards. In less than a minute, she stood in Nameless Ravine's small study once more. Her eyes cast about warily, until they landed on his journal. It sat open, turned to a new page.
The brushstrokes were written hastily, shakily even, and though it was undeniably Nameless Ravine's handiwork, no charms burned behind the elegant geometry. The page contained only a single character. Stranger still, she could read it.
"'Serenity'... hrm. I wonder what that's about," she thought to herself. Without making the slightest sound, she pulled aside the door between the two rooms and strode in. She raised her bokken... and stopped in her tracks. Since her first exchange of words with him in the guest-ward, a stone's throw from this spot, and since their first exchange of swords in the dojo-gardens of Flying Pearl Lake, two essential facts stood out about the young dawn caste champion: No matter how unexpected her attack, he was never caught unprepared... and no matter how tightly controlled and composed he may be, he was never at peace.
He was there, fast asleep, his body contorted in pain, wrapped in great lengths of silk bandages. Sha Yan Shi could count one terrible cut on his neck, two horrific bruises on his swordarm and his shoulder, and an enormous wound in his chest, as from the thrust of a truly peerless blade. Grievous wounds, all; each one would surely have been fatal to a lesser being. It was more than just the wounds; the solar exalt seemed somehow diminished. Smaller of stature? Less radiant of presence?
But most of all, she noticed the look of deep, utter peace on his face.
That's when she knew - if she struck now, she would hit him. He would not evade her. He could not. She could triumph, right here right now. After six months of playing cat-and-mouse, their little game would be over. And then what? She tightened her grip on the bokken, but she did not move. She just looked down at him, at the look of deep and abiding serenity upon his face.
At last, she knelt down beside him and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. Then she turned and padded out as silently as she had entered.
Once out in the courtyard, she wandered through the hushed, sleeping manse and gazed up at the sky. Luna burned bright; tomorrow would mark the full moon. An auspicious time for weddings and promises; tomorrow, the Lady Marta would marry a Dragon-Blood. If Marta could marry above her station, why couldn't a half-caste and a Solar... maybe she should have... maybe... She spotted her discarded twig, its blossoms intact. She held it to her face and took a deep breath, filling her senses with the promises of tomorrow's bounty. Then, she cocked her arm back and flung it far away; it tumbled over and over and disappeared into the underbrush.
"Ah well, mrow. After all, when we started this game, we did agree that the Plum Blossom Retreat was off limits."
