The Apothecary Diaries - Volume 10 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Farm Village (Part 1)

Basen arrived in the western capital three days after Maomao and the others. She waited by the entrance to the annex, feeling it would be polite to at least say hello to him.

When he appeared, however, she burst out, “What is that?” So much for the friendly greeting.

“What? This is Jofu.”

“Jofu. As in ‘duck’? I can see that. And it looks delicious.”

Basen was covered in sand and dust, and perched on his shoulder, for reasons unknown, was a duck. A perfectly ordinary domestic duck, with white feathers and a yellow bill. The only distinctive thing about it was a single black spot on its beak.

“Oh-ho! A lovely gift you’ve brought me, I see! Sit back, dear younger brother-in-law, and let your sister handle dinner!” Chue was ready to grab the bird right off his shoulder.

“This duck isn’t for food!” Basen said, stopping her in her tracks.

Oh yeah, they’re in-laws, aren’t they? Maomao thought. She got the impression Chue teased Basen a lot.

“If it’s not food, then what is it? Your pet?” Chue asked.

The duck did seem noticeably attached to Basen—it held on to his head with its wings and preened his hair.

“I’ve been hatching ducks and distributing them to farming villages on the Moon Prince’s orders. I was going to leave Jofu in one of the villages, but she’s taken too much of a liking to me and won’t leave.”

“Oh, I see,” said Chue. Seeing as Basen had given the duck a name, he was evidently taken with her as well. The duck, demonstrating her native intelligence, hopped down off Basen’s shoulder and pooped on the ground. Smart.

“I have to go see the Moon Prince. Is there anyone who could take care of Jofu for me?”

“Ooh! I will!” Chue said, sticking her hand in the air.

“Is there anyone else?”

“Not sure I’d be much better,” Maomao said. She was already drooling. I remember the duck En’en prepared back at Lahan’s place. Boy, that was good. She didn’t trust herself not to be bested by her own appetite. Maybe we could get the quack to take care of her?

No, no, there was someone even more appropriate.

“I know a farmer who would be perfect. I’ll ask him,” she said.

“A farmer? Wait, you have acquaintances in the western capital?”

“No, he was sent here from the central region.”

Basen remained puzzled, but there wasn’t much more Maomao could say. It was the truth. In any case, they could entrust the duck to Lahan’s Brother.

Basen had been in the western capital two full days when Maomao finally got permission to tour a farming village.

“You could take your time, young lady. We’ve plenty of medicine still. No need to go rushing off to the fringes of a place we hardly know yet,” said the quack doctor, who took her excuse entirely at face value. There had to be some reason, after all, for a court lady serving as a medical assistant to leave her post and go on an inspection tour.

“It’s all right, sir. Who knows? I might even find some unknown drug.”

That much was true. I-sei Province was home to different flora and fauna than Kaou. There was no telling what plants or animals she might encounter, and what their potential medicinal properties might be. Maomao was actually a bit excited—she hoped she could find interesting medicines.

She brought the absolute minimum of belongings, only what she could fit into a bag. She asked that some gold nuggets or silver chunks be prepared for her in case she needed cash on hand for anything—unprocessed precious metals would be the most versatile and effective forms of payment in I-sei Province, which did so much trade with other nations.

“Huh. Do they normally send court ladies on jobs like this?” asked Tianyu with a skeptical look.

“I guess not? But I was hired more as an apothecary than a physician, so it was always possible they would send me on this kind of errand.”

In order to come up with a pesticide.

“Huh. An apothecary. Here I thought it was pure nepotism that got you where you are, Niangniang.” Tianyu sure did know how to needle a person.

“Oh, come now, don’t be like that. You mustn’t be so suspicious, my boy.”

Oh, my poor quack. You’re the one who needs to be more suspicious.

Few were the people in the world uninvolved enough that it wasn’t worth asking questions about them.

“If you say so, mister. Have a good time, Niangniang.” That appeared to be all Tianyu meant to contribute to the conversation, because he flopped over on one of the patient cots and waved over his shoulder.

The quack gave Maomao a package of snacks and waved too. “See you soon!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on things while you’re away!” Lihaku said. Yes, with him there, at least she wouldn’t have to worry about the quack doctor.

“Took you long enough.”

“She’s right on time!”

Basen and Chue were waiting for her at the entrance to the annex. Maomao had been told to wait until Basen arrived in the western capital so that he could go with her as her bodyguard and Lihaku could stay here.

Maomao looked around. Isn’t there supposed to be someone else? “Er, is this it? I thought we were supposed to be bringing seed potatoes.” Along with Lahan’s Brother, for that matter, but she only saw a couple of horses. “Where’s the wagon with the potatoes?”

Chue stuck her hand in the air. “I’ll field this one! The seed potatoes are going by wagon, but the wagon is so much slower that we gave them a head start! It was the other guy’s idea—the guy driving the wagon. I don’t know how to describe him. Not very memorable. And as for why I’m here, it’s because you’re already such a dear friend of mine, Miss Maomao! Miss Chue begged to go along with you, or she would spend all her time worrying how you were doing in lands unknown!”

“What I’m hearing is, it sounded like fun so you decided to tag along.”

The unmemorable wagon driver had to be Lahan’s Brother. Maomao realized Chue hadn’t officially met him yet.

Rather than actually saying Maomao was right, Chue produced a string of small flags.

“And what takes you on a tour of the farming villages, Master Basen?” Maomao asked, just to be polite.

“The Moon Prince’s orders. He told me to guard you with my life. He doesn’t want Master Lakan going on a rampage in the western capital.”

There was nothing Maomao could say to that. She especially couldn’t say that she thought Lihaku might have been a better choice for the job.

It sounded like Basen had some idea of her connection to the old fart, but since he still treated her just the same way he always had, she decided to let it go.

Seems like practically everyone I meet these days knows. She was discovering that everyone around her seemed aware of something she herself would rather not admit. The freak strategist’s behavior couldn’t be swept under the rug here.

But what can I do? We’re not related, so.

Maomao decided now was no time to rethink her attitude.

“My father is here as the Moon Prince’s guard. I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Basen said, although he sounded like he was mostly trying to convince himself. He might have been starting to wonder why Jinshi seemed to be keeping him at arm’s length recently.

I hope he’s not getting frustrated, Maomao thought. She’d been concerned about Basen’s psychological state, but he appeared surprisingly stable. Slightly calmer and more mature than before, in fact.

“Is it just me, little brother, or have you turned over a new leaf?” Chue said, nudging him. She seemed to share Maomao’s intuition.

“Wh-What? Why would you ask that?”

In any case, it was true that Gaoshun was here to serve as Jinshi’s bodyguard. Jinshi might well have some enemies in the western capital, but they weren’t actually likely to try to lay a hand on him.

If someone important is assassinated in the middle of a long journey, it’s the local ruler who has to face the music.

Maomao didn’t know much about Gyoku-ou, but she’d like to think that he wouldn’t allow his most important visitor to find himself in danger.

Chue grinned, then climbed onto her horse and put her feet in the stirrups. She was wearing not a skirt, but a pair of trousers.

“All right. The village is about forty kilometers from here. We should reach it in four hours or so,” Basen said.

“Sounds like we’ll still catch that wagon! How about we take a little detour?” Chue suggested.

“Unfortunately, this isn’t the capital, and there aren’t many tea houses around. You’re welcome to share some grass with your horse if you want,” Basen said, unruffled by Chue’s tweak.

She is his older brother’s wife, as far as it goes. Basen seemed to be showing her a certain measure of respect, although Chue treated him the same way she seemed to treat everyone.

“Which would you like to ride, Miss Maomao?” Chue asked.

“I’m not sure I have a good answer to that.”

There were two horses, and Maomao didn’t know how to ride by herself, so she would have to ride with one of the others. It didn’t really matter to her who.

“Okay, you can be behind Miss Chue, then! Mister Basen’s saddle is hard—tough on the bum! Miss Chue’s saddle is nicely tanned, highly shock-absorbent, and easy to sit in for long hours on the trail! Tell me, which would you like better?”

Needless to say, Maomao pointed at Chue.

“Just a second, where did you get such a nice saddle? I thought we were borrowing these horses.”

“Yes, but the Moon Prince is a very thoughtful man. He does good work, every once in a while.”

“And just what do you mean by that?” Basen snapped, displeased by this backhanded compliment. At least in that way, he was still Basen.

“What do I mean? The moment the Moon Prince said he was assigning you to guard duty, I said that then shouldn’t there be another woman to chaperone, and he looked like he had seen the light! Don’t you worry, Miss Maomao, the ever-thoughtful Miss Chue has your back. Your spirit may be stouter than a stern log, but your body is so delicate you would probably die if someone punched you. Miss Chue knew you couldn’t be trusted to Basen by himself—he doesn’t know his own strength! You should be grateful to me.”

I probably would die if someone punched me.

Maomao was not exactly the brawny type. She could endure poisons of all kinds, but physical assault would quickly prove her undoing.

“You should be grateful too, little brother. You can call me Miss Chue—or Honored Elder Sister, if you prefer.”

“Hngh...” Basen was never going to outtalk Chue. He could only hang his head.

With the winner of the conversation decided, the three set off.

There was nothing particularly remarkable about the journey. From the city they headed west across empty plains, sticking to a strip of bare earth that seemed to pass for a road. Once or twice they crossed paths with caravans coming the other way. Sometimes they saw tents belonging to nomads, the families’ children tending the goats or sheep.

Is that the horizon? Maomao wondered. Her old man, Luomen, had explained that there was a theory that the world was a sphere, and that this was evidenced by the fact that on open land, you could see a slight curvature along the horizon in the far distance. Maomao thought she did indeed see a bend.

She didn’t know for sure whether it was true that the world was round, but if so, it would explain why the stars moved. Or anyway, so Luomen had said. Now she wished she had paid more attention, but unfortunately, most of his explanation hadn’t stuck with her. She realized with chagrin that it must’ve been one of the things he had learned while studying in a foreign land, and here she had ignored it.

It was surprisingly cold on the plains, though it was spring. There was plenty of sunshine, but also a wind that sapped the body’s heat. What was more, the air was so dry—and a bit thin. They were high above sea level.

“Here you go, Miss Maomao,” Chue said, passing her a cloak. It was made of wool that blocked the wind and was worked with embroidery so fine that it would have looked distinguished even in the capital.

Chue was wearing a cloak too. It looked equally warm, but was somewhat plainer than the one she had given Maomao—oddly subdued for Chue, who normally liked to be the center of attention.

Basen’s cloak was simple but practical. He also, notably, wore gloves to keep his hands warm on the reins.

Pressed up against Chue and with the cloak on her back, Maomao was able to stay warm, but the wind and the sun still got at every part of her that was exposed.

Wish I had some of my sisters’ balms right now. Between the strong sun and dry air, she was concerned about tanning. She’d applied a sun-blocking ointment, but what about Chue? Her skin was darker than Maomao’s but appeared perfectly healthy.

“Miss Chue, I have something to prevent tanning. You want some? It’ll keep your skin from drying out too.” It was worth asking, she figured. If she ran out, she could just make more with the components they had at the western capital.

“Ooh, can I? Miss Chue has always been a little darker, so tans don’t stand out so much, but she’d be happy to try it!”

“Sure. I’ll give you some when we take a break.”

Basen had informed them that there was nowhere along the road for any pleasant diversions, but they would have to rest the horses at some point. There was plenty of grass everywhere for the animals to eat, but if they could stop somewhere there was water, so much the better. And just at that moment, a river came into sight.

“We’ll take a short break there,” Basen called.

“Yeppers!” said Chue.

“All right,” said Maomao.

When they reached the water, Maomao found it wasn’t so much a river as a very large puddle. The water was shallow and there was no current. It had probably been formed by a rainstorm, and would soon be dry again.

There were trees growing nearby, shading large rocks with patterns carved into them. Signposts to here, there, and everywhere, Maomao surmised.

She gazed at the trees growing around the watering hole. Are those pomegranate trees? The leaves looked like it, somehow. A few of the branches bobbed gently. Maybe there were birds perching in them. She could see some at the water, along with a group of wild horses getting a drink.

“There might be snakes around,” Chue said.

“Ooh, you think?”

Maomao and Chue looked, but they didn’t find any. There was a hole in the ground that looked like a den, but when they dug at it a rat came out. They’d brought provisions, so they let the rodent get away.

Tall grass grew by the water’s edge. Maomao knew from her research that beefwood and licorice were endemic to this area, but she didn’t see any. Not that she would have expected to find significant quantities in one place.

I guess it was a lot to hope for.

She did, however, find some grass with a unique scent. It was taller than your average grass but not as tall as a tree, and looked like mugwort. If its medicinal properties were anything like mugwort’s, it might be useful in exterminating insects. Maomao took a sample in hopes of finding out, and collected a few other intriguing plants as well.

Chue clapped her hands and called, “Miss Maomao! Lunch is ready!”

Maomao and her companions sat on a blanket, eating meat and pickled vegetables sandwiched between pieces of bread. Maomao found she had sweated profusely despite only riding along; her body was ravenous for water and salt. It made the pickled vegetables taste very good indeed.

No sooner had he finished eating than Basen started studying a map. He took a floating compass out of his bag and floated it in the water. Maomao and Chue watched him.

Maomao asked the obvious question. “What good is a map out on the open plains?”

“It’s better than nothing, but you’re right that there aren’t a lot of landmarks out here,” Chue commented. “Between the compass and the position of the sun, I think it looks like we should edge north a little bit. As long as there’s nothing to block the view, we should be able to see houses—that’ll be our destination.” She might sound flippant, but she was surprisingly capable. Evidently, she could even do land navigation. Basen looked away, seeming to feel a little awkward.

“May I ask something else?” said Maomao.

“Anything you like, Miss Maomao.”

“Why don’t we have a local guide?”

Frankly, she wished she had asked sooner. She’d figured they were just going to a nearby village—they weren’t leaving Li or anything—and that a guide wouldn’t be necessary, but this was turning into a more elaborate trip than she had expected. A long journey was never precisely safe, even within national borders. It was best to have someone who knew the territory inside and out.

“Funny you should ask that,” Chue said, glancing around. Basen was looking too, his gaze hard. His hand was on the hilt of his sword and he was obviously ready to leap into battle.

I don’t like where this is going.

Chue stood in front of Maomao. “Okay! Just stay right there, Miss Maomao; don’t move an inch.”

Maomao discovered that they were surrounded by strange men; she almost hadn’t seen them emerge. They were scruffy-looking types who spoke Linese with a strong accent. As for what they said, it was your standard threats, make-with-the-cash demands, and so on. And of course, they wanted to be left with the women.

These were bandits if Maomao had ever seen them.

Wonder if I have any particular value as a woman. Neither Maomao nor Chue was especially attractive; she doubted they would fetch much of a price if the bandits tried to sell them. It wasn’t a particularly happy thought, and her heart was starting to race. She took a few slow, deep breaths to try to calm herself.

“Miss Maomao, feel free to close your eyes. If they try anything, Miss Chue will use her married-woman appeal to get us out of it!”

She seemed very confident. In fact, she seemed to be looking down her low-set nose at them.

Maomao, however, wasn’t eager to close her eyes. She reached into her bag and found a sewing needle and some bug repellent. They wouldn’t be enough to do any serious damage, but they might set their attackers back on their heels for a moment.

As it happened, though, they didn’t need Chue’s allure or Maomao’s sewing needle.

There was an audible crack, and then Bandit No. 1 went flying clean past Maomao.

There was a noticeable crunch, and Bandit No. 2 collapsed to the ground, holding his arm and writhing.

There was a distinct snap, and Bandit No. 3 went down, spitting a mix of saliva, blood, and teeth.

There was no restraint. A fight in a stage play would have lasted longer. Frankly, it almost felt like too little to describe.

Basen had reached for his sword—but that didn’t mean he was going to use it.

He took them all out bare-handed! thought Maomao, flabbergasted. She took several more breaths, then came back to herself and rushed over to Basen. “Let me see your hand!”

“Er, yeah...”

Basen, looking a little surprised, slipped off his glove and held out his hand. The fingers didn’t look broken, and the wrist seemed intact. In addition to being preternaturally strong, Basen, so Maomao had heard, was less susceptible to pain than most people. It meant he could sometimes injure himself with his displays of strength.

I don’t understand it.

After all those terrible noises, she would have expected the person administering the beatings to at least have hurt their hand. There had to be some reason Basen was completely unharmed.

She took his glove and soon discovered the explanation. Outwardly it was made of wool and looked quite soft, but it felt heavy. There was some kind of metal inside. Basen’s brute strength combined with a weighted glove? It was almost enough to make her feel sorry for the bandits.

Speaking of the bandits, Chue was flitting from one to the next, tying them up. Then she tied the three of them together before she put up her feet and wiped the sweat from her brow with a sigh.

“What are we going to do with them?” Maomao asked.

Her question was innocent, but Chue replied, “What are we supposed to do with them? We can’t take them with us. We’ll leave them here. When we get to the village, we can ask someone to come get them.” She didn’t look like she cared very much.

“I don’t like this, though,” Basen said, folding his arms and furrowing his brow.

“I know what you mean,” Maomao said, for once finding herself feeling the same way he did. What if the men were eaten by a wolf or something while the travelers were on their way to the village? It was hardly outside the realm of possibility.

I don’t think I’d sleep well knowing I’d been a part of that, even if they are crooks.

Basen walked over to the bandits and took one of them by the arm. Then there came another unpleasant crack.

Oof...

Apparently what Basen hadn’t liked was the possibility that the bandits might escape. A couple of them wet themselves as he mercilessly snapped each of their arms. He’d presumably chosen their arms and not their legs so that they could walk when they were being taken to prison.

Never realized I was the nice one, Maomao thought. She looked at the bandits and mentally urged them to give up their life of crime.

Their journey was quiet after that.

I thought there might be more bugs. Oh well.

There were a few; they were traveling across the plains, after all. It was hardly a swarm, though; she just spotted a grasshopper popping through the grass now and then.

Maybe we didn’t have to worry about a plague after all? If there weren’t tons of grasshoppers in the western capital, well, nothing could be better.

About the time they reached the next resting point, they caught up with Lahan’s Brother and his potatoes. For reasons Maomao couldn’t guess, there was a duck atop the horse pulling the wagon, quacking out orders.

“Jofu! You’re here too?”

“Quack!”

The moment the duck saw Basen, she flapped down off the horse’s head. Her eyes seemed to sparkle, and Maomao would have sworn she saw a blizzard of flower petals behind her.

“I tried to leave her at the mansion, but she insisted on coming with,” Lahan’s Brother said. Maomao was the one who had originally foisted the duck on him, so she couldn’t really complain.

“I have to admit, I’ve grown quite fond of her,” Lahan’s Brother said, clearly smitten. “She’s very intelligent—and very helpful. She gladly eats bugs.”

“Sounds like you had a nice, quiet trip,” Maomao said. Some people obviously hadn’t encountered any bandits.

“What? You’ve always been peevish, but now you’re downright prickly.”

She took exception to Lahan’s Brother’s tone, but nonetheless she decided to indulge him with an explanation of what had happened. “We were attacked by bandits.”

“They really have those out here?” Lahan’s Brother asked, the blood draining from his face.

Ahh! Now that’s how a normal person would react. As she savored Lahan’s Brother’s response she looked at Chue, who had been unconcerned by the attack. Chue seemed downright used to being threatened by criminals, or at the very least unsurprised. Like this was all somehow part of the plan.

Lahan’s Brother’s party consisted of one wagon full of cargo, Lahan’s Brother himself, two sturdy-looking soldiers for guards, three farmers probably there to help, as well as two local guides. And one duck.

Maomao was no logistician, but two guides seemed like one more than they needed. Maybe one of them was supposed to be with us? Come to think of it, Chue had dodged her question about having a local guide.

They set off again after this second break. It turned out the village was very close. Modest houses were arranged on either side of a river, the surrounding area peppered with trees and farm fields. There was a gently sloping mountain behind the village, but unlike the mountains Maomao knew, it looked as if the grassy plain had simply risen up into a hill. The little white spots she saw were probably sheep. The black ones, maybe oxen. Judging by the number of houses, there couldn’t be more than three hundred people in this village.

As they approached, they were greeted by lowing oxen. Some of the sheep were still fluffy, while others were recently shorn. It was right in the middle of shearing season. The village children, no strangers to physical labor it seemed, were collecting sheep patties into baskets.

“What’s that about?” Basen asked, giving the kids a funny look. Maomao felt they could ask him the very same question, considering he had a duck on his head.

“They use the sheep dung for fuel, I believe. And if you tuck it under your bed, it’s supposed to keep you warm,” she explained.

“Under your bed?!”

“Sure! You didn’t know? Silly little brother,” Chue drawled, not missing an opportunity to give him grief. “Little brother” seemed to be her default name for him when she was tweaking him.

The village was surrounded by a moat and a brick wall. Maybe the bandits didn’t constrain themselves to attacking travelers.

Basen talked to someone at the entrance, and they were quickly allowed in—maybe a messenger had preceded them. The duck hopped off his head and trotted behind him.

An important-looking person Maomao took to be the village headman came out to greet them.

“Oh! Excuse meee!” Before Basen could say anything to him, Chue started chatting volubly with the headman. The headman’s eyes glinted, and he shouted to one of the guides. Chue was smiling broadly about something, while the guide grew paler and paler.

It was impossible to miss the charge in the air. One of the soldier-guards from Lahan’s Brother’s group stood ready behind Chue. She was still smiling and the guide still seemed calm, but it was obvious that the man was being taken away.

Ahh, now I get it. Maomao crossed her arms and watched them lead the guide off somewhere.

“Hey, what’s going on?” asked Lahan’s Brother, ever the straight man.

“I suspect they want to ask him for a discount. He promised us a safe route, and yet we got attacked by bandits.”

“Okay, but is it really fair to take it out on him?”

“Fair question, but it sounds like this was the guide’s special road. Guaranteed to be perfectly safe. They even paid extra to learn about it.”

“That’s silly. There’s nothing but grass in every direction. It’s not the guide’s fault they let him dupe them.”

He was right about that. Maomao was making it all up, in fact, saying whatever came to mind. Talk of bandits was too stimulating for Lahan’s Brother, so she changed the subject. While they talked, Basen went up to the headman. His duck, like a faithful dog, followed behind him.

After the two conversed for a while, Basen came over to Maomao. “The headman is going to show us somewhere we can stay tonight.”

“All right.”

“I appreciate your help,” Lahan’s Brother said politely to Basen. He was the son of a distinguished household, no matter how it might seem, and he’d been raised with proper manners. If Lakan hadn’t betrayed his own family, Lahan’s Brother might have been a soldier himself by now.

“Of course. By the way...” Basen looked at Lahan’s Brother. “What should I call you?”

Basen didn’t know Lahan’s Brother’s name either.

“Hoh!” Lahan’s Brother’s eyes filled with hope. This was the moment he had been waiting for.

“I think you can just call him Lahan’s Brother,” Maomao said.

“Hey!” Lahan’s Brother said, clapping a hand on Maomao’s shoulder.

“All right. Lahan’s Brother. Easy to remember. I like it.”

“Listen, you!” Forgetting his manners, Lahan’s Brother wheeled on Basen.

“So there you have it. He’s Lahan’s brother. That’s what he’s called, and that’s what he is. I think you know Lahan, yes? Lahan’s Brother isn’t as quirky as his brother; his brother’s a harmless, normal person. He’s also a professional potato farmer, so we can leave this to him.”

“Who’s normal?! And who’s a farmer?!” Lahan’s Brother demanded, but if he wasn’t a farmer, then what was he? She’d seen him tending those sprawling fields—he could afford to take a little more pride in his work.

“I hear you. If he’s a relative of Master Lakan’s, he deserves to be treated respectfully.”

Maomao had the distinct sense that Basen glanced at her as he said this, but she decided to ignore it. He didn’t seem to view her as falling into that same category.

Frankly, I could almost like that about him. Basen didn’t always treat her “respectfully,” to borrow a phrase, but he was easy to work with.

“Ahem...” said the man who looked like the village headman. Apparently that’s what he really was. “May I show you to your quarters?”

“Oh, yes, sure. If you would?”

Relieved, the headman led them to an open space in the middle of the village. “You can use this,” he said, pointing to a portable tent like the ones the nomads used. “This tent belonged to someone who settled here years ago, and it’s still serving its purpose. We keep it warm inside too. The women can stay in the small tent next to it.”

Maomao poked her head in to find that it was indeed warm, made from a frame that looked something like a net covered in felt. There was a carpet on the ground and a fireplace in the middle. Given the lack of windows, one might expect that to result in bad air quality, but a chimney extended from the fireplace to allow the smoke to escape. There was a pile of brown things beside the hearth—maybe the sheep pies the kids had been collecting. The carpet was worked with some kind of pattern. It might not be much, but the village was clearly trying to extend the best hospitality it could.

“Good timing—we were just about to break it down,” the headman said.

“Break it down?” Maomao asked.

“Yes; you see, we had a visitor just the other day as well.”

“Did his name happen to be Rikuson?”

“Y-Yes. Is he an acquaintance of yours?”

Maomao nodded: she knew it. What she still didn’t know was what he’d come here for. She hadn’t seen Rikuson since that first day, so she hadn’t had a chance to ask him.

“It’s already late, so I think for today we should eat and then get some rest. I’ll post a guard outside your tent. That sound all right?” Basen asked.

“Yes, thank you, that’s fine,” said Maomao. She picked up her belongings and moved them to the smaller tent. She slipped off her shoes as she went inside, the fluffy carpet greeting her feet. There were several layers of felt underneath it. She took off her cloak and hung it on something that jutted out of the wall. Then she tossed herself spread eagle on the carpet.

Oops, better look alive.

She gave herself a quick smack on the cheek—the tent was so warm inside, and the carpet was so soft, that she felt like she might doze right off.

Just as she sat up, Chue came in.

“That looks nice, Miss Maomao. I think I’ll join you!” She flung herself down on the carpet and grinned, blissful.

“Before you fall asleep, Miss Chue, can I ask you something?” Maomao tried to organize the thoughts that had been whirling in her head all day. As she considered, she found herself adopting a formal seated position, feet tucked under her behind. Chue mirrored her posture.

“Yep, of course. What is it?” She looked exactly like she always did.

“Those bandits... You were behind that, weren’t you, Miss Chue?”

Chue didn’t so much as blink at the question. “Whatever do you mean, Miss Maomao?” She cocked her head.

“Sorry. That sounded worse than I meant. What I was trying to say was, you expected the bandits to attack, and you had us come second, as bait, to minimize the harm they would do.”

Still Chue looked unfazed. “What in the world gave you that idea?”

She didn’t seem to be asking purely to throw Maomao off. She enjoyed hearing the answer.

“Well, first, I wondered why we were split into two groups at all. At first I thought maybe you were just trying to be nice to me and make sure I could get here as quickly as possible. I could see the same impulse behind the way Ji—er, I mean, the Moon Prince got us that comfortable saddle. But I couldn’t shake the question: If we were going to split into two groups, why would both of the guides go with just one of them? It didn’t make sense.”

“Hoh! Hmm!”

Chue seemed like a good map reader, but even for her, a guide would be indispensable in unfamiliar territory. It was almost like she had gone out of her way not to have one.

“Secondly, that cloak,” Maomao said, pointing at the garment hanging on the wall.

“Aww, didn’t you like it?”

“I liked it very much. It kept me quite warm. The thing that struck me, though, was how lovely it is.”

“Lovely?”

Maomao looked at the cloak Chue was wearing. “I know you like to be showy, Miss Chue, so if you had two cloaks I might have expected you to take the more elaborate one for yourself. But instead you wore the plainer one.”

“Well, yes, but Miss Chue does know how to behave herself around her betters.” Her tone suggested otherwise.

“Yes, and the fact that you gave me the nicer cloak implied that it was from the Moon Prince. You bolstered that impression by talking about how he had given you the saddle. You practically had me convinced the cloak was from him too—but it wasn’t, was it?”

Maomao’s cloak had been pleasant to the touch. Covered in delicate embroidery, it would have been obvious what a fine piece of clothing it was, even at a distance.

“A cloak like that is like saying to the bandits ‘Please! Rob me!’ And by wearing a slightly plainer outfit, you made yourself look like the mark’s lady-in-waiting.”

“Hee hee hee! Miss Chue is practically your lady-in-waiting, Miss Maomao. So what you’re saying is that I separated us into two groups, then deliberately gave you a nicer cloak so that they would attack you?”

“Not so much attack me specifically. It’s more like you wanted to put all the best targets in one place.” This time Chue blinked. “If we’d all traveled with the wagon, it would have been quite a production. Having some soldiers around would have given us an advantage in battle, but we’d also have been with people who weren’t accustomed to being attacked. If we let them get traumatized, it might have had a negative impact on our work—not to mention the distinct possibility that they might be taken as hostages.”

The relentlessly ordinary Lahan’s Brother was a perfectly strong, healthy guy, but he didn’t seem like an experienced brawler. Maomao suspected he was as afraid of a fight as the next person.

“If, instead, we went in two groups, one of which was not only smaller but included someone who obviously looked like money, the bandits would be more likely to attack that group. Two women, one man—the man being Master Basen, who despite his outrageous strength still has that baby face and a relatively small build for a soldier. When they said to leave the women, they weren’t thinking of selling us, were they? It was about the potential for ransom.”

The bandits would never have expected Basen to turn out to be a bear in a man’s clothing. But he was a lion-slayer, after all.

“That’s all very clever, Miss Maomao, but if it’s true, how did Miss Chue draw those bandits out at exactly the right moment? You can wear all the nice cloaks you want, but they were obviously waiting for us. They showed up at the perfect time, you might say.”

“That would actually explain why you were talking to one of the guides earlier. Here’s the third thing that made me suspicious: you spoke to one of the guides as soon as we arrived in the village. I think it’s reasonable to assume that you thought one of them was crooked before you ever hired them.” She thought of how the man paled as Chue spoke. “Before that first group left, you told each of the guides different things, didn’t you? Like which watering hole the second group would use. You pull out a map and say you want to make sure of where you can take a rest. Convenient way to let them know where you’re going to be, isn’t it?”

There were any number of ways the guide might have slipped information to the bandits, even if Maomao didn’t know exactly which one he’d used. Who knows. Could have been pigeons, like the White Lady.

“You deliberately hired a shady guide, someone you thought was in cahoots with bandits. Then you told each of them that you would be resting at a different location, so that you knew where you might be attacked. Was that so you could be sure which of the guides was clean? What if they’d both been dirty?”

Chue raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. “It was just the one of them!” she chirped. “I knew exactly who the other one was.”

“Was this on the Moon Prince’s orders?” Maomao had begged Jinshi to use her like a tool, so a situation like this wasn’t completely unexpected. But it was out of character for him.

“No, it wasn’t. You guessed right; I got the cloak for you.”

“Is that so?”

It probably really wasn’t Jinshi, then. Did Chue belong to some chain of command that didn’t include him?

“You make Miss Chue’s life very hard, Miss Maomao, being so smart. Did you know that?”

“You don’t make my life any easier, Miss Chue, with the way I never know what you’re thinking.”

They both sighed.

“Miss Maomao, I have two requests.”

“Yes?”

“Miss Chue is always her cheerful, easygoing Chue self, so please always treat Miss Chue as you would treat Miss Chue.” She pulled out a string of little flags. Shoop.

“I’m...not sure what that means, but okay.” Maomao took the string and let it dangle from her fingers, unsure what else to do with it.

“In that case, Miss Maomao, Miss Chue has one other request for you. And it comes with a question.”

“Yes?”

“What made you think that that lovely, expensive cloak might not have come from the Moon Prince?” She seemed genuinely curious.

“I just thought that if he gave me something like that, it would have been of fine make, but more subdued. More practical.”

“Is that all?”

“That’s where we are right now.”

Jinshi had started to understand Maomao’s preferences.

Chue narrowed her eyes and looked to the entrance of the tent.

“Terribly sorry to disturb you,” a woman said from outside.

“Yes? Come in,” Maomao said, and there was a rustling of felt.

“Excuse me,” said a middle-aged woman, peering in. She was holding reins. “I’ve brought three goats as you asked. What would you like me to do with them?”

“Great! Thank you. Here’s payment.” Chue pressed some coins into the woman’s hand. She must have asked for these animals before coming to the tent.

Is she planning to take those goats home?

If she just wanted to eat them, it would be cheaper to buy some that had already been killed and butchered—and she wouldn’t need three of them. Between the goats and the duck, they were on their way to having their own farm.

Chue took the goats’ reins and dug through her luggage until she came up with a heavy-looking bag.

“What’s that?”

“It’s salt! We’re not near the ocean, and you can’t get rock salt around here, so salt is a treasured commodity. One our goat friends happen to love!”

“And, uh, what is this salt for?” Maomao couldn’t imagine where Chue was going with this.

Chue grinned. “Negotiating! With the goats and the salt. Miss Chue is a pacifist, you see. She likes to do things the quiet way when she can. I’m sleepy, but I’ve got to take care of a job. You just rest your poor, tired self, Miss Maomao.”

Chue twirled back toward the entrance of the tent, and then she was gone, goats and all.