Title: Investigating Stillness 2/3
Fandom: Card Captor Sakura
Series: Faces of the Moon
Summary: In which the wheel turns
Characters: Yue (Xue Fang), Keroberous, Meihua (OC), Tou (OC), the Shipcaptain, Li Daran
Warnings: Oblique references to violence. Original characters. People being horribly domestic.

Investigating Stillness (2/3)

Day 7

"The lion-eating poet in the stone corner," Tou declaimed. "See? I'm not drunk. Not drunk at all." He drained another cup of gingery wine and blinked as the crowd of sailors, labourers, and itinerant loafers blurred in front of him. But that was only the smoke, both acrid and sweet, hazing up to the heavy-rafter ceiling of the public room.

The European who sat in front of him, in the black coat with the shiny buttons, laughed behind his neat blond beard, and wrinkles formed around his bright eyes. "I have no idea what you just said, my friend. Shi shi shi shi shi?"

"Is Chinese!" roared Tou. "The wisdom of the inscrutable East! Shi is shi. Is lion, is poet, is four, is lots of things. "You just say differently," he said, gesturing with a hand to mimic the intonations of the syllables. "Sing it."

The European's eyes twinkled. "The stone poet in the dead lion," he tried, then, "Forty-four corners die. The lion eats stones." He shrugged, and folded his short, blunt hands on the table, where the stones in his rings twinkled. "I am not as articulate as you, my friend."

This was a great guy, considered Tou, but he thought too little of himself: Tou clapped him on the shoulder and said, "You can be articulate if you try. Even the greatest sage started with baba and mama. It is truth." Somewhere in the warmth of the ginger wine, the thought drifted up that perhaps Tou should not be using words like 'articulate' in common conversation - not in his milk tongue, not talking in a foreign language either, however unlikely he was to meet this nice guy again. Oh. Maybe he was drunk. He let out a huge belch to kind of cover things up, but the European was looking down at the wares on the table again.

There was an eclectic spread: piles of rough amethyst, scraps of jade for stringing around children's necks on red cord, golden chains, a little soapstone icon that looked like Buddha with a topknot and big feet, two fine daggers, the blades wavy from the folding of the steel, a knot of bright silk scarves, a bundle of baseball cards, and a box of mugwort moxibustion needles. The European shifted the two knives, the scarves, and the cards to his side of the table, poked dismissively at the stones, and considered gravely the moxibustion needles and a box of sticky black bricks half hidden by the other merchandise.

"I'm really looking for incense," he admitted.

Tou twitched. "I don't have that," he said at last, the cold wave of sobriety washing over him, "just the medicinals," pointing at the moxibustion needles. Wait - did he just say 'medicinals'? "There's a shop around the corner, set you up real nice."

"I've been there," said the European mildly, "and to Mama Chen's. Neither had what I was looking for."

Tou shrugged sadly. "Then I cannot help. I don't know incense. Just a dumb coolie, yeah?"

"Ah, so," said the European, rubbing his chin. "Such a pity! I would pay good money for..." he pronounced the Cantonese words carefully, "'Walking Heaven' incense?"

Tou shrugged, making his face impassive. "I don't know incense." Though the public room was a warm haven against the winter chill outside, and he really needed to make a sale, he really wanted to be somewhere else right now. Across the room, the band came back from their break, and a woman in a red dress started singing warm contralto songs.

"They don't make that stuff any more," a light and breathless voice said over Tou's right shoulder. It was young Wang Yan Tao, the son of a clerk and proud of his English when he slummed it down here, proud enough to eavesdrop and to interrupt, and he was going to get himself in trouble one day - maybe this one. Tou glared at him, but the boy went on, "There was only the one family that could do it, up on the Hill, but they died. They say" he added brightly, "that it was not just the Triads who burned them out, but the very gods of Hell wanted them gone." Tou didn't move.

"My," said the European, bright eyes wide, that's a tall order. "Whatever did they do to warrant such a reception?"

"Changed fate," came another voice, coming warm and mellow from Tou's left. He saw with gratitude his friend Li, blinking gentle eyes behind tiny round glasses, set in a plump brown face.

"Kid," said Li, dropping his hand on the Wang Yan Tao's shoulder, "the men are doing business." The boy looked like a puppy who'd been rapped on the nose, but Li smiled gently and added, "See you tonight, the usual," and Wang Yan Tao brightened as he hurried away. Li blew on his hands, still in fingerless gloves from the outside chill, and folded back his coat. "And you," he smiled at Tou. He nodded courteously to the European, and wended his way to the bar.

*

In her quiet room, Meihua stood on a wooden stool in front of her worktable. She had just finished grinding the fragments of seasoned sandalwood and tested the consistency of the powder with her fingers. It was fine and even, and just a little coarse against her skin. The smell rose, rich and aromatic. She dusted her fingers, and used a small, deep-bellied spoon to add careful quantities to the mix curing in a great stone bowl, and folded it all together with a china spatula.

"I think that I am getting better at this," she said to the silent cat, or the empty air - whichever was true. "I am still not as good as Mama, but I am getting better. My nose has more patience now.

"Do you want to know what I am doing, Xue Fang?" she asked. "I am making incense! It is for health, and for offering at temples, because Buddha likes it I think, and because it smells nice." She dimpled. "Maybe that is why Buddha likes it." She fumbled open a paper-wrapped package and drew her head back suddenly. "Oh my," she said, "these shells smell very fishy. Did Big Brother pick them up off the beach?" She picked one out, feeling the texture under her fingers - ridged and a little rough on one side, slippery smooth on the other - hopped off her stool, and walked to the divan bed. "Would you like to smell?" She knelt and offered the shell into the darkness underneath the bed. Something rustled and shifted underneath. Meihua held very still, and waited, but no soft nose came up to sniff her hand or the shell. She bobbed her head, finally, and returned to her table.

She dropped the shells in a bowl of fresh water to soak. "I don't need these for five more days, so we have time," she said, then, "You want to know what I am talking about, Xue Fang, or at least or I imagine you do, which is enough for now.

"This is very difficult incense to make," she explained. "It takes 108 days and the ingredients need to be added on proper days, to season together, and because the auspices work that way. I had to get Big Brother to chart the feng shui for me, because the hills and waterways are very different from where we used to live. Then I had to think through the changes to the recipe and work out the horoscopes, which wasn't difficult but it was tricky because I didn't have Mama's manuals anymore. I don't think Big Brother could sit still long enough to do that." She giggled. "He's very sweet, and smarter than he thinks he is, but he prefers to be doing things.

"And he is a terrible liar, Xue Fang."

She yawned. "It's time for sleeping. You know, Xue Fang," she said quietly as she pulled up the bed-covers, "if you ate or drank, I wouldn't think less of you at all. I promise."

*

"Did it really grant wishes?" asked Li, burying his hands in his pockets as they walked along the harbour.

"I can't make the stuff," grunted Tou. "I never had the knack for that sort of thing." In the water, the grey steamships bulked large amid the smaller ships and junks and houseboats, like elephants crowding the other beasts out of a waterhole. The water was filthy - Tou wrinkled his nose as a bit of rotting cabbage drifted by in the dark water.

"I didn't ask if you could make it," Li said mildly, "I asked if it really worked. Something I had to wish for wouldn't truly be mine, now would it?"

Tou said nothing, and they wended their way to a more affluent part of town, and slipped through a side gate into a large family compound. The gate-keeper scowled at Li, but he beamed back happily and said, "The festival's only two weeks away. We have to practice when we can."

The kid, Wang Yan Tao, and his friend Chen Courageous Learning were already waiting in a dimly lit courtyard fringed with wisteria, wearing fluffy trousers and holding the gaudy mirrored heads of lion costumes. Li beamed. "Are you feeling your lionish heart?"

"Rowwr," said Tou.

*

Meihua dreamed that night, of being held in strong arms like her brother held her. The wind was bitter and pulled at her hair and clothes, and she heard the ruffling sound of wings moving somewhere. No-one spoke. But when a cool hand was pressed against her eyes, somehow she could see all the lights of the city below, and all the stars of a clear chilly night.

Then the dream changed, and she was lying in the dark listening to a growly-boomy voice speak on and on:

I have to believe you are the cat, because, because I just have to. I don't want Yue to be gone for good, so you're just you, alright? Stop licking yourself, it's disgusting. I have your attention, now? Well good. At least your eyes are the same. Confound it, stop batting at me. I am not a toy, blasted kitty, and you'll scratch my finish.

So. Somehow you got out of the book. Telling me how would be dandy, so I could help you out with the Guarding thing. Telling me anything at all would - ah, let's not go there again. So I'm supposed to pick a new master, huh? Tough call. I think I'll wait a bit.

There was a story about a bookmark that turned into a beautiful woman. How did she stand being stuck in a book before someone found her?

How do you wait, Yue?

NOTES

Shi is shi... Shi is also the verb 'to be', or 'is', in at least one dialect of Chinese. That conversation could have gotten incredibly confusing if they weren't talking English.

moxibustion needles... Moxibustion involves burning mugwort very close to what are generally considered acupuncture points (moxibustion is probably the older technique). Sometimes the mugwort is on a stick, held close to the point, formed into a cone burned directly on the skin, sometimes in a little ball on an acupuncture needle. This last is what Tou is selling.

All I know of making incense I got out of books and the Internet (because the Internet never lies ^__^) The stuff about waiting for auspicious days I made up, but it does need to season, and I have encountered recipes with cowrie shells in them.

So I was reading up on Lion Dances, and apparently back in the day the dancers often had links with gangs and such. I'm not sure if the reputation still holds. They appear at festivals, and in some styles the heads have horns and mirrors on their foreheads. I'll put up better references in the next chapter.

Confound it... This is before Keroberous acquired his slangy Osakan accent. For the purposes of indicating the difference, I ended up with an Englishy feel. Clow Reed was half-English - I don't think I'm messing with canon too much.