Leiyu and Thallios walked alongside their horses in the city streets.  Thallios looked up in awe, fascinated by the gracefully curved ceramic roofs of the surrounding buildings.

Leiyu noticed that some passersby were staring at them and whispering amongst themselves.  He surmised that Thallios’ foreign appearance was probably attracting their attention.  This city was not a major trade hub like Ishkhandar, so the people here were not accustomed to seeing travelers from other regions.  He frowned and tried to think of ways they could keep a lower profile.

They stopped at an inn and led their horses to the stables.  Returning to the main entrance, Leiyu presented a jade token to an attendant, who nodded and led them to the main dining hall.

They sat at a table and a waiter brought them small dishes.  Thallios stared at the two wooden sticks that were placed before him on the table.

“What are these?” he asked.

“Chopsticks.  You use them for eating,” Leiyu replied.

“Oh?  How do you use them?”

Leiyu demonstrated using his own pair of chopsticks.  “I may not have the best technique, but try this.  Take one of the sticks and let it rest in the space between your thumb and index finger.  Curl your ring finger downward so the stick rests along its side.”

Thallios copied him.

“Okay, now take the other stick and hold it between the tips of these three fingers,” Leiyu said, referring to his thumb, index finger, and middle finger.  “The bottom chopstick stays still while you can use your index and middle finger to move the top chopstick.”

Thallios tried to follow suit, but his grip on the chopsticks was shaky.

“You can use these to pick up food,” Leiyu continued, picking up a slice of pickled cucumber.

Thallios attempted to do this but ended up dropping his food on the table.  His cheeks flushed pink.

“Don’t worry about it, this is all new for you,” Leiyu said, smiling.

***

After their meal, Leiyu spoke to the innkeeper and they were given a spacious room on the second floor with a balcony overlooking the central courtyard.  He also requested a laundry basin and bathtub, which the attendants brought and filled with hot water.

Since they had been traveling for weeks, the first thing they did was wash their dusty clothes in the laundry basin on the balcony.  The room came with robes that they wore while their clothes dried on the horizontal bamboo poles outside.

The bathtub had been placed behind a privacy screen and the water had already cooled a bit.

“You can go ahead and use it,” Leiyu said.

“Oh?  What about you?” Thallios asked.

Leiyu felt his face flush.  “I’m going to the communal baths on the ground floor.”

“Oh…you didn’t have to request a bathtub then.”

“Eh…I don’t think you’d want to use the communal baths…there’s not much privacy and you’re basically dumping a small basin of cold water on yourself.”

“Ah…okay…”

“I’ll be back in a bit,”  Leiyu said as he tightened the sash on his robe and grabbed a towel from the shelf.   Putting his bare feet in the sandals that also came with the room, he took the key and locked the door behind him as he went out into the hall.

Thallios went over to the bathtub, untied the piece of cloth that was holding up his half bun, removed his robe, and stepped in.  The water was still at a comfortable temperature.

We’ve been traveling for so long, he thought.  It’s nice to finally have a warm bath.

He submerged himself in the water and stayed there until he could no longer hold his breath.  Coming back to the surface, he inhaled fresh air, leaned his head against the side of the tub, and closed his eyes.  His mind drifted back to the palace and he remembered a luxurious golden bathtub with flower petals floating on the fragrant, essential oil-infused water.  He shook his head to rid himself of the memory.  No, that life is gone now.

He lost track of time as he lay in the water. When he heard the door unlock and creak open, his eyes shot open. He turned around, placed his arms on the rim of the tub, and propped his head on top of them.  Although the privacy screen partially blocked his view, he caught a glimpse of Leiyu as he entered.  Leiyu’s long black hair was untied and hung downward in loose wet strands.  His robe clung to him and he carried his towel in his arm.  Thallios felt his breath quicken.  Then, another thought came to mind.

“Leiyu?”

“Hm?”

“How are you paying for all of this?”

Leiyu placed the room key on a table and picked up the jade token that he had presented earlier to one of the attendants.  “Shifu gave this to me before his passing.  Since he was a local hero in his younger days, it generated a lot of goodwill.  Merchants are willing to give discounts or even things for free if I present them with this.”

“Huh…interesting…”

“I also have some saved-up money, but it won’t last forever.  We’ll need to earn more if we continue traveling.”

“Oh…how would we earn money?”

“Not sure.  We could do odd jobs here and there.  I’ll figure something out.”

Thallios got out of the bathtub and dried himself off with a towel.  He slipped on his robe, walked over to the table, and picked up his small waist pouch.  He opened it and took out his ruby hair ornament, which he had kept in there since the beginning of their journey.

“I wonder if we could get some money for this,” he said.  “I also have this necklace and bracelet.”

Leiyu’s eyes widened.  “Oh…no, you don’t have to sell your jewelry, or at least, not until we are really low on funds.  Besides, they’re so fancy that people might start wondering where they’re from.”

“True…we don’t want to attract attention.”

“Look, don’t worry about the money.  I’ll figure it out.”

Thallios looked at him pensively.  Leiyu glanced back and found himself staring at the loose auburn hair that was dripping with water.  He felt self-conscious and turned away.

There was a sound from the balcony and they turned their heads.  A slight breeze was causing their drying clothes to flutter.

“After our clothes dry, if you want, we could visit the night market downtown,” said Leiyu.

Thallios perked up.  “Oh, that sounds interesting!  Sure, we can go.”

***

The sun was sinking into the horizon and the night market was starting to come alive.  There were vendors selling food and various trinkets.  Leiyu and Thallios sampled snacks from different stalls.

Leiyu’s eyes lit up and he led Thallios to a vendor.  “This is my favorite noodle stall.  Looks like it’s still here after all these years.”

They sat at a small table in front of the stall and were presented with steaming bowls of soup noodles.  Thallios practiced using chopsticks again and had a little more success.  After finishing the noodles, they wandered around some more.  Thallios stopped in front of a dessert vendor.  He stared at the skewers of glassy colorful orbs that were protruding from the stall.

“What are these?” he asked.

“Tanghulu.  Candied fruit.  They put the fruit on a skewer and dip them in syrup.  When the syrup hardens, it looks like that.  Would you like some?”

Thallios nodded eagerly.  Leiyu smiled and bought one for him.  They continued walking around.

“Zhang Leiyu!” a voice suddenly bellowed.  Leiyu jumped and turned around.  When he saw who it was, he sighed.

“Hello, shixiong and shidi,” Leiyu said in Dongyu to the two people standing before him.  It was his martial brothers Jianyi and Anying.

“Shixiong, shidi, indeed!,” Jianyi scoffed.  “Not a word from you in over four years!”

“Shixiong, please don’t yell,” said Anying.

“I was busy,” said Leiyu.

“Busy?!  Doing what?” Jianyi demanded.

“Traveling.”

“Pssh, traveling!  Sure, you get to live frivolously while the rest of us have to take care of things here.”

Leiyu glared at him.  “It has been the opposite of frivolous…”

“Shifu would be so ashamed!  You were his most talented disciple.  Yet as soon as he’s gone, you take off.”

“I told him before he passed that I wished to go on a soul journey.  He gave me his blessings.”

“And you sure picked a damn inconvenient time to go find yourself!  Our sect fell apart after he passed.  All the other disciples joined other sects.”

“They left?”

“Yes, they left!  We were leaderless!”

“I’m sorry to hear that, but what does that have to do with me?”

“What?”

“I wasn’t the most senior disciple.  You’re older than me.”

“You were the most talented one.  Expected to take over.”

“I never wanted to be the sect leader.  I told Shifu that myself.”

“And why not?”

“Why would I?  A talented disciple does not necessarily make a great sect leader.”

Jianyi glared at him.

“Wasn’t there anyone else qualified to be the sect leader?  Couldn’t you have stepped up?  But I guess leadership isn’t your strong suit either.”

“You-!”

“Look, I apologize for not sticking around longer after Shifu’s funeral to help out with things, but I wasn’t planning on becoming the sect leader.”

“Heh, utterly useless!  Shifu should have just left you in the street where he found you all those years ago!”

“Shixiong, stop!” Anying cried out.  “That’s just cruel!”

Thallios, who had been standing there the whole time unable to understand what anyone was saying, finally spoke up in Sargeshi.  “Leiyu, who is this?”

Jianyi stopped and turned to Thallios.  He narrowed his eyes and smirked.  He replied in Sargeshi.  “Heh…I see what you were busy with.  Went out west and got yourself a girl, didn’t you?”

Thallios closed his eyes and sighed in frustration.

“And what, now you’re showing her your hometown.  Bet you didn’t mention us at all.”

“Jianyi, can you just stop?” Leiyu said, exasperated.

“Or what?”

Leiyu glared at him.

Jianyi walked up to Thallios and leaned in very close.  “What’s your name, honey?  You got a sweet name to go with that pretty face?”

“Jianyi!” Leiyu was livid.

Thallios opened his eyes.  They were glowing golden yellow.

Uh oh…Leiyu thought.

Amara pulled her dagger out of its sheath and held it up to Jianyi’s throat.

“My name?”  she asked gleefully.  “I am Amara, the deathless one!”