Emeralds and Enemies

Chapter Four

As soon as he got back home San Jin made notes about who came to lunch and his brief interaction with Scout Jia Ying-so. It was not an official requirement for the son of a minister but a habit his father's assistant strongly encouraged. Then he reviewed and updated his letters of recommendation for his students so they would be ready when the runner came. After that he worked off some of his frustrations against the practice dummy in the back courtyard.

His precocious young brother waved him over and asked, "Were your old school friends maddening or just disappointing?"

He took the towel Me Yan offered and stared into space for a moment. "A bit of both, I guess," San Jin sighed. "I shouldn't have taken them to the Plum Tree, it was just embarrassing. They were rude to some of the servers so I had to offer an extra gratuity."

"Nothing out of the ordinary then," Me Yan's tone underscored his dislike for some of his brother's old school friends. He stopped himself from saying more when he saw how his brother's face changed into a distantly polite mask. "Sorry," he mumbled then held up his literature homework, "Can you help me untangle this poem? Please?"

"Let me guess, you have an essay due tomorrow?" San Jin teased his little brother who excelled in maths and sciences but claimed literature and classics were devious forms of torture.

Me Yan could only grin "I know you like revisiting the poems. You told me once they were like old friends. Steadfast and reliable. You should really think about doing your literature degree. Bashing people around for sport isn't really your style."

"I don't know. Sometime a clean bash is pretty rewarding." He took a mock swipe at his brother who just danced away. It did not take long to get Me Yan back on track with his essay so San Jin sat back and re-read some of his favourite verses until they were called to dinner.

As usual his father was held up at the office. He could see his mother's disappointment and worked hard to try to cheer her up. The jokes he made at the expense of his former classmates had a bit more of an edge to them than he realized. He started one of his anecdotes with an impression of one of the boys saying, "I don't mean to brag" and then giving a laundry list of things others assumed came with higher status. "Really, the third time he said it I nearly yelled of course you mean to brag, why else announce it that way. He wouldn't know humility if it smacked him upside the head."

"It probably will. You know the teaching about not inviting the fates to serve you a lesson." Me Yan said.

"I guess that means I needed a lesson in patience." San Jin passed his brothers favourite side dish closer and smiled his apology to his mother for his ill temper.

"Maybe it was just a lesson that it is time to accept there are different seasons in life and in relationships." His mother saw his confusion so was more direct. "We wondered when you might start out growing those boys."

San Jin just stared at her. "You never said anything before."

"It was not my place. There is nothing wrong with diverse associations and I am sure you have learned from them. I just don't think being with them makes you happy, or even less lonely."

He started to object but then thought about the way things had been going, and how few interested he shared with the members of the group. It would have been nice to hear more about Indachine from Ja-Kyung but the boy dodged the topic with only the most superficial comments about fishing in bad weather. The erstwhile leader of their little group also managed to give the impression there had been much more to his trip than stopping in at the usual tourist destinations but it was only an impression.

Ja-Kyung had indeed been on his first assignment for his family. His information gathering excursions, however, did not go well. Or, more correctly, his habit of embellishing his findings with his own flights of fancy, created trouble for those trying to gage how clandestine trade might be viewed in the island nation. It had stung to have his father tell him he was less than useless. He hoped the tidbit of sighting Knight-Master Lie with some of his former officers might help redeem him.

Unfortunately, his father already had a briefing on the matter. The only thing Ja-Kyung could add was Scout Jia being interested in some of San Jin's fencing students.

"Wait. You are saying San Jin and Scout Jia know each other? How friendly did they seem? What about his associates, did they seem interested?"

Ja-Kyung had learned his lesson. He talked only about what he had seen and what San Jin said directly. He did not admit that San Jin disrupted his only chance to eavesdrop on the Knight-Master's party but his father seemed to already suspect something of the sort. Then he let his curiosity get the better of him. "Does it matter if they are interested in San Jin. I mean he is going on to the championships so will have his pick of postings."

"The champion son of one the King's staunchest supporters? It might matter a great deal. I hope you keep up your friendship with him. Even if it means going back to the practice courts."

Ja-Kung blushed at his father's remark. His mediocre standing in the qualifying rounds had been another source of disappointment. They both knew it was because he simply had not put in the hours. He also knew, given San Jin's schedule, the most likely place to meet him would be back at the dojo. They weren't training at the same level anymore, so he needed push through and score well in the local ranking matches. It was the best option since there was no way he wanted his father to pay for private fencing lessons from San Jin.