A Jade Dragon

Chapter 8: A Step Into Uncertainty

Sam galloped along with Lord Joon towards Tiqui in one of the usual trips around the Northwest Province. Along with the regular escort, the two traveled through the extensive grasslands of the empire's northern reaches as Joon visited various imperial officials, landed lords, and army officers posted to several points along the boundaries with the steppes.

After the two stopped for the night at the home of Salik Hong, Lord of Keizyo, Sam was treated to the usual hospitality of lords in the empire. There was a feast, music, good conversations, and dancers of both genders. It was also the first time that Sam was looked after by a woman wearing elaborate robes and covered in heavy white powder on her face. He was not unfamiliar with how women freshened themselves everyday, as it was normal for women back in Westeros to whiten their face and rouge their cheeks. But this woman had so much powder on her face that it looked completely pale white, paler than the Valyrians of old from what Sam knew.

The woman, like others who served Joon, Lord Hong, and the other male guests, showed skill at different arts of the empire. She could play various instruments and perform beautiful renditions classical YiTish music. When the occasions arose, she could put on dancing performance and entrance those with lovely poetry. Sam learned that poetry in YiTi was called haiku and this woman, whose name was Eunsoo, came up with one that Sam would remember for a long time:

"Near break of the day
where a narrow, soft bed blew
enjoying the wind"

There was something simplistic and yet so rhythmic about that haiku. Sam was only inclined to read books, not create words from scratch, which made him rethink everything he thought he knew about life and the world. There were so many things that he couldn't know from books alone, and learning how to craft a verse such as the haiku was something that would take time for Sam to learn.

He then remembered when Adjutant Dae made him that offer to get him a permanent post in the empire in exchange for Quartermaster Shin's intelligence reports in their unedited form. He talked it over with Benjen, who shook his head.

"And you said that you needed time to make a decision?"

"Yes, Benjen," Sam answered.

"Not giving a straight answer to a complicated question... smart," Benjen nodded approvingly. "As you probably understand, you cannot trust what Adjutant Dae is offering you. Nothing good can come from what he wants with those intelligence reports, even though I find working with Quartermaster Shin incredibly tiresome."

"What confuses me is how... threatened Adjutant Dae felt when he talked about the quartermaster being a commoner. I should have expected it, since highborns don't usually occupy the same space as a lowborn. However, he seemed to have taken great offense at that, even though the adjutant comes from a family with a title and a close connection with the Prime Minister," Sam divulged to Benjen.

"You haven't been paying attention to your lessons, Sam," Benjen lightly scolded. "He's from a merchant family, just like my lieutenant."

"I would assume that given their ability to make coin, merchants would have some status in the empire," Sam forgot a significant detail about how society worked in Yi-Ti.

Benjen sighed. "Right, I sometimes forgot, but this is not one of those days. Do you remember why our tutor emphasized the difference between commoners and merchants?"

Sam scratched his head, trying to remember what was taught. Finally, it came back to him. "Even though merchants can earn more coin, they are below the commoners."

Benjen grinned. "Now you remember."

Society in Yi-Ti was arranged differently from how it was in Westeros. While there were still lords ruling over the land and commoners working it, the merchants were ranked lower than commoners. The reason for this peculiar arrangement was because Yi-Ti followed a line of thought that had arranged society into four categories. At the top were the those with titles and estates, and those who attained positions in the empire through the examination system, all of whom were below the imperial family. Below them were the commoners who worked the land and they were seen as essential to harmony since the empire largely depended on farming and thus had to remain where they were. Below the commoners were the artisans and craftsmen, who contributed to society by building structures, making goods, and other activities deemed essential to harmony but were not treated with the same regard as farming commoners since they had no land that the empire could tax. That is a strange reason to treat them lesser.