A WESTERNER'S ROUTES INTO THE MARTIAL UNIVERSE

Chapter 8. The Rain

Wang Xiaobo and Miss He were standing in the courtyard, between two elegant trees planted on both sides of the stairs. The young people engaged each other in a lively conversation while waiting for Wen Zhi Ji to finish his talk with the Sect Leader. Coming down the stairs, Kathryn experienced an optical illusion: a subtle heat shimmer surrounded the talking disciples, but disappeared as soon as Kathryn came close. The weather was not hot and she could only attribute the vision to her troubled state of mind.

A few heavy drops of the starting rain fell on Kathryn's head. She shivered, thinking how dreary it would be to go on the run when the weather decided to take a turn for the worse. To pick an umbrella, she would have to return to her mansion in the Library Court. She could also find something along the lines of a raincoat there; there must be a suitable item of clothing in Wen Zhi Ji's wardrobe that could protect a person from nasty weather - after all, he was such an ardent traveler. She remembered the silver ingots in her host's wallet, lying on one of the tables in the studio.

Kathryn did not think about money when she went to meet with the Sect Leader, and that was her mistake. There were no shops on the grounds of the Three Planes estate, and everything necessary was probably bought in Shulong. The situation however remained too unpredictable not to foresee a potential need to disappear on very short notice. From now on, money should always be on her wherever she planned to go!

The two young people were not oblivious to the change in the skies either.

"It looks like it's going to rain." Wang Xiaobo stated the obvious with a wide smile and no visible unhappiness at the prospect of getting wet. "If we hurry now, we can make it back to the library before getting all drenched."

"Maybe we better return to the guest room and wait till the rain is over?" said Miss He.

Kathryn declined the offer. She had endured a difficult hour in the presence of the Sect Leader when she had to smile and talk while making desperate efforts to stifle her urge to bolt out of the Three Tiers Mansion and never look back.

"No, Xiaobo's right. The rain's just starting. If we walk fast enough, we'll be able to outrun it. Are you so afraid of getting wet?"

The gods of rain in that land had a sense of humor. The moment Kathryn pronounced her hopeful words, the heavens opened up and a wall of water slammed down on the ground, turning a few drops into a deluge. The two young people ran fast into one of the roofed porches, and Kathryn followed suit.

"Me and Xiaobo will wait here. The rain will stop soon. Miss He, you should get back and change into dry clothes."

First Xiaobo and then Miss He looked into the darkened sky with eyes full of doubt but neither contradicted Kathryn's highly far-fetched weather forecast. Kathryn realized that returning to the house would have been the best thing to do but she had no courage left to face any new people with any new conversations.

"I like rain." She hoped it did not sound too unrealistic. "I like the sound and the streams of water rushing down from above."

Xiaobo smiled and put out his hand to get a few drops from the roof into his palm.

"A good rain knows its proper time. Even though it's summertime and daytime."

Something in his voice made Kathryn wonder if there was more behind his words but a poetic attitude to rain. A thought flashed through her mind that, in some uncanny way, Wang Xiaobo had perceived her wish to run away from the Sect and was now praising the rain for disrupting her plan.

She saw Miss He smile at the young man with appreciation in her eyes as if the girl also knew what he was talking about.

"The flowers in Shulong, all weighed down with rain."