The Sack of the Summer Palace

Epilogue

The Cat Who Swats at Thunderheads stood in the high branches of an old tree north of the Summer Palace, watching the flames dance. Eventually, the laundress Aditi appeared by his side, as though she had always been there. They exchanged a glance acknowledging one another's presence; then, with the same suddenness as Aditi's appearance, they changed aspects—the Cat not much altered in face or form, but now in the tatty costume of an itinerant swordsman, and Aditi subtly transfigured from young to ageless, with a leather satchel by her side, dressed formally in a faintly unfashionable qipao. 

"I count that a job well done," said the Cat—whom we will now call by his real name, Ratter Jhan. 

"We were not asked to sack the palace," said Aditi—whose real name, likewise, was Unerring Jangmu. 

"It is in the interest of servants to deliver more than they are asked for," said Jhan. "This produces favorable impressions in those who employ them."

Jangmu shrugged, and that tiny movement of her shoulders communicated all the disdain one could hope for from a shrug. "The King is on the prowl," she said.

"And the tisane will have done its work, you judge?"

"It has done it already, I judge; the queens are run ragged, poor dears, and nary a clean sheet in the palace. If he fails to plant a bastard somewhere, it will not be for lack of will. And the Blue knows there are cooped-up wives enough out in these frozen tree-deserts, panting for diversion."

“It seems an uncertain plan.”

“How, the fencer begs the scribe for certainty?”

“Mm,” said Jhan, acknowledging the touch. “Who was the girl who fought me? She is brave and clever." He thought a moment. "Taken in by our wer-tiger ruse, granted. Still, I have a mind to find her in a year or two, when she has ripened."

"You killed her, Ratter."

"The Crescent," said Jhan, wondering, "so I did. She was a miserable fencer."

"She was a tray-carrier and novice sommelier, infatuated with a warrior of no account who would have treated her rather well for the rest of her life. She never thought to find herself in mortal dispute."

"Well, the killing was accident entire. I am not used to foes who cannot dodge a slow thrust." He stared into the middle distance for a moment, revising. "Or, rather, I am not used to sparing such foes' lives. Do you think she is bound for the Celestial Courts?"

"Perhaps; there was little sin in her, and a bit of merit. Or back to the wheel, perhaps, to develop.”

"Which circuit, do you think? If it is the Courts?"

"Leave it, Ratter." 

Jangmu's voice brooked no gainsaying. The pair stood in the great tree, watching, until the palace was only embers.