The Wandering God

50 Well Water Does Not Mix With River Water 2/3

井水不犯河水
jǐngshuǐ bù fàn héshuǐ
Well water does not intrude into river water.
I'll mind my own business, you mind yours.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Our first stop on the river was a small village, more a hamlet really. It was simply a collection of inns, clustered around the end of a long dock to which countless barges and river ships were moored.

It stopped raining as we docked. We moored our own barge to the stern of another. Kageyama passed the dock master a coin to watch it, and then we walked along the wide dock toward the inns.

There was a crowd on the dock, and it grew larger as we reached the land. Traders from every corner of the empire and beyond swarmed around us. There were men and mu'ren of all sizes and shapes, with hair and skin of every shade. The common jet black of the Inner Empire, to browns to blondes.

There was even a shade of pale green tinged with blue. A Dayang, I guessed. Unusual hair coloring was often seen the Great Sheep clan, either occurring naturally or dyed.

I was enjoying the sights and sounds of the busy place when I caught sight of something that made my skin tingle. Ahead of us a shaggy blonde head stood above the crowd, atop a thick neck and broad shoulders. My heart twinged with familiarity, even as I told it it was wrong.

"So live well, yeah, Ao?" Zakhar said, in my arms.

I was trying. But it was hard

The large blonde head turned, and I beheld an unfamiliar face. My stomach dropped and my heart twisted painfully. I warned you, I told it. I warned you.

"Ao? Are you alright?" asked Sanli, turning back. I had stopped walking without realizing.

"Yes," I said. I hurried my steps to catch up to the prince.

The crowd grew even thicker closer to the inns. Here there were women as well among the men. A few were trader's wives or traders themselves, but most were sing-song girls from local inns, sent out by proprietors to lure customers back to their establishments. Their beautifully colored robes set them apart from the simple homespun clothed crowd, as did their voices and the notes the floated from the instruments they played.

I was dressed in boys clothing, hair tied back in a tail, and was glad for it. The sing-song women were attracting a lot of attention from the predominantly male crowd. For some reason, as of late, I did not crave attention as I once had.

"They say river girls are the most beautiful of all," said Sanli, winking at a tall beauty in a bright blue robe as she tottered passed on too tall shoes. She was strumming a lute and humming. A small boy followed her to hold up the train of her robes.

The woman's eyes caught on Sanli. The prince himself stood out amid all the rough traders, and I could see the woman's surprise turn to pleasure as she beheld him. A prince among men, she was thinking.

I remember how I had thought the same thing when I first caught sight of the little prince in Nan'ye, months ago.

The sing song woman smiled her red painted lips at Sanli seductively, then moved past loudly calling out the name of her establishment between sung words and the strums of her lute.

"Hmmm," I mused, as Sanli turned around to watch the woman's retreat. "Is this why you wanted to go on a cruise?"

"What?" Sanli was all innocence. "I simply wanted to make a few memories before you left."

"Memories with pretty river girls?" Kageyama asked suspiciously.

"Why, with this pretty river girl!" said Sanli, throwing an arm about my shoulder. "She really is from the river, you know."