orchid. “My pet,” he said, “you were describing a shopping trip that the personal maid of an aristocratic lady might have taken in Hangchow.”
“Hangchow?” the prince said with a startled expression on his face.
“Indeed yes, but you're right. No such establishments exist today, and the only reason I know about them is because they were often mentioned in the casual journals of classical writers,” said Master Li. “Both one-legged Ch'ien and his famous rhinoceros hides disappeared during a fire that destroyed the entire neighborhood during the late Han Dynasty. The Coal Bridge and Kang Number Eight's were razed to make way for a new canal more than three centuries ago. Wei-the-Big-Knife's was destroyed during the turmoil of the Three Kingdoms, and so it goes with every single reference.”
Grief of Dawn's eyes were like soup bowls. “I don't remember saying any of that, and the names mean nothing to me,” she protested.
Master Li shrugged. “You were delirious. At first I thought you were citing the same journals I'd read, but they're written in ancient scholarly shorthand that none but academics can decipher. I started asking loaded questions to pin down the exact date of this marvelous shopping trip, and I found it in two references.” He went back to his notes.
MASTER LI: And what's-his-name personally blends her ink?
GRIEF OF DAWN: Yes. Li Tinghuei.
MASTER LI: And that lovely courtesan makes pink paper for her?
GRIEF OF DAWN: Shieh Tao. Yes, she is lovely.
“Li Tinghuei and Shieh Tao are mentioned again and again in classical journals,” said Master Li. “Since Tinghuei was senior by more than forty years, there could have been only a brief period when it was possible to patronize both of them. I checked the dates, and the amazing shopping trip took place between 765 and 771 years ago.”
Moon Boy and I were gaping at Grief of Dawn, who was gaping at Master Li. Prince Liu Pao looked like he was mentally counting on his fingers, and Master Li read his mind.
“Precisely! That was when the Laughing Prince and Tou Wan kept a palace in Hangchow, and Tou Wan's maid would have accompanied her between Hangchow and the Valley of Sorrows.”
Occasionally a moderately intelligent thought misses a turn and accidentally enters my mind, and I said, “Sir, in Hell you confirmed from the Recorder of Past Existences that the Broth of Oblivion isn't always properly administered, and Grief of Dawn had come to the Valley of Sorrows, but perhaps she was returning to the valley, because when she was wounded and hallucinating—”
“Good boy!” said Master Li. “I had begun to suspect that Grief of Dawn had been Tou Wan's maid in a previous incarnation. Fever allowed deep-buried memories to rise to the surface, stimulated by the familiar surroundings. I wasn't just guessing wildly, of course. An absolutely delightful pattern was beginning to emerge, and we'll get to it in a few minutes.”
We began to climb again. Master Li led the way along a twisting path, and then we got down on our knees and crawled through the opening of a cave where the angle of the sun sent a flow of warm light over a small pile of bones. We sat in a semicircle around the skeleton of Wolf and Master Li patted Grief of Dawn's knee reassuringly.
“A thought kept returning to my mind,” he said. “Was it merely the familiar landscape of the Valley of Sorrows that released memories of a long-forgotten existence, or was something more dramatic involved? The night before you were wounded, you sat here and heard the story of Wolf and Fire Girl. Folk epics of the heroic quest are almost always based upon historical fact and then embellished beyond recognition. Was there fact behind the flight of Wolf and Fire Girl? They were running beside an underground river that was lined with statues bearing heads of animals and birds. During your fever you relived parts of a terrible experience. Here's some of it.”
He picked up his notes and found the place.
GRIEF OF DAWN: Faster… Must run faster… Where is the turn?… Past the goat statue… There's the raven and the river… Faster… Faster… This way! Hurry!… Soldiers… Hide until they pass… Now run! Run!
“Interesting,” Master Li said thoughtfully. “Here's how my subconscious mind reacted in Hell.”
TOU WAN: All I had was the sliver for my hairpin… That maid, always looking at it, always wanting it, trying to steal it… I stabbed her, but she ran away with the stone… My maid and that concubine with the ring of Upuaut my husband gave her… The soldiers killed them, but they could not find the stone.
Master Li shrugged. “I have no idea why I tossed in the bit about the maid having been stabbed, but other parts are clear enough. Anyone ever hear of Asyut?”
The sudden change of subject startled us. We shook our heads negatively.
“It's a city in Egypt, or used to be,” he explained. “The patron deity was called Upuaut, and when the barbarian Greeks conquered the place, they retained the deity but renamed the city Lycopolis. Prince, can you provide a literal translation?”
The prince was obviously pleased to be able to contribute something. “City of the Wolf,” he said promptly.
“Exactly. The head of Upuaut is that of a wolf, and the artisans of the city are renowned for amulets and bracelets and rings with wolf heads.” Master Li carefully lifted the ring from the skeleton's finger bones. He displayed the faint inner markings. “Hieroglyphs. It means ‘He Who Rules the West,’ which is one of Upuaut's many titles.”
Master Li gently replaced the ring. “Did you know that it is virtually impossible to distinguish between male and female skeletons? All one had to go on is size. A fairly large boy and a small young lady would look precisely the same. You see, one of Upuaut's duties was guarding women through pregnancy, and that is why his rings were strictly for females. Nobody would give such a ring to a man or a boy, but he would give it to a concubine.” He turned to his notes.
GRIEF OF DAWN: Faster… faster… Where is the passage?… Hurry!… More soldiers… Faster… faster… Hurry, darling!… There's the ibis statue…
Master Li put his notes away. “I strongly suspect that more than seven and a half centuries ago a maid and a concubine were forced to run for their lives from the construction site of the tomb of the Laughing Prince,” he said. “Over the years the boys of the valley transformed them into Wolf and Fire Girl, but many details of the story are still accurate history. Here in this cave the concubine was caught and killed. The maid was no doubt also killed, and if I may borrow an atrocious poetic style: The Great Wheel turns, the lives roll on, the maid returns as Grief of Dawn.”
She was stunned and shaken, and Master Li patted her shoulder.
“Dear girl, we need more than this delightful hypothesis to go on,” he said quietly. “May I have your permission to try to bring buried memories of a previous incarnation up to the surface?”
“You have my permission,” she whispered.
I had seen him do it before, but it always fascinated me. Master Li took his business card from his pocket and attached it to a leather thong. (The card is a seashell, and the half-closed eye painted upon it seems to say: “Part of the truth revealed; some things I see, but some I don't.”) Slowly the shell swung before Grief of Dawn's eyes, back and forth, back and forth, while his soft voice told her she was getting sleepy. Her eyes closed. Grief of Dawn slept yet didn't sleep, and when she awoke she wasn't Grief of Dawn. She was Hyacinth Bud, the personal maid of Tou Wan.
“We're your friends, darling,” Master Li said soothingly. “We're going to help you. Do you remember running up to this cave?”
“I think so,” she whispered.
“Soldiers were chasing you?”
“Yes.”
“You and your friend?”
“Yes, Golden Belt. We ran and ran, but the soldiers were getting closer, and then we saw a small hole in the hillside and hid in here.” She looked around puzzledly and frowned. “I don't remember a skeleton.”
“Can you remember the path you took up here?”
“I think so.”
“Darling, it is very important for you to show us how you got up here to the surface. You were underground, weren't you?”
