‘I, too, Tsu Ma. This has been an evening to remember.'
Tsu Ma sat back. ‘That's true.' He shivered, then seemed to come to himself again and smiled. ‘But, come, I am neglecting the Lady Wu.' He turned to Wu Tsai, his smile widening. ‘Do you play anything, my lady?'
Li Yuan smiled, recognizing that Tsu Ma was hinting he should go after his wife. With a bow to his guests he went. But Fei Yen was not inside the pagoda. He stood there in the empty room for a moment, frowning, hearing only the laughter from the terrace outside. Then he heard her, calling him softly from the far side of the pagoda.
They strolled back across the bridge, his arm about her neck, her tiny body pressed warm and tight against his side. The night was mild and dark and comforting about them, but the terrace was empty, the pagoda too. Li Yuan looked about him, puzzled, then stiffened, hearing a splash in the water close by.
He crouched, facing the danger. ‘Get behind me, Fei Yen!' he said, quietly but urgently, drawing the dagger from his boot.
A peal of laughter rolled out from the darkness hut, darkness in front of them; rich and deep and full of warmth. Li Yuan relaxed. It was Tsu Ma.
‘Gods! What are you doing?'
Tsu Ma came closer, into the light of the lanterns. The water was up to his chest and his hair was slicked back wetly from his forehead.
‘Swimming,' he answered. ‘It's lovely. The water's much warmer than I thought it would be.'
‘And the Lady Wu? Has she gone back?'
In answer there was a splashing to their left and a second whoop of laughter.
‘You should come in, you two!' she yelled. ‘It's marvellous!'
Li Yuan looked about him, puzzled.
Tsu Ma saw and laughed. ‘If you're looking for our clothes, they're in the boat. It was the Lady Wu's idea. She told me there were fish in the lake and I wanted to see for myself.'
‘And were there?' It was Fei Yen. She had come alongside Li Yuan and was standing there, looking across at Tsu Ma. He stood straighter in the water, his broad chest glistening wetly in the multicoloured light.
‘Only an eel,' Wu Tsai answered, coming nearer, her naked shoulders bobbing above the surface of the water. ‘A rather stiff little eel...'
‘Wu Tsai!' Fei Yen protested, but even Li Yuan was laughing now.
‘They say the god Kung-Kung who brought the Great Flood was an eel,' Tsu Ma said, scooping water up over his chest and arms as if he were washing. ‘A giant eel. But look, you two, if you're not going to join us, then perhaps you should let us join you. Li Yuan... if you would avert your eyes while the Lady Wu gets out and finds her clothes?'
‘Of course...' Li Yuan turned away, hearing the giggling that went on behind his back as Fei Yen went across to help her cousin.
‘All right,' Wu Tsai said, after a while. ‘You can turn round now, Prince Yuan.'
He turned back. Wu Tsai was kneeling in the boat, fastening her silks. She looked up at him, grinning. ‘You really should have joined us.'
He hesitated, conscious of Tsu Ma, naked in the water close by, and of Fei Yen, crouched there beside the boat, watching him.
‘It would not have been right...'
Wu Tsai shrugged, and climbed up on to the bank. ‘I thought we had made a toast.' Her eyes flashed mischievously. ‘You know, eternal friends, and all that...'
Tsu Ma had pushed forward through the water until he was standing just below the deep lip of the bank. Now he spoke, placing his hands flat on the stone flags at the lake's edge. ‘Prince Yuan is right, Lady Wu. Forgive me, I wasn't thinking. It would be most... improper.'
Wu Tsai brushed past Li Yuan provocatively, then glanced back at Fei Yen, smiling. ‘I just thought it would have been fun, that's all. Something a little different.'
Li Yuan turned angrily, glaring at her, then, biting back the retort that had come to mind, he turned back, looking at Fei Yen.
She was standing now, her head bowed, her whole stance submissive.
He took a step towards her, one hand raised in appeal. ‘You must see how wrong it would have been?'
Her eyes lifted, met his, obedient. ‘Of course, my husband.'
He let his breathing calm, then turned back, looking across at the T'ang. ‘And you, Tsu Ma? What do you wish? Should we retire to the pagoda while you dress?'
Tsu Ma laughed, his body dark and powerful in the water. ‘Gods, no, Yuan. This is much too nice. I think I', tn&rsI'll swim back. Float on my back a bit and stare up at the stars.'
Yuan bowed his head. ‘Of course. As you will. But what will you do when you get to the far shore?'
But Tsu Ma had turned already and was wading out into the deeper water. He shouted back his answer as he slipped into the blackness. ‘Why, I'll get out of the water, Yuan! What else should I do?'
At eleven the next morning, Tolonen was standing at the West Window in the Room of the Five Directions in the East Palace at Tongjiang, looking out across the gardens towards the lake. He had been summoned to this meeting at short notice. That, in itself, was not unusual; but for once he had been told nothing of the reason for the meeting. It was that – that sense of unpreparedness – which made him feel restless standing there; made him turn and pace the room impatiently.
He had paused before the great mirror at the far end of the room, straightening the collar of his uniform jacket, when the door behind him opened. He turned, expecting Li Shai Tung, but it was the Prince, Li Yuan, who entered.
‘Prince Yuan,' he said, bowing.
Li Yuan came forward, extending an arm to offer the Marshal a seat. ‘Thank you for coming, Knut. My father will join us later.'
Tolonen bowed again, then sat, staring pointedly at the folder in Li Yuan's lap. ‘Well, Yuan, what is it?'
Li Yuan smiled. He enjoyed the old man's bluntness – a trait that had grown more pronounced with every year.
‘My father has asked me to talk to you on a certain matter. When I've finished, he'll come and speak with you himself. But what I have to say has his full approval. You can direct any questions – or objections – to me, as if you were speaking to my father.'
‘Objections?' Tolonen raised his chin. ‘If Li Shai Tung has approved it, why should I have objections? He has a job for me, neh?'
‘A task, let's say. Something which he feels you should oversee.'
Tolonen nodded. ‘I see. And what is this task?'
Li Yuan hesitated. ‘Would you like refreshments while we talk?'
Tolonen smiled. ‘Thank you, Yuan, but no. Unless your father wishes to detain me, I must be in Nanking three hours from now to meet Major Karr.'
‘Of course. Then we'll press on. It would be best, perhaps, if you would let me finish before asking anything. Some of it is quite complex. And, please, record this if you wish.'
Tolonen bowed his head, then turned his right hand palm upward and quickly tapped out the command on the grid of tiny flesh-coloured blisters at his wrist. That done, he settled back, letting the young Prince speak.
Li Yuan watched the Marshal while he talked, barely referring to the folder in his lap, unless it was to take some diagram from it and hand it to Tolonen. He watched attentively, noting every frown, every look of puzzlement, every last betraying blink or twitch in the old man's face, anxious to gauge the depth of his feelings.
Tolonen had not smiled throughout the lengthy exposition. He sat there, grim-faced, his left hand gripping the arm of his chair. But when Yuan finished, he looked down, giving a great heave of a sigh.
‘Can I speak now, Yuan?' Tolonen said, his eyes pained, his whole face grave.
‘Of course. As I said, you must speak to me as if I were my father. Openly. As you feel.'
Prepared as he was, Li Yuan nonetheless felt a sudden tightening in his stomach. He respected Marshal Tolonen greatly; had grown up in the shadow of the old man. But in this, he hanhe shis, he knew, they were of a different mind.
Tolonen stared at him a moment, nodding, his lips pressed tightly together, his earnest grey eyes looking out from a face carved like granite. Then, with a deep sniff that indicated he had considered things long enough, he began.
‘You ask me to speak openly. Yet I feel I cannot do that without offending you, Li Yuan. This is, I take it, your idea?'
Li Yuan could sense the great weight of the Marshal's authority bearing down on him, but steeled himself, forcing himself to confront it.
‘It is.'
‘I see. And yet you command me – speaking with your father's voice – to answer you. Openly. Bluntly.' He sighed. ‘Very well then. I'll tell you what I feel. I find this scheme of yours repugnant.'
Li Yuan shivered, but kept his face impassive. ‘And I, Marshal Tolonen. And I. This is not something I want to do.'
‘Then why?'
‘Because there is no other way. None that would not result in greater violence, greater bloodshed than that which we are already witnessing.'
Tolonen looked down. Again he sniffed deeply. Then he looked up again, shaking his head. ‘No. Even were the worst to come, this is no path for us. To put things in men's heads. To wire them up and treat them like machines. Achh...' He leaned forward, his expression suddenly, unexpectedly, passionate. ‘I know what I am, Li Yuan. I know what I have had to do in the service of my T'ang. And sometimes I have difficulty sleeping. But this... this is different in kind. This will rob men of their freedom.'