The wagon continued along the bumpy path into Wamai for another four miles before it came to a short rest, when the mustached leader with the booming voice entered. He carried a small folding table and placed it upon the ground in the middle of the wagon, upon which another subordinate placed a bowl of steaming rice and several skewers of meat before leaving Lian and Jiang with the leader.

Lian and Jiang stood until the mustached man bowed formally and knelt down across from them and the food. The cart began moving again as Lian and Jiang knelt.

“Madam. Sir." He addressed them formally through his accent. "My name is Hoji. I apologize for the earlier rudeness. You are a guest in our land, and I must ask your forgiveness for the dishonor of my men.” He bowed his head.

Jiang and Lian exchanged a quick look. Neither of them replied.

Hoji said nothing.

Lian and Jiang said nothing.

Hoji kept his head bowed.

Jiang and Lian looked at one another again. Jiang motioned for her to say something. She shrugged her shoulders and waved her arms in confusion that indicated she had no idea what to say. Jiang grew agitated and he pointed at her then to Hoji in quick movements. Lian, indignant, shook her head and pointed back at Hoji. They both rolled their eyes and stumbled the words over one another: “You are forgiven,” they said in synchronized, exasperated tones.

“But it wasn’t necessary to take your man’s hand like that,” Lian added as Hoji rose up from his bow.

Hoji looked at her, confused. “Do you not punish thieves in your land? Did he not steal your clothing and weapon?”

“But apparently it was a misunderstanding.”

“Yes, and he paid for his… misunderstanding,” Hoji rolled the long Imperial word over in his tongue, as if tasting it.

There was no hesitancy or doubt in Hoji’s voice though. He explained it as if he was explaining the sum of a basic formula. It was just fact. Already Lian could tell that tone was not due to any linguistic barrier.

“So why are we here?” Jiang asked.

Hoji nodded before removing three sets of food sticks from his sleeve and placing them on the table. “Please, eat. I will explain.”

Lian, despite her kidnapping, persistent chill, and threat of brutal attack, was still famished from her long walk into Three Paths. Plus, she did not want to be rude. She took a set of utensils and began to eat, her attention still on Hoji.

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“My men were sent to your town to find an arbitrator. Our country does not have Shuli Go. The King is our final judge. Except when the issue is the King. Then we have a tradition of arbitrators.”

Jiang and Lian exchanged a quick look. “What issue can there be around the King?” Jiang asked.

“The King is of the age of marriage. And there are two…duchesses, I think, would be your word… that are suitable brides. Both have claim to marry the King, and so an arbitrator is required.”

“Claim to marry the King?" Jiang was confused. "How does that—” Lian touched his shoulder to silence him.

“I won’t pretend I understand exactly what you’re asking, but I can tell you that I am qualified,” Lian assured Hoji. The Wamaian’s face flooded with relief, and a smile appeared through his mustache.

“Then you are Shuli Go?”

“Yes.”

“And you have been arbitrator before?”

“Never for a King. But yes, many times before.”

“Then my mission has been a success. You will be taken to the capital, and you will see both sides of the problem.”

“Good. That’s a good start,” Lian said, even returning his smile.

“What about me? Why did you take me if you just needed her?”

“My men were to kill you if you had lied. You will remain in Hona. A town. We are going there now. You will stay until it is time for you both to return.”

Jiang again swallowed deeply. Lian chuckled.

“G-g-good,” Jiang finally managed to say.

“How far away is the capital?” Lian asked.

“Many miles. Once we reach Hona, you will be given a horse and you will travel along the fastest route. The King is expecting an arbitrator soon.”

“Ok. I, um, well, I hate to bring this up, but…”

Hoji again smiled, “Your payment?”

“It is customary for Shuli Go to discuss this in advance these days.”

“The King is a gracious man. He rewards very well, those who serve him very well.”

Lian, remembering the poverty of her trip into Three Paths, was happy to take the promise of any reward. “I guess I’ll try to serve him well then.”

Hoji smiled once again before rising from the floor of the wagon and bowing formally. “Eat. When we get to Hona, you must depart right away. You will meet our Foreign Minister. Minister Ida, who will ride with you to the capital. There will be no time to waste.” He then leapt out of the back of the cart as it moved, tumbling poetically to the ground with ease. A whistle called his horse and soon there was nothing to see out the back of the wagon except the sloped trail behind them, and the mists which seemed to grow like smoke from a fire on either side of the path.

Jiang and Lian ate mostly in silence: Jiang still shaken by the fact that one of the traits that best served him as a merchant – lying – had almost cost him his life; Lian troubled by the implied meaning of Hoji’s promise.

“He rewards very well, those who serve him very well.”

Lian did not want to think of what happened to those who did not serve him well.

In Lian’s years as a Shuli Go she had been forced to walk some very tricky political ground, but never with a King, and never in a world where she didn’t know all the variables. She was entering a playing field where she didn’t even know the rules, and the consequences for stepping outside them already seemed harsher than any she would have distributed as an officer of Imperial law. She ate the last of the rice, frozen hard in the mountain air, and worried that it may be one of her last meals.