Chang-li had never forged a document before. Now he made three in the span of two days.

The hardest part had been to hide his pilfering of official parchments; they were always accounted for, and taking sheets of the creamy pages used for official business from the tray in the outer scribing office would have been noted. Instead, he snuck into the back room where the scribes kept their supplies, took the sheets he needed from a carton that had not been previously opened, and replaced them with an inferior grade, hiding the counterfeit sheets several pages deep in the stack. When they were discovered, it would be assumed the suppliers had tried to cheat them.

The seal was easy. Inspector Ji’in never let go of his seal, but Chang-li didn't need it for these documents, only the quartermaster's seal. He had access to that while updating the records of the camp office. He had smuggled his sheets in under his outer robe, pilfered the seal. He’d rolled it on the blank sheets in the camp records room, using his own ink, then cleaned it off and returned it to its place before it could be missed.

Now Chang-li went about the next step of his plan. First, he returned to the quartermaster's office, where a supply clerk looked up at him from under bored eyelids.

"You back? I thought you were done."

"I am. New task," Chang-li presented one of his forged documents. The clerk looked it over, running his eye down the neat list.

"I could get that for you. Doesn't say where it's to be sent."

Chang-li shook his head. "I'll take it.”

“They have you doing porter work now?" The clerk looked suspicious.

Chang-li shook his head. "I, uh, lost a bet. I'll come by just at close and collect it if that's alright with you. I’m doing this in my off hours, to not let it interfere with my actual duties."

"Understood," the clerk said. "I'll have it ready for you tonight. What'd you bet on?"

"Um, some of the cultivators were having an arm wrestling match. I backed the wrong man.”

The clerk winced in sympathy. "I think sometimes they throw the fights just to fleece us ordinary mortals. I've lost enough marks on it, I won't be spending any more."

"That's smart of you," Chang-li said, and made his escape.

He came back, as promised, just at dusk. The clerk had the satchel waiting in a corner for him. Chang-li scooped it up and took it at once to his quarters, where he stowed it in his chest. He had to take out his second-best scribe's robe, roll it up, and put it behind his pillow to make room.

Inside the leather bag was a wooden box containing forty days of purification tablets. That was all a cultivator could requisition at one time without further question.

He had written the script out in the name of Zhang, the cultivator who had died fighting Brother Stone. As he'd hoped, the clerk had filled the order without suspicion. The bag also held a small roll of bandages, a short utility knife, and a fire starter set.

Chang-li added his worn pants, the ones he no longer wore on duty because they had developed holes in the hem, and his winter boots. He didn't know what the environment would be like inside the lower levels of the tower. He might want more than his sandals. Then he closed the chest, locked it, and left the room. The rest of his supplies he’d have to acquire later.

The first part of his plan was complete. The next part was trickier. After all, did the trip down the mountain to collect the young nobles really need a scribe along?

Chang-li sweated over his next forgery for hours in the privacy of the bunk room, leaping up every time someone came in and hiding his work. At last, it was as good as he could make it. He carried the document to Inspector Ji'in during a particularly busy time of day.

"What's this?" the inspector asked as Chang-li presented the document to him. His eyes traveled across the neatly printed characters and down to the quartermaster's seal at the bottom.

"They need a scribe, sent down to check up on their clerks in Golden Moon City. It's because their records were such a mess," Chang-li lied. He'd been laying preparation for this deception for several days, complaining to his superiors about the state of the records he had found in the quartermaster's office. "They suspect that some of the clerks may be in collusion with merchants to defraud the army. They need one of us to go and investigate as an impartial witness."

Inspector Ji'in sighed. "Very well. I will assign Scribe Shi, perhaps."

Chang-li cleared his throat. "Honorable Inspector, I do not mean to contradict you, but I have been studying the records these past few days and know what to look for. In addition, I cannot be sent into the tower on any cultivating parties, so it makes sense for me to be sent on this task."

Inspector Ji'in seemed to consider his logic. "It does make a certain amount of sense," he allowed. "When did they have in mind?"

"The army is sending an escort down the mountain in three days to help bring up the newly arrived Court of Gems nobles."

"Ah, that's right," Inspector Ji'in said. "I have a request from the Dowager Pearl that we send her a scribe to make a note of some things she needs from the city."

Inspector Ji'in pulled baskets and trays from under the long counter. He rifled through stacks of official documents before pulling one out. "Here you are. You may as well do both duties. Go and ask the Revered Pearl's secretary what she needs."

Chang-li bowed low. "Thank you, Honorable Inspector. I shall do the scribe's office proud."

Inspector Ji'in began to dismiss him, then raised a hand. “Down in the city, you will likely find things you cannot acquire here. I will advance you your next month's salary if you wish."

Chang-li bowed low. He had been hoping to ask the inspector at a later time, not wanting to push his luck too much at once, but here the inspector was anticipating his wish. "Thank you, Inspector. You are too kind."

"On one condition.” Inspector Ji'in held up a finger. "I shall send you along three silver marks of my own. I wish you to buy me a bottle of the best quality rice wine available at the Lotus Flower Brewery shop. They have their storefront near the docks. It will be easy for you to find."

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Of course, Honorable Inspector," Chang-li said, bowing even lower, trying to hide his delight.

He took the Dowager Pearl's requisition from the inspector and hurried out. The more valid tasks he had down in Golden Moon City, the more likely it was his cover would hold up.

He presented the Dowager's writ to the guards standing outside the stockade to the inner camp where the nobles of the Court of Gems were housed. They scrutinized it long and hard before at last nodding to him.

"Do what it is you've come to do and be gone," one of the gate guards told him. "Do not linger. Do not speak to any of the Court of Gems. None of the ones here are quite high enough rank to demand your execution merely for offending them. But if they were to accuse you of impropriety, then..."

Chang-li bowed. "I am grateful for your warning," he said and passed through the gate.

He couldn't help slowing his step as he entered the inner camp. This seemed like a garden plucked from another world and placed down here in the middle of the military camp. Instead of the neat rows of wooden barracks and two-story headquarter buildings for the various divisions, crowded with soldiers and workers, there were four long low houses with blue tile roofs. All the other buildings in camp had slate tiles taken from the mountainside around them. These had clearly been baked and brought up for the express purpose of decorating the roofs. Trees grew around the edges of the building, willows with long delicate branches, flowering cherry trees, pear trees, and stunted oaks.

The cultivator camp had existed for hundreds of years. It was abandoned for at least nine years out of every decade, springing to life again when there was to be a climbing expedition or a cull of the powerful beasts that made the tower their home. Chang-li had arrived early in the course of this expedition. The outer buildings were still being repaired. Many laborers and soldiers slept under canvas as the barracks were restored. This place, though, looked as though it had never been abandoned.

None of the buildings had red doors. There were both male and female nobles present in the camp already. Nobles operated on different rules; they were allowed to mingle, though under the watchful eye of the Dowager Pearl and her aides.

A towering building, three stories high, stood at the end of this inner encampment, the noble houses flanking it on both sides. That was where Chang-li was to go. He hurried forward, up the wooden steps onto the decking around the tower. Each tier had its own fluted roof of golden roof tiles with decorative corner posts carved to look like dragons. The wood and paper door was slid shut.

Chang-li knelt, bent his forehead to touch the wooden boards of the deck, and then knocked. A moment later the door rasped open. He did not look up. A woman spoke to him.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice was astonished and a little scornful. It was also familiar.

Chang-li looked up into the face of Min, the elder sister of the Oaken Band Brotherhood, who was also a noble of the Court of Gems. Her red-bordered robe had not a fold out of place, but her expression did not quite suit a young noblewoman. There was a hint of fear on her face that vanished as quickly as he thought he'd seen it.

Chang-li held out his writ. "I am here at the command of the Dowager Pearl."

"Oh.” Min looked at the note. "Yes, she has a list of requests to send down the mountain." Now she had a calculating expression. She bit her lip. "Oh, stand up," she said in an exasperated tone. Chang-li rose. "Who is going to fulfill this order?"

"This one will be traveling to Golden Moon. He will see to the Dowager Pearl's request personally."

"Good, good," Min said. "Come inside."

She stepped back and he entered the room. A steep stair at the back of the mostly bare ten-mat room led upward to the next floor. A kettle sat on an enameled stove by one wall and a broom beside the door, along with a long low table surrounded by cushions. He realized that Min was here serving the Dowager Pearl as her first line of defense against anyone who wished to see the Dowager. The noblewoman herself must be higher up in the tower.

Min went and fetched the pot and a pair of clay mugs. Chang-li noted there were finely sculpted and painted porcelain mugs on the shelf higher, but she took the rough clay. It was a good indicator to him of just how important he wasn't.

"Sit," Min said briskly.

Chang-li held his ground. "I am here to speak with the Dowager."

"The Dowager Pearl is taking her afternoon repose," Min said calmly. "She will not thank us for interrupting her before the third bell. Sit, I will pour the tea."

Chang-li sat. Min arrayed herself cross-legged on a cushion across from him. It was not the usual posture for a delicate young woman, being the masculine way of sitting. She wore white leggings underneath her tunic, with a thin red stripe up the side; her feet crossed in front of her, showing a lot of very shapely leg. Chang-li raised his eyes up to her face, hoping he hadn’t been staring.

She poured the tea deftly before shoving one of the two mugs toward him. She picked up hers and sipped it, surprising Chang-li yet again. After all, it was polite to allow the guest to drink first.

Then he realized that perhaps in Brotherhood circles it was polite for the one who poured the tea to drink first. He had heard stories of the fearsome brotherhoods, how they might poison, stab, or blackmail their rivals.

Min frowned then sighed. “Well. You've got me all off my stride." She set down her mug carefully and quickly slid her legs around so now she kneeled delicately on the cushions across from him.

Chang-li raised the tea to his lips. It was excellent, the best tea he'd had in this whole camp.

"Right, enough beating around the bush," Min said briskly. "You know who I am. I know that scribes stay neutral and do their task. It happens that you going down the mountain presents an opportunity for me. I would like to send a packet of messages with you."

"Imperial couriers go up and down the mountain every day on official business.”

"Yes, well, exactly," Min said, a smile playing on her lips. She met Chang-li's eyes and leaned forward as though inviting him to conspire with her. Her eyes had remarkable depth. Chang-li could see a couple of white spots in them like a pair of stars. "They’re messages I would prefer not to have pass under the eyes of anyone official."

Chang-li had just taken another sip of tea. He nearly choked. He coughed, spluttered, cleared his throat, and bowed his head. "Apologies. This is the first time I have ever heard anyone refer to a scribe as not official."

"You know what I mean," Min said. There was a playful lilt to her voice.

"Scribes are officially neutral in matters of records," Chang-li agreed. "But this would be a breach of neutrality. You're asking me to involve myself with Brotherhood?"

"Shh.” Min leaned across the table. "Never mind that. Listen, I can make it worth your while. First of all, that's a favor I'll owe you. You have any idea how valuable a favor from the Oaken Band is here in Riceflower Province?" Chang-li did, in fact, but he gave a deliberately vague shrug. "Or, I can afford to pay you."

A thought came to Chang-li. While he did mean to buy a few provisions in Golden Moon City, the less he had to spend the better. His funds were tight. “Actually, yes. What I could really use is a good traveling cloak. Water-resistant, durable. Like the soldiers use, but obviously not army issue.” He wouldn’t want to be accused of stealing army goods, after all.”

Her brow knit together. "Why on earth would a clerk need..."

"You have your schemes, I have mine," Chang-li snapped.

There was a look in Min's eyes as she sat back, considering him as though she were seeing him for the first time. "You have depth," she marveled. "Very well. When do you leave?"

"Three days' time."

"Then there will be a package under your bed coverings the night before you leave. My missives, sealed and marked for delivery, wrapped in a fine traveling cloak.”

Chang-li paused. Here they were, haggling like merchants. If she was a merchant, then she would be offering him less than she was willing to give, and he should bargain. But everything he'd ever heard about brotherhoods told him they did not operate on merchant rules. Brotherhood dealings were based on their words. To suggest that she was offering him an unfair deal would be to impugn her honor.

Instead, he inclined his head. "Agreed. Who shall I deliver the messages to?"

"The tavern-master of the Inn of Five Stars.”

Chang-li felt a little thrill. It was the same tavern that Cultivator Kang and Scribe Wulan had stayed at hundreds of years before. Perhaps this was an omen of good fortune.

"Very well.”

Min rose. "In that case, I think we can go upstairs. We wouldn't want to keep the Dowager Pearl waiting."

Chang-li nearly choked again. He set the now-empty teacup down and stood. "I thought you said she was resting."

"Did I?" She winked at him, and Chang-li felt an odd rush of warmth go through him. Who was this girl, anyway?