Shadows on Water
Fang looks around the room,as if thinking how to answer.
"My mother died in childbirth, my father died in battle. All in my regiment had fathers who died in battle, we are 'the Gentlemen of the Household of the Feathered Forest'."
"I see." you say. Although you don't.
After a few minutes the boy arrives with the food. As the first course is laid at the table, Fang is silent. He sits crosslegged with an iron back, not so much a soldier now as a monk. You begin serving him with the choicest meats. He is intensely focused on the food as it is placed into his bowl.
"The market is far...I can't provide you with the best I'm afraid. This is poor fare...." you say, but his eyes don't leave the bowl, "...have you not eaten for a good while?"
"We last ate at dawn. A farmer five leagues from here honoured us with bowls of rice and some freshly laid eggs. They were delicious."
"Then you must be hungry now."
"We were well nourished. This pork you have presented me, may I ask where it comes from?"
"It's not poisoned, I assure you..."
"I did not mean to suggest...."
"I know..I'm not serious...it no doubt comes from the same farmer who gave you the eggs..."
"...Farmer Fei.."
"The same. The vegetables are from my own farm. We don't have much livestock anymore, a few chickens. We lost the pigs long before my father died."
Talk ends as you begin. Fang eats slowly, almost reverentially. He is not the undisciplined ruffian you know most soldiers to be.
After the dishes have been cleared Fang breaks his silence;
"Thank you, and I would like to thank the cook before I leave. It is Ghost Month, will you be paying respect to your father?"
"My mother died in childbirth, my father died in battle. All in my regiment had fathers who died in battle, we are 'the Gentlemen of the Household of the Feathered Forest'."
"I see." you say. Although you don't.
After a few minutes the boy arrives with the food. As the first course is laid at the table, Fang is silent. He sits crosslegged with an iron back, not so much a soldier now as a monk. You begin serving him with the choicest meats. He is intensely focused on the food as it is placed into his bowl.
"The market is far...I can't provide you with the best I'm afraid. This is poor fare...." you say, but his eyes don't leave the bowl, "...have you not eaten for a good while?"
"We last ate at dawn. A farmer five leagues from here honoured us with bowls of rice and some freshly laid eggs. They were delicious."
"Then you must be hungry now."
"We were well nourished. This pork you have presented me, may I ask where it comes from?"
"It's not poisoned, I assure you..."
"I did not mean to suggest...."
"I know..I'm not serious...it no doubt comes from the same farmer who gave you the eggs..."
"...Farmer Fei.."
"The same. The vegetables are from my own farm. We don't have much livestock anymore, a few chickens. We lost the pigs long before my father died."
Talk ends as you begin. Fang eats slowly, almost reverentially. He is not the undisciplined ruffian you know most soldiers to be.
After the dishes have been cleared Fang breaks his silence;
"Thank you, and I would like to thank the cook before I leave. It is Ghost Month, will you be paying respect to your father?"