Naamah's Kiss - Jacqueline Carey [223]
"I have cooked for Master Lo ten thousand times!" Bao's tone was aggrieved. "I know how he likes his meals!"
"It is not only Master Lo Feng we cook for tonight, Shangun," Tortoise said in a placating manner. "You use too much ginger root, too much garlic. It is too much yang for the Noble… for Lady Chan. My father was a cook. I know."
"He's right, Shangun," Ten Tigers Dai said mildly. "Less garlic, more bean curd."
I stole a glance at Snow Tiger and found her smiling. "Do I hear your hardened thugs quarrelling over the best way to prepare my dinner?" she inquired.
"You do, my lady."
"How very strange my life has become." For the first time, she sounded more bemused than disturbed by the notion.
Whether or not the balance of yin and yang in the resulting dish of noodles and broth was a harmonious one, I couldn't have said, but it was good. It made me laugh to see the hungry stick-fighters looking surreptitiously at the princess, waiting for her approval before eating. To her credit, she was gracious with them. Bit by bit, they began to ease in her presence.
Afterward, they indulged in a bout of sparring. It seemed strange to me that monks travelling a path toward enlightenment would engage in such a violent practice, but Master Lo assured me that it was not uncommon.
"It is a useful method for focusing mind and body and spirit." His eyes twinkled. "I think you do not come from a meditative folk, Moirin."
"Not in the way you have taught me," I agreed. "And yet…" I thought about my childhood, filled with endless days of solitude and wilderness, and the simple pleasure it had brought me. "The Maghuin Dhonn live very close to nature, Master. In a way, it is a kind of meditation unto itself."
Master Lo inclined his head. "I do not speak against your truth. Many of the greatest sages of the Way have found wisdom and enlightenment in returning to a lifestyle your people never left."
Listening to the sounds of staves clattering, the princess fingered her sheathed blade and looked wistful. "Would that I could take part in their practice."
"Can you fight without eyes to see?" Master Lo asked. She nodded. "Then why not?" He glanced around. "Dusk comes soon. Beyond this copse, the trees block the view from the farmhouse. The roads and fields are empty. There is no one to see."
Her blindfolded face turned toward him. "Are you certain?"
"Of course." He raised his voice. "Bao! I have a task for you, my magpie!" He waited while Bao left off coaching Dai and came over. "The princess wishes to spar."
Bao pursed his lips, glancing at her. "Is that wise, my lady?"
Her hands shifted on the scabbard, gripping it as though it were a short staff. "I will not draw steel." A bright edge crept into her voice. "Are you afraid?"
He began to scoff, turning it into a circumspect cough instead. "On the one hand, I am concerned that the glorious and celestial entity whose spirit is housed within you does not wish me well." His tone took on a smooth answering edge. "And on the other hand, if the dragon restrains himself, I fear I might injure you, since your sight is compromised."
Snow Tiger did scoff. It seemed insolence in fighters was a thing to be tolerated. "As for the latter, I assure you, there is no need to fear. As to the former… Moirin? Will you speak to the dragon?"
I sighed. "You're not to harm Bao. Let her highness fight her own fight. This is only for sport, for play. Do you understand?"
Yes. The dragon sounded offended. I am not foolish. I know he is an ally. It is only that I do not like the way he looks at you. She needs you much more than he does.
Whether or not the princess heard him, I declined to translate the last part. "He says he understands."
With dusk beginning to fall over the recently harvested field, Snow Tiger paced off a rectangle on the far side of the pine trees, marking the corners with a thrust of her scabbard. "These are the dimensions of my living quarters," she said to Bao. "I know them well. Remain within them and I promise there will be no question