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to the Forbidden City and quizzed her personally. By halfway through the session, the girl had convinced the
minister that she had earned her per-fect score.
During the interview, Ju-Hai had seen the making of a mandarin in the young woman. She had a sharp
mind and a dynamic personality, and seemed ruthlessly driven. After-ward, he had investigated her
background. Although she had suffered the misfortune of being born into the family of a dishonest rice
merchant, the inquiry had uncovered noth-ing to suggest that she could not be a valuable public ser-vant.
From that point onward, Ju-Hai had taken a personal interest in her career. As the minister had expected,
she had proven herself more than capable of executing any task as-signed to her.
Two years ago, the opportunity to place an ally in the post of Minister of State Security had arisen.
Naturally, Ju-Hai's first choice had been the beautiful young woman he had been developing for thirteen
years. Although the minister had expected her to do well, even he had been surprised by the efficiency with
which she performed her necessarily merciless duties. In the upper ranks of the bureaucracy, it was well
known that revealing even a small weakness to the "Tigress" could prove fatal.
The thought of keeping weaknesses secret reminded Ju-Hai of the trigram sticks he had left on the
table. He re-turned to the pavilion and was just picking up the jar when Ting came out of the house.
"Minister," she said, stopping inside the fan-shaped arbor that served as an entrance to the garden.
The gorgeous mandarin wore an unadorned scarlet cheosong that covered her from neck to ankle. The
dress was made of gossamer silk that highlighted her voluptuous charms rather than concealed them. In her
hands, she held a small potted flower of a type which Ju-Hai had never be-fore seen. Save for its black
blossom, the plant resembled a tiny lotus that grew in dirt instead of water. Holding the plant out for Ju-Hai,
Ting averted her eyes and bowed as low as her tight clothing would allow.
Ju-Hai put his trigram jar down, then walked over to Ting and accepted the gift. "It's as ravishing as you,
my dear," he said, his anger fading as he studied the plant. A few mo-ments later, he asked, "What is it?"
"Cliff blossom. It came from the mountain kingdom of Ra-Khati," she replied, standing upright. "It's a
special gift I've been saving. I thought it might express my sorrow for offending you."
Shei Ni appeared at the head of a small procession of ser-vants. Carrying a teapot, cups, and two chairs,
they stopped at the arbor and waited behind Ting.
Ju-Hai bowed to show his appreciation. "As always, you must be complimented upon your knowledge of
your quarry." The realization that Ting understood him so well made Ju-Hai uneasy. An exotic plant was
the only gift that would disarm him so easily. "You are forgiven, my dear. Come over to the belvedere, and
we will talk."
"Thank you, Minister." Ting smiled and followed Ju-Hai to the small, open building at the edge of the
goldfish pond.
While the servants placed the chairs and poured the tea, Ting picked up the jar Ju-Hai had left on the
white table. "Trigrams?" she asked curiously.
"A bauble I sometimes toy with," the minister replied, looking away from the jar with practiced
nonchalance.
Smiling playfully, Ting turned the jar over and spilled the sticks. "Tell me what they say."
Ju-Hai gave Ting's gift to Shei Ni for safekeeping. When he looked at the circle of sticks, he half-smiled
in amusement. The minister did not need stick magic to tell him what the trigrams had revealed. "The
pattern of the sea," he said. "You are always shifting and impossible to predict. This makes you a powerful
enemy and a dangerous friend."
Shei Ni and the servants finished their work, bowed, and left the garden quietly.
Ting peered at the sticks, then looked at Ju-Hai flirta-tiously. "Is there nothing of love in those patterns?"
The minister chuckled. "Not for me to read."
Ting stepped closer. "Perhaps you should look again."
Ju-Hai backed away and took his seat at the east end of the table. After a long sip of tea, he said,
"Surely you did not wait all afternoon simply to dangle your lascivious web be-fore an aging man?"
The beautiful mandarin sighed in exaggerated disappoint-ment. The game between them was an old one.
For fifteen years, Ting had been making herself available to Ju-Hai, and for fifteen years the Minister of
State had deftly avoided an entanglement with her.
"I have been waiting much longer than one afternoon," Ting replied, taking her seat at the other end of
the table. "But you're correct. I have little hope that you'll come to your senses today. I've come to
apologize for this morning's mistake."
Ju-Hai nodded, but remained silent. Now that they were discussing political affairs, his mind had shifted
into an or-derly, critical thought process. He hoped his silence would force Ting to disclose the true reason
for her visit.
Ting lifted her teacup to her lips. After a small swallow, she continued speaking. "Of course, I don't
really know what my mistake was."
Ju-Hai smiled, relieved that the Tigress did not know his greatest vulnerability. After a short pause, he
answered Ting's half-spoken question. "That should be obvious."
Ting frowned at her mentor. "It isn't."
"It is a foolish wolf that growls at its master," he said. "By suggesting that someone within the
Mandarinate brought the barbarians down upon us, you have made many power-ful enemies."
Ting's eyes narrowed. "True, but to anger you, my blun-der must have threatened you personally."
Ju-Hai smiled at his disciple with as much warmth as he could gather. "I'm disappointed, my dear. Don't
you realize how fond of you I am?"
Ting smirked, then her eyes grew soft and she ran a painted nail around the rim of her tea cup. "Why do
you never show it?"
"I do," the minister responded. "I have watched over your career very closely."
The seductive mandarin sat up straight. "To what pur-pose?" she asked. "What have you gotten out of
helping me?"
Her soft expression had become as hard as stone, and Ju-Hai knew that this question came from her
heart. "What I have gotten," he answered, "is a capable administrator who serves the empire well. That is
the only payment I expect or have ever asked."
Ting rolled her eyes in disbelief. Like so many other ser-vants of the state, a lifetime in the imperial
bureaucracy had exposed her to such corruption and self-serving incompe-tence that she automatically
discounted such statements. Ju-Hai's answer, however, had been sincere, though he would never convince
Ting of that.
"Perhaps you speak the truth," the Tigress said, looking away to show Ju-Hai that she didn't believe he
did. "Even so, you would never embarrass yourself before the emperor—not on my behalf, or anyone
else's. And considering that someone must have been feeding information to the spy the guards captured, it
almost appears that you're a traitor."
The only reason Ju-Hai did not lose his temper was that he had already considered that same point. His
outburst had come at the wrong time. Taken by itself, it appeared that the minister was trying to hide
something. When he considered the spy and the map, even Ju-Hai could not deny that his be-havior cast a
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