by SALSAlys » Tue Sep 07, 2004 1:05 am
Chien Hou gave a mocking laugh, and an inscrutable smile.
"Hope? There is always hope, no matter the country, even in one of the barbaric lands across the sea. The question is whether it's counterbalanced by despair."
Mao, Jia Li, and the drummer arrived abuot then, and Chien Hou gave a nod to each of them. Mao glided to Fu's side, and he dropped an arm about her shoulders, giving a slight squeeze before releasing her.
"Ch'ou? Time?" asked Chien Hou, attention upon the brawny peasant.
"Quite soon," he replied in a thick, rural accent, tugging his braid lightly.
The crowd of Chinese was starting to be more subdued, and those with a good sense of time could tell that very soon, the hour of the Rat would be beginning— eleven o'clock by Western time, and the moonless night seemed like the perfect canvas for the fireworks that would burst after the gongs rang. All vendors with noisemakers of various sorts had them poised for clamoring in with the gongs.
Finally, it was silent for a few brief moments before the gongs would be ringing. Chien Hou glanced skywards, and then Mao did as well. Jia Li (and Mu-Li, drunk though he was), noticed a tear forming at the corner of the sword dancer's eye, but her swarthy cousin brushed it away gently, causing her to blink slightly in surprise, as though she hadn't even been aware of the drop.
...and the silence continued.
Ch'ou shifted his shoulders, glancing up, then pressed his palms together as if in supplication. Fu's gaze followed the drummers, eyes narrowing as if in a glare to the heavens...
And the silence continued.
Finally, a confused babble broke out among the people. Why were the gongs silent? Was there something wrong in the temples? Whatever it was, it seemed an ill omen.
Chien Hou then smirked slightly. Rather than seeming alarmed, he seemed.... amused.
"Certainly something to look into," he yawned, eyes giving a malicious sparkle.
Fu's glare turned from the sky to Hou, and a deep, guttural growl could be heard from his throat before Ch'ou gave him a worried look.
"Children, time to come along to the temples," Chien Hou continued, beaming for all the world like some plump, benign Kitchen God. The flippant, condescending remark seemed primarily aimed at Ch'ou and Fu, though he gave a gracious nod of his head to Mao and Jia Li. "Something interesting, hey? Gives a most exciting start to the year. Oh, and someone fetch the bedraggled man who thinks he's a mystic— he could be useful."
With that, he turned, slipping into the crowd as though assuming the others would automatically follow.
Fu parted from Mao, but only enough to squeeze Jia Li's shoulder. He lowered his head, and spoke in a murmur.
"....please, come. There is something I— need, to talk to you about."