Sky of Paper: An Asian Steam-Driven Fantasy Tale

by Matthew Seaver

  "Please accept my deepest apologies," Miss Nishio said, bowing again, then looked up at the governor. "But if you would recall the contract that we negotiated, I believe we agreed that the ship would never leave the water while there’s a performance."

  "Is that what this ruckus is about?" the governor replied with an annoyed sneer.

  "Yes. One of my performers has a dreadful fear of heights. She’s terrified of flying."

  "A chienkuu ko who’s afraid of heights?"

  At first, I imagined that the governor found all of this strangely humorous. But then he threw his wine glass onto the deck. A few gasps littered the crowd. The man hopped off the table and approached Miss Nishio with an unforgiving, serious look.

  "The agreement was that you would fly my ship and entertain my guests. Now I demand that both happen; not one, or the other, but both at once."

  "Again, I am sorry." Miss Nishio seemed deeply humbled. But I knew her enough to understand that she was faking her humility. She was a woman that took contracts just as seriously as the governor cared for his guests. Though she didn‘t show it, I knew that she was just as angry that he had betrayed their agreement. "Please allow me to take her off the ship, then I would be more than happy to command my children to take the vessel as high as you please-"

  "No," he interrupted. " She does not leave. If you want your money, she is to remain here and cease making such a awful show of herself."

  He got onto the table again and started cheering the energy back into his guests.

  "Now, who wants to see more fireworks?" He said vibrantly as a waiter studiously handed him another wine glass.

  The mood in the crowd seemed to brighten. Immediately, there were smiles, and glasses held up in acknowledgement.

  Miss Nishio was upset.

  She summoned Meng to her side.

  "Get Lai and Mai, we're leaving," she ordered.

  She turned to Kassashimei and I and waved us towards the boarding ramp.

  "Where are you going?" the governor protested. "You can't leave my party. If you go, then I will be sure to spread word about this incident to all your clients. Everyone will know how incompetent the Tiger Lilly Tea House is. I will personally make sure that you will never have a single customer again."

  The governor ran after her and just as he was about to reach out for her shoulder, Ren Tzu stood in his path and pushed him aside with the smallest flick of his arm. He tried to approach her again, only to have his path blocked by the towering man. The governor continued his angry tirade, stammering like a child whose toy had been taken away.

  Miss Nishio ignored the shallow threats.

  Even though she and Madame Quoli left the party with hardly a dent to their pride, there was within me, an unshakable feeling of defeat, as if the scoldings the governor threw at her, were somehow meant for me instead.

  At the tea house, Miss Nishio was quick to rush to her room and tally her losses on her abacus and accounting books. The governor's contract would have been the most money the house had ever made on a single deal. And conveniently enough, compared to the work that I had done previously, it would have required very little effort; just a short trip around the bay and an evening stage performance.

  Madame Quoli seemed to be the most offended by all that had happened.

  I was huddled uneasily in my room while through the walls, I heard Quoli utter muffled tones of frustration to Miss Nishio. Her crass words seemed to carry through the whole house, while Miss Nishio's voice, which hinted now and then at her own frustrations, continued to remain calm and decisive.

  Kassashimei was in the room with me, standing by the door with a triumphant look on her face.

  "Wasn't tonight exciting?" she said. "We finally got to see that smug governor put in his place. I always hated people like him. And Mai, well it looks like she isn't so perfect after all."

  "Kass, please don‘t mock Mai." I told her.

  "And why not? People always say things about us; mean things. Why last week I was listening in on a conversation Quoli was having with one of the head musicians. She mentioned that you and I were street rabble and that we could not hope to pay back the debt we owe to this house."

  "That's enough. I don't want to hear anymore. Miss Nishio cares about us. I know she does. And it doesn't matter what Quoli thinks."

  Our conversation was silenced by the sudden crack of Miss Nishio’s door as it slammed open. It was easy to tell that Madame Quoli was leaving her room. Her footsteps were much heavier than Miss Nishio's. Kassashimei and I listened carefully as she went down the hall and up the steps towards Lai and Mai's room.

  A moment later, her stern words could be heard again from upstairs. This time she was scolding them with a ferocity that had only previous been used on both Kassashimei and I. A few minutes later, someone was scurrying down the stairs. Driven by curiosity, I slid the door open and peered down the hall.

  It was Mai.

  She was stumbling over herself in tears, trying to get away from Quoli as she slowly descended the steps. Lai was behind the woman, begging and apologizing for his sister, but she shrugged him away each time he grasped her sleeve.

  "Do you have any idea how much money you’ve cost this house tonight?" Quoli bellowed. "You are a selfish child, thinking only of yourself. A chienkuu ko who refuses to fly is worthless. No house could ever take you. But Miss Nishio was kind enough to take you in, to feed you, to shelter you. She even made sure that the only contracts you’d be given were stage performances. And at that very moment, when she needed you the most, you became self-centered and only thought about your idiotic fear of heights. You betrayed us, and now we are much poorer for it."

  "I'm sorry," Mai cried out. “Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to offend Miss Nishio. I'm trying so hard to control my fear. Please, I'm not worthless. I promise I'll try harder."

  As Miss Nishio stepped out of her office, Mai immediately diverted her attention and began pleading for her mercy. Miss Nishio ignored her at first, looking to Madame Quoli, who returned a fierce, impatient gaze. Then, she reached down, helped the girl to her feet and pulled out a handkerchief to brush away her tears before she spoke.

  "I'm sending you away," Miss Nishio said.

  "What? No, you can't," Mai protested.

  "It seems our training here has not been enough," Miss Nishio continued. "I even thought that putting you up in the highest room of this house would eventually help you overcome your fear. But I'm afraid there’s nothing more we can do for you. I’ve sent a messenger to the guild. They will come for you shortly and take you to a special school. Perhaps in a few month's time you may come back, and then you can prove to us and your brother that you are strong enough to serve this house."

  "How dare you," Mai said bitterly, boldly pushing her away. All too quickly, the once desperate tears that stained her cheeks turned to ones of resentment. "After all my brother and I have done for you. We’ve served you loyally for two years; never questioning you, never once disrespecting you, and now you‘re going to take me away from my brother? How long had it been that we were the only chienkuu ko in your house?

  I see now. Since you have these two children making you money, you no longer have any use for us. Is that it?"

  As if possessed by a demon, she glared in my direction with fiery eyes, then ran towards me, shoving me aside as she went into my room. There was a loud scream, followed by a pale thud and a horrific clatter. I turned, to see Kassashimei struggling and squealing in Mai's arms as she dragged her into the hallway.

  "Is this what you are trading me for?" Mai was out of breath, her hair and clothes in a mess. "You know, she says things about you behind your back. She insults you whenever she can, and she does the same to you Madame Quoli. How can you even think of trading me for this stupid girl and that cursed, silver-eyed boy? Both of them are bad omens. They will ruin you and this house."

  I took Kassashimei's arm and tried to pull her away, but Mai pressed her foot against my ches
t and kicked me as hard as she could, sending me reeling towards the far end of the hallway. Lai lunged forward, grasped their shoulders and managed to pry them apart. She wailed in despair as her brother embraced her. They cradled each other in the hallway, while Miss Nishio turned her attention back to her business partner. Quoli returned a small, undignified grunt, then went downstairs to attend to the tea house.

  The next morning, I watched from my bedroom window as the carriage drove Mai away. Madame Quoli sat next to her, escorting her to a special school that lay in a secluded town on the far side of Mount Ko Mei, just north of the Imperial Temple. Lai and Miss Nishio were standing at the gates seeing her off.

  Just as his sister disappeared down the road, Lai turned back towards the tea house, his face appearing as though it had turned to stone, gazing onward without any sort of expression. It was as if his soul had been taken away. My eyes had witnessed a shyo mu separated from his precious shyo mah, and yet, deep down, what I truly saw was a bond between brother and sister heartlessly broken.

  True to our nature as performers, Lai became one of the musicians playing with the rest of the entertainers in the evenings. But his passion was gone. The energetic smile that I was used to seeing was replaced with a stagnate look of forlorn. It was as if each day were thrust forcefully upon him and it saddened him that he could not give it back. He wandered aimlessly throughout the tea house, doing chores and laying idly in his room for hours. Amidst Madame Quoli's protests, Miss Nishio allowed him his moments of peace, even if it meant letting him stay in his room for the entire day.

  The days continued like an endless stream of water, stretching out into nothing. True to what the governor promised, the contracts steadily became less and less. Where as much as twenty clients used to come in a single week, bidding against each other for the price of the house's services, now only one or two would come. Some weeks it was none at all, and after a month, the grand era of my life as a chienkuu ko had almost completely faded.

  Later, we learned from the old man, that this was not the governor's doing. The times were changing, and it was affecting not just my life, but the lives of everyone all over Rui Nan.

  Chapter 13

  Foreigners saw it as a time of turmoil, of revolution for the small, but powerful nation of Rui Nan. But for all of us that lived there, we hardly knew what to make of it.

  General Fung, the man I had seen speaking with Master Lu so long ago, had given in to his ambitions and seized control of the government, wresting the Emperor's divine right to rule, away from him. The Emperor’s pacifism and his continuing quest to disarm our country for the sake of negotiating peaceful relations with the Kin Ju continent, had left him gravely unpopular with the officers and men of our armed forces. As the chief of staff of the nation's military, General Fung had mobilized every loyal soldier in the empire and declared our country bestowed with the sacred duty of uniting the world under our will, or so that was what his voice had said on the radios and the loud speakers that bellowed from the tops of steam-driven trucks as they hissed up and down the city streets.

  Over night, countless flags and banners were raised from every rooftop, building and flagpole until the city and countryside shimmered with fields of cloth gleaming in bright, defiant colors. They were the proud symbols of a new government. In those times, I often felt as if we were being tested for our patriotism and whether or not the spirit of our nation was stronger than that of our old loyalties to our once, powerful emperor.

  For hundreds of years, Rui Nan had been a nation ruled by a deified family. And after only a month of discourse and sporadic fighting, the old ways were swept aside by a man who preached progress and prosperity through imperialism and military might.

  As to the fate of the emperor and his family, no one could say. He had disappeared, and anyone who toted rumors of his return were quickly arrested.

  As with the new formation of any government, many of us were watched with discerning eyes. Whether it be from the newly reformed police, government officials, or even the military we, the citizens, were kept under careful scrutiny until it was proven that our true loyalties were for General Fung and his new regime.

  For some of us, our lives continued as they always had. Farmers tended to their fields with hardly a worry and craftsman cared very little about politics, focusing only on their skills with making things. Merchants on the other hand felt the greatest sting from this change. One of General Fung's newly appointed ministers, Master Lu, enacted policies which halted almost all trade with foreign countries. Any nation who’d ever thought ill of Rui Nan had been ex-communicated and deemed a potential threat to our livelihood.

  With the merchant business almost completely gone, every house in the city competed for what little contracts were left. Chienkuu ko, which had once carried mighty ships through the untamed skies, had been reduced to nothing more than servants and petty entertainers. Some were even put to work at the factories, or even worse, abandoned by the very houses that cared for them.

  For Miss Nishio, the tea house had become her sole source of income. Soldiers and military officers of the new regime were her new customers. Night after night, they crowded in front of the stage, drinking sake and shouting words of patriotism, taunting and challenging each other for who had the greater warrior spirit. Their cries often drowned out the musicians, but the female dancers who strained to follow the beat of the music carried more leering eyes and hungry, disrespectful gazes from the audience than ever.

  One night, a soldier leapt onto the stage and danced with the other geisha. While surprised, Madame Quoli saw that the man was doing no real harm, other than having a small bit of fun. With obvious reluctance, she allowed it to happen.

  General Fung's name was mentioned several times, and each time, the men cheered, waving their cups and glasses in the air. Kassashimei and I, along with Meng and the rest of the house servants were serving the drinks and food. There were more patrons than we could handle that night and everyone who could hold a tray were hurriedly put to work. Though Miss Nishio made it a rule never to have too many customers in her tea house, she found herself unable to refuse the constant pouring of soldiers that streamed in, arriving dutifully at the request of a certain colonel that sat at the head of the biggest table in the main dining room.

  Even when there were no more tables to fill, men stood against the walls and even loitered on the balconies. A few of the delicate, wood and paper doors as well as some of the walls were torn and broken by the clumsy, crowded mass.

  One of the solders that sat next to the colonel had taken my arm, almost causing me to drop my tray in surprise. He ordered more sake. But just as he let me go to carry out his demand, he stopped me again and waved me back to the table.

  "What has happened to your eyes?" he asked bluntly.

  He asked me to come closer.

  Hesitant, I did as he requested and leaned forward. He placed both his palms against my ears and turned my head like a disappointed fisherman observing some undersized fish he‘d recently caught.

  "It's like someone has rubbed a piece of lead into your eyes," he said. "Sir, do you see this?"

  "Yes I do," the colonel said, hardly amused by the soldier's find. "I've seen people with eyes like that before. Sometimes you can find them at the tea houses all over this district, though I believe most of them have eyes of green."

  "But sir, this one has silver."

  "Oh?"

  At some point, I found myself terribly annoyed by his big, gruff hands, squeezing at my temples, so I stepped back, swatting away his palms.

  "Stupid boy. Come back here."

  He reached up to grab my arm again, but I managed to back away from his reach. The colonel ordered the soldier to behave himself as he stood from the table to approach me.

  "Such a strange color," he uttered to himself as he leaned down to examine me. "Tell me boy, do you feel cursed or blessed to have such eyes?"

  He gave me a doubtful look, as if he was n
ot expecting an answer from me.

  "Both, I suppose," I replied quietly.

  "He feels blessed," someone said bluntly.

  I turned to see Kassashimei with her usual aura of confidence.

  "Silver is the color of strength and courage," she continued. "He has those eyes because he’s special. There’s no one with eyes like his in the entire world. He's destined to do great things."

  The colonel chuckled while vigorously ruffling my hair.

  "And so, you let a little girl tell me what you could not," he said. "I hope it’s only because you were being humble. Otherwise she may be more deserving of those eyes than you."

  I was offended, but all I could do was offer him a frustrated gaze. He reacted by pinching my cheek.

  Suddenly, one of the dancers on stage screamed, and a loud crash was heard throughout the dining hall. Lai -who was playing his shamisen with the rest of the musicians- had bashed his instrument against the shoulder of the soldier who had earlier climbed on stage.

  "Don't touch my sister," he yelled as he tackled him, sending them both tumbling to the floor.

  The brawl that began only forced the other soldiers to join in. Lai, a young man, barely older than me, found himself viciously punched and beaten by the overwhelming numbers that continued to press into him. Meng screamed, covering her face, while Kassashimei and I quickly retreated against the wall.

  The colonel waded into the brawling mass, and with the help of a few officers, managed to break up the fight.

  "That's enough," the colonel ordered sternly. "You, what's your name?"

  "My name is Lai, and that man over there was assaulting my sister." Lai was wheezing and coughing up blood and spit as he spoke.

  Madame Quoli was quick to approach the colonel. She fell to her knees and pressed her head against the floor, bowing in apology.

  "Please forgive this stupid child," Quoli said. "He is delusional. He thinks every young girl in this house is his sister."