by Yoon Ha Lee
Fine. I pulled up a directory of the spaceport and memorized the directions to Nari’s gambling parlor, as well as the Red Azalea’s current berth. Then I took a deep breath to steady myself and headed for the stairs to the upper level.
Even if I hadn’t consulted a map first, finding Nari’s would’ve been easy. As I approached, I heard the clattering of dice and the sounds of shouts and laughter, as well as the faint strains of sinuous music. A surprisingly tasteful statue of a three-tailed fox stood next to the open doorway, one paw upraised as if in greeting. In the lore, fox shifters gained tails as they aged—up to nine, anyway—as a reflection of their power. I once asked Mom why I only had the one tail, and she told me not to be so literal. The statue gave me pause, though. Most people thought foxes were bad luck, so why would a gambling parlor put one up on display?
I stepped over the threshold to find a tall, broad man lurking in the dim light of the foyer. A bouncer, I assumed. As he looked me over, a diminutive woman came up to greet me. She wore a sleeveless dress of fine silk, and I could just make out an elaborate tattoo of a fox and a pine tree covering most of her upper left arm. “Welcome to Nari’s,” she said, smiling as if I were a particularly delicious snack.
I was taken aback for a moment, because normally I wouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near a gambling parlor. Then I remembered that I looked sixteen in my current disguise.
I embarrassed myself by sneezing all over her. I wasn’t even able to cover my mouth in time. Normally I didn’t sneeze in reaction to my own magic, which meant—
The woman’s smile froze. “You’re . . .”
I stared at her, silently begging her not to say it out loud. If I wasn’t mistaken, she was a fox, too—one I didn’t know. Which made sense, since my mother never would’ve let me near anyone involved with gambling.
“My name is Kim Bora,” I said rapidly. “I’m just here to talk to one of your, um, guests.”
“I see,” the woman said, her eyes narrowing. “Come with me. Quickly, now.”
I followed, somewhat reluctantly, but I needed to find Captain Hye.
The woman led me past tables of gamers rolling dice in cups, and others where people were playing with flower cards that had distinctive red backs. In another room, an audience watched in intent silence as a pair of opponents played janggi. The player with the grumpier face moved a cannon to capture a piece. I couldn’t tell who was winning. I wouldn’t have minded lingering, but the woman shooed me into a cramped back office. My palms began to sweat. Maybe this hadn’t been the brightest idea. What did she want with me?
To calm my nerves, I surveyed the room. Despite its small size, it was crammed with luxuries. One wall displayed a painting of a starship shooting over an ice planet’s horizon, with highlights picked out in luminous gold and silver. The desk was made of real wood, with grain so deep and lustrous I could have lost myself tracing it with my eyes. A small shelf unit even contained books, the old-fashioned kind, heavy with the sooty smell of ink and aging paper. I thought of the rickety dome dwelling I had left behind and wished I could live surrounded by such wealth.
“You have the look of Areum and her sisters,” the woman said without inviting me to sit. She didn’t sit, either.
Oh no. She knew my family.
And she wasn’t done. “But your magic smells most like Seonmi’s.”
This was a wrinkle I hadn’t considered. I’d never realized that someone would recognize the scent of my family’s magic. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, looking the woman squarely in the eye.
She snorted. “Don’t play games with me. You’re that daughter of Seonmi’s, aren’t you?”
A pit opened at the bottom of my stomach. She’d figured out who I was. Was she going to turn me in? Maybe my best move was to run—
The woman shook her head. “You don’t have to worry about me,” she said with an odd bitterness. “I’m the cousin they never talk about—Nari.”
“I have no idea who you are,” I said with perfect honesty. Still, I couldn’t resist sniffing the air. She did smell a little like my aunts, now that I was paying attention. There wasn’t much physical resemblance—she had an exaggerated prettiness that I’d never seen in Mom or my aunties—but with a fox, that didn’t mean much. Why hadn’t Mom ever told me about her?
“Your mother and aunts and I all grew up together,” the woman said. She pointed toward a chair. “Sit, sit.”
Now I did. “I’m sorry about whatever happened,” I said, wondering what could have gone so wrong.
“Well, you didn’t come here to discuss old history, I’m sure,” Nari said. “So, Min—did I get that right?”
I started. I hadn’t told her my name. She couldn’t be completely out of touch with my family if she knew it.
“You must be . . . how old beneath that Charm of yours?” She sniffed the air, and I wondered what my scent revealed to her. “Not old enough to follow Jun into the Space Forces, or you’d be gone already.”
So she knew about my brother, too. Perhaps Mom still talked to her once in a while, even if they were estranged? I could only imagine that she’d kept Nari a secret from me to protect me from a “bad influence.”
Nari smiled at me, her teeth glinting. I was forcibly reminded that we were both foxes, and foxes were predators. “I’ve been keeping track,” she said, “in case I can ever repay your mother the favor I owe.”
That sounded promising. “Favor?” I asked before I could stop myself.
She gestured toward the doorway and the cards, the dice, the excited chatter of gamblers. “She and I started this business together. After she met your father, though, Seonmi wanted to leave it behind and start a family. She gave me full ownership and wished me well.” Now she sounded resigned rather than bitter.
My eyes prickled, and I blinked away sudden tears. I had asked my aunties about my parents’ past on a few occasions, but they’d always looked so sad that I hadn’t had the heart to persist. And after trying in vain a few times, I’d learned not to ask Mom herself. Never had I imagined, though, that my mother’s background had involved a gambling parlor. I couldn’t envision her in a place like this.
“The rest of the family disapproved of our business, of course,” Nari went on. “They didn’t care how profitable it was. In fact, they considered the money tainted. They cut all ties to me and it took so long to forgive Seonmi that they never really got to know your father before he . . .” She trailed off. “Well, you know how that story ended, and you have the look of someone in a hurry.”
I ground my teeth in frustration. My older relatives, including the ones I had been living with all these years, had once turned their backs on my parents? I was tempted to keep Nari talking so I could learn more, but she wasn’t wrong about my being in a hurry.
“Thank you for telling me the truth, Aunt Nari,” I said, trying out the name. “It was very . . . eye-opening. But right now I’m looking for the captain of the Red Azalea.”
Nari’s expression softened. “Your mother brought you up to be polite, I see.” She smiled. “So, you seek Captain Hye. I have a better idea, though.”
I wasn’t interested in hearing it. I had to keep sight of my mission. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I really do need to talk to the captain. Please.” I said please in the same tone I used when I needed to convince Mom I wasn’t up to any tricks.
“Hear me out first,” Nari said. “What’s your rush, anyway?”
I didn’t want to give her any details. It would be too dangerous to tell her what I had done to the investigator. Then again, I had to come up with a plausible reason for running away. So I landed somewhere in between. “Mom thinks I’m a troublemaker,” I said. “She’s threatening to send me to the middle of nowhere until I straighten out. I’d rather go and see the rest of the galaxy. I have to leave before my family catches up to me.”
Nari’s eyes glinted cunningly. “Stay here and work for me instead. I can keep
you hidden from our relatives. You’re a bit young, but your Charm will compensate. Whatever your family’s told you about foxes having to lie low, if I know them, they’ve exaggerated the risk. You can serve refreshments and use your magic to make people comfortable. There’d be profit in it for both of us. Once you’ve saved enough, you can move on—but maybe by then you’ll have changed your mind about getting off Jinju in such a hurry.” She winked at me then.
I wavered. I didn’t plan to hang around. On the other hand, if she thought I did, maybe she would advance me some pay. I was still worried about not having any money for passage.
“The stories I could tell you about the wild days your mother and I had as kits!” Nari went on, sensing my weakness. “Of course, if you’re really in a hurry, I won’t have time. . . .”
If I was honest with myself, I was dying of curiosity. I couldn’t imagine my mom as having been anything like Nari, ever. I supposed I could safely afford to spend a few hours at the gambling parlor. At the very least, I could earn some tips.
“I’ll think it over,” I said, knowing better than to agree to anything too quickly. “Let me try it out tonight and see how it goes.” I could ask one of the patrons or a bouncer to point Captain Hye out to me when Nari wasn’t looking.
She smiled, her teeth gleaming white and sharp, like fangs. “Excellent,” she said. “You’ll fit right in here.”
don’t play dice at nari’s, the graffiti had said. I wondered what had happened to the person who’d left that warning. I’m a fox, too, I told myself, and ready for anything Nari can throw at me.
But what if I was wrong?
Before Nari let me out of her office, she explained my duties. Mostly she wanted me to wander around serving “refreshments”—her code word for the various kinds of wine on offer—while using my Charm to encourage customers to relax. People got tense when they were gambling, she told me, especially when they were losing. “Don’t try to influence the games—that’s against the rules,” she said. “Just make sure they’re having a good time. And don’t let them hassle you. I’ll have the bouncers keep an eye out for trouble.”
Then she directed me to conjure an outfit more appropriate for a gambling parlor, to replace my traveling clothes.
“Something like what you’re wearing, but not as fancy?” I asked, eyeing the brocade dragon-and-phoenix design that patterned her silk dress.
Nari laughed as if I’d said something particularly amusing. “Oh, my dear. Fancier, if you can manage it.”
Though I knew my mother would be horrified if she saw me serving drinks in her former gambling parlor, I had to admit I was happy about having the chance to use magic without limits or lectures. I took a moment to imagine a costume, then concentrated on making it materialize. Charm spun me a gray silk blouse stiff with embroidery and studded with small golden pearls that winked in the light like captive moons. Having the time to focus properly helped me magic up a perfectly tailored pair of slacks and slippers to match. Gold jewelry with more pearls glittered at my throat, ears, and wrists, and a gold hairpin held my hair up in an elaborate chiffon.
“Not bad,” Nari said, as if I were another pretty trinket decorating her office. “You’re definitely Seonmi’s daughter, maybe even more powerful than she was. One of these days I’ll tell you about the tricks she played. She was better at making crowds dozy than I was.”
My mom, powerful with Charm? And using her magic against groups of people? The thought unsettled me. To say nothing of the idea of my mom, who always wore plain clothes around the house, in an elaborate dress like Nari’s. I couldn’t picture it at all.
Nari brought me a mirror so I could check my appearance. I already knew I looked good, though. Maybe even good enough to impress the customers.
“Come,” Nari purred. She took my arm and guided me out onto the floor. “Your shift will end in four hours. Can’t push you too hard on your first day, after all.”
First and last day, I thought, wondering how I was going to convince her to advance me some money later tonight. She had said she owed Mom a favor. . . .
“Yong!” she called. One of the bouncers, who had been looming over a table of card players, made his way over to us. He was even larger than the man I’d met at the door. His vest was made of the same brocade as Nari’s dress. That, plus the tattoo that covered half his face in a lace-like pattern, made him look a bit like a floor lamp. But I noticed a slight lump under his vest, indicating a hidden weapon. I bet people didn’t underestimate him twice.
“Yong, this is a new greeter,” Nari said to the man. “Her name is Min. Show her around while I see to business, will you?” With that, she whisked off.
“Pleased to meet you,” I said to Yong, smiling up at him and wishing I’d chosen to be taller. “My name is actually Bora,” I added, flashing him my ID. No reason he needed to remember the name Min.
Yong grunted in response. He gave me a wordless tour of the gambling parlor’s various rooms. The entire place had been done up in red for good fortune, with gold-tone ornaments hanging from the walls. Any less restraint and the effect would have been tacky. Lively music played from hidden speakers, and I found it catchy.
My eyes went round when he took me past the private room in back for what looked like very intense card games. The gamblers casually tossed around handfuls of chits worth sums that could have kept my entire family fed and clothed for a year.
For that matter, Nari seemed to be doing pretty well herself as the owner of this establishment. What a different life Mom could have had. Did she ever regret her decision? I wondered.
“Is Captain Hye somewhere in here?” I asked Yong. “Nari mentioned her. . . .” I hoped this was vague enough not to raise Yong’s suspicions. I was wary of using Charm on him. If he worked for Nari, he had to know about fox magic.
“Nari’s warned you about her, huh?” Yong said, sounding weary. “She’s at the high-stakes table.”
“In that room we just passed?” I asked casually.
He nodded. “Woman with the red shirt and the scar on her chin. Her luck’s decidedly unpredictable. The way things look right now, she might even gamble her ship away.”
I suppressed a huff of alarm. I couldn’t let that happen if I was going to get off-planet tonight! Why couldn’t I have picked a captain who didn’t have a gambling habit? Still, maybe Captain Hye’s bad luck could be turned into an opportunity for me. I just had to get in there and talk her into leaving. But how?
At this hour, more people were coming to Nari’s to try their luck at various games, so I had to attend to my duties. I smiled at chattering gamblers while I shuttled to and from the bar with drinks. Yong and the other bouncers, dressed in identical uniforms, watched from their stations, their expressions professionally forbidding. One woman in a fancy fur coat raised a fuss when she lost everything at dice. Yong escorted her out as she jabbered that she just needed one more throw. I stifled a pang of unease. My use of Charm was encouraging people to stay longer and lose more money.
As the minutes wore on, I got better at determining which people had a real gambling habit and which had come to keep their friends company or enjoy a fun night out. I couldn’t always tell by how well or poorly dressed they were. But the gamblers had a haunted look in their eyes, and they stank of desperation.
I was starting to get an idea of why Mom had chosen to leave the gambling parlor behind. She wouldn’t approve of me being here, either, and especially the way I was using Charm. In the past, I’d only wielded it in small ways, not on whole groups of people like this. It took more effort than I was used to.
“You there!” a gambler called out, a man with a red face and a beard that had seen better days. “Another cup of cheongju, if you would!”
I smiled coolly at him. “I’ll be right back.” Cheongju is rice wine, I reminded myself. I’d never had it, but my mom and aunties sometimes indulged on New Year’s Day, or offered a cup to the ancestors.
Nari kept the wine in
a dizzyingly crowded bar in the back, next to the tiny kitchen that dispensed snacks for favored guests. No one had told me the name of the wizened female bartender. She scowled at me every time I appeared to retrieve a drink for one of the customers.
Inspiration struck. “Cheongju, please,” I said, “and a gukhwaju as well, for Captain Hye.” Gukhwaju was chrysanthemum wine. I picked it at random, mainly because it came in a fancy bottle, so I figured it was the good stuff.
The wizened woman’s scowl deepened. “Hye’s luck has changed, eh? Well, that won’t last, but it’s her funeral.”
The way she said this aroused my curiosity. “What do you mean?”
She laughed sourly. “I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out already. The boss magicks up the wine. It makes people’s luck go sour. The authorities come in regularly to ensure that the games aren’t rigged, but they fail to detect what she does to the refreshments. Gamblers always like to drink when they think they’re winning big, so the wine ensures that they end up losing anything they might have won. That way the parlor always comes out ahead.”
I tried to suppress the sick feeling in my stomach. Maybe my mom wasn’t right about everything, but the fact that she’d parted ways with Nari should have set off alarm bells in my head. No wonder she frowned on the use of Charm. I’d have to get out of there as quickly as possible. I didn’t want to be complicit in my aunt’s deceit one minute longer than necessary.
I waited impatiently while the bartender poured the two drinks and set them down. “Thanks!” I said, snatching up the tray as soon as she was done.
It took all my self-control not to run. I’d draw attention to myself if I tripped and spilled the drinks. The red-faced man had finished up the current round of dice and was now cheering on a friend. “Here you go,” I said, and produced the cheongju with a flourish.
He tipped without looking at me. I almost choked when I saw the large denomination of currency he’d laid in my hand. I stammered my thanks and made my way toward the high-stakes room, not looking left or right. If no one made eye contact with me, then hopefully I could avoid having to serve any more drinks before I reached my target. Behind me I heard a couple of people calling out, but I ignored them and walked faster. I snuck a glance toward Nari, who was chatting with a man dressed in extremely expensive clothes. I hoped the conversation would keep her distracted for a while.