Paper Mage

by Cutter, Leah

  Master Wei asked for Xiao Li next. He'd folded a hummingbird. Its neck had been extended, as if reaching for a flower, full of energy and life. Xiao Yen had been certain he'd passed. She shot a puzzled look at Bing Yu, who shrugged her shoulders.

  The small space where the students stood grew hotter. This end of the hall didn't have any open windows or doors. Bing Yu and Xiao Yen let go of each other's hands. Xiao Yen swayed on her feet. She wished she could sit, but none of the other students did, so she wouldn't either. She jumped every time Master Wei called another name.

  There were seven students left when Master Wei called Bing Yu's name. She looked over her shoulder at Xiao Yen, biting her lower lip as she put the screen back into place. Xiao Yen touched her lucky amulet, wishing its luck for Bing Yu, knowing it wouldn't help. Master Wei hadn't asked for Bing Yu like he'd asked for Xiao Yen. He'd been forced to take her as a student because she was the youngest daughter of the governor.

  At first Xiao Yen had thought Master Wei picked on Bing Yu unfairly, but toward the end of the six months of study, Xiao Yen had learned to see the differences between Master Wei's creations and Bing Yu's. Bing Yu moved her arms gracefully when she folded, but she couldn't concentrate. Her creatures never had any life. Still, Xiao Yen stuck by her friend, and helped her when she could.

  Finally, only Xiao Yen, Fat Fang and Long Yen were left.

  Fat Fang was one of the governor's sons: a minor son, from his third wife, but still a son. He loved sweets, and his round arms and belly showed it. His lips were thick and heavy, like those of the Buddha at the White Temple, and often held a similar smile. Xiao Yen didn't like him. His dark eyes sucked at everything they saw, like greedy whirlpools. He also made fun of her, and his sister, for trying to learn “man's work.” Fat Fang had bragged often about how he would defend Bao Fang from bandits, foreigners or barbarians, even though the Middle Kingdom was at peace. He'd taken his studies seriously. The snake he'd folded for the exam had curves in its back that made it seem more like cloth than like paper.

  Long Yen was the youngest son of the head of the Weavers' Guild. He'd always been nice to Xiao Yen. He was a medium-sized boy, with creamy skin and long curling eyelashes. Bing Yu had lamented that a boy had been born with such skin and eyes, and not a girl. He had a lazy smile and napped whenever he could. When he concentrated his fingers flew like a shuttlecock. The bear he'd folded had a stocky body, like a late-summer bear. Xiao Yen could see the solid muscles running under its fur, but its front paws were weak. Like Xiao Yen, Long Yen had grown tired.

  Master Wei didn't call any of their names. Maybe he'd forgotten about them. Xiao Yen tried to relax, but she kept leaning forward, a knotted rope tying itself tighter in her chest.

  Xiao Yen didn't see Master Wei take down the screen standing on the table. The breeze on her cheek as the space opened up alerted her. Fat Fang and Long Yen folded up the other screens. Master Wei indicated for the children to resume their places behind the long table. Just their paper animals stood there. All the others were gone.

  Xiao Yen sat, keeping her back straight. How embarrassing to be told her future in front of two other students! She knew she'd done badly. She hadn't thought she'd done that poorly. She held herself rigid, determined not to cry. She didn't want to imagine what Wang Tie-Tie would say to her. A cold knot formed in her throat, making it hard to swallow.

  Master Wei paced on his side of the table for a while more, as if deciding what to say. Xiao Yen didn't think telling them they'd failed would take that much effort.

  Finally Master Wei stopped and stood in front of them. “For the next year you two”—Master Wei pointed at the boys—”will stay in the large rooms, next to the storage rooms, on the east side of the back courtyard.” Master Wei paused again. “Xiao Yen, you will move into the room next to the library, on the west side. All of you have my permission to go home for the next two days to collect your things.”

  Xiao Yen kept herself rigid. Had she really heard what she'd thought she'd heard? She glanced to her left. The boys sat slack mouthed, staring. She was the first to find her voice. “Excuse me, honorable teacher, does that mean we passed?”

  Master Wei looked surprised. “Of course you did.”

  Xiao Yen smiled, a warm happiness melting the lump in her throat. The boys grinned and bobbed their heads. Wang Tie-Tie would be so pleased! Maybe she'd order fireworks, like she had for Xiao Yen's going-away party, when she'd started school. Gan Ou and Xiao Yen would stay up all night talking, snuggling together in their big bed. It would be so lovely to see her family again.

  Then she thought of Fu Be Be, and ice water drowned her happiness. Her mother wouldn't like Xiao Yen living at the school. It wouldn't matter to her that Xiao Yen had passed her exam the first time, unlike her cousin. She'd sniff and not speak to Xiao Yen, as if she were one of the servant's children.

  Master Wei spoke again. “You didn't pass because the creatures you folded were perfect. You're lucky, Xiao Yen, that bird of yours doesn't fall over. Fang, the belly on your snake isn't smooth. If you gave that poor creature life, it couldn't glide. Its stomach would always be catching on something. And the bear you did,” Master Wei continued, turning to Long Yen, “the front paws are uneven. And the snout isn't turned down enough. It wouldn't be able to get food down its throat without spilling all over its chest.”

  The boys still grinned. Xiao Yen bit her lip. They weren't paper mages yet. Much more hard work was involved, including many hours of working with paper, studying paintings, and trying to capture the essence of a creature. All she and her fellow classmates knew how to do was to fold a few animals, and not very well.

  Again she was the one who found her voice first. “Excuse me sir, I know the piece I folded was a poor example of your lessons; not because you're a bad teacher, but because I'm such a slow student. But why did I pass? Why are you allowing me to continue to study with you?”

  Master Wei said, “That's a good question, but not easy to answer, as are all good questions.” He paused for a moment, stroking his long skinny beard. “Before this test, you all demonstrated excellent imagination, which is an essential part of paper magic. Those who folded well, but without heart or vision, were dismissed.”

  Ah, thought Xiao Yen. That explained Xiao Li. He could fold beautifully, but he'd had less imagination than Bing Yu's paper toad.

  Master Wei continued. “Then, while you folded, each of you showed true concentration. A mage's mind must be focused. You all show glimmers of that. Also, you paid attention not just to the folds, but to movements you made while folding. You must have grace even under pressure, or your creation will be ungraceful, unnatural, and a danger to all.” He paused for another moment.

  “Look at Xiao Yen's crane. The head and neck flow smoothly into the body, the wings and legs flow out, making it all one creature. It echoes the grace you showed while folding. Toward the end, your arms grew tired, didn't they?”

  Xiao Yen, her face burning with the unexpected attention, agreed.

  “I thought so. That's why it barely stands.”

  Xiao Yen didn't respond.

  “So I have a task for you, that you will perform every evening. After a while, you'll be able to fold at the end of your piece with as much grace as when you started.” Master Wei looked at the boys and said, “I have tasks for you two as well.”

  Xiao Yen tried to pay attention to Master Wei's instructions for the boys. She knew she could learn much from everything he said. A voice in her head kept interrupting, singing over and over again, “I've passed! I'm going to be a real paper mage.”

  * * *

  Two months later Xiao Yen stood outside doing her nightly task. She tightened her sweating fingers around the rocks she held in her hands. She checked her elbows, making sure they bent like a gull's wings, then lifted her arms. Her shoulders ached. Sweat ran down her sides. She kept her arms at shoulder height and held them motionless in the air while she took a deep breath. Out, pause, in. She counte
d two more breaths then she lowered her arms again.

  The rocks in her hands felt cool against her thighs. Her forearms trembled. She'd be sore in the morning, but her arms would be stronger. She needed to have strong arms to fold difficult creatures, or so Master Wei had said. Wang Tie-Tie told her to do what Master Wei said.

  At the thought of Wang Tie-Tie, Xiao Yen felt a pang in her stomach, as if it were empty, though she'd eaten a big bowl of seasoned grain for dinner. During the first six months of school, before the exam, the students had been allowed to go home every ten days or so. Now, going home was a privilege she had to earn. Suddenly the rocks in her hands felt as heavy as the stone the servants used to grind the grain. She sat on the steps leading to her room. When she put the rocks down, they made a solid thunk on the wood. She grinned. These rocks were heavier than the ones she'd started with. She was getting stronger.

  From her seat, Xiao Yen looked across the courtyard. No lights burned through the window of the boys' room. She wondered if they were still awake. She remembered lying in the dark, talking with Gan Ou for hours, when she'd lived at home. She sighed. She'd loved those times, even though she and Gan Ou had often fought. At least she hadn't been alone. No one even lived in the building Xiao Yen lived in now. Next to her room was the Hall of Study, full of scholars' scrolls and painted silks. To her left, along the outer courtyard wall, were the servants' quarters and the kitchen. Just beyond them, in the corner, was the well.

  Master Wei stayed in the front courtyard. The Hall of Reception was actually split in two, lengthwise. Master Wei lived in the long skinny room at the back of the hall. He said he needed the quiet. Xiao Yen didn't understand. Wasn't the whole compound quiet enough? She missed the sounds of her younger cousins yelling as they chased after a ball, or listening to Wang Tie-Tie and her tea friends tell stories and laugh in the Garden of Sweet Scents, and the noises of the crowded streets, the vendors hawking their wares. Xiao Yen felt as if she were the white snake Bei Si, imprisoned in her seven-story pagoda, only able to watch the life going on below.

  The moon broke through the clouds, like a friendly beacon. It wasn't strong enough to fill the courtyard with light. The back corner where the well stood had thick shadows. Xiao Yen wondered if a dragon lived at the bottom of that well too, like Jing Long, the one who lived at the bottom of the city well.

  And if a dragon did live there, what did it bring? The dragon in the river Quang brought floods and fresh water every spring to the farmers. Jing Long brought the autumn rains. Maybe a dragon in the well of a paper mage school would bring luck? To the student who studied hardest?

  Xiao Yen imagined the dragon rising out of the well, like the painting of Jing Long above the altar at the White Temple. The dragon she imagined was black, built out of shadows, not colors. It curled like smoke as it rose, undulating across the courtyard, outlined in silver by the moon. It held a special piece of dragon gold in its claws, in the shape of a pearl. It circled the courtyard, twisting and turning, playing with its ball.

  A sudden gust of wind shook the trees, and a piece of fruit from the cork tree fell at Xiao Yen's feet. She blinked, startled. The dragon she'd imagined disappeared. Xiao Yen sighed, more sad than impatient with herself for letting her concentration be disrupted. It was too late in the day for her to imagine a fully grown dragon for long. She should go to bed. She sighed again. She felt too tired to move.

  Maybe she could pick up the gold ball the well dragon had left behind. She held it in her mind's eye. It weighed less than one of the cork fruits, and was crunched together, like a wadded-up piece of paper. She had to hold it tightly or the wind would blow it away.

  As she turned it, feeling the ridges under her fingers, she found a loose end. She tugged at it. The ball unraveled. Bit by bit she unfolded it, tugging at it like dough. It grew in her hands to the size of a small blanket. She smoothed it and pressed it flat until it flowed like silk. Then Xiao Yen wrapped the gold around herself, letting it smother her in luck and fortune and all good things as she picked herself up and drifted to her room to sleep.

  Chapter Seven

  On the Trail

  Xiao Yen walked around the medicinal stele, marveling. Cures for at least a hundred ailments were carved on its sides. It was made of pale gray river rock, tall as a foreigner and wide enough that she'd have to stretch to put her arms around it. The governor of Tan Yuan had placed seven medicinal pillars around the city's marketplace so that all people could get the same reliable treatment and live healthy lives.

  Xiao Yen didn't see a cure for her problem written on the stele, but she knew what to do. All the tales she'd heard from Ama had taught her. The way to force Bei Xi back into her original fox-fairy form was to sprinkle sulfur in a circle around her.

  Xiao Yen left the marketplace and headed toward the apothecary. She felt sad. Bei Xi had been so nice to Xiao Yen, teaching her both the foreigners' language and some of the northern barbarians' language as well. Plus, Bei Xi had paid for Xiao Yen's services, so contractually, Bei Xi was Xiao Yen's responsibility. However, Xiao Yen had originally only been hired to protect the foreign brothers, and Bei Xi was draining the life out of Ehran. Xiao Yen couldn't let her continue. Even if she thought Ehran deserved it.

  Xiao Yen recognized the apothecary shop by the sign of the toad squatting on the compass. She also could have found the shop by the smell: the bitter herbs, sweet flowers and incense all mingled with something that caught at the top of Xiao Yen's throat and dried it out.

  Xiao Yen entered the shop and made her way to the counter at the back. A stout glass jar filled with thick red liquid and three floating geckos sat to one side. Strings of dried crab shells and squids hung above the counter. To the right of the counter hung a snakeskin. The body of the snake curled upon itself, forming a small nest, while the head stretched out, almost as if the snake had woken from a nap and was in search of food. The skin hung on thin wires and moved with the slightest breeze, as if it were alive.

  “May I help you?” A skeletal man with dark, sunken eyes and pale skin came from behind the curtain separating the back from the front. His long neck and bony frame gave the impression of great height.

  “I need some sulfur,” Xiao Yen said, not giving the man her entire attention, staring instead at a thin bamboo cage containing hundreds of dried crickets.

  The apothecary quoted a price. Xiao Yen continued to look around the shop. Her distracted pose was a bargaining ploy. If the merchant didn't think she was that interested, he'd drop the price more readily. Eventually she responded with a price less than a third of the one the merchant had started with. They bargained. Xiao Yen threatened to leave the shop. Finally they settled on a price, a little less than half the one originally stated.

  Wang Tie-Tie had taught Xiao Yen how to bargain. Even Fu Be Be said Wang Tie-Tie was the best bargainer in the family. Xiao Yen had asked her aunt about it one afternoon, after watching her negotiate three pairs of shoes for the price of one. Wang Tie-Tie had said something about how if she didn't bargain hard, her husband would take every wasted penny out of her skin. After seeing the brand on her arm that day in the Garden of Sweet Scents, Xiao Yen wondered if Wang Tie-Tie had meant it literally.

  The apothecary stepped into a back room to get Xiao Yen's purchase, and came back carrying a small bag. The sulfur was so strong she could smell it when he got close to the counter.

  “Here's your yellow fluid,” the apothecary said. While Xiao Yen dug coins out of her bag, he asked, “Do you have a cold?” Sulfur was often used in an infusion to treat colds around the waist and kidneys.

  Xiao Yen grinned at him and lied. “No. A mother-in-law.”

  He laughed. Mothers-in-law were notorious for finding fault with new brides. In more than one market tale, particularly evil mothers-in-law were discovered to be foxes in disguise.

  “Maybe you should go to Ba Long's, the dragon temple, then. There's an altar there dedicated to Fu Xi and his wife Nü-gua.”

  Fu Xi was
well known as the architect of all society. He'd invented fishing, farming, as well as writing. Nü-gua was known to come to the aid of hard-pressed heroes. Fu Xi and his wife Nü-gua were generally shown as human from the waist up, their bodies facing away from each other, while their lower snake halves intertwined.

  Xiao Yen thanked him and asked directions to the temple. It was only three streets away. Xiao Yen bought incense from one of the sellers just outside the temple gate. Inside the complex, the main building across from the gate was dedicated to Ba Long, the city's dragon.

  A smaller building stood to the right. Painted knots covered the façade. Before Fu Xi had brought writing to Xiao Yen's people, they'd communicated using knots. Considering the steles in the marketplace, Xiao Yen wasn't surprised that the scholarly aspects of the god and goddess were worshiped here in Tan Yuan.

  Inside, the temple was dark, lit by only a few candles. Three different aspects of the pair hung above the altar. The center scroll had the traditional representation of the pair painted on it. To the left hung a scroll with Nü-gua standing in front of a group of beings who all looked like her, with snake bottom halves and human tops. Each held a different item, representing the things the goddess had given to humanity: different instruments, like the flute and mouth organ, to represent music; rocks and swords, to represent smelting; and compasses and maps, to represent navigation. To the right hung a similar scroll, showing Fu Xi and his contributions: a square measure, fishing rods, plows, pens, paper and ink.

  Xiao Yen lit her incense and placed five sticks, representing the compass points, in the brazier under the painting for Fu Xi. She placed the traditional three sticks in the center brazier, under the traditional painting. Then she placed the rest, a lucky eight, in the remaining brazier for Nü-gua. Xiao Yen knelt and prayed for a long while. Since she had no luck, she needed all the help she could get.