Conversation over Lunch

Helena frowned as she looked at her sparse wardrobe.  She didn’t even consider trying to fit in, since she’d never owned Chinese clothing of any era.  Her kimono would be considered an insult, so she stuck with a pleated peplos.  She’d added a copper torque as a slight bow to fashion, but now she’d reached a more painful decision.  She should wear a crown of oak, yew, and cypress, to show off her home realm and her status as a priestess.  But she felt odd without her mildly battered witch hat.  She’d worn one like it since she was a child.  She looked back and forth between the two accessories.

That question echoed through her head and she hissed in annoyance.  What was the point acting?  She couldn’t face down another wizard if she was pretending to be someone else.  Gold Rat Hsu could look down on her all he wanted.  She was Helena Aoede, the Curse Gunner, and she’d teach him fear if she needed to!

With a swift move she snatched up the witches hat and put it on.  That decided she grabbed her pouch and hurried out the door.  If she left now she’d be spared the indignity of flying through the city again.

The urgency of the meeting must have quickened her pace, because she arrived at the restaurant five minutes early.  And she was glad she did.  The Shining Carp Restaurant was an edifice of wood and stone, placed on pillars above a pool filled with swimming fish.  All in a space that should only be able to fit a hand cart.  Viewed from the left and the right the building was just an odd shimmer, but from the front it popped fully into focus.  A hidden object rewarding the viewer for their cunning persistence.

Helena wasn’t the only person who paused to look at the trick, but she doubted anyone else understood the effort that the spell took.  Someone had taken the empty lot and turned it into a dimensional portal.  The building wasn’t actually bigger than space would allow.  The lot was a portal to the restaurant.  A quick check showed that the building’s corners matched the four cardinal directions, and someone had put pillars with the four Chinese guardian gods at each point.  Common feng-shui magic, but the strength of the effect showed a spellcaster who was both practiced and skilled as an artificer.

She considered that as she crossed the zig zag bridge to the front door.  While this level of work was technically possible for a lesser magician, it seemed likely that Ling Wei Hsu had done it himself.  That fit with what she knew about the man.  This wasn’t just a good restaurant.  He had picked this place as a show of power.

Which meant it was only fair if she showed off a little too.  She reached into her pouch and pulled out the bell she always carried.  A simple loop of string and a whispered charm added it securely to her wrist.  The building was set up to banish dark magic, and reinforce social power.  But the killing stone contained in the bell was a curse on a whole different level.  The artifact only allowed Helena to carry it because she’d earned it, and even then it was capricious.  It should give Hsu something to think about.

Of course this was all for impressing other magicians.  She doubted the server who greeted her at the entrance noticed.  “Greetings gracious guest.  Doctor Hsu is on the upper level.  Please follow me.”

“Thank you,” Helena responded as she let the woman lead her up the stairs.  The woman had used the term for a college doctor, rather than a practitioner of medicine or magic.  That was odd.  Perhaps Hsu had some modern sensibilities.

The upper deck of the restaurant was filled with exquisite art.  Vases and calligraphy prints were carefully arranged around the room, and the sides had a lovely view of the pond below.  A buffer zone of empty tables had been created around a corner table, where a man in an extra long sleeved tunic and wearing a Ming era functionary hat sat waiting.

The heavyset mustached man did not rise when she arrived.  He merely indicated the opposite seat.  “So you decided to meet with me, Curse Gunner Helena.  Good.  People who I have strong connections with wanted me to speak with you.”

Helena slipped into the chair, leaving the server to quickly retreat.  “People you have connections to, Gold Rat Hsu?  That’s too bad.  I was hoping to speak to you on magical matters.  Not political ones.”  She picked up the pot of tea that had been sitting on the table and poured a cup for both of them.  Even if Hsu was being rude, the rules of etiquette should be followed.

“Hmph.”  The man gave her a nod and an appraising glance at the use of his title.  Did he think she was too stupid to learn about Eastern magicians?  Or maybe he thought he’d kept a low enough profile to be overlooked.  Given Helena somehow hadn’t known he was part of the Triads until today he was doing something right.  “An archaic witch like you might be able to avoid politics, but those of us who have to use items other than goat intestines in our magic have to care about money.  And money is best earned in groups.”

“I’m well aware of the power of money,” Helena said.  “Goats are expensive.  I just have my pride as a witch.”

Hsu sniffed again.  “Is that why you’re working as a policewoman?  I suppose it’s better than your last job as an assassin, but hardly what I would call witches’ work.  Running around hunting ghosts is a job for a priest, and battling demons is for heroes.  You’d probably find things much more profitable selling potions to women with love issues and cursing cheating merchants.  If you stuck to those matters you’d make ten times what you’re making now in a month.”

Helena folded her hands.  “I see.”  There was the bribe attempt.  Decently subtle, but still obvious enough that anyone with two brain cells would figure it out.  It was mildly insulting.  She’d hoped to be worthy of a more intricate offer.

She mulled over petty vengeance as the server came and placed several dishes on the table.  She didn’t recognize much more than the rice and an eggplant dish, but it seemed to be a sizable amount of food.  Both of them nodded to the server, who bowed in return and retreated.

As she dished out rice, she constructed her refusal.  She wanted to make sure the Gold Rat Wizard knew she’d understood his offer and all it entailed.  “It’s possible that certain people might pay a great deal of money if I found less exciting work, but that seems foolish in the long term.  The police might not know.  But heaven and earth look down on magicians who perform a job halfheartedly.  You and I both know a bad reputation will last longer than any organization’s financial appreciation.”

“Hah!”  Helena nearly jumped in her seat as the heavyset man waved his chopsticks towards her.  “Typical youngster thinking.  Always showing off to anyone who will watch.  Getting in petty duels.  Making a big scene with their magic instead of handling matters quietly.  Such foolishness.  I had hoped as a woman you’d be a bit more reasonable, or at least restrained, but it seems children these days are equally short-sighted.  You’re just as big a fool as that Long Zhou Di.

“Long Zhou Di?” Helena asked.  She’d been expecting a threat, not a story.

Hsu picked over some of the meat and asparagus before responding.  “That’s right.  He’s a youngster like you.  Barely fifty.  He calls himself the Living Dragon.  Claimed it himself of course.”  The man shook his head and Helena found herself doing the same.  “Killed three other youngsters holding it, like a brawler fighting in every kwoon in the city.  At least you had the decency to let our peers name you.  He’s flashy, attention grabbing.  Everything a good magician shouldn’t be.”

“I’m not sure if a magician shouldn’t be flashy, but I agree fighting for your title is childish,” Helena said.  She wasn’t sure what Hsu was getting at, but she did agree that wasn’t the best first impression.  Titles were supposed to be a representation of what your peers thought about you.

“Sadly people like Long Zhou Di excite other young men who can’t understand how to be a man without acting like a baboon.  Bringing even more bad attention on the group as a whole.”  Hsu tapped his finger against the table.  “He may get results, yes.  But what seemed like a good ending can turn sour later.  The size of the fruit doesn’t determine how many worms it has.  Older and wiser men may find a person like Long Zhou Di to be a danger to everyday business.  They might turn an eye away from fights he gets himself into.”

So that’s what it was.  Helena studied the man before her as she considered what he said.  It seemed that the Triads had more than one magician now.  And the old guard didn’t like the fresh new face.  Specifically the old guardsman in front of her was willing to give her, and through her the police, the man’s name.  However she wasn’t certain if he was offering up Long Zhou Di with the knowledge of the other bosses, or just because Hsu wanted the man dealt with himself.  She’d have to press him.

“Strange,” Helena remarked.  “While not an official saying in either of our realms, I find that victory tends to excuse all actions.  At least among men who only look at profit.  Reckless action that succeeds is often considered bold.”

Hsu did his best to hide his sour face by eating a chicken foot.  “A barbaric saying.  I despise it, because it’s true.  Success often leads to forgiveness.”  Hsu leaned forward and looked her in the eyes.  “However, success must be earned.  If a man was attacked by a mere woman, asking for extra aid would be a sign of failure.  Even if that woman had a certain degree of fame.  And if that woman were to defeat him, well, that would be a sign of his incompetence.  The matter would be swept under the rug.”

Helena leaned back in her chair.  So the organization was letting her take a shot at this ‘Living Dragon,’ Long Zhou Di.  It was a test for the new blood.  Hsu was probably the only one who wanted her to win, but they had effectively said they’d stay out of the fight.

That was better than she could hope for in a fight with the Triads.  She felt confident she could kill any human thug sent after her, and most supernatural ones as well. But her friends were not as well protected.  And she had enough trouble with assassins after angering Apollo.  She didn’t need more.

The words however still made her blood heat.  The Triads were treating her as a patsy for their own benefit.  And the misogyny didn’t improve her opinion.  “I see what you’re saying.  I guess this ‘mere woman’ will solve the matter that all those men in your organization couldn’t.”

“Hmph, well in the end that is a witch’s job.  To add chaos where order has failed,” Hsu replied as he ate his rice.  “I feel doing so through battle is foolishness, but then my goal is to provide order, not chaos.”

“The organization you work with is a force for order?” Helena sniffed.

“That’s right.  It is.”  Hsu jabbed his chopsticks towards her again.  “Your home realm might be a mess because of the drunken fool who leads your gods, but I am well aware you have lived in a semi functioning realm.”

Hsu twirled his hand around at the brick buildings surrounding the peaceful restaurant.  “You’ve seen our city.  The fools across the bridge claim to own this realm, but they don’t care about it.  So long as they can buy their magical curios and gawk at the mystical beings at the market, they’re satisfied.  Who then runs the city?  The police?  Hah!  The ones here barely can keep up with crime.

“No the duty of governance must fall to the merchants, despised as they are.”  Hsu placed his chopsticks down.  “We give this city order.  We make Chinatown prosper.  That is the order I create.”

“As long as we ignore the occasional murder,” Helena replied.

Hsu shrugged.  “Order requires power.  Power requires proof.”

Helena raised an eyebrow.  “Maybe that’s because you men suck at it.  Why not hand over the power to us agents of chaos for a bit and see how much better we do things?”

“Ha!”  Hsu shook his head.  “I’ve seen what an Empress will do to maintain order.  At best you are just as bloody minded as men when you are in charge.  I will stick to the way things always have been.  I like it.”

“Only because you’re in charge,” Helena said.

To her surprise the man burst out laughing.  “My wife says the exact same thing.”  He recovered quickly.  “Of course, she doesn’t talk about getting in fights with other mages.”

Helena sipped her tea.  “It’s fun.  You should try it more often.  It’s more fun if it’s a friendly match instead of a death duel though.”  She looked him right in the eyes.  “In fact if you’re willing we could duel right now, Gold Rat Hsu.”  It would be fun to slam a spell in his face.

Hsu shook his head.  “I don’t know if I should blame your drunken gods or the Realm of Illusion for your bloodthirst,” Hsu said.  “Well it matters not in the end.  I again suggest you quit this matter and take up potion selling.  It’s more profitable.”

She responded by taking a bite out of the steamed fish.  “When you invite me to dinner again, order this dish.  It’s really good.  It’ll help me ignore your ‘organization’s’ veiled threats.”

“Tch.  Just as arrogant, but at least you have better taste in food than that fool,” Hsu muttered.  “We shall see what happens.”