73 Time ticks by

It'd been several months since Hàorán brought me into the barracks quarter. I've become fitter across my shoulders, back and arms from wielding a hammer most days. I have a pass to travel back and forth and now I've included running out in the fields and across the marshy area which surrounded us.

To make it fun, I've started to chase small animals. Their darting from one place to the next increases my agility back to how it was before I 'went soft' living in the town. 

As I grow better at it, I've added hand-catching too and bringing them back for the pot.

More importantly, I'm enriching my soul. The fresh air, freedom and the natural world, bring balance back in my head and that is reflected in how I interact with the people I meet.

Would I ever settle in a town? Village?

No!

I really want my freedom back but I felt obliged somehow, obliged to those who have shown me great kindness. 

So I stay and work for them (and with them).

The incident with the two men is but a lesson in my memory and now, when I go out, I dress in the style of a man. It is easier too and closer to my usual garb.

Why do women wear such complexity? And fuss over make up? Who are they hiding?

I invariably shrug at this. I don't think I'll ever fully understand even though Xin has tried many times.

I still sleep between skins in the corner of Second Master's room, but now there is straw beneath and I have a bean stuffed sack for my pillow. As I said, I'm getting soft.

Days passed into weeks, then months. I'd not left the relative, close proximity around the town, and stayed away from the entrance to the gorge. I was, however, noticing subtle changes. 

Stands of trees which had stood untouched, showed signs of recent trampling. Minor, but my eye spotted it.

Paths which had fallen into disuse were now becoming clear of vegetation. There was no reason for these to reopen as better and safer track-ways had been created.

There were unknown people popping up in the fields. They looked as though they were working, but it was clear from their clothing and the way they moved, they weren't. They held the tools clumsily, moved inefficiently, looked at me in a different way. There was no smile, no recognition, just a furtive glance and then a lowering of the head to avoid my seeing their faces.

I couldn't pinpoint it but something was off. I had a feeling people were coming across the border and these were not just the run of the mill refugees.

"Second Master?" 

" Mm, what is it little one?"

"Something's not right out there. I'm seeing and sensing things which don't work. I just feel there's something happening around the town." I was confused and looked at him hoping he might have an answer.

"Where did you see this?"

"Over the back where the rice fields are and on the marshes as well. I don't usually meet people or see tracks, but I am now. What's happening?"

"Come with me. I think we need to go and see somebody higher up." 

We left the forge and he took me to  Second in Command under Commander Zhang. He seemed affable; I wasn't intimidated.

 "Tell him exactly what you've just told to me," Second Master smiled reassuringly, " go on, don't be scared."

I relate everything to him as best as I could and elaborated upon the details I'd not mentioned beforehand.

"Where, would you suggest they are coming from?" He looked directly at me. A stern man with a frightening manner. I shrank behind Second Master. He took no notice of my growing fear, "What direction would you say they're coming?"

I was ready to bolt but Second Master held me firmly but gently. "She scares easily. Can you ease your tone a fraction or she will bolt and not return." 

He waved his hand as if swatting a fly, "no need," and turning to his attending officer, barked out orders. Turning to Second Master, he looked down at me with a degree of contempt, "she reliable?" 

"Yes. Her loyalty in unbelievable. Her skills are deadly and her ability in the forge in quite exceptional." There was a defiance in his voice and I began to relax. Reaching down I felt the comfort of my two fighting knives. Second Master noticed this and carefully drew my hand back.

"OK, we'll send some scouts out to see who they are and whether we need worry about them. Personally, " he looked at his fingers inspecting them for cleanliness, and without lifting his head towards us, "I don't think there's anything to worry about, your little girl is imagining things."

I froze. Indignation rose in my throat and I wanted to inform this idiot I wasn't. 

It was clear, we were being thoroughly dismissed.

I left with second master in tow, I was furious, "slow down, slow down," he grabbed my arm, "slow down, little one." He turned me to face him, "Tell me what is it that you think is going to happen?"

"I'm wondering whether or not there is something going to come into the gorge.

I'm wondering whether the town itself is going to be attacked." I paused, thinking, "Is it possible they are already reconnoitering? Checking on who's where, how many in the barracks, who to watch, to follow, to interrogate?" I looked at him with concern. I hoped no-one I knew would end up with a knife at their throat or worse still, tortured until they give information. 

"Mm, well, I think they've been here a while and nothing has been done. What is it they say about rats? When you see them in the daytime, they have overrun the city? I suspect this is what's happening. We've seen an influx of refugees but we don't know who are spies." He shrugged. "Question is, are they getting past the fort or have they found a different route?"

"Let me go. Let me hunt the information out. I know this area well and I can hide very easily. I'll come home at night, I won't sleep out." I looked at him, "please!"

"For the sake of Chen fighters, I think it's going to come to that, but can we guarantee that you're going to stay safe on your own?"

"I don't see why not. I've been on my own all the time before and I'm a lot safer out there than I have in here." I laughed. He grinned looking at me in the way he did his eldest daughter.

"First, let's get back and see if Bǎo is in the barracks. He and his attachment would be an interesting contact. It'll also be interested to hear what he has uncovered. I'll visit father, and hear his take on all of this, after all, he is our Commander and carries the Chen seal."

Decisions made, my life changed. I was looking forward to getting back out there.