158 Parting, finding, hunting

Madam Min sat on a packing case down at the water's edge. On her lap, she had the lid balancing carefully on her knees. A broken inkstone was on the right hand side of this makeshift desk, whilst a pile of assorted papers sat infront of her. She was making lists of all of the items that were washing up around them. 

It was clear they had come from Chenxi itself,  and had probably been taken from the merchants stores. She catalogued according to the presumed source; milliners, tailors, jewellery, hardware. Eventually, this would return to Chenxi and kick start the town once more, at least she hoped it would.

Min feverently hoped the owners had abandoned their properties before they had been looted. If not they, were most likely dead. 

She shuddered at the thought. 

She had already catalogued bottles and flagons taken from her own cellars. Glasses, although broken, we're boxed up and kept. The glass could go back and be reblown, hopefully. Ornaments and associated paraphernalia which had come from the upstairs rooms,  where used where they could. Broken chairs were patched together, curtains, dried and hung as awnings over the cots they had made for the children. Dresses, which had been used by the ladies of the house next door, where simplified ,  washed and given to women who had nothing but the rags they stood up in.

The invaders were taking everything. 

She thought of the bustling streets, the laughter, the fights, the ladies selling combs, hair pins and ribbons. The smell of the pancake house and the street venders selling fresh noodles, steam buns, red bean cakes. Her mouth drooled at the memories. It brought a tear to her eye. She wiped it away, turning back to the task at hand. 'No time to be maudling' she said, reprimanding herself. 

She catalogued because it gave her purose. She catalogued because it gave meaning to the children, so they got out of bed each day, excited to see what the gentle current had brought during the night. It turned the horrors of their ordeals into a game of seeking out treasures. It gave the children reasons to learn how to swim, how to hunt for things which had sunk. How to laugh.

"Madam Min! Look what I've got!" A child ran up the bank clutching a small box. " I haven't opened it. What's inside it?"

Eager eyes watched as Min carefully opened the box. It was, as she expected, a trinket box, but this one had belonged to someone, it had not come from a store. Inside were a few hair pins, a bracelet, and a locket of hair which probably belonged to the mother.

'So, they loot homes too. Not surprised.' she thought to herself

She listed it as; trinket box, contents personal. 

"Put it on the pile by the tree, love." The child hesitated, looking back to check he was right. Min nodded, " Yes that's right. All personal belongings will go there ready to be packed away as soon as we can." She knew this pile would start to get larger now. Hoopefully, they wouold find owners for some of it.

"Okay, who's next?"

It had been several weeks since Niao and Hao had set off to find Yiran. They had climbed to the caves but there was no sign of her. Hao noticed a trace of a fire pit; small and well disguised. "Someone has been here, and looking at the ash, it was probably in the last couple of weeks. She may have been here but moved on?" It was a question more than a statement.

Niao studied the firepit. "It was built by Yiran."

"How do you know?"

"Its exactly how I had taught her to build one, so it created little smoke but gave light and enough heat for cooking, and of course, a safety torch....." She started checking the ground for a length of wood, burned at one end. "Here." She lifted some wood which still showed signs that something had been wrapped around it. It had the tell tale charring of something which had sat at the edge of the pit. "Check around, see if she left any indication of where she went next. You're looking for a leaf which has been folded, backwards along its central vein."

They started looking, "Here!" Hao said. When Niao saw it, she smiled, "Only she, Yin and myself use that marker. Let's follow it, she's leading us to where she is."

Poom stared sadly at Second Master. It was time to part. They had become close over the few months they had been in each other's company; an alliance that would flourish as time passed.

" I will miss you dear friend," Poom said as he held Second Master by both arms.

"The feeling is mutual." 

They pulled one another into an embrace, and patted each other affectionately on their backs. They stepped back smiling.

"Until the next time brother."
"Until the next time."

With that, Second Master mounted his horse and checked his two Hammers were also aboard and ready. They nodded towards him and with that, the three men wheeled their horses and headed back towards Shipao. Then home. They had been away far too long and all three had families they wished to find.

"Straight back to Chenxi sir?"

"Yes. We'll stop at Shipao, rest the horses, then make our way to Border town. Hopefully, scouts will be able to tell us more."

Tangun however, was proving to be a very hot and dangerous place to be.