Song of the Spring Moon Waning (10 page)

Wen Yu licked along the sole; it tasted like warm skin with a hint of saltiness. He found that when he circled the middle of Liu Yi's foot or kissed the fragile skin, Liu Yi's body shook and he made small noises from behind closed lips. Fingers pressing and rubbing at Liu Yi's ankle and the tense muscles of his lower leg, Wen Yu's lips worked over the bottom and arch of Liu Yi's foot. He nipped ever so slightly at the side of the arch and watched Liu Yi twist as if caught between wanting to pull away from the sensation and pressing close anyway. Wen Yu could see a light sheen of sweat across his chest, and his hair fanned out around his head on the blankets. Using his thumbs to press hard into the arch, Wen Yu's mouth moved back up Liu Yi's leg to kiss at the back of his knee again.

Liu Yi made a noise halfway between a gasp and a sob, and Wen Yu changed his touch to become gentler, more soothing, and watched Liu Yi's breathing slow.

"Come here," Liu Yi said finally, sitting up and holding out his hands to Wen Yu, who crawled back up the bed. Liu Yi's hands framed his face, and his lips traced across the line of his jaw, down his chin, and down his throat. Liu Yi sucked and worried at the sweet spot of Wen Yu's collarbone. When Liu Yi pulled away, both of their breathing had gone ragged.

"Thank you," Liu Yi said, and Wen Yu could only shake his head. He leaned forward and buried his face in the curve where Liu Yi's throat met shoulder.

They lay curled together for a few minutes, touching one another with light, fleeting caresses

"I have dinner for us," Liu Yi said finally. "But I fear it has gone cold by now."

Wen Yu became aware of how hungry he was; his stomach felt like an empty bowl that hadn't had anything in it for days. He sat up, pulling away from Liu Yi. "We can see, anyway."

"Here." Liu Yi slid off the bed behind him and padded over to one of the chests. He pulled out and unfolded a silk robe and handed it to Wen Yu, then pulled on another himself.

The table in the front room was set with bowls and a stew pot. Wen Yu leaned over the table and felt that the pot was still warm. Lifting the lid, he found a beautiful beef stew. His stomach clenched painfully with hunger at the smell, and Wen Yu reached for the ladle to serve them.

"Thank you. I haven't had beef stew since I left home." Wen Yu sat and reached for his spoon.

"Oh?" Liu Yi settled on the other side of the table.

"I came here with a modest allowance," Wen Yu admitted. "It was supposed to allow me to keep my mind on my studies, not distract me with unnecessary purchases, but I miss things like meat and sweets."

The stew was delicious, thick with the darker tastes of the beef, mushrooms, and other vegetables. They sat and ate in a comfortable sort of silence. Wen Yu wolfed down his first helping, served himself seconds and ate that almost as quickly.

"Are you going to work the poems tonight?" Liu Yi set his bowl of stew aside and reached for his cup. "Or are you going back to your rooms?"

"I thought I would work more on the poems." Wen Yu finished off the small amount of stew from his third helping and set the bowl aside.

"Isn't the examination in a few days?" Liu Yi asked, and Wen Yu froze, sudden panic washing over him.

He'd known how close he was, but he hadn't really felt it, deep inside, until now. With any of the other examinations he'd taken, by this time he would be doing nothing but studying, only stopping to take a little food. Yet now, with this final and most important examination so close, he found he did not want to go back to his empty rooms and study politics or military tactics; he wanted to stay here, with Liu Yi, and translate the strange words that could only be read by moonlight.

"I'm staying here and working on the poems." He sounded sure, and Wen Yu realized he
was
sure about this.

Liu Yi watched him for a moment and then nodded. "Do you want me to help you move the desk into the courtyard?"

"Yes, please." Wen Yu stood.

He didn't even want to think about what the guards would gossip about them this time, disheveled and obviously both wearing Liu Yi's clothes as they carried the desk out into the courtyard. Wen Yu set up his brushes, ink stone, and papers. He unfolded the poems and watched the words float to the top of the page, let himself get lost in the language he was starting to be able to read.

The moon was sinking low on the horizon many hours later, and Wen Yu rubbed both hand across his face and sat back. There would soon not be enough moonlight for him to see the words, so he began folding up the sheets of paper. He was closing the second volume when something caught his eye. It looked like writing in a lighter hand than what was on the page, and it was half-covered by another piece of paper. He squinted at the inside of the book cover. The cover itself was made out of heavy paper, but it looked like someone had tried to repair or reinforce it at some point and had glued a page overtop some writing. Wen Yu began using his fingernail to pry up the glued-down page, trying to read what was underneath. The page gave way finally, ripping away from the cover, leaving little shreds sticking to the glue behind.

Correspondence between the Great Physician of the Moon Palace, Jade Rabbit, and her dearest Dragon, Lord of the Jade Mountain. Copied from the original for safekeeping.

It was a very strange inscription. Wen Yu read it twice and tried a few different translations of some of the words, but it made no more sense to him. Finally, he set the book aside, and he allowed himself to collapse back so he was lying on the mat next to the desk, looking up at the sky.

Behind him, the door opened, and Liu Yi moved across the courtyard to sit next to him.

"The translation?"

Wen Yu rolled onto his side to look up at Liu Yi. "It's going well, actually; the language is not as different from our own as I had originally feared. There are some variations, of course, especially in the way the characters are formed, but I think I can make out enough of it to have a basic idea of what they say. It will still be a long time before I can be confident that my translation is exact."

"So?" Liu Yi pulled his legs up so that he could rest his chin on his knees, wrapping his arms around himself.

Wen Yu turned to look back up at the moon. "They are love poems," he said finally. "A little sad and lonely sometimes, but love poems nonetheless."

"So nothing," Liu Yi hesitated, "nothing about what is wrong with me?"

"No." Wen Yu didn't say that it wasn't the kind of text likely to talk about such things; they both knew that. "But I'm not able to read all of it yet."

The sun began to rise, turning the sky pinkish around the edges and bringing a pale light into the courtyard. Wen Yu rolled to his knees and then stood. "I should go back to my rooms today. There are things I need to do."

"Yes, of course." Liu Yi also stood and reached for Wen Yu. "Thank you." He pulled him close into a hug. "Even if what I am looking for isn't there, thank you for doing this and for being here with me."

Wen Yu pressed his face into Liu Yi's hair and returned the embrace.

Wen Yu looked out the window for what must have been the hundredth time. When he'd gotten back from Liu Yi's rooms at the palace, his little room had felt darker and emptier than it had the entire time he'd lived in the city. His papers and books were spread out in front of him, but they didn't hold him enraptured as they should have. Instead, the city beyond the small window kept drawing his attention.

Setting aside his brushes, Wen Yu folded his arms on the desk and let his head rest on them. He wanted to be out eating noodles and talking to Zhi Ping, or drinking tea with Li Song. Most of all, he wanted to be talking to or playing liubo with Liu Yi. He didn't want to be stuck researching things he hated in preparation for passing yet another examination.

What would happen if I just stopped?
Wen Yu wondered, and he felt a wash of sudden dread. He hadn't ever known anything aside from study, and it would kill his father for him to have gotten this far and not take the final Palace Examination. Wen Yu was ranked first in his entire province; to be able to take this examination was his honor and his privilege. Or so he'd been told that his entire life. Who was he not to want that now?

There was a soft
tap-tap
on the edge of the windowsill. Wen Yu lifted his head off his arms and looked around. A small brown bird with a white and black belly cocked its head at Wen Yu.

"What are you doing just sitting there?" the bird asked, and Wen Yu blinked.

"I …"

"Wait." The bird turned its head to look at Wen Yu from the other side. "You're not Wang Boa."

"No." Wen Yu said. "I'm Wen Yu."

The bird hopped across the windowsill and into the room. "That's unfortunate, but I suppose that can't be helped. I don't suppose you know Liu Yi and if he's still so ill?"

"I do know Liu Yi," Wen Yu said, sitting up to study the bird. A thrush, he realized. A song thrush in particular. "When I last left him, he seemed to be fine."

"Good." The bird turned back towards the open window. "I'll go to him directly, then. Good day to you, honorable student."

"Wait." Wen Yu stood so fast, he knocked a pile of papers off his desk and onto the floor. "I'll go with you."

The bird turned and cocked his head at him again. "But how? You don't fly." Something seemed to occur to him. "You mean walk! All right, if you wish."

With the little thrush settled on his shoulder, Wen Yu hurried out of his rooms, down the stairs, and into the street, heading towards the palace. Wen Yu kept his pace fast through the streets, the bird fluttering on his shoulder and around his head. A cart passed them, spraying water from a particularly deep pothole as it did. The thrush let out a startled chirp and settled on top of Wen Yu's head, gripping at his topknot.

The guards at Liu Yi's gate actually did a double take when they saw him coming towards them with a bird perched on his head.

"Just let me in," Wen Yu snapped at them, and surprisingly they did as he asked, opening the gates while gaping at him the entire time.

"But … honorable student," one of the guards called after him, but Wen Yu didn't stop. He stalked across the courtyard to Liu Yi's apartments and knocked on the door. No one answered, so he tried the handle. The door opened, and he stepped through into the main room, the thrush fluttering into the air as he did.

Liu Yi was curled up in a chair by the window. His skin was pale, there were dark circles under each eye, and his breathing was obviously labored even from across the room.

"Liu Yi!" Wen Yu crossed the room, his full attention on Liu Yi.

"Wen Yu." Liu Yi's breath rattled in his chest. "What are you doing here?"

"You're not well." Wen Yu knelt next to the chair. "But you were fine yesterday?"

"I fell ill this morning." Liu Yi struggled for breath and closed his eyes, resting his forehead against his hands. Wen Yu reached up to touch his face and found his skin fevered and clammy.

"Will you be all right?"

Liu Yi gave him a small smile without opening his eyes. "I haven't died from this yet."

"You feel too warm." Wen Yu felt his face again, frowning. "Is there medicine you can take?"

"I've already taken it." Liu Yi drew in a long, shuddering breath and then started coughing until he had to curl in on himself until it subsided. "I'd like some tea, though," he said when he could speak again, and Wen Yu nodded, standing.

He discovered there was another room he'd not been in while searching for things to make tea. This room contained a fire pit in the center and a small amount of things to cook with. Wen Yu stoked the fire to life and put the kettle over it, noticing his hands were shaking as he did. Liu Yi had spoken of his illness but Wen Yu hadn't realized it could be this bad.

The water boiled, and Wen Yu made the tea before carrying a cup through to where Liu Yi still sat curled in on himself, shaking with fever and now with a high flush across both cheeks.

"You should go to bed." Wen Yu handed over the tea and then felt Liu Yi's forehead again, wishing he had something to wrap around Liu Yi to keep him warm. "You're running a fever and shouldn't be out of bed at all."

"But it feels like it makes it worse when all I do is lie in bed." Liu Yi took a small sip of tea before he started coughing again. Wen Yu reached for the cup so that Liu Yi wouldn't drop it.

"Come on." Wen Yu put his arm around Liu Yi's shoulders. "You need to be warmer."

Wen Yu supported Liu Yi into the bedroom and pulled the blankets back. Liu Yi didn't object when Wen Yu undressed him and guided him into the bed, making sure the blankets were tucked around him, before he fetched the tea from the other room.

The thrush fluttered after him and perched in the circle of the carved footboard.

"Ah." Liu Yi licked his lips. "It's my little songbird." A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Did Wen Yu bring you back to me after all?"

The small bird flew from the foot of the bed to the pillow next to Liu Yi's head. "I have the information you sent me to find." The thrush fluttered its wings and picked at a piece of Liu Yi's dark hair.

"Do you?" Liu Yi turned his head to look at it, gaze becoming more focused and intent.