Huomeng showed Kati the world of Shanji, but Sheyue and Lui-Pang showed her how to love.
It was a difficult and confusing time, for shortly after her thirteenth birthday a new chemistry awoke in her body, and she was suddenly a woman.
Her body was lithe and strong from the years of riding and the many hours with Master Yung. Her legs had shot forth like those of a colt, and were firmly muscled. She was now taller than Sheyue by nearly a head, growing like a wild plant, her legs aching at night as if being stretched while she slept.
Most important to her was the budding of her breasts, and the way her hips were suddenly well defined. When Sheyue wasn't with her, Kati would remove her clothes and check the progress of her body in a mirror, admiring the new changes.
The changes in her face concerned her. It had suddenly grown thinner and long, and the little nub of a nose had disappeared, replaced by one prominent and arched, with a little break in it that made it seem to her like the beak of a bird. At first she didn't like the nose, but then she decided that it made her look older, and that was good.
She had allowed her hair to grow, but argued with Weimeng about how to wear it, refusing the tight buns of the nobles' coiffure and allowing it to fall as a horse's tail down her back, tied near the scalp with a band of gold given to her by Juimoshu, who always gave her jewelry. It made her feel free and wild, unlike the other women around her. Most importantly, Lui-Pang liked it that way, and often said so.
The day finally came when he kissed her.
They were riding in the morning, for Huomeng had a full day planned for her. Over the years, their rides had taken them further and further from the city, and Mengmoshu had finally allowed them to use the mountain trail so that Lui-Pang would become familiar with the territory to the west. The time of his induction as a trooper was rapidly approaching.
They rode on the plateau by the three peaks, and in getting there had passed the site of Kati's ordu. It was a painful experience, for nothing was left, no sign of life ever having existed there. The gerts, the fences, corrals, everything was gone, the site now overgrown with grass and brush. Kati had been silent as they passed it, and had felt Lui-Pang's eyes on her. But now they trotted on the plateau in a gentle breeze, and Kati was feeling better. She looked up at the three peaks, and said, "As a child, I had a secret place up there. Would you like to see it?"
"It's very steep," said Lui-Pang. "Can we take the horses up there?"
"There's a trail. I'll show you," she said, smiling. "We can see the city from there."
Lui-Pang nodded, and followed behind her. She quickly found the trail, for it hadn't changed over the years; they followed it up an arroyo, then out onto the slopes, criss-crossing them in an ascent to the rock massifs of the peaks and up the edge of a short scree-fall to the little meadow nestled there within the summit crags.
Lui-Pang was already thinking like a military man. His first reaction was to say, "What a tremendous observing post! You can see for miles in every direction here!"
The grass was long and aromatic. They left their horses to graze and stepped up to the edge of the meadow facing east, a terrifying drop-off of five hundred paces near where they stood. The city glowed in the distance, a single, golden point there that was the palace dome. Lui-Pang was standing behind her, so close she could feel his warmth.
"When I was a child, I came here to look at the city. I never dreamed that someday I would be living there," she said wistfully.
She felt his hands on her shoulders, lightly, then moving down her arms and back up again, resting there.
"Mengnu," he murmured, very close to her ear, and then he nuzzled her, and his lips found her neck. She leaned back against him, letting it happen. "Oh, Kati," he whispered, and then he turned her around, took her face in his hands, and kissed her.
His lips were soft, and full. Kati's arms went around his waist, pulling him to her. She felt his tongue exploring her lips, but kept her teeth clenched at first. His hands moved over her back, and she opened her mouth to him, their tongues caressing wetly. But when a hand passed lightly over a breast, the nipple there was suddenly hard as a stone, and Kati caught her breath. She pulled back, breathing hard, and held his face with her hands. "Wait," she said. "Wait."
She kissed him lightly on the mouth, and turned her back to him.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I had no right."
She looked at him and smiled. "I've wanted that kiss since I was ten years old. I've been waiting for it." She held out her hand when she saw his eyes brighten. "What took you so long?"
She sat down in the long grass, pulling him down beside her. He said in a troubled voice: "You are a noble, and I'm the son of a soldier. Mengmoshu would skin me alive if he knew I even touched you."
Kati twisted him around, wrestled him down so his head was in her lap. "He is not my father, though there are times he acts like it. You needn't fear him, but me. I'm more fierce." She pulled his ears, and growled.
Lui-Pang reached up to trace her jaw with his finger. "Who are you?" he whispered. "Mengnu? The graceful, mannered lady of the palace? Or Kati, the rider of newly broken horses and one of Master Yung's better students? Your lessons aren't so private, you know. I have spies."
"I am both," said Kati, snapping at his finger as it passed her mouth. "I am all of it. And I am more than you know," she teased.
"Maybe you are. Your eyes—in the morning light—they're amber. You're beautiful, Kati."
She leaned over, kissed him softly, and long. They lay down in the grass awhile, cuddling. But there was little time for them; they had to go back to the city, however reluctantly. And on the way back, Lui-Pang said something that bothered her at a subconscious level.
As they neared the city gate, he looked at her and said, "Yes, it was the morning light. Now your eyes are brown again."
She barely had time to change her clothes before Huomeng was there rapping on her door. He asked her to wear the plain, white uniform of the general populace, so as not to distinguish herself, and thus she had to change again.
"Why is that?" she asked.
"People will behave more ordinary if they don't know who you are. They are used to me, and think of me as a scholar and scientist. You will seem like my student and be free to ask questions."
"But I am your student."
"Yes, but I'm only one of your teachers. You're really First Mother's student now, and I'm your guide. Think carefully about all you see, and ask yourself what problems exist on Shanji. There will be many excursions, and this is only the first. Mengmoshu himself will accompany you on others. This is important, Kati. We follow the will of First Mother."
And so she followed him, and that first day Huomeng took her onto the mountain on whose flank the city rested, and there he showed her a world she did not previously know.
They took the monorail up the mountain until they were far above the palace, just inside the great, clear dome enclosing the city. The car stopped, and there was a high fence of wire patrolled by many troopers. Beyond it lay a vast, flat area that was the landing field for flyers. They were parked in rows too numerous to count, and one lifted off as she watched, straight up to the dome opening a hundred meters above them, then outside for its daily patrol.
The guards let them pass through a gate, and they went to an open car on rails that ran along the edge of the landing field towards the maw of a huge tunnel leading into the mountain. The summit was still two hundred meters above them. Just the two of them got into the car. Huomeng's hands moved over a panel there. A whirring sound, and the car moved forward.
"Magnetic lifters," instructed Huomeng. "We're floating three millimeters above the rails. With these cars, we could have a public transportation system going anywhere on Shanji. But it is not traditional, and thus not allowed for the people."
The tunnel was cool and very monstrously big, lined with dim lights along the floor and walls. They seemed to float along it, and cool, moist wind whipped her hair. The air grew warm as they came to a station, a platform with benches before a high, transparent wall, and beyond it a brightly lit cavern. Huomeng turned to her, and said, "The people know none of this. The workers here are chosen by the Moshuguang for their intelligence and skills, and they live in apartments high on the other side of the mountain. Everything you see today is kept secret from the people."
He took her into the cavern, and there she saw three different types of delta-winged aircraft being assembled by a swarm of workers. One of the craft seemed large enough to carry hundreds of people. "I've never seen one of these flying," she said. "Where are they used?"
"They are not used. These are all prototypes, and the Emperor will not allow flight testing for fear the people will see them. He allows the Moshuguang to play with technology without application of it. With these planes, we could live anywhere on Shanji, with rapid transport of people and goods."
They went back to the car and proceeded on, past smaller caverns filled with people, only a few of them Moshuguang. There were laboratories for chemistry and metallurgy, and one that specialized in the bioengineering of new plants for agriculture. Kati said she'd heard of none of the plants he'd named, and Huomeng laughed at her.
"You eat them all the time: rice, fruits, even grains for your noodles. None of these could survive here in their original forms. All have been bioengineered for Shanji, and all are grown on the eastern plains. The little barley and wheat fields near the city are nothing. They only contribute to the Emperor's illusion of a small, feudal kingdom."
"Those little fields were taken from my people, and you make them sound unimportant," Kati said angrily.
"The Tumatsin have the sea, and the land near it. It is more than adequate for their needs. Kati, you also have an illusion. To you, Shanji is the city, the western mountains and the sea, yet you know it is a very large globe, and your familiar world is only a tiny part of it. To you, the people who live here are those in the city, and your own. I must tell you that the Tumatsin and the city people together are like a drop in that garden pool you used to wade in. But now I want to show you the thing that is most important to me. I have my own little world, too."
They went around a gradual curve for a long time, and Kati guessed they were now in the eastern side of the mountain on a great, looping route through it. The car slowed as they came to another cavern, the tracks bisecting it, and on either side, floor to ceiling, were massive walls of grey metal. They stopped there, and Huomeng took her to a door by a glassed-in booth, inside of which a trooper sat, eyeing them. Huomeng showed him a card, and inserted it in a slot by the door. The door clicked open and they entered a short, bare hallway to another door. Huomeng paused there, grinning. "This is my world," he said dramatically, and opened the door. A rush of hot air surprised her, and there was sudden, hot light from panels in a curved ceiling far above them.
It was the biggest cavern she'd seen: tiers of walkways circumscribing it horizontally, people walking there, going in and out of doorways. A pair of tracks, each two-and-half meters in diameter, came from the wall and branched into two other pairs of equal size. And sitting on those tracks, in the center of the cavern, were two huge wedge-shaped ships of gleaming metal. Kati's mouth hung open, and she stared.
"First Mother showed you the great ship in orbit around Shanji," said Huomeng. "That one brought our ancestors here from Tengri-Nayon. The ships you see here are the ones that brought us down to the surface of the planet. They have no fuel left, but we will get some some day soon. They have been waiting here for an eternity of years for someone to use them again, and I'm going to be the one to do it."
His voice was soft, reverent, and there was a light in his eyes she'd never seen before. The emotion in him was deep and roiling, and he made no effort to mask it from her. She was surprised to see he could feel such emotion, and was somehow drawn to him because of it. "They're so large," was all she could say.
"Magnetic lifters, and fusion drive. They each hold two hundred people comfortably. That's how many there were in the beginning, Kati; only four hundred people, and nobody was left on the mother ship in the end. She's been up there nearly two thousand years, quietly taking care of herself, waiting for our return."
"You would fly one of these to the mother ship? And then what?
Huomeng's eyes were those of a zealot. "I would fly between the stars, and find new worlds. I would not be confined to a single planet, especially this one. If I could, I would see all the universe there is to see. But even with the mother ship it isn't possible. This is one of the reasons I envy you so much. I was not born special, like you."
"Me?"
"Yes. You go to First Mother in the gong-shi-jie. I cannot do this. None of us can. You are special. You can travel anywhere in an instant. Time has no meaning for you; every star, every world is within your reach."
"I've only seen the mother ship," Kati protested, for she keenly felt his envy, now.
"There will be more. First Mother will show you. The way your abilities are growing you might even find a way to take me with you someday. In the meantime, I will dream my dreams."
"Does Mengmoshu know about your dreams?"
"Yes. We've talked a lot about this, and he's encouraged me. When I'm not with you I'm here, by his assignment. I have a little office up there on the third level." He pointed towards it. "There's not much to see. For the past two years, I've been learning all the systems on the mother ship. In another two, I should have them all down. The shuttles you see here were easy to learn, and I could fly one now. We could make the fuel. But the Moshuguang bides its time. It waits patiently, but I do not."
"Waiting for what?" asked Kati.
Huomeng spoke in a near whisper, though nobody was near them. "I think there are things Mengmoshu does not tell me. There are plans being made; they involve me, and they involve you. No other people are being trained so intensely as you and I. I can understand it in your case. Your abilities are unique, and First Mother has claimed you as a student. But why me?"
"I've heard Mengmoshu speak highly of you," said Kati. "He says your analytical skills are far advanced, and your memory cannot be matched."
"I know that," said Huomeng, without arrogance. "Your own memory and logic is considerable. So why have I been assigned as your tutor since the first day you arrived here? The learning machine has been enough for you."
"You've answered some questions and directed my studies, Huomeng. I've learned faster with your help."
That pleased him, and she felt it. "Perhaps. But there's more to it than that. I think the Moshuguang has deliberately put us together for a purpose. You said First Mother wants her people back. We are somehow involved with that. Somehow, our skills are to be combined."
"For what? To take the people back to Mandughai—First Mother? To leave Shanji? The Emperor will not stand idly by and let this happen!"
"No, he won't, but something is coming, and as for the Emperor he is already old and his son is a sickly boy with effeminate ways. I see no future for his throne." Huomeng nodded his head sagely. "A change is coming, Kati. I know it."
"It is speculation," said Kati, and then she surprised herself by reaching out and taking hold of his hand for just a moment. "Huomeng, who are the Moshuguang? Where do they come from? In some ways we're alike, you and I."
"Yes," said Huomeng, giving her a wry smile. "There's no written history of us, but a story has been passed down. It's said that within three generations after First Mother's invasion of Shanji She sought to change the people by sending Her two eldest sons to selectively breed with them. Even their names are unknown, but the result was two new peoples on Shanji. The one is now called Moshuguang." He paused.
"And the other?"
Huomeng squeezed her hand. "It's said that your people, the Tumatsin, are cousins to the Moshuguang. This is why they've been so closely watched by us over the years."
Kati felt suddenly excited. "Mandughai has told me I come from two of Her sons, not one. What can this mean?"
Huomeng shook his head. "There must be Moshuguang blood somewhere in your ancestry. It's possible. Only the Emperor forbids relations between our people. There are no biological problems I'm aware of."
Kati felt satisfied by his answer, and smiled, but then Huomeng tried to release her hand and she held on.
"Huomeng—thank you for telling me about your dreams. I think I understand you a lot better, now."
Huomeng was not startled by her persistent touch. He smiled, and squeezed her hand gently before releasing it.
"I thank you for listening to them. We'd better move on, now. There's one more important thing I want you to see today."
They returned to the car and drove on in silence for minutes along a tunnel now featureless, staring at the lights. The car slowed as they came to an intersection with another tunnel, and Kati saw a car flash by, then another. Suddenly there were moving walkways filled with people, many of them women and children on both sides of the tunnel. The walls were solid with brightly lit windows of shops and stores with colorful, luminous signs advertising their wares. People crowded in the shops, and the air was filled with the odors of rice, vegetables and meat cooking in sweet and sour spices. The noise was a din, and Kati felt suddenly crowded in, a little claustrophobic.
"The workers' village!" Huomeng shouted at her. "Their apartments are off to our left!"
Cars were darting in and out of traffic from several tunnels on her left, people chatting amiably in them while the cars seemed to move according to their own minds. Kati grasped the arm rest on her seat, and hung on.
And then the village was suddenly behind them. It was quiet again, and only one car was ahead of them. The car veered into a tunnel to the left; Huomeng touched something on his control panel and they also veered left to follow it. The tunnel followed the arc of a circle to a platform with cutouts in which cars were parked before a brightly lit window, and a sign advertising tea and honeycakes. They parked there, and went inside.
Odors of tea, and honey. Many tables, mostly empty, a handful of people here and there, drinking tea and eating cakes, some reading, others watching them as they came inside. The furniture was black, tables covered with red cloth, and colorful lamps hung on long, bronze chains from a red ceiling. A mural on one wall showed a vast plain, with mountains beyond it, and birds flying. The room was quiet, and restful.
A woman came up to Huomeng, and bowed. "We'd like a table outside," he said.
They followed her to a door, and suddenly the light of Tengri-Khan was in her eyes, making her blink rapidly. They went out onto a stone patio, several tables there with red umbrellas to shield them. Kati squinted, eyes slowly adjusting to the light as they went to a table and were seated there, a transparent wall the height of a man to their left.
And then she saw what was there.
Huomeng pointed, and said, "This is Shanji."
They were perched on the side of the mountain only a negligible distance beneath the summit, and the rock sloped steeply below them for thousands of meters to a plain stretching towards the horizon in every direction; in the far distance was a faint silhouette of mountain peaks. To the north, spires rose from the plain, belching smoke, and near the mountain's base was a solid, packed mass of buildings with streets between them, people moving there like armies of ants. Beyond the tall buildings were clusters of smaller structures, and beyond that the plain was broken into squares of green and gold and glittering blue, as if painted by an artist's giant brush, as far as the eye could see.
"A city!" she gasped.
"It is called Wanchou," said Huomeng. There was sadness in his voice. "It is the only true city on Shanji. And the Emperor, in his palace, does not bother to speak of it. Kati, how many Tumatsin do you suppose live in all the ordus you know of?"
"Oh, thousands. There were many people at Festival when we came together."
Huomeng chuckled wryly. "Actually, it's closer to a hundred thousand, so I guess a lot of Tumatsin don't go to Festival. And in the Emperor's city, with the royalty, nobility, the Moshuguang, troopers and their families, we count around twice that number. That is three hundred thousand people, Kati, which seems like many until you realize that in that city you see below you, in all those buildings and smaller houses, there now live nine million people. And in thousands of hamlets, on farms, zones around the smoking factories, even beyond where we can see from here there are another six million. They go about their daily lives, raising their children in ways used by the ancestors of our ancestors, before the time of First Mother. This is Shanji, Kati. This is where the people are."
There was a passion in his voice, an anger when he spoke.
"I didn't realize—" she began, stunned.
A woman came to take their order and left quickly. People at other tables were watching them. All were Hansui. Huomeng pointed behind her. "Our workers live there, by the village we passed."
Kati turned around, saw buildings sprouting like black crystals from the face of the rock, several tiers of them slightly lower than where she was sitting.
"The workers here have it much easier than those in Wanchou, and far better than the country people. Their rooms are cooled and heated, they have the finest medicine we can provide, and machines make their work faster and easier. The people below, the real people of Shanji, have none of this. Simple diseases like influenza have killed hundreds of thousands of them in past epidemics. They have adjusted to it by breeding like rabbits, unchecked, for they know that only two children in four will survive to adulthood. The nobles own their land, their homes, all the stores that provide them with goods. The people own nothing, not even themselves."
"They are like the Tumatsin," said Kati.
"No, they are not."
"And why not? The Emperor takes our land, kills those who resist, forces us to the sea. We are under His control, not ours."
"Suddenly you are Tumatsin," said Huomeng softly. "There is a parallel, of course, but it is not the same for the people below us. There is no noble class within the Tumatsin, and that is the difference. A Tumatsin farmer produces a bushel of grain, and uses it to barter for his needs. The grain is his. But here, everything belongs to the nobles, who barter with each other and the Emperor to provide themselves with luxuries far beyond those of the people. The people have nothing to call their own. They receive scrip for their labors and buy goods from shops owned by the nobles. The goods are limited, priced high, and no private enterprise by the people is allowed. There is no competition for the nobles.
"If the people are unhappy, then why don't they do something about it?" asked Kati, perplexed.
"They aren't unhappy. They take each day as it comes. They have a place to live, and those who work have full stomachs. They have no idea how the nobles live, and they have never seen the Emperor's city. They are content through ignorance. Their lives could be much better, but they don't see it.
"But they are happy," said Kati. "I was happy living in the ordu. I lived outdoors with the freedom to ride in the mountains, and I was never hungry. But I see your point. What we produced was ours. Our anger came from the Emperor pushing us around like we were cattle. We thought the lands were ours, but they weren't."
"Exactly. There's another problem that bothers me even more. The farms and factories continue to produce excesses. There are great stocks of copper, bronze and steel filling warehouses near the factories, and food stored in bins on every farm. We produce more than we need, and it's useless, yet there is much unemployment for unskilled people. We do not expand, and the Emperor isolates us from other worlds we could trade with. We have become stagnant on Shanji. We do not progress, but our population grows."
Their tea and cakes had arrived. Kati munched sweet honey, and said, "Mandughai told me she would have Shanji join the rest of her worlds. Could this be the plan of the Moshuguang?"
"I think so," said Huomeng. "Why else would Mengmoshu have me spending my days learning about the shuttles and the mother ship? He clearly intends to use them."
"But what is my part in this? I play mind games, moving energy from place to place, and talk to Mandughai in Her gong-shi-jie, and She tells me there's something I must do. So what is it?"
"Ask Her," Huomeng said, sipping tea. "Ask Mengmoshu. Maybe they don't know the answer yet. You're still changing, Kati. Don't you feel it?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're thirteen, and a Tumatsin. There are changes in your chemistry as you reach womanhood. Haven't you felt anything? Haven't you noticed people staring at us for the last few minutes?"
"No!" said Kati, suddenly uncomfortable.
Huomeng leaned over, and put a hand on hers, whispering, "Kati, the color of your eyes has changed four times since we sat down here. They were brown, then amber, even red for a moment, then brown. Now, they're red again."
Kati's face flushed.
"Even redder," said Huomeng. "Fascinating."
"Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered angrily.
"What for? It's natural. Your eyes reflect your emotions, and I think they're pretty. You're Kati, not Mengnu. You're a Changeling, and that's not a bad thing to be. You have the blood of First Mother in you."
People were staring, she now noticed. She wanted to close her eyes, or cover them, but Huomeng held onto her hand. "Be calm. Relax, and be yourself. I think First Mother has waited for these changes in you. Maybe these are necessary before you can do what she wants. It's all part of a bigger picture, Kati. We're both involved in it."
The words calmed her, and she closed her eyes a moment, breathing deeply. When she opened them again, Huomeng smiled, and released her hand. "Brown again," he said.
They finished their cakes in silence, and then went back to the car. In minutes, they were out of the mountain to where the flyers were, and were taking the monorail down to the palace, Kati looking out at the mountains in silence. She thought of Lui-Pang, and suddenly knew he'd seen her eyes change color that morning. Had he thought her eyes pretty then? Other changes would soon come. How would he react?
"You are very quiet," said Huomeng.
"My mind is a blur from what I've seen today," she said, and that seemed to satisfy him.
As they neared Kati's rooms, Sheyue came floating down the hallway towards them, and Huomeng saw her first. Kati felt the stir of emotion in him at the same time she felt Sheyue's desire.
Sheyue bowed to Huomeng, and smiled beautifully at him. "Honored teacher," she said.
"My work is finished for the day," said Huomeng, ignoring Kati. "Would you join me in the garden for a little while before mealtime? There are some new fish in the pool."
Sheyue looked at Kati. "Do you have need of me, Mengnu?"
Kati shook her head. "I need to rest before eating, and have a lot of things to think about. I'll see you at mealtime."
As she entered her rooms, they were walking away from her, and Kati saw Huomeng's arm slide around the girl's waist.
She changed into an orange robe, looked into a mirror and saw that her eyes were their normal brown, a sight that somehow comforted her. And then she lay down on her bed, relaxing, closing her eyes.
Mengmoshu. Can we talk a moment?
I'm here, Kati. What is it?
Huomeng showed me the big ships in the mountain today, and also where all the people are living.
I know. We felt it was time.
There are other things.
Kati told him about their conversations, including Huomeng's dreams. He says there is a plan being made by the Moshuguang, and that he and I are a part of it. I want to know what I'm being prepared for. What am I to do?
There was a long pause, Mengmoshu masking himself from her.
Mengmoshu! Tell me something!
There is a plan, yes, but we're not certain of it yet. Your part in it will be determined by First Mother, but I ask you to do something now. Think about what you've seen and heard today. Ask yourself what is good for Shanji, and what isn't. Then decide what you would do to make things right. Soon, I will take you into the valley to meet the people and see their everyday lives. What Huomeng tells you comes from me. Remember that, Kati. Now tell me about the other new thing that disturbs you.
Kati knew instantly what he meant, for he could see everything she thought about at the moment.
The changes in my body have begun. My eyes started changing colors today.
She felt a strange elation coming from him, even happiness.
So, you are becoming a woman. That is wonderful, Kati. I will tell First Mother, and you must tell Her, too. Now, do what I ask you to do. Some people have just arrived in my office and I must leave you. We will spend much time together in the near future, and I look forward to it. You're dear to me, child.
And he was gone. Kati was left shaken by the burst of emotion, the sudden feeling of love that had just poured out of him. Suddenly, she was crying, remembering her own father bending over her in the dim light of the ger, that same feeling coming from him as he stroked her forehead and called her his little empress. Where was he now? Did he miss her? Think her dead? And little Baber, with his charging horse-dolls; what did he look like now?
She wondered if she would ever see them again, and if she did, if they would accept her for what she'd become: a kept, pampered girl living in the Emperor's palace, a Tumatsin, living in the ways of the Hansui nobility.
Kati was suddenly afraid.
They ate dinner in Kati's rooms, the food brought to them by Tanchun. And afterwards, they bathed together again, as they often did. Now taller than Sheyue, Kati was no longer ashamed of her body in the girl's presence, for their figures were quite similar. Kati enjoyed these times with Sheyue, for it was then when they shared their secrets, and were most like sisters. They slid languidly into the water, sitting silently across the tub from each other until Kati spoke.
"Lui-Pang kissed me today," she said softly.
Sheyue did not squeal with excitement like a little girl, but had a twinkle in her eyes as she rubbed water on her white shoulders. "Were his lips soft, Mengnu? Is he a gentle lover?"
"It was just a kiss," said Kati, but then she told Sheyue everything: the feel of his probing tongue, the hardness of a nipple when his hand touched her breast, the tingling in her groin when he pressed against her. "I felt his desire there, but did not let it go further than that. He honored my wishes."
"Then he is a gentleman," said Sheyue, leaning her head back on the edge of the tub. "Do you want more from him, Mengnu? Do you want to feel him inside you?" Sheyue's hand dipped beneath the water, and Kati saw she was touching herself between her legs.
"I suppose I do," said Kati. "I felt desire for him, deep down, but also caution. It was my first kiss, Sheyue." As she spoke, Kati also touched herself, imitating the girl. Immediately, there was a tingling sensation where her finger touched the tender place beneath her mound.
Sheyue was now stroking herself, eyes closed. "Huomeng was also hesitant at first, thinking I was too delicate until I guided him into me. He is so gentle, so caring. The first time, there were tears in his eyes at his release. When I cried out with pleasure, he thought he'd hurt me."
Kati was shocked, yet somehow not surprised. "You've lain with my teacher? Where?"
"In the garden, and once in my rooms. Several times, all of them wonderful."
"You will get pregnant by him!" warned Kati. "Be careful, Sheyue. His mate must be chosen by the Moshuguang. You could make trouble for yourself."
"I have the tea my mother sent with me," said Sheyue, still stroking herself, breath quickening. "I drink it every day, and there will be—no—child. Mmmm . . ." She sighed. "I feel him in me now."
Kati's own finger was rubbing softly, and the tingling was spreading throughout her groin and lower back. She took her hand away, but the feeling was still there.
Sheyue opened her eyes, and looked at Kati. Her eyes widened, and she smiled. Her body seemed to glow, a golden, shimmering cloud enveloping her. She waded across the tub on her knees, and put her arms around Kati's neck.
"Mengnu—you are so beautiful."
Sheyue kissed Kati on the mouth with soft, full lips.
"Love your man," she murmured, then stood up and stepped from the tub, the golden cloud moving with her.
Kati followed, rubbing herself dry with a soft towel that only enhanced the pleasureful feeling within her. She went into the dimly lit bedroom and saw a golden glow that was Sheyue climbing into bed. She put on a light robe, and turned to a mirror to put up her hair.
What she saw there both pleased and astounded her.
Her own body was surrounded by a halo of gold, a layer of blue at skin's surface, fans of red, yellow and orange radiating from her head. This pleased her, this first sight of her own aura, and that of Sheyue's. It verified her womanhood.
It was the sight of her face that astounded her, for her eyes were blazing like beacons in the night, and their color was emerald-green.