"Do you remember the first time you came here? That day you went riding with Yuan and the Lady Fei?"
Tsu Ma met his gaze unflinchingly. "That was a good day. And the evening that followed, out on the lake."
Li Shai Tung looked down. "Ah yes, Yuan told me of that. . . ." He smiled; sourly, Tsu Ma thought, fearing the worst.
The old T'ang raised his head again, the smile fading altogether. "And you recall what we spoke of that day?"
Tsu Ma nodded, his mouth dry, wishing the old man would be more direct. If he knew, why didn't he say something? Why this torment of indirectness? "We spoke of Yuan's Project, if I remember accurately," he said, looking across at Tolonen momentarily, recalling that they had appointed the old man to oversee the whole business. But what had this to do with Fei Yen and him? For surely that was why he had been summoned here this morning at such short notice. He looked down, filled with shame for what he had done. "I am sorry, Shai Tung, I—"
But Li Shai Tung seemed not to have heard. He carried on, as if Tsu Ma had said nothing.
"We spoke afterward, too, didn't we? A week or so later, if I recall. At which time I made you a party to my thoughts."
Tsu Ma looked up, frowning. He had heard of indirection, but this . . . Then he understood. This had nothing to do with Fei Yen and him. Nothing at all. He laughed, relief washing through him.
Li Shai Tung stared at him, astonished. "I am afraid I find it no laughing matter, cousin." He half-turned, looking at the Marshal. "Show him the file, Knut."
Tsu Ma felt himself go cold again. He took the file and opened it, the faintest tremor in his hands. A moment later he looked up, his face a picture of incomprehension.
"What in Hell's name is all this?"
The old T'ang held his head stiffly, his anger barely controlled. "Inventions. Machines. Devices that would be the ruin of Chung Kuo. Every last one of them breaking the Edict in a dozen, maybe twenty, different ways."
Tsu Ma glanced through the file, amazed by what he saw, then shook his head. "But where did they come from? Who invented them? And why?"
Tolonen spoke up for the first time. "They're SimFic mainly. From the traitor Berdichev's papers. We saw them long ago—three, maybe even four, years ago— but in a different form. Li Shai Tung ordered them destroyed. But here they are again, the same things but better than before."
"Better?"
Li Shai Tung nodded. "You recall that we talked of a young boy. A clever one, by the name of Kim Ward. Well, this is his work. Somehow he got hold of these papers and worked on them. The improvements are his. In one sense it's quite amazing, in another quite horrifying. But the fault does not lie with the boy."
Tsu Ma shook his head, still not understanding how all of this connected, or why Li Shai Tung should consult him on the matter. "Then who?"
"That's exactly what I asked the Marshal to find out. He came upon these files by accident, you understand. Six months had passed and I wanted to know what was happening with Yuan's Project. So, secretly, without the Project Director's knowledge, the Marshal trawled the Project's files."
Tsu Ma leaned back in his chair. "I see. You didn't want Yuan to know that you were checking up on him?"
Li Shai Tung nodded. "It seemed best. It was not that I felt he would lie to me, just that he might act as a ... as a filter, let's say. But this. This shocked me."
"Then Li Yuan is responsible for this file? It was he who gave the originals to the boy to work on?"
"Yes. . . ." Bitterness and anger were etched starkly in the old man's face.
"I see____"
He understood. Li Shai Tung had asked for him because he alone could be trusted, for he alone among the Seven knew of the existence of the Project. Even Wu Shih was under the impression that Li Shai Tung was only considering matters. Yes, and he understood the necessity for that; for were it to become common knowledge it could only do them harm. Wang Sau-leyan, certainly, could be counted on to use it to ferment trouble in Council and try to break the power of the Li family.
But that was not really the issue at hand. No. The real problem was that Li Shai Tung felt himself affronted. His son had not acted as a son should act. He had lied and cheated, no matter the good intent that lay behind the act. Indeed, to the old man that was probably the worst of it. Not that these things existed, for they could be destroyed, as if they had never been, but that Li Yuan had sought to conceal them from him. It was this part of it on which he sought Tsu Ma's advice. For who was closer to his son than Tsu Ma? As close, almost, as a brother. ...
Li Shai Tung leaned closer. "But what should I do, Tsu Ma? Should I confront him with these . . . things?"
"No. . . ." Tsu Ma took a breath. "I would say nothing." "Nothing?"
He nodded, holding the old man's eyes. "What good would it do? Yuan acted from your best interests. Or so he believes. So I'm sure he believes. There was no desire to harm you, only an ... an eagerness, let us call it, an impatience in him, that can be set down to his youthfulness. Look upon these as folly. Arrange an accident and have all record of these things destroyed. The Marshal could arrange something for you, I'm certain. But say nothing. Do not damage what is between you and your son, Shai Tung."
The old man shook his head, momentarily in pain. "But he has lied to me. Deceived me."
"No. . . . Your words are too strong."
"It is unfilial____"
Tsu Ma swallowed, thinking of his own far greater deceit, then shook his head again. "He loves you, Shai Tung. He works hard for you. Unstintingly hard. There is nothing he would not do for you. In that he is anything but unfilial. So let things be. After all, no real harm is done."
His words came strong and heartfelt, as if it were himself he was pleading for, and when Li Shai Tung looked up at him again there were tears in the old man's eyes.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe I am being too harsh." He sighed. "You are a good friend to him, Tsu Ma. I hope, for his sake, you are ever so." He turned, looking at the Marshal. "And you, Knut? What do you say?"
Tolonen hesitated, then lowered his head. "Tsu Ma is right. I had come here ready to argue otherwise, but having heard him I am inclined to agree. Say nothing. The rest I will arrange." "And the boy?"
Tolonen looked briefly to Tsu Ma, then met his master's eyes again. "I would leave the boy for now, Chieh Hsia. Li Yuan will discover for himself how dangerous the boy is. And who knows, that may prove the most important thing to come from all of this, neh? To learn that knowledge is a two-edged sword?"
Li Shai Tung laughed; but it was an unhealthy, humorless sound. "Then it will be as you say, good friends. It will be as you say."
FEI yen had been quiet for some while, staring out across the circular pool toward the distant mountains. Now she turned, looking back at him.
"Why did you bring me here?"
Li Yuan met her eyes, smiling vaguely, unconscious, it seemed, of the slight edge to her voice.
"Because it's beautiful. And . . ." He hesitated. A strange, fleeting expression crossed his features, then he looked down. "I haven't said before, but Han and I used to come here as boys. We would spend whole afternoons here, playing among the ruins. Long ago, it seems now. Long, long ago." He looked up at her again, searching her eyes, as if for understanding. "When I rode out this morning, I knew I had to come here. It was as if something called me."
She turned, shivering, wondering still if he was playing with her. If, despite everything, he knew. Behind him the ancient Buddhist stupa stood out against the blue of the sky, its squat base and ungainly spire like something alien in that rugged landscape. To its left rested the pale yellow silk palanquin he had insisted she be carried in, its long poles hidden in the waist-length grass, the six runners squatting nearby, talking quietly among themselves, their eyes averted. Farther up the hillside she could see the entrance to the ruined monastery where she had come so often with Tsu Ma.