“Where can I eat?” Jane asked.
“This way.”
Ishihara led her back into the house where she had slept. This time, they went back into the kitchen area, where the old woman squatted on a stone hearth. She stirred something sizzling in a pot that hung over the fire on a hook.
Jane moved closer and saw strips of meat and chopped greens sizzling in hot oil. She could not identify the meat or the vegetable by looking at them, though. She decided that perhaps she would rather not know. The food smelled good enough.
“The villagers consider us all honored guests,” Ishihara said quietly. “The food they prepare for us is better than what they normally eat.”
“I suppose that’s more meat than they usually eat.” Jane nodded. “Are we harming the village? What if they need more food later, maybe during the winter?”
“I have considered this,” said Ishihara. “We must not stay here for long.”
The old woman picked up a wooden bowl and used a long-handled wooden ladle to dish out the food. Then she placed a pair of chopsticks across the top of the bowl and held it up for Jane.
“Thank you.” Jane accepted it.
The old woman nodded soberly and turned away.
“It’s hot in here,” Jane said to Ishihara. “Can I eat outside?”
“Yes.”
Ishihara led her back outside. “Is this cool enough?”
The elderly villagers were still threshing rice.After brief glances up at Ishihara and Jane, they looked away again quickly. They still had a great deal of unthreshed rice.
“I think we make them uncomfortable. Is there some shade somewhere else?”
“Yes. You can sit under some trees on the west side of the village.”
Jane nodded and followed Ishihara again. Around the corner of the building, she saw Wayne sitting under one of the trees. An empty bowl similar to hers lay on the ground near him, with chopsticks angling out of it.
Ishihara stopped suddenly and looked back toward the dirt path leading through the fields toward the front of the village. Jane looked in the same direction. A small figure was riding up the path on a donkey.
‘‘It is Xiao Li,” said Ishihara.
“Did you say it’s Xiao Li?” Wayne got to his feet and looked, too. “Hunter and his team couldn’t have come back with him, could they?”
“I thought Hunter would take care of him, but I hear only the donkey. He is alone.”
“I hope so,” said Wayne.
“I guess he must be okay,” said Jane. “I’m relieved.” She picked up the chopsticks and began eating where she stood. “Ishihara, shouldn’t you check on him?”
“Yes.”
By this time, the elderly villagers had also seen the boy. A couple of them left their threshing to meet him. Ishihara hurried after them.
Wayne remained next to Jane.
“Don’t worry,” she muttered between mouthfuls. “I still can’t outrun Ishihara. Besides, I don’t have anywhere to go now. And I’m hungry.”
“You get enough sleep?”
“Yeah.”
Wayne nodded.
Over on the path, Ishihara lifted Xiao Li down from his donkey. The boy smiled and tolerated the questions of the two villagers who come to greet him. One escorted him inside; the other took the reins of his donkey.
“Weren’t they mad,” Jane asked, “when you and Ishihara came back without him?”
“No. They asked about him, but they don’t seem to want to challenge what we do.” Wayne hesitated. “I think that would change if we actually hurt someone. But I thought Hunter would find him.”
“Your judgment isn’t that good,” said Jane, seeing a chance to raise some doubt in his mind. “Neither is Ishihara’s, obviously. This whole situation could get out of hand.”
Ishihara returned to them. “The boy seems to be all right. He said that he slept by the side of the road last night and then rode all day to come home.”
“You could have caused extreme harm to him,” Jane said sternly. “Your sense of the First Law is very poor. So is your overall judgment of human behavior and your reliance on Hunter when you didn’t know if Hunter had even caught up to him.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Wayne ordered. “If Xiao Li is okay, then you have not violated the First Law. She just wants to sabotage your efficiency.”
“You have no efficiency,” Jane declared. “Think about it, Ishihara. Think about the danger this boy was in, traveling that open road by himself.”
“I’ll have him lock you up alone,” Wayne warned her. “If you’d rather enjoy the fresh air, thenshut up!”
Jane shut up. She had already used her strongest arguments. However, she knew that Ishihara might not respond to them. Since Xiao Li had demonstrably survived his ordeal, Wayne was right; neither Ishihara nor Hunter had technically violated the First Law.
“It’s too late to go into Khanbaliq today,” said Wayne curtly to Ishihara.
“What is our plan?” Ishihara asked, with unusual stiffness in his manner.
Jane knew, then, that her comments had at least forced Ishihara to feel some doubt about his actions toward Xiao Li.
“We still have a good head start on Hunter,” said Wayne brusquely. “Maybe a long head start, if he stays up near the Great Wall looking for all of us. We’ll spend this evening in the village and get another night’s sleep here. Tomorrow morning, we’ll look for MC 5.”
19
Steve woke up the next morning in his room in the inn back in Khanbaliq. He had not managed a full night’s sleep, but he had rested enough to get on with the search for MC 5. As before, Hunter waited outside as he and Marcia dressed and washed. Then for breakfast they returned to the same stall they had visited on their first morning in the city.
Steve and Marcia again bought bowls of steaming rice gruel and plates of meat and vegetables to drop into the rice. They sat down at one of the long wooden tables, away from other patrons. Steve ate hungrily.
Next to him, Hunter stood by the end of their bench and looked up and down the street over the heads of the people eating at the nearby tables. Steve glanced up from his bowl and, as before, saw people from many lands crowding the street. They reminded him that Marco Polo really was around here somewhere.
“See anything interesting?” Steve asked. He was just making conversation; he knew very well that Hunter would announce any sighting of significance.
“I recognize many of the people I saw at this hour on our first morning. I conclude they are living a regular routine, but this is irrelevant to our immediate goals.”
“Well, what about those goals?” Marcia asked, between mouthfuls. “I’d feel much more comfortable if we could rescue Jane.”
“I feel responsible for her,” said Hunter. “However, I know that Ishihara will not let her come to harm. In contrast, we are racing Wayne to locate and apprehend MC 5. That search remains more urgent.”
“We don’t have to repeat this whole line of argument again, do we?” Steve shook his head. “Waynewants us to be distracted by Jane’s kidnapping. That alone should tell us that searching for her is not in our best interest.”
“I accept your logic,” said Hunter. “If I develop the slightest reason to believe that she might be in danger, however, the First Law will alter my priorities.”
“Okay, understood,” said Steve. “And I just realized something else that’s important here-Jane’s presence will actually help us, since Ishihara is now forced by the First Law to protect two humans.”
“That’s true,” said Marcia. “She’ll either be with them both, or Wayne will have to leave her imprisoned somewhere. I wonder what Ishihara would do then.”
“My own interpretation of the First Law would require me to remain with her,” said Hunter. “I would judge Wayne more capable of taking care of himself than a human who was held against her will.”
“Wouldn’t you want to keep them together?” Steve asked. “So you could protect both humans? Come to think of it, wouldn’t you insist?”