“Yes.”
“Tell me where Wayne is.”
“He rose about an hour ago. I believe he was hungry. He is somewhere in the village.”
“Look, I need a trip to the latrine and I’m hungry, too. You know these are First Law concerns, even if it’s not an emergency yet. What can you do about them?”
“I will make sure you have all your necessities,” said Ishihara. “I must escort you, however. I have been instructed not to let you leave.”
“Well, at the moment, that will do. I also want some water to wash up a little.”
“Come with me.”
Jane followed Ishihara outside.
In the shade near the door, a number of elderly villagers glanced up at her curiously as they threshed rice in small, hand-held wicker strainers.
Ishihara paused. “Food, please, for her.”
An old woman nodded and got up. She hurried inside the house. The others returned to their work.
“She will need a few minutes to prepare it.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Ishihara led her to the latrine and then to the village well, where he raised a bucket of cool water for her.
“You may wash in it safely,” said Ishihara. “Do not drink it unless it has been boiled. Some water inside has already been boiled for Wayne.”
“All right.”
“I wish I had my change of clothes,” Jane muttered. “And a hairbrush.”
Ishihara said nothing.
When Jane had washed her face and hands, and smoothed out her hair with her fingers, she glanced around. Some small children were running and laughing together as they played; others had stopped to stare at her. She smiled at them, then looked out at the fields surrounding the village, where she saw older children and adults working.
“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.