Chapter Nine Kasu
Morning in Ghost City was simply the time when the red mist that filled the streets was the thickest. The shadows were not as deep as they were at night, but it was nevertheless dark outside.
Dark enough that the lanterns hanging from Camellia House’s tiered rooftops burned at all hours.
When Kasu arrived, Banse and Manzu were already stationed by the doors, ready for the first patrons of the day.
“You’ve got a line.” Banse gestured to the ghosts gathered at the foot of the steps leading up to Camellia House.
“Already?” Kasu said, as though she couldn’t clearly see the crowd with her own eyes. The group of ghosts looked more haggard than her usual customers. Some of them were even turning transparent – a sure sign that they didn’t have the energy to maintain their physical forms.
And once the physical form starts to fade, next comes the forever death.
Banse sniffed the air, likely trying to figure out which of the ghosts had brought bribes.
“They’re from Lord Onyx’s domain. Poor souls.
I don’t know what’s going on, but I heard that Lord Onyx has been absent for a while and no one is overseeing the fighting pits in the northern quarter.
All the demons and ghosts that make their living in the arena have lost work, and I’ve lost my favourite source of entertainment.
The Pale Lady’s theatres are too highbrow for me. ”
“I bet half of them are here because of the meat auction. I heard the last one was so wild, ghosts are trying to buy their way into the next one.” Manzu scratched at the thin yellow fur of his neck.
“More rumours?” The bouncers knew how much Kasu disliked idle gossip.
Manzu shrugged and let her pass.
Kasu slipped between the two demons and through the main doors.
The staff only had a few more moments to prepare before Banse would start letting ghosts in.
The walls rattled as servants operated the cranks that moved the dumbwaiters up and down between the floors.
Beetle cages were stacked on top of each other with muffled thumps and card tables squeaked as they were dragged into formation.
Someone was humming in the dice hall, though Kasu could only just make out the tune.
She took a deep breath, savouring this brief moment of tranquillity.
Then Banse opened the doors to Camellia House and the morning rush began.
Two types of gamblers visited the parlour – cocky ghosts who were sure that they would win it big in no time and desperate ones with nothing left to lose.
It was the latter that Kasu found the most difficult to deal with. They were the hardest to turn away when they had nothing of value; they never left when Kasu asked and, whenever she did agree to a trade, they would always beg and haggle for more tiles.
Today, she had nothing but desperate gamblers lining up at her counter.
“Don’t gamble it away all at once. A healthy restraint is the nineteenth Heavenly Principle,” Kasu reminded them, knowing that they would not listen to her anyway. Desperation would make them forget the one golden rule of all gambling dens:
The House always wins.
Between examining all the items offered for trade and kicking out the customers who did not have anything of value, she was so busy she did not notice Banse enter until the dog demon placed a clay cup full of white liquid on her counter.
A sheen glittered across the surface, rainbow-hued like the opals she had traded fifty tiles for last week.
“Spirit nectar.” Banse pushed the drink towards her.
Kasu gratefully accepted the cup, feeling the sweet nectar replenish her ghost qi. No drink, not even Madam Yang’s finest jasmine tea, smuggled into the eastern quarter from the mortal realm, could energize her as much. With every sip, she felt her strength return.
The doors creaked open. Head held high, Arun marched through the front with the self-assuredness of someone who was used to going anywhere he wanted.
As much as Kasu hated to admit it, there was a certain air of nobility about him.
Arun walked as if he not only had a right to be here, but as if he deserved it.
Watching him, she could not help but feel an immoral yet undeniable stab of envy.
For one singular moment, she wondered what it must feel like to exist without the need to apologize for it.
Banse moved to intercept, but Arun tossed the package of fingers at him and kept walking.
While the dog demon scurried off with his bribe, Arun made his way to the exchange desk.
“I came as you said I should. This better work.”
Kasu fought back a frown. There really was no need to speak to her like that when she was the one doing him a favour. Someone born in a barn would have better manners than he had.
She took a deep breath. Her hands shook a little as she reached below her counter. If any of the servants knew what she was about to do, she would be thrown to the spider ladies.
She slid a handful of tiles across the wood.
“Take these,” she whispered. “I expect them back, so don’t use them.
Just hold onto them and walk around. Ghosts from all over the city come here to gamble; if someone has seen your mother I’m sure you’ll hear about it.
Listen in on the gossip, but try not to ask questions or take part in any conversations.
At the end of the day, give the tiles back to me. ”
She wasn’t doing anything that wrong as long as she got the tiles back. Besides, this was all so she could help Arun. Protect the living, for all life is sacred.
Still, her heart was beating so hard it might explode. Just the thought of someone catching them, catching her, was making her dizzy.
Arun noticed her nervousness.
“Why are you doing so much to help me?” It seemed unfair that he should look at her with such wariness. Did he really think he could navigate the ever-changing streets of Ghost City without some kind of guide? Did he believe that he could find his mother on his own? Where would he even start?
Patience is a seed, the Heavenly Principles extolled. Wait in the winter and you shall be rewarded in the spring.
“It’s the right thing to do.”
“Oh, I see.” He grinned. “You’ve fallen for my dashing good looks.”
Something about the way Arun smirked was rather irksome.
Kasu could not put her finger on it, but it felt like a failing on her part.
Like the heavens would be disappointed in her.
She squinted at him. She supposed Arun was not bad looking – he had perfectly symmetrical ears and all of his teeth, and that had to count for something – but there was more to desirability than outward appearance.
“You may have a pleasing face, but what is truly attractive is one’s character and devotion to the Heavenly Principles.”
Arun stared at her for a moment before bursting into peals of laughter. “I admit, until now a part of me thought this was some elaborate trick so you could eat me or something. Now I realize I was wrong. You’re not trying to deceive me, you’re just weird.”
“What’s so weird about dedicating yourself to a noble and upright life?” Kasu scowled.
“Do you just stand here all day? Don’t you have a chair?”
“Lady Camellia never provided me with one.” Truthfully, Kasu had never thought to ask. Perhaps her demon mistress would give her a chair if she wanted, but minor discomforts were sometimes good. “Small sufferings are the furnace in which the strength of one’s character is forged.”
“And needless suffering is the foundry in which you’ll develop a lifetime of joint pain and back aches.”
Kasu opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn’t think of a response. Arun clasped the gambling tiles in his hands and, with a playful grin, made his way into the building.
“Wait!” she called after him. “Your sword. Weapons aren’t allowed in Camellia House. You’ll have to leave it here with me.”
His smile vanished. “You want me to enter a den of demons unarmed?”
“If you step into any of the halls with that thing, you’ll be thrown out.”
“I’d like to see them try. I’m not afraid of a few measly demons.” Arun had all the bluster of a gambler convinced he would hit the jackpot in just a few tosses of the dice. Kasu had seen plenty of those types of people crushed beneath the cruel hand of reality.
“And after you’ve defeated them, do you think they’ll let you sit down and play cards? Give me your sword. I’ll keep it safe.”
Arun’s hand tightened around the hilt of his weapon. For all his teasing, he still didn’t trust her.
He didn’t trust her because he didn’t know her. If she offered something up about herself, something raw and honest, would he understand how serious she was about helping him?
An equal trade. Kasu was good at those.
“A small house on the edge of an apple orchard,” she said, as Arun’s expression shifted from suspicion to confusion.
“Trees in full bloom and the smell of blossom in the air. When the wind blows, the petals fall like snow. There’s someone waiting for you on the porch of your house. Someone waiting for you to come home.”
When Kasu closed her eyes, she could hear the rustle of wind through the leaves, could smell the fragrant scent of apples. It was a longing she must have carried since her days as a mortal human. At times, it felt so big her chest ached from the strain of containing it.
“That’s the life that I want when I’m reborn.
Once my contract is over, I will go to the heavens and show them all the good deeds I have done.
I’ll tell them how I’ve obeyed all six hundred and fifty-seven Heavenly Principles and they will let me be reincarnated.
I’ll be reborn, and I’ll live the kind of life I’ve always dreamed of.
I’ll have a house next to an apple orchard.
I’ll meet someone who cares for me. If you don’t let me help you, the heavens will never forgive me.
So, for my sake and yours, trust me when I say your sword is safe with me. ”
There was a moment of silence.
Then Arun smirked.
“So you have fallen for me.”
“You fu—!”
She snapped her mouth shut. She would be calm and collected. Like a lotus on a pond. Like the serene faces of the gods in her imagination. Anger was a failing. She would be calm…
Arun’s laughter was wild and delirious as he unhooked his sword and placed it on the counter.
It rang in Kasu’s ears as he left.
Perhaps, Kasu reasoned, this was a test. The heavens had sent Arun not just to challenge her ability to keep him safe but the strength of her character as well.
The reason Arun was such an ungrateful pest, why he grinned and smirked and seemed to push all her buttons, was to assess how she would react.
In that case, Kasu planned to show Arun, the gods and all who might bear witness that she was not going to be easily swayed from the noble path.
By following the Heavenly Principles, she would one day return to the mortal realm – she was sure of it. Back into the comforting cycle of souls, living and dying and being reborn.
“A small house on the edge of an apple orchard.”
Whenever she was weighed down by feelings too heavy to understand, she would repeat her dream over and over again. It soothed her. Reminded her to stay focused on what was important.
Kasu picked up Arun’s sword.
It was heavier than she expected.