Letter to Jack, contd.
Oh God, Jack,
I do not know what to think. I do not know what to do.
I will attempt to convey for you the gravity of the situation without resorting to crudeness, but you must forgive me if it cannot be done. Also, I have resorted to the whiskey you gave me before my sailing, which has remained untouched until now.
God help me.
At sunset, the Horizon had all banners flying, ready to unmoor, and a spacious and dry place in the hold prepared for the delivery. Quite a parade came down to the edge of the tea field from the lamasery, with the people chanting and singing and banging gongs—the sort of display we have seen before. All were dressed in silks so fine that the price of one of their tunics alone would feed a Westham family for a year, and up to the gangway pranced five princesses—for I know no other word that can possibly describe these women in their finery. Each wore an ensemble as brightly colored as an azalea, as multilayered as a peony, with her own hair crowning her head in improbable tiers, dappled with baubles, and each one led a contingent of three or four men bearing the Wardian cases and various chests, and once in the hold each one of these women directed the men where to put the cases. The Horizon crew watched all this with great interest, since if the weight of the cargo should grow too great we could be forced to other means of travel. However, these which they had brought did not seem to be too much for Horizon to handle, and soon Wu was thanking the women and ushering the men out.
Meanwhile, I confess my heart sank, for upon peering into the cases I saw nothing of exceptional beauty at all. Green herbs, some shot through with red, some small flowers here and there, nothing that bespoke of the mythic beauty of a “blossom of summer” and certainly nothing that looked like it warranted being forbidden to trade.
Again I thought perhaps these plants were something more powerful than the opium poppy, and that the illicit trade in addictive substances might be the purpose for the secrecy of my mission? But then why only five specimens? Why not try to seed an entire plantation, as they did when Mr. Fortune sought tea plants for the East India Company? I believe that expedition retrieved ten thousand seedlings, did they not?
I ordered the crew out, such that only I, the women, and the translator remained in the hold. Show me the flowers that I came here for, I insisted, and the translator struggled for a moment over the words. The women looked at one another with shy giggles.
Show me, I insisted again. Show me the blossom so beautiful that our navigator chose to stay behind in Tsang Rira. This time one of the women stepped forward and bowed to me, then stepped back.
Enraged now, I shook Wu by his shoulders and insisted he make it clear to them I wanted them to show me, that I might see with my own eyes, and yes, if I had to, touch with my own hands, these forbidden flowers, and that we would not leave until I was convinced of their beauty.
Wu translated haltingly, and then hid his face in his voluminous sleeves. I soon determined why. Each one of these princesses, their skin as smooth as cream and their clothes fit for royalty, gripped the hem of her tunic then and looked shyly up at me. I had no Earthly idea what they could mean by that.
And then, in unison, they lifted their dresses. They wore nothing underneath! One went so far as to use her fingers to expose a richness as ripe as a pomegranate to me, and at that I finally realized what I have done.
These women are the blossoms of summer.