The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water - Zen Cho Page 0,3

Cheung blushed.

“Are you done?” said Tet Sang. “Can we go?”

“I haven’t finished my drink,” said Fung Cheung. His table and soya bean milk had somehow survived the battle. He picked up his glass and sipped from it. He made a face. “Cold already.”

His sworn brother rolled his eyes. Mr Aw, lurking behind the counter, yelped and ducked when their eyes met.

“Drink up,” said Tet Sang. “I’ll settle the bill.”

The men put up such a fuss about moving on that Tet Sang gave in and said they could stay till morning. They’d set up camp in a patch of scrub outside town, concealed from the main road by a tangle of bushes, ferns and creepers. They’d hear any mata crashing through the undergrowth long before they were found.

Still, if Tet Sang were an enthusiastic Protectorate official on the hunt for bandits, this was the first place he would look. An ambush by the authorities was the last thing they needed right now, with the goods they were carrying. He was restless all evening, jumping at every hoot of a passing owl.

“You’re like an old woman,” said Fung Cheung, the originating cause of all this anxiety. “Don’t worry so much. That Mr Aw is not stupid; he won’t be making a report. Even if he does, they won’t send out the mata for a brawl in a coffeehouse.”

Fung Cheung must have known he was speaking nonsense. The Protectorate would send out their forces at the merest whiff of bandits, and any trouble at a Tang-run coffeehouse would be presumed to involve bandits. Tet Sang gave him a look but only said:

“I’m not worried. I’m on my guard. That’s different.”

There was always someone on watch at night, but that night it was Ah Hin, who’d had a little too much beer at dinner. It was a wonder his snoring didn’t wake them all up, but it wasn’t that that snapped Tet Sang’s eyes open shortly after midnight.

He was fully awake in a moment. He threw himself on the intruder, rolling them onto their back.

The waitress from Weng Wah Coffeehouse stifled a squeak. Her alarm changed to relief when she saw Tet Sang’s face.

“It’s you, brother!” she said, pleased. “I was wondering which one you were. You all look the same in the dark.”

The others stirred. Ah Hin leapt up, shouting:

“Big Brother! Intruder! Fire! Attack!”

Fung Cheung was on his feet, his knife at the ready. “Ah Sang, you caught him? Who is it?”

Tet Sang sat back on his haunches, letting the waitress go. She dusted herself off fastidiously.

“Nobody,” said Tet Sang. “Just a woman.”

Someone lit a torch and the scene blossomed into clarity—the groggy men rubbing their eyes and reaching for their weapons; the bald woman with her calm, infuriating smile.

“A nun,” the waitress corrected him. “A votary of the Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water.”

This was for the benefit of their audience. Tet Sang already knew it, and from the gleam in the waitress’s eye, she hadn’t forgotten this.

“You’re the girl from the coffeehouse,” said Fung Cheung.

“What’s your name?” said Tet Sang.

The waitress folded her hands. “At my tokong they called me Nirodha.”

Tet Sang raised an eyebrow. “And your actual name?”

The waitress held his eyes for half a second before her gaze faltered. “My birth name was Guet Imm.”

Ah Hin had digested the implications of the waitress being a follower of the Pure Moon.

“That girl is a witch!” he said. “Must be she enchanted me, that’s why I fell asleep!”

Suspicious muttering rose from the group like a bad smell.

“Did you enchant Ah Hin?” said Tet Sang.

Guet Imm looked injured. “No! Brother was already sleeping when I came. He looked tired, so I tried not to wake him up. I was looking for you, brother.”

“What for?”

“You’re the one I know,” explained Guet Imm.

Tet Sang jerked his head towards Fung Cheung. “You know him.”

“Yes, but you’re the one I trust,” said Guet Imm.

“Because of you, I fought that guy!” said Fung Cheung, offended.

“Yeah,” said Guet Imm apologetically. “Sorry, brother. But because of your fight, Mr Aw fired me.”

“He would have fired you anyway. You cannot go around hexing customers and expect to keep your job. It’s bad customer service.”

“He might have changed his mind before you got involved,” argued Guet Imm. “Anyway, this brother was actually helpful.” She gestured at Tet Sang. “He gave me money.”

“He did?” said Fung Cheung. He clapped Tet Sang on the back, delighted. “Ah Sang, you didn’t say! When you’re always scolding me for being too generous! All