“Is it true that Chinese women bind their feet to make them very small?”
“Yes.” She looked away. “Noble women must be carried. It is a mark of value.”
He had seen many odd customs over the years, but this was one of the worst. “Personally, I can’t see how crippling a woman makes her more valuable.”
She didn’t respond. He didn’t expect her to, but she did look him in the eye.
“But I suppose we have stupid customs, too,” he said, hoping to draw her into conversation. “What did you find odd when you first got to England?”
“English women bind themselves until they can’t breathe. I find that very strange.”
Progress. She’d responded and was still looking him in the eye. “Can’t argue with you there.” A bird flew overhead which caused her to look up. He followed her gaze and grimly noted that the sun would be going down soon. “We need to get back.”
She nodded. “I will put on my shoes.”
“I will find a way to get to you without ruining your work.”
He moved as close as he dared to the side while still standing in her marks. By the time he made it there, she had already put on her footwear and was standing in her statue pose to the side of the path. Seeing the best way to cross over, he gathered his energy. It was a leap, but he made it easily. Unfortunately, his foot landed on a rock and turned beneath him. He stumbled forward toward her, and she shied back even as she reached out to stop his fall. He recovered on his own. His walking boots stood him in good stead there. But he did reach for her arm, just in case. And she obliged him by holding it out without allowing him to flatten her with his bulk.
“Thank you,” he said, even though he didn’t touch her.
She nodded and dropped her arm. He was watching her closely, seeing how her face tightened then smoothed. Was she wondering at her own contradictory reaction to both help him and run from him? Or did she worry because he stood close enough to touch her?
He decided to press her to see if he could break through more of her reserve. He held out his arm to her with a genial smile. There was room here for them to walk side by side, at least for the first part of the path.
He could see the uncertainty on her face, but in the end, she set her hand on his arm. He cast one last look at her sand art, then began their stroll the long away around to the castle. About a third of the way up, they would reach a viewpoint. He was anxious to get there while there was still time to see what she’d done in the sand.
“You said you were painting the goddess Yao Ji. Can you tell me her story?”
She frowned as if remembering, and then she relayed the tale. Her voice was soft with only modest inflections as she spoke, and yet with every word, he felt drawn closer to hear every nuance of her tale.
“Long ago, the goddess Yao Ji became bored in Heaven. She invited her eleven sisters to travel with her to the Wu Gorge for the moon festival.”
“When is the moon festival?”
She pursed her lips. “The fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month.”
He did not know how to calculate that according to the English calendar, but he had a rough idea. “It is an autumn festival?”
“Yes.” She paused as they navigated around a particularly pointy bush. “She and her sisters had chains tied to their feet to connect them with Heaven.”
“Sounds remarkably uncomfortable.”
She smiled at his statement. “It was the only way to return to Heaven. They would get lost in the sky without it.”
“Why not just bring a map?” he asked. He was teasing her. He knew that legends did not always make sense. His ploy worked as she gave him a look.
“You are a very practical man,” she said.
“I pride myself on it.” Then he gestured an apology. “But this is a fairy tale. I am not making fun.”
She looked like she didn’t believe him, but in the end, she continued. “When the sisters arrived at Wu Gorge, they encountered Yu the Great. He stood on the highest peak at the mouth of the gorge. He controlled the water so it did not flood and kill his people.”
“Very good of him.”
“He was a great emperor who tamed the waters of China.” Then she gestured with her hand. “Well, he became a great emperor and established the Xia dynasty. When Yao Ji met him, he had not learned water magic yet.”
“Ah, now I see what happened. She must have taught him the secret.”