Star Harbor Nights

The matter still concerns me greatly, though it no longer consumes me as it did. In my younger ages, there was no limit to the lengths I would go to pursue my honor. I once went to the ends of the earth in search of a dream… or perhaps I should say, the vision of a dream... the slimmest chance at reclaiming the last remaining shred of my honor, and that of my family, lost when this earth was ruled by empires now only half-remembered in legends and songs.

You have heard of Atlantis?

Of course you have.

History is written by the winners, however brief and bittersweet their victory may prove. But what do you know of the glory that was Leng? Today, its existence is barely suspected by modern scientists. "Lemuria", they call it... monkey land! Imagine the ignominy. The greatest nation the world has ever seen, now only made reference to by an exploded theory seeking to explain the distribution of a species of lemur.

Monkey land, indeed.

But, when I first set foot on the tiny, fog-shrouded speck of rock where I sought my honor and fortune--many years before a misguided scientist would forever besmirch the good name of my forgotten homeland--it seemed to me that I had found a land of monkeys... stinking, hairy apes who grunted and hollered and pointed. I gave no few of them something to grunt over, in the time before I learned a smattering of their coarse language. They thought me a wizard, with my strange--to them--looks, and my robes of fine silk... patched and repaired many times, like it was the garment of a beggar... though to their eyes, no doubt it seemed a fine thing indeed.

Fine enough a prize to risk the wrath of even a wizard.

I know nothing of the conjurer's arts, of course... something perhaps of prophesy, but little of spells and incantations. In the arts of combat, however, I was a wizard compared to the unlearned and undisciplined oxen who threw themselves at me and fell like soft snow at my feet. Not dead... it would have been beneath my dignity to slaughter such poor specimens of warriors.

Fortunately for the dignity and manhood of the men of that nation, their tongue was not so difficult to master compared to the sublime and varied intonations of the language of Leng, and so it was not too long before I was able to converse with them, after a fashion. While it would have been impolitic to state too directly the object which I sought, my various inquiries on the subject of wonders and marvels soon turned up a most curious fact: I was not the only man of my race known to the southern islanders.

After many consultations with the spirits of my ancestors--the contents of which I shall quite properly keep private, even at this late date--and reading of the Book of Changes, I felt certain that the ape-like inhabitants of the island were not mistaken. There was another easterner upon this land... a man of great wisdom and learning, and what's more... though his blood lacked the purity of my own, the signs indicated he was another descendant of the noble race of Leng!

More still, I knew--from my own paltry divinations and aided by the directions of local rustics--where he might be found.

While the whole of that cold, mud-choked island seemed far from flourishing to one accustomed to more tropical climes, the corner of land wherein I sought the great sage was barren indeed. Even in spring, the forest through which I passed contained more brown leaves than green and more dead wood than live. The road which wound its way through it was choked with weeds. There were no signs of cultivation, although domesticated flowers and plants grew wild in places. I noted signs where space had been cleared and the foundation laid for a building of some sort, but nothing appeared to have come of it.

At last I came to a lake, if it could be called that... a silt-strangled marsh out of which a conical hill rose like an island. An old stone fort sat atop the projection, and some distance from that I could see another, smaller structure. A raft was tied up a short distance beyond where the road was interrupted by the water; there was no actual termination or set boundary... it appeared the water level fluctuated considerably. Using arts familiar to me but lost to the ages, I was able to step lightly across the swamp plants and reach the small craft without dampening the hem of my robes. I could perhaps have reached the island in this same manner, but it seemed to me unseemly to display such talents in a land where they were unknown.

Having poled the raft across the pond and ascended the hill, I came to stand before the modest structure of a wooden hut... the smaller building I had spied from a distance. A man--very old, even to my eyes--was seated on the ground in front of the building. His white hair was so long that even done up in an elaborate knot, it still trailed down his back to be coiled neatly on the ground behind him. His beard was of a similar length. Both were clean and immaculately groomed. He wore a voluminous sleeved silk robe. The white fabric was interwoven with shining silver thread, but it was otherwise familiar in style and appearance to me. The man sat with his legs bent at the knees and folded beneath him on a mat woven from reeds. His eyes were closed, his head slightly bowed.

"I come seeking a great one who is said to live atop this hill," I announced when some subtle sign made me sure that I had the sage's attention and would not be interrupting some private meditation.

"And you have found only me," the white-haired man said at length. He opened his eyes, showing them to be bright and piercing despite his advanced age. "How frightfully disappointed you must be."

"I do not think so," I said. Though I fought to keep my tone respectful, I am certain a fierce hunger showed in my eyes, as I finally believed I was very close to the end of my long quest. "I have come to this island in search of an object of great power."

"And you believe I possess this object?" the old one asked. His eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly, and his posture stiffened. "Are you here to perhaps relieve me of the burden of it?"

"I do not believe you have the object which I seek, but if I learned otherwise, I would make my case for it quite respectfully," I said, with all due humility and respect. "But I am lead by certain signs to believe that you are a man of considerable learning, who will be able to point me in the direction of that object."

"Then I give you greeting in the name of the Good God. Please, be seated, and excuse me for not rising to greet you," the man said, visibly relaxing. He shifted his robe to reveal a bandage-like sash tied above his waist. "I suffer an old wound, that has never completely healed."

"If you are who I seek then I cannot believe it is not within your power to heal any wound which does not instantly fell you," I replied, genuinely astounded. I took a seat on the mat in front of the ancient man, arranging my own robe carefully and placing my sheathed blade down on my left side, the hilt pointing forward.

"It is within my power to slice off my hand or pluck out my eye, and yet," the learned man replied, "I do not do either of those things."

"Of course you do not," I said. "Why would you wish to diminish yourself thusly?"

"Indeed," the man said, stroking his long white beard thoughtfully. "Why have you come to the Isle of the Mighty?"

"Is that what the locals call this hill you've made as your home?"

"No, it is what they call the island they've made as their own."

"Such astounding arrogance," I said, wide-eyed. "But that is neither here nor there. Great one, I am called Mei Lin h... just Mei Lin."

"Call yourself what you will, Mei Lin the Just... the natives, may the God of Gifts bless and keep them, will butcher it before too long," the man interjected. "Because I will not eat the fats of animals, they call me the Fisher, and I let them, as it is name enough for me."

"This God you speak of... is it your own, or the new God of the Empire... or perhaps some local monstrosity you have taken to?" I asked. In retrospect, with the distance of years between me and the event, I can admit that I may have let my distaste color my tone.

"He is my own if He is anyone's," the Fisher said. "But I do not think you have sought me out to hear this talk."

"This is true. Great one, I seek a certain sword, which was taken from a warrior of my family some generations ago, when he chanced to meet an Imperial legion upon a road and they found, no doubt to their great mutual embarrassment, that neither party would step aside and let the other pass by first."

"This meeting did not go well for your relative?" the Fisher inquired.

"The encounter did not heavily favor either side, but they were legion and he... was but one," I explained. "Reports of that day are unreliable, but I am given to understand that after this descendant of my ancestors was overcome, the primus of the legion walked away with the blade that had slain so many of his men, and either he, or the one to whom it passed from his hands, brought it to this island, where it has remained ever since."

"It must be a most impressive blade that you would seek it so arduously, so far from home," the Fisher remarked.

"It is. It was made in what I am lead to believe is the land of your youth, and is thought to be the last of its kind, forged by the student of a divine spirit of metal and swords, said student having since passed over the floating bridge some hundred years before it came into my family's possession," Mei Lin replied. "It is prophesied that its like will not be seen again for eight hundred years, when the kami at last consents to teach another student."

"Strange prophesy, that I, who was not unlearned before I came to this land, have never heard it. Who has authored this prophesy?"

"I have, great one," I said, bowing my head humbly. "I have some small gift in such matters."

"And you believe this blade still exists on this island? You are aware the Empire left many years ago, though many of their children still live on the island and play at being its citizens."

"I am certain it is here, if it is anywhere. I do not come so far from civilization lightly. There are numerous accounts of its arrival and none of its departure, and none of the tales which would doubtlessly follow such a blade's travels are in current circulation. It is on this island, forsaken by the Empire and every God or spirit of reason, that the blade is to be found."

"If the truth is to be known, your blade has caused a little bit of trouble," the Fisher told me. "Aside from its value as a weapon, it is seen as a symbol of rank and honor. It belonged to a man of the Empire which is now departed and sorely missed, and has thus come to represent to the men of this island the authority which was held by its previous owner. Their people still look to the heroes of the past for protection... their leaders hope that if one among them can claim the sword as one's own, the people will look to that one instead."

"Protection?" Mei Lin scoffed. "From what? Who would want to attack this backwards rock, and to what benefit? What is there here that is worth protecting? I would think the locals would welcome another invasion, if it brings back the civilizing influence of even the poor excuse for culture of the Empire."

"It may be that there are no people so barbarous, there does not exist another people even more so," the Fisher said. "Even rats must contend with fleas, and so the people of this land, though they appear savage to your eyes, dwell in fear of those more savage than themselves, who come from across the sea to pillage, slave, and burn."

"To my eyes? You do not think them barbarous, oh great Fisher of men?"

"Their ways are different from those of our homelands," the Fisher allowed, "but they are a decent, hardworking, and pious people. They do not have the beauty and wonder which are commonplace in our cultures, because their own is so rich. I am not ungifted in prophesy myself, Mei Lin, and so I tell you that you shall live to see two great empires which will sprout from the soil of this island"

"It may be so," I said respectfully, with only an acceptable amount of terseness, "but I would like very much to not be stuck on this island for the whole duration it takes for that to come to pass. What man has custody of my sword?"

"No man."

"What woman, then... or child, or dog, or bird?" I asked. "Let us not play like children at games of words, great one."

"No woman, or child, or dog, or bird has possession of the object in question," the Fisher said. "After many years of slaughter and in-fighting between the competing houses of the island, with sons deposing fathers only to be slain in turn by the once-deposed, the blade was given over to an impartial judge, with instruction that it should only be relinquished to the one who is worthy to wield it."

"That is me," Mei Lin declared. "Of all the inhabitants of this island, only perhaps yourself would exceed my skill in wielding it, and of we two, only I have an ancestral claim. Who is this judge, though, if not man, woman, or child?"

"The sword is held by a kami, at least the equal of the one who originated the sword's art," the Fisher said. "She holds the sword, clasped in the arms of the living earth, on a hilltop ringed with standing stones, not so far to the east of here. That is where you must go to make your case for the blade, if you still seek it."

"Of course I still seek it, great one," Mei Lin said. "I should fear to deal with divine judges, when my claim is honest and my intentions honorable? Though I have no prophesy to guide me, I tell you the blade shall be mine within ten days, and when it is in my possession I shall return this way and give you a basket of fish in gratitude."

"And what if the blade should somehow slip through your grasp?" the Fisher asked. "I would hate to think your gratitude towards me would hinge upon your own abilities to aid yourself rather than my own."

"Completely unthinkable... but if that were to come to pass, I would stay on this hill and fish your lake every day for a month," Mei Lin boasted.

"Then I will look forward to seeing you again," the Fisher said, his eyes sparkling.