Fish and Eggs

Giddy and very much unaware, Wei Li Na dips her newly shaven head into the river with her butt in the air. She washed off the stray hairs left from the haircut, and grinned at the boy who shaved her head, and said satisfied, "Good!"

The boy smiled back and saw this as an opening for introductions. "I am Disciple Ren, my brother here is Disciple Yan. How is brother called?"

This fellow also mistook her for a boy. But Wei Li Na did not object. "I am called Li Na," she gave the brothers a quick study. They were dressed in a similar way in plain right-over-left wrap shirts and loose trousers just like martial arts uniforms. Both also had newly shaved heads. They looked around 13 or 14 in age, with strong, tree trunk like limbs. Judging from their appearance, they were a pair apart from all the other children, who wore colorful clothing, accessorized with beads and even embroidery.

"Then you are brother Li Na!" The beaming face belonging to Disciple Ren, which was in sharp contrast to the expression of the one called Disciple Yan, who's own face hardly had any expression at all. Both disciples now had long sticks in their grasp, with a sharpened tip. As if a little irritated by the presence of a new person, Disciple Yan cuts short Disciple Ren's cheerful atmosphere, "We have to feed so many children, if brother Li Na is able, to lend a hand to catch some fish."

Wei Li Na looked around, indeed there were 16 children in all, including Ren and Yan. All the other children ranged in age from 6 to 12. Ren and Yan looked to be the eldest and most able. Counting herself, she was as tall as Ren and Yan, if not looking less sturdy in build. But she was an elder in the group as well, and if she wanted to eat with them, was told in so many words by Yan, to contribute to the catching of food. Brother Li Na did not mind. Although her previous fishing with the chainmail was a failure, Ren and Yan had other ways to catch fish.

Ren handed her a sharpened stick and nodded towards a part of the riverbank where the current was less strong. Seeing as they had to enter the water, Lina took off her boots. She also took off the chang pao and belt, which had been dragging on the ground from being too long. She still had on brother handsome's undershirt and padded silk vest. She rolled up her own trousers and followed the two disciples in silence.

For fishing, it was imperative to be quiet. They moved away from the noisy group of children, leaving the children with that man called Saint Tami, to watch over. Wei Li Na observed from behind, as Yan very slowly waded further into the river where the waters reached his hip. With his face turned downward, he suddenly thrusts his stick into the water, pulled up and at the end of the stick was impaled a fish the size of an arm. He loaded the fish carefully into the covered basket on his back.

Grasping the basic concept of fishing with a stick, Wei Li Na jumped onto a rock, closed her eyes for a second to activate her Divine Third Eye. Her eyes flashed open, with great force she plunged the sharpened stick into the water, like a guided torpedo. The stick stuck into the water, only the top of the stick could be seen from the waterline, it remained upright and had obviously struck something solid. The stick vibrated violently, and the water became muddy. The movement had attracted Ren and Yan's notice. Within seconds, a gigantic catfish, the size of a six year old child flopped belly-up the water with a stick through its head.

Ren and Yan's mouths gapped open, they lost the ability to speak. It was Yan who first broke out of the stupor of his astonishment and waded quickly to the giant catfish. He pulled it to shore using the stick through its head as a handle. Even then, the catfish was still alive and wriggling in its last death throes!

"That's a god among fishes! I didn't even know catfish could get so big!" Ren could no longer contain his excitement, he rushed to shore to inspect the giant catfish.

"Will it feed 16 children?" Wei Li Na could not judge how much 16 children needed to eat. Did she have to find more food?

Nodding like a chicken pecking rice, "Yes, yes, yes. It will be a feast!"

Wei Li Na thought of something, "I can also get some eggs. Above the cliffs, there's grassland with pheasants and other bird nests on the ground." Finding eggs was Wei Li Na's current top food foraging skill, before she learned to catch fish with a stick. The two disciples agreed. Yan carried the catfish back to camp while Ren accompanied Wei Li Na up the cliffs, towards the grasslands.

Wei Li Na had her grip firmly on the stone wall surface, ready to climb the cliffs. But disciple Ren held her back. "There's a faster way to get there. Don't move!" He slid his arm around her waist, gripped her at the waistband of her trousers and pushed off the ground five meters into the air! He anchored both their weight on a small ledge on the stone wall, then pushed off again, this time ten meters into the air! They landed on the flat grassland with a soft thud. Now it was Wei Li Na's turn to be amazed. What is skill is this? Wasn't that just like flying?

"Disciple Yan, how did you do that? Can you teach me?" Disciple Yan had mastered the lightness technique. Assuming how agile Wei Li Na moved, and the way she had speared that giant fish, Yan thought that her martial arts was at a decently good level. So he was surprised when she was going to climb the cliff with her hands. Apparently, she had not yet learned the most basic techniques of foot lightness. Or perhaps she did not have a master, and solely relied on natural talent?

"Of course I can teach! It's nothing really, so long as your body and internal strength is strong."

Wei Li Na was in a good mood at this new discovery. How come there were so many things in the ancient world she had never even heard of! In the space age, it is possible to fly in the air with little effort, hundreds of meters into the air but only when there is no gravity! But here, people can jump meters into the air too, and at normal gravity levels! And furthermore, she can learn to do it, too! Definitely something to look forward to.

With a jovial outlook, Wei Li Na checked with her Divine Third Eye, it only took a moment to pinpoint all the good nest eggs within short walking distance. Without even having to physically look around, she parted the tall grass, not bothering to check whether there were snakes or not. Walking in a straight line, she led disciple Ren from one nest after another. They made quick work picking eggs like picking smooth stones along the riverbanks. The eggs were carried in the front of their shirts, pulling up the hems to make a shallow pouch. Only after both could no longer hold on to any eggs, did they decide to go back.

"Brother Li Na is also very good at finding eggs. Can you teach me how to do it?"

Wei Li Na replied with a wistful smile. Could she teach Divine Third Eye? This was an innate ability not everybody had. When the ability was discovered in her, it was enhanced with space age technology, meaning that microchip embedded under her forehead where her artificial intelligence buddy, Dave, now also resided. All she could say to Ren was that, "You just need a lot of practice. It's nothing special. Pheasants like to nest in the same places, and if you've visited them once, it is easy to find again."

When they got back to the group, a large fire was already burning, roasting the giant catfish that had been cut into pieces. With a flat stone, Ren dug a hole in the sand and arranged the eggs in one layer in the shallow hole. The covered the eggs with more sand, took some burning embers and laid it on the sand to cook the eggs. The children gathered around, waiting in anticipation. It wasn't long before everybody had a piece of oily catfish and few hardboiled eggs in their hand.

There was enough for more than a few servings for everybody. It was clear they hadn't had a treat like this for a long time. Everybody was in a good mood, disciple Yan had warmed up to Wei Li Na, although still not very chatty, he would interject every now and then when disciple Ren was talking.

Wei Li Na took a peek curiously at the one called Saint Tami. Although he seemed friendly, his attention was mostly kept on the children, instructing them not to stray and stay close to the group. He was very vigilant. He spoke to the children in a language that she did not understand.

Following Brother Li Na's line of sight, Disciple Ren guessed her interest and said, "That person Saint Tami is very attentive to those children. Most of them are from a nomadic tribes and we can't understand their language. Only Saint Tami can speak to them. Three of the youngest children are from the city of Yanqi, and can speak the common language. All the kids adore Saint Tami, and follow him like a shadow.

Observing Saint Tami from the side, Wei Li Na had to agree that he had exceptional rapport with these little cabbages and little radishes. He was talking in animation, while eating. The kids looked up to him like his face was the sun, laughing now and then at his stories.

"What about Disciple Ren and Disciple Yan? Why do you follow Saint Tami?" From the very beginning it was clear that the two disciples were not the same people as this group.

"Myself, Ren, and brother Disciple Yan had just come down from our temple in the steppes. Teacher told us to go to the towns and seek experience and make our own fortunes. We had met Saint Tami and his group on the road, and decided to follow them to Gaochang City." So it seems these two were expelled from their temple. Isn't that what "make your own fortunes" means? "And what of brother Li Na? It's so strange to travel alone in the Xiyu western regions."

Without batting an eyelash, Wei Li Na replied, "I'm here because my family sent me to find an important uncle. This ancestor of my family, his life is in danger."