Three Jars of Wine

"Landlord, another jar of wine. The same type as the last."

The landlord turned to glance at the customer who had just called him. Sitting by herself at one of the low tables in a corner of his inn, she had three empty flasks neatly arranged in front of her, and a wide brimmed hat with a veil laid aside besides her. She held a cup in one hand, making a fluid line from the graceful bend of her wrist to the flowing white folds of her sleeve gathered on the table. As the landlord watched she tipped back her head easily and swallowed the last of the wine, and sat turning the empty cup about meditatively with shapely fingers. Judging from her demeanour and dress, she seemed to be from a genteel background, yet she was drinking alone the way a roving trader or swordsman would have done, without any of the self-consciousness or nervousness he would have expected a lone highborn woman to have. When she first entered, there had been stares, and whispers, especially when she asked to taste several of the landlord's wines. But as she calmly ignored them all, and sat quietly drinking in her corner once she had found the one she liked, the other customers had gradually ceased to steal glances in her direction.

The hand that set the empty cup down was still as steady as when it had first taken it up, and there was no sign of the alcohol in the clear creaminess of her cheeks.

He bowed. "Certainly, Madame. The same type as the last one."

She smiled and nodded as he hurried away, muttering incredulously to himself.

Bai traced the rim of the cup absently with one finger, forgetting that just an hour ago she had been lecturing Xiaoqing on the vice of greed and gluttony, and idly watched the passerbys from the window.

The sky was a dull dank colour, the clouds beginning to gather in dark knots like clumps of hair blown into corners by the wind. There was a crispness to the air now, and some of the marketplace vendors started to pack up their wares.

Bai's finger played with the cup, balancing it on its rim, then rolling it onto the base, running it along the edge of the table top, then onto the side of her finger as if it were a bird; her hands flickering in smooth unhurried motions. Her eyes flitted suddenly to the marketplace as a man's voice raised itself outside, rough and angry. To the others, it was just another sound in the crowd; one voice lost among the rumble of cart wheels and the droning calls of vendors hawking their wares. But her other hand rested on the windowsill, fingertips touching the wooden frame in the same way a doctor listened to the pulse of his patient.

"You think you're clever, aren't you, little girl? Not so clever now, are you?"

Bai drew herself up, looking intently into the road. She could just barely make out, among the moving figures, a small cluster of people on the opposite side of the road, in the mouth of a narrow alley. Three men cornering what seemed to be a girl's form, dressed in green. She caught a glimpse of a fluttering green hair ribbon and a sharp, pointed chin.

The girl made a sudden dash to slip between the men and get away, but one of the men--a tall fellow with a scruffy beard--lunged at her with surprising speed and caught her by the wrist. Twisting her arm, he pinned her against the wall with a short barking laugh. "You thought you would be faster than us, did you. Well, little lady, you clearly don't think much of us. We were all brought up on the street; we may not look like much but we've picked more purses than you've seen in your young life."

One of his companions spat loudly and sneered at their captive, revealing a missing tooth. "We've lived our lives as the scum of the road, if we don't bite back others kick us in the face! And now you try to play the game on us. As if we weren't brought up in it as children! Save the pretty face for a rich gentleman."

The cup came down on the table with a dull thump.

In a swift, fluid motion Bai caught up her hat and rose to her feet, her white robes streaming soundlessly in straight liquid lines to the floor. She held out a hand as the landlord approached her table with the jar of wine. "My apologies, landlord. Some urgent business forces me to leave unexpectedly. Here is the money for the wine; keep the change."

Her fingers flicked two shining golden coins onto the table from within her sleeve and she was gone in a swirl of white folds.

The landlord stared blankly after her, then hastily put down the wine and gathered up the coins on the table, mumbling to himself. "At least she's generous. The problem with these strange ladies is that you never know if they're some rich lady escaping from a jealous suitor or running away from their families to elope. It's a gamble whether or not they end up being discovered in your inn, and cause a ruckus with half the furniture getting chopped up and wine spilled everywhere! This one is a strange one, though. All alone and yet she dares to drink so much. She's got a good tolerance for alcohol, she does."

Bai strode out of the inn without looking back, a set line to her jaw. Her slim, upright figure wove into the crowd purposefully.

The landlord shook his head as he watched her go. "A strange one; a strange one..."