Extra Chapter 12: Traces in the Ash

1. Southward

On the third day after leaving the old port of Champa, wind rose over the sea.

The wind came from the southeast, carrying salt and sand, snapping against the sails. The boatman, surnamed Chen, was from Quanzhou. A man of few words, he said only, "The wind is wrong," and had the sailors take in half the sail. Liu Zhijiang stood at the stern and watched the shoreline of the old port sink little by little into the mist. Yanagiu Shizuma sat by the cargo boxes, wiping his short blade with a piece of deerskin. The blade was already in its sheath; what he wiped was the sheath.

"The Frost Guest goes south, and farther south," Yanagiu Shizuma said, his voice half shorn away by the wind. "But a boat cannot go south forever. A man must eventually come to shore."

In the cabin, Wang Guanshu wrapped that pinch of ash again in oiled paper. She had looked many times at the half fingerprint in the ash; its lines were fine and close, like those of someone who held a brush all year round.

"This fingerprint," she said, coming out and addressing Yanagiu Shizuma, "you have seen it."

Yanagiu Shizuma stopped his hand.

"The previous generation of Shadow Guards. Right index finger," he said. "He pressed the brush with the pad of his finger when he wrote, so the fingerprint was worn smoother than most. When I was small, I ground ink for him. I saw it."

"The Frost Guest and the Shadow Guard—are they one person?"

"No." Yanagiu Shizuma laid the sheath across his knees. "The Frost Guest transports incense; the Shadow Guard watches over it. But if the Shadow Guard turns back, the Frost Guest leaves a letter for him. This half fingerprint means the Shadow Guard touched that pinch of ash."

2. The Unnamed Island

The wind did not die down until after midnight. The boat was pushed to the edge of a small island, not large, about a li square, overgrown with wild coconuts and vines. Old Chen said the island had no name; on the old sea charts it was marked only with a black dot.

The island had no dock, so everyone waded ashore. Liu Zhijiang walked at the front. His foot struck something hard; he scraped away the sand and found half a stone post, carved with the character "Shuang," only the upper half remaining.

"The Frost Guest's warehouse," he said.

Behind the stone post was a collapsed wooden shed, its beams and pillars gnawed white by the sea wind. In a corner of the shed was a camphor-wood box, half buried in sand. The lid was cracked, but the body of the box was intact. Liu Zhijiang lifted it out. The bottom of the box was likewise carved with the character "Nan," deeper than the one in Champa, fine sand embedded in the cuts.

"Deep means far," Wang Guanshu said. "He stopped here too."

There was no account book in the box, only a pinch of ash, a piece of broken porcelain, and half a fingerprint, printed on the inner wall of the box, more complete than the one in Champa. Beside the fingerprint was an extremely fine scratch, as if carved with the tip of a needle.

Wang Guanshu held the porcelain shard up to the light. The shard was white-ground blue-and-white, painted with half a lotus scroll; the glaze had fine crazing.

"A bowl from Wenji in Bianliang," she said. "Wenji's porcelain paints only half a lotus flower; the other half is left for the facing side. That is their rule."

Yanagiu Shizuma took the shard and turned it over to look at the foot. The foot bore no mark, but there was a cut, as if the character "Wen" had been scratched with the tip of a knife.

"The Frost Guest took goods in Bianliang," he said. "From Wenji."

3. Traces in the Ash

Ash was still ash. Liu Zhijiang poured it into his palm and parted it with his fingertip. Mixed into the ash were extremely fine grains of charcoal and a few scraps of paper not fully burned. There was ink on the paper scraps, only half a character left, something like "dai"—to wait.

"He was waiting for someone," Liu Zhijiang said.

"For whom?" Wen Ye asked. He had been standing outside the shed, silent all this time; now he came in and crouched by the box. "The Frost Guest went from Quanzhou to Champa, then to this island, south all the way, leaving boxes all the way. The ash in the boxes is left from burning letters, the fingerprint was touched by the Shadow Guard, the porcelain is Wenji's. The person he is waiting for must be able to recognize these three things."

Yanagiu Shizuma placed the half fingerprint side by side with the one from Champa. The two fingerprints overlapped; the lines matched. It was the same person.

"The Shadow Guard touched the ash, which means he came to this island," Yanagiu Shizuma said. "But he did not take the box. The Frost Guest left the box for the Shadow Guard to see. The Shadow Guard saw it, and left again. Southward."

Wang Guanshu brought the ash close to her nose. No orchid breath could be discerned in it anymore, only the smell of sea salt and rotten wood.

"The mother-incense ruler is not in this box," she said. "The Frost Guest took it away."

"But he left a letter." Liu Zhijiang took the bamboo tally from his breast and placed it beside the box from the island. The Champa tally was carved with "Hui"—return; the bottom of the island box was carved with "Nan"—south. Return meant turning back; south meant continuing.

"The Frost Guest himself went south; the Shadow Guard turned back on his behalf," Liu Zhijiang said. "Two people, one south and one north, setting out separately."

4. Night Tide

After dark, Old Chen lit a lantern at the bow. Liu Zhijiang sat on the beach, looking at the rubbings of the two fingerprints side by side. Wang Guanshu came over and handed him a piece of dry flatbread.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"About the Frost Guest." Liu Zhijiang took a bite of the flatbread. "He left boxes all the way and burned letters all the way. The letters burned, but the ash remained. The fingerprint in the ash was touched by the Shadow Guard. The Shadow Guard touching the ash means he understood the letter. But he did not take the box; he only touched the ash, and when he had touched it, he left. He was telling the Frost Guest: I have seen it."

"Telling the Frost Guest what?"

"Telling the Frost Guest that he is still alive."

Wang Guanshu was silent for a while.

"Then the person the Frost Guest was waiting for is the Shadow Guard," she said. "He went south; the Shadow Guard went back north. The two agreed to meet on this island, but they did not meet."

"Or they met, and then parted again." Liu Zhijiang put away the rubbings. "That character 'dai' in the ash was written by the Frost Guest. He waited."

The tide rose and washed over the stone post. In the corner of the shed, Wen Ye turned up a small pottery jar containing half a jar of dried rice, already worm-eaten. Pressed under the jar was a bamboo slip carved with two lines of small characters:

When the south wind rises, the ash is the letter. When the letter arrives and the person does not, then the ash must not scatter.

Liu Zhijiang handed the bamboo slip to Yanagiu Shizuma. Yanagiu Shizuma looked at it for a long time, then put it back in the jar.

"The Shadow Guard's rule," he said. "If the ash does not scatter, the person has not arrived. The Frost Guest left ash, which is leaving a letter. The Shadow Guard touched the ash, which is replying to the letter. The letter arrived, the person did not; therefore the ash must not scatter."

"Then we have now collected the ash," Wen Ye said. "Does that count as scattering it?"

Yanagiu Shizuma put the lid back on the jar.

"It counts," he said. "But the letter has already been delivered."

5. The Hook

Early the next morning, the wind shifted and the boat could leave. Liu Zhijiang brought the box from the island aboard as well and placed it beside the one from Champa. Two boxes, one deep and one shallow, two characters "Nan," one far and one near.

At the bow, Wang Guanshu slipped the broken porcelain shard into oiled paper. The half lotus on the shard glimmered blue in the morning light.

"A Wenji bowl," she said. "The Frost Guest carried it from Bianliang to Champa, and then to this island. He carried a bowl all the way, which means he was using it all along."

"Using the bowl to eat," Wen Ye said.

"Using the bowl to wait for someone." Wang Guanshu folded the oiled paper. "When the person arrived, the bowl would be set down. The porcelain shattered, which means in the end the bowl was not held steady."

Yanagiu Shizuma stood by the gunwale, watching the seawater slip past beneath the boat.

"The Shadow Guard touched the ash on this island," he said. "But the Shadow Guard went back north from this island, and the Frost Guest went south. The two parted on this island. After they parted, how much farther south did the Frost Guest go?"

Liu Zhijiang turned the bamboo tally over and looked at the scratch of the character "Hui" on the back.

"I do not know," he said. "But the character 'Nan' on the bottom of the box is carved deeper than the one in Champa. Deep means far. So far that we have not yet arrived."

The boat left the island; the wild coconuts on the island swayed in the wind. Liu Zhijiang looked back once. The stone post was no longer visible.

Wen Ye crouched by the box, scraping the sand from its bottom with his fingernail. As he scraped, he stopped.

"There are more characters on the bottom of the box," he said.

Liu Zhijiang leaned closer. In the cuts of the character "Nan" on the box bottom, extremely fine sand was embedded; beneath the sand was an even fainter cut, as if added with the tip of a knife.

"It is the character 'Liu,'" Wen Ye said.

Yanagiu Shizuma came over and looked for a long time.

"The Shadow Guard's surname," he said. "The Frost Guest was waiting for the Shadow Guard. The Shadow Guard's surname is Yanagiu."

He straightened up and looked at the sea to the south.

"My grandfather," he said. "The previous generation of Shadow Guards was my grandfather."

—To be continued · Extra Chapter 13 follows