Deviation Actions
Literature Text
The Adventures of the Jin Dui (Original Characters/Firefly 'Verse Novel-Style RP Club) (more about the Jin Du at our ship's website)
Abby Baldwin is operated by ellenmillion
Ben Carver is operated by BloodlustSerenade
Captain Cooper is operated by BrowncoatWhit
Cianán Mac Dara is operated by Roiuky
Hoss Hoeata is operated by tatterpixie
Sully Sullivan is operated by Rachel-Vardys
Tilly Warren is operated by ambassador-brouwer
June 18, 2515; approx. 0900 hours
"Wa ó!” Abby exclaimed as she stepped around the corner and stopped so abruptly that Sully, who had been preoccupied checking street signs and business numbers across the thoroughfare, nearly tripped over her. Abby held up an arm to steady him, keeping Sully from stumbling any farther forward. "Careful! You'll ruin it!"
The artwork at their feet had been done in chalk. It was maybe two meters in length and depicted a jagged, lightning-bolt shaped rent in the pavement of the sidewalk, through which a brilliant blue sky with distant cirrus clouds could be seen. Through this dimensional rift fluttered a stream of brightly colored butterflies, each one showcasing wings that were impossibly jewel-toned and unique. The chalk art was shaded so realistically that Sully's eyes tricked him into seeing the flutter of wings where it was impossible, and another pedestrian coming up behind them looked up from her hand-held and staggered aside at the last moment with some alarm, as though she feared she had been about to step on of the gem-stone winged insects."That's really beautiful," Abby breathed.
"It is, isn't it?" Sully said. "I bet I know the artist."That earned a shift of wide, sky-blue eyes. "Nǐ zài kāi wán-xiào ma?"
"No," Sully replied with a laugh. "I'm serious. I did grow up on Beylix, you know. The capital is sort of my teenage stomping grounds. C'mon, Suzuki's Superior Scholarship is right on down there," he said, escorting her around the street art, and on toward their destination.They were on the second-day of their planned seven-day layover on Beylix, and Abby had wanted to review a wider selection of educational materials for Tilly than they had been able to find during their brief time on Greenleaf. Sully had gathered up a list of supplies Hoss and Chang had both needed for their respective refit projects, items which couldn't be gleaned from Uncle Slim's scrapyard, and had volunteered to pilot the shuttle the hour's flight to the capital. Sully showed Abby through the smoked glass of Suzuki's front door. "You good for an hour or two?" he asked.
"Shi," Abby replied. The place had an antiseptic vibe and a determinedly white-on-white decorating scheme that attempted to look Core, without the benefit of having ever been there. The wide, high-ceiling shop offered shelves and shelves of old-fashioned text books, as well as what promised to be a wide selection of programs and VR tutor systems. It all just looked like school-porn to Sully, but the expression Abby's face hinted that she might enjoy this browse more than she had expected.Sully spotted there a primly suited sales clerk setting an intercept course for them. "I'll come back here and find you when I'm done, then," Sully said quickly, excusing himself back out the door.
Although Newhouse’s urban center strove to present a sophisticated face, Beylix's capital was like much of the rest of Beylix -- concentrated pockets of industry, surrounded by a whole lot of rustic. Sully strolled down the street, feeling almost as though each step carried him back in time. He had done a lot of growing up on these streets, and not all of the nostalgia he was felt for Newhouse was of the warm and cozy variety. Two blocks down the street, and Sully crossed the invisible border between the Admiralty District into the less savory Ming Kok neighborhood, where the architecture immediately grew more crowded and less modern and the crowds on the street grew thicker. It did not take him long to find familiar faces. He chatted up a couple of old friends and one old rival, who now appeared to be operating a deli -- and hell if Sugaliski knew how to make a decent sandwich, so no doubt the place was a front for something. Sully made eye contact and nodded and kept walking, promising himself to ask further questions of his uncle when he and Abby had returned to Uncle Slim's. Of more immediate interest was the gang signs visible now and then, and on two buildings were impressive murals that hadn't been there when Sully had last walked this street, a year or so ago. One of them was in the old Mao Worker's Party style, featuring the likenesses of what Sully guessed were ranking members of the Seven Cranes Triad; he even recognized one of the faces, although if the art were representative of real life, then Chen Li had lost an eye since Sully had last seen him. The second mural was a beautiful landscape, done in an classical style. It featured a mist-shrouded lake, crossed arching bridge with a gabled bridge house in the center, with vibrant blue-green hills beneath a rose-hued dawn sky. Seven cranes waded in the foreground -- no question of ownership of this neighborhood, not when grand murals like that went unmolested by rivals.Once again, Sully suspected he recognized the artist. He was mulling that thought over when he came to the corner of Sui Sai Wan East and Tim Wa Avenue, and looked down the side street to see a figure kneeling on the pavement, putting the finishing touches on a giant steaming noodle bowl, large enough to bathe in, perched on a white plate. Like the sidewalk rift with the butterflies, this piece of street art was expertly shaded so that it looked (from where Sully was standing, at least) as though it were 3-D. Indeed -- a pair of girls in uniforms from the noodle shop nearby were already moving in for the kill. One of them was giggling as she crouched as if sitting on the rim of the plate, while the other snapped her friend's picture on a hand-held unit. Then the two swapped places, ignoring the teenage boy who was putting the finishing touches on the wisps of steam nearby.
Sully skirted around the edge of the chalk noodle bowl to stand beside the kneeling artist. The hair had changed colors -- what had been a neon orange before was now half lilac, half-cornflower blue -- but the face beneath the pastel mop was still child-like and androgynously pretty. "Cianán Mac Dara!" Sully said.Dark make-up emphasized the pale gold eyes that glanced up at Sully in distraction, then widened with recognition.
"Sully!" The artist shot to his feet and held out a chalk-smudged hand in welcome. "Hey, hǎojiǔ bùjiàn! How long has it been?""Quite a while, unfortunately," Sully replied. "You're looking good!" It was a relative truth -- Cianán still looked like he slept in the clothes he was wearing, but his complexion was clear and those pale eyes were bright and alert, no longer sunken and chronically glazed. The boy had grown a little, too -- he had to be what -- 17 by now? Maybe close to 18? -- but the kid was still short and slight beneath the long, dirty overcoat he wore. "I see you've been doing some work for the Seven Cranes -- the murals back on Marsh Road and Oi Kwan are yours, aren't they?"
"Every genius needs a patron," Cianán replied cheerfully, but Sully did not miss the sudden falter in the teen's smile.Sully clapped the youth's shoulder and gestured toward the noodle shop. "I'm starving -- can I treat you to a bowl of phở? Looks like you're finished here, and I'd love to catch up, and sound you out about a possible job."
The smile returned, almost blinding in its intensity at the promise of work. "Lead the way!" Cianán said, quickly wrapping up his box of chalk and sliding the cloth-bound bundle into an inner pocket of his oversized coat.In a few minutes, they were seated at a window table in the noodle shop, enjoying bowls of hot soup with a fine view of pedestrians outside, reacting to the chalk art.
“How are you? How is your beautiful Carolyn Jane?" Cianán asked."I'm doing well -- I lost Jane, however. Some bad luck on a job. But I'm first mate on a new ship that's downworld for a short spell -- and my new ship needs to be prettified. You still available for freelance efforts?”
“Sure am!” Cianán was attacking his bowl of soup with real hunger. Sully knew either the youth had missed a few meals from lack of funding -- or had missed a few meals because he’d been too sunk in a creative fugue to notice he was hungry. “Nose art again? You know what you want?”“Do you remember what you painted for the Carolyn Jane?”
Cianán grinned. “Oh yeah. How could I forget that face -- or that figure?”Sully laughed. “Great! Then I want the same sort of thing. But here’s the complication -- the ship’s name is the Jin Dui. Can you work some sesame balls in there somehow as well?”
Cianán blinked, considering the challenge. “Let me think on it. I’m sure I can. But my real problem is gonna be that I’ll have to beg or borrow a spray brush.” He grimaced and shrugged. “You know how it is. I got jumped and they got stolen.”Sully nodded. He toyed with chopsticks for a moment, weighing his next question carefully. “How are you doing, anyway?” he asked, looking the youth straight in the eye.
Cianán didn’t flinch away from the eye contact. “Good,” he said. “Better than I was. I had a place for a while there, was even doing tattoos at this joint down at the dockside. But Buddha’s dream stick knocked me down and batted me around a bit. I came to my senses when I realized how the pin yen was hurting my art, and I’ve weaned myself from the habit. I’m still paying off my debts, but I’ve been clean for a three full months and counting now.”"That's good. Good." Sully had suspected the drug use, when last they'd met. He hoped what Cianán said was true. He truly liked the kid. He had first met Cianán several years ago, when the youth was truly a boy. The kid had run away from a difficult home situation -- Sully didn't know the details -- and had lived on the streets since. Cianán had an extraordinary natural talent as an artist, and it was a skill he had used to save himself from working the streets in other ways. That he was devoted to the pursuit of his art was clear -- whatever money Cianán earned went toward supplies before food or shelter. Sully wondered what the Seven Cranes had paid for their murals in. The triad was powerful on Beylix and had been the primary suppliers of opium for the past three generations, so Sully would be willing to wager payments had not been in credits.
"If you want the job," Sully said, "then let's talk price. I'm willing to pay 5 creds an hour -- and I'll buy you the tools and paint, as well. But you've got to be willing to fly out with me today, in about an hour or so. We're parked at a scrapyard out near Mt. Wutai, and I'm only in town for a short time. But I'll fly you back when we're done. If the job takes longer than the afternoon, then we'll feed you and provide you a clean bunk for the night.""You had me at the 5 creds an hour," Cianán laughed. He grinned and spit in his palm, then held it out to shake.
Sully spat in his own palm, and they shook to seal the deal.TRANSLATIONS:
- Wa ó = Oh wow! (Mandarin)
- Nǐ zài kāi wán-xiào ma? = are you kidding me? (Mandarin)
- Hǎojiǔ bùjiàn = long time, no see (Mandarin)
- Phở = Vietnamese noodle soup
- pin yen = opium (Mandarin street slang)
Carver saw furtive movement from the corner of his eye; he pivoted with the wrench in hand, and the dog which had been sniffing hopefully around the cargo bay ramp bolted. He had a glimpse of gaunt ribs and hipbones, a red merle hide -- and distended nipples. A nursing female -- although from the wretched look of her, she wasn't producing much milk.
Carver went back to work replacing the cracked porthole in the inner lock door. He was tightening the last bolts when a larger form ghosted up the gangway, intent on the sounds and smells of the goat pod. This time, the invader was a big, rangy black creature, which bared its fangs at Carver and snarled a warning when he turned to face it."Get!" he told it firmly, shifting his weight to the balls of his feet and facing it full-on, projecting challenge in every line of of his body. The big brute stopped indecisively, ears flat and nose twitching. It sensed an easy kill near at hand, and it was hungry -- but Carver was an obstacle. It growled in threat, locking eyes with the man, then began another wary advance.
Carver took a fresh grip on the heavy wrench, preparing for combat. He could pull his gun and shoot the creature, but the sound of gunfire would alarm the rest of the crew--A four-wheeler ATV came roaring up from the direction of the scrapyard's main compound. Finding itself with an unknown hostile approaching from the rear, the dog wisely decided to make a tactical retreat. Carver watched it go, thinking to himself that he should have taken a clean shot anyway. That one would be back, and it was dangerous.
The ATV braked at the bottom of the Jin Dui's ramp, and Uncle Slim himself dismounted. "G'day!" the short, wide man called cheerfully as he waddled up the gangway. "It's Carver, isn't it? Just the man I was hoping to see -- and I see you've gotten an eyeful of my problem as well!" The scrapyard owner chuckled to himself as he paused for a response, and not receiving one, launched merrily on his way. "We've had some trouble with wild dogs. There was someone who was driving out from the city and dumping them, and for a while, some of my staff took to feeding poor things. But then the puppies started coming, and now there's dogs everywhere. Some of them were probably pets and were nice enough, once. But some of them are pretty gorram fierce, and it's getting so I'm scared to step out of my own front door at night. Sonny Beck and Arikesari are my night watchmen, and they're fine fellows. But Sonny can't shoot for shit, and Ari is a Jainist, so I can't ask him to do this. And I'm too much of a softie myself. My nephew Sully says you're a hard man. Bully, says I -- because I need a hard man for a hard job. Can I hire you to make this problem -- or rather, these problems -- just go away, nice and neat and no fuss?"Carver thought about it. He did not like the prospect of shooting a pack of wild dogs. But some of the pack were clearly dangerous. The more aggressive ferals would kill the ship's livestock if they could get at the goats or chickens, and certainly there was risk to other members of the crew. Uncle Slim was clearly asking for a favor, and Captain Cooper was depending on the man to fence hot items gathered from the Lucky Day, so Carver was loath to say no. "I will speak with the captain," he finally replied, as it was clear the stout scrapyard owner was waiting for an answer.
"Bully!" Uncle Slim exclaimed, clearing taking a delaying tactic for a yes. "I will tell my staff. They'll know to expect to hear gunfire on the lot, then, and I'll have them communicate their patrol schedule with you, so that you all can coordinate the necessary details." Beaming with relief, Uncle Slim and returned to his ATV, and puttered on back toward his compound. Carver watched him go, then returned his attention to finishing the job at hand.# # #
The rented scaffolding was already hanging off of the side of the ship -- Sully explained it as something to do with new sensors being installed. Cianán got one good look at the Firefly as they maneuvered in to land the shuttle. He was surprised how big the ship appeared -- it was really, really big, much bigger than Fireflies looked at dock at the Newhouse spaceport, where they were surrounded by other, larger ships. Cianán immediately reconsidered the scope of the job, and how much time it might take him. He was fast, but it was looking more and more like dinner and a bunk for the night, indeed.Abby (who proved as nice as she was pretty) had offered him the co-pilot's seat beside Sully for the flight out to the scrapyard, but Cianán had declined. He had felt safer strapped in to the rumbleseat in the back of the cargo shuttle, snatching occasional glances forward at the landscape they sailed past. Now, with the shuttle settling into its docking cradle alongside the Firefly, Cianán felt brave enough to unbuckle his safety belt, and began to worry a little bit more about this job than he did about dying in a shuttle craft.
The new weight of the messenger bag he wore made for a wonderful burden as Cianán stood. Sully had kitted him out proper with a new sketchbook and a box of new pencils, along with the new airbrush and a full set of paints. He felt invincible, like St. George, armored up and with a brand new sword in hand, ready to go dragon hunting. It felt wonderful.The chance encounter with Sully and this job were lifesavers, no doubt about it. So what if I'm just a few hours late? he told himself. Chen Li will be paid off in full with the credits from this job, and with the new supplies, I'll be able to sell some caricatures, maybe finish that concert poster for the Crazy Eights...
"Here we go," Abby said briskly, stepping past him to open up the shuttle's hatch. A short corridor into the ship was visible beyond. "Welcome aboard, let's hope the captain approves," her tone suggesting she considered that possibility doubtful."What?" Cianán said, startled.
"Pffft," Sully countered, following along behind Abby and gesturing confidently for Cianán to follow him. "Captain will approve. She'll be thrilled, in fact. Just wait and see.""Your captain doesn't know about this?" Cianán said, his own happy soap-bubble threatened by that disclosure.
Sully waved the concern away. "C'mon," he said, flashing that charming smile he had. "Trust me. I got this. Captain will be thrilled." He caught Cianán's arm and pulled him through the hatchway. "C'mon, just follow me."Abby was already disappearing around the metal corridor. Sully followed after her, and Cianán took a firm grip on his shoulder bag and trailed after them. He had been about Sully's Gnat, the Carolyn Jane, a few times, and she had felt her tiny, nimble size. The Jin Dui felt larger, roomier -- especially when Cianán came around the corner and saw the catwalk stretch out before him, alongside a wide cargo bay. The cargo bay itself was full of barrels and crates and boxes and three shipping containers of varying sizes. The industrial clutter combined with all of the railings and catwalks and even the chains suspended from the ceiling overhead immediately seized his fancy and made his past-life-monkey-heart itch to start climbing. “This place looks like it could be fun--” he began to say, hoping he might get permission to--
Feet clattered on the metal decking ahead of them interrupted his thoughts, and a slender girl in overalls and with her yellow hair in a crown of braids came racing to meet them. "Abby! What'd you get? Can you show me? Is it gonna be a lot more fun than--" the stream of chatter froze as the girl spotted Cianán, and she skidded to an abrupt stop, with a worried look on her face as though not certain whether or not to yell out warning that her crewmates had a stranger at their backs.
"Tilly, meet my friend," Sully said into the girl’s momentary silence. "He's come to do a job for me."
The girl's expression eased instantly into friendly curiosity. "Oh! I didn't know you were bringing home friends from the city," she said, her stream of chatter resuming as she trotted the rest of the distance between them. "If I'da known, I'd’ve asked Doc if we could make a pie or cookies or maybe a cake. Actually, not pie; I don’t like pie, it’s too slimy. Besides, Hoss makes the prettiest frosting flowers you've ever seen and he likes chocolate most, but I like white cake. What's your favorite?""Um--" Cianán hesitated, not sure which question she was expecting an answer for.
"Tilly, let's go down to quarters and you can take a look at some of the new education modules I have purchased," Abby said, deftly collecting the girl by an elbow and heading sideways, toward a set of stairs down despite the child’s dramatic groan. Sully rolled an amused look back over a shoulder to Cianán."The whirlwind is our ward," he said in a tone that did not suggest further explanation, while he gestured for Cianán to continue following him. "We're back in time for lunch, so you might as well tank up before we get you started with the painting."
Sully led him on up a flight of catwalk stairs and around a tight corner onto an upper deck corridor. The corridor led back one way to what looked like an engine room, and forward the other way into a crew commons. Sully led him through an open hatchway into the crew commons. There was a long dining table in the center of the chamber, and to one side was a compact kitchen. Sunlight streamed in through a row of forward observation windows above them, supplementing the room’s lighting. Two people stood in the galley area talking, and a small black-and-white dog bolted up out of a couch in an side-nook space, and flung herself merrily at Sully in greeting.“--trust your good sense,” one of the two people was saying; she was slender and ebony-haired and leaned on a cane where she stood, while he was tall and muscular and had some truly dreadful scars on his face. “Do as you see fit,” she finished, before turning toward Sully and Cianán.
Sully had his arms full of wriggling, flat-faced dog. “Cianán,” he said, trying to avoid the lick-attack his armful had launched at his face. “This is Bǎo Yù, our ship’s morale officer and contraband detector. Over in the kitchen is Carver, he’s ship security, and here’s our fine captain. Captain Cooper, this is a good friend of mine, Cianán Mac Dara.”“Just call me Keen,” Cianán replied, with a nervous little wave.
“Charmed,” the captain replied. She gave him one cool once-over, then fixed her stare on Sully, while Carver continued to gaze at Cianán with an expressionless look, as if Cianán might be a little bitty bug in need of squashing. Bǎo Yù was by far the most welcoming -- the moment Sully set the dog back on the ground, she sat on Cianán’s feet and wagged her whole body, peering up at him in wordless invitation. Cianán couldn’t resist, and knelt at once to pet her. The dog all but grinned in approval.“Cianán was the artist who did my nose-art for the Carolyn Jane, and I’d like to hire him to grace the Jin Dui equally,” Sully explained.
“Uh huh.” The captain seemed non-plussed. She was a pretty woman, but her dark eyes were hard, and her mouth was given to frowns. “Nose art. Really?”“Hey, Keen here only does classy work. Trust me on this, cap’n. A little art will show our pride in our lady-love-ship here, plus I’ll pay for it out of my bonus.”
The captain didn’t look much impressed, but clearly Sully’s financing mollified her some. “I get to see the design first, before you paint anything on my ship,” she countered.“No worries,” Sully said. “I figured I’d sit Cianán down for lunch and have him put together some thumbnails, and then let you take your pick.”
Sully waved Cianán toward the table, and he went and sat down in the nearest chair, pulling his new sketchbook out of his messenger bag and selecting a pencil. He opened it to the first, blank page, and began to sketch as quickly as he could. The first thumbnail was done by the time Sully had joined him at the table, setting down a plate of garlic naan and a bowl of steaming mulligatawny soup for Cianán near his elbow. The security guy had left, and Cooper limped over look on over Cianán’s shoulder as he sketched.“Sully wanted something similar to what I painted for him on the Carolyn Jane,” Cianán said, putting the last stroke on the curve of a bamboo steamer tray. “This is a similar pose -- and the dress is based on a stewardess uniform I saw once, one of those passenger liners from the Core. For colors, if I go the same, think fiery red hair, a purple dress, and green eyes.”
“And green pumps to match,” Sully grinned.“Why is she wearing dim sum on her head?” Captain Cooper asked, sounding baffled.
“It’s a hat. Like a stewardess cap, but much more special.” It was the only combination Cianán could think of on the spot -- except for the obvious, and Cianán did not think Captain Cooper the type who’d approve of a dim-sum styled brassiere painted larger-than-life on the neck of her ship.“I think it’s brilliant!” Sully said, clapping Cianán on the shoulder before returning to the galley for another bowl of the spicy-smelling lentil soup. “Keen, you are a genius. As always.”
Cianán chanced a glance at Captain Cooper, trying to read her frowning expression. The woman was staring at his sketch, her black eyes narrow with thought. Then finally she shrugged and gave Cianán a nod.“Looks good to me,” she said. “If it keeps Sully happy, I’ve no objections.”
“It makes me a happy, happy man,” Sully replied cheerfully, coming back to the table with a bowl of his own.“Do it, then,” Cooper replied. “We’ve got the scaffold on loan through the next couple of days, and you’re welcome to meals and a bunk in the passenger dorm until you’re done.” With that, she returned to the kitchen, where it looked like she was packing a variety of chopped vegetables into what looked like a big, ceramic kim chee jar.
“See?” Sully said, reaching after a piece of garlic naan. “Just like I promised you. Captain’s thrilled. Eat up, and when you’re done, let’s climb out onto the hold and get you started.”
# # #Dusk was falling outside by the time Sully had finished, and a line of storm clouds were brewing against the distant reach of Mt. Wutai. He had expected it to take only an hour or two to complete the installation of the backup grav boot -- after all, Hoss and Carver had already gotten it properly mounted behind an access panel high in the aft wall of the cargo bay during the ship's transit from Greenleaf, and all that needed doin' was connecting it to the system's nerve network while the ship's primary power coupling was offline, then run a quick suite of diagnostics. But of course, nothing you ever expected to go smooth ever did. First Sully had had to replace some bad wiring, which had been a bitch to trace back to its source in the number-five portside mid-level junction box. Then the diagnostics had proven a whole tetchy mess, bad enough that he had been forced to find Chang and get his help in sussing out the system bugs. Still, it was a profound relief to have the back-up grav boot operational. No one wanted to be ketchup against the aft wall should the primary go down unexpectedly during a maneuver.
Sully hiked up to the galley and saw that Tilly was busy setting the dining table, while Cooper was taking a big tray of what smelled like lasagna from the galley oven. Bǎo Yù, loyal to her belly, was perched at the very edge of the galley, too worshipful of the pan of pasta to notice anything else. Chang, Fatima and Halo were inbound from the bridge, where they had spent their day installing the high-grade sensor integration system that Chang had salvaged from the Lucky Day.“Replacement grav boot is now operational,” Sully said, looking around for one missing face in particular. “Where’s Cianán?”
“Haven’t seen him,” said Hoss at his back, as he arrived from engineering.“The boy snoozes, he loses,” Cooper said, passing the heavy pan over to Halo to be placed on the galley table. “I’ll put aside a hot plate for the kid if he shows too late for dinner -- Carver is off on business for your uncle, so I’ll be setting aside one for him as well.”
“I’ll go and fetch Keen, he must just be finishing up,” Sully said, passing through the crew lounge. There was a ladder just starboard of the bridge, which led to the emergency stores, lifesupport, and the dorsal escape pod just above the bridge. The escape pod itself had been sold off by the previous crew, but the airlock there allowed access to the topside of the hull, just behind the bridge. Sully made the climb out onto the hull, fully expecting to find Cianán right where he had been left, putting the final touches on his painting from the scaffolding along the ship’s starboard neck, or else having started on the port side twin.The nose art on the right side had been completed -- damn, but the boy was not only good but fast as well! -- and the scaffolding had been moved to the left side of the ship’s neck. Then ship’s name and calligraphy was finished, and just forward of those, Sully could see the outlines of a kneeling figure had been drawn in chalk onto the Jin Dui’s bare hull plating... but the artist himself was nowhere to be seen.
Sully shrugged. The sun had set enough that the youth must have called off work for the night. Part monkey as he was, Cianán must have climbed down the scaffolding and headed on into the ship around through the cargo bay doors. Sully had probably only just missed him, he thought as he turned to ducked back inside.Something else caught his eye. There was a bundle laid out neatly on the scaffolding, and beside it, a spray brush.
Sully froze and squinted down, getting a second look. Sure enough. Cianán’s tools where still there. Sully immediately scanned the ground below, looking for a body. The teen would never, ever leave his precious art tools just lying there, exposed to wind, weather, or theft. Had the youth fallen? Was he lying there down below? Sully didn’t see a body anywhere.“Cianán!” he yelled, knowing gut-deep that something was dreadfully amiss. “Cianán?”
The only answer to Sully’s call was the wind, and a distant rumble of thunder from the storm moving in over Mt. Wutai.(to be continued -- go here for Part 2)
