Fireworks and Dumplings

By Kez Sharrow

Lunar New Year was the best time to uncover secrets. Adon leaned on his broom and listened to firecrackers sputter in the courtyard. At midnight, the fireworks should cover any noise he made breaking into the inner sanctum.

That was the difficulty in sneaking further into the assassin-spy’s compound. Heronja slipped around so soundlessly, even when home from their deadly missions, every squeak got noticed.

“Novice. The floor?” Senior Apprentice Gatan’s cowled form emerged from the shadows.

Plagues. How did he do that?

Adon swished the broom with feigned enthusiasm, one eye on the door to the inner sanctum. He’d checked everywhere else, so whatever arcane power they were hiding from the imperial family had to be inside. And with usual routines disrupted, everyone busy with festivities, rice wine flowing—

“After you’ve finished here, sweep the training yard.” Gatan turned toward the door.

“Uh, what about the inner sanctum? Surely it needs cleaning to welcome the Year of the Boar?”

“Leave it to the blackhoods.”

Adon wouldn’t have noticed them if Gatan hadn’t been staring. Three shadows slipped from the inner sanctum across his half-swept floor, silent as night. After visiting the inner sanctum, they seemed shadowier somehow, their movements faster than was natural. There had to be something causing it—

“Gatan, wasn’t your Fox Team ordered out to search the forest again?” One of the blackhoods stopped in front of Gatan.

“We can leave straight after New Year’s.”

Adon kept sweeping, thankful he wasn’t on Fox Team.

The blackhood nodded to Gatan. “Best leave now. The empress wants the second prince back for the festival.”

Good luck with that. If they haven’t found him in two months, he clearly isn’t in the forest. Adon frowned. The search might make tonight’s break-in more difficult. Paranoid guards were extra vigilant.

“The whole family together brings heaven’s blessing.” Gatan sighed.

Adon blinked as it hit him. This year, as heronja novice, he wouldn’t see his mother smile at the fireworks. He wouldn’t hear his sister squeal “Happy New Year, Adon!” at midnight as she strangled him with a hug.

He swallowed. “Do we celebrate at all?” No red packets, of course, but surely pork and lotus-root dumplings or… something.

His voice echoed in the silent room.

They’d left.

Adon swept steadily across to the sanctum then lowered the broom. He used every hard-earned skill to move as quietly as a shadow. Rise on the balls of the feet, light like a moth. The masters really seemed to hover above the floor when they were sneaking.

He pushed the door, but it didn’t move. Plagues. It must be locked.

“Novice?”

Adon swiveled, heart pounding. “I’m uh just checking whether it needs dusting or whatever, but the door’s locked.” Adon squinted to make out the shadowy form. “You don’t happen to have a key, do you… Master?”

The silence lengthened. What did heronja do with novices caught out of bounds?

“Proceed to the palace courtyard. There’s some news about the second prince that everyone’s called to celebrate.”

Adon stiffened. “What news?”

There was no answer, not even a rustle of slippers to confirm the master had left.

Adon looked from the courtyard entrance to the closed sanctum door. Second prince news or inner sanctum?

Barely two hours till midnight. Surely someone would come with a key before then.

But he had to know what they’d found. Adon yanked his cowl over his face and headed out to join the crowd.

***

Interminable speeches and ceremonies. Adon shuffled his frozen feet and gazed longingly at the tables along the sides of the courtyard. No dumplings yet, but steaming tureens of soup and heaping trays of spring rolls made his stomach growl. Everyone was gathered, but no big announcement yet. Were they deliberately stalling? At least with all these people packed in, there was a certain amount of body heat to stave off the cold.

“We usher in a prosperous year with fireworks—”

“The crown prince is long-winded this year,” Adon muttered. The senior apprentice elbowed him.

Nothing but a false alarm. If he worked his way over to the tables, he could nab a few treats and then, when everyone was looking up at the fireworks, slip back to the heronja compound to resume his search.

A tantalizing aroma made him turn. Dumplings! He squeezed through the crowd, using his best heronja skills. Thin like a snake, slither and slide. Nearly there. A servant spoke to someone behind him and laid a pot of dumplings on the edge of the table. Adon’s mouth watered. Pork and lotus-root, his favorite. Pity the bowls were so small. Maybe if he scarfed some hot and took some in a bowl…

Boom! The courtyard flashed blue and crimson. Adon abandoned the slither and shouldered his way to the table.

Sure enough, everyone was looking up, and no one noticed him. On the balcony above, the empress’s upturned face was lit by fireworks. She wasn’t smiling.

Adon’s chest squeezed. He shook himself and scooped up a bowl and chopsticks.

“Ahhh!” The crowd sighed.

He plucked a dumpling off the tray and popped it in his mouth. Delicious. As he chewed, he watched an explosion of purple and green. His cowl fell back.

“I knew it.” A blue-robed form launched from the shadows. Adon’s breath huffed as arms wrapped about him. “You never could resist dumplings,” a familiar voice squealed in his ear. “Happy New Year, Adon!”

“Lani?”

“Second Prince. Princess.” An iron grip pulled Adon out of Lani’s hug. “Let’s make our way to the empress. Now.” Guardsman Sendai’s face was grim.

Adon’s shoulders slumped. Two months’ camouflage whipped away, just when he was about to uncover the heronja’s secret. He sighed as Lani pulled him along corridors he hadn’t trod for months.

“I’ve missed you, but I remembered what you always say—” Lani eyed him.

“What the plague do I always say?” Adon growled.

Lani beamed. “New Year’s is the best time for uncovering secrets!”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kez Sharrow is an emergent unicorn living in Wuhan. By day she dabbles in the alchemy of human transformation as a leadership coach. Early mornings and weekends, she creates worlds out of smoke and dragon’s breath. Kez belongs to the tribe of the uprooted and transplanted, those who live between cultures, and she writes stories of travelers in fantasy worlds.

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