The Beggar Who Devoured Heaven

Chapter 6: The Smiling Steward

Ren Kai did not wake his sister.

He tucked the blanket around her shoulders, slid his sleeve out of her fingers, and walked to the door. His legs felt like they belonged to someone else. He opened the door, stepped outside, and closed it again, very softly. The night air was cold on his sweaty face. Down the lane, a dog barked once and went quiet, as if it had thought better of it.

The man in the white robe was already waiting.

He stood in the middle of Crooked Lane with his hands folded in front of him. He was tall and thin, with a long, calm face and eyes like a still pond. The lane was full of mud and rubbish water, but the hem of his robe was perfectly clean. Even the moon seemed to avoid touching him.

"Good evening, Ren Kai," he said.

His voice was warm and gentle, like a doctor speaking to a sick child. That was the worst part. Ren Kai had expected a monster. He had not expected someone who looked like a kind teacher.

"I hope I did not frighten your sister. I could see she was sleeping, so I did not knock."

Boy, said Old Crow, very quietly. Do not run. Do not shout. And whatever you do, do not show him your hands.

Ren Kai looked down. His hands were shaking. He pushed them into his pockets.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Bai Ming. I am a Steward of Heaven." The man smiled. It was the same soft, patient smile Ren Kai had seen in the highest row of the Arena. "I sat in the stands today. You asked a very interesting question."

"It was a joke."

"Was it?" Bai Ming tilted his head. "I laughed, you know. Inside."

Liar, muttered Old Crow.

"I will not waste your night," said Bai Ming. "You are tired, and your sister needs her rest. So let me say this plainly. I know what you carry. I know where it came from. And I know what it will do to you if you keep it."

"I do not know what you mean."

"Of course you do." He said it kindly, as if he were forgiving a child for a small lie. "You have seen the number on her back."

Ren Kai froze.

"Do not be afraid. It is not a curse. It is a blessing." Bai Ming spread his hands. "Heaven has chosen your sister, Ren Kai. In nine hundred and ninety-six days, she will ascend. She will rise above this mud and this cough and this cold. She will never be hungry again."

"Ascend," Ren Kai said slowly. "Like the others."

"Like the others."

Ask him, said Old Crow.

"Ask him what?"

Ask him if anyone has ever come back.

Ren Kai swallowed. "Has anyone ever come back?"

For the first time, Bai Ming did not answer right away. The smile did not move. It simply stayed, like a painting.

"No one wishes to," he said.

A cold wind slid down the lane. Behind the door, Ren Lan coughed once in her sleep.

"But I did not come to talk about the end," Bai Ming said, more brightly. "I came to talk about tonight. Your sister is in pain. I can help."

He reached into his sleeve and took out a small box of green jade. He opened the lid. Inside, resting on white silk, lay a single pearl-colored pill.

"This comes from the pharmacy of the Celestial Court. One pill, and her cough will end by morning. Three more, and her lungs will be stronger than those of most cultivators."

Ren Kai stared at the pill.

He could not help it. Four blue jars had made her breathe softly for the first time in a year. And this man was holding a cure in the palm of his hand.

Boy, said Old Crow.

"I know."

Boy, listen to me. He is lying.

"I know." But Ren Kai's feet had already taken one step forward.

"All I ask in return is small," said Bai Ming. "A little copper coin. Bent at one edge. I understand it is quite ugly. I will take it off your hands, and I will make sure no one ever bothers you again. Not the guards, not the Azure Peak Sect, not the gangs. You would have a house with a good roof. Your sister would have a doctor. You would have food every day." He held out the box. "No more rubbish heaps. No more cold nights."

He is lying, said Old Crow, softer now.

He is NOT lying about the roof, grumbled Sergeant Pan. A good roof is important.

Be quiet, Pan!

Ren Kai almost laughed. Then he looked at the box, and he did not feel like laughing anymore.

All his life he had wanted this. A good roof. A real doctor. A full bowl, every day, with no price.

All he had to do was hand over the coin.

His fingers slipped into his pocket. They closed around the small, warm, ugly piece of metal.

The black mouth over his heart did not move. But he felt something far down in the dark turn its head and listen.

"Why do you want it?" Ren Kai asked.

Bai Ming's smile did not change. "Because it does not belong to you."

"Who does it belong to?"

"To Heaven, of course."

"Then why did a dying old man have it in an alley?"

For a moment, something moved behind the Steward's still-pond eyes. It was small and quick, like a fish passing under ice.

"A thief," said Bai Ming. "A very old, very sad thief. I am sure he told you many things. Dead men often do."

I will have you know, said Old Crow, that I was an excellent thief.

Ren Kai drew his hand out of his pocket. It was empty. He had not decided yet. He only needed one more breath.

"I want to think," he said.

"Of course."

"How long?"

"Three days." Bai Ming closed the jade box and slid it back into his sleeve. "At dawn on the third day, I will return. If the coin is in your hand, your sister will be healed, and you will have everything I promised. If it is not..."

He did not finish the sentence. He did not need to.

"Until then, you are under my protection. No one will touch you. That is my gift. Rest well, Ren Kai. You have had a very busy day."

He turned and began to walk away. His white robe did not stir. His feet made no sound in the mud.

At the corner of the lane, he stopped.

"Oh, and Ren Kai?"

Ren Kai did not breathe.

"Do eat well tonight." Bai Ming glanced back over his shoulder, and his smile was the warmest it had ever been. "A full stomach is such a comfort."

Then he was gone.

Ren Kai stood alone in the cold lane for a long, long time.

Boy, said Old Crow, at last, in a voice like cracked glass.

"He knows," Ren Kai whispered. "He knows about the hunger."

Yes.

"How?"

For the first time since the Arena, Old Crow did not have a joke.

Because he has seen it before.