The White Mirror by Elsa Hart Page A

ladderlike, descending from a rectangular opening in the floor. The storage room below it smelled of barley, a wistful reminder of the sunshine that had dried it.
    Hamza went first. Li Du was halfway down, his hat just level with the floor, when he heard footsteps. They came from the room in which he had glimpsed Kamala weaving. Li Du took one more step down and ducked his head into the shadows as someone stepped out of the room into the hallway. Looking up, Li Du could just see the embossed leather boots of the trader, Sonam. As he watched, they pivoted. Sonam had turned as if he meant to reenter the room.
    â€œI have offended you,” said Sonam, addressing someone inside.
    Li Du looked down at Hamza, who appeared slightly blurred through a thin haze of flour in the air. He motioned for Li Du to stay quiet and listen.
    Kamala’s voice answered. “I cannot accept your gifts.”
    Sonam’s tone became soft. “The women in the palace wore these jewels on golden chains as fine as the threads on your loom. They are considered the most beautiful women in the world, but their loveliness does not compare to yours. That is why I brought you the jewels—they should adorn a woman worthy of their luster.”
    Li Du heard a sound below him and glanced down to see Hamza looking disdainful.
    The faint clatter of the loom had stopped. “Doso brings me jewels as fine as these.”
    Sonam gave a contemptuous laugh. “From the markets in Gyalthang and Dajianlu? Nothing fine passes through those rough villages, save a few bricks of good tea. Hold that blue stone to the light. Do you see the star inside it?”
    Kamala’s reply was sharp. “And I suppose you will tell me that you paid for these?”
    â€œYou wound me with your distrust,” replied Sonam. “I only wanted to please you.”
    â€œIt would please me if you left my house and never returned to it.”
    Sonam took a step forward into the room. “Is that really what you want? And what will happen if the lord of the manor, who for all his strength and honor, is not a young man, should join the ancestors that he speaks of so often, and at such length?”
    Li Du heard wood scrape across the floor, followed by light footsteps. When Kamala spoke again, her voice was much closer. “Do you threaten my husband?”
    â€œI would never threaten Doso,” said Sonam. “Our families are as one.”
    Li Du heard faint rustling and clinks. “Take back your gifts,” Kamala hissed. “Doso may be bound to his promises, but I will protect my children from thieves.”
    There was a silence. Then Li Du heard the heavy boots start purposefully in his direction. He ducked deeper into the shadows and began to descend the stairs as quietly as he could. Above, he heard Sonam’s muted reply. “I wonder,” he was saying, “if you will regret your words.”
    *   *   *
    â€œI found his wooing unimpressive,” said Hamza, once they were outside the manor walls and walking toward the caravan camp.
    â€œI do not believe your opinion was the one that interested him,” Li Du said, “but I do not think she was impressed either.”
    â€œBad behavior, to try to seduce the wife of the manor lord while he is away honoring the dead.”
    Li Du nodded his agreement. He had seen Kalden and the muleteers in enough villages to know that flirtation with local wives and daughters was usual and, for the most part, harmless. But that was not the interaction they had witnessed. “I wonder what secures his welcome here,” he said.
    â€œPerhaps a life owed for a life,” said Hamza. They were passing Yeshe’s hut.
    Li Du was still musing. “She called him a thief.”
    Hamza looked sideways at Li Du. “I interpreted that as a general insult. Are you saying now that you think Sonam killed Dhamo?”
    â€œI do not see why he would have.” Li Du