Ten Thousand Futures

The last door opening before departure began with millet and a mistake in height.

The first attempt produced only wood smoke from the far side. The second opened half a pace above the mill yard, leaving everyone in Hejingshui staring at Xue's ankles. Pei Chao turned the cracked orientation plate while Lan Jue adjusted the load. On the third attempt the threshold settled against the ground with a shudder that loosened dust from the shrine beam.

Tianhui preferred the imperfect openings. A flawless door invited worship or carelessness. This one displayed the labour holding it together: Pei's hand on the plate, Ren Yu controlling the eastern rod, Lan Jue watching the strain, and the families on both sides keeping the relation alive by speaking.

Xue brought a bowl from the far mill. Gao Wen brought another from Hejingshui. Lan Jue weighed both, checked their temperature and made Xue eat before Qiao Rui could test whether road-millet had become sweet.

"It tastes worse here," Xue said.

Fu Lan tried a spoonful from the near bowl. "No. You have forgotten how badly Gao Wen cooks."

Gao Wen looked offended. Dai Luo, mending a split in the far-side mill basket, laughed without hiding it.

Xue set down her spoon. "You are leaving."

Xiulan touched the blank road book inside her coat. "We are following Irlan's plate."

"That is what you will do. Why are you going?"

Xiulan almost repeated the expedition objective. Xue kept waiting.

"I want to see where the road goes," she said. "And I want to know who used Tianhui's title."

"Better." Xue looked toward the board behind Xiulan. "What happens if the opening fails while you are away?"

"Pei and Ren Yu can maintain it. Luo Pei has the body limits. Lan Jue copied the formation limits."

Luo Pei, packing medicines by the shrine steps, called without looking up, "I wrote the body limits. Lan Jue copied them because her handwriting is smaller."

Lan Jue did not deny this.

"Dren can close the north if another feeder comes," Xiulan continued.

Xue looked past her. Dren stood well away from the threshold, grey cloth wrapped around her waist. "The woman who sealed a city is guarding the road I use to see my husband."

"For now."

Dai Luo looked up from the basket. "Which husband?"

Millet trembled against the rim of Gao Wen's bowl. Dai Luo looked down at the broken basket strip. Fu Lan continued dividing radishes because someone had to.

Xue answered first. "Both of you. Differently. That is the problem."

Dai Luo went back to the basket. Gao Wen sat down on the shrine step. The door held open while three people failed to make the shape easier.

Xue removed a short mill cord from her sleeve. It was braided from two colours of hemp, one used in Hejingshui and one grown only in the far settlement. "I made this during the eleven weeks. It belongs to the house there, not the house here."

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She offered it to Xiulan.

"If another version of me answers, show her this only after she speaks. Do not use it to tell her where she belongs."

Xiulan reached for the cord, then stopped. "Do you want us to search for her?"

"I want you to hear the question before choosing the answer."

Xiulan felt the old impulse to promise fairness. Xue saw it.

"Bring information," Xue said. "No promise hidden inside it."

"Information," Xiulan agreed.

The cord was rough and warm from Xue's sleeve. Xiulan placed it in a separate pouch from the district manual and the plate notes.

Gao Wen remained beside the threshold after the far bowl was empty. "Dai Luo."

The other man looked up.

"I asked Qiao Ming to put your name beside hers." Gao Wen's voice shook with the effort of making the sentence ordinary. "Not 'the other husband.' Your name."

Dai Luo held the broken basket strip between both hands. "Thank you."

Neither man knew what to do afterward. Xue turned her face away and cried without making a sound.

The door stayed open. That was worse and better than mercy.

When the strain reached Lan Jue's limit, Xue stepped back from the threshold. She looked at Gao Wen, at Dai Luo, at the two versions of Anu arguing beside the far wall, and at Lin Xue holding the original wooden hairpin in both hands.

"I still want to cross," Xue said. "Not today."

The threshold closed without a date being demanded.

The opening closed.

• •

Fu Lan packed Tianhui's bag herself. She removed half the tools he had selected, doubled the food, added soap, sewing thread, two sandal ties and a wooden cup with a cracked handle. Tianhui removed the cup. She returned it. He tried once more and stopped when her walking stick shifted toward his ankle.

"You have become predictable," he said.

"You have become easy to hit."

Luo Pei arrived with written instructions tied to Tianhui's pack and a second copy tucked into Lan Jue's sleeve. "If the channel burns after twelve cycles, close it. If his left foot drags, stop. If he says the pain is informative, stop sooner."

Tianhui looked at the paper. "This description encourages prejudice."

"It was written from evidence."

Lan Jue folded the copy. "I will follow it."

"You sound pleased."

"I enjoy validated procedure when it concerns your bad decisions."

The exchange ended when Luo Pei placed two fingers on his wrist and made him walk the length of the courtyard. Her work remained with the body. Lan Jue's began where the road altered it.

Shen Yao surrendered his bronze seal, official stakes and embroidered insignia to Luo Dain. He kept six lengths of plain wood. "District authority does not vanish because its symbol remains behind."

Shen Qing checked the stakes. "The hound disagreed."

"The hound is not recognised as a legal interpreter."

"It interpreted your guards quickly."

The registrar looked at the splinted fingers of the nearest man and did not continue.

Sun Lian came carrying a leather strap cut from Deng Sima's old tool belt. Without greeting Tianhui, she threaded it through the buckle on Shen Qing's bent sword sheath and pulled until the repair held.

"If the road shows you my husband," she said, "do not bring him home because he looks sorry."

The courtyard noise continued around her. A child complained about dried fruit. Min Yue called for a missing ledger. Someone dropped a pot lid.

Sun Lian tested the strap. "If he asks after me, tell him I kept the medicine jar. Tell him I hated him for making it useful. If he does not ask, do not improve the story."

Tianhui bowed his head. "I will not clean him for you."

She looked at him then. Anger tightened her mouth, but she did not look away. "I may change my mind before you return."

Qiao Rui waited until the adults had finished.

She brought the repaired rabbit to Tova. A red seam crossed its body. One ear remained on the darker half of the cloth.

"This part is for Mei," she said. "Xue took it through." She held out the smaller leftover half, mostly stuffing and one crooked leg. "You can carry this."

Tova accepted it carefully. "Why?"

"You were there when it broke."

Qiao Rui glanced at Xiulan. The look was quick and flat.

Xiulan crossed the yard. "Qiao Rui."

The child put both hands behind her back.

"I should not have spoken to you that way."

"You did."

"Yes." Xiulan did not look away.

"Would you do it again?"

Xiulan wanted the answer to be no. "If the creature was reaching for you, I might."

Qiao Rui rocked once on her heels. "Then saying sorry is only for before next time."

She walked away before Xiulan could make the sentence better. Qiao Ming followed at a distance, allowing his granddaughter the dignity of being angry without being alone.

At the board, Keshi drew separate knock marks beside each Anu entry. Qiao Ming added ROAD TIME and HEJINGSHUI TIME beneath the travel notes. Fu Lan added JARS OPENED because food souring would tell them more than an argument about calendars. Min Yue moved OUTSIDE CLAIMS lower to make space.

Qiao Ming made the final mark while Xiulan watched.

Before dawn, nobody changed the expedition list.