"Old Man of the Moon?" the fish said. "Good luck! Finding him will be harder than finding the Dragon Gate!"

Minli and the dragon looked at each other and shrugged.

"But the City of Bright Moonlight is just past the forest, over there," the fish continued. "Swim over to this side and you can see it in the distance."

And, just as the fish said, Minli and the dragon saw the city. An enormous wall, like a giant patchwork curtain of stone, surrounded the thousands of houses of the city. And almost glowing with the splendor of its red columns and golden top, a palace stood up over the cl.u.s.ters of buildings in the far center - like a glorious boat floating above the waves of the scalloped rooftop tiles. Even from a distance, the city looked majestic.

"If you are stopping at the City of Bright Moonlight," the fish continued, "I think Dragon here should probably try to stay hidden. People of Bright Moonlight might be shocked to see a real dragon. The last dragon sighted was about a hundred years ago - and it destroyed the king's father's palace in a city in the East. They might not take too kindly to you."

"That is good to know," Minli said. "It might be better if I go into the city by myself."

"Yes," the dragon agreed, "I can hide at the edge of the forest and wait for you."

"They close the wall at night," the fish said, "so if you are in the city at night, you have to stay until morning."

"Do not worry," Dragon said to Minli, "I will wait."

"Well, you're almost to land," the fish said, "so I'll leave you. If you ever see another dragon, find out if it's my aunt Jin. Hope you get to meet the Old Man of the Moon. Good luck!"

Minli and the dragon watched the fish swim away. Then they made their way to the land and the City of Bright Moonlight.

CHAPTER 17.

Minli gulped as she walked toward the gray stone wall of the city. As she pa.s.sed the two stone lions marking the entrance, she glanced behind her. Even though she only saw the trees and shadows, she knew the dragon was hidden there. Quickly, she pushed through the doors of gate, leaving the forest and the dragon behind her.

As the gate closed, Minli stared. The streets were crowded and bustling; the city seemed to be bubbling with people like boiling rice. Vendors selling fruit and shoes called out their wares while people rushed past - some pushing wheelbarrows or balancing baskets on their shoulders. A large muddy water buffalo, led by a boy perhaps a year or two older than Minli, wandered through and was ignored as a commonplace occurrence.

"Watch out, Little Mouse," a gruff man said behind her, his baskets of cabbages driving her into the crowd. As she was shoved and pushed, Minli grabbed the arm of the boy with the water buffalo.

"Hi," she said, "if I want to see the king, where do I go?"

"The king?" the boy looked at her in surprise. "You'd have to go to the palace."

"How do I get to the palace?" Minli asked.

"Just follow the black stones," the boy said, pointing at the road paved with polished bricks. "They'll lead you to the City."

"Wait," Minli said, "isn't this the City? The palace is in another city?"

"You must not be from around here," the boy laughed, "The City of Bright Moonlight is divided into two. This is the Outer City, where anyone can live and travel. The Inner City is where the palace is, where the king and officials live. You have to have permission to go into the Inner City. If you don't, you're not going to be able to see the king or the palace. There are thousands of guards protecting the Inner City; they won't let anyone through without permission."

"I'll find a way," Minli said, confidently. "Thanks." And she let go of the boy's arm and headed toward the black road.

However, as Minli got closer to the Inner City, she realized the boy was right. The red walls of the Inner City loomed tall and forbidding, and every gold-studded gate door was guarded by at least two soldiers, their silver armor reflecting in the hot sun. It would be a daunting task just to enter the Inner City, much less find the palace and the king.

"But I must," Minli said to herself. Regardless, the guards' faces were stern and hard, and she quaked inside. If I ask to go in, If I ask to go in, Minli thought as she hung back amongst the fruit stands and fish vendors, Minli thought as she hung back amongst the fruit stands and fish vendors, they'll ignore me or force me away with their swords. And either way, I won't be able to see the king. What should I do? they'll ignore me or force me away with their swords. And either way, I won't be able to see the king. What should I do?

"Not as easy as you thought, huh?" a voice said next to her. Minli turned and saw the buffalo boy standing next to her.

Minli gave him a wry look. Boys, Boys, she thought to herself, she thought to herself, always thinking they know everything. always thinking they know everything. Still, she had to admit, he was right. She had no idea how she would see the king. "They must let people into the Inner City, sometimes," Minli said. Still, she had to admit, he was right. She had no idea how she would see the king. "They must let people into the Inner City, sometimes," Minli said.

"They do," the boy said. "Once a year at the Moon Festival, they open the gates to everyone."

"When's the Moon Festival?" Minli asked.

"Already happened," the boy said. "You'll have to wait until next year."

Minli bit her lip in frustration. What was she going to do?

"I don't know why you want to go in there so badly," the boy said. "The buildings and clothes are nicer, but the people! A bunch of puffed-up frogs! At the Moon Festival one of the stable men wanted to order me around and thought he could trick me into thinking he was the king. But when I asked why he wasn't wearing a golden dragon, he knew his prank wasn't going to work. Did he think I was stupid? Everyone knows a golden dragon is always and only worn by kings and the emperor. The people in there think we're a bunch of dumb oxen."

The buffalo beside the boy gave a snort at that. "Sorry," the boy said, patting the buffalo on the nose, "you know I didn't mean that."

But by this time, the Inner City guards had seen them lingering by the gate.

"You there, kids," one of them barked. "Move along!"

"Come on," the boy said, tugging Minli's sleeve. "Let's go."

Minli followed him and the buffalo. "Where are you going?" she asked him.

"I'm going home," he said. "You can come too, if you want."

And since Minli had no place else to go, she did.

CHAPTER 18.

Minli followed the boy through the maze of streets and alleyways for what seemed like a long time. If it weren't for the big buffalo that was always in view, Minli would've easily lost him many times. "Not too far now," the boy said to her.

Minli realized that the boy lived very far from the Inner City. The road was no longer stone, but dirt. Even from a distance, she could see that the Outer City wall was cracked and broken. "I live over here," the boy said, pointing. And Minli looked down a muddy path that led to a shabby, rickety hut that looked as if the first strong wind would blow it away.

The boy brought the buffalo right into the hut, and Minli went in after. She looked around the small, meager home. The only furnishings Minli could see were two wooden crates and a rough stool. On one side of the hut a crude metal grate stood in the fireplace with a well-worn pot on it. The other half of the hut was divided into two piles of dry gra.s.s. Minli watched as the buffalo went directly to one pile and lay down. The boy gave it an affectionate slap on the side and dragged a rough wooden stool across the floor to her.

"Here, have a seat," he said as he sprawled onto the other pile of gra.s.s, "and tell me why you want to go to the palace so much."

"It's not the palace," Minli said as she sat on the stool, "I want to see the king." And she told the buffalo boy the whole story. She saw his face wrinkle with disbelief when she talked about the fish and he shook his head when she told about the dragon, but he didn't interrupt once.

"I don't know how you are going to see the king," the boy told her when she finished. "Even if you do see him I doubt you'll be able to ask for a borrowed line, especially when you don't even know what it is!"

"But I have to," Minli said. "There must be a way."

"Well, I always think better after I've eaten," the boy said, and he stood up and opened one of the crates. "Let's have dinner."

While he fried the plain bamboo shoots in the pot over the fireplace, Minli looked around the bare room.

"Do you live by yourself?" she asked.

"Uh-huh." The boy nodded. "My parents died four years ago. Ever since then, it's been me and the buffalo."

He spoke almost carelessly, without anger or self-pity. Suddenly, Minli thought about her own home - the wood floor always swept by Ma, the extra blanket Ba put over her when the wind blew cold - and she felt a strange tightness in her throat.

The boy finished cooking and pushed the cooked bamboo, like thinly sliced pieces of yellow wood, onto a plate. He only had one plate so he set it on the stool next to the three peaches Minli had left, and both sat crossed legged on the ground. She took out her chopsticks (he only had one pair of those as well) and each picked and ate with the stool as a table and the single plate between them.

"You don't have any aunts or uncles?" Minli asked. "Other family or friends?"

"Well," the boy said, tossed a peach to the buffalo, and then hesitated. "I do have one friend." And, Minli was surprised to see his face change unexpectedly. The sharpness of his expression softened like a flower blossoming, his small smile gentle.

"Who is it?" Minli asked.

THE STORY OF.

THE BUFFALO BOY'S FRIEND Sometimes, during the hot summer days, there is not enough water for my buffalo, so I like to take him out of the city into the surrounding forest to drink in the stream there. One day, I brought him to the forest and he kept pulling and pushing me away from the stream. No matter what I did, he refused to go in my direction. So finally, I just let him lead the way.

And he brought me to a part of the forest I had never seen before, a part I don't think anyone from the city has ever seen before. The trees seemed to reach the clouds, the green gra.s.s felt like a silk blanket, and there was a lake of clear water, so pure and clean it looked as if it were a piece of the sky. But the most beautiful things there were the seven girls swimming in it.

But when the girls saw me and the buffalo come through the trees, they screamed. They jumped out of the water, grabbed their robes, and ran away. They moved so quickly, it seemed like they had all disappeared into the sky.

All except for one, that is. One girl stayed in the water and stared at me with scared eyes. Her hair floated around her like a midnight halo and her white face looked like a star in the sky.

"h.e.l.lo?" I said.

"Your... your buffalo," she said, and her voice was like flute notes in the air, "he's sitting on my clothes!"

"Oh," I said, and I quickly pushed him over. On the ground, crushed and a little muddy, was a blue silk dress. As I lifted it, the softness made me ashamed of my rough hands. "Here," I said, bringing the dress to the edge of the lake.

She looked at me, hesitating. "I won't look," I said, and I placed the dress on the ground and walked a bit away, with my back turned. I heard her slip out of the water and rustle of silk as she put on her clothes.

"Thank you," she said. "You can turn around now."

And when I turned around, a girl was smiling at me. She was my age but she was prettier than any girl I had ever seen before. Even paintings of princesses were ugly compared to her.

"I didn't mean to scare you," I said. "My buffalo was just thirsty."

"I guess so," she said and she laughed like tinkling bells as we watched my big, lumbering buffalo make his way to the water. "I can't believe my sisters just left me like that! I'm the youngest, too - they're supposed to watch me. But I'm glad they didn't because now I can talk to you. Tell me all about you! Does your buffalo go with you everywhere?"

And just like that, we became good friends. She wanted to know everything about me and wasn't sn.o.bbish or anything. In fact, a lot of the time she sighed and said she wished she had my freedom.

"I have to go before they miss me." She sighed. "I wish I could stay here. Where I live, I'm not allowed to do anything. There's always someone watching, telling me what to do. And it's kind of lonely."

"Well, visit me," I told her. "We can have lots of fun together."

"I'll try," she promised.

And she kept her promise. Like she said, it was hard for her to get away, but every night on the full moon when she visits her grandfather, she stops here. Sometimes she can only stay for a little while, sometimes she can stay for hours. Whenever I see her, we laugh enough to last for the month. She's my best friend, and someday when we're old enough I'm going to talk her into staying here forever.

"And she should be coming tonight," the buffalo boy said, and his smile was bright and broad.

"Oh, can I meet her?" Minli said. It was funny how the buffalo boy's whole manner changed when he talked about her - his vaguely mocking att.i.tude and tough expression washed away and he lit up like a lantern. She was glad the boy had someone in his life other than the buffalo.

The boy looked troubled. "She's really shy around other people," he said. "And I think she's afraid if anyone sees her, her family might find out that she stops here instead of going straight to her grandfather's. They're really strict with her."

"I won't bother her, then," Minli said. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No, you can just stay with the buffalo," he said. "She told me last time that this visit would have to be fast anyway. She was behind on her work, so they will expect her back quickly."

"Work?" Minli asked. "What does she do?"

"She weaves and spins thread," the boy said. "That's what she brings to her grandfather when she visits - thread that she spins. Hey, I know! I'll ask her how you can see the king! She'll know."

"How will a weaving girl know about the king?" Minli asked. "Does she live in the Inner City?"

"No, she lives far away," the boy said vaguely, "but she knows a lot of things."

Minli shrugged. It didn't seem likely to her that a friend of the buffalo boy would know how she could see the king, but as she didn't have any ideas of her own, she would hope.

CHAPTER 19.

Minli started awake as she heard the sc.r.a.ping of the door against the dirt. The moonlight streamed in from the window, lighting the bare hut. The boy had given her his pile of gra.s.s to sleep on and joined the buffalo, using some of its gra.s.s as a pillow. But as the buffalo snored loudly, Minli could see the bowl-shaped hollow in the hay was empty. "I wonder where he went?" Minli said and she found herself thinking of Ma and Ba and Dragon all waiting for her. Suddenly the silence of the room seemed to ache with loneliness.

"The boy must be meeting his friend," Minli realized, and unable to control her curiosity, she crept to the window to peek.

Yes, the friend was there. Minli was startled when she saw her. Even with the buffalo boy blocking most of her view, Minli could see his friend was beautiful, even more beautiful than he had described her. She seemed to glow like a pearl in the moonlight and her deep blue silk dress seemed to be the same color as the sky. The bag she held in her graceful hand seemed to be made out of the same silk, but the silver thread embroidered on it made it look as if it were made from a piece of the star-scattered sky. Everything about her seemed finer and more delicate than the average person. There was definitely something unusual about the buffalo boy's friend.

Minli watched her laugh and then listen intently as the buffalo boy spoke. He gestured to the house and Minli just ducked down out of sight as the friend glanced toward her. He must be asking her about how I can see the king, He must be asking her about how I can see the king, Minli thought. Minli thought.

As soon as she dared, Minli peeked again out the window. The buffalo boy's friend had her eyes closed toward the sky, as if listening to the wind. Then she looked at the buffalo boy and spoke. He nodded and the girl smiled at what Minli imagined was the buffalo boy's enthusiastic thanks.

Minli sat down on the wooden stool. "She knows a lot of things," the buffalo boy had said about his friend. After seeing her, Minli was ready to believe it. "But who is she?" Minli asked aloud.