"Yes," Minli said. "Do you know what the borrowed line is? May I have it?"

"The borrowed line," the king repeated, and they stopped in front of the pavilion. The moon's reflection fastened onto the water's surface, and Minli saw why the pavilion was called Clasping the Moon. The image of the moon lay protected in the water like a glowing pearl, and the king stared at it deep in thought. "Come, let's eat and then we'll see what can be done about your borrowed line."

Minli entered the open air pavilion. At the center, two stools and a small table of elaborately carved gingko wood waited for them. A large, finely woven bamboo basket as tall as Minli's waist stood next to the chairs. The king eagerly lifted off its lid and rich, warm aromas floated in the air, making Minli's stomach grumble.

The king took out the plates of delicate pink shrimp dumplings, savory noodles and pork, dragon's beard bean sprouts, emerald green chives, and a bowl of white jade tofu soup. A pot of tea and an a.s.sortment of cakes sat on the bottom layer of the basket, to finish off the dinner. The king handed Minli a pair of intricate gold chopsticks that weighed heavily in her hands, and with his urging, Minli began to eat what was easily the most delicious meal she had ever had.

"I'm not sure what the borrowed line is that you are looking for," the king told Minli as he sipped his tea. They had finished eating the main meal and she was enjoying a turtle-shaped cake filled with sweet and soft red bean paste, a taste not known to her before. As she swallowed, its richness seemed to warm her from her throat to her stomach. "But I think I can guess."

With great effort, Minli stopped eating and looked at him. "You can?" she asked, and suddenly a hope filled her. "What do you think it is?"

"Do you know why this city is called the City of Bright Moonlight?" the king asked.

Minli shook her head.

"My great-great-grandfather changed the name of this city. It used to be called the City of the Far Remote. But after he came to power, he changed it to the City of Bright Moonlight," the king said. "Most people thought it was because he had a poetic heart. But it was more than that. Have you heard the story of the magistrate that tried to outwit the Old Man of the Moon?"

Minli nodded, "He tried to kill his son's destined wife, but they ended up together anyway."

"Ah, you know the story." The king smiled. "That magistrate was my great-great-grandfather's father. And this city is the city that his son became king of through the marriage."

"So the story is is real!" Minli said. real!" Minli said.

"Well, it is a story that has been pa.s.sed through my family for generations," the king said. "But there's more to it than what most have heard."

THE UNKNOWN PART.

OF THE STORY OF THE OLD MAN OF THE MOON.

After the Old Man in the Moon told the magistrate that his son would marry the daughter of a grocer, Magistrate Tiger flew into a rage. With both hands he grabbed the page and tore it from the book. But before he could rip the page in two, the Old Man's eyes stared into his and the light of the moon seemed to bind the magistrate still. As the silence hung in the air, Magistrate's Tiger anger turned to fear.

But, finally, the Old Man of the Moon nodded at him grimly. "Pages of the Book of Fortune do not tear easily, but that paper was being sent to you before I borrowed it," the Old Man said. "So perhaps it is only fitting that you finally receive it. Take it. The Book has bestowed some extra qualities to it, though they will be as useless to you as the original paper would have been."

And without another word, the Old Man of the Moon stood up and walked away up the mountain. The magistrate could do nothing but stare, clutching the ripped paper in dumbfounded silence.

"He tore a page out of the Book of Fortune?" Minli said. "Yes," the king said, "but he, himself, was never able to read it, so it remained useless to him just as the Old Man of the Moon said it would be."

"Come," the king said as he walked out of the pavilion onto the bridge under the moon. As Minli followed, he reached inside the breast of his shirt, slowly took out a gold-threaded pouch and said, "This is the ripped page. It has been pa.s.sed down from generation to generation, studied by the kings of the City of Bright Moonlight. None of us has ever understood what the Old Man of the Moon meant when he said it was borrowed."

Minli watched, fascinated, as the king took from the gold pouch a delicate, folded piece of paper. Paler than even the white jade tofu she had eaten for dinner, the paper seemed to have a light of its own, dimming the gold threads of the pouch that held it.

"It was my great-great grandfather," the king said, unfolding the paper, "who realized that the words on it can only be seen in the bright moonlight. He renamed the city the City of Bright Moonlight as a reminder for the kings that followed him."

Minli looked at the paper as if in a daze. In the moonlight, the page glowed. A single line of faint words, as if written with shadows, was scrawled upon the page in a language Minli had never seen.

"So, I think this paper, which the Old Man of the Moon said he borrowed," the king said, "this written line torn from the Book of Fortune is 'the borrowed line' you seek."

"Of course," Minli said, and excitement bubbled inside of her, "it must be!" But her excitement popped as she looked at the carefully preserved page and remembered how the king had had it on his person, carefully and preciously kept in the pouch around his neck. It seemed impossible that he would give her such a cherished treasure.

"It was only after much study that my great-great-grandfather was able to decipher the words," the king said. "And that is when he realized that the words changed according to the situation at the time. From then on, whenever a King of the City of Bright Moonlight has had a problem, he consults the paper."

"And it tells you what to do?" Minli asked.

"Yes." The king gave a wry smile. "Though not the way you think. Sometimes the line on the page is more mysterious than the problem."

And with that, the king looked down at the line. As he read, a startled expression came across his face.

"What does it say?" Minli asked.

"It says," the king said slowly, "you only lose what you cling to." "you only lose what you cling to."

The king's words seemed to hang in the air. All was silent except for the soft rustling of the page in the gentle breeze. Minli, unable to speak, watched it flutter as if it were waving at her.

"So, it seems your request," the king said, "deserves consideration. The line tells me as much. Let me think."

Minli looked at the king, quiet but puzzled.

"For generations, my family has prized this paper; we have honored it for its spiritual power and authority. It has been pa.s.sed on and studied and cherished and revered. It has been valued above gold or jade," the king said slowly. "But what is it really?"

Minli shook her head, unsure if she was should respond.

"It is, actually," the king said, "simply proof of my ancestor's rudeness, his unprincipled anger and ruthless greed. Yet we've disregarded that - instead we guard and protect this written line so dearly that the rulers of the City of Bright Moonlight carry it at all times, daring not to let it out of their possession."

The moon seemed to tremble as ripples spread over its reflection caught in the water. The king continued, again, speaking more to himself than to Minli.

"We have clung to it, always afraid of losing it," the king said. "But if I choose to release it, there is no loss. "

Minli felt her breath freeze in her chest. She knew the king's mind was in a delicate balance. If he refused to give her the line now, she knew she would never get it.

"And perhaps it was never meant for us to cling to. No matter whom the paper originally belonged to, this is a page from the Book of Fortune - a book that no one owns," the king said. "So, perhaps, it is time for the paper to return to the book."

A wind skimmed the water, and Minli could see her anxious face as pale and as white as the moon reflected in it.

"You only lose what you cling to," the king repeated to himself. He glanced again at the paper and then looked at Minli. A serene expression settled on his face and then he quietly smiled and said, "So, by choosing to give you the line, I do not lose it."

And, with those words, he placed the paper in Minli's trembling hands.

CHAPTER 24.

Outside the city, Dragon waited. Even after Minli had disappeared, the dragon still watched from the trees. He had felt odd when she had pa.s.sed the old stone lions and the door had closed behind her. He realized that he had never had a friend before, and what a nice feeling it was to have one.

And perhaps that was why the second night, when the sky darkened and the moon rose, Dragon crept out from the shadows of the trees and approached the closed, sleeping city. While he wouldn't admit it, Dragon thought just standing by the walled city might make him feel just a bit less lonely.

The silver moon cast a frosted glow upon on the rough stone wall and guardian lion statues. Dragon stared at them as he approached the gate. Their stocky, heavily built bodies seemed to weigh down the stone platforms they sat upon; and the darkness of the night made their stiff curly manes look like rows of carved blossoms. One lion held a round ball underneath his forearm; the other held down a lion cub that seemed to be grinning at him. In fact, all the lions seemed to be grinning at him as if he were a secret joke they were watching.

"Am I so funny?" Dragon asked them as he pa.s.sed.

"YES!" burst out the small lion cub, wriggling free of his mother's paw. "You're very funny!"

As Dragon jumped back in surprise, the lion cub laughed out loud, obviously highly amused at the dragon's shock. But with his laugh, both adult lions shook themselves from their platforms.

"Xiao Mao!" the mother lion scolded. "Don't laugh at the lost dragon. Besides, you know the rules. No moving in the presence of others."

"But it's a dragon," the cub said, "not a people. He doesn't count for the rules, does he? Besides, he is funny! Big dragon trying to tiptoe like a mouse!"

"Xiao Mao," the deep, male voice of the other lion boomed in the air. The cub gave a half-hearted look of shame and was immediately quiet and still.

By this time, Dragon had found his voice.

"You're alive, then," he said.

"Of course we are," the male lion said, scrutinizing the dragon with interested eyes. "Everything's alive - the ground you're walking on, the bark of those trees. We were always alive, even before we were lions and were just raw stone. However, carving us did give us a bit more personality."

"You're a fairly young dragon, aren't you?" the female lion said kindly. "You seem only a hundred or a hundred and fifty years old. Don't worry, you'll learn soon enough."

"A hundred!" the lion cub said. "I'm much older than you. I'm eight hundred and sixty-eight!"

"And you still have not attained wisdom," the father lion told him. "Don't tease the young one."

"Well, what are you doing here?" the cub asked, not unkindly. "Dragons don't usually come down to the earth much. Are you lost?"

Though unusual, the lions weren't unfriendly, so Dragon settled down and told them the whole story - being born, living in the forest, meeting Minli, and now their travels to find the borrowed line and the Old Man of the Moon. The lions didn't interrupt once, though the cub did snicker from time to time.

"You belonged to Magistrate Tiger?" the cub said, when Dragon finished. "That means you're the terrible dragon! You're the one that destroyed the king's father's palace. What a lot of trouble you caused!"

Dragon looked at the older lions questioningly.

"About one hundred years ago," the female lion said, "the king's father fled his home village. A dragon had destroyed his palace and his people cast him out, saying he was bad luck. He came here, intending to make his home with his son and to live off his son's wealth and power as the King of the City of Bright Moonlight. There were bad times here for the city, as the king's father and the officials he brought with him were corrupt and greedy. We were very concerned."

"You?" the dragon asked. "Why would it concern you?"

"Why would it concern us? It is completely our concern!" the male lion said. "We are the Guardians of the City. It's our responsibility to watch and keep the city turning. To see it begin to crack alarmed us to no end." And the lion held out the round ball he held in his hand and showed Dragon an old, deep fracture that was slowly being filled with the dust of the earth.

"What did you do?" Dragon asked.

A STRING OF DESTINY We were afraid the city would break. As the times became more turbulent with secret meetings and violent outbursts, we watched the crack in our world widen. It was only a matter of time, we thought, before it would tear into two.

One night, as we despaired, we saw a figure walking in the moonlight. Bent and old, he glowed like a lit lantern. When we saw he was carrying a large book and a small sack, we knew instantly it was the Old Man of the Moon and called him over.

"Please help us," we begged him, "we need to keep the city together."

The Old Man of the Moon looked at us, our outstretched cracking globe and our pleading faces. Without a word, he sat down before us and opened his book, leafing through the pages and stroking his beard.

After several minutes of consulting his book, he opened his sack and handed us a red thread.

"You are to hold this until it is needed," the Old Man told us, and then slapped his book shut and walked away, ignoring our words of thanks.

We knew the Old Man of the Moon had given us a string of destiny, one of the very strings he used to bind people together. It was a marvelous gift. While he left us no instructions, we guessed that we were to use it to tie around the city if it looked as if it were to split.

After that, night after night, we watched our sphere, ready to use the string at the first signs of breakage. Unsure of its power or abilities, we dare not use it for anything but the direst of circ.u.mstances.

But the crack did not grow. Unexpectedly, the king renounced his father. He exiled him and his officials from the city and harmony returned. Slowly, the fracture has filled with the powder of earth and stone. And I have held the string, unused.

And as the male lion finished, he lifted his paw, to reveal a flattened line of red thread.

"The borrowed line!" Dragon said. "That's it! Minli said she needed to get the borrowed line from the Guardian of the City! You're the guardian and that's the borrowed line we need!"

"I suppose it is," the lion said, looking at the string. "So, perhaps I have been holding it all this time so I could give it to you."

And the lion dropped the string into the dragon's outstretched hand.

CHAPTER 25.

Ma and Ba found the days without Minli long and difficult. In the morning, as soon as they woke up, they rushed to Minli's bed to see if she was there. In the afternoon, they hurried from the fields hoping to find Minli waiting at home. And at night, with a rice bowl and a set of chopsticks waiting for her at the table, they looked up at every sound of footsteps.

But an empty bed and house always greeted them, and the footsteps always belonged to a pa.s.sing neighbor. While Ma's anger had disappeared with the goldfish man, she grew a little thinner and paler every day, and Ba's eyes no longer twinkled.

And one evening, in the middle of the night, Ba woke up alone in bed to a voice calling.

"Wake up, old man!" the fish said. "Wake up! Your wife needs you."

Ba quickly rose and looked for Ma, who was sitting by Minli's bed. In the stillness of the darkness, Ma shook with sobs.

"Oh, Wife," Ba said softly, sitting next to her.

Ma turned to him, her face shiny from wet tears. "What if Minli never returns?" Ma said. "What if we are always without her?"

Ba put his hand over his face, brushing away the tears that were forming in his eyes. "I don't know," he said.

"Neither do I," Ma said and she buried her face in Minli's bed, crying in despair.