Hunters Moon - IC

[Keeper]

For a moment Moon’s gaze remained on the closed door, as though she could still see Bujo. That was a very different side of him, as though he was a ‘doing’ creature, a being that needed a very direct purpose. Perhaps the epitome of the saying, “the devil makes work for idle hands.”
Of course it would depend highly on the result, but maybe, just maybe, he might actually be an asset. Only time would reveal this.

Returning her attention back to Jia, Moon smiled. “That would be most gracious of you.”

[arcanus]

They stopped in at the Changs house for Jia's things, a short distance across the back alley from the curio shop.
From there they made their way east across China town navigating the narrow streets, avoiding vendors and hawkers before arriving at the corner of Clay Street and Montgomery, situated on the sideway was a series of stalls three for anglos, one for the Irish, another for Blacks and the final one for orientals.

Severe looking men in waistcoats made sure that the right people went in the right stalls, Moon soon saw why, as the Horsebus's pulled up there were more for the angloe's despite there being no more passengers, eventually a bright red Horsebus arrived, the horse winnying and snorting nervously as they waited for the passengers to board.

The Horsebus belonged to the Fang Company, adorned with Chinese text for good journeys and called the Speedy Pheonix, they boarded squeezing in with the other passengers, the smell of spices mixed with body odour was overpowering.

The horses complained the entire journey the coachman shouting at them that they weren'nt normally this troublesome, didn't know what had gotten into them and gace their haunches the lash.

They travelled through San Francisco properly the east port side build up of two or three story buildings and warehouses filling every space, Moon saw garish adverts painted on the side of buildings for items, foods or medicines that she never knew existed and couldn't read what they were in any case, they dropped off a scant few passengers in the east side before following the Harbour Road south.

To their left was the harbour filled with ships and boats, tall masts and steam stacks billowing smoke.
It was over an hour before the endless buildings gave way to hills and green fields, cresting the hill they overlooked a sprawling village of shacks, wharfs and numerous junk like boats busying around the harbour the smell of fish was overpowering.
As they pulled into the stop and alighted, Moon saw every type of business associated with fishing set up in the shacks, eateries, rope and net makers, basket weavers and boat wrights.

Moon also noticed that all of the signs and language was in Josun, this was a Korean village, Jia ushered Moon along, leading her through the mud avenues between the shacks until they arrived at a large hall like building complete with a wooden slip leading down into the waters of the bay.
The shore was covered in boats many of which were waiting for repair, Jia gestured to the hall
"Thats where Yun Soo's son works, he is a boat builder"

[Keeper]

As Moon took in the details of the village she felt a degree of warmth flow over her at the familiarity of the place. This could have been one of any number of villages that nestled on the Joseon coastline. The sounds, the voices, even the smells reminded Moon of home.
She took Jia’s hand in hers, “Thank you, my friend. I must speak to my kin alone. If I am not done by the time you are ready to return, do I just board the horsebus here?”
“Yes,” she smiled. “Good luck to you, my newest daughter. I hope that you find what and whom you seek.”
With that Jia turned with her packages and waving at an old woman standing alongside an old cabin, she went about her business.

The boat maker’s hut was large, large enough to house the hull of one of the fishing boats that bobbed in the water not too far off shore.
She could smell freshly cut wood and the pungent and slightly acrid odour of tallow that was being made worse in the warm sunshine.
Entering through a side door she realised that the water side of the building was open to the elements and offed a clear view of the bay.
There were a couple of older men within. One was inside a partially completed hull, nailing the boards to the rib-like frames.
The other man was running a spoke-shave along a length of sawn timber turning it into the smooth shaft that would eventually affix to the rudder and become the tiller.
“Hey!” hull-man shouted waggling his hammer at the intruding young woman.
“No women in the boat-house. What do you want?”
“I am looking for the son of Yun-Soo. I was told I could find him here.”
“Were you indeed? And who are you?”
“Is he here?” Moon replied, choosing to ignore the question.
The man glared at the young woman who returned the stare impassively.
Some sort of primal self-preservation kicked in and the man felt himself shifting uncomfortably.
“Through there,” he said, waving his arm towards what looked like a store room.

[arcanus]

Saeuman Village - Hunters Point, San Francisco
The older boatwrights shuddered as the girl followed their instructions, some old instinct deep down stirred a wariness, a primal fear.
As she ducked through the archway into the storeroom they shook their heads and returned their attention to the boat.

The storeroom turned out to be a smaller workshop, the walls lined with metal fastenings, pulleys and similar items of rigging, the workbench had woodworking tools, lathes and similar bench tools.

Stood at the far end of the workbench a younger korean man looked up from the section of wood he was planing, tall for his race, he wore a full beard uncustomary for korean men, his dark eyes regarded Moon warily.

"Can I help you?" he asked in Kujo

[Keeper]

Moon said up straight, feet together, hands by her side and have the young man a formal now.
"Good morning. My name is Cheung Moon. I have travelled from Seoul in search of Yun-Soo. I am led to believe that she is your mother? I would be incredibly grateful if you could take me to her."
She stood impassively, waited.

[arcanus]

The man stood, his eyes narrowed as he regarded Moon.
"I'm getting tied of this, I've already told the last men who came that my parents do not want to see anybody, they are honest people who want a simple life and to be left alone"

He scowled "And now they send a girl to ask, when I've told them to leave more than once, its disgusting, what is the fuss about my parents" he shoved the plane agrily

"I don't care who you are, go tell your bosses to leave my parents alone!"

[Keeper]

Moon stood impassively, silently fixing her gaze on the young man for a long moment.
Them she burst into laughter. She hasn't meant to, but Yun-Soo's son looked so angry, and the outburst was so unexpected it was comical.
She could see that her laughter was making him angrier and so tried hard to suppress it.
"I'm so sorry," she said with grin, "I do not laugh at you but at the lunacy of my purpose here."
Her explanation didn't seem to be doing anything to alleviate the young man's displeasure.
"Please forgive me, I can understand why you might be angry and the protectiveness you display for your parents is most admirable."
Again the man seem unmoving in his attitude.
"I have told you, leave my parents alone," he snarled at the girl through gritted teeth, fists clenching and unclenching in annoyance.
Moon sighed disappointedly. "Very well. If that is your wish. But I am duty bound to at least furnish you with the truth, as I have been told it."
She waited to see if he would acknowledge her request.

[Keeper]

"For Pity's sake! I have told you to go. My parents are not interested," Hyun growled at the girl.
Moon shrugged and turned away, facing the water and watching the boats.
"Did you make those?" she asked softly.
"What?" Hyun frowned at her.
"The boats, did you make them?" Moon replied.
The man followed the young girls gaze. "Some," he replied.
"It is a skill, boat building. I do not have a practical skill like that, where you make something useful. I have always wanted to try, but there are always other, more important things that I must attend to."
Moon actually sounded sad as she realised the truth in her own words. Pehaps when she was older, she would have the time to put Gaia's creations to use in creating other things.
She untied the sword on her back and held it out in front of her across both palms.
"My talent lies here," she said.
"Are you threatening me?" Hyun squared his shoulders, his hands reaching out for the hammer and chissel on the bench beside him.
"That is the exact opposite to what I am here to do," Moon said as she turned on her heels slowly to face the man. "Do me the courtesy of hearing me out, and if you still wish me to depart, then I will return to the city, where there are others too whom I have pledged my help."
Hyun looked confused but stepped back a little, holding the tools by his side. He was a little intrigued as to what protection the slight girl could offer, blade or no blade.
"Speak then," he said gruffly.
She smiled and bowed to him.
"Far away, back in our ancestral homelands I was given a task. I have been told that your family, most specifically your mother is special, that she has some import in the world. What that is, and why, I do not know for if my elders knew that did not bestow that information upon me. I do know that they have always known this about your mother."
She paused and noticed that the tools were no longer held up in readiness to fight.
"They have recently become aware of some threat to her. They do not know in what form that threat has taken or will take, but it concerned them none-the-less. What they did feel was that this threat was serious enough to send someone across the great ocean to offer protection to your mother and her kin. I am that protection."
"You? BUt you are just one small girl?"
Moon dropped to one knee before the man and continued to hold the sword in its dark wooden scabbard.
"I am Cheung Moon," she said, "Lanturn of the Golden Summit mountain Sentai, of the Court Of The Frozen Lake, sent to protect your family. I have pledged this blade, tooth and claw to that task, and I beseech you to consider my words and accept this pledge."

Hyun huffed and dropped the tools heavily back onto the workbench. "I have heard many words of late, and yours, albeit more flowery are just the same. I have said to you already, leav my parents alone. Go back to your bosses in their guilded mansions and tell them that."
Moon stood, returned the blade to her back silently. "I cannot force you to accept," she said.
"No you cannot," Hyun said with anger returning to his voice.
"Very well," Moon gave a quick, short bow and turned away, walking back to the door where she stopped and looked back at him over her shoulder.
"Consider these words then! Your anger when I arrived was quick and raw, denoting a recent afront. It has taken me a number of months to travel from home across the sea. And unless my elders saw fit to go to the extraordinary effort and expense to despatch others before me, without informing me that they had, then these other people that have bothered you cannot be associated with my presence here."
She let that hang there a moment before continuing.
"If you or your parents decide that they wish to speak with me you may reach me through Chang Mao and his family at the Dragon's Eye Curio Shop in China Town."

[arcanus]

Yoo-Sun Hyun felt the anger drain from a little as the girl turned to leave, he had had enough, in the past week men mainly Chinese had turned up at his place of work day after day, some in traditional dress others in the suits of the mun-oeham.

All insistent on the same thing, that he tell them where they could find his parents, it was puzzling and troubling they were not important people, were not wealthy, had never been of significance before and then all of this.

Frowning he looked up from the workbench at her departing form “Chang Mao, he vouches for you?”

The girl stopped in the doorway, turned and nodded “He does”
Hyun sighed, clearly this nonsense wasn’t going to go away just because he was dismissing it
“Very well, Chuang Moon, I will stop by later, if what you say is true and Chang Mao endorses you, we can talk!”

[Keeper]

She gave a curt nod, “Thank you.”
Moon walked out, graceful as a cat under the watchful eyes of the two older Boatwright’s.
Outside she gazed up at the blue sky and watched the white puffy clouds like bundles of cotton slowly drift majestically across the sky.
A moment of indecision put pause to any actions. Should she go back in there and be more forceful, she could try to hunt down his parents and approach the directly. Neither of those choices would ingratiate her to the family, especially the son.
So really she had no choice but to return to the city and wait it out. Perhaps Bujo would have news?
The returned to the horsebus and impatiently waited until there were enough passengers for the driver to make the return journey.
Jia had finished her business and sat beside her but she could see that Moon was distracted and after a short conversation Jia fell into silence.
The journey back seemed to be quicker than the journey out, but Moon realised that that was probably more her perception than an actual time difference.
As they disembarked she said her polite farewells to Jia and returned to her lodgings to await any news from the Toad and Tails.

She opened the wardrobe and stared at the elegant dress within.