“Uncle Kho, is there a reason you picked this scroll?”

Sen stared down at the partially unrolled scroll, not quite sure why it was in his hands. The scroll was covered with a combination of pictures and text. The pictures were of plants. The text described a variety of things about the pictured plants, such as where to find them and their uses.

Uncle Kho gave the obviously confused boy a sympathetic smile. “That’s actually one of my wife’s scrolls. I should say, she wrote it. But, yes, there is a reason that I picked that one. Everything on the scroll can be found on this mountain. Everything on there also has a medical or alchemical use.”

Sen squinted down at scroll and pointed to a word. “Alchemical? Is that what this word is?”

Kho glanced at where the boy pointed and nodded. “It is.”

“Okay. So, what does alchemical mean?”

“You don’t know what alchemy is?”

Sen blinked at Uncle Kho a few times. “I didn’t even know the word a minute ago.”

“Ha! I suppose that’s fair. I’m not an alchemist, that’s someone who studies or performs alchemy, but I can give you the basics. A lot of things in the world are powerful in one way or another. I expect you know that some plants are dangerous to touch or eat.”

Sen nodded along, following the explanation so far. “Like the Devil Blind Root?”

“Exactly. There are also plants out there with healing properties.”

“Like the Starflower.”

“Really? The Starflower?”

“Yeah, I used to put the petals on any cuts I got. It helped them heal up. It was the only medicine I could get most of the time since they grow everywhere.”

Kho stroked his beard. “Hmmm. I’ll have to remember to tell my wife about that. Who told you that Starflower petals would help with cuts?”

Sen thought back, but he couldn’t remember anyone specifically telling him about it. “I don’t know. It might have heard it from one of the other kids. That kind of stuff, it just sort of passes around from person to person when you all sleep outside. It’s just there in your head.”

“I see,” said Uncle Kho, his expression thoughtful. “Anyway, it’s not just plants. Certain kinds of rocks, and even particular animal parts have power. Alchemy is all about mixing those plants, rocks, and animal parts together to make something even stronger. Alchemy is how we get a lot of the more potent medicine. An alchemist made those pills that you love so much.”

Sen shuddered a little. “Well, I’m glad I haven’t had to take one of those in a while. They’re awful.”

“Agreed,” said Kho. “But, they have their uses. Back to your original question, though. The reason I gave you that scroll is because it’s almost spring. There’s a chance that you’ll see some of those plants near the outer walls. If you do, I’d like you to tell me. I’ll harvest some of them.”

Sen brightened up at that idea. He thought the scroll was going to be another boring exercise like reading about the government had been. This, though, was going to let him be useful to Uncle Kho. He liked the idea of being able to give something back to the old man who just let Sen hang around in his house and eat his food and taught him how to cook food.

“I can do that,” said Sen with a smile.

“If you like, I can show you how to harvest them,” offered Uncle Kho. “Caihong says she’s beaten the worst of my bad habits out of me, so she won’t yell at you when she gets back.”

“Is she coming back soon?” Sen asked, an old nervousness surfacing again.

Kho nodded. “Any year now, I expect.”

The old worry went back to sleep. It seemed Uncle Kho and his wife saw time very differently than Sen did. Sen could wrap his mind around the idea of a year, but it also felt like a very long time to him. It seemed like Uncle Kho saw years in much the same way that Sen saw months, maybe even weeks. In the meantime, there was no harm in learning about plants.

“I’d like to learn about harvesting the plants if you’ll teach me.”

“That’s good. It seems likely that you’ll be traveling alone at some point. It’s a good idea to know what plants can help you and how to harvest them. You can even sell some of them to doctors and alchemists. It seems like they’re always running short of even the basic components. You won’t make a lot unless you stumble across something really rare, but it’s a way to put some copper or silver in your pouch. I never met a young person traveling who couldn’t do with a bit of extra coin.”

Sen’s eyes went wide at that. He’d never even held a silver coin. He’d only seen them change hands a few times in the market. Maybe it happened more often inside the shops, but he’d never been in any of those. Sen shook off the thoughts of silver coins. If it ever happened, it wouldn’t happen soon. Right now, he just needed to learn about the plants so he could find them. He rolled up the scroll.

“I’ll study the scroll carefully.”

“You seem a lot more excited about this scroll than the last one. Not very impressed with the government?”

Sen had to think that over. He hadn’t been impressed with reading about the government. That had been terribly boring. Even so, he wasn’t sure he had any strong feelings about the government itself.

“It seems complicated. I’m not sure it’ll ever matter that much in my life.”

“Oh, it’s very complicated. Politics is always complicated. Knowing how the government is organized, well, let’s say that you’ll probably be glad you know about that down the road. You never know when you’ll need to know what official is in charge of something. Here’s a tip for you, though. Never talk to the person in charge. Talk to their assistant.”

“Why?”

“Assistants are almost always available. They can usually solve your problems without bothering their bosses. And, if you show up looking for them, it makes them feel important. That makes them want to help you. Anytime you can get someone to want to help you, it’s better than making someone help you. People resent it when you make them do what you want. They feel good about it if they wanted to help you all along. Plus, they’re happy to see you the next time you cross paths.”

Sen wasn’t sure he understood all of what Uncle Kho just explained, but he filed the information away in his head anyway. Whatever he was now, Sen knew that Uncle Kho had not always lived on this mountain. He’d clearly spent a lot of time out in the world. If he said that this was a good way to approach things, Sen believed him. As Sen considered the scroll in his hand, he remembered something that happened that first day he and Master Feng arrived.

“Uncle Kho, do you remember that first day I was here?”

Kho grinned at the boy. “I have some vague recollection.”

“You tried to give me a scroll to read that day. I think it was about cultivation.”

“Oh, yes,” said Kho, looking uncomfortable. “I remember that.”

“Can I see that scroll?”

“I’m afraid not. Rather, that’s a question for your master. It wasn’t appropriate for me to offer it to you in the first place. He’ll have to decide what to I can share with you about cultivation.”

Sen could see that Uncle Kho either didn’t like the topic or didn’t like that he couldn’t share the scroll. Either way, it had been a minor matter to Sen.

Sen shrugged. “If you can’t, you can’t. I was just curious. I’ll ask Master Feng about it.”