The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

“It sounds like you knew of them, grandmother.” They were all of the court, and it was a bitter thing indeed for them to be sent into the wilderness with a barbarian empress.”Ĭhih sat very still, and next to them, Almost Brilliant cocked her head to one side. It is what the female attendants of Empress In-yo called it when they first came here from the capital. “… I have never heard the name Thriving Fortune before, grandmother.” How much more begins to become apparent when she refers to Scarlet Lake as Thriving Fortune. That the old woman recognizes the bird and knows its functions is just the first sign that she is much more than she seems. It’s a neixin, with the ability to pass all its memories to its descendants, and similarly to call up the memories of its ancestors. 1) Chih is accompanied by Almost Brilliant, a magical bird that has perfect memory and can talk. You will never remember the great if you do not remember the small.” (Ch.

The old woman from Scarlet Lake “sounded a little like the former Divine, who had always encouraged their acolytes to speak to the florists and the bakers as much as to the warlords and magistrates. 1) So it is with the story, starting with a low glow and then burning so brightly that all of the Anh empire stands out in relief before fading again.Ĭhih comes from the abbey in Singing Hills and belongs to an order that records history, not only of the powerful. It was brilliant, to hard to look at so very closely, and it flooded the water, enough so that could make out individual trees on the beach, the black silhouette of the night birds on the water, and the seamed face of the woman standing next to, creased in pleasure.” (Ch. It’s set at a secluded compound near Lake Scarlet, a nearly perfectly round lake formed by a falling star, and named for a glow that sometimes appears at sunset, starting faintly and then “sweeping across the lake like the sparks of New Year fireworks.

Though it contains tales of considerable violence, The Empress of Salt and Fortune remains in my mind as an almost restful story.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo