Barely Two More Paragraphs on Xinshi

Today I’m going to do something I’ve implied I would do but haven’t yet.  I employ a ‘come back’ tag to indicate work I feel deserves to be revisited at a later date.  In most cases I have not come back to it.  Let’s see what we can find in there…

There was better stuff in there to choose from than I expected.

The Trouble with Xinshi

[Maestro] stabbed two fingers at Xinshi’s chest and crooked them like he was lifting a fish from a bucket. Across the room the old man staggered forward. Certainly all the Ones knew this to be the [maestro's] magic. Nearly all of the Twos believed as well. I knew it to be nothing more than a trick of the mind. A false compulsion Xinshi had fallen for–again.

We all waited for the [maestro's] next sign. Without dropping the finger-hook he waived his left hand back and forth like he was holding a placard and asking a question. :What are you doing?: I’d seen him sign this simple question a thousand times of hundreds of Ones over the years.

The thirteen red feathers of the [maestro's]

Does this seem like I wasn’t finished?

I made up Xinshi as I wanted something with an X in it. I am told that in Mandarin it translates to ‘something you think in your heart‘. Fun.

This originated from a picture I can no longer find.  I’m tempted to go look for it now but I won’t since I’ve already messed around enough this morning.

The thirteen red feathers of the [maestro’s][clothing] stirred by his movement continued to undulate like motes in the lightly milling air between them.

Xinshi never answered [maestro] but he never broke eye-contact with [maestro] either.  Each time the [maestro] rose to anger with Xinshi I felt included with the pair.  Maybe the feeling grew from being at the [maestro’s] side day up and day down.  I never missed an encounter. Eventually the old man acquiesced.

Day 288