It was the fate of the children that made the earth dragon so angry he split his mouth wide and swallowed them up. They should never have done what they did, or rather, let the king do what he did. They huddled their few remaining children away in their houses and turned down the king's offer of a golden child to replace their own. It had seemed ( Read more... )

The dog honors were on Saturday, and she wouldn't miss them. She didn't care that it meant she'd have to skip what sounded like an honest-to-god date with an honest-to-god decent guy who wasn't half bad-looking. That was just a date. This was her partner finally getting the recognition she deserved. "I'm sorry," she said. "I have to be there for my ( Read more... )

"Is the tea ceremony done ( Read more... )

She took the last sip of plum wine and held it in her mouth, savoring the rich sweetness, knowing that it might be the last time she would be able to taste such fine wine. She lifted her bowl of noodles and poured a bit of the broth into the wine cup, then brought it to her lips and drank. Then she set aside the bowl and waited for the poison ( Read more... )

She woke when the tatami mat beneath her became damp with silt water from the rice fields. She had had a dream that the moon goddess was reaching down to shake her by the shoulder, crying sad tears that washed over her face and dampened her hair. When her eyes opened, at first she thought that the tears were still falling--then she tasted the ( Read more... )