The woman smiled when she saw us approaching. "Hello."
"Um...hi."
"May I help you with anything?"
I started to ask her about the empty mahjong tables when something caught my eye. A silver framed portrait of a pearl, and I couldn't keep myself from slowly reaching for it.
"That is an ancient painting," the woman murmured.
"Is this pearl real?"
The woman looked at me in surprise. "You do not recognize it?"
I shook my head.
"It is the pearl of Gong de Tian."
Since the memories of how I previously butchered other foreign terms and names were still fresh in my mind, I knew better this time than to simply repeat what the woman said.
"Could you spell that please?"
Mary Priscilla snickered at hearing my question but I told myself I should just ignore her because that was how a wise LOTUS rolled.
"It's G O N G D E T I A N."
"And how do you pronounce it again?"
"Gong De Tian."
I repeated it back, and the woman smiled. "Perfect."
"Thank you, and um...who exactly is Gong De Tian?"
The woman looked amazed. "You are not even from this realm, are you?"
"No, sorry," I admitted sheepishly.
"Gong de Tian is - well, was - the Heavenly Goddess of Luck."
I glanced at Mary Priscilla. "Maybe I should tell Persephone I'm a goddess of luck. It could put an end to all of her complaints about my deus ex machina moments."
The kid looked at me thoughtfully. "It would make sense, you know. If you were a goddess of luck. But the heavenly part..."
"Oh, shut up." I looked back at the woman. "Do you mind if I ask another question?"
"By all means."
"Why do you refer to her in the past tense? Aren't goddesses in this realm immortal?"
"Hers was a special case," the woman answered. "As the Heavenly Goddess of Luck, the one and only thing she must not ever do was to force her luck."
"But she obviously did."
"Yes," the woman said sadly, "and she paid for it with her life."
"Oh." I glanced down at the painting. "What about this pearl?"
"It is a pearl that's able to grant wishes. Gong De Tian used it to share her luck with other people."
"What happened to it when Gong De Tian died?"
"The pearl goes where Gong de Tian goes, and since Gong de Tian has died a thousand years ago, it hasn't been seen again." She smiled at me hopefully. "I can see how interested you are in the painting. Perhaps you would like to purchase it?"
"Um...well..." I knew it was a long shot, but I thought I should ask anyway. "Do you take American Express?"
Mary Priscilla groaned, and I saw the woman glance at the kid in visible concern. "Is she alright?"
"Ignore her," I advised like always. "She's been moody since the 1960s."
The brat rolled her eyes. "That's not even the slightest bit funny."
I looked at the woman tellingly. "See what I mean? Moody, right?"
The woman's lips twitched. "What I see is a great relationship between mother and daughter—-"
Both Mary Priscilla and I started gagging at the same time.
"I'm not her mom, yuck!"
"I'm not her kid, ew!"
"Sisters then?"
"We're not blood related in any way," I told the woman as I returned the painting to her.
The woman appeared disappointed. "You do not want to buy it?"
"I wish I could, but the thing is..."
The woman listened attentively as I told her about the current state of my finances.
"The mahjong tables are only open during weekdays," she explained, "and since today is Sunday..."
Shit.
"Is there any other way we could earn coins here?" I asked hopefully.
"There is a way, but...you two are obviously new here."
"We are," I admitted.
"Then I don't suppose you're aware of how karma works in this place?"
I looked at her blankly. "Isn't karma like...you do something good, something equally good happens, and vice versa?"
"Exactly," the woman affirmed cheerfully. "If you go around, you'll eventually find a soul that would require help. If you succeed in helping that person, you earn gold coins of good karma. If, on the other hand, you deliberately do something bad, you will earn silver coins of bad karma."
"Do gold coins weigh more than silver coins?"
"Oh no. They are of the same value. The only difference is that the other ghosts would know what you did to earn those coins."
MARY PRISCILLA AND I were exhausted. Since my plan to gamble for coins was a total fail, the only recourse we had left was to follow the tram's trail...on foot. We had been walking for hours since then, and a part of me was worried that we might not make it back in time for my hearing. Actually...if I were honest, I was worried that we might not even make it back at all, and—-
Finally!
Mary Priscilla and I had reached the end of the trail, and looming in front of us was a pair of towering temple gates that looked eerily familiar.