text: The wizened man came out of the misty drizzle, cringing towards the light. He slid onto the liquor-stand's bench and looked around as if frightened. The rain and mist obscured the pagodas and buildings of the city of Miyako. The area around the city's former Demon Gate was almost deserted, and the shochu seller was about to fold up and go home. "What'll it be?" he asked instead.
  
  "Big cup. And some of the stew."
  
  He drank the fiery sweet-potato liquor quickly, then licked his lips and ordered another.
  
  "Pay for the first one," said the counterman. He had too much experience with customers drinking then refusing to pay. Particularly miserable looking ones like the skinny craftsman before him. "You can pay, can't you?" he asked, suddenly suspicious.
  
  "Hee hee hee. Of course I can," the elderly man laughed, his unkempt topknot fluttering. "He he."
  
  "Show your coppers then."
  
  "Coppers? Hee hee hee. Coppers the man wants. How about this then?" He shoved a hand into his grimy blue-dyed under-apron and showed the contents to the seller.
  
  The shochu man gulped. Resting in the cupped palm were several small pieces of silver, obviously cut from different squarish silver momme coins, and a tiny nugget of yellow gold.
  
  "Got it honestly, did you?"
  
  "What's it to you? Gimme another cup, and some of those cooked radishes."
  
  The counterman complied as the elderly artisan shoved a piece of silver at him and hurriedly hid the rest, as if reminded of his fear. He gulped at his liquor and ordered another. The thin rain continued to fall, obscuring the sounds and the sights of the night. Only his face was lit in sharp, tired angles by the single paper lampion on the shochu seller's cart.
  
  The shochu man started closing down and after another drink the wizened craftsman slipped unsteadily into the night. The sound of the rain hid the quiet footsteps behind him. It also hid his gasp of surprise as strong arms held him briefly. When he was released he slumped easily to the pavestones. Two burly figured lifted him easily. Only the minnows heard the splash as he hit the waters of a small canal. The Imperial City of Miyako, home to the All Under Heaven, slept on through the rain.