Sukai passed her the first slip that had been copied down for her. The characters stood for coal, mountain, and spear, chu, ma, and rho. Ma Chiroh was a beast of a man, one of the little generals who saw the colonies as his personal hunting ground whether he was hunting for seals, deer, or women.

"As to the first fortune, the holy man says that it is most fortuitous. Your worries will be Laid to rest, and they will never rise again." He never did. He disappeared on a hunting trip, and some years after that, he was found with a woman's spindle in his eye, his clothes blowing like banners from his bones.

In-yo nodded with relief.

— The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo, Nghi Vo (The Singing Hills Cycle, #1) (67%)