Hope for the Dawn [Temple Cats 3]

Bronze fish, with the name of the nation and the month they were to be admitted to the capitol, were used as tokens for diplomatic embassies; they were divided in half and the halves were matched up when the embassy arrived and sought admittance. When the fish the Tifun delegation was carrying went missing, their Ambassador threatened to destroy the city where he was staying during his journey. As he was still close to the border of his country and had a thousand warriors outside the city, this was a serious problem, and Lin Mei (and her cats) were co-opted to be part of the solution.

This story originally appeared in SWORD & SORCERESS 23, November 2008.