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for one painting. And because the room was so large, each one of these things seemed almost lost, like the faint voice of someone crying out from very far away.
The message of this room to visitors was clear: Han Fei-tzu chose simplicity. One of each thing was enough for a pure soul.
The message to Qing-jao, however, was quite different. For she knew what no one outside the household realized: The rug, the table, the sculpture, and the painting were changed every day. And never in her life had she recognized any one of them. So the lesson she learned was this: A pure soul must never grow attached to any one thing. A pure soul must expose himself to new things every day.
Because this was a formal occasion, she did not come and stand behind him as he worked, studying what appeared in his display, trying to guess what he was doing. This time she came to the middle of the room and knelt on the plain rug, which was today the color of a robin's egg, with a small stain in one corner. She kept her eyes down, not even studying the stain, until Father got up from his chair and came to stand before her.
"Han Qing-jao," he said. "Let me see the sunrise of my daughter's face."
She lifted her head, looked at him, and smiled.
He smiled back. "What I will set before you is not an easy task, even for an experienced adult," said Father.
Qing-jao bowed her head. She had expected that Father would set a hard challenge for her, and she was ready to do his will.
"Look at me, my Qing-jao," said Father.
She lifted her head, looked into his eyes.
"This is not going to be a school assignment. This is a task from the real world. A task that Starways Congress has given me, on which the fate of nations and peoples and worlds may rest."
Qing-jao had been tense already, but now Father was frightening her. "Then you must give this task to someone who can be trusted with it, not to an untried child."
"You haven't been a child in years, Qing-jao. Are you ready to hear your task?" "Yes, Father."
"What do you know about the Lusitania Fleet?"
"Do you want me to tell you everything I know about it?"