Paper Mage

Set during the T'ang Dynasty, Xiao Yen, with the help of her aunt, becomes a paper mage: she folds paper into an animal or a thing, then does magic, so the paper becomes what she's folded. However, she is still a woman trying to fill a man's roll. The only people who will hire her are foreigners. She must leave her beloved home and travel with them, protecting their cargo, from the end of the Silk Road to the northern reaches of the Middle Kingdom. She accepts her obligation to them and her aunt, though she's torn between her duty and a longing for a normal life, with children of her own. Just before she leaves, Xiao Yen loses her lucky amulet. Things get worse after that, between misunderstandings with the foreigners, the dangers of the trail, and their traveling companions. Before long, Xiao Yen gets involved with a goddess' battle against a northern warlord. But attacking a rat dragon, and destroying a Taoist immortal, are the least of the battles Xiao Yen must face.