A Thousand Leagues of Wind, the Sky at Dawn

9-1

He was born in Kou, Rakushun explained as they traveled along. "But in Kou, a hanjuu can't even get into elementary school. So I moved to En." A hanjuu couldn't be matriculated in Hou, either. When Shoukei pointed this out, he nodded.

"Itinerants and refugees aren't admitted either. If you aren't listed on the census, you're out of luck. A lot of kingdoms are that way. Kou used to be the only kingdom that didn't list hanjuu on the census. In the past, that was true everywhere. In Tai, the new king was apparently about to revise the census laws, but before he could get the job done, he was usurped by a pretender."

"Oh."

"In Hou and Kou, hanjuu can't become public servants and aren't admitted to university. And for the most part, Shun and Kei."

Rakushun's itinerary took him hither and yon, with no great design in mind. Going by suugu, it wouldn't take more than a day to get to Shisou, so they stopped at cities along the way. They often took detours to see cities in the opposite direction of Shisou. With the suugu, it was a trouble-free trip, but Shoukei couldn't help wondering what he was up to and what the whole purpose of the trip was.

"More kingdoms don't allow itinerants or refugees to become public servants or go to school. It's even tougher for sankyaku and kaikyaku. They're normally treated the same as itinerants, but in Kou they're treated even worse than that. At the other extreme, there are kingdoms that treat them very well, Sou and En and Ren. Sankyaku and kaikyaku can tell you fascinating things about paper making, ceramics, printing techniques, medicine."

"Sankyaku and kaikyaku actually exist?" Shoukei had never seen one.

"The first one to build a temple was in Hou."

"Really?"

"A sankyaku arrived during the reign of Hitsu-ou. He carved away the side of a mountain and built a temple. That was the first time the teachings of Buddhism were promulgated. That's why cremation is still practiced in Hou. Only Hou, En, Sou and Ren cremate the dead. In Hou, Rishi don't follow the same layout as the imperial court, but are built like temples. The arrangement of the buildings is different."

"Hitsu-ou?"

The twelfth or thirteenth dynasty of Hou, I believe."

Shoukei looked at the hanjuu in amazement. He knew more about Hou than the princess royal herself, a citizen of Hou. It was both mortifying and irritating.

"By the way, Shoukei, starting tomorrow, things are going to get a bit tougher."

They had left Shisou and traveled two more days on the suugu. They were about to enter the gates to a city. The road before the gate was quiet. It was still some time till sundown. Rakushun tied a small bamboo tube to the neck of the suugu. That morning, Shoukei had seen him place a letter into the tube.

"What's that for?"

"Starting tomorrow, we'll proceed on foot to En." She was about to protest, when Rakushun sent the suugu on its way. "Go on ahead of us and see that this letter gets to its destination."

With a cry, the suugu climbed into the air. It soared skyward like a kite, waved its long tail, swept over them like the wind, and disappeared.

"Well, what are we going to do now, with the suugu gone? It's still some ways to En!"

"About five days. Sorry. We won't be doing any more sightseeing."

"That's not the problem! Where are we going to stay tonight?"

Hanjuu weren't welcome in any city. Whenever he entered a high-class establishment, Rakushun was met with sour looks. But when they saw the suugu, their attitudes would change just like that. Without the suugu, they wouldn't hesitate to show him the door.

"It's okay. We won't stay in those kinds of inns. The kitsuryou's not around to fuss about the stables, so any old dive will suit us fine."

Until now, they had stayed at the best hotels, because it was necessary for the inn to have stables that could care for a suugu. Although she understood this, Shoukei frantically ran after Rakushun, who had already started for the gate.

"You can't be serious! Any old dive? You're kidding, right?"

Rakushun blinked. "About what?"

"What do you mean, about what?"

"What does it matter where you sleep? I'm not exactly thrilled at the prospect of sharing a room with you, though."

"Not even a canopy bed? Some dirty closet of a room?"

Rakushun paused at the gate and sighed. "You really did have a pampered upbringing. No worries. The beds may be hard, but not so narrow that you're going to fall out of bed. Or there will be a wooden floor. You should be able to get to sleep."

"I know that," Shoukei spat back. "That's why I can't stand it. I don't want to sleep in a place like that ever again."

The mere thought made her miserable, to be reminded of that mean and shabby life. Having stayed only in the finest hotels after fleeing Kyou, the thought was all the more unbearable.

Rakushun scratched at the fluffy fur beneath his ear. The main street of the small town was as quiet as the highway. "Well, yes, people usually sleep in beds. But there are people who sleep on the floor. There are people who sleep on the ground."

"That's hardly news to me."

"In your case, that's all it is. News."

Shoukei drew her eyebrows together. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"To you, it's simply something you know. Unfortunately, I suspect you have no idea what it is really like."

"Well, I wasn't kidding. I slept in a bed in a cold, drafty room, under a threadbare quilt. You may not realize it, but I hate even thinking about those times."

"Why?

Shoukei's eyes widened in amazement. "Why? Don't you know how miserable a life that was? Getting woken up at the crack of dawn, sent off to work before breakfast, coming home covered in mud and dung and straw. Never enough to eat. Going to bed exhausted, not being able to sleep because you're starving and cold. And even with no sleep, getting woken up the next morning and sent off to work all over again. Everybody making fun of you and talking down to you. I don't want to remember any of that life. You get it now?"

"Sorry, but not at all. Why so bad? Why deem it such a wretched existence? It is the life of all peasants. When you're poor, you go hungry. That shouldn't be news to you. But why can't you bear to be reminded of it? That's what I don't understand."

Rakushun stopped and glanced to his right. "How about there?"

It was a small inn that would hardly be high up on anybody's travel itinerary. Several tables were lined up on the dirt floor of the narrow, one-story storefront. Were it not for the sign advertising rooms, it would have struck her as nothing more than a shabby food stall.

"That? Places like that don't even have beds. In the first place, nobody dressed like me would ever stay at a place like that!"

"If that's the way you feel, then go buy something else to wear." Rakushun took a few coins from his pocket and pressed them into her hands. "That's where I'm staying. You can buy yourself some more appropriate dress or take the money and run. It's up to you."

"I--!"

Rakushun wagged his tail at the speechless Shoukei and walked over to the inn. Shoukei watched dumbfounded as he called out to the proprietor. With this amount of money, she could only afford the meanest quality of clothing, the kind of plain garb she'd worn at the orphanage, not to mention that it'd be secondhand at best. In this winter weather, there wasn't anything she really needed other than a coat or jacket. But she'd have to sell her silk outfits to buy those kinds of clothes. And that meant going back to the way she was before.

But, Shoukei thought, she had no money of her own. If Rakushun abandoned her here, she'd end up selling her clothes, anyway. And even then, it was hardly likely she'd have enough to take her all the way to En. Eating the cheapest food in the cheapest inns, could she even make it to the border?

Live with it, she told herself. But when she thought of returning to wretched life of a girl on the lam, she wanted to weep. Continuing on in this state, in the company of a hanjuu, and no suugu to boot, it was simply infuriating.

She swallowed her pride and went looking for a used apparel shop. She picked out a change of clothes. When the pedestrian outfit was ready to her satisfaction, only her shoes were out of character. She'd sold off everything down to there. The only thing she hadn't purchased was peasant-grade footwear. So now her shoes didn't match. At any rate, the only thing left to do was go behind the screen in the shop and change.

Pulling on the starchy garments, she wanted to cry. Right now in Kei, a girl is draped in a luxurious silk kimono of the most amazing quality, wearing a brocaded, embroidered fur coat heavy with pearls.

Biting her lip, she returned to the inn. It was mortifying enough to have to tell the proprietor that she was with the hanjuu, and just as miserable being shown down the moldy old hallway.

"Here," he said, abruptly.

When she opened the door, there was the hanjuu, sitting nonchalantly on the floor in front of a brazier. He looked at Shoukei and scratched his ear. "I don't understand girls. What's so embarrassing about going into a rundown inn wearing silk clothes?"

"You're the one who gave me the money and told me to."

"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd actually change into them. Well, that's what you should wear from now on. That's about the class of travel we'll be engaged in."

"It stinks." Shoukei sullenly sat down on the floor.

Rakushun gazed at the brazier. "No matter how many times you say it, it doesn't change the fact that that's how most people get by. How inconvenient bringing up a princess must be."

"Inconvenient?"

"Inconvenient to treat the ordinary as extraordinary. As surely as you get used to luxurious attire, you start to think that that kind of clothing, as you put it, stinks. So you want to wear silk. You're not the only one who thinks that way. Every girl wants to wear beautiful silk clothes and live a dressed-up life. Perhaps it's in their nature. Who wouldn't want to live the life of a queen or empress or princess?"

"Well, unfortunately, not everybody is a princess."

"No, indeed. But you are."

"I'm… " not the princess royal, Shoukei started to say, but Rakushun wagged his tail. "You are the princess royal. That fact notwithstanding, I'm not saying this with any ulterior motive in mind. The people of Hou sure didn't like you, though."

"Why… ?"

"I've met my fair share of refugees from Hou. They all hated the late king. Not a one of them had a good word for you, either. You are a very unpopular person."

"It wasn't my fault!" Shoukei shouted. She couldn't for the life of her understand what everybody had against her.

"It is your fault. Because you were the princess royal."

"Because of my father."

"Your father became king. So you became princess royal. That, indeed, was not your fault. But when a man becomes king, the mantle of responsibility falls upon his shoulders, and upon the shoulders of the princess as well, like it or not."

Shoukei gaped at the rounded back of the rat.

"There are two kingdoms with a princess or prince, Ryuu and Sou. The empress of Sai had a son, but he died before her coronation. The prince of Ryuu is a minister of state, working on behalf of the kingdom. The prince and princess of Sou also assist the king. The princess is the director of the national health service. Before, the sick were treated at homes, and the doctor visited them there. Nowadays, they are admitted to a hospital where doctors can care for them. That system was initiated by the princess royal of Sou. So, tell me, Shoukei, what did you do?"

"What?" Caught off guard by the question, Shoukei just stared at him.

"There once was a princess who remonstrated with her faltering king and was killed for it. And the word is that after the king of Kou died, the princess of Kou and her brother joined the work brigades along with everybody else. The kingdom collapsed, and they could do nothing to stop it. So they took responsibility. They volunteered. Until the next king is chosen, they'll work to save their ravaged country. So, what did you do?"

"But… my father never asked me to do anything."

"You're missing the premise of the question. That is something you should have addressed."

'But… . "

"You knew nothing? Nothing of what the princesses in other kingdoms were doing?"

"I didn't know!"

"Then you should have informed yourself. I know Hou better than does Shoukei, Princess Royal of Hou. Don't you find that more embarrassing than your tattered wardrobe?"

"But… " she started to say, and swallowed the rest. She didn't know what to say next.

"Does wearing wool embarrass you? Most people in the world wear wool. No one should be embarrassed to wear the best that their hard work could afford them. Then there are those who do no work and wear silk. Nobody much cares for them. Nobody likes a freeloader who, without raising a finger, gets something they could never afford with a lifetime of labor. That should be obvious. If you know someone who got all that you had lost without an ounce of effort, you'd resent her, wouldn't you?"

Shoukei shut her mouth to keep from saying anything. In fact, there was a certain empress whom she deeply resented.

"Something you've been given through no effort of your own demands nothing of you in turn. You never understood that. Hence, your resentment."

Shoukei struck the floor with her fist. "So you're saying that everything is my fault? Everything happened because I was bad!" She couldn't admit that. Neither did she want to. "My father never asked me to do a thing! My mother said the same thing! What was I supposed to do? They didn't let me go to university. I didn't have the chance to learn anything. And that's all my fault? There are lots of people like that, lots of people who live rich and comfortable lives. Why does it all have to come down on me?"

"We rightfully reap what we rightfully sow. To profit otherwise is a mistake. And hiding behind misbegotten gains fools no one."

"But!"

"You had mountains of silk dresses, didn't you? You could be said to be an expert on silk dresses, couldn't you? But do you have any idea how all that finery came to be? Did you ever stop to think how much labor it took or why it was given to you in the first place? Why the servants wore hand-spun garments and you wore silk? Until you understand that, you won't understand anything, this is what I'm saying."

"I don't what to hear it!" Shoukei threw herself on the floor and covered her ears. "Just shut up already!"

9-2

"Well, let's go."

At Rakushun's urging, Shoukei picked up her things. The night before, he had left her to cry herself to sleep. He woke her up that morning. In the tavern, she warmed her chilled body with a bowl of gruel, and they left. He said nothing, and she kept her thoughts to herself.

They left the city on foot, and pressed on toward the east. The snow was not as heavy in Ryuu as Hou. But a sharp, cold wind blew instead. It was the coldest time of the year. If you didn't have a thick wool muffler wrapped halfway up your face, small icicles would start forming at the end of your nose. And if you didn't keep your hair covered, it would turn to a sheet of ice.

Many people traveled by horse cart. The bed of the wagon would be packed with straw and rags and covered with a thick tarp. Along with the heat from a brazier, you shared the warmth along with your fellow travelers. Farmers from the neighboring communities hired out their wagons while their fields lay fallow. Hou had a similar system, but in her home country they didn't use wagons, but horse-drawn sledges.

"So where do you hail from?"

The travelers they rode with were often girls and old women. Healthy men walked alongside on the highway. The girl sitting next Shoukei asked the question.

Shoukei hugged the onjaku to her chest. "Hou," she said. The onjaku was a round metal container filled with hot coals. The surface was etched with a lattice of small slits and ridges and the interior was packed with steel wool. This kind of simple onjaku was hung around the neck and kept you warm when you go out in the winter.

"Hou isn't doing well. The king was overthrown."

"Ah… yeah."

Wrapped in the heavy canvas, the interior of the wagon was dark, lit by a single lamp.

"How about you, child?" she said to Rakushun. Beneath the heavy muffler, Shoukei laughed to herself.

"I was born in Kou."

"Oh, didn't the king of Kou die last year? Three years ago it was Hou and a year ago the empress of Kei died. Tai is in that condition now. These are unsettled times."

"Ryuu is doing well. The king is very long-lived."

"Yes," the girl laughed. "But not as long-lived as the king of En. But longer than Kou or Hou, so we count ourselves blessed."

Shoukei instead thought of what she'd seen along the way. She'd assumed that it was a wealthy kingdom, but landscape was more desolate than she had expected. There were hardly any tall buildings. The cities spread out over the land as if clinging to the earth.

When she interrupted to ask about this, the girl and the other travelers laughed. "The houses of Ryuu are in the earth. The winters are long and the summers cool, so we burrow into the ground. Rich or poor, all houses are big."

She said that aside from the rain-drenched northeast and the Kyokai shoreline, houses in Ryuu had large rooms underground. Because of the cold climes, the kingdom did not have large-scale industry, but was rich in stone. They quarried stone, built their houses underground, connected the sub-basements together, and even tunneled out small underground roads.

"Wow." Shoukei didn't know anything about the other kingdoms. She had never left Hou before. She hadn't associated with the citizens of other kingdoms. She had spent her life confined to the imperial palace. And with no interest in what was going on in the world around her, the whole idea of underground roads fascinated her.

"What if the air goes bad? Doesn't it get stuffy in there?"

"Oh, the ventilation takes care of it."

"But there's no sunlight down there. Isn't it awful dark?"

"There are skylights. In Ryuu, the courtyards of houses extend down into the ground. The light radiates out from there. It's not dark and gloomy at all. The rooms clustered around the courtyard are very comfortable."

"And the tunnels?"

"The tunnels are built on the same principle. Haven't you seen them? For the larger tunnels, the long, narrow skylights run down the center of the main thoroughfare."

Now that she thought about it, Shoukei recalled seeing the long, narrow shed-like structures running down the middle of the road. Yet they didn't have roofs. She'd wondered what they were.

"Those are the skylights? What about rain? Doesn't water collect in there?"

The girl smiled. "It doesn't rain much there."

Shoukei nodded. She looked at Rakushun. "That inn didn't have underground rooms, did it? But if we looked, we should be able to find one."

"The underground rooms aren't for the lodgers, but for the innkeeper and his family. That's because Ryuu levies a tax based on how large the underground part of the building is. Add a business surcharge on top of that and it can get quite costly."

"Hey, kid, you know a lot."

Rakushun awkwardly scratched at his ear. The girl paid no attention to his reaction and smiled at him. "Ryuu is a good place. We don't grow a lot of wheat, but we have a lot of mines and quarries and gemstone fountains. And lumber. We really have been blessed."

"There are mines in Hou, too. What about raising livestock?"

"We do. But there's not good grazing. Don't you have good horses in Hou?"

"And cattle and sheep. Lots of those."

"We raise them in Ryuu, too, but not that many. We can't grow enough forage in the summer. Still, we do pretty well for ourselves. Our king's a good person, too. The winters are real bad, though."

"It really is cold. I didn't expect it."

"People say it's better than Tai. They say that if you go outside at night, your nose will freeze half off. Even during the day, if you don't cover your face, your nose will get frostbit."

"Huh," Shoukei exclaimed. "There are so many different kingdoms. I wasn't aware."

She had thought they were all like Hou, closed in during the winter by the snows that melted in the summer, watering the green seas of grass.

The girl looked at Rakushun. "Is it true that in the south you can even sleep outside during the winter? That you can harvest wheat twice a year?"

Rakushun waved his hand. "Yes, you can harvest crops twice in a year. But that doesn't mean you can sleep outside in the winter. Though in Sou, the southernmost of the kingdoms, that might be possible."

Shoukei blurted out, "The winters in Kei are probably warm."

"I wonder," the girl sighed. "Kei just crowned a new empress. The kingdom seems to be settling down pretty well."

Shoukei had nothing to say in response.

"It must be really tough when a kingdom starts to falter. The refugees from Tai are in a bad way. If your house gets burned down there, you'll surely freeze to death."

"Yeah."

"Tai is totally in chaos. Recently, youma have even shown up near Ryuu. I've never seen one, but that's what people say."

Unconsciously, Shoukei found herself looking at Rakushun.

"To make matters worse, the weather of late has been getting worse. The north has seen record amounts of snow. Smaller towns are completely cut off and there's great concern that famine will set in there. We've got a good king, so nobody knows why."

The wagon creaked. The sound struck Shoukei as the creaking of the kingdom itself. The kingdom was rusting from above. If a county court could be corrupted, then everything above must be already rotten to the core. The kingdom was headed on a downward path.

With no king upon the throne, a kingdom descended into chaos. Natural disasters continued and the youma rampaged. Homes were lost to fires and floods, people had no way of surviving the winter. Shoukei remembered those cold winters in the orphanage. The weather improved during the summer, but locusts devoured the sprouting wheat, leaving the people with nothing to eat. Frost or flood, in either case, starvation was not far behind.

This is no doubt the kind of chaos Hou has plunged into, Shoukei thought, a thought that hadn't occurred to her before.

They got out of the wagon at the gates to the city.

"I really don't know a thing," Shoukei confessed as they walked to the inn.

Rakushun didn't contradict her. He said, "But from now on, if there's something you don't know, you need to learn it. I've got no problem with that."

Shoukei stopped. "Better late than never, no?"

There was a great deal she needed to learn, and quickly. About Hou, about the national polity, about other kingdoms, about kings and empresses, about princesses.

"What you didn't know about being the princess royal of Hou came back to haunt you. That lesson should be pretty well settled by now. True penance is still in the offing, but your life as a human being has only just begun. At this point, you're still a toddler. There's no need to hurry it."

"You think so?"

"There are some things in this world that you can never get back. Your life as princess royal is over. There's no reclaiming that piece of the past. Don't you think it'd be better to abandon it completely and consider instead what you did wrong and learn from it?"

"I suppose."

"The trappings of royalty are a stumbling block. In any case, lose the throne once and it's gone for good. As far as that goes, being an ordinary person is a lot easier. As long as you're still alive, there's always time for second chances."

"Yeah," said Shoukei, looking down at the hanjuu. His soft, charcoal-gray coat looked quite warm to her eyes, and his fine, glimmering, silver whiskers struck her as quite pretty. "You know, it just occurred to me, but you're probably quite comfortable."

Rakushun laughed. "For now. Come summer and it'll be truly tiresome." Shoukei laughed softly as well.

9-3

"Excuse me, Enho, but would you mind if I took off for today?"

After breakfast, Youko approached Enho as he was leaving for the elementary school.

"Not at all. Where to? Will you be late?"

"I should be home before the gates close. I'm going to Takuhou."

Enho hiked up his bushy white eyebrows. He leaned forward and said, "Why now, out of the blue like this?"

"I'd like to go see the city. Something wrong?"

Enho hesitated for a moment and then shook his head, averting his gaze. "Go ahead, go take a look. It's all fine by me."

With that cryptic remark, Enho turned and left through the courtyard. Youko scowled as she watched him go, wondering, "What was that about?"

Gousui Gorge formed the border between Ei Province and Wa Province. Crossing the rope suspension bridge over the gorge brought you to Shisui Prefecture. It was then a half-day wagon ride to the prefectural capital, Takuhou.

Youko sat in the back of the wagon and pulled on her jacket. In En, these kinds of suspension bridges were only used on very wide rivers. And the river crossings were well organized. Wagons were ferried across the river on boats. In Kei, you had to get off the wagon. There weren't that many bridges in the first place.

Bridges over gorges like Gousui were limited to places where a ferry landing couldn't be built to cross the river. As these were suspension bridges that horse-drawn wagons could not traverse, passengers had to disembark and then pick up a connecting ride on the other side. But a bridge that could be crossed was better than the alternative. At wider ravines, you couldn't even do that and had to go on very long detours.

Kei is poor, she thought, observing the passengers on the opposing shore waiting for wagons to pick them. Comparing Kei to En was a pointless exercise, though.

Arriving at Takuhou after a half-day's journey, she saw that the chaos had far more deeply scared the city than Hokui. In Hokui, damaged houses had been torn down and new structures were being built. All around Takuhou, remnants of burned-out and half-wrecked buildings stood there abandoned. Rough shacks lined the unreclaimed land outside the city. Sullen-looking groups hung out around open fires, the kind of refugees you never saw in Hokui.

Ei Province was doing very well. The province lord of Ei was the Taiho, Keiki. Additionally, as in Hokui, citizens of the Duchy of Yellow could expect relief from taxes. The stark contrast with Gahou, the ill-reputed province lord of Wa, was plain to see.

She climbed down from the wagon and paid the driver. She passed through the gates, listening to Hankyo's whisperings. Following his directions, she made her way to the southwest corner of the city.

Past a certain street, the rows of houses turned smaller and cruder. Before long, things got even worse. Hungry children on the street, faces tight with hunger. The listless eyes of adults squatting in patches of sunlight. Unconsciously, Youko found herself taking a tighter hold on the overcoat she carried in her left hand. With her right she gripped the hilt of the sword bundled inside the coat.

There, the hushed voice whispered from her heels.

Youko glanced from one end of the street to the other. Compared to the state of everything else around them, one of the houses was in rather good condition. As expected, anybody wanting to do business in this kind of neighborhood would first want to preserve the reputation of the establishment.

Youko approached the tavern, entered the open doors. Inside were several suspiciously-dressed men, even compared to the type you'd expected to be hanging out in this neighborhood. Their eyes fell on Youko.

"What you want, boy?"

Standing at the back was the man she had seen in Hokui.

"Just stopped by to ask for directions. You got a restaurant here?"

The men had already found other things to occupy their attention. A single man came up to her and pulled out a chair at a nearby table.

"Have a seat. You got lost?"

"Looks like it."

Youko sat down in the chair. She felt a sensation creeping up her spine, Jouyuu manifesting himself. Jouyuu was one of Keiki's shirei. He dwelt inside her, and now he was tensing up. Sensing danger, he was preparing himself and warning her. In fact, though the men at the tables around her had all looked away, she knew they were all focused on her presence.

"Hey, you." The man planted his hand on the table and leaned over her. The thin ring wrapped around his thick, gnarled fingers left a strange impression on her.

"You a girl?"

Youko looked up at him. "And if I am?"

The man laughed. "Ballsy, you are."

"I'll take that as a compliment. This your place?" The man nodded. Youko looked into his eyes and smiled. "Have we met before? In Hokui?"

"No," the man grunted. "Not that I recall."

From the expression on his face, Youko couldn't tell if he really didn't remember her or if he was only pretending he didn't.

"You gotta be kidding, you come to see me?"

"Just had a feeling we'd met before."

Youko didn't pursue the matter further. Everything about the place was fishy, the man, the tavern. She was going to have Keiki check out exactly who they were.

"Well, I do recall asking about getting something to eat."

The big man exclaimed in amazement under his breath. He looked down at her with something approaching admiration. "Well, ain't you the plucky one. You got money?"

"Are you telling me this is a pricey place?"

"Pretty damned pricey."

"Well, then," said Youko, standing up. "Perhaps I did come to the wrong place. So, what's the best way to get back to the main street?"

The man took a step forward. "Who are you?"

"A traveler."

"You expect me to believe that? You got way more guts than fits your frame."

The men around her came to their feet. With flinty eyes they sidled toward her. Youko grasped the hilt of the sword inside the overcoat.

"What you come here asking questions for?"

"I needed directions."

"You take me for a fool?"

They had her on all sides. Six burly men. Youko took a firmer hold on the sword when an unexpected voice called out.

"Everybody, hold your horses!"

Youko stole a glance in the direction of the cry. The men as well turned toward the back of the tavern. When the big man turned, a gap opened up in the wall. She saw a boy there, maybe fourteen or fifteen. He appeared awfully small amidst all those big men.

He walked up to them, grabbed the big man by the arm. "Let her go." He said to Youko. "You may leave now."

"Hey." The big man tried to free himself. The kid wrapped his arm around his in an imploring manner. He also wore a ring on his finger. Youko committed it to memory.

"Sorry if they seem a little intimidating. They don't have much experience being around girls."

"Oh."

Continuing to tug on the big man's arm, he pressed his cheek against the man's upper arm and smiled. "Please don't take any offense."

Youko nodded. She turned on her heels. The cordon of men reluctantly broke apart. She pushed through them to the door, briefly glancing back over her shoulder at the young man. Then she straightened her head and marched out of the tavern.

"What you let her go for, Sekki?"

The big man watched the girl leave and then turned his attention to the boy hanging off his arm. The boy took a breath and let it out. He disentangled his arm and laughed. "I didn't do it for her sake. I did it for yours, big brother."

"You saying a little thing like her could have taken us?"

"That was no ordinary courage." Sekki glanced at the door the girl had just left through. "That was a very dangerous girl."

"What?"

"When she put her overcoat down on the chair, it made far too heavy a sound." Sekki narrowed his eyes. "Considering the length, I'd say it was a sword. A long sword."

Every eye in the place turned toward the door.

Youko walked down the forlorn streets feeling distinctly dissatisfied.

Something is going on.

That big guy was definitely the man she had seen in Hokui. Furthermore, the men hanging around inside that tavern were a hard bunch, and they gave off a mean vibe. Hardly the typical clientele. And then that kid. Youko drew her brows together.

She drew close to the main thoroughfare. She raised her head. From the intersection ahead of her came a scream. Not of one or two people, but the cries of many. And the sound of wheels racing along the ground, the pounding of horses' hooves.

Youko ran down the alleyway and sprinted into the main thoroughfare. She saw a carriage fleeing down the street. People standing around in shock. The body of a child crumpled on the ground.

The slanting rays of sunlight bathed the avenue in a whiter shade of pale.

9-4

At last, Suzu could get down from the wagon and stretch her aching back. They had arrived at Takuhou, the westernmost city in Wa Province. Ei Province was not far past this city. And after that, it was a journey of no more than five days.

Helping Seishuu down from the wagon, Suzu had to smile. "Tomorrow we'll be in Ei Province."

"Yeah," Seishuu smiled in turn, and then slumped to the ground. This happened a lot more, lately. Just as he was getting up, his knees would give out.

"You okay?"

"You carry me, and I'll be okay."

"When you're better, I'm going to work you like a horse."

Seishuu laughed. Of course, she couldn't carry him around while she searched for an inn, so she went to ask the driver if he'd look after him for a while. "Just until I find a room, if you don't mind"

"Okay. But be back before the gates close."

The gates of the city closed at sunset. After that, there was no coming or going. Suzu searched the sky. The sun was still not so low in the sky.

"I'll be back as soon as possible."

Seishuu sat beside the gate and watched the people walking to and fro. A few yards off, the driver twiddled his thumbs.

"Hey, Mister, you can go if you want."

When the man turned to him, Seishuu smiled and pointed beyond the gates. For some reason or another, the words rarely came out of his mouth right. People frequently misunderstood him. But he wasn't self-conscious. Suzu could understand him, but other people couldn't, no matter how often he repeated himself.

"You go. Okay." Seishuu again got to his feet. He tottered a bit, but could stand.

When the man saw this, he smiled in turn. "Thanks!" he called out, and jogged back to his wagon. He had people waiting at home for him. He waved as he drove through the gate.

Seishuu waved after him. He looked around. He didn't see Suzu. It was boring, but if he didn't stay here, they'd probably end up missing each other. In the meantime, he wandered around the gate. The outer loop road ran around the city just inside the walls. Stalls lined the avenue on both sides, narrowing the road somewhat, but it was still plenty wide.

Seishuu tottered along, apologizing to the people he bumped into. He went over to look at the gate. Peddlers' voices sang out over the crowds. From somewhere close came the sound of buskers. The spirited music flowing around him. Trying to see where it was coming from, he stepped into the street.

He didn't hear the sound of the horse-drawn carriage, drowned out by the music. As it came rushing at him from the right, he didn't see it. He was blind on that side.

The look on a man's face directly across the way at last told him of the two teams of horses bearing down on him. He hurriedly tried to jump out of the way, but for Seishuu, who lately couldn't walk a straight line without calmly putting one foot carefully in front of the other, this was a near impossibility. He staggered, and far from getting out of the way, tumbled to the ground in front of the carriage.

The carriage came to a hasty halt. The horses reared and neighed. This is awkward, Seishuu thought. The carriage was opulently detailed, the property of an aristocrat. He'd catch a thrashing for blocking the road.

"What are you doing? Get out of the way!" The censorious voice rang out from inside the carriage.

"Sorry," Seishuu muttered. He hastened to stand, but tripped over his own feet.

"What is this brat blocking my way for?"

"I'm sorry, sir. You see, I'm not doing too well."

A man dressed in ministerial robes glared at him. He couldn't understand Seishuu. Seishuu knelt and bowed his head.

"Couldn't care less. Go." The voice of the man inside the carriage was laced with laughter.

Seishuu frantically tried to get up and flopped back down again. Once more. Now, like this, crushed in such an inconceivable manner. He again tried to rise, heard the sound of carriage begin to roll, the shrill snap of the whip. The horses neighed and galloped straight toward him.

He attempted to back out of the way, but his legs wouldn't cooperate. He had to try and crawl, but all of a sudden the energy had gone out of his body. He futilely clawed at the earth and collapsed there on the ground. The horses' hooves raised a cloud of dust about his head.

His thoughts stopped. There was nothing he could think to think about.

Screams echoed down the boulevard.

The carriage rushed on without a pause. Then it slowed and resumed its leisurely pace. His retinue followed after, passing down the street as if nothing had happened. Everyone else who had watched the tragedy unfold before their eyes froze in horror. Within an empty space inside the crowd lay the trampled child.

Many there thought to rouse themselves to help him, but were equally cowed at the thought of the retinue turning back. The banner that they carried was the banner of prefectural governor. It was his carriage. His name was Shoukou. Making a scene in his presence was a very risky thing to do. Everybody who lived along the street had learned that lesson well.

The child moaned. Yes, he might still be saved. But wait at least until Shoukou's carriage has turned the corner.

The child lifted his head slightly and then let fall. He heard the sound of his own skull splashing into the mire of his own blood. Again he tried to raise his head and look for help, but could not.

The people stopped on the street and looked at him with vacant eyes. No one was coming to his rescue. He wanted to get up but could not.

It hurts, Suzu.

Someone ran out of the nearby alleyway. She stopped, spun around with an extraordinary grace and rushed over to him.

"Are you okay?"

She knelt down next to him. He had no idea who she was. His eyes were already growing so dim that all he could see was that her leggings were soaked with red.

She called out, "Somebody bring a wagon!" Seishuu felt her warm hand on his shoulder. She said, "Hold on."

"Oh damn, I'm dying."

"You'll be okay."

"Suzu will get all weepy on me." And once you got her started, the tears just kept coming. It was such a downer.

He thought nothing else after that.

Suzu ran over from the hitching post next to the gate. Seishuu was suspiciously nowhere to be found. Where did he go? she asked herself, looking around. Not far off, a crowd of people was gathering. Something was going on. A strange wind blew down the avenue.

She finally approached the bystanders, asking, "Have you seen a kid about this tall?" She strayed closer to the crowd. Though there were quite a number gathered there, they were shrouded in silence. "Um, have you seen a kid with orange hair?"

A voice called out from the other side of the crowd. "Do you mean this child?"

Suzu clawed her way through the throng and froze on the spot. A person was kneeling there on the ground and next to her the crumpled form of a child.

"Seishuu!"

He must have collapsed. His condition had been getting worse, lately. She rushed up to him and stopped in shock. Where was all this blood coming from?

"Seishuu!" Suzu knelt, scanned the faces around them. "What happened? Somebody call a doctor!"

"It's too late."

Suzu turned abruptly to the source of that calm voice. "But if we don't get a doctor--"

"He's dead."

Suzu stared at the girl with wide eyes. She was the same age as her, perhaps a tad younger, her crimson hair such a vivid red it looked almost dyed.

"No… . "

"Your name?"

Suzu shook her head. This was no time for pleasantries. They had to go for help immediately.

"If you are Suzu, then he asked that you not cry for him." The girl lowered her eyes. "I'm pretty sure that's what he wished me to tell you."

"This can't be!" Suzu touched his body. It was still warm to the touch. "Seishuu!"

How did he get this awful wound? His particular orange hair, that so agreed with everything about him, was splattered with blood. Why were his arms and legs all bent up like this? Why was his chest caved in like this?

"No, it's not true… is it?"

But they were going to Gyouten. They were going to meet the Royal Kei and she was going to cure him. Suzu took the boy's body in her arms, embracing him like the hostage rescued from the enemy.

"What happened?"

"I don't know. When I found him, he was already like this on the ground. I suspect he was trampled by a horse."

"Whose?" Suzu surveyed the people around her, seeking out the villain. They all shook their heads. "Bastards!" Who could do such a thing? She balled her hands into fists, the question echoing over and over in her mind. "Seishuu… the bastards who did this… !"

The drum sounded, announcing the closing of the gate. The crowd melted away in ones and twos. Before long, no one was left in the thoroughfare but the weeping Suzu and the body of the boy.

"Seishuu. Gyouten is right there in front of us."