A Thousand Leagues of Wind, the Sky at Dawn

10-1

"Youshi, what's all that blood!"

Rangyoku's voice cried out as soon as Youko took off her overcoat. Youko shook her head. "It's not mine. I came across an injured boy in Takuhou."

"Goodness gracious!"

"The boy was run over by a carriage. The whole thing gave me a bad feeling."

With the gate closing fast approaching, she had left Takuhou in a hurry, rode Hankyo till they were near Hokui and made it by the skin of her teeth.

"The carriage was already some ways off when I got there, but the only conclusion I can come to is that it was responsible. Yet it didn't stop and nobody chased after it."

"Well, that's Shoukou for you."

"Who?" said Youko, leaning toward her.

Rangyoku returned to her chair in the main room and continued the sewing that she had interrupted. "The governor of Shisui. If it was a real luxurious carriage, then it was probably him. Nobody but the governor ever rides in a carriage like that."

"He is that well known?"

"Very much so. A beast like him doesn't associate with little people like us." Rangyoku frowned. "There are people in Hokui who run away from Shisui. You don't hear so much about it recently. They say that prefectural guards at the border inspect everybody who tries to leave. Lots of bad rumors come out of that place."

"Really?"

"We're really lucky, this being the Taiho's domain, and all. I've heard that the Marquis of Wa is a really dreadful person. A long time ago, he used to be the duke here."

"That's what Enho says, too."

Rangyoku nodded. "People say it was really awful back then. Thankfully, he got sent to Wa Province. It must be tough on the people of Wa. There's no guarantee that our peaceful lifestyle will go on forever. We live now in the Duchy of Yellow, but I don't know if that's going to last, either. Even if we stay in the Duchy of Yellow, when I turn twenty I'll move to a homestead, and it could be in Wa."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"It'd be better if I could find a good person in the next two years." Rangyoku laughed. Youko tilted her head quizzically. "Find a nice guy in Hokui and get married at the same time I get my partition. If I'm registered under his name, I could transfer my partition to his village. If there's available land, that is."

Youko blinked several times. "That's your reason for getting married?"

"Where you get your partition is really important. Do you know what an intercessor is?"

Youko shook her head. "No."

"They introduce you to a marriage partner, set the conditions and arrange for the meeting. For a fee, they register you on the census and transfer the land. And after that, you split up. That's what an intercessor does."

"That's incredible."

"You think so?"

"In Yamato, marriage is not so simple. Well, recently, people have become very adept at getting divorces, but it's not exactly an admirable thing to do. Splitting up so simply is pretty surprising."

Rangyoku giggled. "Yamato must really be a great place. In my case, when I find the right person, we're going to stay together and have children and raise a family. But if my partition ends up in Wa, that's what I'll do. Did you know that the tax rate in Shisui is seventy percent?"

"You're kidding!"

Taxes typically came to ten percent of the harvest. Adding in special levies to support the military and the civil service, it shouldn't exceed twenty percent. That was established policy.

"Levies amount to twenty percent, and there's a ten percent poll tax. A twenty percent excise tax for building bridges and dikes. A contingency tax for defending against youma and funding the orphanages. It all adds up to seventy percent."

"That's crazy."

The law consisted of the Law of the Land and the Divine Decrees, also known as the Great Colonnade. The Divine Decrees were the provisions handed down by Heaven. Not even a king could violate them. Laws promulgated by the king were known as the Law of the Land. It was equally forbidden for province lords and governors to abrogate the Law of the Land. The tax rate was established according to the Law of the Land, and it was ten percent. Province lords and governors were allowed to impose another five percent on top of that. The current imperial tax rate had been reduced to eight percent, and no additional levies were allowed.

That's what Youko said. "Levies are not now allowed. Furthermore, I haven't heard of any additional taxes being imposed. To start with, what in the world are these contingency and excise taxes? Those services should be provided by the Imperial Army."

Rangyoku said with a nervous laugh, "That's why they say Shoukou is a tyrant. Really, I can't understand why the Empress looks the other way when there are people like him around." She cut the thread she was sewing with and stuck the needle in the pincushion. "Better get dinner ready. You need to change. If Keikei sees all that blood, it'll throw him for a loop."

Youko left the main hall and went straight to the study. She called out to Enho and entered the room. He was replacing a book on the bookshelf. When he saw her his eyes widened.

"Youko, where did that blood come from?"

"I helped somebody who was in an accident. That's not why I'm here. Did you know that the tax rate in Shisui is seventy percent?"

Enho sighed softly. "I see. You heard about that. That's why you went to Shisui."

"That's actually not why I went to Shisui, but is it true?"

"It's true. Settle down."

"I don't recall ever authorizing that!"

In response to this outburst, Enho took another breath and showed her to a chair. "Losing your temper won't help anybody. Look, Youko, the tax rate in Hokui is thirty percent."

Youko gaped at him. "But Hokui is in the Duchy of Yellow!"

"No matter how compassionate a duke we may have, it won't do much good if he can't keep an eye on things every minute of day."

Youko took a deep breath and dejectedly sat down in front of Enho.

"Don't let it get you down. No enlightened monarch can take over the reins of government all by herself. Without capable ministers to back her up, the rule of law will never take hold in the kingdom."

"But--"

"Kei of late has not been blessed with enlightened monarchs. Have you heard the people of Hokui complaining? You haven't. Back when Gahou was in charge, the tax rate was fifty percent. Under the Duchy of Yellow, it's thirty percent. Everybody is very grateful for that."

Youko had nothing to say in reply.

"Of the seventy percent tax that Shoukou levies, the imperial tax comes to ten percent. Gahou skims off forty percent. The remaining twenty percent is left to Shoukou. Shoukou is a skilled bureaucrat with a knack for tax collection, so Gahou takes a special interest in him. At any rate, Shoukou seems to be just the kind of person capable of raising that forty percent for Gahou."

"But why?" Why were such things allowed to go on? Youko found herself on the verge of tears at her helpless, worthless state.

"In fact, in Wa Province reclamation projects are thriving. Building dikes here and there, bridges here and there. Gahou insists that he is not collecting taxes, but spending money that was already set aside. And if he is building dikes and bridges with that money, it's difficult for the kingdom to then criticize him. Nevertheless, the bridges in Wa tend to come falling down. Even when the rain doesn't fall. It's something of a joke. But if everybody says it's because the engineers are cutting corners, again, it's hard to directly criticize Gahou."

"So that's what it comes down to."

Chousai, who had the Privy Council under his thumb--well, having demoted him, she ought to refer to him as Taisai--but Seikyou and his ilk hated Gahou like snakes hate scorpions. All this venom notwithstanding, it had to be said that Gahou never left a flank open to attack. If Seikyou could do nothing, then short of an Imperial Rescript delivered by Youko herself, Gahou would stay one step ahead of the law. Many voices within the ministries clamored for such a Rescript, but many objected just as vehemently, saying that enacting Rescripts not founded on hard evidence could plunge the kingdom into chaos. Even those opposed were distressed by Gahou's actions, making clear how unsympathetic a character he was.

"But Gahou and Shoukou are not the only public servants lining their own pockets. The kingdom is replete with them. Arresting only Gahou and Shoukou will accomplish nothing. Another Gahou would soon appear."

Youko lifted her head. "But better than doing nothing."

"And on what basis?"

"That is--"

"Shoukou is a beast, but with Gahou giving him cover, getting a warrant would be difficult. If it were that simple, somebody would have already taken care of it."

"Today I saw Shoukou kill a child."

Enho looked at her in surprise. "Really? This was something Shoukou actually did?"

"Probably."

Youko explained the situation. Enho sighed. "I see, and that person was the one responsible. Do you think that it would be enough to arrest him on?"

"But--"

"He'll no doubt claim that he wasn't the one in the carriage. And if not that, then you'll see a mountain of testimonials that it wasn't the carriage itself that killed the boy. Don't forget that Shoukou is a governor because he can wield that kind of power."

Youko bit her lip.

"It is not good to leave such a public servant to his own devices, but bend the law in order to exact retribution, and the law loses its meaning. That is a far worse sin. Let's not get impatient."

Youko bowed and left the study. She tightly shut the door to her own room.

"Hankyo, I hate to impose, but I'd like you to go to Kinpa Palace."

"About Shoukou?"

"Yes. We've got to do something. Tell Keiki that I'd like him to investigate."

"By your command."

With that, the room fell silent. Youko furrowed her brow. The image of the boy rose up in her mind. He had been so emaciated. Whether or not Shoukou had deliberately killed him, she couldn't say.

"It is all so sad."

And such a small child. If Shoukou had killed him, then it became her responsibility for keeping such a monster in office.

The boy's dying words echoed in her ears. He didn't want to die because Suzu would weep for him. His older sister? Or… Youko suddenly looked up. "Suzu?"

What a strange name. Hardly a common name around here. Perhaps… .

Because Youko was listed upon the Registry of Wizards and everything was automatically translated for her, her language skills were truly lame. Thinking back about it now, she couldn't recall what language the girl had spoken in. She couldn't even remember what she looked like. Only the pain and grief in her eyes. Why hadn't she noticed, why hadn't she taken the time to ask?

Where were you born?

Youko glanced down at her bloodstained clothing. I need to go back there, to Shisui. She shook her head. What would she say to her? Shoukou was stayed in office because of her. In Kei, there were still laws that discriminated against kaikyaku. She hadn't repealed them. If she met a kaikyaku, she would have nothing to say worth listening to.

"I really am worthless as a monarch."

10-2

The way I see it, there's two kinds of crying.

It's true, Suzu thought, gazing at the casket being lowered into the grave. She had never wept such heartbreaking tears. The lamentations tore at her chest until she was out of breath, until there was nothing left inside her but emptiness.

The sad little shrine stood alone in the cemetery outside the city of Takuhou. The barrel-like casket sat there throughout the night and now disappeared into the hole.

Stop, Suzu had begged the grave keeper. Don't bury him. It's too sad. She knew it was a meaningless request.

He reassured her with a pat on the back and all but tore the casket from her grasp and hauled it away. Again, she repeated the same vain request as a stone struck the top of the casket and the grave was filled in.

The round shape of the casket symbolized the egg from which people were born in this world. From the husk you were born, to the husk you shall return. The ranka containing the child was plucked from the riboku. The parents would tap on the ranka with a stone to create a crack, a good luck charm to ensure a quick birth. Following that custom, they used a round, egg-like casket made from fired-clay, and then, presaging the reincarnation of the dead, opened a fissure in its surface with a stone.

The hole was filled in, leaving behind a small mound of earth. Even after the grave keepers left, Suzu stood there dumbly.

I knew it all along.

She knew that Seishuu was going to die. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had always known it was going to happen. The symptoms were too severe. He couldn't eat. He was wasting away. He was getting worse all over.

Could even the Royal Kei have saved him? The empress surely should have been able to. On the other hand, far from everything turning out okay, it was just as likely that neither the empress nor the royal surgeons could have done anything for him.

"But he didn't deserve to die like that."

Why'd he have to get killed in a hit and run? Even if he hadn't, he wouldn't have lived that much longer.

"I am an idiot." Suzu clutched at the earth. "I put all my faith in the Royal Kei. Why didn't I take him to a doctor in Goto!"

Taking him to a doctor might have proved pointless as well. That fear, coupled with the conviction that the Royal Kei would save him, had created these foolish expectations. Better to have taken him to a doctor in Goto, right after they got off the boat. If they only hadn't come here.

"Seishuu… I'm sorry." The sobs still filled the throat. Her tears had not dried. "I'm sorry."

A cloud passed across the sun. Suzu stared at her own shadow.

"Miss, the gates are closing."

She turned blankly toward the sound of the voice. She saw a figure of a smallish person. For a moment, she grasped at false hopes.

"You going to be here long? Your teeth are chattering."

"Leave me alone."

He looked three or four years older than Seishuu. About fourteen. A small-framed boy with black hair. The boy said, "In Kei, it's still not safe to be caught outside a city at night."

Suzu glared at him. "Leave me alone. Don't worry about me."

"You want to get eaten by a youma? You got some sort of death wish?"

"You wouldn't understand. Go on ahead."

The boy didn't answer. For a little while, standing behind her, she felt his eyes on her back. "Nobody understands how I feel at all!" she cried.

The boy answered quietly, "Crying out of self-pity does no respect to the dead."

Suzu's eye widened in surprise. People who cry because they feel so sorry for themselves. "Who are you?"

"I'm from Takuhou. Shall we return together?"

Suzu got to her feet. Once again she looked down at the small mound of earth. "Do you know who he was?"

"Everybody knows about it. You came from Sou?"

The boy held out his hand. Suzu took it. He had a warm, delicate palm. She said, "This child is a child of Kei. He fled the kingdom and went to Kou. Then he fled Kou and went to Sou. And now he was returning to Kei."

"I see," the boy said to himself. He looked back at the mound of earth. "That is sad."

"Yes," Suzu nodded. The tears spilled down her cheeks. Still weeping, the boy's hand in hers, they returned to the city.

"Are you from Takuhou?"

They arrived back at the city just as the gates closed. Inside the gates, Suzu averted her eyes from the right-hand side of the road and more tightly gripped the hand in hers. She didn't let go until they had crossed the main boulevard.

"Are you from Kei, then?"

"No. From Sai."

"That's a long voyage. Do you have a place to stay?"

Suzu nodded her head. "Thank you for talking to me."

"Sure," said the boy. He looked at her. "Cheer up. If you don't walk facing forward, you'll end up falling into a hole."

"Into a hole?"

"The hole of your own self-pity."

"Yeah," Suzu muttered to herself. That would be disrespectful to Seishuu. She could hear Seishuu still scolding her. "You're right about that. Thanks."

"No problem."

"What's your name?"

"Sekki."

"Hey," said Suzu, looking into his face. "Do you know if that guy who ran over Seishuu has been arrested?"

Shh, Sekki said, signaling with his eyes. "Better you don't talk about such things so people can hear." He led her into a nearby alleyway. "That guy won't be arrested."

"You mean you know who it is?"

"Not an acquaintance, if that's what you mean. I wouldn't want to be known as an associate of that beast."

The vehemence with which he spoke surprised her. "Who is it?"

"Everybody in the city knows: The governor killed the boy traveler."

"The governor?"

The governor, Shoukou. Remember that name. The most dangerous man in Shisui Prefecture."

"He killed Seishuu?"

"The boy fell down in front of Shoukou carriage. The carriage stopped. And then--"

"And then--he would do something like that?"

"Shoukou is completely capable of it."

"That's awful." Suzu slumped against the wall and slid to the ground. "Seishuu couldn't even walk straight." She hugged her knees. "I should have carried him on my back." Why had she been so unwilling to? He hardly weighed anything at all. She could have done it.

"You shouldn't blame yourself, Suzu."

Suzu shook her head. There was no way she couldn't but blame herself.

"And it does no good to blame Shoukou."

"Why not!" A fierce expression rose to Suzu's face.

"To begrudge Shoukou is as good as getting murdered by him all over again." He turned and added almost as an aside, "I guess no one taught you that until now."

10-3

From the eastern quarter of Ryuu, Shoukei and Rakushun crossed Mt. Koushuu and entered En. As soon as they had crossed the border, Shoukei gaped at the splendidly maintained roads.

They had traveled parallel to the ridgeline of the Koushuu mountains, making their way along the valleys, then climbed the switchbacks up the face of the mountains, stayed a night there, climbed further to the summit of a small peak. At the summit, a city hugged the slopes. A high barrier wall divided the very center of the long, narrow city. In the wall was a huge gate. This side of the gate was Ryuu. On the other was En.

The differences in the appearance of the streets and the cities themselves facing the barrier wall were highly curious. Upon reaching the gates, the worn, pothole-filled roads turned into trim, even, stone-paved avenues. The typical panorama of small shops lining the rutted streets along the main boulevard, people, carriages and carts all tangled up together. Crossing into En on the other side of the gate, the shops stood smartly in tiers and waves of people flowed down the sidewalks between the shops and the right-of-way alongside the road.

"Amazing."

The building lining the streets themselves were tall. Many were built from stone, four or five stories, windows glazed with glass. Ryuu also had tall building with glass windows, but Ryuu left you with a gloomy, decrepit impression. Perhaps because the buildings in Ryuu were so much older. Perhaps because of the frozen water puddling on the worn stone roadways. Perhaps because the glass windows were clouded and cracked. In any case, it looked as if Ryuu had tried mightily to mimic En, but had tired of the effort and quit halfway through.

I'd heard En was wealthy, but… .

The wealthiest of the northern kingdoms. Yet the sight of this city, more than anything she had imagined, left her speechless.

"En is a cold country, so how can it be so different?"

When it came to the seasons, Hou and En were not that different. En was situated further south than Hou, but as it was located in the northeast corner of the continent, during the winter, it was swept by freezing seasonal winds. In fact, the sense she got as they walked along was that it got no warmer as they drew closer to En.

"Are there large mines here?"

Rakushun glanced over his shoulder and smiled. "No. Unlike Hou or Ryuu, En doesn't have much in the way of natural resources. Growing wheat and raising cattle, that's about it."

The cities were big and business flourished, explained Rakushun, but the larger portion of the kingdom's wealth came from the annual harvest.

"But a difference this big!"

"That has to do with the difference in the qualities of the kings."

"The kings? That accounts for this?"

"En has not faltered in five hundred years. That accounts for the biggest difference."

"But--"

"When the throne is occupied, natural disasters occur less frequently. With fewer wars and natural disasters, the population grows. The people work hard and cultivate land and agricultural stocks grow as well. By maintaining the fields well, harvests flourish. The kingdom carefully controls surpluses of grain to ensure against overproduction and price deflation. The kingdom manages the land, and stockpiles against a rainy day, and thus keeps every nook and corner in good condition."

"For example," Rakushun continued, "dig drainage canals to prepare for the rainy season. Build bridges over the canals, and secure them with stone foundation so they don't collapse. Cover the canals where they cut through roads. By preparing and following a well thought-out plan, the cities can be protected. Over ten or twenty years, carry these programs throughout the kingdom. With a kingdom being guided over a long period of time by a single policy, it will come to be adopted in the kingdom's furthest precincts."

Shoukei's father had sat on the throne for thirty years. The previous king had ruled for not half a century. In contrast to that, this was the result of a single king governing for half a millennium.

"The kingdoms of short-lived kings are quite unfortunate. You finally create a business and build it into something big, and it's swept away by a flood and you have to start all over again."

"True."

"The Royal Hou was infamous for his cruelty. Maybe not to you, but such a king was not a blessing to his subjects."

Shoukei glanced briefly at Rakushun's profile. "Probably not."

"The king is there to help the people. Oppressive kings do not stay in their positions for long. But what is difficult now will become worse when a king falls. And when the Saiho dies as well, it will take five to ten years for the king to be chosen. Twenty years might not be unusual. When natural disasters have gone on for two decades, the land is all the more devastated. Even finding enough food to eat becomes problematic."

Shoukei said, "No matter the king, he gives his all for the people. But it's not necessarily true that these efforts will quickly come to fruition and yield results. When a kingdom is in chaos, so are men's hearts. For the time being, judgements must be severe and the people brought back to the straight and narrow. Don't you think that is necessary?"

Her father had said so often. Whenever he promulgated a new law, there were ministers who complained it was too strict. He repeatedly insisted that in order to reorganize a kingdom, such steps were required.

"But to such an extent? There are limits to everything. True, overthrowing a king is perhaps going too far."

"The Royal Hou did not fall because he lost the Divine Mandate, but because traitors assassinated him."

Rakushun nodded. "The province lord of Kei rose up and struck down the king. Though regicide is a grave crime, it is not always proscribed. In some cases, it might be preferable."

Shoukei bowed her head. It was beginning to dawn on her why her father had been so hated, why a traitor like Gekkei remained so popular. The people believed that Chuutatsu was only making things worse. Gekkei acted before ruin was visited upon them, and so they revered him. The people made their choices clear. And thus their reproach had turned on Shoukei as well, who had never once remonstrated with the king.

"Let's go," Rakushun said.

Shoukei walked from the rather sad Ryuu side of the city to the bright and thriving En side of the city. The name of both cities was Hokuro.

As expected, when entering En, passports were expected. According to custom, passports were always inspected when crossing an international border, in order to check the movement of criminals and inspect any belongings in your possession. You were not necessarily turned away if you didn't have a passport, but you did have to be questioned by an immigration official.

Having been told about this beforehand, Shoukei nervously told the border guard that she did not have a passport. She was shown to a building next to the gate, but another guard stopped then. "No need to bother," he said. "As long as you're with him, you can be on your way."

The guard politely handed Rakushun's passport back to him. Rakushun bowed and passed through the gate. Shoukei asked him again, "So exactly who are you?"

"Like I said, a student."

"Whenever I think about it, you're an awfully suspicious guy."

"I've got my reasons. Just as you have yours."

"It's almost as if your plan all along was to investigate Ryuu."

"That was part of it. I wanted to see what other kingdoms were like. When I was living in Kou, I heard a lot about En, but actually going there was a whole lot different. School is in recess from the New Year till spring. So I wanted to spend the time to take a look at the other kingdoms. As it turned out, there were people willing to make the necessary arrangements if I went to Ryuu. In exchange, I was to fill them in on the state of affairs in Ryuu."

Shoukei gave Rakushun a sideways glance. "You mean, like whether Ryuu is in decline."

"Yeah," Rakushun nodded. "This is a matter of no small import. If Ryuu really is failing, then its borders will become more and more dangerous. Refugees will start flooding out of Ryuu. A kingdom has got to prepare for that kind of eventuality. A heads-up beforehand can make all the difference."

"So, important people in En sent you to investigate."

"That's pretty much it. En is a wealthy kingdom, truly blessed. The land and the people are at peace. But that doesn't mean it is free from problems." Rakushun looked over his shoulder and pointed back at the gate. "The Ryuu side of the city is rather forlorn. No two ways about it, it's better to stay at an inn in En. Despite this, come nightfall and you have many people entering Ryuu. Why would that be?"

Shoukei craned her neck, looking backwards. "It is strange, now that you mention it. So many people leaving like that. There's no way they could make it to the next city now."

"It's because there's no low-rent district in En."

"Eh?"

"The people of En are well off. When they stay in an inn, they don't have to share lodgings with people they don't know. In the first place, such establishments aren't that common. And the clientele tend to be the kind who skip out on the rent, so innkeepers have no fondness for them. However, not all the citizens of En are rich. There are itinerants, refugees, people just scraping by. Lodgings for these people are hard to come by in En. True of traveling. In En, it's pretty much by carriage or nothing."

Carriages pulled by one or two teams of horses frequented the highways, speeding travelers from one city to the next. In the countryside, farmers with time on their hands would make their horse carts and wagons available for transportation. Otherwise, driving a carriage or stagecoach was an occupational specialty.

"Because En is a wealthy kingdom, there is no need for farmers to hire themselves out during the off-season. Usually, only the rich ride in carriages, but in En, anybody can. Moreover, the rates are reasonable, though not as cheap as a horse cart. People have enough in their pockets that they tend not to quibble. Still, lacking the horse carts that poor people can afford, if the poor have got to travel during the winter, it's on foot."

Shouko again glanced back at the gate. The travelers heading in the Ryuu were indeed a worn-out, unpretentious, motley-looking bunch. At a glance, it was obvious from the tide of people flowing through the customs houses on either side of the gate that they were mostly refugees and itinerants without passports.

"People flock to En because it is wealthy. But the distinctions between the citizens of En and the people flooding in, between rich and poor, can't be erased. Those who can't find lodging often camp out in the streets and freeze to death. Then you've got desperate men who, fearing that fate, become thieves and robbers. Refugees are En's biggest problem. In some of En's larger cities, the number of refugees and itinerants are becoming significant. In these past ten years, dealing with them has turned into a real headache."

"That's why you're concerned about the state of things in Ryuu."

"That would be it."

"So, tell me, who did endorse your passport?"

Rakushun only waved his tail in response.

"What, you can't show me?"

Without answering, Rakushun took the passport from his pocket and held it out to her. On the back was the fresh seal of the Chousai of En, one In Hakutaku.

"The Chousai… . "

Rakushun fluttered his whiskers. "Don't take that to mean I've ever talked to the man. The person who let me borrow the suugu got the endorsement from the Chousai for me."

The Chousai was the head of the Rikkan, the chief minister. Anybody who could make such a request from the Chousai would have to be close to the center of power.

"That's impressive."

Rakushun scratched at the bottom of his ear. "It's not that I'm an important person. But I do happen to know the Royal Kei."

"The Royal Kei?"

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Shoukei felt a pain in her chest. "How could someone like you--?"

Rakushun said, answering the rest of the question. "How could a hanjuu like me know her?"

Shoukei hurriedly apologized, "No, I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize. I am nothing more than the hanjuu you see. But I don't see anything wrong with that. Though you do make it sound as if there is."

"I didn't mean that."

"The Royal Kei is an acquaintance of mine. A friend. I like to think that she counts me as a friend, as well. From the outside looking in, it might strike some as very strange. I resisted it at first, too. I mean, she being an empress, and all. I told her once that I couldn't very well go around calling her my friend, and she practically chewed my head off."

"The Royal Kei did?"

"Yeah. She said that there was no more distance between us than that of two people standing next to each other." Rakushun smiled. "I found her dying at the side of the road. So I picked her up and took her to En."

Shoukei's mouth dropped open. "Dying at the side of the road? The Royal Kei?"

"She's a kaikyaku. A taika. She was swept onto the shores of Kou. At the time, the standing edict in Kou was to execute all kaikyaku. They pursued her until she collapsed from exhaustion."

Shoukei pressed her hand to her chest. She had believed that this girl who had become empress had been blessed with that great fortune without so much as lifting a finger.

"When I first took the Royal Kei to Kankyuu, I thought I'd get myself a nice little job as a reward. The longer I was with her, the pettier such goals became. When asked what I wished as a reward, I planned to say: admission to secondary school. But when the moment actually came, I blurted out: university. I'd mostly studied at home, so I was really bluffing when I said I wanted to go to college."

Shoukei looked at Rakushun, a jumble of feelings going through her. "I don't think anybody's going to give you a reward for taking me to En."

"That had nothing to do with it. You looked pretty miserable sitting there in that jail cell."

"Me?"

"Yours was the face of somebody who had taken about all she could take." He narrowed his eyes. "It reminded me of the Royal Kei when I first met her."

"So you picked me up and took me to En."

Rakushun laughed. "Like I told you, these chance encounters seem to be my destiny."