A Thousand Leagues of Wind, the Sky at Dawn

13-1

"We don't have a name for ourselves," Koshou said, drawing water from the well. Next to him, Suzu rinsed out the buckets and jugs. "We number no more than a thousand. Most of us are in Shisui Prefecture."

"Oh."

"If you need something in the city, search out a person wearing this ring. Ask him where he's from. Guaranteed, he'll acknowledge you with an eshaku."

"An eshaku?"

"Like this." He had Suzu hold out her hands and clench her left hand--but not tightly--and then cover the left hand with the right. She then raised her hands together and bowed. This was how people of stature greeted each other. To properly perform the eshaku, though, you should be wearing long sleeves. The jacket Suzu was wearing only came to her wrists.

"It feels funny."

Koshou smiled. "All that really matters is that you confirm that the person you're looking for is wearing a ring without drawing attention to it. When you ask where he's from, if he answers, Shikin in San County, Baku Province, then he's your man. If he asks your name, you say you're Otsu Etsu of Rou Shou."

"What's that mean?" Suzu asked with a quizzical expression.

Koshou chuckled. "Shikin is an old place name. Hundreds of years before, during the reign of King Tatsu, a wizard named Rou Shou showed up in Shikin."

"Was Shikin the location of his grotto?"

"No. Rou Shou didn't have a grotto. He was a wizard who gained his powers through the exercise of his own will. So he can be called Rou Shou or Shou Rou. This class of wizard uses the prefix Rou, meaning elder or old man. He's also called Count Shou."

"Oh, so he's a Senpaku, a self-made wizard who's an earl or count."

Wizards who had risen to the rank of count, and who had attained that rank by means of their own effort, also served at the Five Sacred Mountains. They were the Senpaku.

"He had been practicing his craft for the general public when King Tatsu invited him to serve in the Imperial Palace. His full name is Otsu Etsu. Nobody really knows if he existed or not. He shows up in legends and stories a lot."

"Huh."

"You may be asked the same things from a complete stranger. If someone else with a ring approaches you with these questions, you answer the same way."

"Oh, I see."

"If they're one of us, you can trust them, no matter what. It's guaranteed they'll help you. Our word is our bond. We take pride in it."

"All this in order to get rid of him?"

"Of course," Koshou nodded. "The countryside around Takuhou is crowded with graves. The bodies of the dead cover the land. Somebody has to take him down. Somebody has to bring him to justice."

Suzu stopped what she was doing. By him they mean the governor of Shisui Prefecture, Shoukou. She asked, "Why is someone like him allowed to get away with it?"

"It's said that there are people in high places who give him a pass."

"Like in Gyouten?" said Suzu, raising her head.

Koshou answered with a startled look. He put down the well bucket and sat down on the edge of the well. "Why do you say Gyouten?"

"A rumor I've heard to that effect. The most important person in Gyouten is protecting Shoukou."

"I see," Koushou muttered. "That certainly is being rumored about. It's said that none other than the Empress is protecting Shoukou. But I'm not convinced."

"It's not true?"

"I couldn't say. The one giving a free rein to Shoukou is Gahou."

"Gahou?"

"The Marquis of Wa Province. Shoukou's got the protection of the province lord. That's why he has a free rein. The Marquis is no less a beast than Shoukou. The only difference between them is, as villains go, Gahou is not as blind as Shoukou to appearances."

"I see."

"The Late Empress Yo-o made Gahou Marquis of Wa. She was not competent enough to withstand him, and so he purchased it with his flattery. Protests were lodged, appeals were made, arms were raised in resistance, but she continued to indulge him."

"That's awful."

"Even after the Empress acceded to the throne, he was left in power. There are those who don't believe he enjoys the support of the Empress, but it's not hard to believe. It was thanks to her that the Marquis of Baku was dismissed."

"The Marquis of Baku?"

Koshou stared up at the sky above the small courtyard. "The Marquis of the province to the west of Ei Province. The Marquis of Baku was greatly admired by his people. He is rumored to have been a wise and knowledgeable ruler. This past summer, before the Empress had claimed the throne, a pretender arose and cast the kingdom into turmoil. He resisted her to the very end."

"And for that he was dismissed? While Gahou and Shoukou remain?"

Koshou nodded. "Many people have their doubts about the Empress. None of us understand why the Marquis would be dismissed while Gahou is left where he is. On the other hand, the coronation was only recently. She may not be able to do anything about it."

Suzu sloshed the wash water out of the pail. "Doesn't seem to be much difference between this empress and the last one."

"Maybe so." Koshou gave her a good long look. "What exactly did you have in mind for the Royal Kei?"

Suzu averted her gaze. Koshou took a surprised breath. "You are one to act without thinking. Did you really have it in mind to go charging into Kinpa Palace? There's no way you could have pulled that off."

"You'll never know if you don't try."

Koshou pushed himself off the edge of the well and leaned over next to her. "That kid died in a bad way."

Suzu looked back at him, then looked at her hands.

"I hate to say it, but you can find unfortunate kids like that everywhere. They're hardly rare in this kingdom. This is a kingdom still in chaos. There are tragedies all over the place."

"Yeah. I know," Suzu said with a sigh. "I'm a kaikyaku."

"Yes," Koshou acknowledged with his eyes.

"I was thrown into this world where I could never go home again, I didn't understand what anybody said. I was truly pitiful."

"Yeah."

"But I wasn't truly pitiful. Compared to Seishuu, I was really lucky. I didn't understand that and kept on feeling sorry for myself and insisted on bringing Seishuu all the way here."

"You shouldn't blame yourself like that."

Suzu shook her head. "I was really lucky. Oh, I've been in a tight spot or two, but a little patience and a backbone were all I needed. I never imagined someone like Shoukou causing so much suffering for so many people. I really can't stand myself now." She laughed. "It was really a temper tantrum. Instead of taking it out on myself, I tried taking it out on Shoukou. Like Sekki said, I really do hate myself. But--" she said, raising her head, "we can't let Shoukou be, can we?"

"No, we can't."

"I don't know about the rest of the kingdom, but Shisui is an accursed place and the people here suffer because of it. I want to make it so nobody suffers like that anymore. I want to make it so nobody ever dies the way Seishuu died."

"I understand."

"The fact is, I don't trust myself. I don't trust what my own pain and bitterness are telling me to do. But if you and Sekki hate Shoukou enough to want him dead, then it is okay for me to hate him, too?"

"Yeah… sure." With a shrug, the big man crouched down next to the well and sighed, self-effacing smile coming to his lips. "To tell the truth, I don't get it myself."

"Eh?"

"If you can put something painful behind you, it's over. But being alive means there'll be no end to bad things happening. Still, worrying about every little thing gets you nowhere. Good things happen, too. Forget the bad and you can enjoy the good. You gotta keep putting one foot ahead of the other."

Suzu nodded and Koshou continued. "Honestly, I don't understand government and politics, complicated stuff like that. Whether or not Shoukou is a decent governor, I'm not one to say. Same with Gahou, same with the Marquis of Baku. Maybe Shoukou has some importance to the government. Maybe even a guy like that is useful to someone. But as for me, him being alive makes me tired."

"Makes you tired?"

"I'm a simple guy. When I hear about kids getting killed who did nothing wrong, I get mad. And getting mad makes you tired. It's hard to forget something that just rubs you the wrong way. Sekki's better at it than me. He went right from the county to the prefecture school, and even got into the district academy. His elementary school principal gave him a recommendation. There was nothing stopping him from becoming a government official. I gotta think he's got a bright future ahead of him. But I really can't say that makes me happy. So he becomes a government official, then what? If he gets into the government, is he gonna get used by Shoukou? Fall in with Gahou? I can't get excited about my little brother hanging around with people like that."

"Koshou… . "

"Sekki doesn't like it either. Even though he was interested in it, he quit. There are bad things you can't forget even if you want to. Things you can't be happy about even if you want to. Being that way wears me out. I hate it. Being alive is not enough. You want to feel good about life, right? You want to believe, hey, I'm glad I was born, I'm happy to be there. But as long as there are people like Shoukou around, I can't feel that way. That's why I gotta do something about it."

Suzu took a breath and let it out. "That's it?"

"That's it. If I thought I could storm the prefecture castle and kill Shoukou and put my mind at ease, I'd do it. But it wouldn't put my mind at ease. In the first place, I never could do it. When it comes to dealing with Shoukou, the only way I can think of is to approach him in numbers and force him from office. And if he said, over my dead body, well, then we'd have to oblige him. Anything I came up with on my own would be a waste. I haven't got enough self-discipline."

"Really."

"I've got a temper like a kid. Sekki's the one to think things through."

Suzu laughed. "I perfectly understand where you're coming from."

"Yeah?" the big man smiled.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Well, we need to borrow your sansui. We're collecting weapons. We can't go up against Shoukou and his bodyguards with shovels and hoes."

"So you need to transport some cargo?"

"Rou Hansei, a long-time friend of mine, is getting a shipment ready for us. Would it be okay for you to take your sansui there and back?"

Suzu nodded firmly. "Sure. No problem."

13-2

"This is Meikaku."

The driver dropped Shoukei off at the gates to the city. She looked at the ramparts in surprise. The haphazard state of the walls alone was a shock.

"What a strange city," she observed as she paid the driver.

He laughed scornfully. "That's what everybody says."

"I thought city walls were supposed to run in straight lines."

"Yeah," the young man said, gazing up at the walls.

The walls of a city as big as a provincial capital were normally wide enough to post sentries along the top. Merlons in the battlements provided cover for archers posted behind the parapets. Here and there structures called bastions ("horse faces") jutted out from the walls. Bastions were built in all shapes and sizes, but for no particular reason they were usually rectangular and of a fixed height.

But here at Meikaku, such regularity was hard to find. The wall would run along for a while at an impressive height and then suddenly dip down so low you could see the wall opposite. Some bastions were joined together by wall walks hardly wide enough to walk over. These structural undulations continued on like the untutored scribblings of a child.

Shoukei looked over her shoulder at the young driver. He again laughed sarcastically. "The only inns are in Hokkaku or Toukaku. Originally, the inns were in a bunch of warehouses outside the Boar Gate. They built a big wall around them and every year it gets bigger. Kind of a mess, huh? It's even worse inside, because the old walls were left in place. Try not to get lost."

"Thanks," Shoukei said.

The driver regarded the city walls with a nonplused expression and returned to the horse cart. Shoukei peered at the main gate. A big tunnel was carved into the wall. The gates were adorned with nothing more than a plain-looking pair of doors. The plate above the gate simply read, "Meikaku."

Like the driver had said, a crude rock pile of a wall obstructed the way. At the base of the wall, canvas tarps were stretched over jumbles of wooden planks to form a tent city crammed with huts and sheds barely big enough to lie down in. The overflowing tide of people, their faces glum and ragged, flowed right up to the gates. The refugees had built themselves a village on the vacant land. But it looked like one strong gust of wind would sweep it all away.

When she stepped inside the city itself, its decrepit condition became even more apparent. She had to wonder how many laborers had been pressed into hard service building these pointless, meandering walls. Some were so squat and narrow that they appeared to have been dumped there as refuse. And the others were amazingly high and thick.

The streets zigzagged through the chaotic city, ending in blind alleys. Shoukei had never seen such a confusing place. Buildings built without any rhyme or reason. Horse carts haphazardly blocking the flow of traffic. Milling crowds of refugees only throwing everything into complete chaos.

"What is with this city?" Shouko said under her breath.

She noticed people casting apprehensive glances in one particular direction. A number of them passed by her with tight faces, heading down a road that apparently ran to the city center. One man walked forward with a hard expression on his face. Another man turned back against the flow of people, looking fearfully over his shoulder as he headed in the opposite direction at a brisk clip.

What is going on? she asked herself.

Shoukei headed in the same direction, craning her neck to see. She turned a corner. The people moving in that direction had unexpectedly multiplied. Before long, the surging tide of humanity made retreat impossible.

"You'd better stop."

The sudden sound of someone's voice calling out to her made Shoukei turn back, even as the human wave bore her along. From within the throngs, an old man turned to her and held up his hand.

"You'd better not go. You're gonna see something you don't want to."

"What?" she wanted to ask, searching her surroundings, but the river of people bore her along with them. Before she knew it, she had come to the main boulevard of the city.

It was the center of the city. More than a boulevard, it approximated a town square. The streets abruptly opened up into a plaza surrounded by crumbling walls. Soldiers were posted around its circumference. In the center were a number of people tied together.

The thing she didn't want to see.

The people paraded to the center of the plaza were secured with ropes around their waists. Eyeing the brawny men securing the rope, Shoukei could tell that something was about to happen. The thick wooden posts arranged on the ground only reaffirmed this conviction.

A crucifixion. Those people were going to be nailed to those stakes. There are places other than Hou where this punishment is exacted?

Rakushun had told her that there was no kingdom without a death penalty. But decapitation was the usual method. A particularly severe sentence might entail planting the severed head on a pike. More cruel methods of execution were no longer carried out anywhere else, or so the very knowledgeable hanjuu had told her.

"You don't want to see this."

Somebody pulled on her coat. When she turned around, it was a small, middle-aged man with a tired look on his face. "This isn't the place for a girl like you. You should leave."

"Why are they doing this?"

The man shook his head. "The worse thing you can do in Wa Province is fail to pay your taxes, or run away from a labor gang. It was one or the other for most of them there."

"But… crucifixion… . "

"I know, it's news to most travelers. Nobody wants to spread bad news, that's why. So they leave Wa Province hearing no evil, seeing no evil. Come here and it's another story."

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"But this--"

Shoukei's voice was drowned out by a scream, intermingled with the sound of a stone mallet striking a nail. Without thinking, she turned and saw the writhing form of a man, one hand pinned to a wooden post.

"Stop… . "

Again, the heavy sound. Shoukei reflexively recoiled and shut her eyes. It used to happen all the time in Hou. None other than her own father had mercilessly sent so many people to the gallows.

In an instant, the memory and fear of almost being drawn and quartered shot through her thoughts. The vengeful voices and vitriolic cries of the townspeople as they dragged her into the square in front of the Rishi. The bitterness in Gobo's face as she raised the cane to flog her.

Another scream. Moans arose from the crowds surrounding the square. The rising clamor thankfully extinguished the sound of the falling mallet. Unable to bear it further, Shoukei took a step back. Her heel struck a stone and she almost lost her balance.

A stone.

A stone the size of her fist. Similar stones were strewn across the plaza, probably from the crumbling walls.

The screams echoed against the walls.

PAGE 118

Gobo's son had been executed for throwing a stone like this. How could taxes or forced labor matter so much? Such crimes were hardly commensurate with the extremities of pain that could reduce a big man to such wailing.

"Stop!"

Shoukei grabbed the stone at her feet. Why wasn't anybody stopping this? What kind of people were these? Before her mind could sort it out, her arm had acted. She threw the stone over the wall of people. It flew with no great force, striking one of the soldiers pushing back the crowds. The stone fell to the black earth and rolled several paces.

The crowd fell deathly silent.

"Who threw that!" bellowed a commanding voice.

Shoukei stepped back from where she had been standing.

"Whoever threw that stone, present yourself!

The eyes of the people next to her fell on her. The distress showed in their faces, as to whether or not to finger her as the assailant.

"Drag her out here!"

Responding to the command, the wall of people in front of her broke apart. As Shoukei stepped back again, somebody grabbed her wrist. Shoukei jerked her arm like a whip and broke free. She spun on her heels and clawed her way through the throngs. Once again, that same somebody grabbed her again, hard, yanking her half off her feet.

PAGE 119

"This way."

Shoukei fell to her knees. She raised her eyes. It was a girl her same age. A moment later her eyes fell upon the long overcoat the girl was wearing and she thought, No, a young man.

"This way. Quickly."

The girl spoke forcefully. There was no time to think. She dragged Shoukei along, forcing her way through the crowds. After too many steps to count, crawling most of the time, she was again pulled to her feet. Plowing people out of the way, they finally cut through and saw daylight.

"Where are you! Show yourself!"

Glancing briefly in the direction of the angry voices behind them, the two of them bolted from the square.

Escaping the wave of humanity, Shoukei let herself be dragged along as she ran. They barreled through the countless maze-like streets, arriving at the outskirts of the city near the ramparts. Through a fissure in the wall, they tumbled out of the city.

"I leapt before I looked," Shoukei gasped. The girl at last let go of her arm. Shoukei took a good look at her, vivid eyes set against her scarlet hair. She was definitely a she. Shoukei said, "Thank you."

Behind them in the city, the angry voices rang out.

"I understand the feeling," the girl said. "I tend to act before I think, too."

"It's like I couldn't stop myself."

Tagging along behind the girl, Shoukei peered back over her shoulder. Hard as it was for her to believe, she wondered if she'd caused any unnecessary grief to the people around her. She wondered how the prisoners had fared. The girl looked at her, as if reading her mind. "I'm okay," Shoukei said in strangely confident voice and nodding for no particular reason.

At the same time, some distance off to the side, came a shrill shout. "There she is!"

Ten or more soldiers turned the far corner of the ramparts. Shoukei froze. The girl planted herself in front of her. "Go," she said. "Get out of here."

"But--"

"Don't worry about me," she said, flashing a bold smile. She put her right hand to her waist and deftly drew out a sword.

Shoukei goggled at her. She didn't have time to ask, Do you know how to use that? The girl pushed her on her way. She hesitated and again looked back at the girl, who again told her forcefully to go.

"You'll be okay?"

"Don't sweat it."

Shoukei nodded. She'd be out in the open, cutting across the open countryside. So instead she followed along the weaving, undulating ramparts and soon disappeared from sight.

As she turned the last corner, she looked back and saw the red-haired girl, sword in hand, practically flying about the field. She was acting as a decoy. Shoukei spotted a soldier holding up his arm and pointing towards the girl. Most of soldiers went charging into the field.

Thank you, she said in her heart, and started running in earnest, looking for a place to crawl under. The wall here was too high to climb over. Maybe there was a hole in the wall somewhere.

She turned another corner when a voice above her said, "Hey!"

Thinking it was one of her pursuers, she ducked down. But then glancing up, she saw a man atop the parapets extending his hand down to her. Here the wall was low enough for him to reach her.

"Here, grab my hand."

Shoukei hesitated for a second, glanced behind her. She could hear the sound of footsteps approaching the corner of the wall she had just come around.

"Hurry!"

Shoukei grabbed the hand. The man was twenty-five or six. His strength belied his small size. He pulled Shoukei to the top of the wall with remarkable speed.

Three soldiers appeared from the corner of the ramparts. "Halt!" they called out.

She swallowed the pain from her practically dislocated shoulder, kicked her toes against the stone wall and crawled up to the wall walk. A soldier's hand reached for her foot and missed, clawing at her ankle. Her rescuer's hand still holding hers, she collapsed on the walkway.

She fell to her hands and knees, gasping for breath. Behind her, a soldier climbed onto the wall walk. The man almost casually delivered a kick that sent the soldier sprawling. The soldier roared with anger. The next soldier appeared, holding a spear over his head.

"Run!"

The man grabbed the business end of the spear as it was thrust toward him. A tug of war ensued, ending several second later with the soldier losing the battle and just as quickly finding the grip of the spear planted in his throat.

"Jump!" was the man's next command, as he whirled the spear like a knife through the air and positioned himself. The expression on his face was distant and dispassionate.

Shoukei nodded. It was a good twenty feet from the edge of the parapets to the road below. Sandwiched between the walls was an alleyway strewn with garbage. Hearing the yells and screams of the soldiers, Shoukei jumped, or rather, slid herself off the edge and down the wall. The shock of impact shot up through her legs. She collapsed on the ground.

She sat up, breathing hard. Above her, the man had seized a soldier by the collar and flung him off the far side of the wall. He threw the spear in the opposite direction, spun around and jumped down next to her.

"You okay?"

Shoukei nodded despite herself. He grinned somewhat mischievously and peered up at the wall. "The other girl made a clean getaway. She a friend of yours?"

Shoukei shook her head. Her ragged breaths tore at her throat. She couldn't speak. The alleyway was empty, but at least she heard no one else approaching.

"Can you move?" the man asked.

Shoukei again shook her head. In a past few minutes, she had used up a day's worth of energy. She didn't think she could move another inch.

"That so?" he said with a generous smile. He turned around and crouched down. "Climb on." Shoukei sat there, confused. "C'mon," he said, "hurry it up."

Shoukei obediently clung to his back and the man stood up without faltering in the slightest. "For the time being, pretend you're asleep. I'll take you somewhere where we can rest."

13-3

A shadow approached the woods. "Your Highness," said Keiki, recognizing her in the cold and desolate twilight.

"Sorry about that," said Youko.

"What happened? The word was, you would be leaving the city sooner than later." Keiki pushed through the undergrowth as they climbed the slope. He abruptly stopped and grimaced. "You have a bad scent about you. I am not referring to you, personally."

"You can smell that? Sorry. I had Hankyo bear the victims away from the square."

Keiki sighed. Hankyo had come to the inn, said that he was to leave the city, and then guided him here. Keiki shrank back from the smell of blood. "So a youma appears in the city of Hokkaku."

He glanced at her and found that she was scowling at him. A wry smile came to her face. "I was helping out hurt people. Don't give me that look."

"Then I shall come to my conclusions after being informed of the details."

Youko sat down and again smiled a deeply ironic smile.

They had taken an inn in Hokkaku and stayed there for three days. There, too, Keiki noted the smell of death. With no other town nearby, they had to stay in Hokkaku. Youko strolled around the strange city. The hard toil of the citizenry built these wall, and all to suit the selfish needs of Gahou, province lord of Wa Province.

The better way would be to build the walls as big as possible, at the reach of the city limits, and then build the city small and let it grow over the years. Built it right and the people will come for protection from robbers and highwaymen. But Gahou built no bigger than he had to at any one time, and added the rest to the money he collected in tolls.

The city was densely populated, Gahou having shut most of the population out of Meikaku. The taxes were so steep in Meikaku that only the rich and mighty could afford to live there. People and commerce had been chased out, enlarging Hokkaku and Toukaku to an alarming degree. With travelers and their belongings, the streams of refugees, the cities were cramped. And all because of Gahou and his lousy walls. The peasants who lived in the countryside around Meikaku didn't even have time to farm.

"That's why at least four of them were being executed. They fled the forced labor gangs to get the crops in. They're the ones I had Hankyo help."

"Oh," Keiki muttered.

Youko laughed to herself. "A girl threw a stone at the executioner. I helped her escape, too, but the soldiers came after us. I guess my hair kind of stands out, huh? Getting back to Hokkaku looked difficult, so I had you brought here. Sorry for the trouble."

Keiki let out a breath. "I do wish Your Highness would act with more prudence."

"My bad." Youko propped her elbows on her knees. From the slope of the hill, Meikaku was visible in the distance. "I didn't know people in Kei were executed by crucifixion."

"Nonsense."

"They're crucified in Wa Province."

Keiki looked at her, speechless.

"There are lots of things like that going on in this kingdom that you and I know nothing about."

Like a tax of thirty percent even in the Dutchy of Yellow, inhuman methods of punishment, corrupt officials like Gahou and Shoukou. Two months after acceding to the throne, the Wizards of the Earth had presented themselves at court. Gahou had surely been among them, and Shoukou as well.

"They all fell at my feet and kowtowed, but that only served to hide their scorn. What a stupid empress, they must have all thought."

"Your Highness."

"I need civil servants I can trust."

Right now, in truth, she needed allies. It hadn't occurred to her when they were toppling the pretender. That's because she had En by her side--the personal support of the Royal En and six divisions of the En Imperial Army, commanded by impeccably disciplined staff officers and generals. Youko didn't have to order anybody around. After rescuing Keiki from the clutches of the pretender, the ministers and province lords who had conspired with her one by one were brought into line. It was clear to her now that they had fallen before the authority of the throne and the might of En.

"What kind of person is Enho?"

"Enho?" Keiki answered, with a puzzled expression. "He's a man who knows much about the way things work. He has taught a great many people."

"Maybe I should invite him to the Imperial Court."

Keiki said neither aye nor nay to that proposition. "When it comes to rousing the bureaucracy to action, rather than simply following their lead, Your Highness must make her own decisions. That is the first priority."

"That I intend to do."

Keiki sighed. "There are those at court who battle for power. In order to drag down an opposing faction, they will go so far as to fabricate crimes and make accusations."

Youko suddenly raised her head. "Who are we talking about?"

Keiki didn't answer.

"What are you hiding?"

"Nothing. If Your Highness cannot confirm it for herself, she is unlikely to believe it. That is all I have to say about the matter. I only ask that you think it over."

"You mean, Koukan?" The previous Marquis of Baku Province. She'd dismissed him, though Keiki had stubbornly remained opposed.

Keiki raised his eyebrows. "I was not referring to anyone in particular. If Koukan is the first name that springs to mind, then perhaps his fate is weighing on Your Highness's mind."

Youko took a soft breath. "Well, that's something I wouldn't expect a kirin like you to say."

"It is the stubbornness of my lord that drives me to such things."

Youko got to her feet, grinning. "We'd better hurry or the gates are going to close. Let's go."

"Where to?"

Youko brushed off the dead grass and glanced again toward Meikaku. "I understand conditions in Meikaku. I like to go back to Kokei by means of Takuhou. You don't want to be away from Gyouten much longer, do you?"

Keiki nodded, looking up at her with a concerned expression. "And Your Highness?"

"Yeah, I know. I'll be back as soon as possible. But the one thing I have learned living in the real world is that I don't understand it at all."

"Empress."

Youko smiled at the scowling Keiki. "I'll return after I've learned everything inside and out. I can't believe I'm saying this myself, but I don't know when I'll return to Gyouten. That's how much I've figured out I didn't know."

"Indeed," said Keiki.

"I'm pretty sure I'll know for myself when enough is enough. I don't regret it. Coming down to the real world to live like this was absolutely necessary."

"Yes."

"So please wait until I've come to a conclusion. I don't think it will take that long."

Keiki didn't answer, but only bowed deeply.