A Thousand Leagues of Wind, the Sky at Dawn

15-1

A moonless night. The wind roared. Not a light was on in the rike. Youko sat listlessly in the empty main hall. Keiki had transformed into a unicorn and was bearing Keikei to the palace. Keikei was still alive. But whether or not he could be saved depended on the doctors.

Hyouki said, "The Taiho is not well."

Youko nodded.

"What happened here?" the town manager had asked, when he saw Rangyoku's body. He covered his face with his hands. "And Keikei and Enho?"

"They're not here," was Youko's only reply.

What would she do if he died? And if he lived, how would she explain his sister's death? And Enho's absence?

The elders didn't have to say, "You should have been here." She knew that well enough herself. If she'd been here, three people would not have met such terrible fates.

She said to Hyouki, "Please tell Keiki I'm thankful for all he's done. Take all due care with Keikei."

"By your command. What shall be your next move?"

"I'm going to look for Enho."

"Empress--"

"I do have some idea about what I'm doing. No matter what, I will find Enho and apprehend the brigands who did this."

"The Taiho will worry."

"Tell Keiki he can rest assured I won't do anything reckless, but I just can't sit around here twiddling my thumbs."

"That is what I shall communicate to him."

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

Hyouki's voice ceased. In the dead calm, the sound of wind filled the main hall. There was no one here to light the fires. The girl who worked so diligently keeping the coals stoked and the warm steam rising from the stove, she was not here. She would never return again.

Youko picked up the sword she had cast onto a nearby chair. The Suiguu-tou, the Water Monkey Sword, Imperial Regalia of the Kingdom of Kei.

The great power of a youma's soul was sealed into its blade and scabbard. If she could master it well, the sword would show her the past, the present, and the future, and that which was far from her. The sword could also read the human heart.

Youko drew out the sword far enough to expose the blade and stared at the gleaming steel. This sword had, in fact, been smelted from water, and changed its shape according to the lord who possessed it. The Royal Tatsu created the Suiguu-tou. At first, the sword had no scabbard, and resembled a long-handled scimitar. The Royal Tatsu christened it the Suikan-tou, or the Water Smelted Sword. Knowing of its powers to befuddle its lord, the Royal Tatsu later fashioned a scabbard to bind it. Since naming it the Suiguu-tou, its shape had changed with each new monarch. Now it rested in her hands as a plain sword.

Even as an axe, or a stave, the scabbard must attend to that shape. Without the scabbard, it had the mysterious power to turn on its owner. Yet Youko had lost the original scabbard, leaving only its dead shell behind. The scabbard in its current form had already proved incapable of sealing the sword's power.

I should probably call it the Water Smelted Sword from now on.

Although the Winter Ministry had created a new scabbard for the sword, it had done little to check its power. Far from it, when removed from the binding force of the scabbard, the sword ran wild, tormenting her day after day. Even now, Youko could not control the sword, experiencing nothing but cryptic visions and nightmares.

The ministers all silently reproved Youko for losing the precious scabbard, a crown jewel without peer in the known world.

Youko stared at the blade. Finally, she sighed. "It's no good." She could see no sign of Enho anywhere in the visions that emerged from the sword. "Hankyo," she said.

"Yes," he answered from the darkness.

"I'm going to sleep for a while. Please wake me up before the gates open. I want to set out for Takuhou first thing in the morning."

"By your command," the voice alone replied.

Early in the morning, Youko entered Hokui and went straight to the residence of the man named Rou. The strange, shrouded man had led her to Rou. At his place, she'd also observed the big man she'd seen at the inn in Takuhou. The men who had some time ago surrounded the rike were also from Takuhou. Youko had to believe they were all involved one way or another.

Trudging through the fierce winter air, she finally arrived at Rou's residence, and after wandering about for a while, knocked on the front gate. The inside of the residence was deathly silent. She was pounding more determinedly on the door, when an old man passed by in the street.

"What with all this noise at this hour? Rou's not here."

Youko glanced back over her shoulder at the melancholy face of the old man. "Not here?"

"Plum disappeared. Probably took off in the middle of the night. Don't know what's going on, but what with all those shady character coming and going, I'm sure something was afoot."

"When was that?"

"It's been a while, now. Say, about a half a month ago."

Half a month ago had been when Youko first came here. "Would you happen to know any of these men who were coming and going? I'd like to know where he went."

"Hard to tell. At any rate, every last one of them looked to be up to no good." Then something came to him. "There was this creepy-looking fellow who came by now and then. Rode a real fine horse. Looked like a man trying hard not to be seen."

"He wore a shroud over his face?"

"Yeah, that's one way to describe it. A man about forty, I'd say."

"About forty." Youko couldn't think of anybody meeting that description.

"So, was this Rou up to something?"

"Not that I know of."

"Hmph," the old man snorted. "Sure seemed to me he was up to something. He wasn't from around these parts to begin with."

"He wasn't originally from Hokui?"

"Not hardly. Fall of last year, he showed up and settled down here with hardly a 'Hello' 'How do you do' to anybody in the neighborhood. Best not to get involved with that sort. Definitely not good people."

"I see." Youko thanked him with a nod of her head.

She left Hokui and called Hankyo. He was among the fleetest footed of all the pegasi. Traveling by means of the tonkou, he could get there all the faster, but Hankyo couldn't carry her through the earth with him. She had to ride.

From a discreet place along the highway, she mounted up and in a flash had arrived at Takuhou. She dismounted near Takuhou, passed through the gate and headed to the inn she'd already visited twice already. There had to be connection there.

The men who'd been spying on the rike had returned to Takuhou. The first time she'd come here, the men at the inn had struck her as a dangerous and formidable sort. She couldn't risk trusting them. As for the shrouded man and the man named Rou, she was already out of leads. The man at the inn, who'd been to Rou's place in Hokui, she had no choice but to doubt him as well.

She ran down the alleyway, heavy with stagnant air, and stopped in her tracks. The inn was there as she remembered it. She approached the entranceway and put her hand on the door.

Curiously, the door didn't move. The windows facing the thoroughfare were tightly shuttered. She knocked lightly on the door. Just as at Rou's place, there was no answer.

What is going on?

She hit the door with her fist, then turned and hurried over the house facing the inn and pounded on the locked doors. "Who's that?" came the immediate answer. A man in his fifties poked out his head.

"Excuse me, but I was wondering about the inn."

"Ah," said the man, glancing across the street. "They appeared to have closed up shop."

"Closed? I was here yesterday and it was open."

"Late last night, they packed up and left."

"Last night… . " Youko clenched her fists. "And that big guy was one of them?"

"Oh, you mean Koshou? Yeah, he is a big fellow."

"And a boy of about fourteen or so."

"Sekki, you mean. He's Koshou's kid brother. Did you come to see Koshou?"

"Not them. I came to see a girl, Suzu."

"I see," said the man, suppressing a yawn. He scratched at the back of his neck. "The girl with the sansui. They all left. Sorry, but I didn't find out where they went. Who are you, anyway?"

Youko answered with a slight nod, turned and walked away. She heard the man's angry voice behind her, but she didn't look around. Yesterday, hadn't Suzu said that Koshou was out? Hadn't she said that he'd be back?

Koshou had gone somewhere. Why close the inn and disappear? The rike had been attacked at the same time.

"Koshou… . "

She couldn't believe these events were unrelated. They attacked the rike and then absconded. At any rate, it'd be ridiculous to ask whether Suzu would be returning. She asked herself, "What the hell should I do now?"

The shrouded man whose presence caused Enho so much grief showed up at Rou's house. He'd met Koshou there. These men, also involved with the rike, had returned to Takuhou. Koshou, Sekki, the kaikyaku Suzu, and the child who had died in Takuhou--she simply couldn't see how they were all connected.

"I've got to find Koshou."

It was too soon to give up. Koshou, Sekki, and Suzu--Suzu had a sansui with her, and a sansui could be tracked.

"I'm definitely going to find them."

15-2

The house where Shoukei made herself useful was frequented by thirty or so people on a daily basis. At least fifty had stayed there at any one time. Moreover, they were also all clearly associates of Kantai.

Calling them mercenaries was no exaggeration. Many rode as bodyguards with the caravans arriving at and departing Meikaku. However, an equal number were holed up at the house, apparently waiting for something to happen. They didn't seem employed, but a significant number of them came and went quite frequently. Kantai didn't have a job. He was in charge of those at the house.

"Are you stuck here because you helped me?" Shoukei asked him one day.

Kantai shook his head. "No, I'm just a lazy bum."

With a lot of time on their hands, the boarders often jousted with swords and lances. Kantai didn't participate. For the most part, he only watched. But there was no doubt that the leader of the pack was Kantai. They paid him deference, and used polite language when addressing him. Shoukei was treated as his guest. Shoukei worked for her rent, but hardly anybody except Kantai asked her to do anything. Her impression was that a great variety of people had taken advantage of Kantai's offer of lodging, but what they really had in common was an animus toward Gahou, Province Lord of Wa.

A kind of self-made knight in shining armor.

They were a defiant and disciplined group of errant knights, united in opposition to Gahou. Shoukei got that much. From the way Kantai looked after them, she had a hunch there was more to it than that, though.

Where does the money come from?

He must have been raised in a wealthy household. Only that could account for the indifferent manner in which he spread the cash around. Perhaps, it occurred to Shoukei, all these mercenaries were in fact working for Kantai. Or perhaps Kantai himself… .

Pondering these things as she filled the cistern in the courtyard, the sound of horses' hooves came from the frontage of the building. Through the open main gate she saw a carriage drive up. A man stepped down from the carriage. A shroud covering his head and his face hidden from sight, he entered the gate. He took it upon himself to shut the doors. He finally raised his head and she heard the sound of the carriage departing.

"Um--?" Shoukei said.

He lowered the shroud to his shoulders, revealing a man in his forties. There was a great aura of authority about him. "And you are?" he asked, in a deep voice.

Keeping her doubts to herself, Shoukei replied with a slight bow. "I do odd jobs around the place. And who might you be?"

"I came to see Kantai. Is he in?"

"Ah, yes."

The man nodded, and without further ado, headed toward the main wing. He showed no signs of wishing Shoukei to get Kantai for him or show him the way. Shoukei hurried after him.

"Um, excuse me, but how should I address you?" Shoukei knew that this was a residence that anybody and everybody were free to enter when they wished. But even without anybody saying so, she also clearly got the sense that a person of unknown provenance could not simply wander in off the street. "Are you a friend of Kantai's?"

Shoukei placed herself in his path, blocking his way. The man smiled. "I see. He finally found himself a capable handmaid. My name is Saibou. Please announce my presence to Kantai."

I'm not a handmaid, Shoukei said to herself, running up the stairs. She was almost to the living area when Kantai came out. "Kantai--" she said.

"Right," said Kantai, with a nod of his head. No doubt he'd heard her voice from the courtyard. He bowed his head low. Saibou nodded in a mindful manner, climbed the stairs, and entered the parlor.

"Kantai, that man is--"

"Yes, of course. I'll introduce you. Hold your horses."

She trailed after him. Perhaps, it now occurred to her, Kantai had been hired by somebody, and that somebody was this Saibou.

The parlor was right off the main hall. Hanging on the back wall were two banners decorated with Chinese characters. Between them was a decorative scroll. Below the scroll was a shelf, and in front of the shelf were a desk and two chairs. This was the study of the master of the house, but Saibou sat down as if he owned the place, and greeted Shoukei and Kantai.

"You hired yourself an interesting girl, there."

Kantai smiled. "I didn't exactly hire her," he said, and briefly explained how she had come to join them.

"I see," said Saibou with a small smile. "A girl with pluck. But I take it she was less than familiar with the risks of throwing a stone at a government official in Wa Province."

"Not necessarily. She's a refugee from Hou."

Saibou leaned forward and looked at her. "From Hou. Where were you born?"

Shoukei hesitated a moment, deciding whether to be honest and say Hoso, the capital of Hou, or Shindou in Kei Province. "Hoso," she said.

"Shoukei of Hoso. Huh." He didn't pursue the matter further. "So, Shoukei, do you understand what kind of people are gathered here?"

"I have a pretty good idea."

Saibou nodded. "Wa Province is a reflection of the temperament of Marquis Gahou. He oppresses the people, disregarding the honor of the Empress and the will of the kingdom. Corrupt retainers who would shake the roots of Kei cannot be left to their own devices."

"Yes."

"By all rights, the Empress should direct the affairs of the kingdom, but our new monarch has not been on the throne long, and the Royal Court is in the back pocket of officials who took advantage even before the Late Empress Yo-ou. Having been enthroned for barely half a year, it is doubtful that the current Empress has the means to resist them. Taking control of the court and extending the rule of law to the Nine Provinces by itself would be next to impossible. On top of that, the Empress is a taika, and knows little of Kei."

Shoukei nodded.

"If we investigate Gahou here, and raise a stink about the chaos in Wa Province and about Gahou's misrule, the Empress is bound to pay more attention to the suffering in all the Nine Provinces. And when she deigns to start paying attention, we shall petition her with all of the resources at our command."

"I understand."

"For the good of Wa Province, more than toppling Gahou, more than anything else, the Empress must be made aware of conditions here in Wa. Not overthrowing Gahou would be acceptable if the Empress were able to judge the situation correctly. Otherwise, we will no doubt be named enemies of Gahou and the crown, and will be destroyed. In light of all this, will you still stand by Kakutai, Shoukei?" Saibou addressed Kantai as "Kakutai."

Shoukei tightened her hand into a fist. "Yes. I truly believe the Royal Kei will recognize our cause." She had to believe, because of the way Rakushun cared so much about her. Even having attained the throne in her unfinished state, an Empress who worried so much about whether or not she was fit for the role should be nobody's fool.

Saibou smiled. "I see. Our guest from Hou believes in the Empress. There's something ironic about that."

"And you don't believe in her?"

"Because there are those who believe, I would like to as well."

"Eh?"

Saibou didn't respond, but rapped lightly on the desk. "In any case, we welcome you, Shoukei. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."

"And I yours."

Next to her, Kantai tilted his head quizzically. "You didn't come all the way here to see Shoukei, did you?"

"Of course not," Saibou smiled. "Yes, I did have something I needed to do. I came to tell you, Kakutai."

"What is it?"

"A man by the name of Enho, the superintendent in Hokui, Ei Province--more specifically, the town of Kokei--has disappeared."

"By disappeared, you mean--"

"Yesterday, the rike in Kokei was attacked and a girl was murdered. Her younger brother and the superintendent were apparently kidnaped. Nothing was stolen from the rike. I have no idea why it was attacked. Men had been observed hanging around the rike. The word is, they were from Takuhou."

"Takuhou."

"Yesterday in Takuhou, the gates opened after sunset to admit a single carriage."

"Yes, of course."

Shoukei looked up at Kantai. "Meaning?"

"There is another beast in Takuhou, a man by the name of Shoukou. The gates could only have been opened after they were closed on the orders of somebody very high up. In the case of Takuhou, the first name that springs to mind is Shoukou. Turn over that rock, and you will definitely find Gahou there."

"So Gahou commanded Shoukou to kidnap the superintendent?" asked Shoukei.

Saibou smiled thinly. "Let's not rush to conclusions. That's what I'd like you to investigate."

"Oh. Yes."

"And one other thing. A package will arrive here tomorrow. I'd like you to deliver it to Rou in Hokui."

Kantai replied with a ironic smile. "Rou moved to Houkaku. Seems there was someone sniffing around his place."

Saibou furrowed his brow. "Rou moved?"

"I'm sure he'll fill me in when we deliver the goods."

Saibou nodded. "It's a shipment of winter weapons, twenty pieces. I shall leave their disposition to your good offices."

Kantai bowed low. "By your command."

15-3

Koshou and company moved to a brothel in the southwest corner of Takuhou. It was a brothel only in name. With so few women about, there weren't many left to do the entertaining. The remaining working girls had moved to higher class establishments in the eastern part of the city. The only ones who remained were two women well past their primes. Like the madam, they were friends of Koshou.

The character of a city depended a great deal on where you were. In most cases, the urban centers bordered the government offices to the south, with commercial markets located along the loop road. For both markets and residential areas, the low rent districts were found in the west, and trended richer toward the east.

"In fact, urban neighborhoods are supposed to be located in the northern section," Sekki instructed Suzu. The two of them were cleaning up around the forlorn brothel.

"Why?"

"Don't know. It seems to have been that way in older cities. That's what it says in really old books: the government compound is located in the center, and the commoners' residences are built to the north. In such a city, the west would enjoy a higher social status than the east. But most cities are the exact opposite."

Suzu said, "In all the cities I've been to, the most crowded areas are in the south, family estates in the center, and mausoleums and temples in the north."

"That's how it is, isn't it? You very often find that things are the opposite in cities that have been around for a long time, that haven't met with disaster. At some point, it all got turned upside down. It really is quite odd."

"Are you interested in things like that, Sekki?"

"Yeah," Sekki nodded, as he washed the cooking utensils.

"It's too bad you had to quit school."

"Yeah. But I don't think this is the time to indulge such thoughts. It would have been nice to be born in an era when a worthy empress resided in the capital and the kingdom was at peace, but that's just the way things are."

"It would have been nice to have been born in En or Sou."

Sekki smiled bitterly. "Unfortunately, imagining doesn't make it so. I was born in Kei. At the end of the day, you're born where you're born, and you can only change so much after that."

"You really do have a good head on your shoulders, Sekki. I understand why Koshou is so disappointed in the way things have turned out."

"I do worry about my big brother. It's in his nature to get more upset about what happens to others than to himself. He's always making other people's fights his own. But taking on something this big is amazing."

Suzu stopped what she was doing for a moment and blinked. "You don't agree with what he's doing?"

"That's not what I mean. But as much as the people of this town make my brother mad, he doesn't get mad at Shoukou. In other words, if he got really worried and started thinking seriously about how to dispose of Shoukou, he'd conclude it'd be better to go on living and putting up with whatever came his way."

"I get that." Suzu gazed at her hands. Getting injured always hurt. After a while, you reflexively became afraid of the pain. So you soldiered on in order to escape the pain. But at the same time, the soldiering on began to feel like an accomplishment, when nothing was actually changing.

Sekki sighed. "But what if my brother attacks Shoukou and fails? Shoukou will become enraged, and life will only get worse for the people of Shisui. The people of Shisui, in turn, will hate my brother."

"That's probably true."

"That's why it's just too risky to leave him to his own devices. But I really don't know if I'm being a help or a hindrance."

Sekki grinned mischievously. Suzu smiled as well. At that point, the aforementioned Koshou appeared. Suzu and Sekki exchanged glances and burst out laughing.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing. What's up?"

Kousho beckoned to Suzu from the kitchen door. "Sorry, but I have a job for your sansui."

"You need to transport something?" Kousho often had Suzu carry goods to villages in the surrounding areas.

"Yes, but this time it's a bit further. A two-day journey to the east by horse cart, there's a city called Houkaku. Here's a map. Go to Rou's place. He should have the items we've requested."

Hansei Rou and Kousho were old friends.

"I understand."

"I'm sure Rou will do a good job packing them, but even if stopped by sentries, we cannot permit this shipment to be opened. If they were, they're bound to be stolen."

"These are items you don't want anybody to see?"

Kousho nodded. "Winter weapons."

Suzu stiffened at the mention of the term.

"They're pretty heavy, but not that bulky. Once they arrive, at the very least, we need to get these winter weapons into the skilled hands of a minimum number of our group."

Suzu nodded. "That's fine. I'll be going, then."

The next morning, Suzu left Takuhou and headed east on the main highway. On a sansui, the trip took half a day. Suzu arrived at Houkaku by noon. Houkaku was as big a city as Takuhou. Houkaku was the capital of Rouya prefecture, which was next to Shisui prefecture.

According to the map Kousho had drawn, Suzu looked for a house in the southwest part of the city. She found there a broken-down dump of a residence. The main gate facing the street was tightly shut. When she knocked on the gate, a fifty-something man with odd, mottled brown hair appeared.

"Who is it?"

Suzu bowed, greeting him as Koshou had instructed her. "I've come from Shikin, county of San, in Baku Province."

The man eyes suddenly fell upon her hands, focusing on her ring finger. "Come in."

Rou was cooperating in Koshou's cause, but he wasn't an intimate member of their group. The greeting was not used when seeing friends, but to establish Suzu's bono fides as a trustworthy ally.

Through the door was a narrow courtyard. At the back of the courtyard was an old house no wider than the yard, a small building no larger than a shack. Suzu led the sansui into the courtyard. The man closed the gate behind her and said, "I'm Hansei Rou. Koshou and I hail from the same home town."

"Yes. I came to pick up the shipment."

"Right," Rou nodded. He said with a grim expression, "That is the case, but the shipment in question hasn't arrived."

"Eh?"

"Today, I was supposed to get two separate shipments, but neither has arrived. I'm sorry, but perhaps I could ask you to wait?"

"Okay," said Suzu. Koshou had told her to follow Rou's instructions after she got here.

"If the shipments arrive this evening, I'll have to ask you stay overnight. The place is a mess, but there is a room where you can sleep. I apologize for the inconvenience."

"It's fine. No problem."

"You might as well sit back and relax. I'll get water for that fine horse of yours. Would you like some tea?"

"Sure," Suzu said, with a nod.

Rou wasn't a handsome man, but proved to be a good talker. They sat down at a stone table and watched the sansui munching on the feed and conversed about this and that.

"So you're all the way from Sai? That must have been one long trip."

"I came most of the way by ship."

"What do you think of Kei? Must be pretty cold compared to Sai."

"I was with a troupe of traveling entertainers for a while, so I've been all over the place."

"How about that."

A knock came at the gate. "And now they show up!" Rou playfully scowled. He opened the doors. After exchanging a few words with the visitor in a low voice, a girl about Suzu's age appeared, leading a horse. Her hair was mottled like Rou's but a dark blue color. It struck Suzu as quite extraordinary.

"Well, at least twenty have arrived," Rou said with forced smile. He showed the girl to the table. "Why don't you take your time as well?"

"But--" the girl said, glancing up at him.

"Sorry," said Rou. "Without all thirty pieces, this girl isn't going to pay me. And without that money, I can't pay you."

Suzu raised her voice. "If that's the case, I can pay--"

Rou raised his hand, cutting her off. "No. My place, my rules, and that's not my line of business. I'm the broker, not a dealer."

"Oh, okay."

Rou grinned and glanced over his shoulder at the girl. "That being the case, you'll have to wait for a while. Save your complaints for the tardy party. Would you like some tea, too?"

"Thank you," she nodded.

Suzu gave her a good, long look. From the bone structure of her face, she could tell she was a beautiful woman. They were about the same age. At Rou's urging, she sat down in one of the stone chairs and glanced at Suzu. Her gaze quickly moved onto the sansui.

"A sansui," she said.

Suzu leaned forward. "Are you familiar with sansui?"

"I've seen one or two before."

"Oh. I'm from Takuhou. I'm Suzu. And you are?"

"I came from Meikaku. My name is Shoukei."

"We seem about the same age. How old are you?"

Shoukei seemed to mull the question over momentarily. "Sixteen."

Suzu was about to say that she was, too, but hesitated. What was the best way to describe her age? She was swept into this world at the age of fourteen, twelve by the way birthdays were counted here. After that, she'd wandered hither and yon for four years, and then had become a wizard. That would make her sixteen, more or less.

"I'm the same age," Suzu said. Shoukei tilted her head to one side, but said nothing more. Suzu said, "Shoukei, are you a subject of Kei?"

"No. I'm from Hou."

"Hou? The northwest kingdom in the Kyokai?"

"Yes. One of the four Outland Kingdoms. How about yourself?"

"I'm from Sai. We've both come from far away kingdoms."

"Indeed," laughed Shoukei.

Suzu felt herself relaxing. "This is nice. It's not often that I've gotten to meet a girl my same age in Kei."

"That's true. So why have you traveled so far to get here?"

Suzu pondered the question. She'd set out on her journey for any numbers of reasons, and all of them were dead and gone. Her past desires had no relationship to who she was now. "Oh, this and that."

"This and that brought you all the way to Kei?"

"Well, first of all, I heard that the Empress of Kei was a girl my same age--"

Shoukei eyes blinked and opened a bit wider.

"--and that she was a kaikyaku like me."

"You're also from Yamato?"

"Yes, that's right. With no place to call my own, I thought I'd call the kingdom of a fellow kaikyaku my home. Does that make any sense?"

Shoukei looked at her, her face blank with surprise. Finally she laughed and said, "Me, too."

"Eh? You're a kaikyaku?"

"No. I also came to this kingdom to see the Royal Kei--"

Suzu gaped at her.

"--because she was an empress the same age as me."

"That's weird. So the two of us, from Sai and Hou, came here to see the Royal Kei, and just happened to meet."

"Sure seems like it."

"Wow."

"You're not kidding."

Suzu and Shoukei giggled. "Hey!" came Rou's voice behind them. "No carrying on personal conversations!"

Suzu looked back with surprise, Rou was standing there, teacups in hand, and a sour look on his face. "No private chitchat between people who meet here. My place, my rules."

"Oh… sorry."

"I'm a broker of things, not of people. People who use my services are people with a reason for being here. No shady types set one foot inside the gate. And whatever reasons the two of you have, best you not know too much about each other."

"Sure," said Suzu, with a shrug of her shoulders. She glanced at Shoukei and caught her looking the same way, and for a moment their eyes met.

15-4

The next shipment didn't arrive until just before the gates closed. As Suzu and Shoukei couldn't leave Houkaku, they had no choice but to stay the night at Rou's place. They ended up sleeping in a small room furnished with a divan and a bed without a canopy. Two people in a space meant for one.

"Which one do you want? The bed or the divan?"

"Either's fine."

"Then you take the bed. I'll sleep on the divan."

"You don't have to do that."

"I'm returning on the sansui. Meikaku is way to the east, isn't it? And you've got to go back by horse, right?"

"Meikaku is only a day's ride by horse."

"You should take the bed, then. It's only a half-day ride for me."

Shoukei thought about it for a minute, then nodded. "Thanks. To tell the truth, it'd be nice for a change. I've been sleeping on a couch for so long."

"Really? Well, great then."

The two girls grinned at each other.

"Suzu," Shoukei asked, "what do you do in Takuhou?" And then quickly added, "Maybe that's the kind of thing I'm not supposed to ask."

"Let's pretend we didn't hear anybody say that."

They both giggled, the private laughter filling the small room.

"Oh, I do odd jobs around the inn. How about you, Shoukei?"

"Same here."

"So how did you come across--" those weapons, Suzu started to ask, and thought better of the question. They were probably getting a bit over their heads with a subject like that.

But Shoukei leaned forward and answered. "It is out of the ordinary. Do you know what's in those crates?"

"More or less."

"Winter weapons. To be used how? And there are thirty of them. Not things you can easily lay your hands on."

"Did the people you got them from say what they would do with the weapons?"

"I was only asked to make the delivery."

"Me, too."

A moment of silence followed, the two of them exchanging glances. Shoukei smiled first. "I haven't the slightest idea. It is unusual, amassing winter weapons like that. But somebody with money must be behind it."

"Yeah. I guess we've been told only what we need to know."

Shoukei tilted her head to the side and looked at Suzu. The girl from Takuhou was taking back a shipment of thirty winter weapons. The price of those thirty would be approximate to that of 300 ordinary weapons.

From Takuhou. "Then perhaps the target is Shoukou?"

Suzu waved her hands in denial. "No, it can't be."

"The man who sent me here is gathering mercenaries instead of winter weapons."

Suzu's eyes flew open. "Gahou."

"Undoubtedly. Are you thinking the same thing I am?"

"Sure seems like it."

The bedroom fell into silence. Suzu sat down on the divan and sighed. "The kid I was traveling with got killed by Shoukou."

"Really?"

"Why can a public servant like Shoukou get away with things like that? Shisui really is an awful place."

"I've heard rumors."

"Those rumors are only half as true as reality. Seishuu--the boy I made it all the way to Takuhou with--he didn't do anything wrong. He was killed for getting in the way of Shoukou's carriage. I was so angry. When I try to imagine people looking the other way when things like that happen, I get so mad I can't stand it. But Shoukou--"

"--has got Gahou watching his back."

Suzu blinked. "You know that for certain?"

"That's what everybody says: Gahou and Shoukou are two peas in a pod."

"No doubt they are. I'd sure like to see Shoukou and his ilk get what they deserve. With the Royal Kei looking out for Gahou, nobody's going to try and punish Shoukou. That's why we've got no choice but to take the initiative ourselves, right?"

"I don't agree."

"Eh?"

"I don't think the Royal Kei is doing anything like protecting Gahou. Isn't that what the Late Empress Yo-ou did, you mean?"

"It was true of the Late Empress Yo-ou, and the current Empress, too--"

"The person who brought me here said that the Royal Kei simply doesn't know about things like that."

"But--"

Shoukei looked intently at Suzu. "When I was in Ryuu, I met a friend of the Royal Kei."

"You what?"

"One of her closest companions. I can't believe she's that bad of a person. She wouldn't protect Shoukou or collude with Gahou."

"Maybe not--"

"The Royal Kei has only recently acceded to the throne. There's got to be a lot she doesn't understand. I think that's what it comes down to."

"Ignorance is no defense. She's the Empress, after all."

Shoukei gave Suzu a long, hard look. Then she said, "My father was the king."

"He… what?"

"The Royal Hou. Three years ago his subjects rose up and overthrew him."

Suzu gaped at her.

"My father was detested by the people. The result of all that hate was regicide. They hate him even now, and there's nothing I could do to change that. But even with a father like that, watching him die hurt terribly. Probably as much as it hurt when Seishuu died."

"Yes."

"In order to prevent my father's death, before the hate grew so intense, I should have remonstrated with him. I loathe myself now for not doing so. What if all the people surrounding the Royal Kei are naive dunces like I was? She'll be hated as my parents were. There were people who even said that I condoned my father's sins." Shoukei lowered her gaze. "I don't know what's really happening. But if the Royal Kei is surrounded only by those kinds of people? My father was chosen by Hourin. He couldn't have been doomed from the start. But when the people around him tried to warn him and couldn't get through to him, he ended up parting from the Way."

Suzu examined the longing look on Shoukei's face, an expression that brought to mind another person she'd met recently: She's a puppet.

"You're right," Suzu said. Shoukei tilted her head quizzically. Suzu continued, "I met somebody else who said the same thing. Only rumors, but the word was that the Empress doesn't have the trust of her retainers and can't get them to do anything she wants. So her only recourse is to do what they tell her to do."

"Yes, indeed."

"You think that's really what's going on?"

"I've heard that most of the ministers at the Royal Court are from the era of the Late Empress Yo-ou. I think you can guess what kind of people they are. The same ones who stood by while Yo-ou fell from Way before their very eyes."

"But the Royal Kei dismissed the Province Lord of Baku. Wasn't he beloved by his people?"

"Standard practice for corrupt officials. Of course, beasts like Gahou and Shoukou would conspire against an accomplished and respected man like the Marquis. They'd cook up some crime to frame him with."

"But--"

"There's a superintendent in Ei Province by the name of Enho. I've heard that he's highly knowledgeable of the Way. The rike where Enho was superintendent was attacked. The attackers killed a girl and kidnapped Enho. A gang was hanging around the rike, and rumor has it they were from Takuhou. I've also heard that the same day Enho was assaulted, even after the gates were closed, they were opened again."

"You're kidding." Very few people could order a city gate reopened after it was closed. "It must have been Shoukou."

"He's the only one who could pull off something like that, don't you think? Just like the people around the Royal Kei could engineer the downfall of the Marquis without breaking a sweat."

Shoukei looked into Suzu's eyes. Her big eyes suddenly brimmed over. Shoukei watched her silently.

"The Royal Kei… she's a good person?"

"I have to think so. The way you asked, do you not like her?"

Suzu shook her head. "It'd be such a relief is she were."

"Suzu?"

"I wanted to see her. I thought for certain she must be a good person. I met Seishuu on the ship from Sai. He was in a really bad state, and I was worried sick about him. I told him we'd go to Gyouten together… . "

Suzu spoke his name in such a grief-stricken voice it made her heart ache.

"But he was killed by Shoukou. Anybody who'd let a beast like that run free, who'd protect him, wouldn't have done anything for Seishuu if I had taken him to Gyouten. So what did I bring him to Takuhou for? Just to die?"

"Suzu--" Shoukei said, taking hold of her hand.

"He was such an unfortunate kid."

"Yes, he was."

"If we had gotten to Gyouten, the Royal Kei would have helped him."

"Of course."

Shoukei stroked the back of the sobbing Suzu. She wept like a child. It was enough to break her heart.

I only wish you could understand.

That was all she desired to say to the Empress in Gyouten. Shoukei didn't know whether or not the Royal Kei could have healed Seishuu. She wished--

I only wish you could understand how all the hopes of the people rest upon your shoulders.