A Thousand Leagues of Wind, the Sky at Dawn

2-1

Kinpa Palace was kept in a constant buzz of activity welcoming guests of honor. Ministers and lowly bureaucrats scurried about both tending to the guests and making preparations for the upcoming Festival of the Winter Solstice a month hence. The ladies of the court responsible for the royal wardrobe were likewise busily occupied.

Observing all this, Youko couldn't help rolling her eyes.

"And how does Her Highness wish her hair done today?"

The question was posed by the coterie who tended to her personal appearance. "Oh, just tie it back," she answered.

Her ladies-in-waiting all frowned. "Your Highness, you can't greet your guests looking like that!"

"Indeed. If Her Highness has no particular preference in mind, she should leave it to us."

When they weren't chattering at her in this scolding manner, they went right on arranging her wardrobe pretty much as if she weren't there.

"How would that emerald tiara look?"

"Would it go with the red hairpin?"

"Look, the comb is red as well. Pearl would be better than ruby."

"Well, then let's made the obidama pearl as well."

Youko groaned to herself. It's not that she disliked being dolled up like this, but wearing her hair up and having it festooned with jewelry and doodads made her feel top-heavy. And when the whole shebang didn't feel like it was about to topple over, the long hems of her robes gave her the mobility of a turtle. It was driving her crazy.

"Go ahead and tie it back. And I'll be fine with the jacket."

They all glared at her. "Oh, you cannot be serious!"

Youko surrendered with another groan. In any case, for someone like her, raised in what was to them a foreign country, these were definitely not clothes made for walking. Her life before her coronation had approximated that of a vagabond. At the time, the best she could hope for was a tunic and short hakama made of coarse fabric. Pretty much bargain-basement fashion. Having gotten accustomed to it, though, she couldn't get used to these outfits that had the hems of her robes dragging along the ground behind her.

Even a Japanese long-sleeved kimono wasn't this bad.

She sighed.

In basic terms, men's clothing was based on the houkin, women's on the jukun. The houkin consisted of a light kimono (kin) worn under a jacket or tunic (hou). You never went out just wearing the kin, always the hou over it. The jukun was a more traditional dress, something like a blouse and wraparound skirt. The ju was the blouse and the kun was the skirt. But a woman was not considered presentable wearing only the blouse and skirt. She would never leave the house without donning an outer garment, such as a vest or robe.

All clothing came in a variety of styles with different names. In a nutshell, the wealthier the person, the longer the hem and sleeve, and the more generous the fit. The fabric was always of the highest grade. The clothing wore by the poor was shorter in length and tighter in fit simply in order to economize. Having grown up in a much different environment, Youko found it disturbing that you could tell at a glance a person's economic status.

There was a class system very much at work here. The presence (or absence) of a particular status symbol made all the difference in lifestyle. Government ministers and administrators set themselves apart with the long, wide-sleeved tunics the commoners called chouhou, or "long coats." They referred to their own garb simply as "togs" (hou), while the elite termed it houshi, or "tad togs." Thus were the distances between the classes demarcated.

The clothing Youko wore signified the authority of her office. Her hems must be long, her robes exceedingly so, such that they dragged on the floor. Her sleeves as well must be both wide and long. On top of everything else was layer after layer of kimono. The layers also indicated her status. That alone made for quite an unbearable mass, not to mention the cloth talisman she had to hold on to, the obidama and necklaces and other baubles, and in her hair, a mountain of combs and hairpins pressing down on her head.

If that wasn't enough, they tried to get her to pierce her ears so she could wear earrings. She lied and said that back in Japan getting your ears pierced was the custom of criminals. They bought it.

"Simple is better," she stated. "After all, the Royal En is one of our guests."

Her lady's maid scowled. "Precisely because the Royal En is present, you should not want to be seen so. You don't want to look all dowdy compared to the monarch of such a splendid kingdom, now, would you?"

"And besides, the Royal En is a warrior king."

A pained smile came to Youko's lips. "I just find it hard to get excited about this frilly getup. I'm afraid it's so over the top it's going to put him off."

At least, that's the opinion I'll be sure to leave him with.

Her ladies-in-waiting were still trying to find a comb that went with her hair, and this statement left them looking so despondent that Youko had to laugh. "Look," she said, "I'm not talking about putting on togs, but couldn't we pare things down a bit?"

When she told the Royal En Shouryuu about it later, he roared with laughter. "It's a hard life, isn't it, Youko?"

"I preferred Gen'ei Palace. They understood."

When you became a king, even a man wasn't supposed to run around in togs. Still, for the most part, Shouryuu's appearance was plainer than the average minister of Kei.

Rokuta leaned against the railing of the gazebo and scowled. "Oh, live with it," he said. "He's been fighting it for three hundred years. What you're seeing now are the hard-won fruits of compromise."

"Fighting… oh, I see. The fashion police." Youko grinned.

"It's nice in Yamato. You know 'western dress'? The kind of clothes that are real easy to move around in."

"You certainly seem to know it well. You go to Japan a lot?"

"Now and then," Rokuta said with a knowing smile. "One of the few perks of being a kirin. Once a year or so I take a little trip." He folded his arms across his chest. "That said, there's no way I'm going shopping for you or becoming your tailor. What I prefer is no better than beggar's rags, I'm telling you."

"Well, I really don't need anything like that from over there." She glanced at Rokuta. "But exactly how do you go shopping for clothes? The money is completely different."

"Oh, there are ways," Rokuta said with a laugh.

Youko gave him a surprised look. "I thought kirin were supposed to act only with the purest of intentions at heart."

"Let's not go there." Rokuta jumped down into the garden. "Hey, Rakushun, what's up?"

Rakushun was standing at the edge of a lake not far from the portico looking out at the water. Rokuta ran over to him.

They were in Hari Palace, located to the south of Kinpa Palace. Hari Palace was a greenhouse build by a king many generations before. The walls and transoms were made of glass, as was the steeply steepled roof, supported by a row of white stone pillars. Light streamed down on the garden. In the midst of the grove, the clear, brimming water of a lake spilled off into a marshy stream. The lake was stocked with fish. Brightly-feathered birds flew about. The portico enclosed a large garden. Several small gazebos were set amidst the blossoming flowers.

Shouryuu said, "Nice place to take a nap."

Youko smiled. "When do you ever have time to take a nap?"

"Oh, the bureaucrats do most of the heavy lifting in En these days. There's not much left for me to do."

"But of course."

He said, lowering his voice, "It's tough going until you can find the kind of people you can trust the government with." Youko looked at him and he smiled bitterly. "The early days of a dynasty are not about thought and reason. For the time being, your kirin won't be of much use to you. What it comes down to is how long it will take you to gather a band of trusted and loyal retainers."

"Yeah."

"And what became of the Marquis of Baku?"

Youko shook her head with an exclamation of exasperation. The man's name was Koukan. Koukan had once been province lord of a Baku, on the western coast of Kei facing the Blue Sea. After Kei fell into chaos under the rule of the pretender, Baku continued to resist.

When Youko asked for Shouryuu's assistance in overthrowing the pretender, the first thing he encouraged her to do was contact Koukan and obtain the support of the provincial guard of Baku. But before this communique could be delivered, the Marquis was captured by the pretender's forces.

"It seems that the Marquis of Baku had designs on the throne as well."

"Really?"

With Youko's arrival, those not actually residing at the palace had difficulty deciding whether she was the true king or not. Many of the province lords far from the capital flocked to the pretender's side, but Koukan did not. He carried on the fight.

What in the world was he up to, wondered the government functionaries. Far more than the province lords who had sided with the pretender, they focused their criticism on Koukan.

He dared to seek the throne for himself and refused to bow to the pretender, that's what some said of Koukan. Others rose to his defense, and so the Imperial Court was split in two. In the end, the weight of evidence tipped the scales in favor of his critics. Koukan was relieved on his authority, taken into custody and was now awaiting sentencing.

Shouryuu listened to Youko explanation and shook his head. "So that's what it's come to."

"The court officials are sticking to their guns. Keiki has repudiated their handling of the case. And so everything is up in the air. The word is they'll give him a sinecure and put him out to pasture and sweep the whole affair under the rug."

"You speak of it as if it were somebody's else's problem."

Youko managed a thin smile and didn't answer.

Shouryuu said, "Getting a handle on the Imperial Court is always a challenge for a new king. But you've got to know when to take it easy, too. You ride everybody hard all the time and your fair-weather friends will start thinking up with ways to bite back. Backbiting is always the easy first step."

"So it is."

"If they're the type who will back down when the king turns up the heat, then don't make a big deal out of it. In any case, you want to keep things in proportion."

"Was it hard for you starting out?"

"You might say. There's no need try and hurry things along. With a king on the throne, the natural disasters and calamities will abate. By that alone, you are performing a great service."

"But that alone won't do."

"Why do you think kings are given such long lives? Because what needs to be done can't be done in fifty years or so. You're not working against a deadline, so pace yourself."

Youko nodded. "But you must have things that weigh on your mind."

"You mean the things that make your head hurt just thinking about? There's no end to them."

"Oh, great."

"If you didn't have any problems, you wouldn't have anything to do. It'd get boring." So said this king, who had ruled his kingdom for five hundred years. With a tone of voice somewhere between sarcasm and self-mockery, he added, "And if it did, I'd probably destroy En just to see what happened next."

2-2

"Say, do you think maybe Youko's getting a little down in the dumps?"

The water in the lake was warm. Rokuta took off his shoes and sat down on the shore and splashed around with his feet. Rakushun sat down next to him.

"It's hardly surprising that you would come to that conclusion."

Rakushun glanced over his shoulder at Rokuta. He'd thought he was the only one this had occurred to.

"Yeah. I have to wonder if Youko and Keiki are getting along."

"Don't be silly."

"But you hardly ever see them together."

"That's true." Rokuta rested his chin on his hands. "It could be that Keiki's just uncomfortable around guys like us. That's why we never see him. Shouryuu and I being the way we are, you know. We're not the kind of company that a super-serious guy like Keiki wants to hang with. And then you have to consider that he and Youko got off to a pretty shaky start."

"You think so?"

"Like I said, a super-serious guy. If Youko was all kicked-back like Shouryuu, they'd probably be at loggerheads already. But Youko taking herself pretty seriously as well, Keiki just keeps himself busy as a bee. Not to mention that Youko is Keiki's second liege."

"How's that factor in?"

"It factors in all over the place. When you've served two kings, you can't help comparing the two. You invest a lot of yourself in your first king. No matter what, the next one's going to take some getting used to. For example, even if the previous king was a bad man and his reign short-lived, the kirin's going to regret it. It's going to stick with him. No doubt it would have been better had Youko been a boy."

Rakushun exhaled. "Probably so."

"Youko can't help but remind him of the Late Empress Yo-ou. On top of that, there's his straight-laced personality, and the man doesn't exactly have a way with words. Makes him hard to read. Not to mention that hardly any time has passed."

Rakushun brought to mind Keiki's brusk, blunt manner, his expressionless face, his limpid, golden hair. Golden hair was particular to kirin, but comparing Rokuta and Keiki, their hair was each golden in its own way. Rokuta's hair was more of a bright yellow, while Keiki's was a colder, translucent color. It almost seemed an extension of his personality.

Rokuta laughed brightly. "One way or another, I'm sure Youko will make it work."

Rakushun nodded. "I'm sure she will."

Youko glanced at Rakushun and Rokuta, sitting there at the water's edge, absorbed in conversation. She said in a low voice, "I still don't get this place."

Shouryuu responded cheerfully, "No, I'm sure you don't. Anyway you look at it, it's different here." He chuckled. "Children growing on trees, now that was a shock."

Youko smiled thinly. The smile faded. "Not knowing all this stuff seems to irritate a lot of people."

"You mean Keiki?"

Youko glanced at him and shook her head. "The ministers and officials, too. Everybody seems taken aback by how totally clueless I am. And who can blame them?"

Every time she said, I don't get it, Keiki and the ministers shook their heads and sighed.

"It's because I'm a woman, that's why they're not happy with me." She'd heard the whispers plenty of times already. This is what you get with an empress.

"Not quite," said Shouryuu.

Youko looked at him. "No?"

"When I came here, the most perplexing things to me were that woman could become ministers and the strange relationship between parents and children."

"Meaning?"

"In Yamato, women were at the center of the family. They never ventured into the outside world. But here, women will leave their children in the care of the father and go to work. Because the Late Empress Yo-ou expelled all the women from the kingdom, Kei doesn't have many female ministers, but in En they make up almost half of my staff. As you would expect, men predominate in the military. Even there, a good third of the soldiers are women."

"Really… . "

"If you think it over, there's nothing unusual about it. The kirin choose the kings, and as many of the kirin are female as male. Every generation, the scales may tip one way or the other, but in the long run it balances out to about fifty-fifty. The kings chosen are about half women and half men. Go through the historical records and do the calculations and you'll see that neither sex is favored in the long run."

"No kidding," said Youko, her eyes growing wide.

"There's nothing wrong with a king or kirin being a woman, and there's nothing wrong with a minister being a woman, either. Women here do not give birth, and raising children is not by default the woman's job. So the woman's place is not necessarily in the home. Simply because of raw physical strength, they are not as suited for the military, but where delicacy is called for, or a comprehension of the intricate workings of business, they are unsurpassed. As government administrators they can go far. Secretariats are often staffed by women."

Youko laughed. "Of course."

"That's why I don't think the ministers of Kei are giving you a cold shoulder because you're a woman. At the same time, however, being a women does have something to do with it, Kei having had such bad luck with empresses of late."

She gave him a good long look.

"These last three generations have seen a succession of incompetent monarchs who just happened all to be empresses. The last king Keiki chose was an empress and her reign was singularly short. And then he goes and chooses another empress. So the ministers must be thinking to themselves, What? Again?"

"That's what it's about?"

"That's what it really is about. The Royal Kyou of the northwest kingdom of Kyou has reigned for almost ninety years. And the empress who ruled before her did so for an extraordinarily long time. So if you were to spring a male king on the people of Kyou, they probably wouldn't be very happy about it. In the final analysis, that's what it amounts to. Don't worry about it."

Youko sighed and then smiled. "Thanks for straightening me out."

"No problem," Shouryuu replied with a grin. "If there's any way I can help out, let me know and I'll do what I can."

Youko bowed to him. "I am truly grateful for all you've done."

2-3

As she had promised, two weeks later Riyou, lord of Suibi Grotto, returned to her mountainous fiefdom.

When she arrived at Mt. Ha, she drew alongside the soaring castle on Suibi Peak. In the world below, at the foot of Suibi Peak, she could see the hodgepodge of small blue roofs. If you took the tunnel from Suibi Grotto down through the heart of the peak, that is where you would emerge in the world below. The palisades enclosing the buildings stood in neat rows, along with more blue-tiled roofs standing before the gate. It was a shrine dedicated to the wizard who lived on Suibi Peak.

Astride Setsuko's back, peering down at the tableau beneath her, a crooked smile came to Riyou's lips. All she was doing here was piling on the years, nothing more. And yet these people from the world below were grateful for her presence.

Her worshipers no doubt believed that if something serious happened to them one day, Riyou would come to their rescue. In times past, there had been famous wizards of the air who did lend a hand to those in need. Still, it was awfully ignorant of them to expect that all wizards should similarly be overflowing with grace and good works.

"Let's go home."

Setsuko set down before the gate to the grotto. Five servants rushed out to greet her. Riyou dismounted and gave them a once-over.

"Any changes in my absence?"

Fine with her if there were. In a place in her heart she chose to ignore, Riyou knew that a long life was a thing you could weary of. Add three hundred years on top of that, along with the loneliness that came from being left behind by the world. There was not a mortal being left who still remembered a woman named Riyou.

One of the menservants bowed low and said, "There have been no changes."

"Is that so."

She scanned the entrance to the grotto. Of course she remembered what she had asked of them before she left. The grotto had been spiffed up considerably. The various beams and columns sported a fresh coat of red paint, the walls newly-applied white stucco.

"So it looks like nobody ran off and played hooky."

Riyou laughed. Leaving the red tiger in the care of a groom, she took herself back to the main house. When she arrived at her room, three girls were already waiting, heads bowed, no doubt given the heads-up by a fleet-footed servant.

"Welcome back."

She nodded curtly and continued to stand there. The three scurried over to her and began to undress her. The room was perfectly in order. The pillars and walls had been repainted. All this could not have been accomplished in a mere fortnight. They had likely only tended to the places Riyou was most likely to notice.

"Honma."

Startled, Suzu raised her head. The girl's fear of her was palpable from the moment she entered the room till she left. Knowing this, Riyou looked down at the kneeling girl straightening up her clothes. She said with pure spite, "I went to see the brand-new Royal Kei. I'd say she's about your age, an empress."

Empress, Suzu repeated in a small, trembling voice.

"Like I said, about your age, though hardly in the same league. Not very ostentatious. A rather severe young lady."

Suzu nodded. Riyou suppressed a smile as she pulled on her robes. "I ran into her at Kaisen Grotto on Mt. Ga. It was right after the enthronement and I went to pay my respects. The mistress of Kaisen Grotto just happens to be the mother of the Royal Kei from many, many generations past. The empress is a woman of manners and breeding. In other words, not like you at all."

Riyou sat down, comfortably draped in her house robes. Seeing that Riyou's attention was focused on Suzu alone, the two other maidservants bowed and wordlessly withdrew.

"Apparently she was born in Yamato."

Suzu's head shot up, her eyes seeming to fill her entire face.

"That's right. Where you came from, that place across the eastern Kyokai. Ironic, isn't it? Two girls born in the same Yamato. One becomes a lowly maidservant, the other the empress of the Eastern Kingdom of Kei. A frugal dresser, to be sure, but royalty nonetheless. Her clothes and even her hairpins were of the highest class." Riyou smirked. "If we turned you upside down and shook you silly, not a single jewel would fall out. But when she returns to her palace, it's to mountains of gems, no?"

Suzu again nodded. She did not glower or answer back when Riyou ridiculed her. She only debased herself so as not to provoke Riyou any further. Riyou's teasing of the girl resembled that of a predator playing with its prey.

"Oh, I've heard all kinds of things. The Royal Kei was also swept into this world. At first, she was at a complete loss. Isn't that rich? But despite not knowing a thing, she set off on her journey and eventually sought the assistance of the Royal En."

Riyou nudged Suzu's collar with the tips of her crossed feet. "Well, for that matter, there's going to be a world of difference between you and anybody else. Falling in with a bunch of itinerant actors, lacking even the talent to stand up on a stage, relegated to a life of menial servitude. The little nobody who begged and pleaded to become my maid."

She gave the girl another jab with her toes, swaying Suzu's bowed head and shaking free several teardrops.

"Now, now, what's this? Imagining the Royal Kei as some sort of kindred spirit? How impertinent. She'd be furious to be pitied by the likes of you. It'd be like a slap in the face."

Suzu's couldn't hold back her smothered sobs and Riyou raised her eyebrows. Having forced her victim to yield, her interest faded. "You may leave," she said dismissively. "I don't want to look at your wretched face. Get out of my sight."

Suzu ran to the garden, to the twisted old pine tree in the heart of the garden where no one could see her. She clung to the trunk of the tree and wept.

Yamato, the country she so longed for.

"What happened to you, Mokurin? Did the mistress say something to you?"

The old man hurried over to her. Suzu could only shake her head. It was just Riyou being her normal self. She lived to ride Suzu like that. Did she find Suzu so detestable? She couldn't imagine what it was about her that made her so hateful.

"I don't know what she said, but you mustn't take it to heart. Serving the mistress requires a lot of patience."

"I know that."

Even knowing that, it didn't mean being ridiculed by others didn't hurt.

"Then why… ?"

Suzu collapsed to the ground in tears. Behind her, the old man sighed. "The Royal Kei," Suzu said between sobs. The Royal Kei was from Yamato. If she was, then from where? What had become of her home country? "Um… " she said, raising her tear-streaked face. When the flustered old man turned around, she asked, "The Royal Kei, where does she live?"

"She lives in the Kingdom of Kei, of course. In the royal palace."

"Oh."

A girl who had come from Yamato just like she had. Like her, she had probably been washed onto the shores of Kei. And she became a king. In this world, with their respective stations in life, their paths should never cross.

I want to meet her. Perhaps even find out what kind of person she is.

Another woman like her should have some sympathy for her plight. She would understand what it was like to be separated from her homeland, the distress of being swept into this strange land, the pain of understanding nothing, the torment of her situation.

"Do you think the Royal Kei will ever come to Sai?"

The old man shook his head. "Can't see why she would. A king coming to visit from somewhere else, it hardly ever happens."

"I see."

I want to meet her, Suzu again whispered inside her heart. How could she ever make it happen? As far as going to Kei and finding her there, what were the chances? How would she get to Kei? If she asked Riyou, the woman would just laugh at her. If she asked for the time to journey there, without giving a reason why, it was hardly likely that Riyou would ever let her go. Simply imagining Riyou's abuse and ridicule made Suzu tremble.

I want to see her, but have no way to go to see her.

What kind of woman was she? If she was good enough to sit upon the throne, she should be a person of great charity, not a cruel witch like Riyou. There were so many things she wanted to ask. More than that, so many things she wanted to plead for.

Come. Suzu looked up at the eastern sky. Please come, come to Sai. Come to Sai and rescue me.

2-4

The wind blew across the white hill, scattering the fallen snow like a blanket of cherry blossoms.

Shoukei rested her hands from pulling the sleigh and stretched her back. In the distance she could see the walls of Shindou. At last she was drawing near to the town. The town itself looked like it was buried in snow. The dusk was falling, Shoukei's breath blossomed white against the hazy darkness filling the landscape. Winters in the northern kingdoms were severe, especially the winters in Hou, where the snowfall was considerable. More than the cold, it was simply getting around that was so difficult. The roads were buried in snow, the cities shut off and isolated.

Everyone practically holding their breath and waiting for the thaw.

Because nothing could be moved during the winter, the smaller shops had to close their doors. When inventories ran low, only those establishments with horse-drawn sleighs could be depended upon. And if you didn't have the patience to wait for the next sleigh to arrive, your only other choice was to wade through the waist-high snow to the next town.

Which is what Shoukei was doing now.

She drew back her shoulders and took a breath. She picked up the rope and draped it over her shoulders. She had to get to the town before the gates closed. Get shut out of the town in this weather and she would surely freeze to death.

The grade of the road was indistinguishable from the white, rolling hills of surrounding countryside, making it hard to tell where the road ended and the fields began. The fields were surrounded by rock walls to keep grazing goats, sheep and cows from straying, but these too were buried beneath the snow. Though it was yet before the winter solstice, the snowfall this year had been unusually heavy.

Her shoulders ached from the weight of the tow rope. Her toes were frozen. The hundred pounds of charcoal loaded onto the sled made the going slow. She could have just as well been hauling a grown man.

How long do I go on living like this?

Numb and exhausted, that was the only thought going through her mind. Several times already she had run off the road and fallen into a drift. Each time she had to carry up the sled and load the charcoal back on. If she didn't make better time the gates were going to close. That was what kept her shivering, trembling legs moving forward. She dragged the sled along, ignoring the pain that cut like a knife into her throat and sides.

They're all enjoying themselves right now.

The only people that traveled from city to city during the winter were peddlers and the Red Banner troubadours. The Red Banner troubadours chronicled the history of the kingdoms in verse and song. They had come to her town. There was hardly anything fun to do during the winter, so when the Red Banner troubadours showed up it was cause for celebration. Despite this, Shoukei alone was sent out to buy charcoal.

Charcoal was indispensable during the winter, so of course it was kept in good supply. Still, she was told that there might not be enough to last till spring and was sent out to get more. She wasn't even provided with a horse.

She hates me that much.

Shoukei cursed Gobo in her heart. Sending her by herself to a neighboring town to haul back a hundred pounds of charcoal on a sled, Gobo knew for damn sure that one slipup and Shoukei would be dead. And one way or another, she made sure Shoukei understand that she didn't care, either.

How much long do I put up with this?

When she turned twenty, she would get her own partition and could leave the orphanage. The reckoning of those "twenty years" was according to customs followed since time immemorial, but according to Shoukei's age on the census, she had two more years to go.

Two more years of this life.

And even in two years, there was no guarantee that she would get her plot of land. Gekkei, the man who had murdered her father, he wasn't likely to so readily set her free.

She resisted the urge to stop and rest, and instead pushed herself on. At last, she struggled up to the gates just before they closed for the night. Inside the town, there remained something of the lively atmosphere. She staggered back to the orphanage and sat down in the snow. She could hear the excited voices of the children inside.

Two more years.

Those two years stretched out like an eternity. The thirty years she had spent at the Imperial Palace seemed short in comparison. She grimmaced and got to her feet, unloaded the straw sacks of charcoal and stored them in the barn. And then went into the orphanage.

She opened the back door and stepped into the kitchen. "I'm back."

Gobo flashed her a taunting smile. "You've returned with the charcoal, then? If there's even an ounce missing, you'll have to do it all over again."

"It's all there, all one hundred pounds."

Gobo sniffed incredulously and held out her hand. Shoukei deposited the frozen purse in her palm. Gobo checked the contents and gave Shoukei an icy glare. "There's not much change here, is there?"

"Charcoal is expensive. It's pretty scarce this year."

A summer typhoon had blown down the trees on the nearby mountains, leading to the high cost of charcoal.

"So you say," Gobo muttered to herself. She turned to Shoukei with a cold smile. "If you're lying to me, I'll know soon enough. Until then, we'll have to take your word for it."

Shoukei hung her head. Like I would stoop to stealing chicken feed like this, she told herself derisively.

"Well, you'd better get started on your evening chores."

Shoukei only nodded. She didn't have the right to talk back to anybody in authority, so no matter how tired she was, she knew it wouldn't do any good to complain.

Shoukei went to the barn with the other children to feed the animals, muck out the stables, and milk the cow and goat.

Even while doing their chores, the children chattered cheerfully. "Too bad you couldn't get back earlier," a girl said to Shoukei. "The Red Banner people are gone by now."

Shoukei didn't answer, silently cutting the straw into the feed.

"A good thing it snowed," a boy said earnestly.

Even with a horse-drawn sleigh, the snowy roads were almost impassable. When it snowed, the Red Banner troubadours had to camp out in a town until it stopped. Truth be told, Shoukei had been wishing for snow as well. But the snow was also the reason she hadn't gotten home until late.

The Red Banner troubadours were masters of travel, but even winter could best them at times. They usually traveled the circuit of cities and towns from spring until fall and then wintered over in a big city, where they would rent a small dwelling and settle down for the rest of the season. The reason they would take such risks during the winter was because King Chuutatsu, Shoukei's father, had forbid entertainers to work except when the fields lay fallow.

Since his death, many Red Banner troubadours now chose to pack it in during the winter, but there were still those who continued to tour. During the winter, there was nothing to do in the towns and villages. So when a Red Banner troupe showed up, they would be welcomed with open arms. That was enough to motivate not a few of them to brave the elements and keep on trudging from town to town.

"It was a really great show."

"I liked the acrobats the best."

Her head bowed, Shoukei listened to the accounts of their delightful day. She was dying to say how she used to see similar performances all the time at the palace.

"Oh, yes," said a girl, "and the story they told about the empress of the Kingdom of Kei. She's only sixteen or seventeen!"

"What?" Shoukei raised her head.

"Isn't that something? A king is the same as a god, right? I wonder what it would be like to become one of the twelve ruling the whole earth, the elite of the elite."

The other girls nodded. "Yeah."

"I would definitely wear silk, with the embroidered plumage of a bird. And gold and silver and pearls."

"And there was this pretend king who started doing whatever she felt like and the new empress clobbered her. That must have been something to see."

"Because the Royal En came to help her with reinforcements."

"Wow, to think she even knows the Royal En!"

"You know, they must know each other real well if he'd come to her rescue like that."

"Don't you wonder what the coronation ceremony was like? I bet she was all gorgeous and everything."

Shoukei stared down at her feet. The boisterous voices faded away. A sixteen or seventeen year old girl. Who had become empress.

Shoukei knew what living in a palace was like. It was totally different from this remote corner of the world.

It's not fair, she said to herself. She was stuck in this miserable life while a girl her same age was enjoying everything that had been taken from her. Shoukei had no way of returning to the palace. Her wonderful parents had been killed and she had been exiled to the hinterlands where she would spend the rest of her life.

She looked at the shovel in her hands. Hands tanned like leather from toiling under a blazing sun, hands whose protruding joints had grown accustomed to carrying heavy loads, hands that bent like claws, with no one to manicure and care for them. She would grow old like this. As if adapting themselves to living in this hick town, her mind and body were going to seed as well. In time, she'd turn into a boorish old hag like Gobo.

And all the while, the empress of Kei would reside at the palace, eternally as beautiful as she was at sixteen.

"It's not fair."

Deep within her heart, another voice chimed in.

It's unforgivable.