by Fuyumi Ono
"A child like you? How old are you?"
Rakushun's whiskers drooped. "I'm always mistaken for a child. Well, no matter. I'm twenty-two."
Shoukei blinked. It was not impossible but he would still be improbably young. It was not simply a matter of first qualifying for the selection process and then passing the entrance exams. You would also need the recommendation of your secondary school principal. It was not rare for students to be over thirty.
"That's quite impressive." This rat had it made. A comfortable life as a government bureaucrat. Shoukei had nothing. Not a thing. Only to wait for her trial, tied up in this jail.
"Well, getting arrested like this isn't exactly a good thing. I'll probably end up being expelled."
Shoukei looked at the rat. If he was indeed a college student, not only his intelligence, but his integrity had been called into question. Of course, if you were punished according to your crimes, he would undoubtedly be expelled.
However, Shoukei remembered, she would probably be extradited to Kyou, there to enjoy the scorn and punishments of the Royal Kyou. And it was likely that her punishments would be more severe than what was normally called for. This rat hardly stood to lose everything he had, while Shoukei had only her life left to her. One slip and she'd lose that, too.
"Well, I wonder what's going to happen next? So what happened to you? Why did all those Ryuu soldiers come storming into our room?"
Shoukei wouldn't answer the question. She turned her back and slumped back against the wall and closed her eyes, showing she had no more inclination to talk. From behind her, she heard a small sigh.
She feigned sleep but could not sleep. Trembling, she passed the night till dawn. The next day she was dragged out of jail. As she was hauled to her feet, she cast a glance back at the jail. From inside the jail, the rat leaned forward and gave her a fixed look.
The jail was in the depths of the city hall. Shoukei had no idea whether this city was located in district or prefecture or county or anything else. Criminal cases were prosecuted in county and provincial courts, but a jail could be located anywhere.
Shoukei was escorted to the main chamber of the city hall and, still bound, sat down on the floor. A fat, middle-aged man sat on the rostrum in front of her. The jailers seized Shoukei by the binding cords and forced her to bow till her forehead touched the floor.
"The princess royal of Hou, Son Shou."
"No, I'm not. I could not possibly be such a personage as that."
The man smiled quizzically. "Is that so? We have word from the Royal Kyou herself that the princess royal of Hou stole objects from the imperial palace and fled the country. We also received notice of a warrant being issued by the empress for her arrest. The Royal Kyou kindly provided a catalog of the stolen articles, which together with the warrant was delivered by carrier pigeon. How do you explain that most of the articles listed in the catalog were found amongst your belongings?"
"They were . . . given to me." Her head pressed to the floor, she had to spit out the words. "The hanjuu I shared the room with, he gave them to me." Shoukei made the assertion, guilt heavy on her mind. I'm sorry, but there is no way I can go back to Kyou.
The man on the rostrum roared with laughter. "Do you really think that anybody here actually believes such lies?"
"But--!"
"Of course, it's exactly what a naif like the princess royal would say. She steals from the imperial palace in Kyou and flees the kingdom, stupid enough to stay in inns along the way. Instead of abandoning a conspicuous animal like a kitsuryou, she takes it along with her. Goods she should have pawned at once, she instead carefully hides in her luggage."
Shoukei bit her lip. She truly had botched it from the start. She had been so happy to be free that she had left common sense by the wayside.
"And all you stole were a few trinkets and baubles. How like a girl. A very silly girl."
"Kensei," a voice addressed the man on the rostrum. A kensei was a county court judge, meaning she was in a county court. "Would the princess royal have done such a foolish thing? It stands to reason that this girl is not the princess royal."
"That is a possibility," the judge agreed cheerfully. "Of course not. The truth must lie elsewhere. I shall ask her again. Are you the Princess Royal Son Shou?"
"I'm not!" she screamed at the floor, grasping at this one last straw.
"So the real princess royal forced these items upon you, and did so in order to mislead her pursuers. But would she have given such hard-won treasures to a complete stranger? No, not likely. So, what is it, miss? Were these items really given to you? Or did you steal them?"
Shoukei couldn't answer.
"Raise your head and look me in the eye. Are these stolen goods?"
Shoukei raised her head and looked into the red face of a man wearing a complacent smile. "No . . . they are not."
"And were they given to you? If they were, what kind of person is this, running around bestowing such idiotic alms on complete strangers? Or rather--"
The judge's voice softened to a coaxing purr. "Or rather, isn't it true that they've been yours all along? Afraid that your possession of them would be thought incriminating, you said they'd been given to you? It was mere coincidence that they happened to resemble the items in the catalog, when in fact they have nothing whatsoever to do with the booty spirited away from Kyou."
Grasping the direction in which he was steering the conversation, Shoukei nodded. "Yes."
"Yet aren't such fineries a bit too rich for a girl like you?"
"But . . . they're mine . . . really."
"Doubtful. Still, we're busy around here. Things to do, places to go. We simply do not have the time or resources to go around investigating every little suspicious incident. Once the court has been compensated for the costs of your confinement, you shall be released."
The implied deal now clear, Shoukei recoiled inside. The man was asking for a bribe. The clerks and officials in the courtroom were all snickering as well.
She said, "Sir, if you could find it in your heart to pardon the inconveniences I've imposed upon the court, I should want to leave the items in my satchel and the kitsuryou to your honor's safekeeping."
"Is that so?" The judge slapped his knees. "You are indeed a young girl familiar with the ways of the world. We shall set aside the complaint. Any resemblance between your goods and the aforementioned catalog of items is declared purely coincidental. It would of course be untenable to take them into custody if they were the property of the Royal Kyou, but as they are yours by declaration, I do not see a problem."
"They are mine," Shoukei stated, flashing an understanding smile at the judge and court officials.
"Understood. You shall be released upon your own recognizance. The court hereby takes into custody the kitsuryou and the remainder of your personal goods. Your bags and purse shall be returned to you. You are free to go."
"I thank the court."
Shoukei bowed her head, hiding the emotions that flooded to her face.
Shoukei collected her bags and purse from the bailiff and staggered down the freezing, windswept street.
I'm saved.
She had not only been spared her life, but would not be sent back to Kyou. Her hard-won treasures, however, had been stolen out from under her, along with the kitsuryou. And that wasn't all.
Shoukei put her hand into her pocket and found there her much lighter purse. The hairpin she'd given to the inn had been confiscated. When returning the purse to her, the bailiff said that her account at the inn had been settled with the contents of her purse.
But even left penniless was many times better than being sent back to Kyou, or so she told herself as she adjusted her leather overcoat and wrapped her shawl around her neck.
But what do I do now?"
In her bags she had a change of clothes and some jewelry she had bought the other day. If she hocked it all for cash, just how much further could she go? In order to get to Kei, she'd have to go to Tai
and get her hands on a passport. But to get to Kei in the first place, she'd have to board a boat from Kei bound for Tai. And she didn't have enough to cover her travel expenses for more than five days.
What if she traveled on foot and stayed in the cheapest inns? And if that didn't work, she'd have to travel while groveling for free lodging along the way, begging for day labor, and generally relying on the kindness of strangers. It wasn't something she had ever believed she could do.
At a complete loss as to what to do, Shoukei exited through the gates of the town hall, hanging her head.
"So you're all right, then," a voice called out to her.
Shoukei looked up in surprise and saw the rat there holding the reins of the splendid suugu. "You . . . . "
"I was wondering how things turned out and came over to see how you were doing. It looks like you cleared everything up."
"Not necessarily."
Shoukei spun around and walked off in the other direction. The sound of footsteps soon came pattering after her.
"Not necessarily?"
"What it came down to was, I pay a bribe and all is forgiven. The result was, they took everything I had." Shoukei spat on the street. There was no sense in taking it out on the rat, but the happy-go-lucky expression on his face irritated her.
"Strange," he said in a low voice. Shoukei turned to him. He said, "To think that the government officials of Ryuu would even make such demands."
"These ones did. There's nothing unusual about it. In every world and every kingdom there are people who brandish power to line their own pockets."
"But Ryuu is renown for its constitutional government. The Royal Hou also tried to emulate Ryuu in the creation of the national polity."
Shoukei stopped walking.
"Far more laws were promulgated disciplining the bureaucracy than the citizenry, though Hou differed a bit in the actual implementation. The public servants of Ryuu should not act corruptly. Laws forbid it. And you're saying that a county court judge so brazenly asked for a bribe? It does all begin to make sense."
"What does?"
"That the system charged with monitoring the bureaucracy is itself breaking down. Shoukei, you said you wanted to go to Tai? And you intended to depart from a port in Ryuu?"
Shoukei laughed derisively. "I don't have enough money to travel directly to Kei."
"I would advise against it."
"Why?"
Amidst the hustle and bustle of traffic headed toward the main gate, the rat lowered his voice. "Youma are appearing in the Kyokai."
"I heard that yesterday."
"Half of them are coming from Tai, but the other half are coming from the shores of Ryuu."
"What?"
Shoukei stopped again and looked at the hanjuu. His black eyes looked back at her. He said, "Ryuu is on the decline."
Shoukei thought this over for a minute. The Royal Ryuu had ruled his country longer than the Royal Kyou. Already, his reign had passed a hundred and twenty years, and he was said to be an enlightened monarch. Shoukei had always thought of the nearest three kingdoms, Han, Kyou and Ryuu, as inviolable. These had been stable kingdoms since the time she was born.
"So what's your next step?"
Suddenly asked this question, Shoukei turned to face Rakushun. Without really knowing what she was doing, she stepped out of the pedestrian traffic moving along the street.
"My next step?"
"Didn't you say you wanted to go to Tai? And all your stuff got ripped off. So you've got no travel money, right? I'm going to wander around Ryuu for a bit and then return to En. If that's okay with you, want to come along?"
Shoukei gaped at him. "You're kidding me. You mean, take me to En?"
"To Kankyuu, if you don't mind. But I am going to have to ask you to hoof it for a while."
"Are you stupid? Didn't I almost get you framed for theft?"
Rakushun laughed. "Not at all. I didn't think I was going to be charged. The endorsements on my visa do carry a bit of weight."
"That's not the problem."
He laughed again. "These kinds of fortuitous encounters seem to be my destiny."
Chapter 32
The new year began.
In half a month, Suzu and Seishuu had come to Shisui Prefecture at the western fringes of Wa Province. If they kept on along this road, heading west, they would enter Eishuu, home province of Gyouten, the capital.
They'd covered this much ground in a fortnight by horse cart. Nevertheless, they'd only gotten this far because Seishuu's condition had worsened markedly. No matter what she did, his difficulties began as soon as he woke up. Sometimes he would spend half the day in pain. On such days, and often the next, they couldn't really travel.
Midway through their journey, they welcomed in the New Year.
Seishuu's eyes hadn't improved. His vertigo was as bad as before, making it difficult for him to travel on foot. His headaches began to be accompanied by convulsions and then by vomiting.
"Sorry, Suzu."
He was lying in the bed of a swaying horse cart. The tarp over the wagon covered the bed of the cart. When they had the room, farmers in the outlying villages made a bit of money giving rides to people walking along the road. Officials traveled in stagecoaches, but they were reserved for the wealthy, and didn't give rides to people like Suzu.
"How's the money holding out? I could walk if we had to. Though not very fast."
"We're doing okay. You don't need to worry about such things." Suzu gave him a playful rap on the forehead.
Seishuu laughed and then pouted, "Don't treat me like a pissant little kid."
His smiling face was drawn and thin. He was sick so often that he couldn't keep anything down. The way he spoke was strange as well. Because Suzu was a wizard, she could understand everything he said, but to everybody else, like the horse cart driver, he only spoke gibberish. His condition had reached the stage where words like "Go" and "Listen" were the only intelligible things they heard.
"If you've got the time to waste mouthing off, then go to sleep."
"I do worry, Suzu. You can be so unreliable."
"Oh, shut up," she said, but had to smile. She no longer got angry when he needled her. There was no malice in his words. It's true that sometimes people would say things that would set him off as well. When he'd say something like, "I'm in pretty bad shape, aren't I?" It was easier just to tell him, "Oh, no you're not."
Suzu looked at Seishuu. "Perhaps it was like that for Riyou-sama as well."
"What was?"
"Everybody at the Grotto hated her. But when asked, nobody ever said they did. We'd all shake our heads and say, 'Of course not!' Still, Riyou would always have some sarcastic comeback."
"Nobody likes to be told people don't like them. At the same time, nobody likes to be told that they're liked by everybody when they know they aren't."
"In that case, it's better if you're not a disagreeable person to start with."
"Yeah," said Seishuu, staring up at the tarp tented over the bed of the cart. "People will be irritating. People will get under your skin. People know they shouldn't do stuff like that, but you know they will."
"Yeah, they will."
"At times, it may occur to them that they did in fact do something wrong. If they then ask if there are people who don't like them, and they're plainly told that there aren't, obviously they're not going to be satisfied. Even if they're told that there are, they're not going to like it."
"Maybe not."
"If things keep going on in that vein, in ways that they don't understand themselves, they'll get stubborn and say, 'So tell me what you really think.' I think a lot of people come to feel that way."
Suzu gave him a surprised look. "I sounds like you know what's it like to be Riyou-sama."
"It's not hard to imagine."
"I guess not."
When she thought back about it now, she had never tried to imagine what it must have been like to be Riyou. She only thought about what a mean
bitch she was.
"Honestly, I never gave a moment's thought to how Riyou-sama felt. Putting up with her was enough. It's hard to imagine that it also frustrated and rankled Riyou and that's what made her so cynical. And when she couldn't stomach what you said, she'd heap a lot of unpleasant chores on your back. The only place you could catch your breath was in your own bed. Even then, she'd wake you up at all hours."
Seishuu sighed. "That really is sad."
"It was awful."
"Not you, Suzu. You were there because you chose to be there. That's not true of Riyou."
Suzu gave him a reproachful glare. "You're not me. Are you telling me you feel sorry for her?"
"Isn't it a pain always having to be such a stick-in-the-mud like that? It looks like you ended up hating yourself, too. Sure must suck being you. But the problem is, you can never run away from yourself."
"I suppose," Suzu said peevishly, looking the other way. She lifted a corner of the tarp and glanced out at the road. "It may sound funny to you, but it really was tough. It's sad to think that my happiest moments were when I could crawl into a freezing bed on winter nights and have all my own thoughts to myself."
"There were other people, weren't there? You never thought of talking to them?"
"I did. But me being a kaikyaku, most people didn't get me. They'd laugh at me every time I'd ask about something I didn't know, so I lost interest. To be sure, it was bad of me not to try and learn stuff myself, but when people are always laughing at you, and they don't have much of desire to learn anything about you, pretty soon there's not much point to it."
"So you'd lie in you bed and tell yourself how pitiful you were, how you were the unluckiest girl in the whole world, and cry yourself to sleep."
"That's not . . . . " she started to say. But it was, she realized, blushing at the truth. "I didn't do that. I thought about lots of things. Like, how it was all a dream, and when I opened my eyes again I'd be lying in my real bed at home."
She laughed wistfully. "After I found out about the Royal Kei, I'd dream about what kind of person she was. I was sure that she must be homesick for Yamato, too. I'd imagine us getting together and talking together like we are now, me telling her all about my hometown."
