The Twelve Kingdoms: Dreaming of Paradise

by Fuyumi Ono

  Watching the servant depart, Gekkei said to himself, "Whatever happens, Shoukei must be spared."

  Gekkei cut through the courtyard to the guest house. He was not surprised to see that his visitor— who'd begged off earlier that evening on account of fatigue—was examining correspondence by lamplight.

  He paused on the veranda and rapped on the window. "Still haven't settled down for the night?"

  Sei put down his brush. He looked up and smiled brightly. "It was my intent, but I feel strangely awake." He opened the door as he spoke and urged Gekkei to enter.

  Gekkei stepped into the room with great deliberation. He bowed deeply to the general.

  "Marquis?"

  "I have taken the time to read the correspondence from the Royal Kei."

  When Gekkei raised his head, Sei smiled knowingly and corrected his posture as well. "I must apologize for springing all of this upon you so suddenly. I am very pleased to know that you have accepted it in the spirit given."

  "And Shoukei-sama's letter as well. If possible, I would like to send her a reply. I hope you would not object to my relying upon your good offices."

  "Not at all."

  "And if it would not seem too presumptuous of me, to the Royal Kei as well."

  "I am sure Her Highness would be pleased to hear back from you."

  Gekkei bowed again and got to his feet. He glanced again at Sei. He'd heard that the Empress was quite young. The rumors hadn't much to say beyond that, but the character of her envoy spokes volumes about the kind of person she was. Implicit in what the general had said and the way he said it was his absolute trust in her.

  "You're a good man, General Sei. And Royal Kei must be a fine woman."

  Sei smiled. "She is, without a doubt."

  Gekkei nodded. "By the way, if you're still having trouble getting to sleep, how about a drink? And seeing as you have eaten dinner, I'm sure we could at least

  Sei agreed cheerfully. "I'd be happy to."

  Gekkei called a servant and ordered food and drink to be brought. "Providing you don't mind the musty blankets, I'd like you to move into the Guest Palace. Everything's been in storage these past four years, so I can't guarantee much in the way of luxury."

  "Not a problem. I appreciate the gesture."

  "We haven't much in the way of visitors from other kingdoms of late. If this one time only, I'd like to welcome you and your retinue as official guests, and introduce you to the Chousai and the rest of the Rikkan. I think meeting the emissaries from Kei would do a lot to encourage our civil service."

  Losing its king had isolated the Imperial Court of Hou as well. Recognition from Kei would greatly set the ministers' minds at ease.

  "But—"

  "Besides, I think I should be moving residences. To the north wing of the Imperial Palace."

  A smile creased Sei's lips. He nodded and said, "In that case, I'll gladly take you up on your offer."

  Chapter 9

  The communiqué was delivered by air to Kyou, accompanied by an ambassador pro tem. The ambassador returned three days later. He entered the Naiden, shoulders slumped, in an obviously dejected mood.

  The shuttered Naiden had been reopened, and Gekkei had relocated there with a small number of his personal effects. He'd apologized for his bouts of indecision, and stated that the position of Kei Province Lord needed filling. The ministers enthusiastically set to the task. Two days later, Gekkei was formally installed as provisional head of state.

  "How did it go?" he asked the ambassador, pushing aside the document he was working on and getting to his feet.

  The ambassador bowed low. "Well—ah—the Royal Kyou made it clear that no leniency would be shown. She granted me a personal audience, but was clearly upset."

  "I'm not surprised."

  "Even the Royal Kei's petition asking for leniency on behalf of the Princess Royal—"

  The Royal Kyou, he explained, had not disguised the fact that she considered the Royal Kei and Gekkei to be meddling in the internal affairs of her kingdom.

  "She said that only the Kyou Ministry of Fall was authorized to judge criminals in Kyou. It was not within the purview of the Royal Kyou, let alone representatives from other kingdoms, to bend the law to their benefit."

  "I see," Gekkei said with a dejected sigh. He knew asking for a reduction of sentence had been presumptuous. Neither was the Royal Kyou's anger a surprise. But he hadn't been able to deny his gut reaction to try and help Shoukei.

  Perhaps doing the right thing by Chuutatsu's daughter was Gekkei's way of repaying the Royal Hou for his disloyalty. Or perhaps it was because Gekkei could sympathize with another person also wracked by her own personal demons. There was no way to wipe the slate clean now, but he wanted to believe that through self-awareness and repentance a person could earn absolution.

  As if grasping the weight of Gekkei's disappointment, the ambassador bowed his head lower. "I'm afraid she lectured me quite severely. With the future of both Kei and Hou hanging in the balance, she said there was no call whatsoever for so many hands to be wrung over the fate of a mere girl, and a petty criminal at that."

  "Yes, well, I'm sorry about that."

  The ambassador nodded and continued, his head still lowered. "As punishment, the Princess Royal was ordered banished. Should she ever be observed within the borders of the Kingdom of Kyou again, no mercy would be shown."

  Startled, Gekkei's urged the ambassador to continue. "And then what?"

  "The word was that she was expeditiously deported." He pressed his lips together in consternation.

  A slight smile came to Gekkei's face. "So that was the word."

  "I apologize for not having made myself more useful in this regard." The ambassador head slumped even further.

  "Not at all," Gekkei said with heartfelt appreciation. "It was the Royal Kyou's way of telling Shoukei that such apologies were beneath her."

  "But—"

  "And her way of telling Shoukei not to let the door hit her on the way out."

  Because the Royal Kyou wouldn't countenance meddling in their internal affairs, apologies weren't going to cut it either way. Refusing to muster any sympathy in response to the petitions sent by the Royal Kei and Gekkei—forever reserving the right to sanction crimes committed under her watch—may have been a reflection of her pride as Empress. But it may also been her way of rebuking them for diverting the resources of their kingdoms from more pressing matters in order to address what she saw as trivialities.

  Probably the latter.

  He was already a regicide. It wasn't as if she needed to take Gekkei to task personally. Rather, she was telling him to get over himself, to seize the reins of power, rush into the breach, and stop his kingdom's downward spiral.

  "Let's find a diplomatic back channel through which we can express our thanks to the Royal Kyou—"

  Gekkei again commended the ambassador. Then he dismissed him and returned to his desk and the letter he'd been working on. Rereading what he'd already written, he had to smile. He was simply raking himself over the coals, confessing to his treasonous crimes all over again.

  Shaking his head, he tore up the letter. "Even now I feel a compunction to apologize to His Highness—"

  The only reason he wanted to Shoukei to understand his actions was because he wanted Chuutatsu to. Because by repaying Shoukei he could somehow atone for his own sins. Because Shoukei empathizing with his actions would somehow equate with Chuutatsu condoning what he'd done.

  But what good would words directed at her father through her do for Shoukei? If any apologies were due anybody, Shoukei was the only person who could benefit.

  Gekkei sighed to himself and stared out the window. His rooms in the Naiden clung to the steep slopes of the mountain. The window faced the administrative annex of Youshun Palace. He could see as well the waves of the Sea of Clouds pounding against the shore. The dark, muddy appearance of the water's surface was due to the thick clouds blanketing the world below. It was spring, and
the rains were unusually fierce for this time of year.

  Indeed, the Princess Royal had long ago left these shores. No one in Hou need spare a thought for what would become of her henceforth. They had to keep this ship of state afloat, keep it from being dashed to pieces upon the rocks. When a kingdom lost its king, every leak below the waterline was evidence of a dozen more yet to be discovered.

  Hou would continue to founder. The kingdom had already begun to list. In better times, the people of Hou survived working in the forests and on their farms. But the rains were heavy this year. The sun scarcely shone and the forage barely grew in the fields. The cattle wouldn't fatten without fodder and the people would be left with nothing. The droughts of summer and the snows of winter were the inevitable consequence of violating the Mandate of Heaven.

  Gekkei had killed the king. But the rain fell on the just and unjust alike, and the people would taste those bitter fruits as well. He had the responsibility to return their king to them, someone with the determination to provide a firm rudder, a leader with the strength of will to protect them.

  "Someone who could learn from Shoukei's example."

  She had found the courage to account for her sins and stand before the Royal Kyou. If nothing else, she was no coward. And like her, he should carry his own yoke and make himself ready to stand tall before Hou's new king.

  There was only one apology that he truly owed Shoukei: Forgive me for taking your father from you.

  Tomorrow morning, General Sei would set out for the Eastern Kingdom of Kei. Tell her I wish her well, were Gekkei's final words to him. At some point in the future I should like to see her again.

  Until then, these would be the last thoughts he would spare her. The Princess Royal would soon become another forgotten memory. There were so many people besides herself that needed to be saved.

  Pen-pals

  he Imperial Palace floated on the Sea of Clouds, perched along the edge of the overhanging cliffs as if to take the entirety of the world below into its field of view.

  This was Gyouten Mountain, the capital of the Kingdom of Kei. At the ninth station of the mountain that held up Kinpa Palace, a small skylight was tunneled into the white mountain wall. The skylight opened. A bird flew out, turned to the northwest, and sailed away.

  The bird's vivid plumage resembled that of a phoenix. It soared over the territory of Kei, straight as an arrow towards the soaring, mountainous border. Three days later it arrived at the capital of En and Kankyuu Mountain.

  The broad avenues spread out from the base of the mountain. Crossing the sky above, the bird skimmed across the tiled roofs of the buildings hugging the mountain. These roofs were elevated only slightly above the rest of the city. It headed for the one furthest in, burrowed into the flank of the mountain, and alighted on the window sill.

  The window looked out from a room chiseled into the rock. Kankyuu Mountain was part of the Imperial Palace and the Imperial government. The room was quite modest and simple. Though the tool marks on the stone walls and floor revealed the work of skilled artisans, the space was graced only by worn and weathered table and chair.

  The setting sun illuminated the curtains drawn across the stone-carved bookcase and bed, as if shining through clouded amber.

  The bird tapped on the glass with its beak. At the sound, the person sitting at the desk in the room raised his head. Or rather, the gray-haired tail falling off the edge of the chair was not that of a human, but a rat. He glanced over his shoulder at the window. Spotting the bird, he fluttered his silver whiskers.

  "Come in," he called out.

  The bird flew through the open sash to the book-strewn desk and lit on the edge. He patted his head. The bird cocked its head to the side and began to speak in a woman's clear voice.

  "Hey, it's been a while. How's it going?"

  He laughed and nodded as if she was there in person. Her voice and diction was that of anybody but an Empress.

  Chapter 2

  The bird continued in Youko's voice, "I'm doing okay. The best I can, I suppose. I can't help feeling a little self-conscious sitting here talking to a bird. It's like talking to myself. Though I guess I'm the only one here who feels that way. Well, um—" She paused for a moment before continuing.

  I'm getting used to life in Kinpa Palace. I've managed to make if from the Seishin to the Gaiden without asking for directions. I'm getting used to the lay of the land, like it's someplace I belong. I took your advice, and my explorations seem to have turned out okay. It turned into a big, two-day expedition. Keiki drew me a map, but I still got myself plenty lost.

  The Imperial Palace is so big that two days is hardly enough time to take in the whole thing. There are thirty-two buildings in the Seishin alone! On top of that, there are these little bridges all over the place, and if you go across them, there's this other place called the Koukyuu on the other side—it just makes me laugh! I haven't explored the Koukyuu yet. Make that the Koukyuu and the East Palace. And the administrative offices. I mean, taking a look at the places I'm personally connected to took a whole two days! What am I supposed do with all these buildings?

  Just them sitting there doing nothing seems like an awful waste. I've been thinking of maybe renting out rooms to earn a little extra income for the Imperial treasury. Or maybe using them for refugee housing. Or creating an Imperial hospital. Keiki turns all my ideas down flat. He says such things are absolutely not allowed. If we tore them all down, at least that'd get rid of the maintenance costs. But apparently that's a non-starter as well.

  Illustration

  Kei is plenty poor, and it seem to me that I shouldn't be living in a place like this. But Keiki goes on about Imperial dignity and etcetera. I've got tons of clothing and jewelry that I inherited from all the rulers before me. Selling it all would make a sizable addition to the treasury. Frankly, when people start going on about the "dignity of the kingdom" and the "dignity of the crown," I don't really get what they're talking about.

  Just the other day, I thanked the maids for cleaning my room. Keiki gave me a hard time about it. He says they won't respect me if I'm casual with them like that, but I'm not convinced. Oh, yeah, and no making notes. Most of the stuff that goes on around here I've never seen or heard about before. There's no way I'm going to remember any of it if I can't write it down. So I was carrying a notebook around with me so I could, you know, take notes. Keiki got on my case about that too! He says it makes the ministers uneasy. I'm supposed to be above it all or whatever. So whenever I find out something new, I sneak away someplace and write it down in secret. Though that isn't exactly genius behavior either.

  I'm telling you, Keiki nags me from morning till night. You wouldn't think he could be so annoying, supposedly being chock full of humanity and charity and all. The only kirin I've met so far are Enki and Keiki, so I've really got to wonder sometimes. The end result is, we get into these big arguments. It must really freak out the ministers.

  Though come to think about it, when they treat me with kid gloves, I tend to get overconfident. So Keiki's probably just what I need. With everybody bowing down to me wherever I go, it's easy to think I have everything under control. Him being such a taskmaster keeps me from getting a swollen head. All things considered, I think I'm handling things okay. Though it'd be a lot better if he wasn't so freaking uptight every minute of the day.

  I seem to get along with everybody besides Keiki. But that's probably just because I'm so clueless. Whatever the Rikkan says, my reaction is, well, why not? Once I figure out more about what's going on, we'll probably end up having more disagreements.

  The court ladies who help me out are very good at what they do. And they're fun to gossip with. Keiki gives me his sour look and says I shouldn't get too attached to the help. But there's no way I can be high-handed with the people I spend every morning and evening with.

  One of my ladies-in-waiting is named Gyokuyou. She's nice. I really like her. She used to be in the Ministry of Spring. She did something in
education. The name of the department completely escapes me right now. Man, I feel like such a pea-brain sometimes. Anyway, I think she worked for the people who build schools. We talk about what schools are like here compared to Yamato. I should get her transferred back to the Ministry of Spring. She didn't lose her position because she did anything wrong. It was because the Late Empress Yo had all the women exiled from Kei. After leaving Kei, she traveled all over the place, and took the opportunity to visit schools wherever she went. She's got a really positive outlook on life.

  Speaking of which, I met a girl named Gyokuyou before in Kou. I guess it's a pretty popular name. But as I was saying, the Gyokuyou who's my lady-in-waiting knows all these great stories about the other kingdoms. Hearing them makes me want to travel too. Not just around Kei, but the other kingdoms as well. And not just running from one tourist trap to another, but taking the time to look and listen.

  Unfortunately, these days, seeing how things are going in Kou is about the best I could hope for.

  You've probably heard this as well, but it looks like Kourin finally died. The word is, yesterday a new Kouka appeared on Mt. Hou. The Royal Kou is near death's door as well. Things are going to get bad in Kou after this. I know you must be worried, Rakushun. I'll do whatever I can to help. Though you know as well as I that's not a whole lot.

  At any rate, from what I've been able to see so far of Kou, things haven't turned awful yet.

  I kept hearing that things were getting chancier by the day in Kou, so I managed to talk Keiki into letting me take a look. We don't really have that kind of time to spare, so it was only two days. But I've been worrying about it a lot. For one reason or another, I felt I just couldn't move on with my life until I'd made a return visit. And on the way I could check out things in Kei as well.

  As far as I could tell, things hadn't changed much since the last time. People on the street looked like they had a lot on their minds. Otherwise, they didn't seem any different. It was harvest time, and the fields were very pretty. The farms we passed in Kei along the way were in sadder condition. The faster Kei gets at least as nice as Kou the better.