Author's Note:
When I recently finished watching Seirei no Moribito, the first thing I did was curse myself for missing it when it was released. The second thing I did was get inspired. I've watched hundreds of anime I would guess, but none of them really impacted me the way this one did – it's the first that inspired me to write something original and substantive as a result. For all the amazing things Moribito is, what I think it is most of all is a truly beautiful story about two people who come to love each other as parent and child despite coming from unimaginably different circumstances. Balsa and Chagum are what inspired me to write this – I wanted to explore their relationship further and I didn't want to wait ten years for the novels to be translated before doing it.
The story below is set after the events of the second Moribito novel (Guardian of Darkness, just released in English) and it contains a few references to it, but all you'd need to know is pretty much contained in the anime that was based on the first novel. Though the first novel and the anime are mostly identical in terms of plot there are style differences, and I've borrowed a few elements of each for this story. I know this a long story, but I had a lot I wanted to say. I don't write action as well as Production I.G. animates it, so while there is some action here, there's also a lot of character exploration – especially Chagum, Balsa and Tanda. I'm assuming you know who the main characters are but I've included a glossary for some of the minor ones, as well as some of the Japanese words and phrases. When it comes to translations, where the subs and the book differ I've gone with whichever made more sense to me.
And one last thing, about Torogai's hat - with the rabbit (or whatever it was) living in it… It's not in the book and it's basically a sight gag. It's a cute one but I decided to spare myself from trying to describe it, so it's not in the story.
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People:
First, Second, and Third Empresses - Three wives of the emperor or "Mikado". They are ranked by the order in which each bore a son, and live in the First, Second and Third Palaces
Jiguro – Balsa's late father
Jin - Second in command of the Hunters, the Mikado's elite combat and intelligence team
Kainan Nanai: Advisor to Torgal; first Holy Sage of the New Yogo Empire
Mon - Commander of the Hunters
Nimka - Young girl of Toumi Village and granddaughter of Yakue storyteller
Torgal - Founder and first emperor of the New Yogo Empire
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Places:
Aogiri - the "Misty Blue Mountains" which protect Yogo from overland invasion
Aoyumi - Largest river in Yogo, flowing from the Aogiri and through Ougi. Balsa rescued Chagum when he fell from his carriage into the Aogiri at the beginning of Seirei no Moribito
Kanbal - Balsa's homeland, on the far side of the Aogiri. Cold, barren and poor compared to Yogo
Ougi - Capitol city of Yogo; Lower Ougi is the "working-class" neighborhood
Rota - Small kingdom neighboring Yogo; known for aggressive personality of its citizens
Toumi Village - Remote Yakue village high in Aogiri mountains, home of Tanda's grandfather
Yashiro Village - Yakue Village in the foothills
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Terms:
Bo - A wooden spear, often used for sparring or practice
Geta - Simple sandals designed for outdoor wear
Gisho - Yakue bean dish traditionally served to celebrate a man becoming a husband/father
Kotora - Tiger cub, or "little tiger"
Nemaki - Pajamas or "house robes"
Ninomiya - Second, as in "Second "Palace"
Nightingale Floor - A floor designed to make a chirping "nightingale" noise when walked upon, to warn of invaders
Nyunga Ro Chaga – Guardian of the water spirit (Chagum was the most recent)
Oba-san -Aunt
Otouto - Little brother
Porak - Rota martial art, developed on the battlefield
Rucha - Yogo martial art, developed for recreation for farmers
Rugal – Unit of currency in Yogo
Samue - Simple, comfortable peasant or monastic clothing. "Work clothes"
Shochu - Japanese distilled barley spirit
Sugegasa - Wide-brimmed hat, traditionally used by farm laborers for sun or rain protection
Tendo - Yogo ideal of "truth" as divined from the stars and other divining methods
Yamabime - A fruit much-loved by the Yakue (especially Torogai, apparently)
Yamaimo - Japanese mountain potato, a type of yam
Yojimbo – Bodyguard
Yona Ro Gai – The water people of Nayug
Yukata - A cool cotton kimono, usually worn in summer and more simply decorated
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Lyrics to "Itoshii Hito e (Beloved)" are by Tainaka Sachi
Lyrics to "Shine" are by L'Arc-en-Ciel
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PROLOGUE
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The summer sun shone brilliantly overhead, causing the jade leaves of the cherry trees and cobalt ponds of the imperial grounds to radiate an almost preternatural glow. The Misty Blue Mountains far off in the distance did not live up to their name on this day, even their highest white-tipped pinnacles clearly visible from the palace grounds. In the vast plain between the peaks of the Aoigiri and the smaller but more lush eastern range, Ougi-no-Shimo sprawled in a bustling span of small shops and huts on the far side of the Aoyumi River, stretching into the rice terraces at the foot of the mountains.
Among the trees in the west garden a boy sat on a small, arched bridge spanning a tiny pond, legs dangling over the side. He was small still, clearly a child – hair tied back in a ponytail and dressed in a summer yukata of white and vermillion, simple in design though fringed at the cuffs and sleeves with gold. There was a depth and intelligence to his eyes and stern set to his face, however, that looked out of place in one so young. And where his forearms emerged from his sleeves there was a surprising ripple of corded muscle.
The piercing blue eyes were fixed firmly on the silent waters of the little pond, perhaps following the mottled koi that swam purposefully below its surface. The eyes took in none of the majesty of the mountains and paddies that spread out below the hillside perch on which the palace sat, and certainly not the distant bustle of the town. The eyes never looked there – not when the boy could help it. And when the robed, sad-faced young man with long, silver hair approached to inform him that he could no longer delay the audience with his father, a glint of moisture was reflected in the depths of their cool blue brilliance.
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Though far, far too distant for the eyes of a child in the Imperial Palace to discern even had they been directed towards the Aogiri, a lone figure was moving among the mountains. The high pass that cut through them and offered the only overland route to the Yogo Peninsula was cold, even in midsummer. Wind screamed down through the pass, carrying the bitter chill of the glacial heights with it. For the woman that moved along the Kanbal road today, however, such things were a trivial matter. Raised as she had been in the harsh landscapes of that distant land, the air felt almost balmy – though for even a hardened warrior like herself the pass would have been impassible in any other season, the journey suicide.
In sharp contrast to the small figure of the boy in the valley far below, the woman was dressed in simple, utilitarian attire – faded, red woolen cloak and leggings, rough boots, a sturdy pack across her broad shoulders. Her face was rough and chapped by the wind, cheeks reddened. Fine lines spider-webbed at the corners of her eyes – eyes which were dark and intelligent, seeming to contain a latent fire which might burst forth at any moment. And on her back, a spear – tied in place and capped by a leather scabbard.
She knew the route well by now – she had travelled it several times since her early childhood. Every crag was increasingly familiar, every switchback an old companion as she drew closer to the cut in the rock where the Kanbal road would break through the Misty Blue range and her eyes would fall on the vast, fertile land on their far side. When at last the final switchback was behind her and the air beginning to take on the scent of green, she knew the end of her journey was near.
The warrior stood, impassively gazing down at the Yogo below, closing her eyes after a moment to the sound of prayer flags whipping and the feel the warm wind rising off the plains, a sharp contrast to the icy gusts of the Aogiri. When she opened her eyes it was to a view that she had beheld many times before, as child and adult, at the close of this journey. This time, however, the view seemed different, felt different – though the paddies and lakes and distant palaces were as familiar as the feel of her spear in her hand. Now, the water that nourished the rice and the green of the trees held a power it had never held for the woman before, and the pagodas of the palaces seemed somehow more remote and hostile. As she took in the scene before her, the warrior was surprised to feel a tickle of wetness at the corners of her eyes.