It was raining when Chieko was led down to the docks. Everything was soaked in moments, and she was grateful that her scroll satchel was water safe. Everything was stored in record time, and she was ensconced below deck.
Then, the boat began to move.
In no time, Chieko was violently, violently ill.
"Seasickness," A Mantis sailor said succinctly when her servant asked if there was a doctor for the young shugenja. "She'll get over it. She might want some fresh air."
When this was relayed to Chieko, she smiled. "Perhaps I might, after all." She said. "I have never experienced rain at sea."
She regretted her decision when she came out on deck. Her nose was instantly assaulted by the smell of the rain, as well as dead fish, tar, and other noxious odors she couldn't immediately name. She gagged and held the sleeve of her kimono over her nose. From what she could tell, there was a lot of noise and bustle.
Then, as things quieted, the horrible smells- except for the tar and rain- faded away, to be overlaid with the fresh scent of the sea, which she had grown up with, since Shinden Asahina lay along the shore. She breathed deeply and eagerly, still wishing for that horrible, dizzy rocking to go away.
But as the wind took over, Chieko felt it rushing around her body, up her sleeves, through her hair. She had never felt the air kami so strongly and she laughed aloud.
Once someone had allowed her to touch their pet bird while trying to explain flight to her. Now, she turned to her servant with a broad smile and asked, "Are we flying? Are we like birds?"
There was silence for a moment, and then her servant said, "No, sama, the boat is pushed by the wind across the ocean, but we are not flying."
Chieko shook her head. Surely, surely, this was what birds felt in the sky, even if the boat was still on the surface of the water. Peasants truly were dullards to not have even that much imagination.
This was as close to flying as she was ever likely to get.
Several days later, out at sea (though Chieko was told they were within sight of the Crane coast, which they were following), Chieko was more or less used to the new routine of the boat. She was still very seasick, but kept to the advice of the Mantis sailors by remaining on deck as much as possible. After all, they knew better than she did. Her servant kept trying to insist on her staying below, out of sight of the sailors, and where she presumably wouldn't catch cold.
She was sitting on a coil of rope near the back of the boat when she heard a peculiar wailing sound. There was a sudden bustling around her. She heard someone mutter, "It's the Weeping Woman!"
Chieko wasn't an expert on ghosts, but she did know the basics. Her fingers made the gestures of purification, even as her mind quested outwards, trying to find something in the elements that was unusual.
Perhaps because she didn't know the ocean as well as she knew the area around Shinden Asahina, she found nothing.
I wanted to show my skill and be praised. Of course I found nothing, She thought. To be Crane is to create perfection. The art is what matters, not the artist.
She sighed, took a deep breath, and once more cast her awareness into the wind. A moment later, she had found the spirit- now following the ship as it recognized the presence of humans and the mortal world.
How can I help ease your sorrow? She asked now that she recognized the nature of the spirit: a deceased woman, a lost spirit trapped in Ningen-do by her deep sorrow.
My husband! Where is my husband? Has he abandoned me? Has he abandoned the children? Why would he not send word? Where is my husband? The spirit screamed. The pain! It's worse! Something is wrong with the baby!
What is your husband's name and where did he say he was going? Chieko asked, shocked by the pain the spirit was in- pain the body had not felt in quite a long time. Was having a baby really such a terrible ordeal? Also, she felt the drain that said her qi wouldn't have the strength to continue on much longer.
Goro! Curse his eyes, Goro! The woman shrieked. He said he was going as crew on the White Chrysanthemum!
Chieko shook her head and walked towards a group of whispering sailors she could hear nearby. "Excuse me," She said politely, bowing. "The spirit says she is seeking a sailor named Goro on the White Chrysanthemum."
There was more whispering, some of it prayers and some of it quite blasphemous. One voice, cracked with age, said, "I heard of it, sama. The White Chrysanthemum was a courier ship that sank at the end of the 800's sometime. It was said to be going to some far off island that the Tortoise Clan had settled. It was never heard from again. 's why no one in my family will sail with the Tortoise, sama. One of my ancestor's cousins was aboard."
"Thank you, sailor-san," Chieko said with a slight bow towards the voice. As she walked back towards where she had been speaking to the ghost, she heard the man saying,
"Did you see that? The priestess bowed to me. Me! She said thank you and called me 'san'!"
Spirit, I spoke with a wise old man on this ship. He says that the White Chrysanthemum went down in the waters many long years ago. Your husband probably meant to return to you. He was lost at sea.
The spirit wailed anew.
Spirit, I am a shugenja, Chieko said. When I arrive at Kyuden Doji, I will light incense for your husband to Suitengu. I will light incense for you. Please, go to your rest. Suitengu will see your husband to Meido. May you be reunited.
She clapped twice. With a final wail, she felt the spirit turn and leave the area, hopefully forever. She slumped with exhaustion.
"She did it!" A sailor shouted. "The shugenja sent the spirit away!"
Tired, Chieko went below. The fishy smell of the hold was more than worth being able to stretch out for a while.
It occured to her that she had no idea where her hovering manservant could have gone. Why are peasants terrified of shugenja? She wondered. The kami do such wonderful things to help them, and they flee at the first sign of a spirit!
