Chapter Eight
The sky was still heavy with cloud as the carriage rumbled along the uneven stone-chipped track-ways, heading further and further away from Sairou's central capital city with every turn of the wheels. Outside, the wind whipped threateningly against the wood-panels of the sturdy transport vehicle, as rain lashed down against the thin plates of glass that shielded the travellers inside from the worst of the elements without.
Ouba gazed out at the unhappy sky with a heavy heart, somehow feeling that the inclement weather was reflecting her own inner emotions.
Rain was rare in Sairou, except in winter, and prized when it did come, but Ouba had always hated the cold, depressing nature of the Western storms.
"All the rain for a whole year dropped on the land within a single day." She murmured softly, and at the sound of her voice her companion turned, offering her a sympathetic smile.
"We chose a bad day to travel, in the end, Hime." She said ruefully. "If you're right, and this is Sairou's rainfall for the year."
"It seems that way." Ouba sighed, sitting back against the cold fabric of her seat as the carriage rattled over another uneven dip in the road. "Sairou's desert is drought-ridden for most of the time. Yet when it rains, it rains with a fury and passion, just as though it thinks it'll never get another chance to do so."
She glanced at her hands, then,
"Somehow today it seems like the world is crying." She added. "Does that seem silly to you, Kinka? Its as though it's sad to see me leave…just as I'm sad to leave it, too."
"Overly morose, perhaps." Kinka reflected. "Hime, I know how you feel. I'm leaving people behind too, as it happens. But this is the Emperor's will. Lord Nefuru's also. Remember why we're travelling so far as we are – if they knew how sad you looked right now, they'd both be worrying about you."
"I know." Ouba admitted. "I'm sorry, Kinka. I'm becoming repetitive and weak and I don't like it. But I've never been from home before. I suppose I've been overly protected so far in my life, and I hadn't really realised how sheltered I'd become. But it makes it hard to leave loved ones."
She offered a smile.
"But it's selfish of me, isn't it?" She realised. "You're taken away from Rouhei and that's my fault. Yet I'm complaining – I'm sorry, Kinka. I didn't mean to seem ungrateful."
"There's nothing you need to apologise for, Hime." Kinka shook her head. "I'm sworn to protect you and help you in whatever way you need…that's just how things have always been. I don't mind leaving Sairou if it's because you need me to leave. I'll miss Rouhei-sama, of course. He's done so many things for me it would be ungrateful not to. But I'd rather be by your side than alone at court without you. So don't worry on my account, Ouba-hime. I've no regrets in coming with you."
"Sashi said something to me, yesterday, when I went to say goodbye to my nephew." Ouba said thoughtfully, reaching down to finger the tree pendant that hung on its delicate chain around her neck. "About not letting this King of Kutou have his way with me just because he thinks he's bought himself a pretty Sairou bride. I've thought about it a lot – that I shouldn't let myself be forced into doing anything until I'm sure of my surroundings. Do you think that Kintsusei-sama would be angry, if I tried to hold back and stay aloof? At least, to begin with. It's just…he's so much older than me. He must have experience with women many times over already – he was a soldier King, isn't that what Nefuru's people said? Not only that, but he's been Emperor in his own right for almost twenty years. Even if he was fighting a war, and even if he didn't want to take a consort until peace was established, there's surely no way a grown man of thirty five or thereabouts would have shunned women completely."
She sighed.
"But I'm not that way." She added at length. "I have no experience to speak of, and I really don't know…how I should act."
"You're thinking about things deeply, Hime." Kinka looked surprised. "You haven't even met the Emperor of Kutou yet…maybe you should reserve all judgement until you meet him."
"But it makes me more nervous not to know what kind of person I've been tied to." Ouba admitted. "Kinka, has Rouhei said anything to you about Kintsusei of Kutou? Nothing written in the stars…nothing at all?"
"Rouhei-sama concerns himself with Sairou's stars, Hime. Not Kutou's." Kinka said frankly. "But when I swore my allegiance to your Lord brother this morning, he told me that he'd been comforted by the reports he'd received on Kintsusei-sama's character. That should give you comfort too, I think. Nefuru-sama is a smart man and he doesn't say things he doesn't mean. If he feels that way then surely you can feel so too."
"I suppose you're right." Ouba pinkened. "But part of the problem is that I really don't know what he's going to expect of me. I haven't a clue what…I should do…when he's there."
"You mean when you're alone with him, or in general society?" Kinka looked curious, and Ouba shrugged.
"Either, or." She said helplessly. "I know the customs of Sairou's court and could act on them in my sleep. But I know nothing about the cult of Seiryuu or the way Kutou's people prefer to live. I don't want to offend anyone by being foreign and different, but I don't want to let go of my Sairou roots, either. So I don't really know how to act. And I certainly don't know how to be…when alone with a man. Let alone a man who may expect me to produce his son and heir."
"You really are thinking far too hard, Hime." Kinka said frankly. "As for Kutou's culture, we'll find out about that soon enough. I don't know much about it, either…even though my Father was there for a time, he didn't bother to convey any information about it back to me. So I'm as ignorant as you are in all respects."
"Your father…" Ouba hesitated, then she sighed.
"I'm sorry again." She said contritely. "Bringing your thoughts back towards him again."
"As I've told you before, Hime, it has nothing to do with me or my feelings." Kinka said flatly. "I don't blame anyone in Kutou for handing my father over to Heiboutei-heika's justice and I have no intention of pursuing the matter when we arrive. He was a criminal and he deserved his punishment. There's nothing more to be said."
She looked sad.
"If anything, the Kei family owe Kutou something for the trouble he caused while there." She added. "Because he got involved with rebels and wound up dragging our name through their blood-stained cause while he was in exile in the East. It amazes me that the Emperor's people had the forbearance not to take their own revenge, but to sell him back to Sairou to face his proper liege Lord and true justice before Byakko."
"I suppose so." Ouba looked thoughtful. "That Emperor was Kintsusei-sama, wasn't it?"
"Must've been, since he's been Emperor twenty years. You said so yourself, Hime…he's been King there a long time."
Kinka frowned.
"I don't know whether he'll either know the name Kei or remember the past association with my Father." She added. "It may be he doesn't, since from what Rouhei told me, Father was dispatched back to Sairou on the command of a military official who was acting in judgement over one of Kutou's courts. It may be that Kintsusei-sama never encountered him directly after all. But just in case he did, Ouba-hime…I hope my coming with you won't be a cause of trouble."
"Well, I won't let them send you away." Obstinacy glittered in Ouba's eyes and she shook her head. "You're my last shred of security in this strange world I'm going into. You're loyal to me and I have no doubts about that. Your father's crimes were his crimes, and you're not like him. You're like Rouhei has said before – more Han-ke than Kei-ke. So you shouldn't worry. It would be an insult to Sairou, after all, for them to cast judgement against the chosen companion of the Princess of the West."
"I hope you're right." A faint smile touched Kinka's lips, and Ouba nodded.
"I'm sure I am." She said, conviction in her tones. "After all, you're born of noble blood, when it comes down to it. Your current situation is because of your father's foolishness, but Rouhei's always made sure you had respect at court, and I'd like to think I've never treated you as a common servant. You've been more like a sister in a lot of ways since you first came into my service…so I won't let them do anything where you're concerned."
She grinned, despite herself.
"Who knows." She added lightly. "Maybe there'll be a handsome lord at Kutou's court who won't care about your past connections and who'll fall madly in love with you the moment we arrive."
Kinka stared for a moment, then she burst out laughing.
"I very much doubt that will happen, Hime." She said ruefully. "Sometimes you let your romantic side run away with you – has anyone ever told you that before?"
"Mm, from time to time." Ouba admitted. "But the truth is, I'd like it if one of us could marry for love at the very least."
She sighed, suddenly serious again.
"It won't be me." She added matter-of-factly. "An arranged match rarely ends in love, even if it can end in respect and tolerance. But there's still hope for you, isn't there? And if it did happen, I'd definitely not stand in your way."
"Well, at the moment my only interest is keeping you safe and trying to prevent you from moping in homesickness." Kinka sat back more comfortably in her seat, arranging her skirts absently over her knees as she did so. "That's a full time job in itself, you know…taking care of a Princess of Sairou."
"Which is a subtle hint for me to stop complaining, I suppose." Ouba sighed. "All right. I suppose so. I need to find the positives in this. After all, I'm marrying a man of status. My family's honour won't be tarnished by the match. I don't have any secret lover I'm leaving behind, so there's noone to break their heart over me. Kintsusei-sama is the Emperor who stopped the civil war in Kutou, and he's not supposed to be the lecherous demon his late father was rumoured to be. And I could do much worse than be a consort at a royal court. Couldn't I?"
"There's always another possibility, too." Kinka reflected, and Ouba glanced at her in surprise.
"Possibility?" She echoed, and Kinka grinned, mischief flecking in her aquamarine eyes.
"The Emperor of Kutou is thirty five, without a harem in residence at his court." She said matter-of-factly. "His interest in you is political, but he did not seek your hand – rather your father put you forward as an eligible match, and he accepted the terms. He has not actively sought a female companion in all that time in power – even despite the war, don't you find it odd?"
"Odd?" Ouba's brow creased in confusion. "In what respect? If he's a soldier King and he was fighting on the battlefield, would he have had time to find a wife?"
"I don't think he's been a soldier King in the way you think he has." Kinka shook her head. "If I'm right and my father's fate was settled by one of Kutou's military officials and not Kintsusei-sama himself, he may well not be as involved in the fighting side of things as he was before he took the throne. Which leaves the question – with his dynasty obviously so unstable, why not marry at an earlier opportunity? Or at least, have women at court for that purpose. Emperors have harems. We know that."
She gestured towards Ouba.
"Lady Rie, your mother, is Heiboutei-heika's chosen and favoured consort." She added. "And people refer to her as Empress because of it. But, if you'll forgive me for saying it, The Emperor has had other ladies in that time. That's simply the way of Kings – isn't it?"
"Yes." Ouba looked thoughtful. "I suppose it is. You're right. Mother is Father's Queen and the only one he permits to reside at the palace itself, these days. But he has had other women and he has provided households and servants for each of the ones which have born him children. Half-siblings I've never even met – but yes, blood of the Emperor just the same."
"So why hasn't Kintsusei-sama followed that path?" Kinka asked. "Because of the war, or because of something else?"
"I don't follow." Ouba shook her head. "Even if you're right, I don't see…"
"Perhaps Kintsusei-sama isn't the kind of King who looks for female companionship after all." Kinka spread her hands. "And if so, his demands on you may not be as heavy as you fear. If he needs just an heir, then that may be the only time he seeks to be so closely in your company. If you see my train of thought, Ouba-hime – it might be that you really are just the solution to his dynastic and political problems, and not a remedy for Imperial lust."
"You say some horrible things sometimes." Ouba flushed. "Imperial lust indeed – Kinka!"
"Sorry." Kinka shrugged her shoulders. "But you do understand now, don't you? That Kintsusei-sama might be…of that persuasion."
"You mean that he might like Princes and not Princesses, don't you?" Ouba frowned, and Kinka nodded.
"Is it impossible?" She asked simply. "It happens, after all. Men at court aren't always in want of a wife – even in Sairou that's true. Why would Kutou differ? People are people. Besides…"
"Besides?"
"I've heard one story about Kutou's Emperor that made me wonder this." Kinka folded her hands together in her lap. "Nefuru-sama's men reported to Rouhei-sama that Kintsusei-sama is in the constant companionship of a former slave – a member of a tribe known as the Meihi who settled along the Eastern borderlands from the North country a long long time ago. From all accounts this former slave is very closely intertwined in the Emperor's trust – born without status and dragged out of bonds, yet somehow gifted the privilege and the power of one born of noble blood. Apparently this Meihi individual has been at the Emperor's side since he was still a soldier and not a King at all…and even after all this time their connection has not been broken. If that doesn't smack of suspicion, what does?"
"I see." Ouba rubbed her temples. "Then you think he already has a lover…and I'm just…for show?"
"Maybe."
"Should I be insulted or relieved by that?" Ouba wondered, and Kinka smiled.
"Perhaps I'm wrong." She said evenly. "But it's a train of thought that's worth pursuing. At least there must be a reason for his reticence with the opposite sex. Even if he's not so inclined, it may be that he's shy and awkward around women – not the type to force himself on you without thought or reason. Whatever the root of it, I don't think he's someone you should fear. I'm sure that you are quite equal to the situation, whatever it proves to be."
"I'm not sure I like the idea of my future husband having a live-in male lover." Ouba said seriously. "And the whole slave thing…slaves don't exist in Kutou now, do they?"
"No, not since the end of the war."
"And it was Kintsusei-sama who stopped that?"
"So it would seem."
"I wonder if there's a connection."
"Well, it's possible." Kinka shrugged. "You never know."
She cast her companion a keen glance.
"This is a very low key form of transport for a Princess." She reflected. "Has that got your mood down too, Ouba-hime? The people should be lining the streets to say their farewells – yet it's all been done quite quietly and without ceremony. Does it make you feel unnoticed, or are you happier without the fuss?"
"I think I'd probably cry, if it was a big public affair." Ouba confessed. "And I know that it's for my safety we're travelling this way. It's a long journey, after all, and bandits and cutthroats still lurk along the side of busy roads. We're much less noticeable this way. And if noone sees me go…noone can see me cry like a silly, homesick idiot when we cross the Western border."
She frowned, eying her friend keenly.
"Kinka, can I ask you something?" She asked hesitantly, and Kinka looked surprised, nodding her head.
"Of course." She agreed. "What is it? Something else on your mind?"
"In a way." Ouba pursed her lips, glancing at her companion's bandaged right hand as she did so. "You spilled blood before my brother this morning when you swore to protect me, and you did it with his blessed blade, didn't you - a proper oath before advancing into enemy territory."
"Hardly enemy, but yes." Kinka agreed. "What of it, Hime?"
"Nothing, I suppose." Ouba looked pensive. "Just...the other night you ran out of my chamber like your feet were on fire, and you've not given me any kind of explanation for it yet. I thought that you were always going to be honest with me - and if you're willing to go so far as to make a blood oath to my brother over my safety, it makes me wonder why you haven't told me what happened. I was worried about you - but you're just acting like nothing ever happened."
Kinka's expression became troubled, and Ouba saw her friend's beautiful aquamarine eyes cloud over. Slowly she shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Hime." She said softly. "But I can't. I gave Rouhei-sama my word to speak of it to noone but him, and to leave it to his discretion what to do about it. It concerns something he saw in the stars, but that's as much as I can say. Even if I wanted to tell you, I don't see what purpose it would serve. But as it stands, I can't. So I haven't. And I'm sorry, but I won't betray my promise to him."
Ouba's brows knitted together.
"You sound so solemn." She observed. "And that look is back in your eyes - the one that tells me you're frightened of something but you don't want to voice whatever it is. I understand if you made a promise to Rouhei, but even so, Kinka...you scare me when you act that way. It isn't like you - and I'm worried."
Kinka hesitated for a moment, then raised her gaze to her companion's.
"I'm sorry I made you feel that way." She said quietly, her expression still unreadable. "But I promise, Ouba-hime, it's nothing you should be afraid of. On the contrary, since I've sworn to protect you from harm, you know that's what I'll do. Whatever happens - you can trust in me to do that. And if danger strikes, or if something changes..."
She faltered for a moment, then nodded, resolution in her gaze.
"You've no need to worry." She said firmly. "You're my number one priority when we get to Kutou and I promised your brother that as well as Rouhei. Most likely nothing will even come of it. But even if it does, I'll take care of everything. I promise."
"It looks like there are storms on the horizon."
Hikari rested her elbows on the sill of the Ri farm's front window, letting out a sigh as she gazed out across the stretch of land which marked the family's territory. Even now she could see the first shoots of plants beginning to push their way through the surface as spring, always early in the South spread its way from the mountains across towards the Northern border.
"I thought it was going to rain on me the whole ride over here - it would have been typical, if I'd got drenched on the way."
"We're glad to see you again too, Hikari-chan."
The room's other occupant glanced up from the letter he was reading, shooting his young charge an amused smile, and Hikari blushed, shaking her head as she turned to meet his twinkling ruby gaze with sheepish hazel eyes.
"That wasn't what I meant, Chichiri." She said reproachfully. "And you know it. I just...I'm still not used to riding my own horse, even if Shizuka does live up to her name and is the quietest horse in Reizeitei-sama's stables. It would have been twice as difficult a trip if the ground had been slippery - I'm glad I managed to get here before the heavens opened."
"In truth, I'm glad you are too." Chichiri owned, setting aside the letter as he eyed her pensively. "You may be almost a young woman in your own right now, Hikari, and strong enough to repel the most forward of robbers if you put your mind to using the gifts Suzaku gave you. But I still worry about you making the trip back here from Eiyou. It's a good three hour ride on a good day, and that's for a confident rider. You've overcome your fears pretty well, you know, but even so...it's a risk, coming back here by yourself on such a long journey. I did give your parents my word I'd look out for you, after all - if anything happened, I wouldn't forgive myself."
"I'm okay." Hikari got to her feet, smoothing her skirts as she came to perch beside him. "And I'm grateful for everything you and Aidou-san have done for me since we came back to the ShijinTenchishou, Chichiri. You do know that, right? I miss Mother and Father still, of course. Even Makoto, from time to time, and I worry about Ari-chan being in Tokyo all by herself. But since there's no way around it, I've tried to make the best of things here. And it would have been much harder if I hadn't had this place to call home."
"I'm happy to hear it." Chichiri's expression softened. "Because everyone here is fond of you too, you know. It has begun to feel like I have two daughters, instead of one - and Eiju and Meikyo look up to you a whole lot, too. You'll always have a home on the farm to come back to, Hikari-chan. Whether you go to the palace to study or keep Boushin company, or whether you finally choose to take the step and marry Aoi - we'll always be your family in this world. Remember that, all right? There's no time limit on that promise."
Hikari smiled, taking in her guardian's features as she did so. The first time they had met, she remembered ruefully, she had been both frightened and repulsed by the ugly winding scar that stretched across the place where once the sorcerer's left eye had been, but now she found it hard to imagine why she had ever thought Chichiri anything but warm and welcoming in his appearance. It was true that he could not be called handsome, since despite the fact the wound had occured more than twenty years earlier, there was no hiding the severity of the original blow. But somehow, Hikari mused, his lop-sided appearance seemed to fit in with his quirky, off-beat personality. Since the day she had arrived in the ShijinTenchishou a year and a half earlier, she had found herself turning to him more and more for help and advice, and now, with the doorway to her own world locked and barred, she had come to look on him as a second father.
At almost forty four, he was no longer a young man, and his apothecary lifestyle had brought with it the physical labour of tending the farm herbs. Despite that, however, the Suzaku spirit that ran through his veins had prevented him from becoming stooped or worn like some of his village neighbours and though he was no longer the young man he had been when he had first joined up with Hikari's mother Miaka to summon Suzaku and save Kounan, there was still a vibrant life and sparkle in his good eye that indicated a man content with his lot in life.
Some seventeen years earlier, Chichiri - or to give him his true name, Ri Hou Jun - had married his wife Aidou, the older sister of his Suzaku comrade Tasuki, and since then had two children of his own - a son Eiju, now almost fourteen, and a daughter Meikyo, who was pushing ten years old. To Hikari, who had grown up with a younger brother she had always hated, it had been natural to slip into the role of older sister and when she had realised that returning home was no longer an option, the two Ri children's enthusiasm and affection had helped to soothe the wrenched heart as she had accepted leaving everything she had once held dear behind.
"This world has a lot of good things in it." She reflected now. "And so does the world I started out in. But neither one is complete. I guess it's true you can't have everything...the older you get, the more you realise that."
She shrugged.
"Still, I have you all, and Aoi, and friends like Shishi on the mountain and Reizeitei-sama at court." She said contemplatively. "Even friends as far away as Kutou, since Myoume and I still keep in touch by letter...sort of. And I have control of my magic now, thanks to all the hard work you put me through when we first came back here."
Amusement touched Chichiri's features and he nodded.
"I'm not sure it counts as corresponding with Myoume, since you have to get someone to write the letter as you dictate it, and then read you her response." He teased. "You have to work harder on your kanji, Hikari - you're far too old to be illiterate, and considering your position these days, it's almost unforgivable."
"I'm trying, I'm trying." Hikari defended herself. "Even Reizeitei-sama has been helping me. I'm just not naturally smart like he is, or like Aoi. I've never been academic. Even Meikyo can run rings around me when it comes to reading and writing."
She sighed.
"Maybe I ought to get her to teach me." She said sheepishly. "She probably could."
Chichiri laughed, shaking his head.
"I don't think its as bad as that." He told her. "But at least you are putting your mind to it. Since you spend so much time at court these days, and since Aoi is there a lot too...it would be easy to get distracted."
"Perhaps." Hikari pinkened. "But he has a lot of work to do, too. On Kintsusei-sama's behalf. So I don't see him all the time."
She sat back against the seat, eying her companion quizzically.
"Was there anything important in Reizeitei-sama's letter? He asked me to deliver it, so I wondered if it was something urgent."
"Not especially." Chichiri shook his head. "Like you, Hikari-chan, Boushin...Reizeitei-sama has no way of speaking to his father. In some respects I've been to him what I've been to you - someone to call on or talk to when there's been a need. As I lost so many of my own friends and relatives in the Shouryuu flood, I understand being severed from loved ones as well as anyone. He and I have always corresponded on some level, even though I've not been at court as often as I know he'd like. His letter is simply an invite to attend a function in the next few weeks...and from the undertones I think he's probably going to ask my advice on something. That's all."
"Maybe its about his harem." Hikari suggested, and Chichiri looked startled.
"His harem?"
"Mm." Hikari nodded. "We had a chat about it the other day. That his councillors are kicking up a fuss because apparently some Sairou Princess is going to marry the Kutou Emperor and apparently this is a bad thing, although it has nothing to do with Kounan. Reizeitei-sama didn't seem bothered about it, but some of his ministers are a bit...er...obsessive about the marriage thing. So much so they've even been trying to suggest he marry me."
"I can imagine Aoi-kun's reaction to that." Chichiri chuckled. "But it was the same in Hotohori-sama's day. His ministers were very keen on finding him a wife. And in the end he chose a good one - Houki-sama is a sensitive and intelligent woman who has raised her son with the best values and I imagine if he was here today, Hotohori-sama himself would say that he couldn't find fault in his successor. Boushin is twenty soon, after all. I would think they'd be very anxious to find him a girl soon."
"Yes, that's what he said, pretty much." Hikari agreed. "He asked if I might be a go-between for him, when the women are summoned to the palace. And I said I would. After all, he calls me his sister. And it seems a sisterly thing to do."
"Well, if it's that he wants to speak to me about, I'm probably not going to be a lot of help." Chichiri reflected. "But I suppose we'll see. It might not be that at all."
He frowned, glancing towards the window as the first shards of rain came splattering down against the glass.
"And the rain is here." He murmured. "Just as you predicted."
"It's been looking grey all morning." Hikari stretched her arms over her head, stifling a yawn. "I suppose I should go and help Aidou and Meikyo in the kitchen, but I'm just too tired."
"And I have herbs to tie and prescriptions to write." Chichiri admitted. "If it would be less tiring, you could help me with that. At least, you could do the tying and I'll do the writing - does that seem fair?"
"I suppose so." Hikari agreed. "Eiju isn't home?"
"He went to the mountain this morning." Chichiri shook his head. "At least, I suppose that's where he is - I expect Tasuki and the others will keep him till the rain passes, knowing how Aidou feels about her kids being out in the elements when there's a perfectly good shelter nearby. But Maichu came at dawn this morning to take him off to practice, and I've not seen or heard anything from him since."
He got to his feet.
"I have to hand it to him, actually." He reflected pensively. "Maichu's still young himself - brash and impulsive on occasion, too. But he has Eiju's measure and he's drummed respect and loyalty into the boy since he asked whether or not he could take over the sword training from Kouji. To begin with, Eiju really wasn't keen and I know he did a fair bit of answering back when he thought I couldn't hear him. But now he's up and waiting for Maichu to come when it's a training day - he can't wait to get started."
"You're resigned to him becoming a soldier, then?" Hikari asked curiously, and Chichiri shrugged.
"Eiju has Kou blood as well as Ri blood." He said simply. "He takes far more after Tasuki than he does me in many respects. And Aidou won't hear of him going to the mountain on a permanent basis. She's said it's bad enough having a younger brother for a bandit Kashira, and she's not going to have her son following the same path. So this is the compromise. When he turns fourteen, Eiju will probably go to Eiyou and become a recruit of the Imperial Guard. I've spoken to Bou...Reizeitei-sama and he's agreed to arrange a place for him if necessary. And that's that. At least with Kounan at peace, hopefully his duties will be largely ceremonial and not too physical."
"I think Maichu will teach him enough so that even if it did get physical, he'd be all right." Hikari reflected. "Maichu is strong, even if he doesn't have Aoi's celestial blood. In fact, he'd probably beat Aoi in a fight, now. Aoi hasn't touched a sword except in his official presentation ceremony when Kintsusei-sama deployed him to the South as his emissary. He's afraid of losing control and letting the Seiryuu spirit take over - so he's given it up completely."
"And Maichu has put his demons aside and embraced bandit life wholeheartedly." Chichiri agreed, leading the way into the little back-room where clusters of cut herbs drawn from the Spring's earliest plants lay scattered on the work surface, waiting for someone to tend to them. "In the end, all ended well."
"I wonder about that, sometimes." Hikari mused, pushing the door carefully shut behind her as she surveyed the small work-room fondly. Although she enjoyed her time at the palace, she realised, somehow this place was still far more home from home.
"About what, exactly?" Chichiri eyed her keenly, and Hikari grinned.
"You have to promise not to repeat it, because I don't want Shishi to hit me." She warned, and Chichiri laughed, nodding his head.
"I promise, although I think I guess where this is going." He remarked, scooping up the list of prescription ingredients up off the unit as he scanned down them carefully. "You're talking about the interesting working chemistry she and Maichu have developed, aren't you?"
"Somewhat." Hikari giggled. "Though she'd never admit it in a million years."
"I'd noticed it too." Chichiri nodded. "But as you say, Tasuki's cub is a law unto herself and she's always been adamantly against anything romantic. Still, she is sixteen now. She's not a child any more than you are. And her rapport with Maichu is not like the one she and Jin shared. Jin was always like her older brother - they grew up that way, so it couldn't have been any different. But Maichu is a foreigner and a newcomer to her pack, in a sense. There's no way she can see him as a brother. The karma is all wrong."
"I'm glad it isn't just me who wonders." Hikari admitted. "But Shishi'll probably be the last person to realise it - if she ever does."
"She's her father's daughter in a lot of ways." Chichiri agreed. "Can you pass me that bundle over there, Hikari-chan? I need a couple of leaves fresh before you tie them and hang them to dry."
"This?" Hikari reached across to touch the nearest cluster of stems and leaves, and Chichiri nodded.
"If you don't mind."
"Sure." Hikari did as she was bidden. "You know, when I'm at the palace, everyone calls me Hikari-hime and treats me like a Princess. But somehow, I prefer being here like this. Is that odd? It just seems more...natural. Reizeitei-sama is probably the only person other than Aoi there who treats me totally normally. It's really surreal."
"Well, you are an important person in Kounan." Chichiri reminded her. "The personification of Suzaku's divine power in a living, breathing human being. That's never before happened, and probably won't ever again. You need to accept that, Hikari. Here, in a Suzaku household, you're part of the family. But there, in the palace where Hotohori's corpse lies sleeping below the Phoenix's statue...you are something else."
"The symbol of love and rebirth." Hikari sighed. "I know. I know. It's just weird. Because I still feel like Hikari. Even though having magic and all of that is totally different from how my life was before, at the end of it I'm still Hikari. It's just odd, that's all."
She frowned.
"Chichiri, do you think anyone in my world will ever open that book again?"
"The book that leads here, you mean?"
"Yes."
"Impossible to say." Chichiri shrugged his shoulders. "In theory, the legends should all be completed now. But I don't know what the future holds. And I can't speak for what might happen in your world, either."
"True. Me either." Hikari admitted. "But if I was Seiryuu's Miko - you're right. That should be the end of it."
Chichiri pursed his lips, setting the herbs down as he eyed her keenly.
"Something on your mind, Hikari?" He asked softly, and Hikari started, then shook her head.
"No, nothing particularly." She responded. "I just...I think it's all the rain and gloom in the atmosphere. It seems especially heavy today for some reason. Dark and claustrophobic. That's all."
"Hrm." Chichiri's expression became thoughtful and he nodded his head.
"I wondered if you'd picked up on it, too." He admitted, and Hikari stared at him in dismay.
"You mean...there's something to pick up?" She demanded, and Chichiri shrugged.
"I don't know." He said honestly. "Just, like you, I've sensed something uncertain and disjointed in the atmosphere. It may just be the changing of the seasons - the rain coming to wash away the last of the winter chill. But I don't know for sure. In the past an atmospheric change has generally heralded a spiritual one. And I've learnt to trust my senses when it happens."
"But what kind of spiritual change?" Hikari frowned. "We just said that the legends had all ended...what could be up?"
"I don't know if anything is up." Chichiri shook his head. "I told you, it's not a 'knowing' kind of a feeling. Just a vague sensation tugging at the edge of my consciousness. The atmosphere isn't as stable and serene as it usually is. But the electricity of a storm could have caused that. It's just...maybe it's a gut feeling, you know. That something else is about to happen. Something none of us have bargained for."
"Something bad...?"
"Possibly." Chichiri spread his hands helplessly. "Hikari, it's not something you should worry about. But if you sense things, you should trust in that instinct. It might be nothing - it may have no connection to us or anything that's going on in Kounan. But it's as well to be alert - okay? Just in case. Keep your wits about you."
"I guess." Hikari chewed on her lip. "I'll try. I thought it was just me being silly, but if you feel it too - maybe not."
"Maybe not." Chichiri agreed. "For now, don't mention it to Aidou or the children, all right? We'll wait and see if anything comes of it first - no sense in causing undue panic if there's no need."
"I wasn't going to." Hikari assured him. "I don't want to think that it's anything other than the weight of the storms over Kounan."
"And it might yet be." Chichiri acknowledged, glancing pensively across towards the window. "But somehow I get the definite sensation of the heavens shifting...as if to herald the start of something else."
