~~~ Chapter 10: The Long Shadow of History ~~~
Marketplace, Kaineng Center, Cantha
Season of the Phoenix
Two hundred and fifty years, and Kaineng City hadn't changed. The same unique patchwork of soaring Canthan architecture and ramshackle refugee shelters built half a dozen high. The same crowds on the streets, ragged peasants and silk-draped merchants, soldiers and street hawkers, even the occasional minor minister's entourage, rushing about on a self-importantly pointless errand. The city even smelled the same, a distinctive melange of spice and wood smoke, the rare waft of tar and salt spray from the distant harbor, and beneath it all the unmistakable aroma of mingled humanity.
Kasumi Mizushima sat and took another sip of her tea as she watched another pair of white-clad guards walk past. She grimaced; that was the third such patrol in the past half hour alone. Either she'd managed to find a restaurant practically on top of some precinct station, or this new Ministry had the manpower to blanket the city with its thugs. Under the circumstances, she rather hoped it wasn't the latter.
She paused and took another look around the little shop. Not quite a hawker stall, nor quite a proper restaurant, places like these were the foundation of the city. Of course, normally they were a bit livelier, but the silence was broken only by the sizzle of fat and hiss of steam from the kitchen, underlied by the constant low murmur from the street beyond. A few of the patrons had quietly slipped out when they thought she wasn't looking, and the rest stared resolutely at their empty bowls in a concerted effort not to meet her gaze.
She glanced down again at her purloined uniform. Better than the borrowed monk's habit, no doubt, and certainly an improvement over the tattered rags she'd made of her erstwhile burial robes, but it drew a bit too much attention and sooner or later that attention was going to prove unhealthy for someone. Possibly even for her.
And on top of everything else, while she'd been asleep some meddlesome idiot had gone and changed the entire Empire's writing system. From her window-side table Kasumi could see perhaps a handful of the traditional characters adorning signs and shops, but the rest- Well, it was certainly a close relative of the Canthan script she remembered, but the individual characters were much simpler, and there were rather more of them on each sign. She was fairly certain that she could master them with a little study, but at the moment she was rather pressed for time.
Kasumi shook her head. Figured. Three thousand years of history, and the minute she turned her back the whole place went to seed. Clearly, it wasn't going to be easy setting things right.
Not, strictly speaking, that things had ever been easy around her.
At least the mutinous rumbling of her stomach had subsided. That had been a little too distracting while trying to focus on avoiding her "fellow" guards. She shook her head again; she hadn't counted on regular meals crossing the Shiverpeaks with Mhenlo and his company, or when assaulting Abaddon's twisted demesne. All that easy living since must have made her soft. Although to be fair, she couldn't actually remember the last time she'd eaten. The monks had been less than hospitable, all things considered, and before that...was still emptiness. One more thing to confront the gods about when she caught up with them.
And she would find them, and she *would* get answers. After all, she'd already killed one of them.
Kasumi shook her head one more time and smiled tightly to herself. Enough woolgathering; it was time to start planning her next step. With food taken care of for the moment, she needed three things - anonymity, resources, and answers. The last were proving frustratingly elusive, and seeking the second without acquiring the first would likely draw unwanted attention, which meant her stolen uniform should be the next thing to go. Just as well; it was starting to pinch rather uncomfortably, and she grimaced. She'd *definitely* gone soft.
Simply wandering around in search of a tailor was probably not an ideal approach, especially with the temporary problem of her newfound illiteracy. Fortunately, as long as she still wore it, the Ministry uniform offered certain advantages as well. She set down her tea and walked to the restaurant's front counter, meeting the proprietor's nervous obsequiousness with an air of impatient officiality. "Wrap up two large pork buns for me." The man stood for a moment, then elbowed his assistant, a young girl - his daughter, perhaps - who jumped and then rushed back to confer with the cooks in a rapid undertone. "And give me directions to the closest tailor."
She listened for a moment, committing the man's instructions to memory, then reached into her purloined purse and pulled out a small piece of silver. The man's eyes widened in fear. "Please, officer, no need to test us. We are loyal to the Ministry. No charge, of course."
Kasumi replaced the coin and managed a cold smile. "Your loyalty is admirable, citizen. You and yours are a credit to the Empire."
The young girl returned with her steamed buns, wrapped carefully in twine and rice paper, and Kasumi tucked them into her uniform. After all, she couldn't be sure when next she would be able to stop and eat. She turned to go - and paused, then with a tight smile dropped the coin she'd palmed. The silver piece tumbled to the floor with a metallic chime as she walked out without a backward glance. Hopefully the proprietor would find the courage to pick it up. She grimaced. It was more likely she could return in a week and find the coin still waiting for her.
Kasumi Mizushima pulled the cowl of her new hooded cloak tighter about her head, trying to conceal the telltale hue of her striking crimson hair against the curious gaze of passers-by - and the prying eyes of Ministry soldiers. The guards she had left behind were almost certainly awake by now, and were like as not spreading her description as fast as their legs could carry them. That, or if they were smart, running just as fast in the opposite direction.
Then again, she didn't particularly expect such wisdom from those incompetents. Sooner rather than later these streets would be swarming with white-clad zealots on a very literal witch hunt, and she'd prefer to remain unseen as long as possible. She had things to do, and no particular desire to waste time putting down every idiot who thought he or she could stop her.
At least she'd been right about the Xunlai guild. The familiar sign stood proudly over what could only be the guild's local office, an imposing structure of gleaming marble, blazing cinnabar and what looked like actual gold filigree looming a the steady stream of merchants, minor nobles and low-level bureaucrats. Ostentatious, but she supposed the guild could afford it. The important part, at least for her, was that the new Ministry didn't seem to have it under surveillance yet.
Whoever they were. It wasn't the most important mystery she was facing, but it might be the most urgent. Granted, the white uniforms were a disturbingly familiar touch, and the stark light-against-darkness demonization of their enemies, but- No. Absolutely not. She should have known from the start not to trust anyone who viewed "Purity" as a virtue, no matter how useful their assistance against the remnants of the betrayer's plague, but when they had turned against the people of Cantha - turned against her - she'd put them down. Hard.
Whatever else Kasumi could be sure of, she knew that the Ministry of Purity lay in an unmarked grave along with the bodies of its patrons, coldly calculating Minister Reiko Murakami and the star-crossed Yuudaichi siblings, cruelly manipulated brother and grief-stricken sister alike. Despite herself she turned that bloody day over in her mind once more, wondering if things could have ended differently - but no, she had been left with no choice. The foolish boy wished to continue the madness his power-crazed guardian had begun, and the elder sister...she protected her last remaining family until the end. The good of the people of Cantha, the nation's future, balanced against sympathy for a boy used as a pawn and a sister protecting her last remaining family...
No, she'd had no choice that day. No choice at all.
Still no sign of surveillance on the Xunlai house, which meant that it was time to move. She set down the jewelry she had been ostensibly inspecting, shook her head at the merchant's last-ditch effort to strike a bargain, and headed out into the main flow of foot traffic on the street. Despite herself, she smiled slightly. Once she had some of her equipment back, she'd feel a lot less vulnerable. A suit of her armor, to protect against blows and weapons, and rune-marked to strengthen her magic besides. A staff for power, or a paired wand and focus for precision, or possibly both; she was likely to need flexibility and sheer strength in equal measure. Probably a few of the little trinkets and sundries as well, useful bits she'd collected across four campaigns on three continents.
Yes, once she had her equipment back - once she was not a woman unarmed and unarmored, but in full possession once more of every jot of tools and scrap of magic she'd collected to augment her own considerable gifts - the balance of power was going to shift dramatically and decisively.
And then it would be time for her to start hunting the Ministry.
That thought carried Kasumi down the street and through the wide doors of the Xunlai house itself, and as she passed a mirror-smooth silver pane she checked once more to ensure no tell-tale cinnabar hairs were showing from beneath her voluminous hood. She seemed to be good for the moment, although the back of her neck itched with imagined eyes on her. She hated this sneak-and-dagger nonsense. Leave it to Tyrian thieves, or proper Canthan assassins, or those maddeningly-elusive Whispers agents-
Kasumi frowned. She hadn't thought of the Order of Whispers in over a year, not since rebuffing their final attempt to give her marching orders. Accepting their aid in the long campaign against Abaddon was one thing, as was joining their expedition back into the realm of torment to cast down its new margonite lord and his four dark generals, but she served the Emperor first, the Empire second and nobody third, lightbringer rank or no. She wondered why she had suddenly remembered them, and frowned. There was something at the edge of her mind, some combination of half-remembered memory and recent observation, but she couldn't place it, and she pushed it out of her mind. Time enough later to tie up loose ends.
She slipped quietly into one of the service queues, then thought better of it and strode confidently up to the main counter - she was going to need full access to her personal vault and without prying eyes, let alone in front of a crowd. Besides, she was playing the part of a loyal citizen, with nothing to hide from the Ministry or the guild. No need to skulk about. As she reached the counter, she slipped the sole gold coin from her purloined purse and began flipping it idly between her fingers. A parlor trick she'd learned from a Vabbian actor, once upon a time, but given her relatively plain garb it couldn't hurt to reinforce an image of wealth.
It took her a moment to catch the notice of an attendant, and Kasumi tried to project an air of mild impatience laced with a touch of boredom. With her lack of ostentatious finery or drapes of jewels, she could hardly pass as even a minor noble or wealthy merchant, although some citizens of more modest means could afford to share a vault, businessmen with a joint interest or an extended family with more trust than gold. With a little luck, she could pass herself off as the former, and-
"Yes, what can the Xunlai do for you today?" The attendant's tone oozed with a carefully calculated degree of condescension, and Kasumi fought the momentary urge to conjure a nightmare spirit to straighten up his attitude.
Regrettably, the gibbering would likely draw unwanted attention, and so she swallowed her anger. "I need to access my personal vault."
The man looked Kasumi up and down, taking in her well-crafted but plain garb and her lack of guards, servants, or other such hangers-on. "Perhaps you should try the public window."
Kasumi drew herself up to her full height and dropped her voice a few degrees. Time for a little condescension of her own. "Was I unclear when I said my vault? I do not have time to stand here and argue with an apprentice who has forgotten his tongue."
The attendant blinked, and Kasumi mentally held her breath. Canthans could be touchy about their social hierarchies. Either he was going to back down before an unexpectedly superior foe, or he was about to bring down the full bureaucratic wrath of the guild on the uppity commoner. She watched his face for a moment, weighing the two possibilities, and as he seemed to come to a decision she flipped the gold coin in his direction. "For prompt service," she said, and hoped the sarcasm was lost on him.
He may have been socially incapable of tact and likely not particularly bright besides, but the man had quick fingers, and snatched the coin right out of the air. "Of course, ma'am. Right this way, please." The change in his demeanor was as complete as it was abrupt, and like as not was as insincere as well. Not that it particularly mattered, of course, as long as he gave her access to her vault without a commotion.
The pair reached the private chambers in the back, and waited for a few long moments until a bejowled man in overly elaborate silk finery stepped out, flanked by a matched set of bodyguards in flowing garb. Something in the man's tunic jingled musically as he strode past; withdrawing gold, most likely, which would explain the guards. Of course, men with his apparent fortunes had rarely earned them without a matching share of enemies. Either way, she kept a careful distance from the trio as they passed.
The vault chambers were plain, almost spartan in comparison to the opulent excesses of the rest of the guild house; a small room perhaps two meters across, and twice that between the doorway and the far wall. Against that wall stood the vault, a box of rare Elonian hardwoods and cold iron fixtures - and, of course, the secret enchantments of the Xunlai artificers that linked that vault to every one of its twins, cousins, and relatives across Cantha and abroad, and showed each owner the contents of their personal accounts alone when opened. No one outside the guild knew how they worked, and it was rumored that the Xunlai employed a veritable army of assassins to keep it that way.
For her purposes, of course, it was merely necessary that it did work. Kasumi glanced at the attendant. "You may wait outside," she said pointedly, and the man hurried back through the doorway and drew a sliding curtain across the threshold. As she'd expected, the patrons who could afford individual vault access were rather keen on maintaining their privacy.
So this was it, then; the turning point in her little war against the Ministry usurpers. One touch of the vault's lid, a few minutes searching for the tool's she would need, and-
Her palm brushed the vault, and she drew it back with a curse as she felt a shock of raw magical energy. A misfiring security enchantment, perhaps? She blinked, and an array of written characters faded into lurid red luminance in the empty air above the vault. "This account has been sealed. Please contact your Xunlai storage representative for assistance."
Kasumi suppressed another curse. "Attendant! Get in here!"
The privacy curtain slid back, and as the attendant stepped into the room she could see that his pretense at respect had been as short-lived as it had been mercenary. She was going to have to bluster through; that, or leave empty-handed, and she wasn't particularly looking forward to the prospect of overthrowing the government empty-handed. She put as much scorn into her voice as she could manage. "What is the meaning of this?"
His lip twisted back into it's contemptuous sneer, one that melted as swiftly into confusion as he stared at the array of strange glyphs above the vault. "I...I do not know?" he managed to say, and as he ducked back out Kasumi understood that just as she could not yet read the Empire's new writing system, nor could the average Canthan understand the traditional characters. And, that the vault had somehow labelled her as belonging to that previous era. Once again she contemplated slipping out, balancing her need for equipment against a growing sense of danger-
The attendant returned, this time in the tow of an older woman in a guild uniform, graying hair pulled back into a tight bun and bearing an unmistakable aura of authority. She, too, frowned at the floating warning, then glanced back at the attendant standing behind her. "The vault is not broken, child. This is the old writing system. Strange that the message should appear thusly, but I am sure there is no serious error here." She looked forward again and met Kasumi's gaze. "I am sorry for the trouble, miss, but your account has been sealed."
Kasumi fought another surge of frustration. Bullying a self-entitled doorman was one thing, but nobody tried to strong-arm a senior Xunlai representative. Not the wealthiest merchant, not the best-connected noble, not the emperor himself. She took a deep breath and forced a smile that she hoped was a reasonable facsimile of deferential. "Sealed? For what reason?"
"I will have to check our records, miss, but I am sure it is a routine issue. If you would care to wait outside, I will look into the matter personally."
Kasumi nodded in acknowledgment, and hoped she was keeping her impatience more or less hidden. "I appreciate your kind concern."
"Of course! The Xunlai guild is committed to providing the best service to all of our customers." The representative gave another bright smile as she, Kasumi and the attendant stepped back into the antechamber. "Please hand me your citizenship papers, and we will get right on it."