Taiki expected to be stopped. He expected guards everywhere around the palace he once called home, maybe fiery moats, or rivers of corpses. He'd heard stories from Enki about the devastation in En before Shouryuu was chosen for the throne. Even if his instincts told him it wasn't nearly that bad, the destruction Asen had wrought was still nearly as bad as what Kyou-Ou had left before his death.

Despite lacking obvious trappings of insanity like men's heads on spikes, Taiki had been dizzy for days. The scent of blood was in his nose, thick, pervasive, and there was no amount of sneezing that would rid him of it. One morning, they passed through what had clearly been a battlefield. Gyousou had had to carry him.

And now Hakkei Palace rose in front of them, white and sparkling and as pure as ever. Taiki stopped walking and stared up at it, feeling Gyousou do the same next to him. "When he falls," Taiki said softly, just in case anyone was nearby, "no one will know. The hakuchi will not cry. No king will have fallen, or been enthroned. We aren't being sanctioned by heaven to do this."

"We already have been." Gyousou's hand was warm and firm on his shoulder, his eyes fixed in determination. "The fact that you're here with me is my sanction, my vindication."

Taiki didn't feel like a vindication. But he had to believe. If he didn't, if he wasn't absolutely confident, he could lead them into another crisis.

He'd expected some grand plan, some concentrated attack that involved raising the peasants and besieging the castle. Gyousou hadn't agreed, and Taiki was grateful. The loss of life, the King had decided, would be too extreme. That is, if the plan had worked; there truly wasn't anyone they could trust. Any army they raised, Gyousou pointed out, would be as suspect as Asen. He had had control of the country for years.

And look where it got him.

"Chop off the snake's head."

Taiki looked up at his master, stern and resolute. That was the face of a man who had banished musicians from the palace, had stripped it to its bare bones and declared it beautiful. It was the face of a man who wouldn't stop until he had what was rightfully his-and ruled it well. I'll be better this time. I'll stop him this time.

There was something amiss with the security on the gate. They had false papers, purchased from a supplier of such several towns back, but Taiki had never expected them to work. Instead of checking thoroughly, the stony-faced guards waved them in.

The hair on the back of Taiki's neck prickled, and he tugged at Gyousou's sleeve. Gyousou, however, needed no prompting. His eyes were trained on the guard as they entered the Palace, ostensibly to retrieve a Suguu for transport. "Master," Taiki said quietly.

Gyoushou shushed him. I know, his eyes said. I'm watching him.

The stables were worse. Taiki had expected more security, not less. Everything about the Palace felt wrong.

It felt like a trap.

Gyousou paced along the rows of captive Kiyju, checking them as if for quality. Taiki knew without asking that Keito had not survived the attack on his master that had left him trapped in the crystal treasure. Perhaps someday, he would accompany Gyousou on a true Suguu hunt.

All at once, the suguu threw back their heads and started to howl. Gyousou froze, hand going automatically to the sword at his side. Taiki, however, picked out another sound in the midst of the clamor. "It's a whistle," he said, cocking his head. "Someone's blowing a whistle."

Abruptly, the noise stopped. A young man in palace clothes scrambled down from the hayloft, bearing a crossbow that was certainly not regulation during the days of Gyousou's reign. They locked eyes, Taiki and the young man, facing each other down. For some strange reason, it reminded Taiki of taming Gouran. Which reminded him.

"Gouran."

The shadows at his feet expanded, and the bolt went wide as Gouran leaped for the young man. "Don't kill him," Taiki warned, but he need not. Gouran only tackled him, pinning him down with no hope of rising again.

Gyousou moved about his business, releasing the catches on the suguu cages as he'd planned, while Taiki climbed up to the hayloft. "Why did you shoot at me?" he asked.

The young man licked his lips, staring between Gouran and Taiki. "M-my job. Supposed to keep the Kiyju safe."

"You didn't check our papers. Why not?"

"Kouri," Gyousou called, frowning at one placard. "Something's amiss. None of the Kiyju are properly catalogued. Not one."

"K-Kouri?"

Taiki frowned. "Why-"

The young man tried to move, but Gouran stopped him. "I'm sorry! My lord, I'm sorry!"

He looked from Taiki to Gyousou, then back again, his eyes wide as saucers. "It's you, isn't it? It's truly you?"

Taiki winced. "I'm sorry. You'll have to swear your silence. I can't possibly let you go, knowing-"

"My lord, you don't understand. We're waiting for you. For you, your Majesty," he called down to Gyousou, still trying to get free of Gouran. "We've been waiting for weeks. The Captain has left instructions-"

"Captain?" Gyousou asked sharply. "Who?"

He licked his lips, nervous. "She said you'd know her, my lord," he said to Taiki, "if I told you that she should have listened to you in the cave."

Taiki's heart swelled. "Master! It's Risai! She's here! Where?" he demanded of the man, calling Gouran off. "Take me to her, please."

He heard Gyousou behind him, warning him not to trust so easily, trying to pull him back, but he'd already caught a glimpse of dark red hair and a palace uniform. She'd barely turned around before Taiki hit her around the waist, squeezing the breath out of her lungs. She was laughing, holding him harder with one arm than he could manage with two. He wasn't sure who to thank, the gods of his family or of his real home, so he just buried his face in her shoulder and held her more tightly.

Then she released him to fall to her knees as Gyousou came around the corner. He caught her, embraced her just as tightly. Taiki couldn't hear the words they said, but he heard his own name at least once.

"Majesty," Risai said, back in a more proper place, "we've been ready."