The Quiet Life
Chapter 54: …And Release
In which Enishi's allies finish with him.
"Shouldn't we send the boy to her now?"
"Are you questioning my decision?"
"Forgive me." Iizuka bowed subserviently from his kneeling position. "I only thought—"
"We have nothing to gain by it. It's going well enough." Tatsumi believed in economy of action, and he had never trusted the judgment of this cur that he found himself regrettably allied with.
"He comes to town often, right? For… shopping!" Tatsumi's disdain fairly dripped. "And he's always with her. He's obviously off his guard." Tatsumi took up his pipe and tended to its lighting. "Didn't you just verify that for us?" The tobacco didn't catch, and he knocked the pipe against his tea tray to empty the spent ashes. He tamped a few new leaves into the bowl and fiddled a bamboo twig out of the bunch splayed in a nearby cup. He touched it to his candle's flame, and curled his fingers around its glowing end as he carried it to his pipe. "It shouldn't be long now." He didn't even glance at the man kneeling before him. The subject was closed.
"She has fallen in love with him. I could see it in her eyes."
This made the General stop and look up. "Do you think this is something she has arranged? To shield herself from him in some way?"
It was Iizuka's turn to avoid eye contact. He felt this little trick intimidated his listeners. "No, her seduction is of her own making." He sneered. "Her woman's heart is fickle. And she was lonely. I think her dedication is wavering." He picked up his tea bowl and took a sip. Still too hot. Put it down again. "That's why I recommend allowing her brother to visit her. If she sees him, I think it will remind her why she is there." And the kid is pestering me to death about her!
"You think she is undermining our purpose with him? Is her information unreliable?"
"No. Or rather… Perhaps she has become… unpredictable. Think of the brother as…" He leaned forward conspiratorially. "As insurance." He didn't notice the other man shift away from him, or see the almost imperceptible curl to the General's lip.
Through the open shoji, winter's icy tendrils curled in from the inner garden. Evening shadows lengthened, and the dazzling snow dimmed to a faint blue under the deepening sky.
Tatsumi smoked for some time in silence. Iizuka's tea cooled enough for him to sip, and then to finish, but he waited with unusual patience for his superior to speak. "Drop her. The dragon is weakened, and we no longer need her." He waved his hand dismissively. "We don't need the boy any more, either."
