Just to let you know, there's going to be a bit of underage drinking in this chapter, depending on where you live. In my country, they're not underage. In Japan, apparently, they are. I don't in any way recommend or endorse underage drinking, in case I need to make that clear.

Lantern Light and Fireworks

I can't fight you anymore

It's you I'm fighting for

[Ordinary Love: U2]

The wide path that led from the town up to the manor was steep as it wound up into the mountain. Near the top, it twisted back on itself to follow the line of a high stone wall that looked as though it had been standing for so long that it had almost become a part of the mountain itself. Characters and animals had been chiselled into the stones, and weathered so that some of them were barely recognisable anymore. It struck Daisuke that between the wall and the steep terrain with one traversable path it would be very easy to defend whatever lay behind that wall. Judging from the uneven gouges at odd intervals, someone had done just that at some point in the past.

Daisuke was following Marin, who trailed her fingers over the mossy stones of the wall as they climbed. Near the top, she paused at a beautiful bas-relief carving and traced the sweep of a magnificent feathered tail curving over the peonies and flowers.

Daisuke gave an involuntary shudder, and Marin glanced back at him.

"Are you alright?"

He tried to smile. "It's that damn firebird again. I'm seeing it everywhere."

"Well, it is Suzaku's country," Marin told him. "His image tends to show up a bit. Why does it bother you?"

"I don't know," Daisuke shrugged. "I just feel like it's watching me. It's got this look in its eye like my brother gets when he thinks I've screwed up."

Zhang Yong was staring at him with an unfriendly expression, but he looked away without saying anything when Daisuke met his eyes.

Trees arced over the path, casting flickering green shadows on the mossy stone wall that curved around to the wide gates. There was no gaudy show of red and gold here, just tiers of worn steps and a substantial, carved wooden gate that looked as though it had withstood countless years with unmoved dignity, and Daisuke looked up into the mossy eaves that swept out over them. Yet another firebird stared down at him, and he resisted the urge to make a rude gesture at it.

Before Zifeng had even lifted his hand to announce their presence they heard the sounds of the gates being opened. The chances were, Daisuke reflected, that they had been noted and watched from the moment they reached the Zhao family lands and Zhaozhuang were high. The retainer who was now bowing deeply before them, the stiff wings of his black cap quivering, had probably been waiting behind the gates for their arrival for hours.

Zifeng was busy delivering greetings and commands, sweeping into the courtyard with an indifferent familiarity with his surroundings, but Daisuke stared frankly as he followed. After the austere grey and green of the outer wall, inside the walls was a bit of a shock. The marbled courtyard in front of them led to a faultlessly beautiful hall lit with the gentle glow of lanterns even in the late afternoon, but the eye was drawn by glimpses of artful paths that led off into the gardens, and Daisuke could hear the gentle sound of running water.

Wisteria hung in white and purple tendrils over the paths, and even in the summer air it was cool enough in this garden that late spring flowers still lingered and lit the dim green corners.

"Lady Marin and her companions will require suitable accommodation," Zifeng was telling the retainer, who bowed deeply once more in a rustle of robes.

"It will be my honour." He straightened, and fell into step just behind Zifeng and Marin as they moved towards the elegant sweep of cherry trees and the lantern-lit palace rising beyond. "His eminence is in residence, Young Master."

Zifeng's footsteps faltered imperceptibly, then he continued with a stiff nod to acknowledge the information.

They followed the servant through halls and rooms of quiet, dark elegance, fragranced with peonies and sandalwood. On the other side of the main hall they descended into another courtyard, and Marin, Meixing and Xuelian were delivered to the pavilions of the women. Far from that walled enclosure, they finally reached the courtyard where guests of the Zhao family were housed, and Daisuke was ushered into a chamber where servants glided in silently to present him with fragrant water and clean clothes, and then left him to his own devices.

…

In the family quarters, Zifeng stood for a long moment, his eyes closed as he tried to regroup. He heard the soft whisper of the door behind him sliding open, and he turned to see his father's most trusted retainer kneeling in obeisance on the threshold. Zifeng felt his expression twist a little, and he smoothed it out into the required stillness.

"His lordship, your esteemed father, sends you greetings and requires you present yourself in the proper time," the elder servant said to the floor between his hands, and Zifeng made an impatient gesture.

"Of course he does," Zifeng said bitterly. "Perish the thought that he would speak to his eldest son in an improper time."

The retainer looked up in confusion, and Zifeng brought himself under control again.

He said expressionlessly, "Please advise his lordship, my esteemed father, that I shall attend on him with all due honour."

Zifeng paid little attention to the flurry of servants that descended, removing his outer robes and presenting a fresh tunic and trousers unstained by travel. He allowed them to wash his hands with scented water while a young attendant ran a comb carefully through his hair, but when it came to the hair ornaments he waved away the choices proffered for his approval. Now was not the time to risk offending his father, even by so small a detail as the head of a hairpin.

One of his attendants scurried away with the rejected hair ornaments and returned with the carved filigree hair cuff that he had been gifted when he came of age. He sat immobile while another attendant coiled his hair into a knot, and carefully slid the hair cuff and white jade pin into place. Preparations complete, he stood in a swirl of brocade and silk and went to face his father.

When he approached his father's study, announced by the formal intonation of yet another family retainer, Zifeng knew better than to draw his father's notice. Instead, he sank into a graceful obeisance, waiting patiently while the lord of the manor dipped his brush in the inkstand with unhurried precision, his wide white sleeve caught up in one hand as he finished writing the document in front of him. Eventually, Master Zhao laid the brush exactly in its stand, read through the document with impassive attention, and finally raised his head to look upon his son and heir.

"This is a litany of ill news that you bring. Our ship lost, the Priestess has failed to summon Suzaku, Rongyao under siege with demons overrunning our land, and the tengu hard on your heels. And now it seems that the gods themselves have turned against us."

Zifeng knew better than to protest that this was not his fault. He bowed his head under his father's cold regard.

"Have you brought news of any worth to me?" Master Zhao asked in that tone that could always reduce him to ignorant childhood. "Are you any closer to summoning the god and resolving the evils that beset Hongnan?"

"We have found the shentsopao of the other gods," Zifeng offered, hating the faint tremble in his own voice. "With them, we should have the power to summon Suzaku now."

"Then your next course of action must be to take the Priestess to Tai Yi Jun at Mt Daichi as soon as possible."

That was a dismissal, and Zifeng bowed deeply once more. As he reached the door, his father's voice stopped him.

"One moment. I have heard alarming rumours out of Qudong that traders in our employ who were headed for Chunfeng have disappeared without a word, and that the few who have returned report entire towns abandoned. There have been whispers of a dark force at work, but these are the usual drunken tales of the simpleminded," Master Zhao sniffed coldly. "However, I would know the truth, and the agent I sent to Chunfeng has failed to return, although he has previously shown himself to be reliable. You have travelled through Qudong. Did you see anything to confirm or disprove these rumours?"

"The countryside was in disarray," Zifeng said slowly. "We travelled from Xilang with the Great Sage's aid, and did not pass near the city of Chunfeng. There were few people in the towns or villages along our path, although those we encountered would tell us nothing. However, the god Seiryuu is abroad in the land and tried to prevent us from gaining the shentsopao, but we prevailed." He didn't mention the inept assassin who had followed them through Qudong.

"And you have nothing more useful for me?" his father asked in scathing tones. He clearly expected no defence, and Zifeng stayed obediently silent, bowed under the weight of his father's disapproval. The Marquis Zhao gestured briefly, and Zifeng found himself once more dismissed from his father's presence.

At the door, Zifeng steeled himself, his heart hammering as he turned back.

"Father." He prayed that his face gave away nothing of what he was feeling. "In my travels, I learned that Zhao Group has had no trade with Beijia in the past few decades, and that our trade with Qudong has dwindled to nothing in recent years."

The icy silence stretched on, and Zifeng foolishly spoke to fill it. "Why have you told me nothing of this? Surely I should have –"

"You have lived at court," Master Zhao cut him off with cool indifference, not bothering to lift his eyes from the document he was reading. "If you are not shrewd enough to pay attention and remain informed about matters of significance to our family's interests, and the state of matters beyond Hongnan's borders, then perhaps you are not the successor that I had hoped for."

…

Daisuke had to admit that it was good to feel properly clean for the first time in weeks, and to be wearing clothes that didn't smell like the rear end of a camel, but he didn't appreciate sitting around waiting for their illustrious lord to join them. While he prowled restlessly around the drawing room, picking up statues and delicate-looking bowls and putting them back without really seeing them, Marin and the Seishi sat in awkward silence on the brocaded chairs and couches arranged with formal precision around the room.

Zifeng appeared in the doorway, and it was only his sublime indifference that kept it from seeming like a staged entrance, Daisuke decided dourly. A trio of servants followed in his wake, bowing lowly as they arranged a tray of delicacies and fruit, and another with a flask of rice wine and tiny cups of a porcelain so fine that they were almost translucent.

The servants backed out, and Daisuke put down the jadeite lion that he'd been inspecting with a click that made Zifeng flinch in spite of himself. Daisuke suppressed a grin at the reaction.

"So what now?" he asked, and Zifeng gave him a faint frown.

"There can be no question. Our next course of action is to travel to Mt Daichi to complete the summoning."

Zhang Yong pushed himself upright impulsively from the chair where he had perched. "That's what Tai Yi Jun told me," he said eagerly. "We've got everything we need now."

Daisuke ignored them both, and turned to Marin. She was an unmoving flame of crimson in the austere grace of the drawing room, bathed and perfumed and restored to perfection, her hands folded tightly in her lap with a tiny frown between her eyes.

"And what are the other options?" Daisuke asked, still watching the Priestess.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, clearly, our divine Priestess has her reservations, so… what are the other options?"

"There aren't any!" Zhang Yong interjected angrily. "Tai Yi Jun has told us to come to her, so that's what we have to do."

"And I wasn't talking to you," Daisuke cut him off curtly.

Marin stood slowly. "We've had instructions from Tai Yi Jun, and Zifeng thinks this is our best chance to summon Suzaku."

"And you agree?" Daisuke pushed. "I can tell you're not happy about this."

"The Priestess has decided," Zifeng said unequivocally, his hand closing on Marin's shoulder as he stood imperiously at her side. Daisuke saw the look that Marin flashed at Zifeng, but still she said nothing.

Daisuke shook his head in irritation and stalked out. On an impulse, he swiped the flask of wine from the tray as he passed. He had a feeling he was going to need a stiff drink.

…

The sky had grown dark while they were arguing, and Daisuke took a swig straight from the flask as he sprawled in the garden and stared up at the stars. Why did it feel like there were less of them than there should be? He gulped down another mouthful and tried to remember the star chart over his bed at home. When he tilted his head further back to find the Pole Star it seemed dimmer than it should be, the sky around it clouded and empty, but he couldn't tell if that was the alcohol or not.

He felt someone move behind him, and knew it was Marin even before she sat down next to him with a sigh.

"Drinking alone out here?" she asked, with a disapproving look at the flask still in his hand. "What on earth was all that about in there? I would have thought that you of all people would be breaking your neck to get this over with and get home."

Daisuke shrugged. "His Lordship just gets on my nerves sometimes."

"So you'd be willing to screw up our chances of getting home just to score points off Zifeng?" she asked. "You really are an idiot."

Daisuke's mouth twisted mockingly, "Yes, Zifeng. No, Zifeng. Zifeng, my hero. You obviously don't feel happy about traipsing off to Mt Daichi, so when are you going to say something?"

"That's for me to decide," she said. "Zifeng is just trying to do the right thing."

"Yes, he is," Daisuke agreed, downing another mouthful from the flask.

"He's a good leader."

"Yup." Another drink.

"He's twice the man you are," she snapped at him, and Daisuke glared at the flask.

"And yet," he said with careful emphasis, "you're out here with me, and not in there making plans with His Lordship."

Marin reached over and wrenched the flask out of his hand, tilting her head back as she took a huge swallow and pulled a face.

"Gah! How can you drink that stuff?"

"You'll get the hang of it."

"I don't have an alternative to Zifeng's plan," she said. "Besides, I'm not going to get the answers I need running all over the place. Tai Yi Jun has the complete Records of the Four Gods in her library, and that's the best source of information that I know of in this world if we're going to find out what's happening to the gods. So we're going to Mt Daichi to look at the Records."

He subjected that to some thought.

"Fair enough," he conceded reluctantly. "But you didn't mention all that to His Lordship."

Marin shrugged uncomfortably. She took another swig, with another shudder, and Daisuke settled back into the grass, reaching over to take the bottle back. He tipped it, noticing that Marin, for all her distaste, had knocked back a fair amount. She lay down beside him, staring up at the stars.

"Everything feels… fuzzy."

"A third of a bottle will do that to you."

Daisuke tipped his head sideways to watch as Marin held up a hand to the horizon, tilting it until the stars shone between her fingers.

"Have you ever noticed they're the same here? The stars, I mean. Look, I can see Xuelian's willow." She traced the shape unsteadily with one finger.

"And that's the annoying prick constellation," Daisuke pointed out Tamahome, glittering in a nearby cluster. Marin giggled.

Daisuke's hand dropped.

"You all have your place in this. I still don't know what I'm doing here. What's my role in all of this?"

There was a long silence.

"Zhang Yong is convinced that you're here to sabotage us," she confided, pressing her fingertips to her mouth as another giggle escaped. Daisuke tilted his head at her, but for once his expression was serious.

"Is that what you think?"

Marin turned her head on the grass to look at him.

"No. No, I don't."

"Marin? Not that I don't agree with you, but how come you were so sure that I'm not the talisman of Suzaku?"

"It's ridiculous," she said eventually, and reached for the bottle of wine again. Daisuke moved it slightly out of her reach.

"Do tell."

"It was a stupid mistake," she insisted, and Daisuke frowned up at the stars.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said drily.

"Not you." Marin's voice was a little slurred, and she reached for the bottle again. This time he didn't stop her, and she knocked back another long swallow. "Stupid Suzaku got my stupid wish wrong. Zifeng was supposed to be the answer."

As Marin lifted the bottle again, Daisuke rolled over to his side, propping himself up on his elbow to stare at her.

"So you made one of three wishes, and I turned up instead of Zifeng," he summarised carefully. "What exactly was the wish, then?"

"Nuh-uh." Marin waved the bottle unsteadily in his direction. "I may be drunk, but you are not getting that one out of me. It's a stupid theory, anyway. There's no way you're the answer to my wish. And anyway, I didn't get as far as making the wish. The ceremony didn't work."

She staggered to her feet, her eyes going wide as she realised just how unsteady she was.

"Lightweight," Daisuke said affectionately.

In the distance, he could hear the noise of the village festival, and faint points of light bloomed in the far-off darkness below them as the lanterns were lit, red, gold and white. The first firework exploded, painting the blackening sky with glittering flowers.

Daisuke felt the thunder resonate through him, sparking something. Another explosion of brilliance shook the sky, and Daisuke's grin grew wider. He got to his feet. The alcohol was a warm fire in his blood.

Abruptly, he turned to Marin, his grin bright with mischief.

"Come on, let's go find the fireworks."

Marin just stared at him.

"You're kidding."

"There'll be candied fruit," he wheedled, turning the big hazel eyes on her that used to get what he wanted out of his mother. "And dancing and lots of lanterns."

Marin glanced down the stone pathway behind her, and uncertain expression in her eyes. "But Zifeng said we shouldn't go down to the village alone."

"How dangerous can it be?" Daisuke scoffed. "Besides, we'll be back before anyone even notices we're gone. His Lordship will still be orating for ages yet."

Marin shifted uneasily, and bit her lip. He stepped backwards in the direction of the manor gates, one hand held out to her.

Marin rolled her eyes at him, but her hand met his and she followed him, protesting as he broke into a run dragging her with him, but there was a laugh in her voice and a spark in her dark eyes. They pelted past the guards at the gate, ignoring the call to halt, and ran down the path towards the noise and the lights.

…

As they reached the edge of the village, Daisuke stopped and Marin crashed into him, still unsteady on her feet. She giggled as he caught her. A cluster of children ran past them, screeching and waving strings of crackling sparks.

There was noise and colour and light, people crowding the streets and lanterns swinging brightly over everything. Daisuke could hear a drumbeat in the distance, and the sound of people clapping. The street in front of them was lined with tiny little stalls and vendors calling cheerfully at them to try their fish balls, buy their flowers, buy a trinket for the pretty lady…

For some time, they simply moved through the crowds, Marin looking at everything with bright interest, and Daisuke watching Marin. He snagged a candied plum on a stick from one small cart, handing a coin to the young boy guarding it, and presented the plum to Marin with a flourish.

"I did promise you candied fruit," he grinned, and Marin fixed him with a suspicious look.

"Dare I ask where you got the money from?"

"Probably not. Let's just say that His Lordship will never miss it," Daisuke said innocently.

"Thief." But she took the plum, and didn't say anything when Daisuke was stopped by a tiny old woman with a basket almost bigger than she was on her back and wreaths of flowers hooked over her arm. Daisuke had no idea what the old lady was saying to him as she held out a handful of flowers and poked him in the chest with one wrinkled finger, but her meaning was clear, and he fished out another coin, settling the wreath of scarlet fireflowers on Marin's dark hair. Marin looked up at him and laughed.

"I must look like an idiot," she said, but there must have been something in his face because her expression changed. "Daisuke? Is everything alright?"

He was saved by another explosion and the gasp of awe from the crowds, and he looked up into the glittering red sparks raining across the dark sky.

"Come on." Daisuke grabbed Marin's free hand before she could push for an answer, and started tugging her towards the fireworks.

"Why do you need to get so close to them?" she complained, but she was smiling and she didn't resist. "You can see them just fine from back there."

"I want to go where I can feel them," he wheedled. The village was behind them now as Daisuke found their way along a path that led over the bridge. There were still people around them, but the crowds thinned out as they crossed the bridge. Further out on the water, they could see a wide barge and they were close enough to make out the shadowy figures scurrying backwards and forwards on it, and the brief flare of light as they lit another rocket that went shooting up into the night. The explosion was so deafening that it drowned out Marin's startled sound as she stepped backwards to collide with Daisuke. His arms closed around her to steady her.

"When I was little," Daisuke said dreamily, "every year Mama and Dad would take us to this tiny little place, miles from anywhere, for their shrine celebration. We'd get takoyaki, and then they'd have fireworks after it got dark, and Hikari and I would try to catch the sparks as they fell, even though we knew they were way too high up. And then we got older, and I didn't want to go all that way with my lame family to some dumb shrine for some stupid firebird. But Mama and Dad still go every year."

He could feel another boom rumble through the wooden bridge beneath them, and his grin grew wider, turning his face up to the sparks that showered down over them.

As the fire faded, leaving an afterimage on the darkness, Daisuke sighed.

"One night's east wind adorns a thousand trees with flowers, and blows down stars in showers," he said softly, and Marin looked up at him in astonishment.

"Wait, are you quoting Xin Qiji?" she asked, her face lighting up in delight. "You are full of surprises."

"I paid attention in Classical Lit," he protested. "I thought it might be useful for picking up girls. The ladies love a classy guy who knows poetry."

He slanted a surreptitious look in her direction, and grinned when she rolled her eyes.

"Has it ever worked?"

"I've never found the right girl to try it on. Until now," he added under his breath.

"Maybe you're hanging around with the wrong girls," Marin teased gently. She turned dizzily in his arms, looking up at him with that glorious smile of hers dawning.

"It would work on me," she said huskily, and Daisuke's breath caught.

Gazing down into her storm-dark eyes, he whispered, "I find her there where lantern light is dimly shed", and Marin shifted on the balls of her feet, and stretched up to kiss him. It was soft and sweet, and a little clumsy, and for one long moment he let himself give in to temptation before he broke it off.

"Sweetheart, you're still drunk," he said reluctantly, "and tomorrow you're going to hate me for this."

Her smile turned a little mischievous. "After all your big talk and poetry, you're going to draw the line at one little kiss? Is that all you've got?"

"You have no idea how much I want to kiss you again right now," he sighed.

"Then do it."

Oh gods, he wanted to give in to her. He reached up and gently pushed her away, his hands still on her shoulders, and his heart broke as her smile faded. Marin stepped backwards unsteadily.

"I don't think you really know what you want right now," Daisuke told her.

Those beautiful eyes blazed with a sudden, furious fire.

"Don't tell me what I want!" she cried, and smacked a hand into his chest. "You and Zifeng. You know what I want? I want to be selfish for once, and let the world take care of itself for a change."

He could see tears spilling down her cheeks, and it nearly killed him.

"I wanted you to kiss me."

She pulled away from him and stumbled across the bridge into the darkness beyond the lantern light.

"Marin!" he called after her. She was out of his sight now. There was a disturbing silence that was broken by choked cry, cut off. Daisuke started running.

Ed notes: This is a translation of the poem "The Lantern Festival Night" by Xin Qiji, which Daisuke quotes to Marin in this chapter, and which I fell in love with:

One night's east wind adorns a thousand trees with flowers

And blows down stars in showers

Fine steeds and carved cabs spread fragrance en route;

Music vibrates from the flute

The moon sheds its full light

While fish and dragon lanterns dance all night.

In gold-thread dress, with moth or willow ornaments

Giggling, she melts into the throng with trails of scents

But in the crowd once again

I look for her in vain.

When all at once, I turn my head,

I find her there where lantern light is shed.