The blazing sun was setting over Giku. Sasshalai raised a small hand to shade his eyes from its radiance as he looked down the road.
"Any sign of Kiisan and the others?"
He turned to see Russ, the young blond soldier who was usually in charge of cooking. Russ stepped closer and knelt down beside the boy. "Let me show you how I work magic. Close your eyes and think really hard about them. I'll count to ten."
Although he was unsure of the meaning of this statement Sasshalai closed his eyes and placed a hand over them.
"One...two..." Russ recited slowly, "...three...four..."
The boy from Klikk resisted the urge to peek through his fingers and see if Russ really was doing anything special or if he was just kneeling beside him like he thought the soldier was.
"...Five...six...seven..."
A cool evening breeze began to rustle the dry grass. Sasshalai could feel the sun on his back as it dipped lower on its daily journey across the sky.
"Eight...nine...ten! You can open your eyes now Sasa!"
Russ was standing up again, smiling at him pleasantly. He lifted his right hand and pointed straight out along the road to three figures gradually coming nearer, revealing themselves to be Kiisan, Falina, and Hai-Yong. "Magic. What did I tell you?"
Sasshalai shook his head, "It's not magic Mr. Russ. It's better than any magic...you know Big Brother really well."
"Hey! Don't send out any search parties! I'm here! We're here!" yelled Hai-Yong, waving his arms above his head to attract attention.
Russ laughed at the large man's antics, "We see you! It's okay!"
Kiisan grinned crazily at his friends; "We had a great time in Giku. I hope you weren't worried about us...I just wanted to have a little fun...so, Sassha, did you wait for me long?"
Murasaki Fuji no Shita ni Kuni
"The Country Under the Purple Wisteria"
Chapter 23- Night by the Campfires
Sonoa tossed a piece of broccoli into the campfire and watched it twist and blacken in the flames, "So much for your vegetables..."
Russ swung the soup ladle at her defensively; "You're the one wasting them! They're perfectly good vegetables! This has nothing to do with the local produce and everything to do with your bad taste!"
He felt a gentle hand tug on the hem of his tunic. Russ turned around partially to see Mio's face glowing warmly like a fresh peach; "If it makes you feel any better I thought you should know that I thoroughly enjoyed your soup Russ."
Louis Adbul tapped his spoon against his plate loudly; "I'll second that! The whole meal was great!"
Kiisan observed his comrades happily until a short, but well built man wearing very dark shades came up to him and beckoned for him to follow. Kiisan stood up and went along with the scavenger, who was clothed in odd trappings including a sash that appeared to be woven from everything from straw to a string of glass beads. The man walked silently among the tents with his destination clear in his mind.
"You're Kurin, aren't you?" asked Kiisan, "Kusa's partner? We've never really talked you know..."
Kurin looked at the younger man through his slightly tangled black hair and nodded, "That's me," he stated succinctly.
His matter of fact tone kept Kiisan from attempting to make further conversation. "Maybe most of these grave-robber types aren't as friendly as Kusa...," he thought to himself, trying to explain Kurin's behavior.
After a short walk around the tents and revolutionary recruits Kurin stopped and sat down alongside Kusa who was busy going through what Kiisan would have best described as her "loot." The ground around her was strewn with strange miscellaneous objects. The rebel leader noticed some spoons, a chipped wind-chime, a twisted fork, a wooden cross, a dish towel, some cherry pits, paper money, an assortment of needles stuck through a mint green handkerchief, and an elaborate scabbard with no sword inside. "Kusa...what is all this stuff?" he asked, trying not to laugh.
She looked up at him suddenly, "This is some of our best treasure...we want to share it with you. Kurin and I would like to be permanent revolutionaries. You don't have to pay us or anything. Please accept this offer." Both scavengers bowed their heads semi-reverently after the offer was made waiting for Kiisan's response.
He stood awkwardly for a moment, gawking at the sight before him, before he regained his tongue. "I don't want any of this...you can keep it all," he began. Without allowing him to finish both Kusa and Kurin jumped to their feet, both of their faces white with alarm.
Kusa grabbed Kiisan's sleeve, "I'm so sorry that our gifts aren't worth anything... we would have something better to offer you, but I sold the things from General T'Rumour in Giku and spent all the money...please don't be upset..."
The chestnut-haired young man shook his head, "No...It's not like that. I-I just don't want to take any of your stuff. I know how important it is to you...seeing the way you carry it all around like that...you can both be permanent revolutionaries...all that takes is the spirit..."
Kurin removed his shades, showing his deep brown eyes that were speckled with spots of gold, "Thank you Father...if there is any way we can ever make it up to you, I promise we shall."
Kusa smiled and sighed in relief, "I'm very grateful to you too."
Kiisan tried to escape the culture clash feeling the exchange had given him by inquiring about what they had been up to, "Kusa...I thought that getting that helmet was really important to you...what did you sell it for? What did you buy in Giku?"
The charcoal-haired woman looked down at her overly large boots as she spoke, trying to explain her feelings to Kiisan, "We are people who are always wandering...and we don't know anything about building homes or farming or anything that was to do with staying in one place. ...So of course we think that being forced to stay somewhere is the nearly the worst thing that can happen to someone...and, well...today in the marketplace we saw an animal in a cage...I felt so sorry...it looked so sad...I asked if it was for sale and at first the man said no...But then I told him I would give him some gold for it, so he said yes. Kurin wondered how I would get the money...I made him wait with the animal...I sold the helmet and gave the money to the man. He let us take the little animal with us..."
Kiisan was somewhat surprised at Kusa's story. He had not thought of the two scavengers as the kind of people who were overly fond of animals. "Where is it? What kind of animal is it?" he asked curiously.
Kurin bent over and gently lifted up his tattered backpack. A small gray kitten was lying curled up on the pack. "This is Fukai..." the tan-skinned man mumbled.
"It's just a little kitten!" marveled Kiisan, stepping closer for a better look, "How cute! What sort of person keeps a kitten locked up in a cage? ...That was really nice of you to rescue it..."
Kurin shrugged and softly laid his backpack down on the ground. Kusa smiled and shook her head, "That's just how it is."
*************
Han Li had not returned to the revolutionaries, so Kiisan had not seen him since early in the day before they had caught sight of Giku, but the secretive man had run into Mio while he went about his business in the city so Kiisan had not been left without word of his friend. The strategist had passed Han Li's brief message, "I'm finding out something. Please don't worry about me." Mio also explained that Han Li had almost run right into him as he left Mayor Miranda Shazzel's office. She had been quite friendly to him and had asked him to return the previous day to speak again and possibly to send some of Onwya's state forces along with them. Despite the good news relating to the leader of the state a problem had come up. Although Mio was against splitting up at this awkward point Louis Abdul was all for taking half the force ahead down along the High Road to Geshi. Despite Mio's tactical skill he had little talent in convincing people to listen to his commands, especially such a close friend. Louis Abdul planned on leaving first thing in the morning with slightly over half of the current rebel force. Kiisan was torn over who to support so he had merely watched the two discuss the situation silently.
The main campfire was dying down and his comrades were slowly drifting off into their tents to try and get some sleep. Kiisan realized he had been becoming increasingly more of an insomniac each night since he first left Finnel Village with Falina. "It might be all the stress getting to me," he thought, "...Or it might be something else..."
A loud crash brought him out of his thoughts and to his feet. A tent had fallen down on top of its two inhabitants. Kiisan hurried over to make sure no one had been hurt and lifted up one of the corners of the tent. Two familiar faces peeked out at him, Jirobane and Ocha. "What were you two doing in here that would make the tent fall down?" Kiisan questioned. Ocha pulled herself out of the mess and laughed a little bit at her embarrassing predicament, "Nothing really. Just a faulty tent. And if anything really happened it was all his fault."
Jirobane struggled to free himself from the crumpled tent; "She's the one Kiisan! She's the one my father sent me to find! She owes us money!" Ocha stepped further away from the tent, trying to hide behind Kiisan, but discovered she was somewhat taller than him without his hat on.
"I don't know what he's talking about! I don't know his father!"
Jirobane scrambled to his feet and pointed at her angrily, "You're lying! You're the reason I'm stuck out here in such a weird part of the country!"
Ocha smiled innocently at Kiisan and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Back me up, Kiisan! It's not me he's looking for. I mean- how could it possibly be me?"
The swordsman's face was turning red with frustration, but he managed to keep it in more gracefully than he had escaped from the tent. As Kiisan looked around he realized that the argument had begun to attract a small crowd. Hyoko walked up through the crowd and between Jirobane and Ocha, who was still holding tight to Kiisan. "It's too late for this," she yawned, "Fight in the morning."
She made a swift gesture with her hand and both Ocha and Jirobane slumped down in sleep. Kiisan looked at Ocha, who was still holding loosely onto his robe, in surprise, "W-wow! Miss Hyoko-- what was that?"
The brightly clad woman smiled sleepily at him, "Just a sleeping spell," she yawned again, covering her mouth with her sleeve, "...now, if you'll excuse me..." She turned and headed back to the tent she shared with Falina and her sister.
***********
When Han Li finally arrived at the revolutionary camp that night all but the sentries were asleep. Kiisan lay beside the remains of the campfire, which had long since been extinguished. He had been waiting for his respected comrade to return. Han Li sat down and brushed some dust off his face as he looked at the young rebel. "Just a little boy..." He pulled Kiisan closer to him, and unwrapped his cloak partially, wrapping it around the two of them.
The older man watched his companion sleeping for a while, his chest rising and falling peacefully with each soft breath. The stern expression slipped from his face. "I...um..." he mumbled toward the sleeping figure beside him, at an unusual loss for words. "Goodnight Maiba."*
Note: *"Maiba"- an old word of unknown origin, "my son"--a term of endearment for a young man
Remember when Han Li said this before? (Chapter 17)