"Mitsu, are you feeling better?" Kiisan asked with concern, "I figured that you weren't doing so well so you'd stay at the citadel..."
"It's still fairly bad, but I was losing spirit just sitting around. This is where I can do my work best and it's getting colder now. At least here I still have a chance of seeing some fleeting winter sunlight in this region, " he shrugged, "I really missed you all."
"Err, why don't you sit down?" the young man suggested, fetching a chair for the strategist. Mitsu pulled his cloak closer around his shoulders and took the seat with relief. "I know that standing too long is hard on you. I didn't want you to fall down or anything," Kiisan mumbled in explanation, "If you want, I can go fetch Lady Sanada or General Tej, but Mio's not here right now."
"What's Mio doing?" Mitsu asked curiously, "Where's he gone off to?"
"Oh, I don't really know," Kiisan answered, leaning out the doorway to see if Sanada, Tej, or someone who could go and find them was in sight, "Lady Sanada sent him off with Haneh. They're going to coordinate the two-pronged attack on Rupanda that way."
"Hmm...I see..." the strategist nodded and folded his hands.
Kiisan looked over his shoulder at the smiling tactician for a moment before movement in the corridor caught his eye, "Hey! Hai-Yong! Can you do me a favor? Can you get Sanada and Tej to come up here?"
Hai-Yong stopped in his tracks and scowled, "Not now. I'm busy. I'm working on something."
"Ah, come on..." Kiisan pleaded, "It's not for me. Mitsu wants them and I don't think it's polite to leave him sitting up here by himself while I go poke around."
The wavy-haired man looked past Kiisan at Mitsu, "Hello there!" he waved, "Didn't think I'd be seeing you anytime soon."
"Nice to see you again as well, Captain Hai-Yong," the thin man agreed.
"Well, we'll just have to take care of this my way, " the strong man told Kiisan firmly. He marched over to Mitsu, lifted him up easily with one around and carried him out of the room as if he were a child. Kiisan followed behind the taller warrior, smiling apologetically at Mitsu. However, the strategist did not really seem offended at all.
They found Sanada Morin and Tej K'aan with all three of the Leblancs. Tiro stood happily beside his aunt, who obviously liked her younger nephew, as Datsa scolded Celan for abandoning the "noble profession" and "causing this young lady," in reference to Sanada, "far too much trouble." The older woman followed up her tirade by cuffing her older nephew's ear. The whole time, Celan whined and muttered excuses, all of which her aunt refuted and shot down in midair. Jeiku sat in a corner of the room leaning back in his chair, a catlike look of pleasure creeping over his features. It had not taken long for the spy to have more than his fill of Celan's complaints. Rema and Sita seemed to be having trouble stifling their giggles over the situation in a small attempt to be polite.
"Lady Sanada!" Mitsu chirped, waving at his friends over Hai-Yong's shoulder. His friends turned to look at him and Hai-Yong carefully put the delicate man down on his feet.
"Thank you very much, Captain," Mitsu bowed in thanks.
"Oh, no problem," Hai-Yong sighed and shook his head. He turned defiantly to Kiisan, "Now leave me alone, 'cause I'm trying to get something finished and I'm working on a deadline." He marched off quickly, back to his mysterious project.
Kiisan silently wondered to himself what might be capturing his companion's attention so thoroughly, but did not chance to ask.
Murasaki Fuji no Shita ni Kuni
"The Country Under the Purple Wisteria"
Chapter 74- Wintry Affection and Lace of Ice
Bishop Tijo had left Crystal Valley in a bit of a haze. He had not exactly wanted to go south and become directly involved in the fighting. It was just not his style. "Besides," he had told himself, "I cannot leave my girls alone in Eina. They would be so lonely." However, he had given his word to Chief Priest Hirano that he would go, and so he began to make the necessary preparations. He sincerely hoped that all the battles would be over by the time he made it south, but in his heart he knew that it would be unlikely, considering the speed at which he could travel. Since Eina, his capital city, was on the way south, he made himself some flimsy excuses so he could stop in on his family.
The bishop hurried through the halls with a stern expression and those who worked under him made an effort to stay out of his way. However, as soon as he threw open the doors to his apartments, his countenance changed radically to a brilliant, beaming smile, "Honey! Sugar! Sagwa! I'm home!" He tossed the wrapped package from Hirano onto a counter and dropped down onto the floor with his arms spread wide. All three of his cats came bounding out to see him. Honey, the talkative tabby, meowed emphatically, Sagwa, the tiny Siamese cat, climbed in his lap, and orange and white Sugar, rubbed against his side. "How're my girls?" he asked the cats sweetly.
"Just fine," an accented voice replied, as Nanako approached the bishop in the wake of the cats.
Tijo looked up at the Lirwani woman, unable to wipe off his goofy grin reserved for his beloved cats, "That's nice to hear, Nana."
"I've never seen cats so crazy about anybody as those cats are about you," she shook her head in awe, "I'd swear you were carrying catnip on you."
"Can't you just accept it as a sign of our mutual affection, Nana?" Tijo asked teasingly. The brown-haired woman knelt down beside the bishop and began to stroke Honey, smiling quietly. "I'm going to have to go south," the bishop and ruler of Sanjan declared suddenly.
"Soon?" Nanako inquired.
"I don't like it, but I'll be departing this evening," he continued, "I just stopped by to say my greetings. I've been asked to go by the Chief Priest himself. It wouldn't be right for me to waste time here."
"I see..." she answered softly, not looking up from the cat in her lap.
"Will you make me a sandwich before I go?" Tijo asked, "I don't know how long it will be before I can return and that's my favorite."
"Certainly," Nanako replied, coaxing Honey off her lap and getting up. She brushed her apron off and headed into the kitchen, leaving the dark-eyed man sitting on the tiled floor with his cats.
The next few minutes passed far too swiftly for Tijo. He ate the cheese sandwich Nanako made for him, packed some things into his traveling bag, taking care not to forget the package from Hirano, and opened the door to go. "You take care of yourself, Tijo," Nanako advised him, "Don't do anything reckless."
The bishop took a single step out of the door and then turned around, "Come with me, Nana," turning the situation into the inevitable clash of wills, "I'll be too lonely."
"Who will watch the girls?"
"Oh, Batia or Zorin can take care of them. I'll pay them to do it," he suggested, "They're both nice enough and good with animals."
"I think it's ridiculous. You don't need me, Tijo."
"Of course I need you, Nana!" he pleaded childishly, "You look out for me and I need to talk to you on a regular basis."
Nanako crossed her arms and pulled her final trump card, "I won't leave the girls. If I go, they go."
"Nana!" Bishop Tijo squawked, "We can't take the girls along! You know they won't like that!"
"Hmph!" She turned up her nose at him, "That's final, Tijo. All of us or none of us."
The bishop sighed. This was quite a dilemma.
Hai-Yong was working as hard as he could at a task that was not really his style. He had only learned very recently how to sew enough to even mend the tears in his cloak. The advice Hittoko and Hyoko had given him back at the citadel was rather useful, but it could not be a substitute for practice or talent. He reached around the table, searching in vain for the pair of scissors he seemed to have misplaced, but eventually resorted to breaking the thread with his teeth.
He felt that his project was coming along rather well, however one great concern remained with him. Were the measurements correct? Rema, who appeared to be of about an equal size to the person he was sewing for, fit it quite well, but if it turned out wrong after all this hard work, he would be devastated. There was nothing that would make him do this much work over.
His room was a mess. He could barely find his long-handled axe when it was his turn to go out for patrol. Reams of white and lilac fabric, spools of thread, rolls of lace and ribbon, as well as the myriad other tools necessary to sew anything substantial littered the room, laying on his desk, his bed, and the floor. Working on his project for long hurt his fingers and he was forced to take frequent breaks, stretching his hands and meandering around the fortress. It was also often all he could do to keep his work relatively secret. Rema never mentioned a word about it to anyone and for that he was rather grateful, but of late Father Carlos had grown curious about why his fingers were often bandaged from pricks from his clumsy use of the needle and thread.
Hai-Yong stared out of his window at the pine trees quietly. There was ice on the window, crisscrossing and swirling like a sort of wintry lace. He could remember his father, who had hated the frost for the damage it did to their oranges, scrapping the thick frost off the windows of the cottage he had grown up in. That had been a different, more dangerous sort of frost than this. This appeared to be of another character entirely to Hai-Yong, a sort of artistic touch of nature, like fancy frosting on a cake. Thinking about cake, however, awakened the appetite he had been ignoring for the past few hours. He got up, stretched, and headed down to the kitchen to see if any of Yuki's birthday cake remained.
Falina could see her breath as she spoke. It rose like a puff of incense into the frozen sky. "I wonder if you blew bubbles if they would freeze?" Atera inquired with a giggle.
"I don't know..." Mieno replied, musing silently on the idea as she added a few extra touches to her map.
"Prob'ly nae," was Kano's addition to the conversation, "I's nae yet tha' cold, li'l missie."
"Oh, that's too bad," Atera sighed, "Frozen bubbles would be neat."
The tallest towers of the palace in Rupanda were visible from their location. Falina stared at time, lost deep in thought. Things were taking such a long time. She was not sure how much longer she could bear them.