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*For the purposes of this chapter Taika with a capital means 'Fruit of Tai', as in the unhatched kirin whose gender is unknown, and taika with a lower case means 'Fruit of the womb', as in someone whose ranka gets blown over by a shoku and is born in Hourai.

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Ch7: Lost and Found

The palace was met more welcome news just four days after KyouOu's death: a new Taika had sprouted. The palace buzzed with the names 'Taiki' and 'Tairin' over the next couple of days as everyone speculated wildly over its disposition, its gender, and how long until it was mature enough to take human shape and choose a king. Despite the grimness of the situation in Tai the palace felt positively festive as everyone anticipated the day the kirin flag would rise from every shrine in the land and the first travelers could embark on a shouzan.

Two weeks into this optimistic disarray Gyousou was called out by the Chousai along with the General of the Right Asen, the head ministers of the Rikkan, and several other prominent heads of government. The Chousai's complexion was ash grey as he ordered all the servants out, then waited and suddenly jerked the door open, giving a scathing lecture to the ones who fell through. Once the servants skulked away he waved them all closer to him around the meeting table and said the terrible news in a small voice devoid of anything at all,

"The Taika is gone."

Instantly the room was in a hushed uproar of confusion. Gone? Gone where? Ranka were, despite their preciously enclosed embryo, fruit. It wasn't as if they could just wander off, nor could they be prematurely plucked. Gyousou's voice was no louder than the whispers all around him, yet it rang out all the same,

"The Chousai should explain thoroughly, starting from the beginning."

The man's shoulders slumped as he smoothed out a letter. " 'We of Mt. Hou regret to inform the illustrious ministers of the Provisional Court of Tai that six days ago on Mt. Hou we were unfortunate enough to be troubled by the occurrence of a shoku and lose the much longed for Taika. Please be assured that we of Mt. Hou immediately followed the trail of the shoku to the east, opened the Gogou Gate, and made a thorough search of Hourai. We have as of yet not been able confirm the location of the Taika, however we intend to maintain the search, and will inform you of any developments. At the same time, we must beseech you to not reveal this beyond yourselves to prevent any distress this will bring the Kingdom of Tai.' "

It felt as if the room was suddenly devoid of air. Someone commented desperately with painful hope, "The Saiho of En is a taika, is he not? If the nyosen of Mt. Hou found En Taiho in Hourai five hundred years ago surely they will be able to locate the Taika in the same country?"

One of the oldest members of the assembly sighed heavily, "So we hope, but the fact remains taika kirin are rare for a reason: it's hard to search an entire country for a baby you don't know the face of. Kings that were born taika are much more common, comparatively, due to the kirin's ability to sense the king's whereabouts. Sadly, En Taiho is the rare exception in many identical cases where after ten years passed a new ranka sprouted."

"The normal lifespan of a kingless kirin is thirty years, is it not?"

The previous speaker shook his head, "The records clearly indicate that the lifespan of taika kirin who are not found and returned is ten years. We should consider the worst case scenario and prepare for a potential minimum 15 year vacancy."

The meeting was adjourned with each member swearing to tell only their trusted subordinates about the Taika's disappearance, to prevent problems that records told of what happened when the people learned they had to potentially live for at least 15 more years in their misery.

Later that night Gyousou sat with a hard expression on his face, completely unnoticed by his servants, unlike many of his contemporaries' servants who were currently wondering why their masters had left the Chousai's meeting sobbing. He briefly thought of his long-lost sibling and wondered what kind of land Hourai was if it reduced kirin to a third their normal lifespan. He felt a bit queer as it occurred to him his elderly younger sibling might pass the young Taika on the street without either of them realizing neither was meant to be born there.

He hadn't joined in the celebrations of the general Court, yet the news of the kirin's disappearance was most disheartening. Gyousou had been planning to prop up the Provisional government for five or so years then journey on the shouzan when the flag was raised to become king. It simply hadn't occurred to him the Taika would just vanish. Briefly, he wondered if Tentei existed, and if he did, why he let such disastrous events rain down one after another on Gyousou's beloved homeland.

But Gyousou had never had the disposition to sit idly by and wait patiently for things to work themselves out while whining, so he immediately began planning the best methods to support the country ten years past the date he had expected to.

And thus, ten hard years passed with Gyousou and his allies locked in a cold war in a bitterly frozen land against opponents who could not be removed. He counted the years since the Taika had vanished, especially leading up to the five year and ten year milestones, and was not surprised, therefore, around ten years later when he was delivering a report to the Chousai that a letter from Mt. Hou arrived. Gyousou dismissed the servants as the Chousai sent his aides to fetch the heads of the current makeshift regime. When the council gathered grimly around the table, the Chousai opened the letter with a resigned look.

His orange eyes scanned the contents and then, stunned, his numb fingers let the letter slip from them onto the table. Gyousou reached for the heavy decorative paper and read the contents once, twice, and a third time to make absolutely sure he had not somehow misinterpreted them before clearing his throat and reading to the ministers in a voice as composed as he could make it, which was very composed,

" 'We of Mt. Hou take great pleasure in formally announcing to the Chousai and the illustrious leaders of the Provisional Court of the Far Kingdom of Tai that the Mt. Hou Kou, Taiki, was located by the Saiho of the Middle Kingdom of En a fortnight ago and has since been successfully retrieved with the assistance of the Saiho of the Far Kingdom of Ren. He appears to be in good health and is expected to make a full recovery from the horrific ordeal he underwent these last ten years. Therefore, we hereby notify the Provisional Court of the Kingdom of Tai that they have the permission of Hekika Genkun Gyokuyou and the nyosen of Mt. Hou to raise the Kirin Flag in every shrine in the kingdom and send candidates for the throne on their way at the next Ankou Day.' "

The room was as silent as everyone struggled to process this unexpected information, each having thought they had been brought here to receive the news that a new Taika had sprouted on the Shashinboku, following the death of the ten-year-old lost Taika. Nobody had imagined, the Taika – Taiki, they corrected themselves mentally – had survived all these years and been located. It truly was something like a miracle to each of the shocked and barely daring to hope gathered leaders.

When the letter had been passed from hand to hand and it was indeed confirmed that yes, it did say just that, the whole assembly was dismissed as the Chousai headed to the communication department. One of the generals ran out the room punching the air and yelling, "YES!" and hurried to tell his commanders and sub-commanders the good news. Many ministers who left that day went to the provisions offices to see how quickly they might get to Mt. Hou, and whether or not they could make it by the next Ankou day.

Gyousou did not go. It wasn't that he wasn't planning to go on the shouzan, it was that he had already calculated the time it would take to set his affairs in order and find someone to take his place while he journeyed to Mt. Hou, then added in the time it took to gather supplies adequate for the long journey and how quickly Keito could get him there without tiring them both out and leaving them vulnerable to youma attacks in the Yellow Sea, and had come to the conclusion that there was no way he could possibly set out for the next Ankou Day. It was unfortunate, but the day was too fast approaching for him to set everything in order, and once the other ministers came back from the provisions offices they agreed: only a complete fool would abandon all his responsibilities and rush over to Mt. Hou. In the first place Tai had endured more than ten years without a king, another quarter year would not kill her, and it was not as if being the first to arrive on the mountain made a person the king. The king would be selected regardless of when they arrived, though for the country's sake it was better to be selected sooner.

Going on a shouzan was a treacherous business as the Yellow Sea was full of youma, wild youjuu, poisonous plants, poisonous water, poisonous vapours, pitfalls, sudden storms, quicksand, and virtually every natural danger posed to humans ever. Most people going on shouzan stuck together in groups that protected each other to minimize on losses. However, these groups always developed their own politics, and the strong people were relied on by the weak to protect them, and thus any deaths, injuries, and property damage was heaped on the strongest, most knowledgeable person's shoulders. Sae, who had been a goushi in his youth, had once (in a rare serious mood) described what a complete fiasco travelling with a shouzan group was to Gyousou (in an effort to persuade him to never go on one), and Gyousou's own eyes had seen the brightly lit fires dotting the Yellow Sea path that practically screamed, "Human Buffet! All Hungry Youma Gather Here!"

So as he walked the broken path leading to Ht. Hou with no more people than the subordinates that had volunteered to accompany him and could be spared for several months, amounting to Eishou, Ganchou, and Seirai. Gyousou himself and these four looked horribly vulnerable and out of depth in the vast wilderness of the Yellow Sea to many hungry youma that eyed them. Those youma soon found out they were mistaken.

Gyousou stopped briefly on the way to Mt. Hou to try to catch another suugu, but was unsuccessful and had to eventually dissemble his traps and continue on. As it was, he arrived a couple days after the bulk of the travellers.

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*I FOUND IT! Someone posted a comment somewhere asking if kirin only living ten or so years in Japan was canon and so I tried to find the passage that said so but couldn't for the longest time. I was starting to doubt myself, thinking maybe I made it up, when I was reading through Kaze no Banri for something else and came across it by accident in the most random place. Now I can stop second guessing myself.

*Kaze no Banri Chapter 43, page 58. "Keiki-and all kirin-ate nothing tinged with blood. They weren't forced to reject it out of hand, but even foods fried or sauteed in suet would harm their bodies. According to Rokuta, kirin of En, that was why kirin swept away to Yamato never lived long. The shortened lifespan of a kirin without a king was approximately thirty years. A kirin in Yamato could last maybe a third that long."

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