Chapter 5: Miaka's Ordeal

After breakfast the next day, Taiitsukun presented Miaka with a horse all saddled and ready for travel.

"Now listen closely, Miaka. There is more you must know about this quest you are about to undertake."

"I'm listening."

"You must weave the blankets as follows: 2 in Hokkan, 2 in Sairou, 2 in Kutou, and the last in Konan. But above all, do not forget that you must be silent from the moment you set out on this journey to the moment your friends are human again."

"I won't forget."

"Good. Now, in your saddlebags, you will find maps of Hokkan, Sairou, and Kutou. Also a few knives for hunting and fishing, as well as everything you'll need to make camp and some food."

"All of that? How is that possible?"

"I've enchanted the saddlebags to hold everything you'll need; I've also done the same for this satchel in which to store your blankets and weaving materials. I've even provided a loom. But this is the only aid I can give you."

"Thank you, Taiitsukun... for everything."

"You are welcome, child. Now, say your farewells to your friends and begin your journey. I will care for them here until you have returned to Konan."

Miaka approached her friends. "It's going to be alright," she promised. "I'll have those blankets done as fast as I can. Until then, this is goodbye." With that, she climbed on the horse and rode off towards Hokkan.

It was an arduous journey; as she had no money to stay at an inn or by food, Miaka was forced to make camp and hunt all by herself for the first time. Many were the times she felt thoughts of gratitude towards Taiitsukun for providing her with what she needed to make camp and even hunt food- she'd found a few hunting and fishing knives, plus an ax for firewood, and a bow and arrows in the saddlebags. But even more she felt grateful to Tamahome and the others for teaching her how to make camp, build a fire, and hunt and fish all those times she'd joined them on their trips into the forest. She hadn't enjoyed it at the time, but now the knowledge was invaluable.

Eventually she crossed into Hokkan. Here she was forced to barter many of her supplies for proper clothes for the colder climate. She found work as a weaver's assistant, which earned her money to afford lodgings and food. One of her first actions upon arriving was to go to a wigmaker's shop and sell her hair. Using that money, she had bought ink, a pen, and paper for writing when she was forced to communicate as she was now forbidden to speak. When asked, she pretended to have been mute due to shock from a house fire as a child.

Several nights after arriving, she snuck out into the local churchyard and made her way to the cemetery. There were some nettles on the graves, but not much. Still, she'd take what she could. It was hard not to cry out when she began picking them. She had nearly bit through her lip when she left the churchyard.

With her hands blistered and stinging, Miaka returned to the boarding house where she lodged. Once her hands had healed and the blisters had subsided, she would work on creating the flax. She'd have to remember the recipe for that healing salve Mitsukake had taught her how to make; she would have much need of it by the time this was over.

And so she lived. She travelled across Hokkan, finding work, usually cleaning, sewing, or weaving, to support herself and afford provisions, supplies, and the expense of travel. Occasionally she'd have to barter her belongings, but never would she part with the horse, her saddlebags and satchel, or her loom and weaving materials. With writing and gestures, she did the best she could to communicate with others.

What with working, having to travel throughout the country to obtain enough nettles, and how long it took her to find the nettles and create the flax, it took her 2 years to weave the 2 blankets that had to be completed in Hokkan.

Having finished, Miaka packed up what little possessions she still had, and headed to Sairou to begin the next phase of her task. She was accompanying the cloth merchant she worked for on one of his journeys to the neighboring country. Her current employer, a good, kindly man, had arranged for her to begin working for one of his trading partners after they had arrived.

Miaka's time in Sairou was very similar to that in Hokkan. She worked her way from place to place, travelling across the country in search of sufficient nettles to weave the next 2 blankets, traded what she could or would spare as required for money and food.

Throughout her travels, she tried to stay as close to the borders and trade routes to keep up with the news of what was going on back home in Konan. Though many believed that she and her guards had perished in the fire, it transpired that her brother refused to accept that. Keisuke kept up searching for her, but Miaka had taken steps to make sure she would not be found, such as making sure to use an alias throughout her travels. There was just no way that she could go back until she had finished the first 6 blankets.

Happy though she was to know Keisuke hadn't given her up for dead and was still looking for her, there was one bit of news that particularly grieved her. Her mother had been plunged into an inexhaustible despair after her disappearance and had wasted away and died of grief about a year later.

Shortly after turning 18, Miaka began keeping an ear out for her brother's marriage to Yui. How she would deal on her return with the fact that her sister-in-law had been responsible for the disappearance of her and her friends, she didn't know yet. But it transpired that Keisuke had postponed the wedding until Miaka was found.

After staying 2 years in Sairou, Miaka had finally finished the third and fourth blankets. Now it was time to journey to Kutou. Just as before, Miaka joined a travelling caravan of merchants heading to her next destination.

But if crossing the desert wastelands of Sairou was an ordeal, it was nothing to what awaited her in Kutou.

The people she'd worked for in Hokkan and Sairou had been kindly and generous, with varying degrees of faults and flaws. But they were all good, decent people at heart. The ones she worked for in Kutou were nothing like that. The innkeepers she worked for as a maid were greedy and stingy, barely paying her or giving her enough to eat. She next worked doing inventory for a shopkeeper who was dishonest and cheated his customers and prone to lashing out violently towards his employees. The next time she worked as a maid, the other servants beat her and often foisted their chores onto her. One stole from the family and blamed it on Miaka, causing her to be dismissed after a brutal beating when she refused to speak to defend herself.

Finding time to do her weaving, or even to gather nettles and make flax was difficult, but she managed. Miaka's luck seemed to have turned towards the end of her 2 years in Kutou. She found work as a weaver for a wealthy cloth merchant, who allowed her room and board with his family. He was a good-humored, kindly man, very much like the last merchant she'd worked for in Hokkan. Miaka further endeared herself to the family by caring for the merchant's wife, who was about to have her third child. Soon after the baby was born, the sixth blanket was completed and it was time for Miaka to return to Konan.

Getting back into Konan was difficult. With the delay of the royal marriage, tensions had flared up between Konan and Kutou. Miaka was forced to slip past the guards on the road in the dead of night.

The Konan she returned to wasn't the Konan she'd left. Not only was the country in a state of uproar over the missing princess, but the Emperor had been secluded in deepest mourning ever since she disappeared. He neglected the business of government, spending his days in prayer in the temple shrine. 3 years of bad weather and poor harvests left the people ill and starving, and the diplomatic tensions had all fearing war with Kutou. New, corrupt council members took over after the Emperor's withdrawal, imposing harsh taxes, lining their pockets at the expense of the people and the royal treasury, and the people's pleas fell on deaf ears.

All this Miaka had learned from the innkeeper who had given her lodgings for the night. She also learned that one of Keisuke's search parties would be in the area soon. When they arrived the nest morning, she revealed herself to them, communicating through her writing supplies, the only thing other than the clothes she wore that remained of those she'd been willing to part with.

It's alright now, she thought as the guards knelt before her once she had convinced them of her identity. I'm home. There's just one more blanket to do. It's almost over, everyone.

*End Chapter*