Chapter Two –
Evanescent Moments

The earth glistened and twisted into flowing, bokeh bubbles as sunlight entered through the hydro-barrier encircling the isles of Iknan. Seated on the very edge of the barrier on the outskirts of Dongju, Edward caressed Tanya's strawberry-blonde curls with his long, sure fingers. Exhaling a sigh, she rested her head on his lap and buried her shoulders into his knees, relishing the solitude.

In the distance, a gong rang thrice, signaling the end of the midday respite. Edward bent over, bestowing a fond kiss on Tanya's cheek. A dreamy smile, pleased but melancholy, blossomed across her plump lips. He groaned as he dusted the grass from his blacksmithing pants and crawled out from under his sweetheart to stand. Reluctant to break her happy spell, he offered her a hand to pull Tanya up. With a pout, her slim fingers wound through his, pulling herself up to press her body into his chest, placing a passionate kiss on his lips.

Edward chuckled beneath her fervor, pulling away with great reluctance. "I'm going to be late, Tawny. I'll see you at dinner this evening."

He withdrew his lips from hers and turned to stride away, their fingers intertwined until they lost traction. It was a calm stroll back into town, broken by a cat-eared Neko child and a young Sakana with wavy seaweed-like locks fighting with wooden swords. The well-worn dirt walk was dotted with ramshackle tea pavilions housing gossiping matrons who greeted Edward politely as he passed. Since it was only a short stroll—a few minutes at most—Edward took the time to bow to the elders, especially Eleazar, Tanya's father, as he passed their modest home.

He was still several minutes early when he arrived back at the blacksmith's stall, securing an apron around his midsection before pivoting to stoke the raging stove. His master, Jiro, ambled about behind him, inspecting the swords Edward had left to cool before break. His master's tutting and clicking were as familiar as a mother's lullaby hummed at bedtime, or while cool fingers brushed sticky bronze hair from a feverish forehead.

Edward lost himself in his labor, turning and hammering the malleable, white-hot steel and pressing the bellows with great care. Each blade, Jiro said, had a personality and was crafted to fit the hand that would wield it. Depending on the smith's attitude, even the iron stock blades had their own distinct feeling in the hand. Just as no two blades of grass were alike, so too were no two swords alike.

As the sun began to singe the tips of the resolute maples that bordered the footpaths, Edward felt a hand rest firmly on his shoulder. It should have been surprising, perhaps, that a man as frail and infirm-appearing as Jiro could still wield such strength in his muscles, but Edward had been a pupil of the master for far too long and knew better.

"A foreboding wind disturbs the tides. Go, away with you. Be with your loved ones."

"Master Jiro, please be plain of your words," Edward replied, the apathetic tone rebounding off his tutor like a child's bouncing ball.

"You would do well to remember that the frog in the well knows nothing of the ocean, child. Be gone." The scolding retort was all the hobbled man offered in response.

Edward shook his head at Jiro's dismissal, offering his master an indulgent smile as he unwound his apron and hung it on the nail that was fastened to the post next to the weapon rack before departing. His tutor was fond of parables and proverbs, and his interactions seemed more like multi-layered puzzles than actual dialogue. It appeared, more often than not, that Jiro felt privy to fleeting events no other Ningen could understand—reading the tides and interpreting the fallen leaves and lines in the sand, for example. Edward felt it an activity better suited to the Yokai they lived among, so he tried not to place undue emphasis on the man's remarks.

He met a kindly Uman along the way, a young widow with softly falling tears who proffered a sword that Edward had forged not two moons ago. She mournfully conveyed that her husband had volunteered to fight in the war and was slain during a skirmish with an Oni unit on the outer isle of Tokcho, the province of the Oni Clan. Edward offered his condolences as he took the wrapped blade carefully in his hands and bent into a deep bow for the widow, wanting to honor the memory of her fallen mate.

Edward had just bid her farewell, her equine tail vanishing through her house's threshold, and he turned to quickly continue homeward. His return was interrupted again when again the gong sounded with several, reverberating clangs. The tempo was distinct, and though while not overly familiar, Edward knew it was the signal that heralded a visiting envoy. It was meant to alert the town as an urgent summons, and at the sound, the streets began to crowd with the ears, tails, and gills of the Yokai inhabitants, plain Ningen hands and faces intermingled among them.

He tried to turn, pressing against the throng in a harried struggle to reach Tanya and his mother, but the burgeoning sea of bodies swept him forward toward the shabby town square. There was no official temple or shrine in the town, so it served as the de facto prayer location, ringed by four ramshackle torii gates. As Edward reached the gates he began to move with the crowd, pushing his body towards the nearest gate. He rushed forward, whispering his sympathies to people he had to put aside in his haste; as soon as he was close enough, he dug his fingers into the fading red paint of a post.

Edward scaled the column quickly, until he was a few feet above the crowd. The view afforded him the opportunity to search for his mother and Tanya, but the sight his eyes laid upon froze his blood. The tall, foxlike ears and cavalry of horses meant the visitors were from the mother island of Kyokaido; the emperor's forces at a far-off village like his were a sure harbinger of bad news.

Jiro's words came back to him swiftly, the thrust of the memory forceful and jarring. His master had mentioned foreboding winds and the tides, but Edward could not recall the exact phrase Jiro had parted with—a frog and an ocean—and he had no time to further ponder Jiro's riddle. The Kitsune warriors drove the butts of their staves into the cracking pavers, the sound creating a steady, pounding beat. Most were Ningen like himself, but two who rode in the most prominent position bore the telltale features of a true Kitsune: the long, slender ears that protruded from where normal ears should be and the graceful, full tails that sat regally behind them.

One of the vulpine men cleared his throat, and the thrumming tempo cut off immediately. As the clamor ceased the Kitsune envoy unfolded a scroll, and spoke loudly into the silent crowd: "Citizens, I bring a proclamation from the imperial palace. By order of the great Ammako Emperor, every family must offer up one male to serve in the Imperial Army. His Majesty commands that any family who disobeys this decree shall be put to death immediately."

A shudder ran through the gathered citizens, but the delegate pressed on, ignoring the murmured dissent. "The Akagi family!"

Edward's stomach dropped, falling from his abdomen to land on the crowded stones below.

"The Chiba family!"

He ripped his eyes off the Kitsune, raking them through the crowd to locate his mother and Tanya, who were sure to be together.

"The Fuji-nai family!"

They had to be, or he would never be able to say goodbye.

"The Higa family!"

The fact the Kitsune attaché was here at all meant that the Ryujin Shogun had allowed this monstrosity to occur.

"The Kure family!"

Finally his eyes fell upon their horrified faces, gazing up at him with grief stricken through their stares.

"The Ma-sen family!"

He didn't remember the world moving in slow motion—the way each falling leaf seemed to drift to the ground with languid ease. He couldn't see the faces that seemed to turn in minute degrees as he passed. Apologies were muttered under his breath as he wove through the crowd, dragged in shackles away from his life, from the only people he loved. Mutely, he gathered with the rest of the condemned men, the chambers of his lungs seizing and locking down on impact as he stopped.

As they finished calling out the names, Edward felt a rushing tide of hatred swell and crash through his body: for being forced to leave the comfort and familiarity of his world, a life which he'd had no desire to change; for how his family would survive without the meager coin he got tending Jiro's furnace; and most of all for the emperor, whose inhumane and ruthless declaration was responsible for the rest.

GLOSSARY –

"The frog in the well knows nothing of the ocean" – a Japanese proverb that means someone sees the world through their limited perspective. They're quick to judge and think very big of themselves; used to remind someone that there are things bigger than them in the world

Neko – feline subspecies of Yokai, identifiable by their claw-like nails and feline ears and tails

Sakana – aquatic subspecies of Yokai, identifiable by their jewel-toned eyes, and gills and/or fins behind or in place of their ears; have hair that resembles seaweed or coral

Ningen – a human

Uma – equine subspecies of Yokai, identifiable by their long legs, hooved feet, and straw-like hair and tails

Torii gate - a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred, and a spot where kami are welcomed and thought to travel through