"Of course."
"That girl doesn't understand her guilt in all this. She still doesn't think she has anything to apologize for. Even seeing her parents killed in front of her, she still thinks it's all about her, about her suffering, about her pain. A lot of people suffered the same, but she won't admit that any of it came about because she didn't do the right thing when she was supposed to."
"I understand how you feel, but you can't make another person feel your pain. I think we'd all be better off forgetting about Chuutatsu. Leave the past in the past. Don't you agree?"
Gobo nodded.
"I'm pleased you had the presence of mind to let me know what was going on. What you did constituted no crime against the townspeople. For now, though, they will bear you no little malice. So in their stead, let me offer you my sincere thanks."
Gobo bowed her head. The tears that had run dry the day her child had died welled up and spilled onto the floor.
4-2
"I believe this is the first time we've met."
Empress Kouko nodded to the woman entering the room. Ten days had passed since the young girl had collapsed at the gates to the Hall of Government. During that time, Kouko had met often with Suzu, and had sent orders to the relevant ministries requesting more information about this Riyou, mistress of Suibi Grotto.
Riyou haughtily raised her head. With barely a "Hello," she strode to the large table, pulled out a chair and sat down. "I haven't been to the palace for a long time, now."
At first glance, you would have observed the grandmotherly Kouko opposite the much younger Riyou, apparently in the flower of her youth. But, in fact, Riyou was twice the age of the Empress.
"Feels like old times, almost. Hardly a thing has changed."
"I have given shelter to a girl by the name of Suzu. Apparently, she had been living at Suibi Grotto."
This brought an ingratiating grin to Riyou's lips. "For which I am grateful. Quite useless as a maid, but I do consider her a member of the family."
Kouko sighed to herself.
Riyou said, "And just what has she been telling you? Does the Royal Sai actually believe her? Servants never hold their master in high regard. I certainly wouldn't take anything she said at face value."
"Suzu swears that you tried to kill her."
"Oh, nonsense," Riyou laughed. "I certainly wouldn't on purpose. If I got tired of having her around, I'd just kick her out and be done with it. To tell the truth, I've considered doing so many times. But every time, the little brat gets down on her hands and knees and begs me not to."
"You sent her out in the middle of the night, in the middle of winter, to pick kankin mushrooms."
"Only because I am so generous." Riyou laughed again. "That girl broke a vase given to me by my liege. It was the way she could think of to thank me for forgiving her."
Kouko knit her brows together. The king Riyou spoke of had lived many generations before. Fu-ou was his name. In truth, Riyou had been his concubine.
"She says you sicced your tiger on her as well."
Riyou shrugged. "The way you say it, it sounds so dreadful. Is that what she told you? It's dangerous picking mushrooms in the middle of the night, so I sent Setsuko along in case anything unfortunate should happen."
"It sounds to me like you treat your servants rather badly."
"They know full well what the job entails. If other people don't like it, well, they should mind their own business. If my servants aren't happy with me, they're free to leave anytime. I don't see the problem."
"Even if they want to, there are still those who cannot."
Hmph, pouted Riyou, flashing a derisive smile. "You mean, all that about not being able to understand anything once she's removed from the Registry? What's so hard about that? She sticks around because she'd rather put up with me than become a normal person again. If I was really such a horrible person, she would just quit and leave. Isn't that what it comes down to?"
"Suzu is a kaikyaku. Not being able to communicate would be quite a hardship for her, would it not?"
Riyou looked at Kokou contemptuously, smiling as she raised her voice. "Even when she speaks the same language as the rest of us, she still doesn't know which way is up!"
Having finally grasped the gist of Riyou's argument, Kouko took a deep breath. "So, then, why must you behave like this? It's honestly the last thing I expected from the mistress of Suibi Grotto."
When Riyou had been a member of Fu-ou's inner palace, she had been a great help to him. But when malevolent retainers took advantage of the king's meek nature to indulge their own tyrannical behaviors, she upbraided them on the king's behalf, and earned their hatred in the bargain. She scolded the king as well, once he began to stray from the Way, and thus fell out of his good graces.
In the end, she was exiled to Suibi Grotto.
She was viewed suspiciously by those traitorous retainers, but they weren't able to strip her from the Registry or otherwise punish her. She was too smart for them. But with Riyou so far removed from him, the rule of Fu-ou saw a swift decline.
"Again, why be so insolent? Are you daring me to sanction you?"
"And are you daring to interfere in the business of a hisen wizard?"
"It is within the royal prerogatives. I simply have never had cause to resort to them."
Riyou got to her feet, grinning defiantly. "Suit yourself, then."
"Do you know the Royal Kei?" Suzu asked Sairin, kirin of Sai. They were in the palace garden, basking in the sunlight. "Oh, sorry, I should have addressed you as Taiho."
The young girl sitting in front of her had golden hair that glittered in the sunlight. Sairin had in fact served two kings, but based on her outward appearance, she looked even younger than Suzu. Her features were exceedingly fine and delicate. Her true nature was that of a unicorn, and Suzu was sure that a kirin must be a beast of extraordinary refinement.
"I don't mind," she said with a smile. "You may address me however you wish."
Kouko had a reserved nature, but Sairin's disposition was even more tranquil. She wore a calm smile from daybreak to dusk.
It's like a dream, Suzu thought whenever she recalled the days spent under Riyou's lash. She asked more politely, "Does the Taiho perchance know the Royal Kei?"
Sairin shook her head.
"You've never met her? Not in your capacity as kirin of Sai?"
"Kei not being a neighboring kingdom, and having no other reason to associate, it is unlikely that we would ever meet."
Huh, Suzu muttered to herself. Each of the Twelve Kingdoms had a king and a kirin. You'd think it'd get kind of lonely if that was your only companionship.
"Are you interested in the Royal Kei?" asked Sairin. The gilded hair spilling off her shoulders shimmered in the sunlight like white gold.
"We were both born in Yamato. We're both about the same age."
Ah, Sairin smiled. Suzu had heard Kouko call her Youran, or "rocking cradle." She really did have the gentle disposition of a baby content in its cradle.
"Being here all alone, I would like to meet her, even if only once and talk to her about Yamato."
"Do you miss Yamato?"
"Home is where the heart is, after all. I can't tell you how many times I cried myself to sleep wanting to go home."
"Do you so dislike it here?"
Sairin asked the question in such a dispirited tone that Suzu shook her head. "I, ah, it's not that I don't like it. It's just that I don't understand anything about this world, not even the language. Things haven't been so easy for me since I came here. I've seen a lot of hard times."