Her old home on a gently sloping hill amidst the rolling mountains, the moments of warm conversation, she'd lost it all. Already, a hundred years had passed since she'd been swept away to this world. The slave trader had taken her away, and while crossing the mountain pass she'd fallen from some kind of precipice and had ended up in the Kyokai.
"Why does she have to be like that?"
"Because that's the kind of person she is. Don't worry about it so. After all, her being so headstrong was what got her sent packing in the first place. Giving her this grotto was the tactful way of easing her out."
"I know that, but… . "
Suzu had been suddenly thrust into this strange world, not being able to communicate, not having the slightest idea what was going on. And all at the age of fourteen.
From the small, seaside village she'd been sent to a bigger town. Not knowing what was going to happen next, she was trundled here and packed off there for days. Finally, she was taken to a big city and was handed over to a troupe of traveling entertainers.
She had spent a little over three years with the troupe. To Suzu, it was a solid blur of incomprehension. They visited cities hither and yon, high and low, met many, many people. All she gathered was that she had somehow been separated a great distance from the land she knew. There were mountains that pierced the heavens, cities surrounded by high walls, strange manners and customs, a strange language. All of it was far beyond her grasp. That was the conclusion she was forced to come to.
With every new city, Suzu harbored fresh hope that, by some happy accident, she would run into a person who could understand her and could send word back to her village. Every expectation was dashed. About the time she began to abandon hope that such a person existed, they arrived in Jin County and there she met Riyou.
In four years she hadn't learned a single one of the troupe's performances. She was consigned to cleaning duties. She knew it was because she didn't understand what anybody was saying.
No matter where they went, she didn't recognize the language people spoke. No matter how many times people talked to her and she talked to other people, nothing made sense. Nobody knew the way home. She had no idea what to do. Every day ended with her in tears.
People would just laugh at her when she said she didn't understand what they were saying. Eventually, Suzu stopped talking all together. It was too intimidating either to speak or be spoken to.
So it was hardly unreasonable that she should be delighted beyond belief when, in a city in Jin County, she met Riyou. It wasn't long before Riyou was deriding her at every turn, but Suzu relished at least being insulted with words she understood.
Riyou could communicate with her because she was a wizard. Learning that if you became a wizard everybody would understand you and you would understand them, Suzu begged to be made a wizard. She'd happily become a servant, work as hard as she had to. And so, answering her pleas, Riyou invested her as a wizard.
And now, for a century, she had been all but a prisoner in this place.
She'd thought of running away any number of times. Yet if she left the grotto without Riyou's permission, Riyou would have her name erased from the Registry of Wizards. And if that happened, she'd be plunged right back into that incomprehensible world of misfortune.
"Well," said the old man, patting Suzu on the shoulder. "You'd better get back to work. No rest for the weary."
Suzu nodded, clenching her cold fingers together. Somebody, she repeated to herself, somebody please save me.
1-3
Pale blue heavens, the color of winter. Beneath the low-lying skies, a noisy commotion poured out from the city and snaked up the side of the mountain. The tumultuous echoes rebounded from the towering Ryou-un, almost loud enough to shake the city to dust.
The name of the city was Gyouten. The faces of the people walking its streets were bright and cheerful. Neither the scattered rubble from the wrecked facades nor the poverty apparent in the dress of the city's occupants weighed heavily on anybody's mind. The reason why could be readily understood from the waving banners everywhere you looked.
The design of the banner was that of a yellow branch against a black background. From the branch hung three fruits, peaches according to custom. A snake was coiled around the branch. This was the legendary branch given to each of the kings by the Lord God of the Heavens at the Creation of the World.
Draped from every nook and cranny of every building, the banners ascended the slopes, as if showing people along the way to the auspicious events taking place at the Imperial Palace.
The entranceway to every home was decorated with flowers. Paper lanterns hung from the eaves. From the eaves, the eye was drawn upwards to the soaring blue-tiled roof of the Highland Gate at the entranceway to the compound that housed the Hall of Government.
A new king had acceded to the throne.
The Ouki, the royal standard indicating the accession of a new king, had flown for two months. At last came the announcement of the coronation. The sight of the banners, signaling the arrival of the great day, was cause for much rejoicing.
Crowds of people streamed down the wide boulevards to the Highland Gate. Inside the gate, between the Hall of Government and the Imperial Shrine (used primarily for ceremonial functions) was a wide plaza. The plaza was already jam-packed. Within the neat lines of black-armored Palace Guards and black-robed Ministers of State, and the row upon row of fluttering flags, a figure in black appeared on the rostrum of the shrine. The plaza erupted in cheering.
The Imperial Regalia she wore was called the Daikyuu. It was comprised of a black robe, a black kanmuri or diadem, a pale red skirt, cinnabar apron and red slippers. And as if made to match on purpose, red hair.
"She actually became Empress," Rakushun muttered to himself, recognizing the person standing in the middle of the luxurious room.
Her presence evoked exclamations of admiration from the mismatched pair ahead of him, one tall man, one short. The Daikyuu was the most formal of the king's outfits. Its twelve ornamental insignia identified her supreme rank. Because she was a woman, her kanmuri was smaller. Instead, her hair was beautifully ornamented. The dragon embroidered on her robes was similarly elegant.
The ceremony enthroning the new king had just finished. She looked over her shoulder and spotted Rakushun as he entered the room. A warm smile came to her face.
"Rakushun," she said. She noticed the two men next to him and acknowledged them with a polite bow. "I thank you for coming all this way, Royal En and En Taiho."
Enough with the etiquette, the shorter of the two said with a wave of his hand. "You look great, Youko. I'm sure the spectators saw what they came to see. Your subjects will be disappointed if you don't put yourself on display now and then. Besides, the general public knowing that they've got a babe for a monarch could come in handy in a pinch."
Enki had an indecorous tongue and a completely nonchalant disposition. Youko grinned. She motioned for her guests to sit. They were the Royal En and Enki, the king and Taiho of the Kingdom of En to the north of Kei. The king's name was Shouryuu and Enki's name was Rokuta. En was the only country with which Kei currently had diplomatic relations.
"It's been a while, indeed." She formally greeted Shouryuu and Rokuta. "For all your help I am indeed grateful." She bowed to the gray-haired rat standing next to them. "I must thank you as well, Rakushun. I certainly couldn't have made it to this point without you."