Toshi shook his head. He pointed at Michiko-hime atop the log. “I didn’t bring it to the elders. I brought it to her.”
Sharp-Ear instantly became more alert, his eyes clear and his muscles tensed. “Really? What for?”
“You know what for. They’re bound; they’ve been bound since birth. They both came into this world at the same time and as a result of Konda’s actions. I figured all she’d have to do was touch it and something important would happen. We’d know what to do from there.”
“That sounds like your usual plan,” Sharp-Ear said. “Rush in, kick things over, and see what breaks.”
“What a penetrating wit you have.” Toshi sneered. “I suppose I’m not allowed to go near the disk while the elders are staring at it?”
“Of course not.”
“Can I talk to the princess?”
“If she’ll have you. Even then I’m going to stay within earshot.”
Toshi cocked his head. “Afraid I’ll make off with her again? Not a chance. There’s no one worth ransoming her to anymore. Konda doesn’t care, and you lot have no money.”
“I changed my mind,” Sharp-Ear said. “You can’t talk to her.”
The crowd milled past the platform stump, chattering excitedly. After Pearl-Ear gave instructions to the guards watching Toshi, they lowered their weapons and joined the rest of the soldiers forming a protective cordon around the elders and the Taken One.
Toshi watched until the last soldier was as far from the stump as he was going to get. Then he said to Sharp-Ear, “I can go?”
“You can go.”
“And I can talk to the princess? She did say she’s still my boss.”
“If she’ll talk to you and you both stay in plain sight, yes. But don’t try anything.”
Toshi leveled his bright green eyes at Sharp-Ear and made his most serious and reliable face.
“Trust me,” he said.
CHAPTER 21
An hour later Toshi caught up with Michiko by the training lane as the princess moved away from the village.
“Michiko-hime,” he called. As the statuesque beauty turned, Toshi noticed the princess’s companion Riko attending. Damn. The student girl would just complicate things.
The princess bowed. “Hello, Toshi. I was hoping we’d get a chance to talk.” She presented Riko. “You remember my friend Riko from Minamo Academy?”
“Yes.” Toshi met the smaller girl’s angry eyes. Riko was attractive, in a petite, academic sort of way, but she looked like an akki whelp next to Michiko. Plus, she also clearly hadn’t forgiven Toshi for kidnapping Michiko, or punishing Choryu, or one of the myriad other terrible things she’d seen him do.
Toshi bowed to Riko. “A pleasure, as always.” Which was the complete opposite of the truth-Riko had been grateful to Toshi when he’d pulled them all out of Minamo, but that was the only time he could recall her not glaring at him with hate in her eyes.
“Would you excuse us, Riko?” Toshi bowed again. “I would like to talk to Michiko-hime in private.”
“No,” Riko said. She folded her arms, the fingers on her right hand tickling the bow slung over her left shoulder.
“Riko,” Michiko said. “As a favor to me.”
The student archer looked anxious and Michiko said, “We will stand in the clearing over there. If anything happens or you lose sight of us, you may come running.”
Visibly unconvinced, Riko said, “I will be watching you both.” She pushed past Toshi and then turned around, folding her arms. Michiko beckoned Toshi to join her and they strolled amiably toward the clearing.
“I appreciate what you tried to do today,” she said. “The elders are cautious, perhaps overly so, but they will not let anything bad happen.”
“They can’t stop this bad thing.”
“No. But I agree that they have to try reaching the entity before we decide what to do next.”
They approached the clearing. Toshi stopped walking and said, “Do you? Because during the trial back there I could have sworn you agreed with me.”
“It wasn’t a trial,” Michiko said.
“Forgive me. I misspoke. Did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Did you agree with me? That we have a responsibility to set the Taken One free.”
The princess hesitated. “Yes. I wish to help atone for my father’s crime. It will take years, perhaps decades of hard work, but the first step must be to return what was stolen.”
“Can you make them listen to you? What kind of sway to you have around here?”
She laughed a sad, musical laugh. “Not much, I’m afraid. In Eiganjo, I was a prisoner. In Towabara, I am a princess. But here, I am treated no better than a student, and not a very advanced one at that.”
Toshi frowned. “You matter more than that. You are connected to that stone disk somehow. I was just telling Sharp-Ear how you two are sisters, in a way. The entity … she kept trying to reach out to me, but I was afraid and didn’t know what to do. If you reached out to her, I think she’d respond.”
Michiko nodded, her eyes far away. “I did sense something between the entity and me. But I assumed it was just my imagination, a feeling of … what we were shown about the night of my birth.”
“Also the night of her birth,” Toshi said. “There is something between you two. I think if anyone should be trying to reach the Taken One, it should be you.”
“I would like to be more involved. I feel a great sense of personal-”
“Then be more involved. Pearl-Ear can deny you nothing. Sharp-Ear would crawl over hot coals to bring you a bowl of rice. And Riko … I think she’d do anything twice to see you smile.”
Michiko shook her head angrily. “This flattery does nothing to-”
“It’s not flattery.” Toshi leaned in close, nose-to-nose with the princess. “It’s strategy. If you want to do things you know need to be done, you do them. If your room is on fire, you put it out or you leave. You don’t ask for permission. You don’t wait for approval. You just go.
“I say this village is your room and the Taken One is a very big fire waiting for a spark. Don’t let the elders stop you from doing what’s right, what needs to be done. All you need is one chance and you can make a difference. Ask Pearl-Ear and Sharp-Ear to ask the elders. The Taken One has reached out to us, but only you can reach out to her.
“Go,” Toshi said. “Go to her and listen. Talk. I’ve spent more time with her than anyone … except your father. I know she wants someone to stand by her. Someone who isn’t me, or the daimyo, or anyone else she’s met so far. I wasn’t good enough.” He shrugged. “You might be.”
For a moment Michiko seemed younger, more vulnerable, as she had when Toshi had first met her. She opened her mouth to speak.
“For a lowlife, lying thug,” Sharp-Ear’s voice rang out, cutting off the princess and echoing across the clearing, “you’re almost eloquent.”
Toshi closed his eyes wearily.
The little foxman tumbled out of the leafy branches high overhead, landing solidly on the tips of his clawed toes. Sharp-Ear leaned under Toshi’s chin and peered up into the ochimusha’s face, waiting for him to open his eyes. When he did, the kitsune said, “Told you I’d be listening.”
“Sensei,” Michiko said, “Toshi and I were having a private conversation.”
“Business,” Toshi corrected. “We were talking business.”
“You were talking her into doing something you want her to do.”
“No. I was trying to find out what she wants to do.”
“And if either of you asked me,” Michiko flared, “I would answer, because I am in fact standing here with you.”
Sharp-Ear bowed. “Forgive, Michiko-hime.”
“If you had asked, Sharp-Ear, or waited for me to answer when Toshi asked, you would know. I do think I should help communicate with the Taken One. Everything Toshi says makes sense.”
“I agree.” Sharp-Ear bobbed a quick bow. “You are tied to the entity, princess. I do not dispute that. But it could very dangerous to interact with it. You could be like the opposing poles of a magnet and naturally repel each other.”