She opened the drawer and took out an outfit. "What kind of clothes do you like, then? Don't have much else besides my own." She looked up at Youko. Youko stared back at her. When she didn't answer, the woman held up a kimono. "Too bad my daughter died so young. These are all pretty plain."
"Why … " Youko blurted out. Why didn't this woman sound the alarm? Why didn't she run away?
"Why, you ask?" the woman said, turning to Youko. Youko found herself at a loss for words. The woman laughed, a bit stiffly, resumed laying out the kimono. "You come from Hairou?"
"I … um … . "
"Big fuss there about a kaikyaku running away."
Youko fell silent. The woman smiled a wry smile. "Lots of hard-headed folk about, that's for sure. Kaikyaku are going to ruin the kingdom, they say. Kaikyaku do bad things right and left, they say. A shoku happens and it's all because of the kaikyaku, they say. The things fools say."
She looked Youko over from head to toe. "Where'd that blood on you come from?"
"When I was in the mountains, the youma … . " She could say nothing more.
"Ah, you were attacked by the youma, were you? Lots of them about, lately. You seem to have come through well enough."
The woman got to her feet. "Go on, sit yourself down. You're a hungry one, I bet. Had anything to eat? You're looking positively gray."
Youko could only drop her shoulders and shake her head, no.
"Well, then, let's have ourselves a bite. I'll heat up some water and we'll get all that grime off you. We can decide on what to wear after that." The woman cheerfully gathered up her things and started to leave. She glanced back at Youko, who still hadn't moved from where she stood. "Now, what was your name?"
Youko started to answer. No words came out. She sank to her knees, the tears spilling down her cheeks.
"Oh, you poor thing. It's okay, it's okay." The woman spoke in a motherly voice, her warm hand stroking Youko's back. "It must have been very hard for you out there. You'll be okay."
The weight of everything Youko had endured overwhelmed her all at once. The sobs tore at her throat. She curled up on the floor and wept as if the world would end.
3-2
"Well, then, why don't you change into this?"
Standing behind a folding screen, the woman handed Youko a nightdress. "You'll be staying here tonight? You can wear this for the time being."
Youko bowed her head deeply in gratitude.
The woman consoled the still teary Youko. She prepared rice gruel sweetened with azuki beans. Then she filled a big tub with hot water and prepared a bath for Youko. Her long, aching hunger satiated, Youko washed in the hot water, put on clean nightclothes. She was starting to feel like a real person again.
"I'm really, really thankful for all you've done." Youko came from around the folding screen the woman had set around the tub and bowed again. "I'm so sorry about everything."
After all, she had tried to steal from this woman.
When she looked at her directly, she could see that the woman's eyes were blue. The woman's blue eyes softened and she laughed.
"Oh, don't worry about it. Let's leave it at that. Have something warm to eat. Drink this as well. It'll help you sleep. I've made up your bed."
"I'm sorry."
"Like I said, not a problem. I hope you don't mind, but I put away that sword of yours. It was making me uncomfortable."
"Yes. I'm sorry."
"Oh, nothing you need to keep apologizing for. Now, I don't think I caught your name."
"Youko Nakajima."
"Kaikyaku do have funny names. You can call me Takki." She handed Youko a teacup.
Youko took it and asked, "How is your name spelled?"
Takki sketched the characters for "achievement" (tatsu) and "maidservant" (ki) with her finger on the tabletop. "So, Youko, was there someplace you needed to get yourself to?"
Youko shook her head. "No, no place in particular. Takki-san, have you ever heard of a person named Keiki?"
"Keiki? I don't know anybody by that name. Are you looking for him?"
"Yes."
"Where's he from? Is he from Kou?"
"All I know is that he's from around here … . "
Takki smiled a patient smile. "Now, that's hardly enough information. Which kingdom and which province, at the very least. Short of that, why, it's a needle in a haystack."
Youko hung her head. "The fact is, I don't know anything about this place."
"So it seems." Takki put down her teacup. "We are one of the Twelve Kingdoms. Specifically, the kingdom of the southeast, called the Kingdom of Kou."
Youko nodded. "And the sun rises in the east?"
"Of course. And this is the eastern part of Kou, called Goso. There's some high mountains a ten-days' walk north from here. Over those mountains is the Kingdom of Kei. Hairou is due east of us, by the seashore. Following the main road you can walk there in five days."
What had been previously completely incomprehensible was bit by bit coming into focus. It was dawning on her that this place was a world unto itself.
"Just how big is Kou?"
Takki tilted her head back and gave it a bit of thought. "How big, she asks me. Well, if you was to walk from the eastern-most border of Kou all the way to the western-most border, I figure it'd take you a good three months."
"That long?" Youko said, her eyes growing wide. She could not begin to grasp what it meant to walk for that length of time, but she did understand that it was quite beyond her imagination.
"Yes, that long. It might not be such a big place, but Kou is a kingdom. It's about the same distance north to south as well. But because it means crossing seas or mountains, going to a neighboring kingdom is an almost a four month trip."
"And all the Twelve Kingdoms … . "
"That's right."
Youko closed her eyes. She had somehow pictured in her mind a world like a small garden. How could she find one person in such a vast place? Without a single clue and only the name "Keiki" to go by? Circumnavigating all twelve kingdoms by itself would take four years.
"What kind of person is this Keiki?"
"I don't really know. Probably like the people here. He's the person who brought me here."
"Brought you here?"
"Yes."
"Well, that's a new one on me." Takki was visibly impressed.
"Is that unusual?"
Takki said with a severe, little smile, "I don't have much learning about such things. Don't know that much about kaikyaku, neither. You hardly ever see them around these parts."
"I didn't know that," said Youko.
"It's true. In any case, he can't be any kind of normal person. What you're talking about, that's nothing any of us could have done. One of the gods, maybe, or a wizard, or one of the half-demons."
Youko stared at her. Takki smiled. "Going to that other place, bringing somebody back, it's not what normal people do. And if it's not normal people, then it's got to be a wizard or youma."
"I know there are youma, but gods and wizards, too?"
"There certainly are. But they live in the world above, apart from the rest of us. The gods and the wizards live up there. They hardly ever come down here."
"Above?"
"Above the sky. But that doesn't mean there aren't wizards down here. From king to province lords, they're all up there above the sky."
When Youko tilted her head quizzically, Takki smiled and explained. "Each of the provinces has a province lord. This is Jun Province. Our province lord is the Marquis of Jun. He rules by will of the king. Normal people don't become province lords, neither. They never grow old and have supernatural powers. They're people from out of this world."