The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

came before them are dead."
    "Oh." Shoukei bit her lip. "So that's what it's about." She'd walked into this one with her eyes wide open, and had blindly thrown encouraging words around as well. If any among those she'd met before ended up going to Shisui, she'd have to apologize to them.
    "I wonder what the Royal Kei is doing?" Why does she leave such monsters in positions of power? Wasn't Kei supposed to be entering a new era?
    "Our Empress is no good," Kantai sighed.
    Shoukei gave him a hard look. "No good?"
    "They say the ministers at the Imperial Court lead her around by the nose. That's what happened to our last empress. She didn't care what happened to the kingdom. So she didn't care who governed us."
    "Then why doesn't anybody tell that to the Empress?"
    "Tell the Empress?" Kantai said, his eyes wide with surprise.
    "If you're right, then she's got to be told the truth! Otherwise, they'll turn her into a puppet. Somebody's got to make her see the light!"
    "You are--"
    "If the Royal Kei doesn't know what state the kingdom is in, it's going to come back to hurt her. Ignorance will be no excuse. Her own weakness won't be an excuse. Somebody has to tell her!" So she wouldn't meet the same fate as herself. So she wouldn't meet the same fate as her father.
    Kantai blinked. "Aren't you from Hou?"
    Shoukei came back to her senses and reddened a bit. "Yes . . . but . . . it's like the Royal Kei isn't a stranger to me. I heard she was the same age as me." She looked down. "Somebody has to tell her! If she doesn't find out, who knows what will happen to the throne?"
    "How would you go about telling her? She lives in the heart of Kinpa Palace in Gyouten."
    "Indeed."
    "Rather, spark a flame here in Wa Province, and she's bound to notice."
    Shoukei raised her head and looked carefully into Kantai's gentle and smiling face.
    "Light fires throughout all the provinces," he continued, "and she'll notice the embers burning at her feet. Don't you think?"
    "I don't know."
    This man had saved her life. He'd fought the soldiers chasing her and had given her shelter. Now he was a marked man as well. Why would he go so far? Because he'd been on the run from the beginning. Or he believed he was being pursued. At any rate, this man was preparing to raise the flag of rebellion against the province lord of Wa.
    "I don't know, but I do know that something must be done. The state of things here cannot go on. Somehow or other, we've got to make the Royal Kei aware of conditions here."
    Kantai laughed without a touch of cynicism or reproach. "I think so, too. Well, let's straighten things up here. Now, you don't have anyplace to go, right? So why not stick around a while longer?"

Chapter 53
    S uzu helped out doing odd jobs around the inn. On occasion, she transported goods on her sansui and delivered messages back and forth.
    The sansui already disliked being ridden by anybody else but her. Koshou tried mounting up once, but got bucked off and very nearly walloped by a pair of hind legs capable of vaulting the walls of the city. Breaking a you -beast demanded the guts to go toe-to-toe (or hoof) with one, and fully training a pegasus required at least a decade. Its pride must be marshalled first. And only that tamed part of a pegasus would demonstrate a significant diminution of its assertiveness.
    "When you get a bit better at mastering this beast . . . " said Koshou, gazing wistfully at the sansui.
    "Me?" Gathering greens from the garden, Suzu stopped and looked over her shoulder at Koshou, who was sitting at the side of the well.
    "A pegasus that's been really well trained will follow the orders its master gives it. The sooner you can become that kind of master, the sooner it will do what you tell it. Like, 'Let Koshou ride you.'"
    "Well, I'll keep at it and see. It takes time."
    "Sure does. When you've got a pegasus, riding a horse pales in comparison."
    "Would you like a pegasus, too, Koshou?"
    "Not that I could ever afford one. Talk is cheaper. Even if I became a soldier."
    "Don't soldiers get pegasi?"
    "Only if you rise really high in the ranks. And that depends on luck, but more on having the kind of connections that I don't have."
    "Why not?"
    "To get promoted, you need a good sword arm, sure, but you have to go to secondary school, too. The commanders of the Imperial Army all graduated from college, don't you know. On top of that, you've got to get commendations. Right now, the only way to get commendations is working for people