The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

died? And if he lived, how would she explain his sister's death? And Enho's absence?
    The elders didn't have to say, " You should have been here. " She knew that well enough herself. If she'd been here, three people would not have met such terrible fates.
    She said to Hyouki, "Please tell Keiki I'm thankful for all he's done. Take all due care with Keikei."
    "By your command. What shall be your next move?"
    "I'm going to look for Enho."
    "Empress--"
    "I do have some idea about what I'm doing. No matter what, I will find Enho and apprehend the brigands who did this."
    "The Taiho will worry."
    "Tell Keiki he can rest assured I won't do anything reckless, but I just can't sit around here twiddling my thumbs."
    "That is what I shall communicate to him."
    "Thanks. I appreciate it."
    Hyouki's voice ceased. In the dead calm, the sound of wind filled the main hall. There was no one here to light the fires. The girl who worked so diligently keeping the coals stoked and the warm steam rising from the stove, she was not here. She would never return again.
    Youko picked up the sword she had cast onto a nearby chair. The Suiguu-tou, the Water Monkey Sword, Imperial Regalia of the Kingdom of Kei.
    The great power of a youma's soul was sealed into its blade and scabbard. If she could master it well, the sword would show her the past, the present, and the future, and that which was far from her. The sword could also read the human heart.
    Youko drew out the sword far enough to expose the blade and stared at the gleaming steel. This sword had, in fact, been smelted from water, and changed its shape according to the lord who possessed it. The Royal Tatsu created the Suiguu-tou. At first, the sword had no scabbard, and resembled a long-handled scimitar. The Royal Tatsu christened it the Suikan-tou, or the Water Smelted Sword. Knowing of its powers to befuddle its lord, the Royal Tatsu later fashioned a scabbard to bind it. Since naming it the Suiguu-tou, its shape had changed with each new monarch. Now it rested in her hands as a plain sword.
    Even as an axe, or a stave, the scabbard must attend to that shape. Without the scabbard, it had the mysterious power to turn on its owner. Yet Youko had lost the original scabbard, leaving only its dead shell behind. The scabbard in its current form had already proved incapable of sealing the sword's power.
    I should probably call it the Water Smelted Sword from now on.
    Although the Winter Ministry had created a new scabbard for the sword, it had done little to check its power. Far from it, when removed from the binding force of the scabbard, the sword ran wild, tormenting her day after day. Even now, Youko could not control the sword, experiencing nothing but cryptic visions and nightmares.
    The ministers all silently reproved Youko for losing the precious scabbard, a crown jewel without peer in the known world.
    Youko stared at the blade. Finally, she sighed. "It's no good." She could see no sign of Enho anywhere in the visions that emerged from the sword. "Hankyo," she said.
    "Yes," he answered from the darkness.
    "I'm going to sleep for a while. Please wake me up before the gates open. I want to set out for Takuhou first thing in the morning."
    "By your command," the voice alone replied.

    Early in the morning, Youko entered Hokui and went straight to the residence of the man named Rou. The strange, shrouded man had led her to Rou. At his place, she'd also observed the big man she'd seen at the inn in Takuhou. The men who had some time ago surrounded the rike were also from Takuhou. Youko had to believe they were all involved one way or another.
    Trudging through the fierce winter air, she finally arrived at Rou's residence, and after wandering about for a while, knocked on the front gate. The inside of the residence was deathly silent. She was pounding more determinedly on the door, when an old man passed by in the street.
    "What with all this noise at this hour? Rou's not here."
    Youko glanced back over her shoulder at the melancholy face of the old man. "Not here?"
    "Plum disappeared. Probably took off in the middle of the night. Don't know what's going on, but what with all those shady character coming and going, I'm sure something was afoot."
    "When was that?"
    "It's been a while, now. Say, about a half a month ago."
    Half a month ago had been when Youko first came here. "Would you happen to know any of these men who were coming and going? I'd like to know where he went."
    "Hard to