The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

morning, Suzu left Takuhou and headed east on the main highway. On a sansui, the trip took half a day. Suzu arrived at Houkaku by noon. Houkaku was as big a city as Takuhou. Houkaku was the capital of Rouya prefecture, which was next to Shisui prefecture.
    According to the map Kousho had drawn, Suzu looked for a house in the southwest part of the city. She found there a broken-down dump of a residence. The main gate facing the street was tightly shut. When she knocked on the gate, a fifty-something man with odd, mottled brown hair appeared.
    "Who is it?"
    Suzu bowed, greeting him as Koshou had instructed her. "I've come from Shikin, county of San, in Baku Province."
    The man eyes suddenly fell upon her hands, focusing on her ring finger. "Come in."
    Rou was cooperating in Koshou's cause, but he wasn't an intimate member of their group. The greeting was not used when seeing friends, but to establish Suzu's bono fides as a trustworthy ally.
    Through the door was a narrow courtyard. At the back of the courtyard was an old house no wider than the yard, a small building no larger than a shack. Suzu led the sansui into the courtyard. The man closed the gate behind her and said, "I'm Hansei Rou. Koshou and I hail from the same home town."
    "Yes. I came to pick up the shipment."
    "Right," Rou nodded. He said with a grim expression, "That is the case, but the shipment in question hasn't arrived."
    "Eh?"
    "Today, I was supposed to get two separate shipments, but neither has arrived. I'm sorry, but perhaps I could ask you to wait?"
    "Okay," said Suzu. Koshou had told her to follow Rou's instructions after she got here.
    "If the shipments arrive this evening, I'll have to ask you stay overnight. The place is a mess, but there is a room where you can sleep. I apologize for the inconvenience."
    "It's fine. No problem."
    "You might as well sit back and relax. I'll get water for that fine horse of yours. Would you like some tea?"
    "Sure," Suzu said, with a nod.

    Rou wasn't a handsome man, but proved to be a good talker. They sat down at a stone table and watched the sansui munching on the feed and conversed about this and that.
    "So you're all the way from Sai? That must have been one long trip."
    "I came most of the way by ship."
    "What do you think of Kei? Must be pretty cold compared to Sai."
    "I was with a troupe of traveling entertainers for a while, so I've been all over the place."
    "How about that."
    A knock came at the gate. "And now they show up!" Rou playfully scowled. He opened the doors. After exchanging a few words with the visitor in a low voice, a girl about Suzu's age appeared, leading a horse. Her hair was mottled like Rou's but a dark blue color. It struck Suzu as quite extraordinary.
    "Well, at least twenty have arrived," Rou said with forced smile. He showed the girl to the table. "Why don't you take your time as well?"
    "But--" the girl said, glancing up at him.
    "Sorry," said Rou. "Without all thirty pieces, this girl isn't going to pay me. And without that money, I can't pay you."
    Suzu raised her voice. "If that's the case, I can pay--"
    Rou raised his hand, cutting her off. "No. My place, my rules, and that's not my line of business. I'm the broker, not a dealer."
    "Oh, okay."
    Rou grinned and glanced over his shoulder at the girl. "That being the case, you'll have to wait for a while. Save your complaints for the tardy party. Would you like some tea, too?"
    "Thank you," she nodded.
    Suzu gave her a good, long look. From the bone structure of her face, she could tell she was a beautiful woman. They were about the same age. At Rou's urging, she sat down in one of the stone chairs and glanced at Suzu. Her gaze quickly moved onto the sansui.
    "A sansui," she said.
    Suzu leaned forward. "Are you familiar with sansui?"
    "I've seen one or two before."
    "Oh. I'm from Takuhou. I'm Suzu. And you are?"
    "I came from Meikaku. My name is Shoukei."
    "We seem about the same age. How old are you?"
    Shoukei seemed to mull the question over momentarily. "Sixteen."
    Suzu was about to say that she was, too, but hesitated. What was the best way to describe her age? She was swept into this world at the age of fourteen, twelve by the way birthdays were counted here. After that, she'd wandered hither and yon for four years, and then had become a wizard. That would make her sixteen, more or less.
    "I'm the same age," Suzu said. Shoukei tilted her head to one side, but said nothing more. Suzu said, "Shoukei, are you a subject of