The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

secured it further with cord running through her belt.
    It was too bad she wouldn't be working at the palace. However, if only a little, things seemed to be moving in the right direction now. Kouko arranged for the cavalry to fly her to the port of Eisou on the Kyokai. After a journey of ten days, they arrived at the coast and passage on a ship was arranged. She was asked whether she preferred a cargo or passenger ship. A passenger ship could only be booked as far as Sou. She would have to transfer several more times to get to Kei. If she went on one of the cargo vessels that plied the Kyokai around the Twelve Kingdoms, she could sail all the way to En, with a stop in Kei.
    Suzu said that a cargo ship was fine with her, and the agent spoke with one of the commercial outfits on her behalf. This would get her to Kei. With the endorsement of the Royal Sai on her passport, getting a meeting with the Royal Kei shouldn't be too difficult.
    I'm going to meet her. Somebody from Yamato, like her. Definitely the only person on the planet who could really understand her.

    A tan-colored flag was raised. It was a small boat and there was only one flag. A small wheel was affixed to the top of the flagpole. It was a good-luck charm issued by the Ministry of Winter, called a junpuusha, a wheel-like talisman affixed to the top of the mainmast to ensure smooth sailing. As there were no deep harbors on the Kyokai, large ships did not travel these routes. Primarily cargo ships, though upon request they could take on passengers.
    This takes me back.
    Suzu looked down at the dark sea from the side of the boat. The ink-black sea, the faint, starlike flicker of lights. Swept away from her long-lost home, the first thing she saw of this world was this ocean. Suzu still didn't understand it. This ocean she almost drowned in, how far was it from her hometown in Japan? Told that the lights glimmering in the midst of the ocean were some kind of fish, that was good enough for her.
    Glowing you -fish that lived deep in the ocean. They looked small to her, but in fact some were big enough to swallow a barge. Because they never surfaced except during storms, they were not considered dangerous. The youma that attacked people at sea were mostly beasts and birds that came from the Yellow Sea.
    The boat left from a port in the south of Sai and sailed in an eastward direction across the Kyokai. They chose routes across the Kyokai rather than the Inner Seas because midway they would have to pass close by Kou. The king of Kou had fallen and the kingdom was in chaos.
    "Usually, we don't see youma like that but once every three of four years," a sailor she'd gotten to know told her. "Youma are way worse than natural disasters. The Sonkai Gate up to the Reison Gate are particularly bad. They say that when sailing back to Sai from En on the Inner Seas, the flocks of youma from the Yellow Sea blot out the sun."
    "Wow."
    The Yellow Sea in the center of the world was completely close off by the encompassing range of the Kongou Mountains. You could only enter the Yellow Sea at one of four gates, called the Shirei Gates. The gate in the southeast quadrant was called the Reison Gate. The narrow strait between the Yellow Sea and Kou was called the Sonkai Gate.
    "He must have done something bad, that Royal Kou. He hasn't been dead but a couple of months and look at the state they're in. Must be rough for the people of Kou. Until they get themselves a new king, you got to wonder how much worse things will get."
    "So it's really bad . . . . "
    The countries in this world are so strange, Suzu thought. It was one thing to say that the God in Heaven created the world, but children that grew on trees and all these strange creatures--she would hardly be surprised if God really existed. But if God did exist, why didn't He make it so kingdoms didn't go to pieces like that? If God did exist, it'd be nice if He'd make it so people didn't get turned into kaikyaku. And it'd be nice if He'd help her out for once.

    The boat followed the coast of Sou east. Along the way, it stopped at three ports. The last was a small island close to Kou. From there, they passed through the straits between Kou and Shun and headed north. The water of the straits was a dark navy blue, somewhat bluer than that of the open sea.
    "Why is the ocean a different color?" she mused as she rested her elbows on the railing and cupped her chin in her hands.
    Out of the blue, a voice next to her said, "Because