The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

superintendent were filled by people from that town.
    The more she thought about it, the odder Enho's situation seemed.
    Or so it seemed to her. She didn't understand all the ins and outs of becoming a superintendent. The town manager certainly treated Enho as if he were of a considerably higher rank than himself. Enho had many visitors, who traveled great distances to see him, and who stayed over at the orphanage in order to converse with him. She didn't know who they were or why they came to see him. Even when she asked about them, no one could or would tell her. It was obvious, though, that all of his visitors greatly respected him. They came here to be taught by him. They were the ones staying in the guest quarters.
    The rike compound where the orphanage was located generally consisted of four buildings. The first was the orphanage, where the orphans and elderly people stayed. The second was the assembly hall, where the townspeople could gather. When they returned from the villages and hamlets during the winter, the assembly hall was where they would come during the day. There they would weave and do piece work. Sometimes at night, they would turn the place into a bar and drink and have a good old time.
    The guest quarters was a building for people visiting the orphanage or the town. Attached to the guest quarters was a garden, and in the garden was the cottage Enho used as a study, and where he spent most of the day. The care and upkeep of these buildings and the people and visitors who gathered there was the responsibility of the residents of the rike.
    Youshi was assigned a room in the guest quarters. That was according to Enho's explicit instructions. If you didn't live in the orphanage itself, you weren't really counted as a resident of the rike. In the first place, the people who lived in the orphanage were supposed to be from the town, and Youshi obviously wasn't.
    It just seems so strange.
    Rangyoku left the goat to Keikei's care and went back to the kitchen with Youshi. She watched as Youshi drew water from the outside well and filled the tank in the kitchen.
    Aside from the fact that Youshi had been given a room in the guest quarters, she spent the days the same as the other members of the orphanage. She helped out in the kitchen and cleaned up around the rike. The only really different thing about her was that when Rangyoku and Keikei were done with their chores and went off to play, Youshi went to Enho's study and talked with him.
    It's probably because Youshi is a kaikyaku and he's teaching her what she needs to know about living here.
    At least that's what Enho said, and it probably was true.
    "What's up?" Youshi suddenly asked her.
    Rangyoku started. Youshi had caught her standing there staring off into space. "Um . . . oh, nothing."
    Youshi only quizzically tilted her head to the side, so Rangyoku asked her straight out. "Why did you come to Kokei?"
    Ah, Youshi said to herself. "I didn't know anything of this world, and a person I know arranged for me to meet Enho. So here I am."
    "Is Enho an important person? It's just that so many people come to see him."
    "I don't really know. From talking with him, though, I would say that he is a very wise man."
    "Huh."
    When she was finished drawing the water, Rangyoku had her wash the vegetables. While dicing the vegetables, Rangyoku asked her, "Um, what kind of place is Yamato?" Old people said that it was the land of wizards. A land of dreams, where there was no suffering or grief.
    "It's not so different from here. There are natural disasters and there are wars."
    "Oh." She was somewhat relieved, and also somewhat disappointed.
    "Can I ask you a question?" said Youshi.
    Rangyoku stopped cutting the vegetables. "What?"
    "Is Rangyoku your azana ?"
    "No, it's my real first name."
    "People here have so many different names. It's very confusing."
    She sighed, as if she truly were at a complete loss. Rangyoku couldn't help smiling. "I take it in Yamato you don't have an azana. The name listed on the census is your full name that you use all the time, and an azana is just a casual nickname. In olden times, nobody called you by your given name. Old-timers hate being called by their given name, but I don't care. My registered family name is So. When I become an adult, I'll choose my own surname and the characters for that name, but I'm not an adult yet."
    Becoming an adult meant reaching one's majority. At the age of twenty, you would receive a plot of land from