The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

else. And even when you're not, you're the kind of person who'll make sure that you are."
    "No fair! You're just being mean! Why do you have to say things like that? After all the suffering I've been through!"
    "Did all that suffering make you a better person? Does all your patience make you feel better about yourself? Me, when it comes to suffering, I'd rather put it behind me." Seishuu cocked his head to one side. "Do you think if you weren't a kaikyaku, everything would be peachy? You're a wizard. You won't get sick, won't ever grow old, right? What do you say when you're around people who really are sick and suffering? Wizards don't have to worry about eating, neither. You go to where people are starving to death, are you still gonna think you're worse off than them?"
    "I don't want to talk to you. You just saying that because you caught all the lucky breaks and I didn't."
    "I caught all the lucky breaks?"
    "Yeah. You were born here and grew up here, and you've got a family and a place to go home to."
    "I don't have a home."
    "What?" said Suzu.
    "I used to live in Kou. And not just my home, but our entire village is gone." Seishuu wrapped his arms around his knees. "We lived near the Kyokai. The whole cliff gave way and sent everything and everybody into the sea. Well, not everybody, if you're gonna get picky about it. There's always me." He laughed. "Everybody who was at home, my aunt and the kids, they all died. I'm lucky to be alive."
    Suzu was at a loss for words. She recalled the village that had given her shelter when she was swept ashore in Kei. The village overlooking the ocean, clinging to the edge of the cliffs. If that cliff collapsed . . . .
    "Go to Kou and you'll find a lot of kids like me. The king died. The Taiho died, too. It's going to be hard times until a new king sits on the throne, and that's not going to happen overnight. Everybody's getting out while they can. I don't know when they're going to get a new king, but I know I'm not going back until they do. Maybe I'll never go back."
    "But . . . . "
    "My village happened to be close to the borders of Sou. I was lucky enough to escape. Kou is only going to get worse. After this, even if you wanted to make a run for it, it's not likely you could."
    "Still, you wanted to escape."
    "Not everybody wants to run away. You own home is always best. Lots of people started running and were lining up at the borders. Then the youma came and ate them up. Even if they had homes to go home to, they're not going home now." He muttered, almost as an aside, "My father, neither."
    "And your mother?"
    "Dead," said Seishuu, with a unsettled laugh. "We were all going to get a boat and sail to Kei. But she died before the boat came into port. I gave my mom's ticket to that old man."
    A scrawny, middle-aged man had come aboard with him.
    "He's from Kou, too. He got out with just the clothes on his back. Didn't have the money for the fare."
    "But why Kei? You escaped to Sou." Sou was the wealthiest of the Twelve Kingdoms.
    "Because we're originally from Kei."
    "From Kei?"
    "The empress of Kei, the one before the empress now, before she took the throne, things were really in a bad state. When I was real small, we fled to Kou. There ought to be a nice, quiet village there, right? Mom said that when Kei got a new king, we'd go back." Seishuu took a deep breath. "Mom and Dad weren't very lucky. They died knowing nothing but hard times."
    Suzu gave him an irritated look. "My parents suffered a lot, too. We were poor, never had anything good to eat. And then the crops failed. I was sold as an indentured servant and sent packing."
    "Yeah, but that's better than everybody dying."
    "You only say that because you're so fortunate. Your parents were good to you, right? My parents were the kind of parents who sell their children."
    "True, I liked my parents, but it's lonely being the only one left."
    "Same with me. You're the lucky one. You were with them to the end. I'll never see my parents again. I don't know what became of the country I left, except that they're all dead for sure."
    "So, we're in the same boat together."
    "We're not the same! Just being there when they died, that was a blessing. I wanted to care for them in their old age."
    "Being there when my mom died, well, okay. But my dad was eaten by a youma. I really didn't want to see that."
    "Still, he was there with you till the end! I wanted to take care of them no matter what happened. I didn't want to leave their