The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

side, ever."
    Seishuu tilted his head to the side. "You know, Suzu, you're doing everything you can right now to be unhappy."
    "What?"
    "You're being cruel. It should be pretty obvious whether it's better to see your father torn to piece and eaten by a youma, or not. I didn't want to see that. I couldn't run to him, either. I couldn't do anything to help. I had no choice but to run away. My father has no grave. There was no funeral. Do you really mean that is better?"
    Suzu's hand flew to her mouth. "I . . . . "
    "It's a lie to say that your suffering is worse than anybody else's. Everybody suffers the same. If there's somebody somewhere who's never suffered, I'd like to meet them."
    "I'm sorry, I didn't . . . . " She bowed her head in chagrin. This child had seen his father slaughtered in front of his eyes. There was no way that was the better fate.
    "When things really get that bad, people do what ever they can to escape it. If it's not bad enough to do that, Suzu, you weren't suffering enough to want to run away."
    "But . . . . "
    "I don't know how to describe it, but you know that feeling when you want to die, and you know that fighting on won't do any good?"
    "That's, um . . . . . "
    "Talk is easy. Suzu, whatever you suffered wasn't bad enough to try to escape from or die trying. Nobody's gonna feel sorry for people who drown themselves in their own misfortunes. After all, living your own life is a full-time job. If you had someone sidling up to you all the time and wanting you to feel all sorry for them, you'd get sick of them. Don't you think?"
    Is that what it comes down to? Is that why nobody could stand to have her around? Though she could hardly believe that Riyou or Kouko every really suffered in their lives.
    Um . . . . " said Seishuu.
    Suzu looked up and saw that Seishuu was resting his head on his knees.
    "What's wrong?"
    "Being around you makes my head hurt."
    Suzu gave the smart remark an equally sharp look, but then noticed the sweat on his brow. "Does it's really hurt? Are you all right?"
    "I'm okay."
    He rolled over and lay down. His face was gray.
    "Hold on. I'll go get somebody."
    "Don't bother. I'll feel better after some sleep. I'm used to it."
    Suzu peered closely at his face. "This happen often?"
    "Now and then. It's this injury that hurts."
    "Injury?"
    "A youma nicked me in the back of the head. It starts hurting now and then."
    "Oh."
    "I'll be okay. It gets better after I sleep."
    Suzu quickly got a blanket and tucked it around his shoulders.

Chapter 27
    S houkei was assigned to the Shousha, the superintendent in charge of the palace buildings in the Ministry of Heaven. To be precise, she was made a servant to his underlings.
    Her day began before daybreak. She was awakened before she could see the first rays of dawn and started earning her daily keep by dusting all the furniture. She polished the windows, swept, mopped and polished the floors. Before the empress and ministers awoke, everything had to be washed and dried.
    The gardens were groomed while the empress and ministers were in their meetings. Weeds were pulled, the cobblestones swept and scrubbed. By the time the high officials finished with their duties and returned to their ministries, everything had to be wiped down again. And then you had to rush back to the place they just left and straight it up. At the end of the day, you washed all the cleaning rags and went to bed right after dinner.
    If she were mopping the floor or washing the cobblestones and the empress or a minister happened to pass by, she had to prostrate herself right there in the place she was cleaning. She stooped over or kowtowed until the person in question had gone by. Otherwise, she had to walk around with a big pile of rags in a hamper on her back. If anybody complained about a spot of dirt anywhere, she had to fly over, bow with her face to the floor, and wipe away the stain.
    Her quarters were in a dorm in a corner of the Imperial Palace. She was given clothes to wear and was never hungry. Winters in Kyou were slightly more temperate than winters in Hou, and the world above the Sea of Clouds even more so compared to the world below. But life here was a lot worse than it was when she was living in that poor little village in Hou.
    The other servants took pride in working at the palace, but pride was the farthest things from Shoukei's mind. Until three years ago, she had been the one walking on the polished floors, the one being kowtowed to. It was her