The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

that she had to eat with a stranger, but he was a--
    Hanjuu.
    A person born half a beast. There weren't a lot of them, but neither were they scarce. In Hou, a hanjuu would never be caught dead in an establishment like this. And in beast-form, certainly would never be allowed into the courtyard.
    As if he did not see Shoukei sitting there, brows fully furrowed, he bustled into the room and said to the waiter, "Thank you!"
    He had the voice of a child. In the form of a rat, he was no taller than a human child, as well, but was wearing a man's tunic. He tipped the bowing waiter and sat down.
    As if finally seeing her there, he said, "Hi."
    "Hello," Shoukei replied under her breath.
    "Surprising at how many guests there are. I wonder if these arrangements are common in Ryuu?"
    Shoukei didn't answer. It was bad enough, simply having to sit at the same table with a hanjuu. She averted her gaze.
    "Today is unique," said the waiter. "A ship arrived from En. Were you aboard that ship?"
    The hanjuu said, "Oh, gotcha."
    "About half of our guests disembarked. And about half will be reboarding. And where are you headed?"
    "I thought I'd see the capital."
    "Ah," the young man smiled. "Wonderful place. The lilies are beautiful. Though you've chosen to travel during the cold part of the year."
    "It's not so different from En."
    "Is that so?"
    "En is pretty cold, too. It's further south than Ryuu, but catches the seasonal winds."
    The young man turned to Shoukei. "And where will you be going next?"
    "Tai," she said shortly.
    The waiter's eyes opened wide. "But Tai--"
    "Is in turmoil, I know. That's why I'm going. People I know live there. I've been worried how they're doing."
    "Where in Tai?"
    Shoukei's heart skipped a beat. "And why should you want to know?"
    "Oh, no reason," the young man answered, with a nervous laugh. "I was originally a sailor on a ship that sailed between Ryuu and Tai."
    "Really?"
    "We shipped grain to Tai, carried gemstones on the return voyage. Tai is pretty short of grain. But we didn't make it last time around. There were so many youma, we never got near the place."
    "Huh."
    "It's pretty scary when a kingdom surrounded by the Kyokai falls into chaos. The youma who live at the bottom of the ocean rise to the surface, and before you know it you're completely isolated. In fact, this winter, I have no idea how the people of Tai are going to eat."
    He didn't pose the question as if expecting an answer, so Shoukei instead thought about Hou. Hou was in the same predicament. Even after cultivating the land, the harvest yielded only enough for people to scrape by on. If a harvest failed for any reason, there wouldn't be enough to go around.
    "Was your friend able to get out of Tai?"
    "I hope so."
    "So many people are trying to flee Tai. Most of them come to Ryuu. Our last cargo was mostly people. There were so many people flooding into the port, wanting to leave Tai so badly they were clinging to the gunwales. We had to take them on board. If we didn't, they would have capsized the boat."
    "Wow."
    "Long story short, it's a dangerous place. Sea traffic is closed. I got my parents to help me come here. There are colleagues of mine there still waiting for a ship."
    "I see."
    "Good thing you've got a kitsuryou. It looks like no ships are sailing for Tai. The news from En as well is that sea traffic to Tai has been suspended."
    Shoukei's eyes opened wide. "You heard I came on a kitsuryou? Already?"
    The young man laughed. "A rare thing it is for one of our guests to arrive on such a splendid pegasus. Well, not really, I guess." He turned to the rat, who was politely finishing his dinner. "Your suugu tiger is even more impressive. It's the first time any of us have seen a suugu, so we've all been stopping by the stables to take a look."
    The rat stroked his whiskers. "Well, not so impressive. It's a loaner."
    Shoukei looked at him. With a mount so impressive, in spite of his being a hanjuu, of being a child--for that's what she thought he was--that's why he was being treated like a man.
    The waiter said, "But the sky is plenty dangerous as well."
    Realizing the statement had been directed at her, Shoukei quickly nodded. "Yes, I . . . . "
    "Perhaps you had best go on to Kei."
    "To Kei?"
    "Warships still manage the journey from Kei to Tai to rescue refugees."
    "Really?"
    "People from Kei bring in refugees to cultivate new land. In exchange, they're registered on the census and are given a plot of land. When I was traveling