The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

turned, and the government offices were moved to the city center, and the essential services of the town were relegated to a block in the northeast corner of the city. Hokui was pushing the town right out of the city. At this point, there was no more than a single gate connecting them.
    Youko entered Hokui and headed straight for the city hall in the center of the city. She followed the loop road around the city center until she found herself facing the southeast quadrant of the city.
    "Where is it?" she muttered to herself.
    Amidst the hustle and bustle of the street, right at her heels, a small voice said, "Turn right at the next corner."
    Youko followed the directions, moving deeper into the city, and arrived at a tiny house. Originally, the only homeowners were residents of the town who had been given the property by the kingdom. But the fact of the matter was that people sold their land and houses and moved around. One person sold his homestead and acquired property or a shop from the city comptroller. Another person bought the land and hired tenant farmers to work any number of homesteads. One way or another, an entire hamlet would end up as the private domain of a single owner. Not a few individuals sold out without even seeing their own land grants and went looking for housing in the city.
    The owner of this house had come to live there through a tangled series of events. At any rate, his name was Rou, and this was the house of the man who served Enho's strange visitor.
    Hankyo had tailed him, and just as he had the first time, confirmed that the man had not gone to an inn but to the house of this Rou. The next day the man had left Hokui and headed north.
    And now what?
    Youko looked up at the house. If she called the man out and demanded to know who his guest was, she was unlikely to get an answer. She was watching from the opposite side of the street when suddenly the front gate opened. Youko averted her gaze and pretended like she was looking for something on the road.
    "All right, then," a man's voice said.
    "The package--" He stopped in mid-sentence, as if he had just noticed her there. A small, middle-aged man with calico hair. Next to him was a man as big as he was small, with a boulder-sized physique and ordinary, black hair. He looked at Youko and then away.
    "It's up to you."
    "I understand."
    With that simple exchange, the two parted. The smaller man all but ran back inside the house. The big man started off down the avenue with quick steps.
    Just an ordinary visitor, perhaps.
    But she couldn't ignore the way the smaller man had suddenly stopped talking.
    Youko walked away in the opposite direction from the big man. Under her breath she beckoned Hankyo.
    "Does his presence concern you to such a degree?"
    Youko nodded at the disembodied voice. "Sorry about this, but if you would. It may well be an ordinary visitor, but I'd like to get to the bottom his connection to Enho."
    Just as Rangyoku predicted, Enho had been highly agitated after the visitor came and canceled their studies. And so with time on her hands, she'd come to see Rou's house for herself.
    "By your command."
    The small voice faded and disappeared.

    That night, Hankyo returned past midnight and reported that man owned property in the city of Takuhou, Shisui Prefecture, just across the river in Wa Province.
    "Takuhou?"
    The city of Takuhou was to the east of Hokui. The man who had visited Enho had headed north. Was there even any connection between them?
    Youko silently turned these facts over in her mind.

Part IX
    e was born in Kou, Rakushun explained as they traveled along. "But in Kou, a hanjuu can't even get into elementary school. So I moved to En." A hanjuu couldn't be matriculated in Hou, either. When Shoukei pointed this out, he nodded.
    "Itinerants and refugees aren't admitted either. If you aren't listed on the census, you're out of luck. A lot of kingdoms are that way. Kou used to be the only kingdom that didn't list hanjuu on the census. In the past, that was true everywhere. In Tai, the new king was apparently about to revise the census laws, but before he could get the job done, he was usurped by a pretender."
    "Oh."
    "In Hou and Kou, hanjuu can't become public servants and aren't admitted to university. And for the most part, Shun and Kei."
    Rakushun's itinerary took him hither and yon, with no great design in mind. Going by suugu, it wouldn't take more than a day to get to Shisou, so they stopped at cities along the