The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

explained the situation. Enho sighed. "I see, and that person was the one responsible. Do you think that it would be enough to arrest him on?"
    "But--"
    "He'll no doubt claim that he wasn't the one in the carriage. And if not that, then you'll see a mountain of testimonials that it wasn't the carriage itself that killed the boy. Don't forget that Shoukou is a governor because he can wield that kind of power."
    Youko bit her lip.
    "It is not good to leave such a public servant to his own devices, but bend the law in order to exact retribution, and the law loses its meaning. That is a far worse sin. Let's not get impatient."

    Youko bowed and left the study. She tightly shut the door to her own room.
    "Hankyo, I hate to impose, but I'd like you to go to Kinpa Palace."
    "About Shoukou?"
    "Yes. We've got to do something. Tell Keiki that I'd like him to investigate."
    "By your command."
    With that, the room fell silent. Youko furrowed her brow. The image of the boy rose up in her mind. He had been so emaciated. Whether or not Shoukou had deliberately killed him, she couldn't say.
    "It is all so sad."
    And such a small child. If Shoukou had killed him, then it became her responsibility for keeping such a monster in office.
    The boy's dying words echoed in her ears. He didn't want to die because Suzu would weep for him. His older sister? Or . . . Youko suddenly looked up. "Suzu?"
    What a strange name. Hardly a common name around here. Perhaps . . . .
    Because Youko was listed upon the Registry of Wizards and everything was automatically translated for her, her language skills were truly lame. Thinking back about it now, she couldn't recall what language the girl had spoken in. She couldn't even remember what she looked like. Only the pain and grief in her eyes. Why hadn't she noticed, why hadn't she taken the time to ask?
    Where were you born?
    Youko glanced down at her bloodstained clothing. I need to go back there, to Shisui. She shook her head. What would she say to her? Shoukou was stayed in office because of her. In Kei, there were still laws that discriminated against kaikyaku. She hadn't repealed them. If she met a kaikyaku, she would have nothing to say worth listening to.
    "I really am worthless as a monarch."

Chapter 39
    T he way I see it, there's two kinds of crying.
    It's true, Suzu thought, gazing at the casket being lowered into the grave. She had never wept such heartbreaking tears. The lamentations tore at her chest until she was out of breath, until there was nothing left inside her but emptiness.
    The sad little shrine stood alone in the cemetery outside the city of Takuhou. The barrel-like casket sat there throughout the night and now disappeared into the hole.
    Stop, Suzu had begged the grave keeper. Don't bury him. It's too sad. She knew it was a meaningless request.
    He reassured her with a pat on the back and all but tore the casket from her grasp and hauled it away. Again, she repeated the same vain request as a stone struck the top of the casket and the grave was filled in.
    The round shape of the casket symbolized the egg from which people were born in this world. From the husk you were born, to the husk you shall return. The ranka containing the child was plucked from the riboku. The parents would tap on the ranka with a stone to create a crack, a good luck charm to ensure a quick birth. Following that custom, they used a round, egg-like casket made from fired-clay, and then, presaging the reincarnation of the dead, opened a fissure in its surface with a stone.
    The hole was filled in, leaving behind a small mound of earth. Even after the grave keepers left, Suzu stood there dumbly.
    I knew it all along.
    She knew that Seishuu was going to die. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had always known it was going to happen. The symptoms were too severe. He couldn't eat. He was wasting away. He was getting worse all over.
    Could even the Royal Kei have saved him? The empress surely should have been able to. On the other hand, far from everything turning out okay, it was just as likely that neither the empress nor the royal surgeons could have done anything for him.
    "But he didn't deserve to die like that."
    Why'd he have to get killed in a hit and run? Even if he hadn't, he wouldn't have lived that much longer.
    "I am an idiot." Suzu clutched at the earth. "I put all my faith in the Royal Kei. Why didn't I take him to a doctor in Goto!"
    Taking him to a doctor might have proved pointless as well.