The Twelve Kingdoms: Dreaming of Paradise

the kirin."

Chapter 14
    T aiki and the others returned to Kouki a little more than a month after leaving Tai. The capital was buried beneath a blanket of snow. Taiki gazed down on the white mountains and valleys as they flew in a ragged formation toward the Forbidden Gate.
    As soon as they dismounted, the gate attendants emerged and greeted them, their breath condensing in small clouds. Guardsmen were called, the kijuu were handed over to the soldiers, and the gate doors were opened in the quiet stillness.
    Taiki said, "Ren really is different from Tai, and not just because of the weather."
    Seirai laughed. "It surely is."
    "Are you relieved, Seirai?"
    "A bit."
    Smiling, they passed through the Forbidden Gate and headed to the Naiden. Word of their arrival having preceded them, when they entered the Naiden, the ministers were already seated and the king occupied the throne.
    Taiki couldn't help but sense a tenseness in the atmosphere as he approached the throne. He bowed low and said, "I have returned."
    Gyousou nodded and beckoned for Taiki to join him. Taiki got up and stood next to the throne. Strangely, he felt as if he'd come back to the place where he belonged.
    "And how was Ren?"
    "The flowers really were blooming there."
    "Were they?" Gyousou smiled. "You can fill me in later." He said to the Chousai, "The fine details can be confined to a written report. I know everybody else must be very tired. There's no need to dawdle here."
    "Yes!" they answered with military precision.
    When the Chousai had finished with his official duties, he congratulated Taiki. Sougen and the other delivered a simple account of their journey. As this was mostly a matter of going through formalities, Gyousou had the pearl-encrusted rattan blinds lowered, indicating that the audience with the king was over.
    "You must be tired. We should call it a day. I'll take you to your room." Giving Taiki a gentle nudge, Gyousou left the Naiden.
    "I'm okay. I'm not tired at all." There were mountains of things he wanted to talk about. "But I guess you do have work to do."
    Gyousou chuckled. "Well, with Kouri finally coming home, I don't suppose anybody will mind if I take some time off."
    Taiki immediately felt his spirits lifting.
    "So what kind of people are the Royal Ren and the Ren Taiho?"
    "They're really nice." Taiki grabbed hold of Gyousou's sleeve as they walked along and rattled off the details as quickly as he could. How they ended up barging into the Koukyuu, and how Seitaku's farm was smack dap in the middle of the Imperial Palace, and how in the morning Renrin came to deliver the wake-up call and air out the rooms and draw the water for them to wash up, and how this left Tansui and everybody all fit to be tied.
    "The Royal Ren even let me help him when he was working on his farm—"
    Gyousou interrupted him with a nudge to the back. "This way, Kouri."
    "Eh?" said Taiki, glancing around. He was sure this was the right way to get back to Jinjuu Manor. He gave Gyousou a curious look.
    Gyousou smiled. "This way."
    "Um—okay."
    Gyousou turned down the path to the Seishin. Assuming that's where they were headed, Taiki didn't give it a second thought. He prattled on about Urou Palace and what Juurei looked like and where they stopped in Ryuu and Kyou and Han on the way there. A month to Taiki was like forever. Explaining what had happened in the meantime seemed to him a way of filling in the time he'd been gone.
    "And then Seirai—"
    Taiki suddenly stopped. Gyousou had been guiding him along and now he found himself in totally unfamiliar surroundings. Looking around, he could see the Seiden of the Seishin. Next to the Seiden on the western side was what appeared to be a building.
    "And then Seirai—?" said Gyousou.
    They passed through the building and emerged into a small courtyard. Taiki stopped and stared. Tansui was standing at the gate to what Taiki took to be the main wing of the building. He thought that when they'd separated at the Forbidden Gate, Tansui had returned to Jinjuu Manor.
    "What's the hold up?" Gyousou queried, giving Taiki a friendly push.
    Taiki hurried into the building and uttered a surprised cry, finding there all the familiar trappings of his life, including the head housekeeper.
    "What's going on?" he asked, turning to Gyousou. Before he'd left for Ren, Taiki recalled that Seirai had promised certain aspects of his life would see a "definite improvement" upon his return. "You mean, I'm moving here?"
    "Assuming