The Twelve Kingdoms: Dreaming of Paradise

woman in the Rikkan, had been allowed to see her.
    She is ill. The downfall of the Shishou Dynasty had begun. Seeing Sairin's condition made it clear.
    "Daishito—" said the lady in waiting. Her unspoken message was that it was time to leave.
    Shuka stood there wordlessly, head bowed. The weeping Sairin still clung to the withered branch. Shuka nodded. She touched Sairin's hand.
    "Taiho, I have to leave now. Please rest and be well."
    Sairin looked up at her, horror in her eyes. "Shuka, you're not going to abandon me as well?"
    "There is nobody in Sai that could abandon the Taiho."
    "But His Highness has. Sai and me and everybody."
    "Oh, that can't be true. They wouldn't do that. It's just that everybody is as such loose ends and all. It won't be long until His Highness is back to his old self."
    She forced a painful smile to her lips. But Sairin shook her head forcefully. "That's not true. Not in the slightest. He said he would show me his dreams."
    "And I'm sure he will. But there are bound to be setbacks while building for a long dynasty. That's all this is."
    "You're lying!" Sairin cried out. The only vibrant thing in her drawn, enervated face was the color of her eyes, eyes that relentlessly followed her. And even they seemed colored by animosity. Shuka could not believe that this young girl, the incarnation of benevolence, could be capable of such an expression.
    "A vision of paradise—" Her hoarse voice made it sound like a curse. She tightly clasped the branch to her chest, as if clinging to her last hope.
    "Taiho, you need to rest."
    "From the start, it was nothing but a dream. And drifting farther and farther away." She grabbed Shuka's arm as if to prevent her from leaving. "Help me. It is too unbearable. I feel as if I'm being torn limb from limb."
    Shuka couldn't think of anything to say. The thin fingers dug into her flesh.
    "Taiho, please—"
    The lady in waiting intervened between them. With a look she urged her to withdraw. "Daishito, you should take your leave as well."
    Shuka bowed and turned toward the door. Behind her she heard a thin, high scream. "You're lying! You're lying! Not once have these dreams ever come true in Sai! "

Chapter 3
    S huka left the room, the girl's screams stinging in her ears like a whip on her back.
    How did it come to this?
    In the beginning, Shishou was an outsider whose praises she'd heard being sung. He'd been accepted into college at breakneck speed. His professors had filled his card in a mere two years.
    University graduates usually went into government service. Or rather than starting out as a clerk or undersecretary in some lowly bureaucratic post, it was also common practice to accept a military commission as a junior grade officer right out of college. Shishou had designs on a generalship, and his future was all but guaranteed.
    But Shishou hated the king and wanted no part of the government. And so he resigned his post.
    At that time, Sai was ruled by King Fu. The dynasty was coming to a close and the kingdom was crumbling. Bad governance and foolish laws followed one after the other. The criticism of the ministers only made King Fu more intemperate. Drowning his sorrows in women and alcohol, he allowed his duties to go by the wayside.
    Most of the ministers who were critical of the king were ignored or replaced. These ousted ministers offered Shishou patronage. In Yuunei, he pulled together a band of fellow sympathizers, and the voices of censure grew louder. A similar band of young activists outraged at King Fu's misrule gathered around him. Shuka counted herself among them.
    The movement led by Shishou eventually gained the support of the people. They called themselves "Kouto." During the dynasty of King Fu, it was Shishou who led the people and fought the insanities that he wrought, and fought the devastation after King Fu died.
    As soon as the flag was raised over the Rishi, Shishou went on the Shouzan. As everybody expected, Sairin chose him as the next king. This imperial accession was one that seemed right and proper. Not only Sairin, but everybody who knew Shishou believed in the new king. It was inconceivable that the dynasty should begin to founder after only twenty years.

    Shuka left the courtyard almost at a run. Back in the palace annex, the Rikkan was waiting in a high state of anxiety. Seeing her, several rose from their chairs. Feeling the weight of their expectations, Shuka looked away.
    The head of the Rikkan had, like Shuka and so many