The Twelve Kingdoms: Dreaming of Paradise

turned to Seiki. "I really do need to know what transpired between the two of you in Shouka Park. Did anything about Junkou-sama strike you as out of the ordinary?"
    "No," Seiki answered, and then hesitated. "Though now that you mention it, that day he did seem a bit different than usual."

Chapter 8
    I t was about sundown on that calamitous day, Seiki explained. Something definitely seemed to be up. Returning from the Naiden offices of the Left, he was cutting through Shouka Park when he ran into Junkou sitting in a gazebo alongside the promenade. He appeared to be deep in thought. Seiki had hesitated greeting him, but by the same token couldn't very well pretend he wasn't there.
    So he bowed and said hello, and he and Junkou exchanged salutations.

    "It's been a while," Junkou said, the severe look on his face softening a little. "What brings you here?"
    As the Taiho, Junkou outranked Seiki by a country mile. But Seiki had been raised by Shinshi, Junkou's mother. Since their time in Kouto together, their relationship had been quite collegial.
    "Yes, it has. I'm bringing Eishuku-sama a change of clothes.
    "Ah," said Junkou, his countenance clouding over. "Eishuku's been holed up there for days. He probably feels as if the weight of the world is upon his shoulders."
    "He's always been a worrywart when it comes to anything involving His Highness."
    Seiki smiled, as did Junkou. But then he sighed deeply and sadly. Junkou was by constitution thin as a rail. Today his complexion was even grayer than normal, lending him a somewhat forlorn look.
    "Things around here would certain improve if His Highness could listen with a cool head to what Eishuku had to say. He seems to be flying off the handle more often of late."
    "His Highness certainly has grown a tad impatient waiting for things to improve."
    "If only that were the case," Junkou muttered under his breath. "If His Highness understood the position he's placed himself in and how that was the reason for his impatience, then I could empathize. That's not how I see things though. He's getting more on edge every day. I can't be the only one who feels this way."
    "On edge?"
    Junkou nodded affirmatively. "The Taiho's condition can only be because there is something wrong with the direction His Highness is headed in. And yet he stubbornly keeps forging ahead."
    "Ah—well—sure—"
    "To be sure, I do not think that His Highness has lapsed into criminality. But not doing wrong does not means one is doing right. If His Highness was doing the right thing, the Taiho would not be in the state she is in, and the kingdom would be governed more rationally."
    "Um—" said Seiki, momentarily at a loss of how to respond. "I believe His Highness must be suffering terribly because he understands all this. His father and aunt have consulted with him over and over, even seeking out the opinions of people such as myself. And yet he still says he has faith. You could call that a kind of stubbornness as well."
    Undoubtedly, up until the end of last year, Shishou had seemed to be laboring under a heavy cloud. Seiki had heard that he'd made repeated visits to the offices of the Sankou and the East Palace.
    Along with Sairin, the purpose of the Sankou was to advise the king. Though the Sankou ranked below the Saiho, the Sankou was not beholding to the Saiho, and existed only to counsel and instruct the king. The frequency with which he called upon the Sankou—even in their living quarters—was proof of the distressed state of his mind.
    But then he suddenly did an about-face. It happened after the New Year, as Sairin's condition was worsening and voices could be heard hear and there hazarding that this was a harbinger of worse things to come.
    Seiki though about it. Then he looked up at Junkou. "You haven't perchance given the Kasho Kada you got from the Taiho to His Highness?"
    Shishou's distress was, in a word, was the product of his idealism meeting its limits. He'd had every intention of leading them to the promised land, and yet the kingdom hadn't taken a single step closer to it. The Kasho Kada couldn't have led him astray. It had shown him a dream of what the kingdom should become.
    Junkou nodded. "He was at his wit's end. I wanted to help him out a bit. I though the Kasho Kada would alleviate relieve some of that confusion."
    "His Highness didn't actually use it, did he?"
    "I don't know. When I gave it to him, he seemed quite offended. Taking something from the Taiho that he had left