The Twelve Kingdoms: Dreaming of Paradise

really didn't understand what my mother was talking about. Laying blame is easy. Anybody can find fault. But if that criticism doesn't point to a workable solution, then nothing good will come of it. Reform engenders something. Criticism engenders nothing."
    "I don't know, Seiki."
    Seiki smiled sadly. "Didn't you say so yourself, Shuka? In the end, we weren't able to do anything. Since the time of King Fu, we haven't taken a single step forward."
    "I don't like admitting it, but that is the truth."
    "And why is that?"
    "If I understood that—"
    "What about the simplest explanation? We didn't have the ability to lead the kingdom forward."
    Shuka paled. She said, an uncharacteristic degree of agitation in her voice, "What—what's that supposed to me? We didn't have the ability? Shishou? Us?"
    Seiki let out a small sigh. "There's nothing wrong with not having the ability to do something. There's no end to what I'm incapable of doing. I can't swing a sword to save my life. We can't all be good at everything, though we can all be good at something."
    "Are you saying that running the Imperial Court is something we weren't good at? If that was the case, then why did Shishou receive the Mandate of Heaven?"
    "Well, I'm not God, so I don't know. Perhaps Tentei was taking Shishou's idealism and earnestness into consideration."
    "So our intentions were good but we didn't have what it took to carry it off."
    "Our talents weren't the right fit for the job."
    "It is not a good thing that people rise to power who are unfit to hold the reins of power. There's nothing wrong with being unqualified, except when it comes to the king and the government. An unqualified king is a contradiction of terms!"
    "Which is why—" Seiki started to say. He didn't finish the sentence and bowed his head instead.
    That was when it occurred to Shuka. An unqualified king was a contradiction of terms. A king unfit to govern could not be permitted to hold the office.
    "And so Shishou lost the Mandate of Heaven." Shuka sank to the ground in dumbfounded amazement.
    "Um—" she heard Seiki softly say. "You know, I'm basing this on what Shishou-sama said in his parting words. It is possible that he misunderstood something at a very basic level."
    "A very basic level?"
    "That nothing is creating by finding fault. Shishou-sama may have misunderstood that from the very beginning, and now becoming aware of its truth, he left those parting words with us."
    "I don't know," said Shuka, shaking her head.
    Seiki sat down in front of her and smiled. "Ruling a kingdom means building a government. Shishou-sama should have devoted his energies to accomplishing that goal. What kind of government he should establish and how he should govern it. What shape and form the kingdom ought to take. But I have to wonder if Shishou-sama ever gave any of that any consideration."
    "That's ridiculous! Since Shishou founded Kouto—"
    Seiki nodded. "He was always talking about how the kingdom ought to be. It was mesmerizing every time I heard him speak. But think about how things have turned out. Were those really Shishou's ideal? Oh, he had ideals, but perhaps they were nothing more than King Fu's ideals repackaged."
    Shuka gaped at him.
    "Taxes under King Fu were heavy. So Shishou said they should be lightened. And when he did so, the Imperial Treasury ran short of funds. There wasn't enough money left to build a single levee. Famines would strike, but nothing would be laid up in store. Nothing was taken from the people, and nothing demanded of them."
    "Yes, well—"
    "It never appeared to me that Shishou-sama gave any thought to what taxes were for, why it was wrong for them to be heavy, and why it was good for them to be light. Simply that whatever King Fu had levied, he would abate. He never thought the process through to the ultimate causes and effects."
    Responses arose in Shuka's mind, but she didn't know how to articulate them.
    "I think it's just as my mother said. It's easy to criticize others. Especially those of us so proud of our lofty ideals. It is so very easy. But did we have what it took to put those ideals into action? I suspect we always lacked the ability to pluck those ideals out of the air and painstakingly fashion them into something solid and real. Observing King Fu's heavy hand and simply saying it should be lighter was the height of naiveté."
    Seiki sighed. "Yes, lighter taxes are better. That's an ideal we can always strive for. But the people didn't profit