The Twelve Kingdoms: Dreaming of Paradise

offered it to him. Nowhere else but in Sou would such a scene ever been seen. "How is the world doing? Here and there?"
    "Things aren't looking good in Ryuu."
    Senshin's teacup hit the table with an audible thump. "Ryuu—"
    Ritatsu furrowed his brows. He put down his pen and pushed the papers off to the side. "Again? The same old wheel keeps spinning round and round."
    "Are you sure about that?" Senshin asked.
    Rikou nodded. "From what I could see, it sure seemed that way to me. There are reports of youma appearing on the coasts of Ryuu facing the Kyokai. It seems limited to the coasts facing Tai, so many believe that these are merely youma being blown off course. But unless the Divine Will is being undermined, they would never stray so close. En is posting guards along the border."
    "Huh," grunted Ritatsu. "If a smart guy like that is mustering the Minister of Summer into action, then it really must be serious."
    Bunki sighed. "The Royal En is in a tough place too. Tai is in bad enough straights that youma are wandering about, and Kei isn't exactly stable. And Ryuu on top of that."
    "And Kou as well. Crossing the Blue Sea, you can see the refugees streaming toward En."
    "How's Kou faring?"
    "Bad as usual. The sea lanes from the Red Sea to the Blue Sea are completely shut down. The youma have rendered the Sonkai Gate impassible. What in the world did the Royal Kou do? The Hakuchi has only recently fallen, and yet the place is thick with youma. And as a result—" Ritatsu cast a distasteful look at the papers he'd pushed to the side. "Things are getting a bit hectic, what with all the refugees thronging here. It's time you put on leash on that free spirit of yours and took charge of refugee relief."
    "Isn't that more Bunki's department?"
    "I have my responsibilities at the Hosui Havens."
    Sou had sanctuaries—called "Hosui Havens"—set up across the kingdom for refugees and the homeless. Bunki had long served as the executive director, or "Taisui."
    When setting up special Imperial positions not expressly defined in the law, it would always be run by a member of the royal family. Rather than simply appointing a minister to the position, the best way to insure a good outcome and put the people's minds at ease was to put a crown prince or princess royal in charge, even if serving only in an honorary capacity.
    Despite knowing that Bunki was serving nominally as the "Taisui," having the princess royal as the executive director was broadly taken to mean that the king himself had a personal interest in making sure things got done right. That meant they could put their trust in the project.
    Though in fact the king had nothing really to do with it. Bunki acted as Taisui with all the authority of the Royal Sou. She would go through the motions of compiling the opinions of the bureaucrats and presenting them to Senshin, just as Senshin would go through the motions of rendering decisions.
    But Bunki did not require his yea or nay on every decision. She had piles of blank authorizations bearing his Imperial Seal. And in any case, they could forge each other's handwriting, a talent they'd refined over the past six hundred years.
    Ritatsu took a deep breath and let it out. "The Hosui Havens won't be enough by themselves. The refugees are fleeing with the barest necessities. For them, just making it over the border will have pretty much exhausted their resources. And since they'll mostly want to go home once things begin to settle down in their home kingdoms, they are setting up villages in the vicinity of the Koushuu Mountains. But in fact it's as good as them being abandoned there."
    "Is somebody from the Hosui Havens there to meet them?"
    "There is," said Bunki. "But we simply can't keep up."
    Meiki nodded. "We need to organize the refugees, treat them as our guests. At the bare minimum, incorporate these villages in some kind of systematic way."
    "As things stand now," Ritatsu pointed out, "you're the only one not carrying his own weight. Time to quit holding out and lend a hand."
    Rikou sighed. "Sounds like I don't have a choice."
    "Start giving me the old run-around and I'll kick your butt out the door. It's up to you."
    "When I get involved in something, I end up spending money hand over fist."
    "That's hardly news to anybody."
    "Procuring and transporting supplies?"
    "We've pretty much decided that once you've exhausted the emergency stores maintained in the county seats, we'll go back to the drawing boards."
    "Well,