The Twelve Kingdoms: Shadow of the Moon

legs of some old salt of a first mate. Whenever anybody asked her about herself, she mumbled a half-hearted reply and they laughed about how she was a reticent little brat but thankfully didn't pry any more into her affairs.
    The ship sailed on through the night without rest, and arrived at Fugou harbor the next morning.
    The ship bound for En had already arrived and was resting quietly in its berth. The sailors worked Youko right up to the last minute. At last, not even coming into dock, they brought the boat alongside the passenger ship and called out to one of the seamen and requested that Youko be allowed to come aboard. Clinging to a pole that was lowered to the boat, she was hauled onto the ship. Coming aboard, somebody threw a small parcel up onto the deck.
    "Some dumplings for you. Put a little meat on your bones."
    One of the sailors on the boat waved to her. Youko picked up the parcel and waved back. "Thank you."
    "You're a good worker. Take care, now."
    They laughed goodheartedly. The men hauling up the fender--Youko had been the one who'd lowered it--were the last people she saw as she left Kou.

Chapter 48
    T he inner sea was so wide that Youko could not see the opposing shore. Standing on the deck, breathing in the salt spray, it looked like a perfectly normal sea. The ship left Fugou and crossed the bright blue water, heading north to Ugou as the bird flies. From Fugou to Ugou it was a journey of three days and two nights.
    When the coast of En first came into view, it looked no different than Kou. But as the ship drew closer, the differences became apparent. A well-maintained harbor and the huge city looming up behind it. Ugou was bigger than any city Youko had seen in Kou. Save for the buildings, she could have been looking at a city in Japan. It was obvious that a fair percentage of the passengers gathered on the deck were seeing Ugou for the first time, too, and along with Youko stared in amazement.
    The city itself was set off to the side of the harbor, surrounded by walls that enclosed the city in the shape of a "U." The city wound leisurely up the side of the facing mountains. In the distance, the richly-colored architectural decor ran together into a subdued, rosy hue. Around the circumference of the city and about its center, she observed tall, finely-built stone buildings. One was a clock tower, and her eyes opened wide as she saw it.
    The harbor was developed to a degree to which Agan could not compare. The number of ships lying at anchor far outstripped those at Agan. The harbor was alive and bustling. The masts stood together like trees. The furled white and faded, ruddy brown sails accented the gorgeous panorama. Having finally arrived here after escaping such a harsh country, Youko gazed at it all as if there could be nothing else to compare to such a spectacle.

    Descending from the ship, Youko looked out over the throngs. This was a city that left its inhabitants in good spirits. The faces of the people streaming by were full of vitality and life, and her own face was likely the same. Down on the dock, Youko found herself in the midst of bedlam. Men working madly, children running around doing heavens knows what, the voices of people and peddlers, thrumming together in a frenzied rhythm.
    She was standing there on the pier when the voice called out to her.
    "Youko?"
    Her head snapped around at the sound of a voice she could not have possibly expected. She saw the charcoal-gray coat, fine whiskers gleaming silver in the light of the midday sun.
    "Rakushun . . . . "
    The rat pushed his way through the crowds to Youko's side. With his small, pink paw he grabbed the bewildered Youko by the hand. "This is so great. You arrived safely."
    "How . . . ?"
    "Take a ship from Agan and you're bound to arrive in Ugou. I've been waiting for you."
    "For me?"
    Rakushun nodded. He tugged on Youko's hand. She was still frozen with surprise.
    "I waited for a while at Agan. When you didn't turn up, I thought maybe you'd gone on ahead of me. But there was neither hide nor hair of you here. So I decided that every time a ship came into port, I'd come down and look for you. I figured you might have gotten delayed, but made it through just the same."
    The rat looked up at Youko and smiled.
    "But why, for me?"
    Rakushun rounded his back and bowed his head. "I wasn't thinking. I should have let you have the money, at least half. You must have had a rough time of it getting here. I'm sorry about that."
    "But . .