The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

grew up. The last time I saw him before now was six years ago."
    The kirin sleeping there was no longer a child. She couldn't say it didn't leave her somewhat discomfited. The young Taiki had not returned to her. Those six years had been swept away and would never return.
    "It must have been a tough place where he was those six years."
    "Tough?"
    "I mean, that would explain why he got sick."
    "Indeed. That may well be the case."
    "It's good to have him back, though."
    "Yes," Risai answered.
    Taiki's eyelashes faintly fluttered.
    "Taiki?"
    Keikei leaned forward to get a better look. Taiki opened his eyes, sending him stumbling backward in surprise.
    "Keikei, go tell Youko."
    Keikei dashed out of the room with a liveliness that stirred the petals on the bush clover next to the bed. Taiki's still dim gaze followed him out of the room.
    "Are you conscious, Taiki?" Risai hovered over him and studied his face.
    His wavering eyes focused on her. He blinked, as if perceiving a vision before him.
    "You've come back. Do you understand?"
    He stared at Risai in astonishment. And then nodded. "Risai?" he said in a faint voice. Not the voice of a child. A warm, soft voice.
    "Yes." The tears coursed down her cheeks as she embraced the frail body lying beneath the quilts.
    "Risai, your arm--" The arms hugging her in turn had detected her missing right limb.
    "I lost it due to a bit of carelessness."
    "Are you all right?"
    "I've never been better."
    She started to straighten herself, but Taiki's thin arms detained her. "Risai, I'm sorry."
    "Don't be," she replied, though the words were likely lost in the sound of her weeping.

    A junior official entered the Outer Palace during the Privy Council meeting and whispered something to Koukan. He nodded. Apologizing, he approached the dais. He said something quietly to Youko, who nodded in turn.
    Koukan descended the dais, and returned to the business of the Privy Council. Youko beckoned to Keiki, standing behind her. He leaned forward with a curious look.
    "Keiki," she said in a small voice, "Taiki is awake."
    Keiki couldn't keep the reaction from his eyes.
    "Please go and see how he is."
    "But--" he said in a tight voice.
    "It's okay," Youko smiled. "Go."
    After a moment's hesitation, Keiki left the Outer Palace and headed for Enkyuu Palace. When he arrived at Taiki's quarters, he found that Enki had already arrived.
    "Kei Taiho."
    Keiki did not recognize the voice beckoning him from the bed. The face looking up at him was no more familiar to him than all the times he had come here before to study Taiki's sleeping countenance. And like all those other times, he found himself at something of a loss. He stood uncertainly by the bed.
    With a grin, Rokuta left the room, leaving the two of them alone, and Keiki feeling all the more at sea.
    "I'm sorry for all the trouble I have put you to."
    "Think nothing of it. Are you feeling all right?"
    "Yes. I am deeply grateful from the bottom of my heart for all you have done for Risai and for myself."
    He spoke in a quiet voice. Keiki grew more perplexed. It was logical that he should look different. But the smile that had once bubbled effortlessly to his lips, and the childlike voice that accompanied it, were gone. That small kirin was gone. The sense of loss weighed heavily on his thoughts.
    "Such was not the product of my efforts, but those of Her Highness."
    Keiki bowed his head. He couldn't help remembering that the Empress he was serving when he first met Taiki was no longer counted among the living. That many months and years had passed between then and now.
    "Is the Royal Kei a taika?"
    He must have been told something about the circumstances surrounding her coronation. "Yes. She's been looking forward to meeting you. She's currently conducting the Privy Council. But she should be coming here directly."
    "Oh. I see," he answered.
    Keiki felt himself losing the thread of the conversation. He didn't know where to direct his attention. His gaze drifted aimlessly across the bed.
    A small voice said, "I dreamed a long and terrible dream."
    Keiki came back to his senses with a start. A faint smile came to the wan and sickly face.
    "You remember, don't you? The first time we met I was a kirin completely incapable of doing anything."
    "Ah--yes--"
    "You patiently did so much on my behalf, and taught me so much, and yet I forgot all of it."
    "Taiki--"
    "In the midst of those painful dreams, I constantly saw visions of Houro Palace. I longed for it so