The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

of surprise. When she finally grasped what Taiki was saying, she felt her countenance grow pale. "Just a minute, Taiho--"
    "We cannot allow ourselves to become the seed of greater calamities in Kei. We have tested their patience and disrupted their lives more than enough. After this, I believe we must take ourselves to a place where we can fend for ourselves."
    "But, Taiho, that is quite untenable. Not only your constitution, but--if you would pardon my saying so--your horn and your shirei--"
    The rush of anxiety left Risai flushed. She felt it was necessary to nip this inclination in the bud. She had thought in vague terms about returning to Tai when and if she found him. With Taiki by her side, they could look for Gyousou using his "royal sense." But Taiki had lost his horn and his essential nature as a kirin. He no longer had his shirei. And Tai remained an infested nest of youma. And she had lost her good arm.
    The incident with the Naisai had forced her to again confront the severity of her injuries. A bunch of armed ruffians had charged into the room and threatened the life of Taiki and the Royal Kei, and she could barely lift a finger to help them. She was easily overpowered and held down by men who didn't look like they'd had a day of military training in their lives.
    Even factoring in the state of her health, she was pretty useless as a military officer. If they returned to Tai, she would be incapable of protecting him. Though she'd been aware of this all along, she hadn't come to grips with how helpless she really was. All her vague notions about the subject had been brought clearly into focus. She still hadn't recovered from the shock.
    "We can't do this, Taiho. I understand how you feel, but we can't go back to Tai. You need to take care of yourself while I solicit help from among the refugees. If we can summon even a small band of supporters--"
    Taiki shook his head. "It is true that I am powerless. However, the fact remains that we are citizens of Tai."
    Risai felt as if she was frozen solid.
    "Tai is a kingdom that even the Gods have overlooked. Is that not the truth? Tai has no king. The good will of other kingdoms never reaches her shores. And Heaven will not deign to grant her any miracles. It is the same as Tai not having a kirin. But Tai still has its subjects, such as you and me."
    "Even without a horn, the Taiho is still our kingdom's kirin. And my hope. Not something so easily sacrificed. If somebody must return to Tai and search for our liege and rally the people, then that is something that I will do. That was my true intention all along. The Taiho must be secured in a safe location. I beg you to set aside dangerous notions like returning to Tai."
    Taiki wasn't the only thing that Risai had lost. One other fear still gripped her. After the disaster in Kouki, Risai had been sent to Jou Province to quell the rebellion there. On her way, she had taken Nisei-shi under her protection. His eyewitness reports had revealed the extent of Asen's treachery.
    At the same time, the incident was used as a pretext to sully Risai's honor. But perhaps even worse was that Asen somehow knew she was protecting Nisei-shi. Risai had sent a secret communique to Haboku and Sougen alone. Considering its contents, neither of them would have carelessly leaked the information to a third party. So it was likely that only Gyousou's retainers would have been privy to it. And one of them had passed it on to Asen.
    She could not imagine that any of Gyousou's retainers would countenance spies or eavesdroppers. They would have met behind closed doors and taken all necessary precautions. Nevertheless, Asen had been informed, which meant that someone within their group had done the informing.
    A wolf in Gyousou's own house was guarding the henhouse.
    Risai looked into Taiki's guileless eyes. She didn't want to expose him to such disagreeable realities, but this only doubled the danger to them in Tai. It would become necessary to establish lines of communication with Gyousou's old retainers and rally their troops. And yet a traitor might be lurking in their midst, someone well-known to them, who could appear at any moment as a friend and intimate. Risai would have no way of protecting him from such a person.
    All she could do was mumble incoherently what a bad idea this all was. Taiki flashed her a puzzled smile. "You have not changed one bit, Risai."
    Risai gave him a puzzled look of her own.
    "You are worrying about me and