The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

the whereabouts of His Highness. No one knows the whereabouts of the Taiho. There is nobody left who can save our kingdom!"
    She had searched. Even while being pursued as a traitor she had searched for them. But she could find no evidence of Taiki and Gyousou anywhere. Not a trace left behind.
    "Spring is coming, but where is there one field under the plow? If the fall does not yield a harvest, the people will certainly starve. If grain is not quickly stored away, the winter will come again. And with every winter, three more hamlets become two, and two become one. After this winter passes, how many of our populace will be left? How many more winters do you think Tai can survive?"
    "But the ends do not justify causing Kei to sin against Heaven!"
    "Someone has to come to the aid of Tai."
    Kaei averted her eyes and shook her head no.
    "I am going to Gyouten," Risai said.
    Kaei looked back at her, pain and grief in her eyes. "Please. Anything but that!"
    "Fleeing to the territory of the Province Lord of Sui ensures little more than our own safety. And even our own safety is hardly guaranteed. Sui Province may sicken just like the rest of the kingdom. It likely will. Then all we'll be able to do is to run away again."
    "Risai."
    "There is no other path left to us."
    "Then here we must part ways."
    Kaei clasped her shivering hands to her breast. Yet even the sight of Kaei's face--on the verge of tears--left her unmoved. Risai nodded. "I must do this. I have no choice."
    Risai met Kaei at the Imperial Palace. There they had forged a fast friendship and together were driven from the capital. Years passed. This winter, at long last, they had reunited in Ran, Kaei's home province. They'd somehow survived a winter there before their pursuers once again caught up with them. Together they'd managed to make it to the adjoining southern province of Sui.
    Kaei looked long and hard at Risai. Then she pressed the sleeve of her cloak to her face and softly moaned. "Sui Province is infested with youma. As you head south, they will grow thicker and more fierce as you near the coast."
    "I understand."
    Kaei covered her face with her sleeves and lowered her head. When she raised her head again, there was a resolute expression on her face. This was the face of the accomplished individual who had risen from minister-in-chief of Ran Province to the top post in the Ministry of Summer in the Rikkan. She bowed once and turned her back.
    I really am doing a despicable thing, Risai thought.
    All the better if the Royal Kei was unfamiliar with the Jun Tei incident; and if she still held fond ties to the place of her birth; and if she could be incited by her emotions to save Tai. If so, Kei would be destroyed. As soon as the Imperial Army crossed the borders of Kei, the Royal Kei would soon likely follow the same path to destruction as Jun Tei. But even so, the Imperial Army would be left behind. A single division under her command was all she required.
    She had resolved to do a terrible thing.
    As if resolved to the bitter end, Kaei kept her back to her as she descended the hill toward Shisen. She did not look back or lessen her stride. Risai watched her leave. Grasping the reins of her mount, with a heavy heart she turned her gaze from Kaei's retreating figure to that of Hien, her pegasus.
    "I alone have lost my mind in my struggle to save Tai," she said, stroking the glistening black fur at its neck. "You remember him, don't you?" She pressed her forehead against its muzzle.
    Inside her head, the high, joyous voice rose out of the darkness of her thoughts. Risai. He ran toward her at full tilt, as if about to dive headfirst into the ground. No doubt that he'd be asking if it was okay to pet Hien.
    "You remember those small hands? I know you loved the Taiho very much."
    Hien cooed softly in response.
    "Shall we become the last fools left in Tai together, then? Shall we be on our way?"
    Hien looked back at Risai with those deep, black eyes. Without a word it knelt and urged her to climb onto its back. Risai pressed her face against its neck and then leapt into the saddle. Taking up the reins she cast her eyes toward Shisen. There a forlorn, solitary figure stood looking back at her.
    Kaei.
    Will you destroy Kei to save Tai?
    Risai eyes lingered vacantly on the ceiling of the bedroom. There, the face in her mind's eye looked down on her, clouded with loathing and contempt.
    But this is what I came here for.
    She'd arrived here with her life hanging