The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

occasion, and was sure the stench was seeping into her skin.
    But she could live with it. As a soldier, she'd become inured to death. But Kaei--
    For some reason or other, Risai found herself in the Inner Palace. Spotting the gate leading to the Seishin, she stopped in her tracks. The six generals of the Imperial Army had permission from Gyousou to enter the Seishin whenever they wished. But what would she say to him once they were face to face? She had no idea. Finally she turned and left with a heavy heart.
    She sat down in a corner of a gazebo within the Inner Palace gardens, too tired to go any further.
    Kaei really is in a bad way. Risai hunched her shoulders and sighed. From behind her a voice said, "You look worn out."
    She instinctively straightened her posture. Glancing over her shoulder, it was indeed Gyousou who had addressed her.
    "Well, that's not really the problem."
    "Mind if I sit down?" Risai wordlessly nodded. He asked, "Aren't you cold?"
    "It is a bit cool." Her spirits were like shards of ice. Compared to how she felt inside, the frost falling on the stone tables hardly touched her at all.
    "You've gotten to know Kaei quite well?"
    That comment was enough to make Risai want to jump to her feet and run away. He likely had a host of reprimands he wanted delivered to Kaei. But right now Risai didn't want to hear them.
    "The word is you're quite good friends."
    "Y-yes."
    "There's something I'd like you to ask her on my behalf: whether she'd consider taking a sabbatical."
    Risai's eyes widened with surprise. "Are you talking about dismissing Kaei?"
    She fixed her eyes on him and Gyousou smiled wryly. "Nothing like that. I don't mean to suggest any dissatisfaction with the job she is doing, but she seems to be shouldering a great burden."
    "I don't think Kaei would consider it a burden. She would consider it her job."
    What he was talking about--dismissing Kaei as Daishikou--meant ousting her from of the Imperial Court. Such a demotion would be unbearable for any civil servant. And so Risai rose to her defense.
    "She's working as hard as she can. She's being criticized from every quarter, but perhaps Kaei was never a good fit with the Ministry of Fall from the start."
    "Perhaps," Gyousou agreed.
    Risai trembled though it wasn't from the cold. It was her anger. "If you understood that much, Your Highness, then why appoint her to the ministry in the first place?"
    "You mean, the Daishikou seems awfully soft on the criminal element--"
    "Yes, indeed. Which is why I said she's not the right person for this job."
    "Which is why she is the right person for the job."
    His answer took the wind out of her sails and left her at loss for words.
    "As someone who is 'soft on the criminal element,' Kaei serves as a counterweight to madness swirling around us. However, from her perspective, there must be limits to what she can endure. If things get too hard for her to bear, I would happily transfer her to another position. Say, the Ministry of Spring or Earth. Let her known that an arrangement of one sort or another can be made."
    But, Risai thought. It seemed that Gyousou himself understood that his revolution was careening down too steep a hill.
    "The judging and sentencing of people is not a thing easily controlled. Like a stone rolling down a hill, it only picks up momentum. For the time being, the stone must be allowed to roll. That is why I consider the one minister least suited for the position to be so well suited for it."
    "Yes, I see that."
    "But it's taking its toll on Kaei. I do not wish to see a capable and promising minister broken by such a weight. If I recommended that she take a furlough to her directly, Kaei would take it as a demotion. But if you were to broach the subject as a friend, I believe she would take such a recommendation in the spirit intended."
    Risai at once felt a great weight lifting from her shoulders. She drew a deep breath and let it out. "Would it not be possible for you to proceed at even a slightly more restrained pace? Kaei is not a soldier. She feels it is her duty to put everything in context and move forward at a measured pace. I think doing so would take some of the pressure off."
    "Except that our goals must be accomplished by the time Kouri returns. I've been informed that Kouri has left Ren. That leaves us no more than a fortnight to work with."
    "Can this only be accomplished in the Taiho's absence?"
    "I believe so."
    "But after he returns to Tai, he's going to hear