The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

the doors of the room. She'd only wanted to let in a little night air, but exhausted she sat down on the spot. Being reminded of the disabled state of her body irritated her to no end.
    Even when Taiki was brought back, what would they do then?
    Using Taiki's "royal sense," they could launch a search for Gyousou. But to do that, they would have to return Taiki to Tai. Could she do something like that? With such a weak constitution, and no ability to wield a sword? She'd be incapable of defending Taiki. Youma and brigands rampaged across Tai. Perhaps her heart was no stronger than her body. Perhaps she'd fled Tai and sought safety within the walls of the Kei Imperial Palace in pursuit of physical and mental relief. Casting a backward glance at the place from which she'd come, Tai was nothing if not a fearsome place. She could not imagine taking Taiki there.
    Risai sat on the promenade and leaned against the wall with an air of melancholy. Beyond the eaves, moonlight shone down on the courtyard. She heard the lonely trill of a cicada from somewhere out in the darkness.
    She didn't know what they would do after Taiki returned. She wasn't sure he would return, or that they could save Tai. She held onto these beliefs without reason, at some point in time having become far too accustomed to steeling her heart against failure and disappointment.
    It was like heaven and hell had allied themselves against Tai. How many years had passed since Gyousou had disappeared? The Koushi ceremony was said to bring reason and order to the world. Had Asen performed the Koushi, and could there be reason and order in the world if the true king did not perform the ceremony?
    In any case, the chaos in Tai had been underway ever since the throne had been vacated.
    Several summers after losing Gyousou, Risai's search brought her to Bun Province. Secretly, in order to escape discovery by Asen, relying on intermediaries and seeking asylum from old and trusted friends, she headed towards Tetsui. Gyousou had previously vanished from a camp in Rin'u.
    Rin'u had originally been the only city in Bun Province that was home to a gemstone fountain. The oldest gemstone fountain was in Mt. Kan'you, and fountains of varying sizes spotted the landscape around it. "Company towns" were located hither and yon at the base of the mines. Though most of them had played out, news of the occasional active fountain was still heard. Even those mines had suddenly run dry. Risai couldn't say whether they too had been touched by the widening gyre of anarchy.
    She found little of substance in the neighborhoods of Rin'u. The people of Tetsui would probably know more about Gyousou's whereabouts. She even harbored the hope that they might be hiding him. But when she arrived there, she found the city burned to the ground. Only the charred rubble remained. Tetsui had been abandoned. Not a breath of human life among the scarred remains. Only the shrine altar had been left unburnt, and atop it, an offering of white keihaku flowers.
    The citizens of Tetsui who remained must have come here, under cover of darkness, to pray for Gyousou's safe return.
    Next to the shrine, the withered riboku, scorched by the flames, stood alone forlorn and dejected. The desolate sight impressed upon Risai that, like it or not, Tai was a kingdom whose center could no longer hold. Falling apart was the only option it had left.
    Risai as well had to mingle with the shadows of the night, avoiding human contact, and hiding herself from sight. She crept along the streets, looking for anybody who might knew where Gyousou was, or Eikyou or Gashin or the locations of their forces. She met with little success.
    She learned that there'd been a pitched battle outside Rin'u between local rebels and the Imperial Guard, and that subsequently the Imperial Guard had grown skittish and unable to respond in force to further rebel attacks. That battle probably occurred around the time Gyousou disappeared.
    It would not be that unusual for a king to get struck down amidst the fog of war. But not a king like Gyousou. Gyousou was renowned as a swordsman. No one was reckless enough to take him on in a fair fight. Except that he was leading Asen's army. Gyousou had trusted Asen and Asen's underlings. And at the height of the battle, they would be the ones watching his back. They could have overwhelmed him with superior numbers, or captured and restrained him. But did Gyousou really trust Asen that much? Considering that