The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

that never freezes in the midst of winter."
    The girl who had so spoken so resolutely was no longer in this world. She had been executed together with her grandfather for the crime of sheltering Risai. But at the time and afterwards they had abetted her escape, even knowing the fate that awaited them.
    Risai vowed to herself that she would never forget those words.
    Please save His Highness and the Taiho.

Chapter 34
    T he message came two days after the Royal Han showed up, arriving unexpectedly as such messages tended to. Three guests would be crossing the Sea of Clouds to see her. Youko and Keiki were to wait at the reception hall above the Forbidden Gate.
    Her visitors were Shouryuu and Rokuta, as she had expected, together with a golden-haired young woman she hadn't seen before.
    "Has the Royal Han arrived?" queried Rokuta, as he dismounted from his suugu.
    "Yes," Youko answered, greeting them with a bemused smile.
    "Figures. That's why suddenly he went all incommunicado on me." He turned to the girl climbing off the white kijuu. "This is the Ren Taiho."
    A tad flustered, Youko gave her a quick nod. Renrin struck her as a cheerful girl of eighteen or so.
    "Renrin, this is Youko, the Royal Kei. That's Keiki standing next to her." Rokuta asked, "So where's His Royalness and Sis?"
    "Probably in their rooms," Youko said with the same wry grin.
    They'd rented rooms in Gyouten, but Youko insisted they stay at Kinpa Palace. The Royal Han, though, proved a man hard to please. She showed him first to the visitor's palace, reserved for guests of honor. But he said it reeked of bad taste and refused to stay there. Finally, he cavalierly picked one of the cottages secluded among the hillocks in the Seiden garden.
    And then decided that this vase was ugly, so get rid of it. And that painting was a sore sight for eyes, so switch it with this one. And so on.
    And then he didn't get along with the poor chief butler assigned to look after them. He apparently found the man aesthetically deficient. Exasperated, Youko sent over Shoukei. Thankfully, he did take a liking to her, but then would barely allow her out of his sight.
    Hanrin, on the other hand, making liberal use of Han's crown jewel, the koseisan, wandered at will around the Inner Palace. She suddenly burst into the Seishin--opined that some government official was unacceptably picking on some lowly bureaucrat--and sallied out again.
    Shoukei's opinion--the babysitting duties having falling into her lap--was that while on the outside Hanrin might look every bit the spoiled and overindulged ingénue, underneath she was every bit as mischievous as Enki.
    "She is a handful," Rokuta agreed in a small voice.
    "So what's the relationship between En and Han?" Youko asked in turn.
    "Reluctant allies, as it were. Because Han is a kingdom of such skilled craftsmen."
    "Like, the way their workmanship with gold and silver is the best in the Twelve Kingdoms?"
    "It's a truth that cannot be denied. Once upon a time, Han was blessed with nothing of worth. It was a middling kingdom full of middling people. The Royal Han turned that all around, making Han a kingdom of skilled artisans."
    "Arts or crafts?"
    "Anything that requires a fine and practiced hand. From materials like paper or cloth to the equipment needed to make them. Tools in particular. The tools made in Han are the finest anywhere. Whether a carpenter's rule or the weights in a set of scales, the differences in quality are as night and day."
    "Huh."
    "We're good at building the big stuff. Roads and buildings and ports. But the talents of Han's artisans are a necessary part of the equation. So that would make our relationship a substantial one."
    Rokuta sighed, and Youko had a feeling of where that sigh came from.
    "I'm not sure how to put this, but I do get the idea that he's a rather odd chap."
    "You think? He and Shouryuu get along like cats and dogs." Rokuta glanced over his shoulder. Trailing along behind them, the morose-looking Shouryuu hadn't said a word since he'd joined them.
    "Yeah, I kinda got that vibe," Youko muttered.
    That was when they ran into Shoukei, coming down the garden path at a brisk clip. She headed towards them as if heading into a stiff wind, her shoes stamping against the cobblestones
    "Oh, Shoukei. How's the Royal Han?"
    Shoukei looked back at Youko, fire in her eyes. "He's in his room. Just to let you know, but he can't see anybody right now."
    "He can't see anybody?"
    "Well, it seems that the