The Wings of Dreams

surprised looks pointed fingers and gestured. Another man worked his way through the crowd to get a better look at Shushou’s face. Apparently, she was already a known presence in the fort.
    “What’s with the little kid?”
    “They together? You gotta be kidding me.”
    “I don’t believe it. She’s returning to Ken by noon, right? Just on some sightseeing jaunt.”
    Shushou cast a scornful glance at the source of the loudly-whispered asides, turned back to the cavern-like shrine and bowed. Covering the kindly face and armored torso of Kenrou Shinkun, the guardian angel of those venturing into the Yellow Sea, were layers of scarf-like shawls.
    “What are those shawls?” Shushou asked in a small voice.
    “The stories say that Shinkun wore armor made from the hide of a youma called a Ko, and wove jewels into the scarves so he could present them to the youma.”
    “Youma and youjuu have a hankering for jewels? And by youjuu, we’re talking about kijuu, right?”
    “It’d be more accurate to say that there’s a kijuu inside every youma. And inside every kijuu and youma is something that’s intoxicated by jewels.”
    “Intoxicated? Like when people drink too much alcohol?”
    “Something like that. I don’t really know myself. But they get tipsy the same as us humans. So it probably is like getting drunk.”
    “How strange. Not the kind of thing you learn in school.”
    “I’m not surprised. Books could be written about what we don’t know about youma and youjuu. Like the real difference between youma and youjuu. That’s a head scratcher too.”
    Shushou’ eyes opened a bit wider. She looked up at Gankyuu and said, “Youma attack people and youjuu don’t. Right?”
    “Well, that’s what passes for common knowledge. Catch a youjuu unprepared and they’ll attack you right back. Though they won’t single out a person and track him down.”
    “You don’t say—”
    “Among corpse hunters, it’s said that youma and youjuu started out the same. The different names simply apply to those that stalk human and those that don’t. But that doesn’t mean all youma especially hunt people. It’s also said the difference is that you can tame a youjuu but not a youma. But that doesn’t mean all youjuu can be turned into kijuu. Others say that when a kingdom descends into chaos, youma are the ones that come out of the woodwork, not youjuu. Except it’s not like youjuu never appear at times like that. What it comes down to is, you can’t domesticate youma. I’ve heard tales of hunters trying to catch and tame harmless mushi, but they die soon after being trapped. And when they die, it’s like they give off a signal and bigger ones come after them.”
    “I wonder why.”
    “Who knows? Youma that prowl around towns and cities don’t die. So it’s not like they’re vulnerable to human civilization. And despite dying when trapped, they’re still awfully hard to kill on purpose.”
    “Huh,” Shushou muttered, trailing after Gankyuu as they left the shrine behind.
    “Youma hunt humans. You really okay with that?”
    “Aren’t there any yaboku in the Yellow Sea?”
    Any creature finding refuge beneath the yaboku tree, whose fruit gave rise to beasts and birds in the wild countryside, was safe from any predatory youma or youjuu.
    “Nobody’s ever seen a yaboku in the Yellow Sea. Then again, there aren’t any normal beasts or birds in the Yellow Sea either. There are corpse hunters who’ve searched for the yaboku that give rise to youjuu, but no one’s ever reported finding one.”
    “I see. If you could find a youjuu tree, you could pretty much dispense with hunting them.”
    “Same goes for youma. Find a yaboku and that’d make short work of it.”
    “Yeah,” said Shushou. Put a fence around the yaboku and kill them as soon as they’re born.”
    But then she grimaced. The riboku, whose fruit gave birth to children, and the yaboku were sacred trees. Any animal was safe beneath its branches. Not even a youma would attack anybody there. Such marvels demanded respect, it was said, and nobody should kill anything within view of one.
    “Youma probably aren’t ever little children. Ever heard of a baby youma?”
    “They don’t exist, or so people say.”
    “Really?”
    Gankyuu nodded. “I’ve never seen one. And never heard of one being seen.”
    “That is strange.”
    “The trees they’re born from; how long they live in the first place; why they’re all males; how intelligent