The Wings of Dreams

side of road? I haven’t got your constitution. I would freeze to death. Haven’t you the humanity to spare me such a fate?”
    “No, actually.”
    “I see. You are deficient both in compassion and the good sense your mother must have taught you to take your turn in order.”
    “So it would appear.”
    The girl scowled at him. She placed one hand on her hip and shook her finger at him in the manner of a parent lecturing an unreasonable child. “What are you doing here anyway?”
    “What am I—?”
    Ken was the furthest city in the realm, well off the beaten path and deep in uncharted wilderness. Beyond Ken there was nothing but the Yellow Sea. It was by no means a vacation destination. Nor did anybody pass through along the way to more habitable climes. Besides the occasional adventure seeker, the only travelers who had business in Ken around the spring equinox were taking that business to the Yellow Sea.
    “I should be asking you the same thing. What is a little girl like you doing wandering around a city like this? Did you take the wrong turn? What about your parents?”
    “I am neither wandering about nor did I take any wrong turns. This is Ken. As for my parents, they are in Renshou.”
    Gankyuu’s eyes opened a notch wider. Watching this little drama unfold in front of him, the flustered innkeeper raised his voice in equal surprise. “Your family lives in Renshou?”
    “That’s right. I came all the way from Renshou. After many days, my life at risk on more than one occasion, I have finally arrived in Ken. And then to have the only lodgings torn out of my grasp—is that not more than a little cruel?”
    “Nonsense. There’s no way you could have made it here all by yourself. Who brought you?”
    “Nobody,” the girl answered crisply.
    Gankyuu couldn’t believe his ears. Renshou was the capital of the Kingdom of Kyou. Getting there by ship and on foot took nearly two months, and considering the stride of a child, much longer for her.
    “You’re telling me you came here, from Renshou, by yourself?”
    “Yes. Are you impressed enough now to give me a room?”
    Gankyuu was impressed. Without an adult to protect her and show her the way, the girl had crossed a distance that made Gankyuu weary simply to think about.
    “How did you go about ending up here ?”
    The girl lifted her gaze, the scorn plain in her eyes. “It goes without saying, doesn’t it? One simply chooses whatever town is closest along the way when one needs to stop.”
    “It goes without saying, she says.”
    “Of course, I am going to Mt. Hou.”
    The mouths of Gankyuu and the innkeeper fell open.
    “I am going on the Shouzan. Kyouki is on Mt. Hou.”
    “Hold on, there, Missy.” She’s going on the Shouzan? “You?”
    “Does any law say that a child cannot?”
    Not law that Gankyuu had ever heard of. “That is entirely beside the point! You are talking nonsense!”
    “Why? If any of the adults of this kingdom were worthy vessels, one of them would be surely sitting on the throne already. That’s why I am going.” The girl looked at Gankyuu with all the more disdain. “I can only imagine that you are in Ken with the intention of proceeding on to the Yellow Sea as well. I should hardly need to point out that the kind of man who would steal the last room in the inn from a poor girl is only wasting his time going to Mt. Hou.”
    “Do you have any idea what the Yellow Sea is really like?”
    “Who doesn’t?” The girl answered Gankyuu like he’d asked her the sum of one and one. “No hamlets, no crossroads, no villages either. No inns, taverns or roads.”
    “Not only that.”
    “The place is thick with youma. I know. But youma can show up anywhere.”
    “There’s no comparison. How do you intend to travel? What’s a child to do when she’s attacked by a youma?”
    “And what are you going to do? What kind of odds do you give yourself against a youma?”
    “I—”
    “Even so, there’s no point in you going. You’re wasting your time. So you might as well give the room to me.”
    Now Gankyuu was the one holding his head in his hands. He squatted down in front of her. “Listen, Miss—”
    “There is a person standing right here who might very soon become the next empress. Say whatever you are going to say with that in mind and I will listen.”
    “The Yellow Sea is hardly such a forgiving place.”
    The girl stared back at him, showing not the slightest sign of being swayed in the least.
    “I am