The Wings of Dreams

where to build a fire and when to extinguish it. They could look at the landscape and size up the situation and come to the right conclusions, the product of the wisdom and experience they’d amassed after living in the Yellow Sea since they were children.
    The person in charge on a journey had to be the one with the most experience under his belt. That’s what it meant to hire a goushi.
    “Hand over a lot of money and have somebody accompany you to Mt. Hou—”
    Hiring a bodyguard was a somewhat different proposition. A goushi was hired to go to Mt. Hou. They made the journey. The employer was basically along for the ride.
    It was the goushi who shepherded his employer, who provided the necessary leadership and direction. A goushi planned from the start with the needs of the person who paid him in mind. The safety of others, or a Kiwa or a Chodai, simply didn’t factor into his thinking. If it did, many more goushi would be required.
    “It’d be pretty much pointless unless everybody had their own goushi.”
    One apiece would require a lot of goushi. With that many, the could combine their forces in a pinch and have enough to spare when dangers presented themselves.
    Very few of those going on the Shouzan had a goushi. Kiwa had more than forty attendants, but knowing nothing more than them, Kiwa was every bit their equal. Had he hired a goushi before the journey began, the goushi surely would have recommended reducing the size of his retinue and supplementing the company with additional bodyguards.
    There had to be a better way than hoping for safety in numbers, none of them knowing how to protect themselves in the Yellow Sea, then running away while the stragglers took the fall.
    “It’s disgusting that I only figured this out now, ” Shushou castigated herself as the wagon raced across the prairie. “Gankyuu would be well within his rights calling me on the carpet for such foolishness.”

    Towards sundown they finally slackened their pace. Having left the youma far behind with its victims, everyone who’d kept up smiled with a survivor’s relief.
    Shushou got out of the wagon and peered back through the thin veil of dust. The company was a third the size of what it had been. That was how many people they had consigned to oblivion.
    She planted her feet on the ground, ground that felt no firmer than a small boat on rough seas, and walked over to where Kiwa was building a fire.
    “Shitsu-san, I have a favor to ask of you.”
    “Yes?” He glanced up at her, his face gentle as a babe’s.
    “I hate to have to say this, after all that you’ve done for me.”
    “Oh, what’s this all about, then?”
    “I’d like to borrow a little food and water.”
    “Shushou?”
    “I’d also appreciate a lance or sword, if that’s not asking too much.”
    “Shushou! What in the world are you going on about? What would you need such things for?”
    “I’m going back for them.”
    “Shushou!”
    “I’m going to try and join up with the rest of the travelers on foot. If that’s possible, and the youma has truly given up the chase, then good. If not, then we’ll need to figure out together how to get rid of that youma.”
    A clearly flustered Kiwa grabbed Shushou by the arm. “Don’t say such foolish things!”
    “Shitsu-san, don’t you understand? We never should have come down this road. That youma isn’t likely to give up the chase. If we keep going, we’ll inevitably meet up with those who exercised their better judgment in order not to get attacked by that youma.”
    “But—”
    “The stupidity of our actions is a settled fact. Nothing we do now can reverse those decisions. And maybe abandoning the unlucky and running away is nature’s way of allowing fools like us to survive. But inflicting this youma on those who had no part in this foolishness goes beyond the pale.”
    “Shushou, calm down and think this through.”
    Shushou shook her head. “I have thought it through. I got angry at the way the goushi did things and joined you. I couldn’t stomach being told that because I didn’t know anything about the Yellow Sea, I didn’t have an opinion worth listening to. Except if this was about people who owned and raised horses, say, getting lectured by people who didn’t, it’d be the same thing.”
    “Look, Shushou—”
    “It is what it is, and no good will come from plowing that ocean. But having lost my temper at the koushu, I can’t repeat the same mistakes here. Nursing