The Wings of Dreams

the haku and go on without you, isn’t it?”
    Gankyuu stared in surprise at his human walking stick.
    “What wasn’t I supposed to see? I know you couldn’t go there because of me.”
    Gankyuu remained mum. The truth was, he was breathing hard by now and trying to carry on a conversation was more bother than it was worth.
    “If I took off, that is where you’d go, right? Do you think you could make it there on your own?”
    Gankyuu stopped in his tracks. “What are you saying?”
    “I’m saying that if you think you can make it there, then let’s go our separate ways.”
    “Listen, you—”
    Gankyuu slumped to the ground. There was a hollow beneath the ledge of stone. He rolled himself into it.
    “Can you make it there? Then go ahead. I’ll raise a ruckus to draw the youma towards me while I’m waiting for Rikou to return. It’s worth a try.”
    Gankyuu looked at the girl kneeling there, a strange feeling welling up inside him. “What in the world are you thinking?”
    “I’m thinking I should take responsibility for having to sacrifice the haku. Just to be clear, you bear some responsibility too. You could have said something, like you had a safe haven where Rikou and I weren’t welcome. I certainly would have given an explanation like that all due consideration.”
    Gankyuu couldn’t help a wry grin. “All due consideration, eh?”
    “You weren’t honest with us. You keep your true intention so bottled up it’s hard to tell when you’re really speaking from the heart. I still might have believed you were only putting on a brave front. Those would be your chickens coming home to roost.”
    “I see.”
    “But I do believe I was in the wrong to insist on staying with you. The haku had to be sacrificed as a result. You both suffered because me. So to make up for it, I’ll be the decoy while you’re making your way there. Well, that’s what I was thinking, though right now you don’t look like you could make it.”
    Gankyuu chuckled. “It looks that way to you too?”
    “What if I went to that place and called for help?”
    “Stop it. You’re more likely to end up dead than get anybody to listen to you.”
    “Then I’ll help you get close enough. I promise never to say a word about it to anybody. What is that place?”
    Gankyuu lay down and watched the sky brightening above the ledge of rock. “What did you come to the Yellow Sea to accomplish?”
    “To become the next empress.”
    “So be on your way. I’ll manage somehow.”
    “As close as that place may be, you still need a shoulder to lean on, even my small shoulders.” She tilted her head to the side. “If I was a koushu, there’d be no problem with us going there together, right?”
    “If you had any idea what it meant to become a koushu in the first place.”
    Shushou sighed. “Do you know how insulting that is? It really ticks me off.”
    “Huh?”
    “You’re saying that a child like me has no clue about the hardships the koushu have to put up with.”
    “And do you?”
    “I can forgive you for making fun of me because I’m a child. I can forgive you for pointing out that I know relatively little about the Yellow Sea. But I can’t forgive you for insisting that I simply don’t understand how the big world works!”
    “And do you?” Gankyuu jested.
    The furious child glared back at him. “I have eyes, don’t I? And ears? Don’t you believe there are many things in the world that can be grasped if you only watch closely and listen carefully?”
    “Are you claiming to have acquaintances among the koushu?”
    “My family are wealthy merchants, well known even in Renshou.”
    ‘‘I guess that makes you a genuine princess, eh? Not surprised.”
    “Stop talking to me like that!”
    Gankyuu held up his hand. “Keep it down, please.”
    “Then stop saying such insulting things! Anyway, we’re wealthy enough to afford a large staff of live-in servants.”
    Gankyuu gazed at Shushou’s flushed face.
    “I wore silk kimono and attended the prefectural academy. My servant Keika wore a cotton kimono that was always dirty. I have no problem imagining what it means to work from sun-up to sun-down. Coming on this journey taught me that my imagination wasn’t far off.”
    Two girls the same age, one living a life clothed in silk, the other living a life just to serve her.
    “The live-in servants are itinerants too. They left the place where their family records are registered, lost their land and their