A rush of wind, the creak of timber. A shadow fell over the assembled Guildsmen as Kaiah and Hana landed near the cluster of brass and wailing and tears. The Lotusmen tensed, the second False-Lifer flaring her razored arms in threat. But as the girl slipped from the thunder tiger’s back, the look in her eye made the Guildsmen step aside. Hana gently pushed through the group to stand before the woman weeping on the deck.
Kaiah nudged Misaki’s shoulder with her head. The Guildswoman looked up, cheeks stained rose, staring at the thunder tiger in mute amazement. The arashitora nudged her again, looking from Misaki to her child in the other False-Lifer’s arms.
“She says she knows what it is to lose a mate.” Hana’s voice was edged with sorrow. “I can feel it inside her. That loss … It hurts me just to look at it.”
The girl knelt on the boards, took Misaki’s hand.
“But Kaiah says at least you still have your daughter. You still have something of him to keep. And every time you look at her, you’ll see him inside her and know he’s still with you.”
The woman pawed at the tears on her face, staring at the girl, turning to the False-Lifer who held her child and taking the infant back into her arms. She prodded a release at the child’s neck, the brass throat unfurling like flower petals. Misaki pulled the helm from the babe’s head, pressed her naked cheek to the little girl’s skin. Eyes closed, she breathed long and deep. Thunder rumbled somewhere distant, a promise of the chaos to come.
Yukiko remembered her mother sitting by the fire, singing in a voice that made the mountains weep. Stepping closer to Buruu, she slipped her arm around his neck, glad for his warmth. She could feel them in the Kenning all around her, knife-sharp pain flaring at the back of her skull. The impossible tangles of thought; the cloudwalkers and refugees, the rebels in their shells of brass, the two knots of light resting in her belly. None of them dissimilar. Not sailors or insurgents or warriors or victims. Just people. All of them. Alive and breathing.
“Thank you,” Misaki whispered.
“It’s all right,” Hana said. “It’s going to be all right.”
YOU SEE?
Buruu nodded, watching the sorrow fade, the light bloom in the woman’s eyes as she kissed the tiny bow of her daughter’s lips. The wind was cool water, mussing the feathers at his brow, the boards beneath him rumbling as he purred.
THERE IS ALWAYS TIME FOR WORDS.
*
Yukiko and Buruu stepped off the Kurea’s deck and dropped into blood-red skies.
They swooped over Yama city, Hana and Kaiah beside them. A thin haze of smoke drifted through the cramped buildings, Chapterhouse Yama now an empty, smoking shell.
Head for the Daimyo’s fortress, Buruu. We need to have a chat with the Kitsune clanlord. Try to explain this shitstorm we started.
KITSUNE ARE YOUR CLAN. HAVE YOU MET THIS LORD?
No. Folk like me don’t get to meet royalty, as a general rule.
She looked down at her frayed clothes, dragged her hands through her hair.
Gods, I look like I slept in a ditch.
SO?
I’m about to meet a Daimyo, brother. I could’ve at least had a bath first.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE. WHEN YOU STAND BEFORE THIS FOX LORD, DO NOT FORGET WHERE YOU STOOD BEFORE. YOU HAVE STARED DOWN SHōGUNS. HUNGRY DEAD. SEA DRAGONS. REMEMBER THAT. REMEMBER AND BE BRAVE.
When you’re near? Always.
She curled her hands in the feathers at Buruu’s neck, trying to smooth the disarray.
Speaking of shabby looks, we’re going to have to give you a haircut soon.
… WHAT?
These feathers are getting messy.
LET ME UNDERSTAND THIS CORRECTLY. YOU WISH TO CUT MY MANE?
Thunder tigers grow manes?
OF COURSE! HOW ELSE WOULD YOU TELL MALES FROM FEMALES?
This is a trick question, right?
A MANE IS A SIGN A MALE ARASHITORA HAS REACHED MATURITY.
Her laughter rang out in his mind.
So it’s going to be a few more decades growing, then?
HMPH. I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW MOST FEMALES FIND IT FETCHING.
Kaiah’s distant roar wiped the smile from Yukiko’s face, the mood between them somber once more.
Not all of them, it seems.
Buruu sighed.
NO, NOT ALL OF THEM.
Why does she hate you so much, brother?
YOU REALLY WISH TO KNOW?
You did something bad, right? Murdered someone. That’s why she calls you Kinslayer.
I MURDERED MORE THAN ONE.
Why?
BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS RIGHT.
She slipped her arms around his neck and squeezed.
Then I’m sure it was.
IT WASN’T. THEY WERE RIGHT TO TAKE MY NAME. AND KAIAH IS RIGHT TO HATE ME.
Yukiko could feel the hurt inside her friend, the shadow that had lain over him since the lightning farm. Being around Kaiah had awakened the ghosts of Buruu’s past, and though she didn’t want to push him into sharing his burdens, it made her feel helpless that she couldn’t make it better. So she hugged him tighter, poured warmth into his mind.