NO REASON.
She smiled, closed her eyes and rested her head against him. Holding him tight, she pushed warmth into his mind, the gratitude she felt for him just being near. The promise he’d made her was bright in her memory, etched on the stone she set her back against.
“Beneath and between and beyond anything else I may be, I am yours. I will never leave you. Never forsake you. You may rely upon me as you rely upon sun to rise and moon to fall. For you are the heart of me.”
WE SHOULD HEAD BACK TO THE IISHI. THERE YOU CAN SLEEP. AND I CAN EAT.
I hope the Kagé have been treating Kin decently. I worry about him there alone.
HE IS NOT ALONE. THE GIRL IS WITH HIM.
That worries me even more.
SURELY YOU ARE NOT STILL JEALOUS?
Why on earth would I be jealous of Ayane?
… DOES NOT MATTER.
No, say what you mean.
He heaved a sigh, wind curling in the feathers beneath narrowed, amber eyes.
BECAUSE SHE KNOWS A PART OF HIM YOU NEVER WILL. BECAUSE YOU FEAR HE WILL SEE IN HER A KINSHIP HE CANNOT SEE IN YOU.
She pouted amidst her snug kingdom of fur and feathers.
I thought you said you didn’t understand human relationships.
DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE WHY. THE WHY NOT IS MUCH EASIER.
I don’t know what to do.
NO, YOU ARE SIMPLY FRIGHTENED OF WHAT DOING IT WILL MEAN. HE IS NOT HIRO. HE LOVES YOU.
I know that.
AND YOU HIM?
A part of me must. To feel this way. When I think of him and Ayane alone together, I want to choke something.
AH, YOUNG ROMANCE …
As the sun sank toward the world’s edge, she surveyed the storm looming on the northern horizon. Lightning arced across the clouds and Buruu turned to watch, melancholy staining his mind a somber blue. She reached out to touch it, still unsure of the Kenning’s strength, and as she smoothed it away, she recognized it for what it was.
You’re homesick.
THE TEMPEST REMINDS ME. ALWAYS.
Of the Everstorm?
WHERE THE GREAT SEA DRAGONS SLUMBER. WHERE RAIJIN AND SUSANO-ō SING LULLABIES TO STILL THEIR HUNGER, FROM NOW UNTIL WORLD’S ENDING.
Are there many of you there? Arashitora?
A FEW SCATTERED PACKS. THE LAST OF MY KIND. WE ARE SLOW TO BREED. JEALOUS. PRIMITIVE. LIKE YOU IN MANY WAYS.
The question rose unbidden in her thoughts.
You never really explained why you came to Shima, you know. You said you were curious, but I’m sure there was more to it than that.
…
Buruu?
GUILD.
Her senses sharpened at the word, feeling his hackles rise in sharp peaks. Staring toward the horizon, squinting in the growing gloom, ears straining for the sound of engines.
I see nothing …
USE MY EYES.
She slipped into the warmth behind his pupils, saw the world as he did, flaring too bright for an agonizing moment as she wrestled for control. She could feel her nose bleeding, slick on her lips, narrowing her eyes as if staring at the sun. The details were picked out in brilliant relief; the shapes of the clouds, of every curling wave and foaming breaker. And to the north, she spotted a shadow, tiny as an infant lotusfly, stark black against iron-gray. The unmistakable snub-nosed silhouette of a Guild sky-ship.
What the hells are they doing all the way out there?
WAR.
Gaijin lands are east, not north. If they’re a warship, they’re way off course.
WE COULD ASK THEM?
Yukiko looked toward the northernmost tip of Seidai, then back toward the tiny silhouette. She knew they should be flying back to the Kagé. They had to plan the strike on Hiro’s wedding, Lady Aisha’s rescue. But if they let the Guild ship go, the opportunity might never arise to find out what they were up to again. And she had promised to deal harshly with the next ship they sent northward.
She gripped Yofun’s hilt, remembering Daichi’s words. Remembering the endless miles of deadlands they’d flown over during their visits to the clan capitals, the Guild’s stain seeping through every province. The rusted pipelines. The blacklung beggars. The Burning Stones.
Whatever the Guildsmen were doing, she’d bet her life it was no good.
All right.
She nodded.
Let’s follow and see what we can see.
*