Part 24 (2/2)

”Lord Otori,” she murmured.

I hardly heard her. I did not look at either of them. I was staring past them at Kaede.

I knew it was her by the shape of her outline, but there was something changed about her. I did not recognize her. She had a cloth over her head and as she came toward me she let it fall to her shoulders.

Her hair was gone, her head shorn.

Her eyes were fixed on mine. Her face was unscarred and as beautiful as ever, but I hardly saw it. I gazed into her eyes, saw what she had suffered, and saw how it had refined and strengthened her. The Kikuta sleep would never touch her again.

Still without speaking, she turned and pulled the cloth from her shoulders. The nape of her neck, which had been so perfect, so white, was layered with scars of red and purple where her hair had burned her flesh.

I placed my damaged hand over it, covering her scars with my own.

We stood like that for a long time. I heard the harsh cry of the heron as it flew to its roost, the endless song of the water, and the quick beating of Kaede's heart. We were sheltered under the overhang of the rock, and I did not notice that it had started snowing.

When I looked out onto the landscape, it was already turning white as the first snow of winter drifted down upon it.

On the banks of the river the colts were snorting in amazement at the snow, the first they had seen. By the time the snow melted and spring came, their coats would be gray like Raku's.

I prayed that spring would also bring healing, to our scarred bodies, to our marriage, and to our land. And that spring would see the houou houou, the sacred bird of legend, return once more to the Three Countries.

AFTERWORD.

The Three Countries have enjoyed nearly fifteen years of peace and prosperity. Trade with the mainland and with the barbarians has made us rich. Inuyama, Yamagata, and Hagi have palaces and castles unequaled in the Eight Islands. The court of the Otori, they say, rivals that of the emperor in splendor.

There are always threats-powerful individuals like Aral Zenko within our borders; warlords beyond the Three Countries; the barbarians who would like to have a greater share of our wealth; even the emperor and his court, who fear our rivalry-but until now, the thirty-second year of my life, the fourteenth of my rule, we have been able to control all these with a mixture of strength and diplomacy.

The Kikuta, led by Akio, have never given up their campaign against me, and my body now bears the record of their attempts to kill me. Our struggle against them goes on; we will never eradicate them completely, but the spies I maintain under Kenji andTaku keep them under control.

Both Taku and Zenko are married and have children of their own. Zenko I married to my sister-in-law Hana, in an only partially successful attempt to bind him closer to me in alliance. His fathers death lies between us, and I know he will overthrow me if he can.

Hiros.h.i.+ lived in my household until he was twenty and then returned to Maruyama, where he holds the domain in trust for my eldest daughter, who will inherit it from her mother.

Kaede and I have three daughters: The eldest is now thirteen, her twin sisters eleven. Our first child looks exactly like her mother and shows no sign of any Tribe skills. The twin girls are identical, even to the Kikuta lines on their palms. People are afraid of them, with reason.

Kenji located my son ten years ago, when the boy was five. Since then we keep an eye on him, but I will not allow anyone to harm him. I have thought long and often about the prophecy, and have come to the conclusion that if this is to be my destiny, I cannot avoid it, and if it is not-for prophecies, like prayers, fulfill themselves in unexpected ways-then the less I try to do about it the better. And I cannot deny that, as the physical pain I suffer increases, and as I remember how I gave my adopted father, s.h.i.+geru, the swift and honorable death of a warrior, wiping out the insult and humiliation he had undergone at the hands of Iida Sadamu, the thought often comes to me that my son will bring me release, that death at his hands may be welcome to me.

But my death is another tale of the Otori, and one that cannot be told by me.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

I thank the Asialink Foundation, which awarded me a fellows.h.i.+p in 1999 to spend three months in j.a.pan; the Australia Council, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Australian Emba.s.sy in Tokyo; and ArtsSA, the South Australian Government Arts Department. In j.a.pan, I was sponsored by Yamaguchi Prefecture's Akiyos.h.i.+dai International Arts Village, whose staff generously a.s.sisted me in exploring the landscape and the history of western Honshuu. Thanks particularly to Mr. Kori Yos.h.i.+-nori, Ms. Matsunaga Yayoi, and Ms. Matsubara Manami. I am especially grateful to Mrs. Tokonki Masako for showing me the Sesshu paintings and gardens and to her husband, Professor Tokoriki, for information on horses in the medieval period.

Spending time in j.a.pan with two theater companies gave me many insights. Deepest thanks to Kazenoko in Tokyo and Kyushuu, and Gekidan Urinko in Nagoya, and to Ms. Kimura Miyo, a wonderful traveling companion, who accompanied me to Kanazawa and the Nakasendo and who answered my questions about language and literature.

I am indebted to Mr. Morgi Masaru and Mrs. Mogi Akiko for their help with research, their suggestions for names, and above all, their ongoing friends.h.i.+p.

In Australia, I thank my two j.a.panese teachers, Mrs. Thuy Coombs and Mrs. Etsuko Wilson; Simon Higgins, who made invaluable suggestions; my agent, Jenny Darling; my son Matt, my first reader on all three books; and the rest of my family, for not only putting up with but also sharing my obsession.

In 2002, I spent a further three months in j.a.pan at the Shuho-cho Cultural Exchange House. Much of my research during this period was useful in the final rewriting of Brilliance of the Moon. My thanks to the people at Chuho-cho, in particular Ms. Santo Yuko and Mark Brachmann, and to Maxine McAuthur. Also, again deepest respect to ArtsSA for a Mid-Career Fellows.h.i.+p.

Calligraphy was drawn for me by Ms. Sugiyama Kazuko and Etsuko Wilson. I was immensely grateful to them.

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