Samurai's Wife (42 page)

"You'd better settle your business in Miyako and start packing," Yanagisawa said. "We leave at daybreak."

Sano rode through Miyako, down streets now bare of the stalls that had sold Obon supplies, past houses no longer decorated with lanterns or incense burners. The city teemed with gay, bright life, and along the Kamo River, only piles of ash remained from the Festival of the Dead, but as Sano reached Kodai Temple, his mind was uneasy. Reiko had willingly agreed that he should pay a last courtesy visit to Kozeri, and knowing what he now did about the nun, he thought he could resist her... but he wasn't quite certain.

Wind stirred the pines that rose above the temple walls; clouds obscured the sun. Walking along stone paths, through tranquil gardens, Sano hoped to conclude his business with Kozeri in a businesslike manner, as Reiko trusted him to do.

In the courtyard waited a palanquin and four bearers. Down the steps of the nunnery came a woman dressed in a blue cotton kimono; she carried a cloth bundle. With a white drape covering her shaved head, Sano almost didn't recognize Kozeri.

She spied him, and her steps faltered. Eyes downcast, she walked to the palanquin, where Sano joined her.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

Kozeri gave him a shy glance from beneath lowered lids. "I'm leaving the nunnery."

"Why?" Even as Sano spoke, he guessed the answer: He had diverted Kozeri from her spiritual calling. Preoccupied with his own troubles, he hadn't thought about how their encounters might have affected her. Guilt stabbed him. "I'm terribly sorry," he said.

A fleeting smile crossed Kozeri's averted face. "It's not your fault," she said. "Meeting you only forced me to admit what I've known all along: I'm not suited to be a nun. Now that the left minister is gone, there's no reason to stay here."

She raised her head and looked directly at Sano. Desire flared between them even though he'd braced himself against her. He realized that sometimes an attraction arises between a man and woman regardless of their wishes, even without magic spells. He also knew he had better leave before he succumbed.

He said hurriedly, "The reason I came is to apologize for any trouble my investigation has caused you."

"Oh, that's all right," Kozeri murmured. "I shouldn't have deceived you. Please forgive me."

Her meekness irritated Sano. He discovered that he didn't really like Kozeri. Cloaked in passive martyrdom, she inspired not his admiration or respect, but his pity. She'd never breached the part of his spirit where his love lor Reiko dwelled. While castigating himself tor his weakness, he'd overlooked the fact that he had withstood temptation, and he could again. But what of Kozeri, at whose expense he'd learned his lesson?

"Where will you go?" Sano asked her.

"For now, I'll live in my family's summer villa. We agreed on that when I visited them a few days ago and told them I wanted to leave the nunnery. Perhaps someday a new marriage can be arranged for me."

In her eyes Sano read Kozeri's hope for a good husband to love, a child to replace the one she'd lost. Now she opened the door of the palanquin and stowed her bundle inside.

"Goodbye, sosakan-sama," Kozeri said. "I wish you well."

"And I the same to you," Sano said.

With mutual relief, they smiled and bowed. Then they departed Kodai Temple, she in the palanquin and he on horseback, traveling in opposite directions.

The sun rose crimson over the misty hills above Miyako. While the imperial capital still slumbered, a procession of foot soldiers, mounted samurai, servants, and a single palanquin filed out the city gates, heading east along the Tokaido highway between lush green fields. The rhythm of hoofbeats and marching feet mingled with the waking cries of birds. Humid heat steamed from the earth, yet a hint of coolness in the air presaged autumn.

Riding beside Sano, Detective Marume said, "That was some adventure, but I will be truly glad to get back to Edo."

Detective Fukida recited:

"My native city- longing recalls

The winding streets, the castle on the hill."

Chamberlain Yanagisawa dropped back from his place near the head of the procession to ride alongside Sano. "Shall we congratulate ourselves on a job well done, sosakan-sama?"

"You deserve much of the credit," Sano said.

"That's true," Yanagisawa said complacently.

"May I look forward to a continuation of our partnership when we reach home?" Sano asked.

The chamberlain favored him with a long, unreadable gaze that boded an uncertain future. Who could tell how long their truce might last?

Yoriki Hoshina joined Yanagisawa. Looking at them, Sano felt a qualm of unease. Where he'd previously had one enemy, would he now have two?

Yanagisawa's faint smile said he knew exactly what Sano was thinking. Then he and Hoshina rode ahead, leaving Sano to wonder.

The End