The Harsh Cry of the Heron (20 page)

‘I have already seen
Sunaomi,’ Shizuka said. ‘It is indeed a great pleasure. Is Chikara to come too?’

‘Your husband will
bring him by ship, along with a fabulous creature that is said to be a kirin,’
Takeo said.

‘Ah, Ishida is back;
I’m happy to hear it. To tell you the truth, Takeo, I would be quite content
with my quiet life, companion to Kaede and your children, wife to my dear
doctor . . . but I think you are going to make other demands on me.’

‘You are as
perceptive as ever,’ he replied. ‘I want you to become head of the Muto family.
Taku will work with you as he worked with Kenji, and Zenko must of course defer
to you.’

‘The head of the
family is known as the Master,’ Shizuka reminded him. ‘There has never been a
woman "Master". "Mistress" has quite a different meaning!’
she added.

‘You may be called,
simply, the head, or whatever you like. It will set an excellent precedent. I
intend to introduce this into the local districts too: we will start with the
Middle Country and spread outwards. There are already many areas where women of
merit and ability stand in for their husbands. They will be recognized and
given the same authority as men.’

‘So you will
strengthen the country from the roots upwards, and these women will be your
daughter’s support?’

‘If she is the sole
woman ruler, she will have to become like a man. If other women are in
positions of power, we may see change flow throughout the Three Countries.’

‘You are still a
visionary, cousin!’ Shizuka said, smiling despite her grief.

‘You will do as I
ask, then?’

‘Yes, partly because
my uncle once hinted that this would also be his wish. And at least until Taku
settles down and Zenko comes to his senses. I believe he will, Takeo, and I’m
grateful to you for your careful handling of him. But whatever the outcome, the
Muto family will stay faithful to you and your family.’ She bowed formally to
him. ‘I will swear that to you now, Lord Otori, as their Head.’

T know what you have
already done for Lord Shigeru a id the Otori. I owe you a huge debt,’ Takeo
said with emotion.

‘I’m glad we have
this chance to speak alone,’ she ‘ ent on, ‘as we must also talk about the
twins. I had hoped to ask my uncle about something that happened recently, but
maybe you will know how to deal with this.’

She told him about
the episode with the cat, how it had slept and never woken.

‘I knew Maya had this
skill,’ she said, ‘as she had shown signs of it during the spring. Once or
twice I even felt myself growing dizzy when she looked at me. But none of the
Muto know much about the Kikuta sleep, though there are many superstitions
attached to it.’

‘It is like a
powerful medicine,’ Takeo replied. ‘A small amount is beneficial, but too
strong a draught can kill. People make themselves open to it through their own
weakness, their lack of self-mastery. I was taught how to control it in Matsue
- and I learned there that the Kikuta never look at their own infants directly,
for a young child has no defence against the gaze. I suppose a young cat would
be as defenceless. I never tried it on a cat, only on dogs - and grown ones at
that.’

‘You never heard of a
transference between the dead and the one who has made them sleep?’

The question made the
back of his neck prickle with unease. It had started raining again, and now the
drumming grew louder on the roof.

‘Usually it is not
the sleep that kills,’ he said carefully. ‘It is used only to disable: death
must always be by some other means.’

‘Is that what they
taught you?’

‘Why are you asking
this?’

‘I am troubled by
Maya. She shows signs of being possessed. It has happened among the Muto, you
know; Kenji himself was called the Fox when he was young: he was said to have
been possessed by a fox spirit - even to have married a fox as his first wife -
but apart from my uncle I don’t know of any recent transformations. It’s almost
as though she drew the cat’s spirit into herself. All children are like
animals, but they should become more human as they grow up; Maya is becoming
less. I can’t talk to Kaede about it; Shigeko already suspects there is
something wrong. I am glad you have returned.’

He nodded, deeply
perturbed by this news. ‘Your grandsons show no sign of Tribe skills,’ he
remarked.

‘No, and I am quite
relieved. Let them be Zenko’s sons, warriors. Kenji always said the skills
would disappear within two generations. Perhaps, in the twins, we are seeing
the last spurt of flame before the lamp dies.’

These last flames can
cast grotesque shadows, Takeo thought.

No one disturbed them
during this conversation: Takeo was half-consciously listening all the time for
the breath, the slight sound of a joint moving, the soft tread that would
reveal an eavesdropper, whether it was one of his daughters or a spy, but all
he could hear was the rain falling, the distant thunder and the ebbing tide.

However, when they
had finished and he was walking towards Kaede’s room along the gleaming
corridor, he heard an extraordinary sound ahead of him, a kind of growling and
snarling, half-human and half-animal. Then a child’s voice shrieking in fear,
and the pad of feet. He turned the corner and Sunaomi ran into him.

‘Uncle! I am sorry!’
The boy was giggling with excitement. ‘The tiger’s going to get me!’

Takeo saw the shadows
first, thrown against the paper screen. For a moment he saw clearly the human
shape, and behind it another with flattened ears, clawed paws and lashing tail.
Then his twin daughters came tearing around the corner, and they were both just
girls, even though they were snarling. They stopped dead when they saw him.

‘Father!’

‘She’s the tiger!’ Sunaomi
squealed.

Miki saw her father’s
face, pulled at Maya’s sleeve and said, ‘We were just playing.’

‘You are too old for
these games,’ he said, masking his concern. ‘This is no way to greet your
father. I expected to find you grown into young women.’

As always, his
displeasure deflated them completely.

‘We’re sorry,’ Miki
said.

‘Forgive us, Father,’
Maya pleaded, with not a trace of tiger in her voice.

‘It was my fault,
too,’ Sunaomi added. ‘I should have known better. They are only girls, after
all.’

‘I can see I need to
have a serious talk with you both. Where is your mother?’

‘She is waiting for
you, Father. She said we might be allowed to eat with you,’ Miki whispered in a
small voice.

‘Well, I suppose we
must welcome Sunaomi into our family. You may eat with us. But no more turning
into tigers!’

‘But people are
supposed to feed themselves to tigers,’ Maya said as they walked alongside him.
‘Shigeko told us the story.’ She could not resist whispering to Sunaomi, ‘And
what tigers like best is little boys.’

But Sunaomi had taken
his uncle’s reprimand to heart, and did not respond.

Takeo had intended to
talk to the twins that night, but by the time the meal was over he was aching
with fatigue and longing to be alone with Kaede. The girls behaved impeccably
throughout the meal, were kind to their young cousin and faultlessly polite to
their parents and older sister. He saw they had all his talents for mimicry,
and wondered if that would be sufficient to carry them through a conventional
marriage - even to Sunaomi, for example. Or would they not need to marry, but
be able to use their talents within the Tribe, perhaps eventually taking over
from Shizuka . . .? Certainly Shizuka had had the most freedom of any woman he
had known to make her own decisions - and her actions had changed the course of
history within the Three Countries. Moreover, she had had men as she pleased,
and sons - and now, as head of the Tribe, would wield more power than any other
woman apart from Kaede herself.

He looked up at Kaede
now in the dim lamplight, the familiar curve of her cheekbone just visible, the
outline of her head. She had wrapped her sleeping robe around her and sat
cross-legged on the mattress, her slender limbs faintly white against the
silken bed covers. He lay with his head on her lap, feeling the heat of her
body, remembering how he had lain like this as a child with his mother, with
the same sense of abandonment and trust. She stroked his hair gently, rubbing
up under his neck, dissolving what remained of tension.

They had fallen on
each other as soon as they were alone, hardly speaking, seeking the closeness
and the self-annihilation, always so familiar, always so new and strange, that
came with the act of love. They shared their grief at Kenji’s death, but did
not speak of it, nor of her sense of exclusion from his Tribe secrets or their
anxiety about their daughters, but all these concerns fuelled the wordless
intensity of their passion, and, as always, when the passion receded,
miraculously some healing had taken place: her coolness had evaporated; his
grief seemed bearable; they spoke with no barriers between them.

There was much to
discuss, and first came his suspicions of Zenko and his reasons for taking the
two Arai boys into their household.

‘Surely you will not
adopt them legally?’ Kaede exclaimed.

‘How would you feel
if we did?’

T already feel
towards Sunaomi like my own child -but Shigeko is to be your heir?’

‘There are many
possibilities: a marriage even, when he is old enough. I don’t want to do
anything in a hurry. The longer we can delay a decision, the more likely Zenko
is to come to his senses and calm down. But I am afraid he is being encouraged
by the Emperor and his supporters in the East. We have your kidnapper to thank
for that!’

He told her about his
meeting with Lord Kono. ‘They have labelled me as a criminal. Because Fujiwara
was a nobleman he escapes all censure for his crimes!’

‘Your insistence on a
new system of justice probably terrifies them,’ Kaede observed. ‘For until now
no one has dared judge a man like Fujiwara or call him to account. I knew he
could have me killed on a sudden whim. No one would refuse to obey him, no one
would think he had done wrong. That sense of being owned by a man, of having
less value than a painting or a precious vase - for he would kill a woman with
far greater ease than deliberately destroy one of his treasures - I can hardly
put into words how it sapped my will and paralysed my body. Now in the Three
Countries a woman’s murder is treated as seriously as a man’s, and no one
escapes our justice because of their birth or rank. Our warrior families have accepted
this, but beyond our borders both warriors and noblemen will see it as an
affront.’

‘You remind me how
much there is at stake. I will never abdicate as the Emperor has requested, but
nor do I want us to enter into war. Yet if we are to fight eventually in the
East, the sooner we do so, the better.’ He told her about the problems with
firearms, and Fumio’s mission. ‘Kahei of course thinks we should prepare for
war at once: we have time to mount a campaign before winter. But at Terayama
the Masters all advised against it. They say I should go to the capital next
spring with Shigeko and that magically everything will be solved.’

He was frowning now.
She rubbed her fingers on his forehead, smoothing away the lines.

‘Gemba has a new line
in showy tricks,’ he said. ‘But I think it will take more than that to pacify
the Emperor’s general, Saga Hideki, the Dog Catcher.’

The following day was
spent in making prepara-tions for Kenji’s funeral service, and in dictating
letters. Minoru was kept busy all day, writing to Zenko and Hana to inform them
of Sunaomi’s safe arrival, to Sugita Hiroshi, requesting him to come to Hagi as
soon as possible, to Terada Fumifusa, informing him of Takeo’s return and his
son Fumio’s whereabouts, and finally to Sonoda Mitsuru in Inuyama, telling him
only that no decision had yet been made about the fate of the hostages; it
would be discussed at the coming meeting. Takeo and Minoru were then brought up
to date by Kaede on all the current issues pertaining to the city of Hagi and
its inhabitants, Minoru making careful records of the decisions they came to.
At the end of a long, hot and tiring day, Takeo went to bathe, and sent orders
for his younger daughters to come to him there.

They slipped naked
into the steaming water: they were just beginning to show signs of womanhood,
their bodies no longer childlike, their hair long and thick. They were more
subdued than usual, still apparently unsure if he had forgiven their boisterous
behaviour of the previous day.

‘You look tired,’ he
said. ‘You have been working hard today, I hope.’

‘Shizuka was very
strict today,’ Miki sighed. ‘She says we need more discipline.’

‘And Shigeko made us
do so much writing,’ Maya complained. ‘If I had no fingers like you, Father,
would Lord Minoru do my writing for me?’

‘I had to learn to
write, as you have to,’ he said. ‘And it was harder for me, because I was much
older. The younger you are, the easier it is to learn. Be thankful you have
such good teachers!’