The Heavenward Path (16 page)

    "Good."

    "I come on behalf of this one who is yet alive." Jizo stepped aside and gently urged me forward.

    "You!" said Lord Emma-O.

    "Begging my Lord's pardon," I said, bowing very low. "But you did invite me to appear and press my case, and so I have."

    The Judge of the Dead looked back and forth between Jizo and me, scowling and chewing on a strand of his coarse beard. "Had I known you would bring him as your advocate, I would have reconsidered the invitation. Very well. Let us get this over with." He turned to one of the guardian oni, who handed him his two-headed staff. He pounded this on the dais three times and called out "
Chomigoto-san
!"

    There was a crackle of lightning beside the dais, and the spirit of Lord Chomigoto appeared. He looked around wild- eyed and astonished. "What is the meaning of this, O-sama? You promised me I could haunt the Upper World as long as I chose!"

    "Someone brings a charge against you, and you are called to answer it." Lord Emma-O pointed at me.

    "You!" Lord Chomigoto shouted at me. He huffed and puffed so in his anger and surprise that I found it quite difficult not to laugh. I could see why the tengu called him Old Blowhard. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you in Tamba Province rebuilding my shrine?"

    "It is that very matter," said Jizo mildly, "that we have come to discuss. Namely, have you the right to make such demands of this young girl?"

    Lord Chomigoto's eyes went even wider, and he stepped back. "A bosatsu! Surely, Holy One, you must understand." He pointed at me. "She made the sacred promise, with sakaki leaves! She swore upon the kami of her clan!"

    "As I understand it," said Jizo, "her promise was merely to repair the small shrine in which she had taken refuge. Nothing more."

    "She is Nakatomi!" cried Lord Chomigoto. "They helped the Yamato usurp my throne! They owe me!"

    "And what," said Jizo, "do you owe to the clan whom your people destroyed so that you could take the throne from them?"

    Lord Chomigoto balled his fists. "That is different. They were weak. Unworthy."

    Lord Emma-O thumped the floor of his dais with his staff. "That is also not relevant to the matter before us," he said. "Chomigoto-san, you are becoming an embarrassment to me. I begin to regret allowing you to return to the Upper World. I am beginning to consider dismissing the gimmu you have placed upon this girl."

    I felt a smile begin inside me, but I did not let it reach my face.

    "I must have my vengeance, O-sama!" shouted Lord Chomigoto. "At least let me curse the clan who plundered my tomb, Lord Tsubushima and his relatives."

    The Judge of the Dead scratched his coarse beard thoughtfully. "There is some justice in what you suggest."

    I began to nod in agreement, when I realized that the Tsubushima clan now included my sister. "No, O-sama!" I flung myself to the ground before his dais. "Or if you must allow it, please spare Tsubushima no Riko, for his wife is my sister Sotoko, and she is blameless!"

    "I cannot start allowing exceptions," said Lord Emma-O, "if he wishes to curse the entire clan."

    "Then please, I beg you, do not allow him that curse!"

    "How bothersome," sighed Lord Emma-O. "This matter is becoming complicated. You realize that if I relieve you of the gimmu, then we must deal with that other matter of your prior trespassing in my chamber uninvited."

    Jizo looked sharply down at me. "You did not mention this. Is it true?"

    "Yes. Forgive me," I said. "I did not wish to burden you with my past troubles. But, two years ago, I sought my eldest sister's husband's soul here. It is a long story."

    "You see?" said Lord Chomigoto. "She is a liar as well as a promise breaker."

    "Silence!" said Lord Emma-O. "You have had your turn to speak, Chomigoto-san. Now. How shall we untangle this knot, Jizo-bosatsu? What, in your opinion, is the wise and merciful thing?"

    "Perhaps, my Lord," said Jizo, "we should hold Mitsuko-san to her promise after all, even as Lord Chomigoto has embellished it. To be merciful, however, let us bargain it down to two of the three demands, asking only that they need not be completed in a hurry. For any two of the three should be enough to occupy her, say, a lifetime?" He glanced toward the dais, and he and Lord Emma-O seemed to exchange a look of understanding.

    I was distressed that my fate was being decided without anyone asking what I wanted. Had the admission of my trespassing turned Jizo against me? Yet I dared not speak up, lest I ruin what little chance for hope I had.

    "That is a fair and wise compromise," said Lord Emma-O. "Which two do you suggest, Jizo?"

    "Let us say the replenishment of the tomb and the gathering of the descendants of his worshipers." Jizo turned to Lord Chomigoto. "For those are the most difficult. Will that satisfy you?"

    "Hmmm," said Lord Chomigoto. "Once my worshipers are gathered, they can build me a worthy shrine. Very well. I accept your compromise."

    I stood up and shook the dust off the sleeves and skirts of my kimonos. I did not look at Jizo for fear I would burst into tears. "If you feel that is best," I murmured, "then I will also agree."

    "Then let it be done!" proclaimed Lord Emma-O. He pounded the dais with his staff. "Chomigoto-san, you may return to your haunts."

    The spirit of the wizard-king smiled at me, a most cruel and unpleasant smile. "I thank you, O-sama. Again your ruling shines as a testament to your eternal wisdom." The shade bowed deeply to the Judge of the Dead and then vanished.

    "Jizo-bosatsu," said Lord Emma-O. "Return your charge to Heian Kyo, so that she may begin the task of satisfying the gimmu laid upon her. Swiftly. Her presence is disturbing."

    Jizo-bosatsu bowed, as did I, and he gently began to lead me away from the dais. "Forgive me," he said softly. "I did not know about your prior… problem. To carry out his sentence for your transgression, Lord Emma-O would have had to end your life and claim your soul. I felt that by allowing you to take on the debt to Lord Chomigoto, you might yet at least have a long life. During that time, you might do enough holy work that I and other bosatsu could intercede again for you and keep you from O-sama's wrath. So shoulder your burden, but proceed slowly so that you may yet have time to save yourself."

    Though his words did not cheer me, at least I now understood that Jizo had not turned against me but was doing his best to help me. "Ah. I see," I said. "Thank you."

    Suddenly, the whole cavern began to shake, and a deep pounding rumble echoed all around us.

    "Earthquake," I whispered, and I looked around wondering where I should run to.

    Lord Emma-O's eyes glowed red. "Susano-wo?" he shouted.

    "Ai yi yi yi yi yi yi yi!" High-pitched cries split the air, and black winged creatures spilled out of the holes in the walls and wheeled and dove in the air.

    "The tengu!" I cried, astonished. "Why have they come?"

    The tengu circled lower, and one of them had a girl on his back. It was Suzume! And she was throwing well-aimed pine- cones at the horse-headed oni. From her wide grin and shouts of glee, she seemed to be enjoying herself mightily.

    A tengu landed beside me. "Mitsuko! Get on!"

    "Goranu?"

    "Who else, silly? We're rescuing you."

    "But-"

    "No buts. Get on!"

    I looked at Jizo, but the bosatsu was trying to keep between me and two very angry oni. I gathered my kimonos and jumped onto Goranu's back.

    "Ooof! You get heavier every time. Ai yi yi yi yi!" He leaped into the air with a mighty flapping of wings, and we flew down a low tunnel, narrowly missing a huge man with wild hair who was pounding on drums with great mallets. He nodded to us and winked at me as we passed.

    "So you went to your Esteemed Ancestor, Susano-wo, after all!"

    "Well, I had to, didn't I? I slipped into the conference at Izumo and made him feel guilty for getting you in trouble with Lord Emma-O."

    "You were at Izumo?"

    "I followed you and Kai-Lung there. You didn't think I was going to let you get into
too
much trouble, did you? What kind of a teacher do you think I am?"

    The tunnel bent upward, and up, up we flew until we came out of a fissure in the earth. All the other tengu had followed behind us, a cloud of black birds erupting into the sky. The sun was beginning to rise, and the sky was filled with glorious shades of gold and purple. We flew over a mountain ridge, and there before us was the tengu village, a huge bonfire burning in the center.

    We landed very near it, and there were tengu, male and female, dancing around the fire, singing and beating on little drums and striking little bells.

    "Is this some sort of celebration?" I asked Goranu as I slid off his back.

    "That's right!"

    "For what?"

    "You."

    "Me?"

    "You got Kai-Lung to fly you to Izumo."

    "Well, yes, but-"

    "You faced Old Blowhard and made a fool of him in front of Lord Emma-O!"

    "Yes, but-"

    "No buts! You have passed the test of Tengu-Do."

    Someone came up behind me and put a cloak around my shoulders. It was made of black feathers.

    Goranu walked up close to me, his eyes shining. "Mitsu- chan. I am so very proud of you." He placed his cheek against mine and, very briefly, put his arms around me and held me.

    Then, laughing, he danced away, hooting and cavorting with the rest of the tengu around the bonfire.

    Well. I sank to my knees, feeling very much as if I resembled my nickname.

    

    
The icebound puddle

    
now melts with the warmth of fires

    
without and within.

    

    I sighed as tears of joy ran down my face.

    

    

    
A plum tree in bloom high on a steep cliff. My gaze is captivated.

    

    I awoke many hours later knowing that I had had the most wonderful dreams, though I could not remember them. It did not matter that I was waking up in a dilapidated tengu hut. Or that the first thing I saw was Suzume handing me a bowl of brown rice with bugs in it.

    "I tried to pick most of them out for you," Suzume said, "but I'm sure I missed some. Do you want it anyway? Kuroihane told me this is what tengu eat for breakfast, but he might have been joking." I noticed she was even dressed like some of the tengu, black trousers and black hapi jacket.

    I set the bowl aside, not feeling hungry. "Good morning. If it is morning. Do you know what hour it is?"

    "No, but it's after noon. We're keeping tengu hours now, too, I see."

    "So it would seem."

    After a pause, Suzume said, "So. Did you sort everything out with Lord Emma-O?"

    "Yes." I sighed. "In a way."

    "So. I suppose you will be wanting to go home soon."

    "Home?" For a moment I was disoriented. "Oh. You mean to Heian Kyo." I was suddenly reminded that I had another life, beyond tengu and dragons and the Lord of the Dead. I had a father waiting for me, and possibly a betrothal to an eleven-year- old prince. I had the obligations to Lord Chomigoto to discharge, as slowly as possible. I looked down at the rough floorboards of the tengu hut. "Yes, I suppose I must."

    Suzume sat silently for many moments. Then she said, "Lady Puddle, I have something to ask. Would you… would you mind terribly if… would you permit it if… I did not return with you?"

    "What? What are you saying?"

    "I don't want to go back! I want to stay here, with the tengu!" She glared at me as if daring me to argue with her.

    "Suzume," I said as gently as possible, "listen to how foolish you are being. We have no place here. These are not our people. Look how they live." I gestured at the primitive hut. "How can you wish to stay?"

    "Of course you do not understand. You are used to being surrounded by nice things and behaving in stuffy ways. This place wouldn't suit you at all. But, don't you see, the tengu are so… happy. So wild and free. Tengu never worry about which kimono goes with which, or who is of what rank, or what kind of simpering poems to send to each other."

    "But I thought you wanted to go to Court, Suzume."

    She gazed out through the doorway. "I used to. Now that I have learned Tengu-Do, I see that all the finery and cultivated manners of you Good People is just foolishness."

    I should have been insulted. Yet I could not be angry, for I understood. "It is not so much Tengu-Do, is it, but Kuroihane that makes you want to stay?"

    "Well… well… and what's wrong with that?" she demanded.

    "Suzume, haven't they told you? The… mixing of mortal and tengu is forbidden. They would never allow you to stay here."

    Suzume balled her hands into fists and shut her eyes very tight as if to hold back tears. I reached over and put my hand on her arm. "I am sad to leave, too, Suzume. A part of me would like to stay. But it cannot be. You will forget Kuroihane in time. At Court you could easily find others to love-"

    "Love!" Suzume snatched her arm away. "My mama told me about love at Court. Mama said a Court lady's serving-maid has to be careful because any nobleman who wants her can come creeping into a girl's chamber and… spend the night whether she wants him there or not. And if she acts unfriendly, things can go badly for her career."

    "If she acts too friendly," I said, thinking of Kiwako, "it can be unfortunate, as well."