Chapter 19
Spring, 1237 – Seawatch Castle
Seawatch Castle. Where the Crane had sent their embarrassments for many centuries. The blue sky here met the gray sea in endless curls of white foam that beat against the dark cliffs. The keep had been damaged in the tsunami that had ravaged Crane lands, so there was no place to escape the sound of the waves against the shore, even in his dreams.
Harun was dreaming.
Behind him, the ocean lapped a sandy shoreline. Before him the jungle was a solid wall of green, as impenetrable as Kaiu Kabe, as obscure as the mountains. As he walked towards it, its curtain parted slightly, and emerging from it a small figure, clothed in the pure white of death.
A white veil hung over her head, masking her face and hair completely. It could not conceal the curves of a female form. It not hide the cloth of white and gold that surrounded the figure’s waist, leaving the belly bare, or the chains of gold and jewels that encircled her hips. The figure cradled two katana in her arms. One was slender, wrapped with blue in a pearl-white saya. It looked familiar…Harun had seen that sword in the ancestral shrine of his aunt Kyoumi and uncle Kousuda’s home in Otosan Uchi. The other, however, had tsuka, tsuba, and tassel all of fiery orange, with a saya of purest copper tipped with small gold flames. It shone with an unearthly silver light that sent flickers across the white veil that shrouded the figure’s features.
He heard her voice, Arahime’s voice. “Harun-kun!” She sounded very far away.
He stepped closer. Could it be her? “Arahime-chan?”
She took a step towards him and suddenly she was very, very close. He could see the ornate jewels that crossed her brow, holding the veil in place. He could see more jewels on her hands, with rings on her fingers attached to chains that extended to bracelets at her wrists. He could hear her soft breathing, feel the warmth of her presence. He reached forward to touch the veil that hid her face, then gripped it and lifted it up.
She looked up at him. Those same wide almond eyes, gray as the sea on a cloudy day. Hair as white as the sea foam at the crest of the waves. But completely alien too. Around her neck, a heavy collar of diamonds and emeralds, ivory and jade, lavish with gold. And in one side of her nose, a large but delicate ring of pure gold, decorated with tiny pearls, attached by a chain to her hair above her ears. In her ears, earrings, ornate with jewels, hung.
He staggered back, completely shocked, “Arahime?” he asked again.
The one he thought he had always known gave a small, mysterious smile, reaching up to touch his hand with hers. “I am not dead. Please don’t forget me. I’m alive! I promised I would come back and I will. I’m trying to get back.”
At her words, he reached forward to grab her, to make sure she could not escape him, to make sure he would not lose her for even one more moment. But even as reached out, she disappeared in his arms like an illusion of mist and magic, the creation of one of his aunt Kyoumi’s stories.
“Remember me.”
Her words lingered on the sultry air. But his hand grasped at nothing. She was gone.
She’s alive!
Harun awoke before dawn. The first real smile on his face for the for the first time in months. His hand still fresh from the touch of Arahime’s hand. She was different, not just the gaijin jewelry she wore, but she looked thinner, harder. She looked as if she had been through a great ordeal, she had survived but it had changed her.
And it was that, more than anything else, that convinced Harun that this wasn’t just a dream borne out of his own desires and fancies. That convinced him that Arahime was still alive. And that he had been right all along.
The question now, of course, was what to do about it.
His first instinct was to start a letter to his Aunt Kyoumi. Surely this would lighten the load of her new duties as the Voice of the Emperor. But he had scarcely put his brush on the page when he stopped.
How could he explain this properly? It seemed so silly when he tried to write it down. Harun knew that Arahime was alive, but somehow he couldn’t translate conviction onto paper.
And there was another reason he couldn’t say anything. He had promised his Uncle Kousuda that he would never speak of Arahime to Kyoumi. And even though things had changed, that he was now certain Arahime was alive, this wasn’t enough to break the promise he had made. Not when it still could cause so much pain.
Harun put down his brush.
Outside, the sun was rising above the sea. Another day was beginning at Seawatch Castle. Harun carried around the secret inside him without saying a word. However, more than once he caught himself thinking back to the previous winter. When he had been at Kyuden Hida. And remembering a conversation he had had with Lord Shibatsu, brother of the Emperor and Champion of the Spider Clan.
Spring, 1237 – Seawatch Castle
Seawatch Castle. Where the Crane had sent their embarrassments for many centuries. The blue sky here met the gray sea in endless curls of white foam that beat against the dark cliffs. The keep had been damaged in the tsunami that had ravaged Crane lands, so there was no place to escape the sound of the waves against the shore, even in his dreams.
Harun was dreaming.
Behind him, the ocean lapped a sandy shoreline. Before him the jungle was a solid wall of green, as impenetrable as Kaiu Kabe, as obscure as the mountains. As he walked towards it, its curtain parted slightly, and emerging from it a small figure, clothed in the pure white of death.
A white veil hung over her head, masking her face and hair completely. It could not conceal the curves of a female form. It not hide the cloth of white and gold that surrounded the figure’s waist, leaving the belly bare, or the chains of gold and jewels that encircled her hips. The figure cradled two katana in her arms. One was slender, wrapped with blue in a pearl-white saya. It looked familiar…Harun had seen that sword in the ancestral shrine of his aunt Kyoumi and uncle Kousuda’s home in Otosan Uchi. The other, however, had tsuka, tsuba, and tassel all of fiery orange, with a saya of purest copper tipped with small gold flames. It shone with an unearthly silver light that sent flickers across the white veil that shrouded the figure’s features.
He heard her voice, Arahime’s voice. “Harun-kun!” She sounded very far away.
He stepped closer. Could it be her? “Arahime-chan?”
She took a step towards him and suddenly she was very, very close. He could see the ornate jewels that crossed her brow, holding the veil in place. He could see more jewels on her hands, with rings on her fingers attached to chains that extended to bracelets at her wrists. He could hear her soft breathing, feel the warmth of her presence. He reached forward to touch the veil that hid her face, then gripped it and lifted it up.
She looked up at him. Those same wide almond eyes, gray as the sea on a cloudy day. Hair as white as the sea foam at the crest of the waves. But completely alien too. Around her neck, a heavy collar of diamonds and emeralds, ivory and jade, lavish with gold. And in one side of her nose, a large but delicate ring of pure gold, decorated with tiny pearls, attached by a chain to her hair above her ears. In her ears, earrings, ornate with jewels, hung.
He staggered back, completely shocked, “Arahime?” he asked again.
The one he thought he had always known gave a small, mysterious smile, reaching up to touch his hand with hers. “I am not dead. Please don’t forget me. I’m alive! I promised I would come back and I will. I’m trying to get back.”
At her words, he reached forward to grab her, to make sure she could not escape him, to make sure he would not lose her for even one more moment. But even as reached out, she disappeared in his arms like an illusion of mist and magic, the creation of one of his aunt Kyoumi’s stories.
“Remember me.”
Her words lingered on the sultry air. But his hand grasped at nothing. She was gone.
She’s alive!
Harun awoke before dawn. The first real smile on his face for the for the first time in months. His hand still fresh from the touch of Arahime’s hand. She was different, not just the gaijin jewelry she wore, but she looked thinner, harder. She looked as if she had been through a great ordeal, she had survived but it had changed her.
And it was that, more than anything else, that convinced Harun that this wasn’t just a dream borne out of his own desires and fancies. That convinced him that Arahime was still alive. And that he had been right all along.
The question now, of course, was what to do about it.
His first instinct was to start a letter to his Aunt Kyoumi. Surely this would lighten the load of her new duties as the Voice of the Emperor. But he had scarcely put his brush on the page when he stopped.
How could he explain this properly? It seemed so silly when he tried to write it down. Harun knew that Arahime was alive, but somehow he couldn’t translate conviction onto paper.
And there was another reason he couldn’t say anything. He had promised his Uncle Kousuda that he would never speak of Arahime to Kyoumi. And even though things had changed, that he was now certain Arahime was alive, this wasn’t enough to break the promise he had made. Not when it still could cause so much pain.
Harun put down his brush.
Outside, the sun was rising above the sea. Another day was beginning at Seawatch Castle. Harun carried around the secret inside him without saying a word. However, more than once he caught himself thinking back to the previous winter. When he had been at Kyuden Hida. And remembering a conversation he had had with Lord Shibatsu, brother of the Emperor and Champion of the Spider Clan.
