They emerged from the cave into blinding daylight. Suzume lifted her hand to shield her eyes as she looked at the sun’s elevated position in the sky. Kaito was already strolling down a narrow pathway that weaved down the hillside in which the mouth of the cave was set. How long have I been unconscious? Kaito had made no special concessions despite the fact that she had just been sucked dry of her spiritual energy only to have it shoved back into her.
I should zap him to teach him a lesson. She reached for the inner well of power only to find she could not control it. She could feel sense the power, like a slumbering animal but she could not harness it at will unless she was threatened. What kind of power is only around when you’re in danger? She huffed. She stomped down the pathway after Kaito. Since she had stopped to try and access her power, she had fallen behind. She ran a bit to catch up and her feet slipped on loose gravel along the path. She threw her arms out to stop herself from falling.
Despite her failed attempts at reoriented herself her leg slipped out from beneath her on the loose gravel. She changed the angle of her arms preparing for a collision when an arm slipped around her waist. Kaito had caught her and stopped her from falling. He’s always doing that. She scowled.
She pushed him away. “I don’t need your help,” she snarled. He had let her languish in the spider’s nightmare but save her from falling on her rear. Thanks for nothing.
He gave her a half smile. “I can see that.”
She scowled again and stomped past him and down the path. I really wish I could control my powers right about now. Unfortunately the way the path was cut into the hillside each bend turned her back to where she was facing Kaito. He watched her from the pathway above with a half-smile that rankled her.
“What are you smiling about?” She demanded.
His smiled broadened. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
She huffed again and hurried down the path. But yet again as she round a bend she was facing him on the higher pathway looking down at her with a smirk. She lifted her chin and continued without making eye contact.
She suffered through several more switchbacks before reaching the bottom of the hill. Once she was back on flat ground, she hurried her pace to get away from Kaito –at least for a moment. She didn’t want him going too far in case there were more giant spiders lurking about. He may not have helped her out of the spider dream, but he had made a smoking pile out of the spider in the end and that was something she couldn’t do –yet.
He did not seem to sense her need for space, however, and he jogged up to match her pace.
“Are you going to tell me about Akito?” He asked.
She rolled her eyes and didn’t respond. The spider’s dream world had her troubled. Suzume had planned to use Kaito as a means to an end –a way back to the palace and her honored place as the daughter of the emperor. She had wanted to marry general Tsubaki. She missed being the center of court gossip. She missed the flirting with courtiers and being admired in poetry and song. In the dream, she wasn’t content. The romantic notion of Akito had been an exciting twist to her one time reality. The very idea of him was like something out of a story –a soldier who went away to war and ended up with amnesia. He wrote poetry and was still strong enough to protect her. Sounds like an idealized woman’s fantasy. She snorted.
“Something funny?” Kaito asked. He jogged ahead of her and was walking backwards so he could face her. There was no way to avoid his knowing smirk.
“Nothing that I would care to share with you,” she lifted her head imperiously, jutting out her chin.
“Fine, then if you won’t tell me, I’ll fill in the blanks.” He hummed to himself as he tapped his chin. “Akito was a childhood friend, a boy you met by chance when you were young—“ He smiled and Suzume looked away and towards the thick trees that surrounded them. “He was always quiet and mysterious but you couldn’t stay away from him. You watch him go from a stoic boy to a courageous young man and it wasn’t until he was beyond your reach that you knew how you felt about him. Did I get it right?”
Suzume stopped walking and put her hands on her hips. “Akito never existed. I’ve never been in love. Are you happy now? I knew my father would choose for me from the time I was young and I never held onto the illusion of love. In the White Palace, as a woman, your value is in your ability to bear sons and marry well. Love doesn’t come into the equation.”
He appeared momentarily stunned as she stormed past him. Her eyes burned from unshed tears but she told herself it was just left over effects on the spider’s poison. I don’t care about love. I don’t need it. Power is what matters and I can control that.
She didn’t hear his footsteps behind her and she was glad for once he was giving her a reprieve. Suzume kept walking at a determined pace for quite some time until she came upon a roadside shrine. It was made of plain wood a slanted roof and an open front that looked out onto the road. There was a bench beside it where travelers could rest under the shade of a tree with low hanging branches. Since they’d been walking for quite some time, Suzume decided it was time for a rest. Even though she did not want to admit it, the spider attack had taken a lot out of her.
She plopped down on the bench and rubbed her sore feet. I really need to get better shoes and soon. She glanced down at the ground and a pair of sandals lay at her feet. She glanced around in either direction. Where these here before? She shrugged and picked them up. They were thick sandals made of a tight weave without any visible wear.
Why would anyone leave such good sandals here? She shrugged again. Their loss. She discarded her worn sandals by tossing them over her shoulder and put on the new sturdy travel sandals. She wriggled her toes and admired them. Much better.
She sighed and leaned back. From her vantage point she could see inside the shrine. It was a simple alter with a stone statue set in it. The statue itself looked like a fat man with a bald head and a necklace made out of large spheres. Upon closer inspection, it appeared his necklace was made of linked coins. Some locals had left out offerings of rice, cakes and vegetables. A few had lit incense that burned and smoke curled up towards the ceiling of the shrine.
Suzume eyed the shrine. The rice made her stomach rumble. She hadn’t eaten in—well she wasn’t sure how long. The dream food had been nice but it hadn’t actually made its way into her stomach. She glanced down the path from where she had come but Kaito was nowhere to be seen.
I’m starving. I wish I had something to eat. Suzume sighed. Suzume looked down the road in the direction they would be headed, once Kaito caught up, and she spotted a bent over form. She watched as a hobbled old woman came walking down the pathway. She was wearing a plain brown robe and she was bent over at the waist. She leaned heavily on a cane and on her free arm a basket was slung. The blanket over the basket blew back and revealed several large dumplings. Suzume’s stomach growled audibly. She’s probably going to leave that as an offering. Suzume contemplated stealing them once she was gone. Then again her history with shrines hadn’t been a good one. I’d hate to unleash another dragon because I stole his offering. She grimaced at the thought of two Kaitos.
The old woman reached Suzume and the shrine. She nodded in Suzume’s direction and then went inside the shrine and kneeled before the idle. She folded her hands and prayed. Suzume pretending to be enjoying the scenery while watching the old woman from the corner of her eye. As a test, Suzume made a cursory probe into her well of spiritual power but found no change from earlier. It remained dormant despite her proximity to a holy place. The old woman reached into her basket and extracted a few dumplings which she set down before the shrine in a clay jar. She lit a stick of incense and stepped back to admire her offering.
The old woman got to her knees and Suzume pretended to be admiring her nails. They were ragged and dirt was in the beds. She pulled a face looking at them. Never in her life had she had such filthy nails.
The old woman hobbled over to Suzume and stopped in front of her. Suzume glanced up at the old woman and forced a smile. She was never very good with the elderly or children.
“You look hungry,” the old woman said, “here have a dumpling.” She proffered the plump white dumpling. It was still warm and steam was rising off of it.
Suzume raised a skeptical brow in the old woman’s direction. She was offering her the food from her basket. “Isn’t that for your offering?” She asked.
The old woman shook her head and the wisps of her gray hair swung back and forth. “Not all of it. I always bring extra in case I run across a hungry traveler. We get quite a few merchants who come through this area from time to time.” She took Suzume’s hand and placed the dumpling in her hand. “Enjoy.”
The old woman hobbled away without another word. Suzume stared at the dumpling in her hand. Its warmth seemed to run up her arm. She was beginning to wonder if she hadn’t escaped the spider dream at all and now she was trapped in some kind of world where her every desire was instantly met.
“There you are,” Kaito called out to her.
Suzume glanced up to see him a few feet away, grinning just as he was before.
Suzume prepared herself for the torment. My life would be so much easier if he were more like Akito from my dream.
As he approached her, his expression changed suddenly. “Suzume, you shouldn’t wander off like that.”
She frowned. “You left me in a cave with a spider who wanted to eat me and now you’re worried about me getting ahead of you? You should get your priorities in line.”
He cradled her hand in his. Suzume glanced up at him with a skeptical brow –not unlike the one she’d given the dumpling lady. What game is he playing?
“Beautiful Maiden
With hair like the ebony night
How I adore her”
Suzume snorted. “What. Was that?”
“A poem inspired by your beauty, my dearest one.”
Suzume’s eyes grew large as she looked at the dumpling in her hand and the shoes on her feet then at Kaito who was staring at her with a simpering expression. Oh, no, what have I done?