The next tutor came in after lunch. Narumi didn’t talk much while eating, and Kuro was happy he could have his food downstairs instead of in his sickbed. Rice, pickles, soups, fish roasted over coals, eggs, and vegetables served along with lotus roots and maple leaves, and all of it served in delicate little lacquer bowls.
Brother’s a genius in mathematics now, he thought. After doing nothing but sleep in bed. She must feel a little miffed.
But during the next tutor’s lessons, Kuro couldn’t say anything. For he knew nothing. Everything that he thought he knew were like large holes in the surface of a tapestry. It was like looking down in a pit of fog inside his memory.
The tutor was an old and stocky woman, with her hair in curls of brown. In her walk was an elegance that only comes from old age kept sharp with an active curiosity. She had a timeless beauty to her, which, even though she did look plain, bore her semblance to something or someone of great power and poise.
“I had thought it was a rumour, but oh by the blessed emperor, you are awake!” she said as she walked in. “I had feared this day would never come. It’s as if all our prayers to the bosatsu have come through. I used to teach you myself, young master, not so long ago.”
“Thank you,” Kuro said. “Although… if you would forgive me, but, I can’t–”
“Remember,” she said. “Most extraordinary. I heard from the doctor. I’ll introduce myself, anew. I am Fumino Tawara, your old teacher of bungaku. But, I was told yesterday that perhaps your memory might come back after you’ve had a few days to familiarize yourself with the house. Miss Narumi, where does the name of the manor come from?”
“The poem Dream of the Violet Meadows,” Narumi said. “Where the poet Rikado Muramasa talks about his homecoming, back from his years of meditations.”
“Well done,” she said, and gave her a beaming smile. “Spring Breeze Hall. Really good place for meditation. Now, why don’t we start with our lessons. Kuro-sama could watch us, if Kuro-sama wants to. Perhaps it will help you with feeling a little bit like yourself?”
In the evening, Kuro and Narumi walked five minutes into the garden. He could use the crutch much better today, but, just after crossing the Springfire Bloom, every step he took came out of him with a grunt. But he was obstinate.
Fuck this leg.
The path continued as a wooden walkway beyond the red painted arch bridge. Beyond that, a small rivulet flowed in a noisy cascade down a step of stones at the end of which was a pond, and Kuro saw Koi swimming deep in it. They sat there on a bench inside a simple garden pavilion.
Beyond the pond the wooden path continued, and got lost between other shrubs, and green empty lawns. In the distance, all this became shadows on side of hills that rose up to then become steep sides of mountains, beyond which they were just sheer walls of rock, and those froze and wore upon them a dusting of snow and ice.
The sun was setting beyond the mountains, and their shadows made every colour look like a choice from a gradient of grey and black.
Narumi threw a piece of bread to the Koi, which leapt up and finished chewing it even before it had time to properly settle on the water. Kuro massaged his thighs and sat on the bench.
“You know, I didn’t know a thing about what you and Mrs. Kawara were talking about.”
“Sensei”, she said.
“Yeah. I didn’t know any of those poets, nor any of those stories. It was like you two were in a world of your own.”
“Like you and Furuichi-sensei. Though, I think he had no idea what you were talking about. I didn’t know you were that good, Kuro-nii.”
“Neither did I”
She moved across the bench and snuggled up to him. They sat like two satisfied cats at the end of an afternoon nap, except Kuro kept massaging his thigh and calves. He saw Ylinat on sitting behind them, on the wooden fencing surrounding the platform.
Kurocchi? No. Camouflage. Right, I must forget about that name. Why do I keep remembering it?
Suddenly, Narumi spotted him. “Kurocchiiiii!” She screamed, and then he was grabbed and cuddled, and swung around in circles, and his fur was tousled up through her hands and fingers. From between her arms, Kuro spotted the face of this mysterious entity who could talk directly inside his head.
Help me, the cat said.
Kuro burst out laughing. And they sat there till the horizon was streaked red, and the first stars had sprung up with their lights from the darkness of the night.
“Thank you, Jun,” he said, as the stately man helped him undress, and lowered him into the hot bath tub.
“Ring the bell, and Shou will come running to help you again. I must go and make some preparations, at once.”
He looked at the bell, and after thanking him again, dipped his entire head below the hot steaming water. The steam had fogged the bathing room. He lay in the bath thinking.
Things might be watching. Camouflage.
What things? Why did he need to hide, and from whom? What things could probably be looking to harm him?
And if they were going to harm him, that put Narumi into the line of danger. And that was not acceptable. He would not let harm come to her.
You can do maths, sure. Better than what your stupid memories recall, yes. That’s not going to protect her. And you sure as hell can’t protect her with this stupid foot.
But, since he didn’t know anything about the mysterious things, he had no choice but to recover, and see if whatever these new powers were came also with abilities to fight.
Shou was very good at giving him privacy, and he was grateful about it. He wore his clothes sitting. And after the undercloth it was just a series of robes. A robe, followed by a jacket - padded woolen one. It was getting really cold outside, but at least his room had an iron brazier.
After Shou transferred him to his bed and bid him goodbye, Narumi hopped in about a minute later, followed by the two cats, and a gust of a cold air.
“Kurocchi almost pulled me here!” She hopped inside the warm quilt with him. “I think it might snow tonight. First snow of the autumn!”
“Does it snow a lot here?”
“Yes. Of course. Look at the mountains, and look how close we are to it. It snows here I think the most out of all the provinces of the Empire.”
“You know a lot about geography and the Empire, and history and literature. It’s quite amazing.”
She jumped up and put her head on his right shoulder, and breathed a long tired sigh. “I know,” she said.
So, there he was, sitting on the bed, resting his back against cushions, and the Spring Breeze Hall was quiet. The sound was that of the cats moving inside the quilt, of the burning wood inside the brazier. He could feel from the side of his chest the vibrations of her heart.
Snow was falling outside. It was quiet.
This is nice.
He had never felt like this before. Perhaps once. Memories bubbled up. Perhaps once, he did. Then, never again. He saw darkness, a pervading sense of unease, then laughter that seemed to be his own, and then not his own, ringing from the skies. He was a conqueror! He was powerful. Things - or were those people - ran away at his approach.
He let his thoughts run through, even though he didn’t know where they were coming from.
But … this. This is what should have been. What does power hold in front of completeness?
I am happy, Ylinat.
I am happy to have you back, my lord, the cat said from near his foot.
Blue moonlight streamed through the windows. It was a full moon outside. The orange from his right, the blue from the left. Narumi seemed to have drifted into sleep.
And then, more memories bubbled from darkness - a gaping void. Rush of an all pervading thunder.
Azaemon.
That name, Ylinat hissed. That name is not safe. And not to be taken.
What? Why?
“What are you whispering?” Narumi said, from his chest.
She is perceptive, Ylinat said.
“Nothing,” he said.
“Stop mumbling then, I’m trying to sleep.”
“Okay.”
She rolled towards him more, hugging him like a he was a large plush toy.
One of the things that watch?
You may think that way, yes. Perhaps it watches, perhaps not.
They will bring harm to her.
Not just her, my lord.
She is important. So are you, and Mimi, and this house. This is my life now. I don’t know why I’m your ‘lord’, nor why I have these abilities. I need to know who or what will harm this. Yli - Kurocchi?
Yes, I will help you. But now, we must bide our time. We must know and search and learn and –
“Can you both please stop?” Narumi mumbled.
There was not a sound made for a while. Was she asleep? Was that sleep talk? She didn’t say another word, and kept breathing steadily, like a child asleep. At the foot of the bed, Kuro’s eyes kept darting around, flickering green in the darkness.
She can hear us?
Impossible. This is safe. It’s only between you and I!
I don’t know anything about this power. I just rolled with the hand that was given to me in the beginning. I need to learn, Kurocchi!
But, now you understand my trepidations? Listen well my lord, there is some mischief going on in Hisaka. That’s why we must be camouflaged and call ourselves by–
Narumi got up.
Her hair fell over her eyes. She yawned. “Are you talking to Kurocchi? Are you out of your mind, nii-san? Are you out of mind, Kurocchi?”
And she got up from him, and fell back down on her pillow. And then she was fast asleep. All within a minute.
W-w-what- Ylinat stuttered. What ridiculous power! To wake up and sleep like that!
Kuro put a finger to his lips to keep him from waking her again. And he settled down, rolling to his side, looking out of the window into the cold darkness.
But within a few more minutes, she woke him up.
“Kuro-nii!” she shouted, shaking him. “Kuro-nii, something is happening!”
There were noises coming from the sprawling outdoors. The creak of wood, and the thud of many steps. People were waking up, this late beyond midnight. He heard Jun give a shout of surprise. And the steps kept hurrying up wooden stairs and its sound was almost on the first floor.
Whatever comes, you will attack
As you command.
His foot started aching, just as the door slid open. A burst of pain shot up is leg. But he would fight. He would protect.
A burst of cold air hit his face, and he couldn’t see who it was.
