The sailors each had their own residences or inns that they frequented on Je Island, so they were to stay there until it was time to go back. After all, no one had a clue how many days it would take for Jusetsu and her companions to track down the missing half of the Raven and defeat the ao god.
“Let’s start by saying hello to the foreign trade director,” said Jusetsu, intending on heading to the port town—but Shinshin started kicking up a fuss in her arms and broke free.
“Come here, Shinshin,” she called out, reaching out to grab the bird, but it was too late. It had already flown away.
Shinshin soared over the pine forest that stretched along the coast and disappeared from sight. Jusetsu and her assistants chased after the bird together.
Around the bend from the pine forest was another beach. A young boy with a diminutive build and tanned skin stood there, dressed in hempen clothing. Just as Shinshin was about to dive into his arms, Jusetsu and the others caught a glimpse of his face. They all gasped in astonishment.
“Ishiha!”
He might have been wearing different attire, but it was undeniably him.
Ishiha had spotted Jusetsu and her assistants too. He was standing bolt upright with Shinshin in his arms, his eyes wide.
“So, this is where you’ve been.”
Ever since Ishiha had been kidnapped by the ao god, his location had been impossible to trace. Had he come to this island with the ao god?
“You haven’t been injured, have you?” Jusetsu asked.
“No, niangniang,” Ishiha replied. “I… I’m sorry I wasn’t able to come home.” He cast his eyes downward, looking apologetic.
“It’s fine. I understand. I’m sure the ao god was there breathing down your neck.”
“The ao god…demanded that we locate the Raven’s missing half. If we didn’t, then…”
“Then what?”
“He’d eat us.” Ishiha looked like he was about to cry.
Jusetsu frowned. I see, she thought. The ao god is far more cunning than the Raven—and far more tenacious too.
“Who do you mean by ‘us’?” inquired Tankai.
Ishiha turned toward him. “Me and Ayura,” he clarified.
“Ayura… Wasn’t she a childhood friend of yours?” asked Onkei, narrowing his eyes as he retraced his memory.
Ishiha nodded.
“She’s the girl Hakurai was calling Injo, isn’t she? The one that he brought with him,” said Jusetsu.
She’d heard this from Koshun. Ishiha nodded again, confirming that she was correct.
“Ayura said that she could hear the god’s voice—but she had to be near water to be able to hear it…” Ishiha glanced nervously around him.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been trying to find her. She keeps disappearing lately. That man Hakurai vanished too—along with Shiki…”
“Shiki? Reiko Shiki?!” Jusetsu exclaimed in astonishment.
“Yes, that’s him,” replied Ishiha, shocked by Jusetsu’s reaction. “I think he got caught up in the eruption when he was out at sea and ended up washing up at the beach… I helped pull him out and carry him, alongside all the sea swallows.”
Sensing Jusetsu’s alarm, he hurriedly added, “He’s fine now though. All three of them.”
“All three?”
“Um, yes. Him, Senri, and Cho.”
Senri!
Jusetsu didn’t know who this “Cho” was, but she assumed he must have been a local from Je Island. Jusetsu was so relieved to hear that Senri was safe that her legs felt as if they were going to give way.
“I’m so happy to hear that…” she said.
“Senri spent a long time in bed with a fever, but he’s woken up now. He’s doing well.”
“Where is he?” Onkei asked.
“At Jo’s house. He’s a sea merchant with a really big home…”
“Take us there,” Jusetsu commanded.
Ishiha gave her a nod and started walking ahead. As they were making their way to the Jo family residence, Ishiha explained how he’d ended up on Je Island, how the sea swallows had taken care of him, and how Senri had seemed when he was rescued.
“There’s an old lady from the Sho lineage who made a really good decoction for him, and Jo prepared a warm bed for him right away. They both seemed to know him, so they were very kind.”
“Is that so?”
Whatever the case may have been, Jusetsu was just glad that he was all right—although she couldn’t fully put her mind at ease until she saw him with her own eyes. The slope they were walking up was quite steep, but Jusetsu was in such a hurry that she simply didn’t care. It wasn’t until they arrived at the Jo family residence and Jusetsu saw Senri sitting up in bed that she realized how out of breath she actually was. She was drenched in sweat too.
“Raven Consort!”
Senri’s topknot had been undone and his hair was tied loosely together. He was dressed in a comfortable-looking cotton robe. He did seem tired, but he didn’t look exceedingly pale. He was holding a bowl containing an extremely bitter-smelling medicinal decoction.
“Are you…all right?” asked Jusetsu, unsure what she was supposed to say.
Senri grinned at her. “I’m just fine,” he replied. “What about you? I see that you’ve awoken from your slumber.”
“I woke up around the time that I received your letter. It’s funny—I woke up, and then it was your turn to fall asleep!”
Senri gave her a friendly smile.
“Did you manage to sail over from Ko Province? What about the eruption?” he asked.
“The Owl has quelled it. The sea god from the Palace of Paradise is the instigator. No—in fact, it’s the ao god who’s really to blame.”
Jusetsu walked up to Senri and sat down at his bedside. Onkei and Tankai waited at the entrance to the room.
“Anyway… I’m just glad that you’re alive and well.”
Jusetsu let out a sigh and wiped the sweat from her brow with her hand. Senri offered her a handkerchief that had been sitting on his tray.
“Let’s get you some water,” he said, giving Onkei and Tankai a meaningful signal with his eyes.
Immediately grasping what Senri wanted from him, Onkei slipped outside and returned a short time later with a water jug and some rice gruel.
“The old lady in the kitchen said you should eat this, To.”
“Oh, you must be talking about Sho. Thank you very much.”
The sticky gruel appeared to have boiled chicken mixed into it.
“Sho is the descendant of a shrine maiden clan from Je Island,” Senri explained. “Her clan was mentioned in some of our records.”
“Oh, yes… They managed to stop that eruption.”
“Is the sea god from the Palace of Paradise in the ocean surrounding Je Island, then? That suggests that the sea god that the people of Je Island worship must be the same one.”
“This island lies on a border, it seems. Between the Secluded Palace and the Palace of Paradise,” Jusetsu told him.
“The border, you say? I didn’t know such a concept existed… How utterly fascinating.”
This was definitely the same old Senri that Jusetsu knew so well. He was always riveted by these sorts of revelations.
“Anyone would be angry to have their turf infringed upon. That’s why the eruption occurred. We must defeat the sea god right away—the Owl has offered himself up as collateral.” Jusetsu explained the promise the Owl had made to the sea god.
Upon hearing this, Senri frowned. “Then we must get our hands on the Raven’s missing half right away,” he said.
“It does seem like it’s on this island…”
“Oh, about that…” Senri glanced toward the entrance once again. “Is Ishiha around?”
“He’s in the garden. I’ll go and call him,” responded Tankai, before slipping away.
Ishiha soon showed up, Shinshin in his arms. “You called for me?” he said.
“Ishiha. Can you tell the Raven Consort what happened when you saved us?”
“All right,” he obliged, although the way he kept blinking suggested he was somewhat confused by this request. He let go of Shinshin and politely walked over to Jusetsu.
“I heard that story earlier,” she told Senri.
“But you didn’t hear the part about the black sword, did you?”
“What?” The black sword—that was the missing part of the Raven. “What are you talking about?” she asked.
“Umm, it was Natari who saw it, not me, but…” Ishiha began. Natari was, as he went on to explain, a young sea swallow boy. “That man, Hakurai, he picked up a black sword that washed up on the shore. It had no sheath and a black blade, so it really stuck in Natari’s memory…”
Hakurai has it?
In other words, the missing part of the Raven had come into the ao god’s possession.
Jusetsu turned pale. “Where is Hakurai now…? Oh yes—didn’t you say that he’d gone somewhere?”
“Yes… He disappeared.”
“No boats are sailing, so he has to be on the island somewhere…” Senri said, looking thoughtful. “It’s just concerning that Reiko isn’t around either.”
“Oh yes—Shiki’s gone too.” Jusetsu pondered this for a moment. “I hope nothing strange has happened to him.”
“Strange…? What do you mean?”
“Hakurai is Shiki’s younger sister’s archenemy.”
Senri let out a small yelp, then clasped his hands against his mouth.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell again?” Jusetsu asked.
“No, I’m fine. It’s just that I didn’t know about that. He was his sister’s foil, and yet…”
Senri scowled. Although he usually maintained an unflappable demeanor, now he appeared unusually flustered.
“Is there something I should know?” Jusetsu asked.
“Reiko asked me whether he should give up on getting revenge or not.”
Jusetsu paused. “And?”
“I told him to accept his fate—that if he was going to follow his own will, he needed to be prepared for the consequences.”
Jusetsu looked down at her hands. Had he prepared himself for the consequences? The consequences of what, exactly?
“Reiko was feeling lost. No—he probably still is.”
“Yes… He’s been struggling with that for quite some time.”
Jusetsu thought to herself for a while, then got up. “All right. I’m going to go after Shiki.”
“You are?”
“He’s probably looking for Hakurai. Either that or he’s already found him. Whatever the case may be, we need to work with him. If I can track down Shiki, then that should lead me to Hakurai as well.” Jusetsu then turned to Ishiha. “Now, where is Shiki’s bed?”
“This way,” he said, before leading her into the next room.