And so Leanne had ditched her farmwork for the day and made her way to the bank of the allegedly detonated river. The ice had been solid enough to support a person’s full weight without breaking, so she found it hard to believe that it could be shattered with such a fine powder. Convinced that the military officer was lying, she had set out to catch him red-handed—only to be blown away by the sight of the pulverized ice.
“But look how thick it was,” Leanne said to herself, scooping up a clump of ice drifting by. Even now that it had melted enough around the edges to turn clear, it was hard as a rock and too big to fit snugly in her hands. Not even slamming it on the ground or stomping on it could break it.
And yet, the Maiden had shattered it to bits.
“Say, would you care to make a bet with me?”
Suddenly, the gentle voice of that freckled Maiden played back in Leanne’s head.
“Should I succeed at performing a small miracle, I want you to stop insisting that nothing will ever change.”
She had met Leanne’s unrelenting impudence with an impish smile. When Leanne blustered that nothing would ever change, that divine intervention would never come, the Maiden had proven otherwise—and in such a striking way.
This must have been the “miracle” she was talking about.
If it was, Leanne had decisively lost the bet. She wasn’t the crying type, yet the sight of the flowing river had nearly brought tears to her eyes, and she had been tempted to take back everything she’d said.
She sure pulls some crazy stunts.
When the Maiden proposed a bet with that oh-so-ladylike smile of hers, she had actually been hatching a dangerous plot to blow up the ice. The thought was almost enough to make Leanne burst out laughing.
In hindsight, the Maiden had always been like that. Just as she seemed content to let the locals berate her, she would suddenly go fishing, and just as she appeared to submit to enemy brigands, she would teach them a lesson with a boiling pot of congee. She was refined yet unconventional, with a mesmerizing quality about her.
At long last, Leanne was ready to admit something to herself: There were people out there willing to offer them a helping hand.
Her Ladyship plans to visit Treacherous Tan Peak one more time, right?
Leanne recalled the Maiden saying as much before she left. Would she really come, though?
No, knowing her, she would definitely make good on her word.
I can’t wait to see her.
As Leanne fought to keep her secret hopes in check, one of her friends finally tore his eyes from the river and shouted, “All right! Let’s head back to the settlement and tell the military officer that the ice really did shatter! And then I’m gonna help him out! Next comes breaking the ice on the lake upstream, right?”
“Did you forget, dummy?” the other one shot back. “The military officer’s been off searching the mountains since yesterday. He won’t be back at the settlement.” With a sigh, he mused aloud, “Where’d Doctor Tou run off to, anyway? I hope he comes home soon.”
The reason for his glum tone was that Kou Keikou had gone looking for Tou and been constantly on the move ever since. Right when the kids were warming up to the exuberant military officer, he had wrapped up his succinct explanation of the black powder and inspected each and every one of the residents’ faces. Then, after saying he was going to check on the brigands and venturing into their shack, he had emerged with a panic-stricken look and left to track down Tou, the community leader.
“The grown-ups said that the brigands all died. Doctor Tou was supposed to be in charge of watching them, so it’s no wonder the military officer is so mad.”
“Pretty much. But the doctor left to pick medicinal herbs for us, so it’d be nice to cut him some slack.” The boy turned to his female companion. “Don’t you think, Leanne?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah, sure.” Leanne automatically nodded, but her response was a noncommittal one. She wasn’t convinced that Tou had actually gone to pick herbs.
The children had witnessed Tou heading into the mountains before dawn yesterday, just shy of Kou Keikou’s visit. At the time, Leanne was scared out of her wits over the unexplained boom. Afraid that the approaching Day of Ultimate Yin had brought a natural disaster with it, she kept wandering outside every few hours to take a look around.
On one of those occasions, she’d spotted Tou wrapped up in a straw raincoat and headed into the mountains. She couldn’t see much of his face, but Tou was the only local that tall.
With how anxious she was feeling, Leanne was relieved to see the community counselor. She had rushed over and called out, “Doctor T—”
The moment he turned around, she had been stunned into silence. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that her whole body had gone stiff. It was an instinctive reaction of fear and disgust, like gasping in horror upon seeing a bug jump out of a corner.
“Yes? What is it, Leanne?” Tou had asked, reaching a hand toward her.
Right as his bony fingers were about to brush her cheek, Leanne had instinctively pulled back. She slowly edged toward the rows of huts behind her.
“Leanne? Is something wrong, dear?”
The man had moved closer, his voice as sweet as honey, only to abruptly drop his hand.
“Doctor Tou!”
“Doctor, did you hear that huge boom earlier?!”
A few more children came bounding up from behind Leanne. She wasn’t the only one who had been too worked up to stay in bed.
“Oh, Doctor Tou! We’re so glad you’re all right!”
“What was that sound? Do you have any idea?”
And it wasn’t just kids. Anxious adults had emerged from every corner, pretending to have been drawn over by the children. Although there was no point in taking up arms against a natural disaster, they had equipped themselves as best they could—some brandishing hoes, others wearing cooking pots like helmets.