“What’s the raincoat for, Doctor Tou?” one of them had asked. “Planning to go somewhere?”
“Er, yes,” Tou had mumbled, turning his back to the crowd. “It sounds like there may have been a landslide, so I’m concerned about the herbs growing on the mountain. As some of them can only be harvested around this time of year, it’s best if I go take a look.”
Not a moment later, he had excused himself and taken off into the pitch-dark mountains.
“But it’s dangerous to go now!” someone had lamented. “He could get caught in a landslide.”
“He’s so diligent.”
The locals had watched him disappear into the distance, fiddling with their hoes in dismay.
Back in the present, one of Leanne’s friends said, “It’s rough not to have our leader around during a crisis, but the way he can care about medicinal herbs at a time like this is part of what makes him so great.”
“You said it,” the other replied. “Seriously, though, shouldn’t someone have stopped him? I hear the mountain’s crawling with brigands and muggers, and sometimes people’ll come across corpses reduced to skin and bones.”
“Yikes! Sure hope Doctor Tou doesn’t die out there.”
Leanne responded with nothing more than a hum of acknowledgment.
The boys were right. Tou’s determination to pick herbs in spite of the risks made him a model doctor and a wonderful, caring man. Why, then, had she done nothing to stop him from leaving? Worse, she’d even tried to run away when he spoke to her.
It’s just, well…when Doctor Tou turned around, something about his face didn’t look right.
She thought back to how Tou had looked the other day. Most days, the man’s features exuded a refinement and intelligence rarely seen among residents of the settlement. Those droopy, grayish eyes of his gave him a gentle, friendly air. But when he looked at her then, his eyes had held an eerie gleam, and his face had been mottled with dark patches. Granted, his raincoat had been pulled over his head, not to mention that it was still dark out at the time, so it was possible Leanne had been seeing things.
That wasn’t the first time I’ve gotten that bad feeling.
Idly rubbing at the goosebumps on her upper arms, Leanne recalled the colored threads Tou had given her. When she wove those into a bracelet, an ineffable sense of foreboding had washed over her.
That red thread felt especially wrong.
In Leanne’s culture, it was a long-standing tradition for women to weave those bracelets. Making them was a way of praying for the recipient’s well-being or for their wishes to come true, so it was important to pick colors that fit the wearer.
When Leanne had been instructed to make one for the Maiden as thanks for the Congee Conferment Rite, the first thing to spring to her mind was the vast earth, so she had initially opted to use a yellow thread. Tou had immediately ordered her to use the red one, a dark scowl on his face. The menacing look had taken Leanne by surprise. All traces of his usual serenity had vanished, and he had grumpily pushed the thread into her hands.
To be fair, it had been a gift for the Shu Maiden, so perhaps it only made sense to match her clan color. Convincing herself with that logic, Leanne had woven the red thread into the center of the braid. Yet the provided material didn’t feel right in her fingers, and she couldn’t shake a nagging feeling as she went about her work. Rather than frustration with the way she was struggling, it may have been fear of the man standing watch over her all throughout the process.
Tou was knowledgeable and never resorted to violence. He was the most trustworthy adult in the whole community. Or so Leanne had always believed, but in that moment, there had been something uncanny about him.
“Here’s hoping Doctor Tou makes it back safe,” came one of her friend’s voices, snapping Leanne back to reality.
“Same!” said the second boy.
Should I tell the others? Leanne wondered for a fleeting moment, casting her two friends a sidelong glance.
After some debate, she discarded the thought. The military officer had already gone looking for Tou, so it wasn’t Reirin’s place to get involved. It wasn’t worth dwelling on two mildly unsettling encounters.
“Agreed,” Leanne said with a nod, then turned away from the river along with them.
Upon passing through the forest and making it back to the settlement, they blinked at the sight that awaited them. A circle of people had formed near the cluster of huts.
“What’s going on over there?”
It didn’t take long for them to hear cries of “Milady!” or “We thank you for coming!” from the crowd, and the two boys exchanged glances.
“It’s gotta be the Maiden!”
“She came back!”
Their eyes lit up, and they broke into a run. Leanne rushed after them.
I can’t believe I get to see her so soon! she thought, heart thumping with excitement.
She debated what she ought to say first upon making eye contact. Perhaps it would be best to start by apologizing for all her previous rudeness.
The “Shu Keigetsu” who had graced Treacherous Tan Peak was no figurehead of a noblewoman. She wasn’t a Maiden who merely sang, smiled, and spoke pretty words. She was pragmatic, she was practical, and she stood on the same ground as Leanne and her neighbors.
Just when Leanne had pushed her way through the crowd, the familiar Maiden addressed them with, “Pardon the many intrusions. I must also apologize for bringing such a large group this time.” Leanne was so confused that she stopped in her tracks.