Dreamlands (18 page)

I understood the distaste he had in his voice. The Americans forcing Japan out of isolation had caused a lot of problems. It wasn’t that the Japanese had thought they could ignore the rest of the world, it was just that they knew how the Westerners would treat them and wanted to avoid it.

The samurai all patted me on the back and went off to the samurai’s bath while I went back to Samojirou’s rooms. I didn’t bathe with them, even when I wasn’t avoiding Murphy and the others. I had gotten teased about it in the beginning, but Okita understood my reluctance to be with them. I rushed back to clean up and get dressed. I was relieved to see Yukiko was waiting for me.

“You have time,” she said as I almost dove into the bathroom. “I will call you when you need to get dressed. You have time to soak.” I washed hurriedly and slipped into the hot spring. I had gotten into the habit of soaking after practice, before I studied. In the beginning, it had been because I was too sore to move without it, but lately it was because it was nice. Samojirou sometimes joined me, if he didn’t have a breakfast meeting with Tamazusa. Lately, he had been spending a lot of time with me, reading in the same room where I was working or studying. It was nice.

Yukiko poked her head in the room after several minutes and chimed, “Time to get out.”

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I climbed out and dried off. I dressed in my underclothing and kimono, with Yukiko helping me tie my obi. I could dress myself when I was dressing as a man, but with women’s clothing, you needed help.

Yukiko also did my makeup for me, the white makeup even covering the back of my neck. She piled my hair up in a simple bun, fastening it with small combs. Yukiko decided I needed to wear a more “modern” style this morning, and my obi was tied in the back in an elaborate knot. I looked like a respectable young lady when she was done, my kimono a light blue with an abstract design woven into it. I also wore shorter sandals today.

“Thank you, Yukiko,” I said. She smiled and bowed, flitting away to do whatever else she needed to do today.

I made my way out to the southern gardens, where Tamazusa would be having breakfast with the outsiders. I arrived there before her and used the time to make sure everything was set up for breakfast.

I bowed low to Tamazusa when she arrived with McGann and Romejinoff. Tamazusa was dressed in the elegant, simple black kimono she favored. I didn’t think I had ever seen her in another color. She wore it as if she was an older woman, the neck high and collar tight against the back of her neck.

Romejinoff and McGann were in simple kimonos, chosen so they looked good with their blonde coloring. I had started to notice these types of things under Yoshinoko’s tutelage. Their kimonos were of a lesser quality, falling between what I wore and what the servants wore.

I didn’t think that McGann noticed, but I was sure Romejinoff had.

There was this look on her face that told me she wasn’t happy. I wasn’t surprised to see Tamazusa treating them as guests and not prisoners, because she was a nice person. From what I knew of the other lords here, they would either be prisoners or be dead.

“Sakura-chan, may I present to you Romejinoff-san and McGann-san,” she said in Japanese. I got the hint that I wasn’t supposed to know English.

I bowed to them, a fraction too shallow, but neither of them noticed. “I am pleased to meet you,” I said huskily in Japanese.

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Neither of them looked twice. Tamazusa nodded, and I went to help the servants serve breakfast, even though it wasn’t something I was supposed to do. McGann murmured her thanks to me in English when she was served, but Romejinoff acted like we were feeding her slop and took her rice gracelessly. Tamazusa frowned, and I went to retire behind her after I served her. Tamazusa started to attempt to carry on conversation with them while we waited for the men to arrive.

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SAMOJIROU

I TRIED not to show the excitement I felt when I discovered that two more of the
Hakkenshi
’s
avatars were in the Dreamlands. The ones Keno called Mason and Wolf had the mark of the
Hakkenshi
. It had been interesting to see their reactions―or the lack of them―when I showed them Keno. They didn’t accept my statement that there was no one called Keno here, but they didn’t argue with me. The one called Murphy didn’t care and was most insulting in his manners. I didn’t kill him, because it would upset my lady. Wolf and Mason were also most amusing in the bath, relaxed and willing to talk to the rest of my lady’s men. I didn’t mind playing translator, and the bath was more enjoyable and informative than I’d thought it would be. Mason was the most talkative and the one who fascinated us the most, because of his coloring.

The three of them looked confused when, instead of their own clothing, I gave them
yukata
and
fundoshi
to wear. There was a lot of joking with the samurai as they explained how to wear it. Their leader, Murphy, grumbled about bathrobes and no manners. I wasn’t going to be the one who told him he was the one with no manners. I wanted to hurt him because of what Keno had told me about him.

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“It is time to discuss your ‘exploration’ over breakfast with my lady,” I said. “Please follow me.”

I led them through another garden, the beauty of which they didn’t appreciate, and we arrived at the pavilion in the middle of it, where the others were waiting for us. Keno looked adorable, dressed in a subdued blue kimono and a modern-style obi, made up, and his hair piled on his head in a bun, with no jewelry. He was in the background, letting my lady lead the discussion with the two outsider women, who also were dressed in kimonos. The one called Romejinoff could say nothing without sounding insulting. Tamazusa was amused, slowly fanning herself. I doubt if they realized the fan she carried had steel spines and could be used as a weapon as well as being decorative. Or that Tamazusa could take that woman’s head off easily and without a second thought if she wanted to.

We arrived as the maids were delivering the rest of the meal. I thought the outsiders were confused by their happy giggles. I didn’t know what they expected; those who served here did so because they chose to. I wasn’t claiming that it was paradise, but they were happy here. Many of the maids’ race ended up in the pleasure quarters or serving their betters in other ways.

I bowed when I saw my lady. “I apologize for my lateness; the samurai and our guests were having an interesting discussion.”

“I hope that you did not cut it short on our account?” Tamazusa replied.

“My foot couldn’t get any deeper in my mouth,” Mason said with a grin. “So it was better for us to get the hell out of Dodge.” She shook her head. She didn’t get the reference but wasn’t going to ask, simply accepting that he was teasing her, in a manner of speaking. Interesting that he was treating her that way, since I also saw the respect he had for her.

“You’re lookin’ good,” Mason told McGann when he sat down next her. He was a bit awkward, but so were the rest of them. I was surprised he had commented on her appearance.

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“I wish I had a camera,” McGann murmured. “You in that outfit would be a picture for my office.”

Mason laughed, and Wolf shook his head. Murphy opened his mouth to say something and closed it. They all started eating.

Quiet and sitting behind my lady, the outsiders ignored Keno like they were meant to. McGann looked at him strangely once or twice, but that was about it. Keno really looked and acted differently dressed as a woman, which was probably why the others didn’t recognize him.

Tamazusa turned the talk to the “exploration” they had claimed to be doing without a map or supplies. We hadn’t really gone through their equipment. The maids had unpacked it, though, and reported to Tamazusa and myself what they had found there. Since most of it was modern, I doubt any one of us really knew what we were looking at.

“I think that you would benefit from talking with Hikura-sensei, my librarian,” Tamazusa said.

Romejinoff muttered something that was probably insulting in a foreign tongue. The rest of them listened politely, except for Mason. He seemed more interested in the food than the discussion. I sensed that he was one who could play the buffoon easily, because he was more intelligent than he acted. I had seen that with the deft explanation he gave about the Reavers.

There were several patrolling the area, concerned for both my lady and Keno. Reavers are attracted to unusual power, such as the magic my Keno had and my lady’s ability to sense and create gates. My ability to travel in the shadows in the Dreamlands and the real world was something that I gained when I became an
oni
. However, there was no real power to the talent. I could also see that the Reavers were making the others uneasy. Mason was muttering unkind things and occasionally glaring at them.

“I didn’t think that you would have a place like that,” McGann said of the library.

Of all who were here, she seemed to be the only one who had any kind of diplomacy or training in it. She was tired and strained, though, FELICITAS IVEY

130

as if she were ill. Was she reacting badly to being in the Dreamlands? I have heard of such things before, and I was so relieved that something like that hadn’t happened to Keno.

Tamazusa laughed, and it sounded like the chiming of bells, and as empty to me. The others seemed relieved that she had laughed. “My estate is vast and well-equipped. I have much here for Samojirou-sama’s and my amusement. He is a scholar and has immersed himself in his studies here.”

“My lady is too kind,” I murmured.

I had spent the centuries studying and enjoying myself, but I was always hers to command. I had enjoyed the leisure to do so here, something I had never had in the real world in the time that I had been born.

Romejinoff said something that had Wolf looking horrified. I wondered what language she was speaking, because it wasn’t English or anything that I recognized.

“But breakfast should be finished before we go there,” I said,

“And I know that Hikura-sensei lingers over his rice and fish, flirting with the head cook.”

Tamazusa smiled and shook her head. The head cook, Soiko, was a fox spirit and had been leading him on a merry chase for decades. She was as amused by their relationship as the rest of us.

“This isn’t near the ocean,” Wolf said. “How do you get fish?”

“There are ways to ship goods about,” Tamazusa said after a shrewd look. She was amazed he mentioned it. “Also, most of the fish here is fresh water; there is not an ocean that is close by us.”

“Where is the nearest ocean?” Murphy asked.

Of all the outsiders, he was the only one who was unable to use chopsticks. I was surprised that the one called Mason could, even if he showed little grace doing so. Murphy attacked his food as if it were the enemy. I almost felt pity for him, but McGann was helping as much as she could, which didn’t endear her to him for some reason. I didn’t 131

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know the relationship between them, but it felt hostile, as his was with Mason. He was more courteous to Romejinoff and Wolf. I wondered why and made a mental note to ask Keno about it later.

“Samojirou-sama?” Tamazusa prompted me, when I seemed lost in thought.

“I think that it would be a hundred
ri
north―over a week’s journey to the ocean which is near the Northerners’ area. The ones with the disgusting eating habits.”

It was that they ate too much butter and drank too much beer, making them smell bad. They also didn’t bathe often enough. They were either blond or red-haired, so with the exception of Mason, these people would fit in with them. But I could see on the outsiders’ faces that they thought the Northerners ate human or demon flesh. I wasn’t going to enlighten them. I wanted these people ignorant of any allies they could gather here.

“If you want to explore, it would be better to go south or west,” I said. “There are still some areas that are wild there, with scattered small settlements. You would just have to worry about the wildlife. Can any of you shoot a bow? “

“A bow?” Murphy asked. “Are you sh… kidding me? Why don’t you people have any decent weapons?”

I shrugged. “A bow is a decent weapon. As is a sword. A gun or what you call a submachine gun? Those are just things that destroy and are not elegant.”

“Did I thank you for giving us a nice bunk?” Mason said suddenly. “I can’t use either of them. I have a knife, but I know that does jack shit against a monster.”

Tamazusa smiled coolly. Mason was acting the fool again, but he was the only one attempting to be polite. Wolf was too stiff, too aware of how easily this could become a trap. Murphy was too hostile, and Romejinoff was the rudest woman I had ever met. McGann was trying, but she was clearly ill, and Murphy’s hostility was hindering her efforts.

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“Toward the East are the towns and castles of other lords of the other
kuni
of Nippon and beyond that is the ocean,” I said. “If you wish to meet them, either I or my lady can introduce you to them. I will warn you that they have no tolerance for rudeness.” McGann understood my warning and winced. She understood that very few would tolerate this group. Fuse would, but she had the patience of a Buddha. I would, however, not let her get near Wolf or Mason if I could help it. The other lords were as proud and touchy as a samurai could be. And I wasn’t even going to mention the nonhuman territories, filled with monsters that made Hákarl look like playful kittens. Only people this arrogant would run into danger without testing the waters first. For those who hunted and studied monsters, they had an appalling lack of common sense. Or their masters could be using these people as sacrificial goats.