The Way of the Fox (38 page)

Chapter 2

Spring was giving way to summer, and the days had become a dazzle of bright sun and clear blue skies. Flower
s grew in wonderful profusion, and dragonflies whirred happily between the trees. As the road crossed up across a grassy hill, the footing held more and more fine white sand. Little white snails could be seen amongst the grasses. The air was suddenly filled with the sharp tang of the sea.

Kuno and Tonbo – armed and armoured – plodded along
, taking in the air. Chiri – well sheltered under a broad straw hat – walked along delighting in the alien new vistas. Her air and rock elementals drifted through the air beside her, swerving off from time to time to wander through the flowers.

It was an utterly beautiful day.

Sura was in her finest form – barely able to contain her spirits. Today, the fox wore a paper hat folded to represent a whale. Trailing from her spear was a paper banner, painted to show a rather startled whale sliced up into fillets. Chopsticks had been thrust through her belt like swords. The fox marched happily along the roads, her raucous singing voice startling bees out of the flowers and birds from the trees. She was having a wonderful day.

“
Ooooooh!

Heading to the seaside! I’m going to eat a whale!

I’ll start over at his blow hole, and end up at his tail!

I’ll munch up all his flippers, and eat till I go green!

And then I’ll pick my teeth out with a piece of fresh baleen!”

Kuno flexed his hands helplessly. He stomped along in Sura’s wake, hoping to the gods that no one overheard her. He was finally moved to draw up beside her and speak his mind.

“
Sura san! I must protest. This is unseemly!”

The fox gave an easy wave of her hand. She was brim-full
with the joy of the day.

“
What? What’s unseemly?”

“
You are a priestess!” Kuno, as always, was filled with propriety. “This whale-eating festival is essentially a celebration of gluttony! It does your priestly reputation no good to be indulging in gluttony!”

Sura looked smug, flicking a glance at Kuno. “It’s fine! I’
m not going for the gluttony!” She curled her tail. “I’m eating whales for research purposes.”

Asodo Kuno rarely recognised
when the fox was deliberately baiting him. He shot a dire glance at her paper banner and hat, and glowered.

“
What is that horrid costume you are wearing?”

“It’s my whale eating ensemble! I’m celebrating local customs!” Sura pointed at herself.
“Got my whale eating bib! And my whale eating hat.” She looked forward to crossing the next rise. “There’s an eating competition and everything! I can eat until I puke!”

Chiri blinked, rather unsettled. “
Sura san – you cannot be serious!”

“Sure I’m serious!” Sura’s tail curled yet again. “
Do you think we get a whole one each?”

She skipped onward, chasing around and around Chiri and her elementals.

“
Dolphin dip!

Orca on a stick!

Humpback sashimi! Nip! Nip! Nip!”

The nezumi girl looked more than just a little green. “I have never eaten ocean food. I am not sure it will agree with my constitution. I am really more of a forest and river rat…”

“
You’re a rat! You guys can eat anything! Ooooh! I hear that blue whales taste like chicken!” Sura licked her chops, knowing how much it irritated Kuno. “I wonder what they do with the skins? I always wanted a whale skin rug! Big and rubbery!”

Kuno gave a great sniff of disapproval.

“I do not wish to think about it.”

Kuno was vaguely aware that he was being made a game of
, and in slight danger of plunging into a sulk. Sura walked happily backwards, trying to cheer him up again.

“
What is your problem? You eat fish, don’t you? So this can’t be a Buddhist thing again!” Hanging her spear across her shoulders, Sura ticked points off on her fingers. “Look – under your silly human customs, all wild game is edible. That’s water fowl, forest birds, fish, terrapins, boar, deer, whales, stag beetles…”

“Not stag beetles.”

“Well… not knowingly.” Sura shrugged. What Kuno didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him. “But my point is, you guys eat just about anything that takes your fancy. So why are you all worried about this?”

Kuno
tried to maintain due dignity. “The Buddhist scriptures inform us that all souls caught upon the wheel of karma are condemned to be reborn! Any one of these animals you are constantly eating might hold the soul of someone you know!”

“No one
I
know! The people I hang out with all know how to duck!” Sura waved her tail. “I’m helping move souls onward through lower incarnations. That almost makes it like I’m delivering a service. Sort of rolling the old karmic wheel!”

Kuno
gave Sura a level glance.

“
I am aware that you intend to bait me. It is beneath my dignity to rise to you.”

“
Yeah, but you really dimple when you try to keep a straight face! Chiri loves that!” Sura ambled happily along at Kuno’s side. “Plus that crimson skin tone really brings out the blood red in your eyes…”

The fox decided to desist. She took on a tone of affable reason.

“Look – a big part of our job involves tuning in to local legends, local customs, and gaining the trust of the common people, yes?”

Kuno – a fair man – had to concede that it was so. “That would seem correct.”

“Festivals are a place where different groups come together! This allows us to hear news and rumours from a wide geographical area all at once. But to do so, we have to blend in – to get a feel for the local culture! To gain the trust of the locals!”

“Well – yes. Yes, I can see that.”

“So we gain their trust by embracing local tradition! This is an exercise in cultural sensitivity, information gathering and investigation!” Sura struck a pose.

“When I leave aside my prejudices, I create an open mind. When my mind is open, I create a welcoming heart. And when I have a welcoming heart, I shall be at peace, and loved by all the myriad things!”

Tonbo ambled along happily behind Sura.

“
You just want to eat free seafood?”

“
Yeah, pretty much. Hey – it’s high in essential oils! It’s good for Chiri’s coat! Think of how good she looks when that white fur really shines!”

The
y reached the crest of the hill. There before them lay the sea.

Sura had never before beheld the sea: the Kitsune lands were far to the north, surrounded by forests and great plains. She stood and stared in total delight at the brea
thtaking view, absolutely glad to be alive.

They stood at the crest of a grassy hill that sl
oped down towards a great curving bay. The sandy path plunged to a long village that lined the beach. At the end closest to the paths and roads there were fine inns, a mansion, a bath house, shops, and an array of long, predatory boats drawn up on the shore. Further down the bay, the houses straggled, becoming plain and humble. A few fishing nets were hung up to dry, and fishing boats lay untended on the sand. But in the main streets, banners were flying and the eaves were decorated with streamers. Travelling performers, traders and mountebanks had set up their booths, and the village streets were now filled with great swarms of brightly dressed visitors. It was crowded and magnificent – a riot of colour.

It was all totally over
shadowed by the sheer magnificence of the sea.

White beaches led to the ocean – a great blue expanse that glittered
marvellously in the sun. The distance vanished into a grey haze out across the water, but there were hints of islands tantalisingly close off shore. Beyond the poor end of the village, the sand gave way to dunes and a bright clear creek. Marshes spread out beyond – a great wilderness all filled with reeds. Sitting at the far point of the marsh, like one of the islands in the ocean, there was a rugged, soaring promontory of boulders and sheer stone.

The waves moved restlessly – all individual, and yet all one. Sura closed her eyes and felt it all – the surf, the wind, the grass sighing in the breeze. One world, one life, one Tao. She let the wind ripple through her fur, and felt well pleased.

Chiri had grown up on the shores of the great inland lakes. She was used to great vistas of water – but not to the vanishing sense of distance. She stood with Sura and stared at the waves and at the mists, completely enthralled.

“
It is beautiful, Sura san. Just beautiful.”

The fox closed her eyes
again, savouring the wind.

“A small wave saw a great, grand wave go past. He bemoaned that he was so small
and so poor, while the huge wave was so magnificent. But a third wave was passing, and told him an astonishing truth: both the big wave and the small waves were all water – all joined and part of the same great restless, endless sea. Ebbing and flowing, appearing and vanishing in an endless dance.

“As he heard this, the little wave felt a great surge of enlightenment. Seen against the true scale of life, the little wave’s jealousies suddenly seemed absurd.
Distinction between great and small, rich and poor vanished. Free from obsession with position, rank and wealth, the little wave could finally embrace the pure joy of being…”

Sura took Chiri by the hand,
as they watched the ocean together.

“It is beautiful, Chiri san. I’m glad we came.”

Sura held Chiri’s hand and led her down the road. Full of joy, the fox once again began to sing. Her voice carried back to Tonbo and to Kuno as they stood up at the high crest of the hill.

“Majestic creatures of the sea!

Served up hot and fresh and free.

Crunch them up, throw out the bones!

Delivered daily to your home!
”

Kuno and Tonbo watched her go. Asodo Kuno could only shake his head.

“
There are days when I feel that Kitsune Sura is going the right way for a smacked bottom.”

Tonbo nodded wisely.

“It has crossed my mind before.” He shouldered his tetsubo and walked on. “I think it has also crossed hers.”

He marched
on towards the crowded village below. Kuno heaved a sigh, hitched up his sword and followed.

They walked down, down towards the waiting sea.

Seaside villages could be extremely migratory things. If any local lord dared think of taxing them, if the fishing grounds were poor or if wars arose, fisher folk were apt to simply bundle into their boats and move on. As nomadic and transitional people, they were under the protection of imperial law and courtly patrons. Fisher folk – adaptable, independent and irascible – thus considered themselves to be a very different breed to farmers.

The straggling village in Idō bay seemed to have very suddenly put down roots. There were shops, warehouses and a great many drinking shacks,
teetering inns, a gambling shed and a great rowdy bath house. Ramshackle but gaudy buildings thronged with visitors from peasant villages from all around, along with visiting monks, travellers, merchants and traders. There were whale banners on every corner, and streamers blowing in the breeze. Flocks of children in their festival best ran in cheering packs. The crowds shopped at booths, purchased sea products from local merchants, or listened in delight to entertainers who recited the ancient odes, or who danced and played. There were a quite startling number of prostitutes on the street, and a rickety brothel clearly turned a roaring business. There was sakē on sale, fried fish, fried squid – an omelette stall making the most amazing food all decorated with waving wisps of bonito flakes.