“Very well,” Lord Matsumae said, uncertain yet grateful. “I’m forever in your debt. If there’s anything I can give you, just name it. A banquet? A hunting trip? A ship to take you home? All the furs, gold, and medicinal herbs in my storehouses? Can I persuade you to stay for a tour of Ezogashima in the spring?”
A lord beholden to him was enough reward for a man in Sano’s shaky political position, and Sano had been away from Edo too long. “I won’t say no to the ship.”
Three days later, a blue sky graced Fukuyama City. Sunlight sparkled on an ocean flecked with tiny whitecaps. In the harbor, Matsumae sailors inspected the ship while troops carried supplies aboard. Peasants in rowboats, armed with axes, chopped away the ice that had frozen the waters close to shore. The castle astrologer had predicted that the favorable weather would hold long enough for Sano and his party to reach home.
Detectives Marume and Fukida walked up the gangplank. “When we get back to Edo, I’m going to jump in a hot bath and stay there until spring,” Fukida said.
“I’ll join you,” Marume said. “We’ll add a few girls, a little music, and a lot of sake to liven things up.”
The Rat followed them, loaded down with a bundle of native goods he’d purchased in town. “I’m never coming back here again. The next time Chamberlain Sano needs a translator, let me know, so I can make myself scarce.”
On the dock a crowd had gathered to see the ship sail. Commoners from town mingled with Fukuyama Castle troops and servants. Apart from them Hirata stood with Chieftain Awetok, who’d accompanied him back to the city.
“Thanks to you and your master for solving the murder and making peace,” Awetok said.
Hirata remembered the many natives killed, the families in mourning, and the Ainu who’d lost both the women he’d loved. “I’m sorry for everything. I hope Urahenka will be all right.”
The chieftain frowned as they thought of the young man they’d left at the village. “He’s like a blade trying to cut a stone wall. Either he learns to control his anger toward your people, or it will destroy him. Time will tell what becomes of him, and all of us.”
The Ainu had escaped extinction, but Hirata feared that the day would come when they wouldn’t. He felt sad for them, for the richness of their culture that was threatened by his own kind. “I want to thank you for your lessons. They’ve opened a whole new world to me. If only I didn’t have to leave.” But he felt pulled toward Edo and knew his ultimate destiny waited for him there. “I wish I could stay and learn more.”
Amusement crinkled the chieftain’s stern face. “You can leave Ainu Mosir, but Ainu Mosir won’t leave you. She’s part of you now. She will teach you.”
Nearby, Lady Matsumae and her attendants bowed to Reiko. Lady Matsumae said, “We wish you a safe trip.”
Reiko could tell that Lady Matsumae wouldn’t cry if the ship sank and she drowned. “Thank you. It was kind of you to come and bid me farewell.”
They exchanged looks as frigid as the northern sea. Reiko thought Lady Matsumae had probably come to make sure she really left. Nothing that had happened had changed Lady Matsumae. Still bitter about her daughter’s death, she still blamed Tekare. Her bitterness was a poison that couldn’t hurt Tekare but would ruin her own life. Reiko supposed she had a lesson to learn from Lady Matsumae even as she disapproved of the woman’s attitude. She looked toward the ship that would bear her away from Ezogashima.
Masahiro scampered around the deck, chattering to Sano, who leaned on the railing and smiled at him. Stuck in Reiko’s heart like a barbed fishhook was her anger at Lord Matsudaira for kidnapping her son and sending him to a narrowly avoided death. As she boarded the ship, Reiko felt the same need for revenge that Lady Matsumae did, that Tekare had felt toward the Japanese. Where it would take her remained to be seen.
Masahiro said, “I can’t wait to get home and tell my friends everything that happened. Do you think they’ll be impressed to hear that I was in a real battle?”
“Yes, indeed.” Sano wondered what lay in store for himself in Edo. How much political ground had Lord Matsudaira gained at his expense while he’d been gone? Sano knew for sure that they were overdue for a showdown, and he was looking forward to it.
“I shot five enemies,” Masahiro boasted, skipping around the deck.
Reiko joined Sano. She had a worried look on her face. “I wish Masahiro weren’t so happy about killing.”
“He’s a samurai,” Sano said, rueful yet proud. “War is his heritage.”
“He’s only eight years old!”
“He’s our son.” Sano’s tone alluded to the fact that he and Reiko had also spilled blood. “And he lives in our world.”
Reiko nodded in reluctant acceptance, but said, “I wish he hadn’t been through the things he has. I wish there were someplace where nobody had to kill to survive. Someplace we could live in peace.”
“We’ve come to the frontier of Japan and not found it,” Sano pointed out. Human strife tainted even the beautiful wilds of Ezogashima. “I don’t think there’s such a place anywhere.”
Reiko watched Masahiro climb the rigging, agile as a monkey. “What will become of him?”
“He’s strong and smart. He’ll live to carry on the family name.” Sano’s mind drifted to issues more immediate than his son’s future.
“What’s bothering you?”
“The part of the mystery that we didn’t solve.”
“Do you mean who killed Lilac?” Reiko said, “It must have been Gizaemon. I’ve figured out that Lilac saw him set the spring-bow. She didn’t say anything at first. She waited to see how she could make the most of what she knew. When you started investigating the murder, she promised the information to me. But she also blackmailed Gizaemon. She didn’t trust either of us to give her what she wanted, so she negotiated with us both. Somehow he found out she was talking to me, as well. Maybe she bragged to somebody who told him. He arranged to meet her at the hot spring and give her money to go to Edo. Instead he killed her so she couldn’t tell me or anyone else that he’d murdered Tekare.” Reiko sighed. “Lilac’s cleverness was her downfall.”
“That sounds right,” Sano said.
“Of course, we’ll never know for sure,” Reiko said.
“But the question of who killed Lilac wasn’t the one on my mind.
“What other one is there?” Reiko thought a moment, then asked, “Who attacked you in the castle?”
“Yes. I’ve questioned the Matsumae troops and found one that swears Gizaemon was with him during the attack on me. I think he’s telling the truth. Gizaemon didn’t do it. And I haven’t been able to find out who did.”
“Maybe one of his troops who died in the battle in the village and isn’t around to confess?”
“Maybe,” Sano said doubtfully, “but why would they attack me?”
“To protect Gizaemon?”
That had occurred to Sano as a reasonable theory, but he had a hunch that it was wrong. “I think the attack had nothing to do with the murder case. I think it was another in the series of events that brought us here.”
“The acts of sabotage against you and Lord Matsudaira?”
“None other. And I’ve become convinced mat he’s not responsible for the ones directed at me any more than I am for those directed at him.”
“Then who is behind the sabotage?” Reiko asked.
Sano was beginning to get an idea, but it seemed impossible. She wouldn’t believe him if he told her.
All the travelers were aboard the ship now. A channel had been cleared through the ice toward open sea, and the sailors cast off the mooring ropes. The spectators on the dock waved as the rowers below deck propelled the ship southward.
“When we get back to Edo,” Sano said, “I’m going to find out.”