A Dream Within a Dream of Worldly Splendor

Shinrei carried the plate of exquisite sweets in silence, walking through the shadows of the covered corridor.

Tokuko's words still lingered in her mind.

"Father only sees us as pieces on a board."

"I'm fortunate enough. Others have it worse than I do. Compared to them... my life is already very good."

Did things really have to be compared that way?

Noblewomen, shirabyōshi dancers, and ninjas each had their own sorrows. Did three such different kinds of people really have to be compared like that?

This was the first time Shinrei had met Tokuko. She didn't know the girl, and there was no friendship between them to speak of.

Even so, the thought of a nine-year-old child being widowed, or a young woman marrying a boy still wet behind the ears, made her uncomfortable.

She instinctively felt that something wasn't right, but her training made her choose silence.

No, Shinrei, this isn't your concern. You're in no position to change it, and you don't have the power to. Thinking about it will only cause you more trouble.

Maybe I didn't sleep well last night. I should hurry back and get some sleep.

She was about to quicken her pace toward the quarters the three ninjas shared at the mansion when she rounded a corner and caught a familiar voice.

It was Lord Taira no Shigemori, his tone heavy with suppressed weariness and resignation.

She instinctively slipped deeper into the shadows behind a pillar, concealing every trace of her presence.

As a Guardian Ninja, she shouldn't have listened, but her conversation with Tokuko and everything she had witnessed these past days made her linger there as if by some strange impulse.

"Since we're telling The Tale of the Heike, we can't avoid mentioning Kiyomori, the wily old hand who's there from beginning to end," Izuna's voice-over sounded. "Though a samurai, he has a cunning, greedy heart. His greatest trump cards are his unruly nature and unconventional ideas. He believes that with enough force and money, there's nothing he can't accomplish."

Even princes and nobles were bound to become puppets of the Taira.

She heard Shigemori report to someone else, "I have dismissed all the men involved in the attack on Lord Motofusa. Sukemori has also been sent to Ise and ordered to reflect on his wrongdoing."

A deep, nonchalant voice came from inside the hall. It belonged to the true power behind the Taira, Taira no Kiyomori. "Oh? I hear that boy Motofusa was so frightened he cried?"

Shinrei could almost picture the mocking, smug expression on Lord Kiyomori's face as he said it.

"Father, because of this dispute over the right of way with the Regent, more and more people have become dissatisfied with the Taira. If this continues..."

"Oh, honestly," Kiyomori interrupted, his tone light, as if he were discussing some inconsequential bit of gossip. "You really are dull. I know, I know."

Shigemori seemed to have nothing more to say and fell silent.

Suddenly, Kiyomori said, "By the way, thank you for your efforts this time. How about I give you something? Hmm... what about your favorite lanterns?"

Shinrei frowned slightly in the shadows. Lanterns?

There seemed to be a woman in the hall as well.

Her voice was gentle, but her words were unpleasant. "Shigemori lit a full forty-eight lanterns in his mansion and kept them burning all night. People now call you Lord Lantern behind your back."

"Oh? Are you that afraid of the dark, Shigemori?"

Kiyomori seemed genuinely puzzled, Shinrei could tell, but the question sounded like he was picking on Shigemori, and it was unpleasant to hear.

Outside the hall, Shinrei couldn't see Shigemori's expression, but he probably wasn't in a good mood now.

Only after a moment did she hear Shigemori's reply, utterly deferential, with no other emotion left in it. "...I am unworthy of your kindness, Father, but I gratefully accept."

The conversation seemed to end there. Shinrei heard the rustle of clothing and departing footsteps. Shigemori had probably taken his leave.

She held her breath and waited a while longer before leaving without a sound, like a true shadow.

When she returned to the secluded courtyard where Shintarō and Takuichi were, Takuichi was wiping down his kunai, while Shintarō lay in his usual spot, gazing absentmindedly at the sky.

"Welcome back," Shintarō greeted her lazily.

Takuichi looked curiously at the plate Shinrei was carrying. "What's that?"

"These are sweets Lady Tokuko gave me."

"Tokuko? Lord Shigemori's sister?"

"Mm." Shinrei set the plate of sweets on the low table between them and knelt down herself.

"How did you meet her?"

"We just happened to run into each other."

"Oh..."

Shintarō opened one eye and glanced at Shinrei through a gap in the branches.

Shinrei's reply was painfully brief, and Shintarō heard the frustration in her tone.

"Shinrei," he said, still looking up at the sky, his voice drifting down slowly, "you didn't just go see Lady Tokuko, did you? Did you hear something? Can you tell us?"

Shinrei froze for a moment.

Takuichi stopped wiping his kunai and looked up too, a simple question in his eyes.

She hesitated.

A ninja's rule was not to listen to what they shouldn't hear, and not to say what they shouldn't say.

But the conversation between Lord Shigemori and Lord Kiyomori, as well as Tokuko's words, weighed heavily on her heart.

Maybe I'd feel better if I talked about it?

"I... accidentally overheard a conversation between Lord Shigemori and Lord Kiyomori on my way back."

Lowering her voice, she briefly recounted what she had heard: Shigemori's restrained remonstrance, Kiyomori's dismissive mockery, and the derisive title "Lord Lantern."

Silence fell beneath the eaves. Only the faint sound of wind whistled through the courtyard.

Shintarō showed no particular reaction, merely giving a casual "Oh."

He rolled over, turning his back on the two below. His voice came through the branches and leaves, carrying a trace of lazy weariness. "Lord Shigemori doesn't have it easy either... but what do the affairs of the clan head and the old clan head have to do with us? We're ninjas. We just have to obey. There's no use thinking too much. I was on duty last night, so I'm going to sleep."

Before long, his breathing became slow and even, as though he had truly fallen asleep in an instant.

Takuichi scratched his head, a puzzled expression on his face. "Lord Kiyomori's words were a little infuriating... Lord Lantern? Why would he call his own son that? Lord Shigemori was clearly thinking of the Taira, wasn't he?"

He shook his head and slipped his kunai back into his Ninja Tool Pouch. "Forget it. Shintarō's right, that's not our concern. Don't dwell on it either. You can't figure out what those noble lords are thinking."

Watching one companion fall asleep in an instant and the other accept it calmly and quickly turn his attention elsewhere, Shinrei felt the knot in her heart strangely disappear.

Yes, they're right. This isn't our place to comment.

Just staying alive and surviving in this world as a ninja already took everything they had.

Why concern themselves with matters they were destined to be unable to change, matters they shouldn't even have glimpsed?

"Mm, that's true," she answered softly, her long-furrowed brow relaxing.

Her gaze fell on the exquisite sweets before her, and Tokuko's final, gentle smile seemed to appear before her eyes again.

Tokuko must be the same. She only came to me because she needed someone to confide in. But afterward, she even gave me a plate of precious sweets.

She's such a kind person.

She reached out, picked up a pale green cake, and took a careful bite.

The sweet bean paste filling and the fragrance of glutinous rice mingled and melted in her mouth. It was so delicious that Shinrei narrowed her eyes.

Seeing this, Takuichi grinned and leaned over too. He picked one up, stuffed it into his mouth, and praised it indistinctly. "Delicious! Sweets from a noble lady really are different!"

The days flowed peacefully by, like the shallow stream winding quietly through the courtyard.

After that, Shigemori went to the palace and resigned from his post as Major Counselor, handing responsibility for the coming-of-age ceremony of Retired Emperor Shirakawa's son, Narihito, to his younger brother Munemori.

With that, the repercussions of the dispute over the right of way finally died down completely.

Taira no Kiyomori left his mansion in the Capital. It was said that he was going to Itsukushima in person to oversee the construction of a shrine, to erect a symbol of the Taira warrior clan's power and the protection of the gods and buddhas on that sacred ground where sea and sky met.

After he left, the suffocating air of arrogance in the mansion seemed to recede considerably with him.

The atmosphere grew gentler, and even the sunlight falling on the covered corridor warmed people through.

Taira no Tokuko seemed truly to have settled on Shinrei.

The noble young lady awaiting marriage seemed to have found in Shinrei a safe confidante, a corner where she could temporarily take off her mask.

She rarely summoned Shinrei with any fanfare. More often, she would happen to appear at a corner of a covered corridor Shinrei might pass through, or chance upon Shinrei playing with Arimori in a quiet, deserted little garden in the afternoon.

"Shinrei," she would say, smiling and beckoning, her voice as soft as a feather, "the kerria in the garden is in full bloom today. Would you like to come see?"

Shinrei continued to maintain a respectful distance, but Tokuko's manner was so natural and affectionate that Shinrei couldn't help wanting to grow closer to her.

Tokuko would talk about the little things girls discussed: whether the color of a newly tailored garment suited her, the pretty flower ornament in a court noble's wife's hair, the imagery of a waka poem she had recently heard...

Occasionally, she would also speak softly of her slight unease and uncertainty about her coming marriage.

"Prince Narihito... I hear he's a quiet child." Tokuko watched the koi swimming in the pond, her profile looking almost translucent in the sunlight. "I wonder if he'll dislike an older woman like me."

Shinrei didn't know how to respond to a noble girl's worries.

She could only listen in silence, occasionally nodding gently when Tokuko looked at her, to show she was listening.

But perhaps it was precisely this silent listening that put Tokuko at ease.

Shinrei was like a quiet stone. She would not reveal secrets, nor would she judge Tokuko's words through worldly eyes.

Sometimes, Tokuko would bring some sweets, or press less conspicuous pieces of jewelry or a flowering branch or two she had picked into Shinrei's hands.

Smiling brightly, she said, "Why don't you dress yourself up when you have time? You'd look absolutely beautiful if you did, Shinrei."

Shinrei accepted these gifts.

She shared the sweets with Shintarō and Takuichi, put the jewelry away, and quietly placed the flowers in a chipped earthenware jar filled with clear water on the plain windowsill of her quarters.

That touch of color bloomed quietly in the dim corner.

But these frequent chance meetings made Taira no Arimori a little sulky.

The gentle young master Shinrei had cared for had recently been pouting all the time, clutching his little cloth ball.

Whenever Tokuko borrowed Shinrei, he would follow them for a while with a longing look, yet he didn't dare go forward and disturb his aunt.

When Shinrei returned, he would sidle up to her, tug at the hem of her clothes, and complain softly, "Big Sister Shinrei, you don't play with me anymore..."

Shinrei laughed when she saw the obvious disappointment on his round face.

She crouched down and patiently explained, "Lady Tokuko had something for me to do. Look, I saved you some of the sweets she gave me."

As she spoke, Shinrei pulled a cake wrapped in a clean leaf from her sleeve, as if performing a magic trick.

Arimori's eyes lit up at once. He took the sweet, and, soothed by its flavor, temporarily forgot his little hurt at having to share her attention.

Seeing this, Tokuko would also come over with a smile and gently tap Arimori's forehead with her silk fan. "You're a man now, Arimori. Why are you still competing with your aunt for a playmate? Come, I have even better candied fruit. Would you like some?"

And so his little bouts of discontent always vanished under the onslaught of sweets and gentle words. A child's troubles came quickly and went just as fast.

Occasionally, Shinrei saw the shirabyōshi dancers too.

Kiyomori would come back now and then, and whenever he did, he summoned the shirabyōshi.

When Shinrei saw Gio and Gijo, who were said to be planning to enter religious life, summoned to the mansion once again, she thought Kiyomori had changed his mind. But on closer observation, she discovered he had only summoned them because he feared the newly arrived Hotoke Gozen would be lonely.

A faint sadness welled up in her heart.

They really are summoned and dismissed at his whim...