When Kiyoshi reached the slope, the sun was still in the western sky.
The slope looked much as it had last time. The vegetables had grown a little taller, and the row of rough bowls beside the water vat was still drying in the sun.
In the clearing in front of the warehouse, a few little ones were reciting their lessons, their voices rising and falling. They stumbled over the word "accounts," then carried on.
Kiyoshi paused in front of the warehouse without looking closely. He had been up this slope many times. He needed no second glance to know which row had grown taller or which bowl had been replaced.
Shisui was in his usual spot behind the warehouse, his right eye wrapped in cloth.
The two compared recent developments: rumors in the village, undercurrents after the Clan Meeting, and scattered messages brought back by the three nests of crows.
The northern nest returned most often. The messages it brought were always the same line: "Still no movement."
"Does it know any other words?"
"It does," Kiyoshi said. "There just aren't any other words to bring back from there."
Kiyoshi spread the ledger on the table with the missing leg and went through the entries one by one, counting which had changed and which had not.
The ledger was a few pages thicker than it had been at the start of the month.
The names of those leaving had their destinations marked beside them: the East Warehouse, the temporary houses along the river, and two households that had asked acquaintances to help them move to other villages.
Those staying were also listed, each with their own reasons written down. Kiyoshi had changed none of them.
"We're into September," he said.
Shisui nodded. There was no need to answer. They