The Wings of Dreams by Fuyumi Ono Page B

city.”
    The streets were narrow, barely wide enough to allow a pair of harnessed horses to pass. Both sides were neatly lined by low, stone structures. Like the tunnel, skylights were cut into the stone awnings above the roads. It wasn’t dark, nor was it particularly bright.
    The humid air stagnated. The aging stones soaked up the heat particular to the Yellow Sea. The atmosphere was hardly comfortable, but truth be told, this was the end of “civilization.” Here a night’s lodgings got the traveler a roof over his head and a dirt floor under his feet. But lodgings, at the very least. And a square meal, however roughly made.
    The fort was originally built for the cavalry that protected Ken. Its benefits extended to ordinary travelers as well. Gankyuu and Shushou took advantage of those “benefits” too and spend a fitful night on a dirt floor.
    Perhaps because she’d been kept awake the night before by the cries of the gathering youma, Shushou’s face the next morning was a bit pallid. When Gankyuu suggested, last of all, that they visit a shrine, she went along out of curiosity. A crowd also making their final petitions for a safe journey line wound in a long line around the shrine in the small town.
    After a brief wait, Gankyuu and Shushou stood in front of the shrine. Not far from the shrine was a space just like the one in Ken, with people waiting there for the gates of the fort to open.
    Among them, two of the travelers spotted them and with surprised looks pointed fingers and gestured. Another man worked his way through the crowd to get a better look at Shushou’s face. Apparently, she was already a known presence in the fort.
    “What’s with the little kid?”
    “They together? You gotta be kidding me.”
    “I don’t believe it. She’s returning to Ken by noon, right? Just on some sightseeing jaunt.”
    Shushou cast a scornful glance at the source of the loudly-whispered asides, turned back to the cavern-like shrine and bowed. Covering the kindly face and armored torso of Kenrou Shinkun, the guardian angel of those venturing into the Yellow Sea, were layers of scarf-like shawls.
    “What are those shawls?” Shushou asked in a small voice.
    “The stories say that Shinkun wore armor made from the hide of a youma called a Ko, and wove jewels into the scarves so he could present them to the youma.”
    “Youma and youjuu have a hankering for jewels? And by youjuu, we’re talking about kijuu, right?”
    “It’d be more accurate to say that there’s a kijuu inside every youma. And inside every kijuu and youma is something that’s intoxicated by jewels.”
    “Intoxicated? Like when people drink too much alcohol?”
    “Something like that. I don’t really know myself. But they get tipsy the same as us humans. So it probably is like getting drunk.”
    “How strange. Not the kind of thing you learn in school.”
    “I’m not surprised. Books could be written about what we don’t know about youma and youjuu. Like the real difference between youma and youjuu. That’s a head scratcher too.”
    Shushou’ eyes opened a bit wider. She looked up at Gankyuu and said, “Youma attack people and youjuu don’t. Right?”
    “Well, that’s what passes for common knowledge. Catch a youjuu unprepared and they’ll attack you right back. Though they won’t single out a person and track him down.”
    “You don’t say—”
    “Among corpse hunters, it’s said that youma and youjuu started out the same. The different names simply apply to those that stalk human and those that don’t. But that doesn’t mean all youma especially hunt people. It’s also said the difference is that you can tame a youjuu but not a youma. But that doesn’t mean all youjuu can be turned into kijuu. Others say that when a kingdom descends into chaos, youma are the ones that come out of the woodwork, not youjuu. Except it’s not like youjuu never appear at times like that. What it comes down to is, you can’t domesticate