Taro waited.
His face wasn't red anymore. It was white.
His hands shook at his sides. Empty. Useless.
But she didn't answer right away.
"What do you mean?"
He couldn't trust her. Taro's head screamed that he couldn't trust her.
But the words came out anyway.
"I am Taro Karun."
"Taro…Karun."
She had said it.
He had said it.
They stared at each other.
"...what do you mean?" Kishi asked again.
He dragged some air into his lungs. Enough to answer.
"I'm…the…heir."
The heir.
The heir to what?
The girl's face tightened.
"You're the heir to Karun?"
He didn't nod.
Maybe if he let the words hang there, they would die on their own.
Kishi's brow furrowed.
"Prove it."
Taro blinked once.
Tears. He wanted them to disappear.
"I…I don't want to prove it."
The girl's blue-green eyes widened slightly.
"Why not?"
"Do you want to prove that you're the rakhai?" Taro asked slowly. "Or–"
He paused.
"Is that why you don't let anyone prove it for you?"
She said nothing for a few seconds.
Then: "We have a problem."
He held his breath.
"I don't think either of us are going to kill each other."
Taro's heart stopped beating again as Kishi crossed her arms.
"Which isn't okay. Because…no one is supposed to know who I am."
"Oh." The word slipped out of his mouth.
Great.
So…what next?
Suddenly Kishi laughed.
"So. We're both here. And we're the only ones who know who each other is."
Her eyes narrowed.
"You can't go back, of course."
Taro scraped one foot across the forest floor. Kishi held up a hand.
"Nope."
Taro swallowed.
"What?"
"You can't leave Hiyashi." Kishi glared. "I hate that."
His face twisted.
"Then–"
"You're not scared?"
The question hit Taro like one of the rakhai's arrows.
"Well, I kind of am, but–"
"Why?"
Taro realized she meant it.
"I wonder," he mumbled.
His mouth was still dry.
Why was she making him talk?
Kishi's mask moved slightly.
Was she smiling?
"Are you going to fight me to go back to Norema?"
Taro considered briefly.
"I…" He cleared his throat. "I don't really like fighting with…girls."
To his surprise, Kishi's shoulders moved slightly.
She was relaxing?
"Very intelligent of you."
Then she gestured back in the direction she had vaguely come from.
"Let's go."
"What?" Taro spluttered.
She growled.
"Don't make me explain, because it won't sound pretty. Come on."
~~~
It was early afternoon before Nishida and Roka got back to Norema.
For all Nishida cared, it might as well have been night.
They got through the gate, all right. At that point, Nishida was weighing the pros and cons of passing out and leaving the still-overwhelmed Roka to deal with the situation.
Still, someone competent had to explain what had happened to Taro.
So Nishida did.
To the boy's mother.
Which was a bad idea, apparently. She sent the older of her two daughters to find her husband, immediately.
Nishida promptly decided he wasn't going to ask her to take care of his hand.
She did anyway.
In the meantime, Roka stumbled off on his way to take the horses to the stable and to potentially report to…whom, Nishida didn't know. Neither did he care.
"This looks terrible," Runa Zayasu muttered to herself as she washed the wound and Nishida clamped his mouth shut tightly. "Terrible… Sakue! Go to your room!"
"Where is Taro?" the seven-year-old whimpered as she reluctantly tore her wide eyes away from Nishida's hand and backed towards the stairway.
Nishida jumped as the blacksmith and his eldest daughter appeared in the doorway.
"Taro? Where is he?" Heizo Zayasu demanded of the young man sitting on the bakery stool.
"Three hours' slow pace into Hiyashi," Nishida whispered. "As of three hours…ago!"
The last word came out in something very much like a scream as Runa dabbed antiseptic onto his hand.
Heizo was already grabbing his cloak. "Don't wait for me at supper," he called to his wife.
Her face was nearly white.
"Please don't go alone, Heizo."
He bit his lip as he paused.
The silence lasted a bit long. Nishida, too, glanced towards the man by the door.
Finally Heizo spoke.
"Nishida. Do you think the rashei will provide a search party to follow me?"
Nishida deliberated.
Then he nodded, his face tense.
"I will speak to him–as soon as I am done here."
Runa's hands moved swiftly as she wrapped bandaging around his hand.
The door slammed shut behind Heizo. Runa smiled weakly at Nishida.
"I think you're good."
He stared into her face. Runa Zayasu had always looked young. Happy. Even with her teenage son and daughter.
Now she seemed…tired.
Suddenly Nishida's jaw hardened.
"Mrs. Zayasu…I will bring Taro back to you."
She handed him a mug.
Milk.
"Drink this. You've lost a lot of blood."
Nishida glanced at the soaked remains of the mask Taro had worn. He winced as he sipped–then gulped.
Setting the empty mug down on the counter, he slipped down from the stool, eyeing his hand for a moment before he bowed slightly.
"Good evening, Mrs. Zayasu."
And with that, he left the bakery.
It had been less than an hour since he had arrived there, but he didn't like how quickly the sky was darkening. Still, his footsteps were slow as he made his way to the fortress, no matter how quickly he tried to push himself.
Roka would have gotten home by now. Possibly visited Nishida's family, as well.
Nishida pressed his lips together. He would not be seeing his family anytime in the very near future.
They could wait–while the Zayasus waited.
~~~
Hanae was exhausted, Heizo Zayasu realized.
She would have to push a little longer today, anyway.
He fed her quickly, wiping her down while he tried to calm his own nerves. Everything in him screamed to hurry. But hurrying now would only take longer.
Still, it was only a few minutes before Heizo was riding towards the gate.
He was not at all prepared to be stopped.
"No permission," the guardsman shrugged.
"What do you mean?" Heizo demanded. "My son is lost in Hiyashi."
"You have no permission to be leaving the city," the soldier repeated, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. "I'll have to ask you to return within the walls, sir."
Heizo's face hardened.
"Where do I get permission?" he asked–more quietly this time.
The guard blinked.
"From the local governor."
Heizo didn't say "the valoren."
He simply turned and galloped back towards the fortress.
And got there only to find Nishida and the valoren himself talking in the courtyard.
Swinging himself down from Hanae, the blacksmith joined them, shoving his way past an unlucky soldier. As the man approached, the valoren glanced up.
"Ah. Heizo Zayasu."
Heizo half-bowed.
"Valoren Yazawa."
"So the rakhai has targeted your adoptive son."
Heizo felt his blood slowly turn to ice.
The valoren had no right to define the situation so casually.
Neither did he have any right to refer to Taro as adoptive.
"Yes. I request your written permission to go after him immediately."
Heizo tried not to emphasize the word "request." He probably failed.
Valoren Yazawa's face didn't move beneath his mask. "Unfortunately, that is impossible."
"Valoren," Nishida broke in, "I told you I myself will go after him, whether or not you send soldiers with me. And if I disappear to, you will answer to my uncle–"
The valoren shook his head, holding up a hand.
"Your uncle, Nishida Tadashi, wouldn't have wanted you involved with the hidden heir of Karun in the first place."
Nishida froze.
Heizo froze harder–but spoke first, his voice laced with he knew not what.
"Can you explain what you mean, valoren."
"You adopted Taro over ten years ago, didn't you?"
The valoren's voice was soft–and lethal.
"He has no prior surname in the registry. No historical record."
Suddenly the veteran soldier smiled.
"You didn't know?"
Heizo didn't swallow.
He couldn't.
How…
How did the valoren know?
"That's impossible," Nishida gasped, and both men turned to look at him. "Taro is an ordinary boy. I grew up with him. Roka grew up with him. He's…he's no one!"
Valoren Yazawa tilted his head slightly.
Heizo sensed some of the provincial's calm melting away.
"Do you want to check the records?" Yazawa asked slowly.
"I knew he was adopted," Nishida hissed. "Everyone in Norema does. And everyone knows he's not the…the heir!"
"We shall see," Yazawa whispered–and turned towards Heizo. "What do you say?"
His wife's face flashed through his mind.
Nene. Sakue.
Taro.
Where was Taro?
Surely the rakhai hadn't killed him.
If she had, Karun was over.
But if she hadn't…
Heizo forced himself to breathe as the valoren's eyes settled on him like a snake's.
Then Yazawa set his hand on the blacksmith's shoulder.
"You didn't know. Of course you didn't know."
Nishida's good hand shot out, gripping Yazawa's outstretched arm.
"Someone has lied to you," the young rashei gritted. "I will vouch for Taro Zayasu with my life."
"But will you vouch for Taro Karun?" Yazawa questioned.
He jerked his hand away as the boy went silent.
"I'll leave you two to process this. I'm sure it's hard to learn."
Turning away, the valoren started walking back towards the fortress.
"But from now on, no one is to leave Norema."