feed. “I see. But once you were on the road, he wasn’t your guest anymore, neh? You must have been worried about crossing paths with him then.”
“Hardly. If he were riding west, he could have carried his own damned letter—oh, curse me for a jabbering fool. I should not have said that, my lady.”
“Of course, of course. I’m frightfully sorry; I never meant to make a noble samurai break his oath. We won’t speak another word of him—but I shan’t let you go just yet. It’s late, and I won’t send you off without a good meal. Let’s talk about something else, shall we? Something wholesome and innocent.”
Even idle chatter about the weather divulged the information she needed to know. When Oda told her he’d enjoyed cloudless skies on his ride to her home, he said by implication that Daigoro’s little-used trails would be dry, not muddy. When Oda said he hadn’t seen any major storms since that typhoon last month, he might just as well have said that Daigoro would find every ford to be shallow and slow. Oh, you poor man, Nene thought. You have no flair for this game.
He’d come to deliver three words—I have it—and now he’d given Nene a soliloquy. Daigoro was badly hurt but on the mend, he and Katsushima rode together, the two of them departed Ayuchi three days ago, and now they were heading east and making good time. If Oda had wanted to fulfill his promise to the boy, he should never have stepped out of the saddle. Better to trot through the gate, put the letter in Nene’s hand, and leave like a stranger. The moment he opened his mouth, he was lost.
Purely out of habit she wondered what use she might put him to. It was an old reflex, like a merchant biting a piece of gold to test it. In truth it embarrassed her. She ought not to think of men like Oda as playing pieces. Naive nobility was still noble, was it not? He didn’t deserve to be manipulated. But her husband’s needs and the good of the empire took precedence over obligations to a dead friend’s cousin.
The unfortunate truth was that this Oda Tomonosuke was a useful tool. He was a sword master once, wasn’t he? Nene questioned her memory for a moment, but one glance at Oda’s hands erased all doubt: they were meaty and strong, as callused as an oarsman’s. Yes, he was a kenjutsu sensei after all. And who had just taken up the sword? Shichio.
She could be so kind to both of them. For Shichio, the only thing better than an expert sword master would be one with intimate knowledge of the Bear Cub. If Nene judged Oda rightly, nothing would swell his sails like becoming a proper sensei again. Shichio would be a dismal student, childish and temperamental, but he would be a paying student. Clearly Oda needed the money—and, come to think of it, he’d also benefit from the distraction. That much was genuine sympathy on Nene’s part: Oda was coming apart at the seams. Taking on a student might make him feel like a man again.
He could use a friend too, one who promised to write him regularly—a friend like Nene. He was too noble to knowingly betray Shichio, but she did not need him to be a mole. She needed him only to be himself, and to accidentally divulge all the countless details of Shichio’s life.
“Do you know, I’ve just thought of someone you should meet,” she said, deliberately sounding as if she had surprised herself. “My husband has a general who—you won’t tell a secret, will you?” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “The men say he’s better known for his penmanship than his swordsmanship.”
“Disgraceful.”
“Neh? But he wants to do better, and . . . well, I didn’t think of it before because General Shichio is so far from here, but now . . . oh, I do hope you’ll pardon me for saying so, but after your wife’s passing, and your son’s . . . I know it’s terribly rude of me. . . .” She made herself sound weak and indecisive. Oda would feel stronger if she gave him the opportunity to reassure her.
Inevitably, he took the bait. “It’s all right, my lady. Please, speak your mind. You needn’t be shy with me.”
“Well, I wonder if it might do you some good to get away for a little while. If it’s not too