laughter. “Caught him?” he said, slapping the table. “Giving the Emperor a run ’round the bush at every turn. They don’t even know where he is, I’m telling you; he’s given them the slip and they’ll be lucky if they ever find him. Making life damn hard for the rest of us, though.”
I feigned concern. “How?” I asked.
“Imagine this,” Kichi explained. “You’re minding your own business, just trying to sell your goods, when all of a sudden you can’t even get past the borders—that is, if you’re a man traveling alone or two men traveling together. And they search everything. My friend Hanzo was stopped for two whole hours, just ’cause he had a regal look about him.”
“Ah,” I said. “I didn’t ever think I’d say it, but… It’s a lucky thing we’re traveling together.” I nodded toward Mamoru at that, and he patted my hand again; perhaps he was trying to assure me that being disrespectful in a place like that and under those circumstances was all right. I wasn’t going to be unless I had to, though. My nails dug into my palms, but I offered a companionable smile to our new friends.
“Well, you’d think that, wouldn’t you,” Kichi said, “but they’re searching women now, too. Apparently the prince could be disguised as anyone, so they’re stripping women who fit the bill right there at the station. Naked as babies, Hanzo tells me. I tell you, brother, I was born into the wrong job—am I right?” Here he slapped at my arm for agreement, and I laughed with them, all the while wanting to slap him back.
I feared that I would do it too hard, and would then have yet another apology to make to my lord, on top of all the others I felt I owed him. Next to me, Mamoru smiled politely, so that even he looked more good-humored than I. Reluctantly, I allowed a quiet laugh to escape my lips, as though I were either too polite or too slow to have enjoyed the joke properly. Still, knowing what they’d told me now, it was rather difficult to laugh. If they were stopping anyone with even a passing resemblance—if they were going so far as to strip women naked at the station—then my lord and I would soon have a very serious problem on our hands.
How to get past the prefecture checkpoint without being detected?
My worry must have shown plainly on my face, for Kichi slapped my arm again, this time in a manner that was meant to be reassuring rather than crass. Or, at least, that was what I thought. “Worried about your lady friend? I’d be too, if she were mine. Very beautiful. There’s no telling for certain whether or not they’ll see a hint of royalty in her. Or maybe the looks of her will leave ’em feeling… particularly dutiful.”
That time, Mamoru put a hand on my arm before I could move, else I might have lost my temper entirely. He cast his eyes down, for all the world like a shy maiden. His cheeks were flushed with embarrassment, and I could not ignore the sharp pang in my chest of a duty neglected, no matter how I had resolved to shun that duty for another.
Had we been our former selves, I would have killed anyone who humiliated the prince so. Now I was forced to laugh with them and call them friends. Breathing slowly, I endeavored to be calm.
They seemed like decent enough men. Perhaps I was judging them altogether too harshly.
“Yes,” I said, edging the words out until I could make them sound natural. “That thought had crossed my mind.”
Kichi nodded. “I don’t blame you one bit, either. You get a woman like this for yourself, you don’t want anyone else seeing her naked.”
“She’s my sister,” I said finally, hoping that would put an end to some of the joking once and for all. I had a sister and I knew well what clarifying that relationship did to dissuade discussion of their beauty or any other… attributes.
“Ah,” said Kichi. “Say no more, good sir. It’s your protective instincts as a brother that put such a fearsome spark in your eyes. I understand completely. I’ve got sisters myself, two of them—both with faces like radishes, though. Never have to endure such talk.”
“We’ve been trying to figure out how to get past ourselves,” Jiang said, without warning. I’d almost forgotten he was there, for all that his loquacious companion overshadowed him. “Not