Sword Dance

R A I G A R

Waking once in the half-light of dawn, Raigar frowned in momentary confusion at the comfortable warmth of his bed and the steady sound of rain on rushes overhead. They weren’t the sounds of London, he mused. In trying to put his thoughts together, he slowly remembered where he was. Iwato. Reaching out from under his quilt, he felt his fingers brush against the solid mass of Sayaka’s dining table. Right where it was supposed to be. The heavy obstacle would have been out of place in any Londoner’s bedroom, but for some reason sleeping next to it again, after so many years since his apprenticeship, was terribly nostalgic. Somewhere on the other side of the room, his fiancé was resting. Weighing his desire to rise early so to spend more time with her, against his selfish inclination to sleep late and beg her forgiveness later, Raigar stretched and retucked his quilt around him. Another hour or so of sleep couldn’t hurt, he resolved to himself. His muscles seconded the opinion, still sore and tired from hauling the cart for days on end. Closing his eyes again he promised himself not to sleep through another of his woman’s meals.

“Raigar.”

He sighed as the sound of his name caught him right at the edge of a dream. He was chasing Sayaka through the trees skirting the edge of the Shogun’s sanctuary. She laughed as she slipped away from him, her teenage body still slender, boy-like even, in the traditional student-gi she wore. At sixteen she’d only just begun to blossom. But in his eyes she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

She moved like she was made of air, compared to his blundering over stumps and roots. Still for all that Sayaka could have easily lost him there in the mossy woods, she never strayed too far ahead. Her laughter teased him, called him forwards. Leaping from the top of a gully, he used his longer strides to take an alternate route up the hill, catching her at the top. Sayaka gasped as his fingers closed over her wrist, turning to look back at him with delight, not resisting at all as he staggered to a stop and pulled her back, into his arms.

“Caught you.” He murmured breathlessly into her hair. Her breaths were as quick as his own as she draped her arms over his shoulders, fingers daring to smooth the short tail of his pulled-back hair. There was mischief in her look. Raigar squeezed her waist, smiling in return, pleased as always to know that she felt free to be herself when alone with him. Always dutiful and proper when in sight of her grandfather and older samurai, out in the woods, she could relax.

Sayaka leaned forwards, surprising him with a swift kiss. Stupefied, Raigar forgot to hang on, and the girl bolted from his arms before he could stop her. “Come on, ox-boy, I want to show you something… Just a little further, ok?”

“Alright.” He agreed, giving chase again, inspired by her kiss.

“Raigar. You really need to wake up now.” Incongruous to the foggy chill of the forest, he felt a warm weight draped across his chest. Sayaka was both running ahead of him, and also… poking him playfully in the chin? He opened his eyes with a start, realizing that someone _was_ poking him. Abruptly awake again he blinked, feeling stiff and groggy. The teenage girl of his dreams was replaced with the beautiful samurai she’d become. Sayaka was resting against his chest, smiling at his confusion as she left off poking him in favor of stroking his cheek and forehead. “Hey, sleepyhead. Time to get up.”

“Geh.” Raigar wondered at his headache as he gathered his wits and slowly sat up. Moving to give him some space, Sayaka watched him carefully. He rubbed his face and head briskly, trying to shake the feeling of lethargy. No sooner had he dropped his hands to his lap, than she reached for him again, fingers deftly pressing against his neck and face as if to ascertain if he was ill. He felt a little ill, he realized. The unusual sensation made him frown. It wasn’t like him to be sick. Glancing over at his fiancé he realized with another start that she was fully dressed, and further that the grey daylight coming through the windows was at an odd angle. Almost like it was evening, and not morning.

His brain slowly caught up with the rest of him. It _was_ evening. Feeling like a fool, Raigar blinked again. “How long have I slept?”

“Full long, beloved. Much longer and I was seriously considering fetching the doctor… I’d have brought him over this morning, save that grandfather insisted that you weren’t sick, just exhausted, and that I ought to leave you be. But I didn’t want you to miss another meal, so I thought I’d try and rouse you.”

“I can’t believe I slept all day.” He rubbed his face again as Sayaka hid her smile behind her hand. “You must think me a total lay-about. This is twice you’ve caught me sleeping past my due. I hope you weren’t tiptoeing around me all day. It would have served me right if you’d tripped over me. At least that might have gotten me up.”

“Believe me, I tried, Raigar. You would have none of it.” She shook her head playfully, giving up her demure pose to grin at him. “Had you been anymore soundly asleep, you might have been mistaken for dead. I think you were honestly _that_ tired. And no wonder too…” She turned to pick a cup up, carefully passing it to him. “Here, drink. After the sleep you’ve had, you’ll need it.

Sayaka was right. The cold tea did the trick of soothing his dry throat and went a way towards dispelling the ache behind his eyes. Raigar turned the empty cup in his hands, stupidly amazed by the idea that he’d slept not only through breakfast, but right through the afternoon as well. She refilled it without asking, petting his hair as she spoke.

“I almost hate to tell you this, beloved, but you didn’t just sleep through the day. It’s been a day, a night, and another day. Hence my worry. Do you think you might want some soup? Passed down for seven generations, supposed to be full of restorative potency…” She teased. “And chicken bones…”

He had to chuckle at that, despite his surprise. “Soup would be fine. I’m sorry to put you through any trouble.” Seeing that she was moving to dish him a bowl, he figured the least he could do was sit at the table like a normal person. Folding back his futon and quilt, and setting his pillow on top of the tidy pile, he settled himself crosslegged on the mat, resting his elbows on the tabletop. The idea that he’d slept for almost two days straight was incredible. He hadn’t felt that tired on laying down. He knew he’d been pushing himself in crossing the desert, but at the time it hadn’t felt like a particular hardship.

He looked sideways at the feel of his fiancé settling herself close beside him. She set a generous bowl full of soup in front of him, complete with green onion and dumplings. “More tea?” She asked.

Feeling like a fool again for obliging his woman to wait on him hand and foot after only being under her roof a few days, he shook his head. At least Sayaka didn’t seem to mind. She rested her head against his shoulder while he ate, a warm weight against his side, keeping him company. He set the empty bowl aside at length, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and holding her in place when she might have left to tidy it away. Raigar pressed a kiss against the top of Sayaka’s head as he shifted to wrap his other arm around her as well, holding her against his shoulder as he enjoyed the feeling of energy returning to his limbs. Dehydrated from his over-extended nap, he could almost feel the fluid diffusing through his body to replenish what was missing.

“You, my lady, are too good for me.”

“For once we agree on something, boy.” Josei humphed as he limped into the room, his comment cynical but not actively mean-spirited. “She’s kicked you awake at last I see.”

“I beg your pardon, master samurai.” Raigar bowed his head as he’d often done as a student. Sayaka stirred against him as if making ready to retreat to a discrete distance. Suddenly stubborn, he tightened his arm around her waist, biding her to stay as she was. That he would refrain from doing more than holding her was a necessary evil, but her grandfather would have to adapt to the idea of their intimacy eventually. He was inclined to start sooner than later. The idea of tiptoeing around the traditional old man just to hold his wife’s hand for months after they were married was ridiculous.

“Raigar…” His fiancé murmured in soft rebuke, blushing slightly as she waited for him to let go. Not actively resisting him, neither did she encourage his minor rebellion, studying the far side of the room instead of meeting either his or her guardian’s eye.

He sighed, not wishing to make Sayaka uncomfortable. Leaning forward, he pressed a light kiss to her cheek then let her go. “Thank you for the soup. And for waking me. I promise I will repay you for the trouble somehow.”

“It was no trouble.” She disagreed, face still pink as she gathered up chopsticks and cups and moved to wash them.

“Mooncalf.” Josei called him, when he would have contentedly watched her at her chores. “Have you never seen a woman wash bowls before? Bah, you’re still half asleep.”

Raigar folded his arms on the table and gave the old man a considering look instead. “I have traveled a good portion of the world since I was last your student, Master Josei. And I have seen things both humble and marvelous. But even so, your granddaughter is in a class apart.”

“She is the pride of Iwato.” The old man shrugged, as if stating what ought to have been obvious. “She is the Shogun’s Champion. And she is the image of her grandmother, when my wife was of her age. Do not imagine, ox-boy, that you can tell me anything I don’t already know.”

He poured himself a cup of tea, glancing sideways at his descendant with a knowing look. “Sayaka is a prize fit for a Shogun. A real one, not some fat clown, or schoolboy. Why you think you have any right to her is beyond me… Still, she isn’t getting any younger, and so until a better offer comes along, I appear to be stuck with you.”

Raigar smiled down at his hands, recognizing in the gruff complaints that the old man had come to peace with his courtship while he was away. The withered old samurai might look the part of the serene and wise village elder, but there was plenty of fire left in his veins. From across the room Sayaka scolded him with an impatient noise, pink to the ears at her grandfather’s compliments. Raigar spared her one last appreciative look, and then spread his hands out on the polished surface of the table, gathering his wits for a discussion he’d planned for before ever setting foot in the sleepy village. He would have his woman to wife. In London after his Queen’s quest was done, he’d had plenty of time to ready his arguments. There were, after all certain levers that could be relied upon when pleading his case to the people of Kyoto. Knowing he’d have to make the same case several times before he was done, he decided to use Josei as his test.

“You are right to say I am no Shogun, with palace and courtiers and rank to bestow upon my future wife.” He felt Sayaka’s eyes upon him, shooting him a worried glance as she pretended to focus on her work. “But I am confident, just the same. She has chosen me, knowing full well my faults, and having born witness to my weakness. If Sayaka, whom we all love, believes that I am the man who will make her happiest, who are we to say no?”

“Some would say… that she is full young yet, to know the peril in her choice.” Josei mused, unconvinced by the romantic argument. “Happiness alone does not make a good marriage. One may spend one’s life savings on a princely horse, and for a day ride around in perfect splendor, but when night falls, and both stomachs are empty, neither will be happy with the arrangement.”

“Grandfather!” Sayaka was unable to hold silent. She cast a look of protest at the old man. “Please! I am _not_ a horse… and my beloved is no fool…”

“_He_ is the horse. Little idiot.” Her relative pointed at Raigar in annoyance. “It is you everyone worries about, not _him_. You must think of your future! You’ll be happy tomorrow, sure. But where will you be in a year’s time? You do not remember how much he eats, but _I_ do. Such a big frame needs plenty of fuel to keep it going, and new Shoguns are just as stingy as old ones when it comes to payday.”

“You imagine I would sit idle and let my wife support me?” Raigar raised an eyebrow in surprise. “You do not remember me so well as you say you do, revered teacher.”

“And what sort of work do you think you will find here, Green Lion of London.” The old man reminded him pointedly. “There doesn’t seem to be any new conflict on the wind. The only way you will sell your sword in these parts is to the blacksmith. When that gold is spent and eaten, what then?”

“Then I shall have the blacksmith forge me an axe.” He replied calmly, having thought about just such a possibility for months. “And I shall learn how a man may make a living by other means than hunting, or killing.”

“No daughter of mine will marry a woodcutter.” Josei growled in flat refusal. “She’s a samurai, for god’s sake, have you no respect for her honor?”

“Than I shall petition the Shogun, that I may become a samurai too.” Raigar shrugged. “As you said the night I arrived, there may be some means yet by which I may trade upon my former infamy and use it in my favor.”

“You would make a clown of yourself, for the court’s amusement.”

“If that is what it will take for them to acknowledge my right to marry your granddaughter, then yes. I shall.” He agreed.

“Stop it, both of you.” The woman in question stood abruptly, basin in hand. “I ought to tip this right over your heads, like any pair of stray dogs barking in the street… I swear…”

Raigar frowned to see how tight her face looked, suddenly guilty that she had taken their wrangling to heart. It’d never occurred to him to worry what she’d think if he and her grandfather fell into a genuine argument over her wellbeing. It wasn’t like he didn’t respect Master Josei’s opinions, or even that he didn’t agree with them completely. There was a very fine line to be walked, between obtaining that which would make them both happy, and that which would make them a laughingstock for the city. He was determined that Sayaka not lose face because of his arrival. In that he and her guardian were in perfect accord.

“Sayaka…” He tried to explain.

“Enough… I say, enough.” She shifted her basin to her hip, freeing a hand to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she gave Josei a desperate look. “Isn’t it enough that I love him? I have given up everything else... everything anyone’s ever asked of me… I have ate, slept, and bled for my honor… If my reputation can’t weather even _this_ after all I’ve done… what good is all the work I put into it in the first place? I might as well have never tried! I’d have been better off running off to follow him to London years ago…”

“Sayaka, don’t be f-” The old man blinked as she stepped past them and out the door, shuffling her burden down the hall and clattering down the steps to the forecourt. Raigar turned to look at his companion, equally startled by the sound of the outer door sliding shut. Josei scratched his chin. “Don’t just sit there, big idiot. Go after her. It isn’t me she’s hoping will dry her tears…”

Torn between the impulse to do just that, and the need to lay an argument before his prospective father-in-law that _would_ convince him, Raigar pressed his lips together in frustration. He’d hoped to work the conversation around to the topic a bit more subtly. It was his fault, he supposed, for dragging the matter out in the air where Sayaka would over hear and take it the wrong way.

“With all due respect, Grand Master. If I could beg your indulgence first, and have you join me in the courtyard? There’s something I wish for you to consider while I fetch your granddaughter back to the house.”

He pushed himself up and to his feet, waiting for Josei to do the same. Stepping from the polished wood of the house into his sandals, and crossing the packed dirt of the training yard, he shifted the top layer of goods he’d brought with him to expose the first layer of lockboxes hidden beneath. Tiny slivers of enchant stone embedded in the locks reacted to the charm worn on a leather thong around his wrist, and the lids of the first several boxes released themselves as his fingers drifted over their brass-banded surface. Raigar flipped the first case open before stepping to the door, sliding it back on the cloudy evening in order to cast more light on the glittering contents of his luggage. Sayaka’s grandfather hissed in incredulous surprise, leaning heavily on his cane as he recognized what he was seeing.

“Gold?!” Josei picked a coin out of the box, examining it closely before dropping it back in with its fellows. “My god, boy. What have you done… you traveled cross-country with a chest that would make a highway robber’s dreams come true? Are you stupid?”

Raigar snorted in amusement, flipping open the next three lids to reveal more boxes of the same. When lined up together, the sight was pretty impressive, he thought. Well worth the effort of carrying the heavy card load all the way to Kyoto. “Not just one, revered master. As you can see.”

“Holy mountains and rivers, blessed be the earth and all its glory…” Sayaka’s grandfather breathed a prayer as he took in the improbable sight. “Ox-boy, where did you come by such a trove… you could buy a house in town and servants to fill it, and still live off the rest until as old as me… Tell me that the boxes under these aren’t more of the same…”

“I’m afraid so.” Raigar shrugged. “As to how, you’ll forgive me but I am not so great a storyteller that I wish to repeat myself. I shall fetch Sayaka first, and then we shall talk. But as to why… well… In the event that what you speculate is true, and that I cannot find work here honorable enough for the husband of the Shogun’s Champion… I thought, at least I could ensure that I would not be a burden on my wife. I would not ever wish for a moment, that she regret her choice.”

“You…”

“I intend to give it to her.” Raigar reached for his coat, shrugging it over his shoulders as he prepared to go outside. “What use is there to me for wealth, with no Sayaka to share it with…? Whether she uses it to bribe the court into a kindly frame of mind for our union, or whether she chooses to buy a kimono fit for a queen, or even to give it away to anyone and everyone in need… is her business.

My father taught me when I was very young. Gold is a tool, like a sword, or a hammer. It does not in itself bring happiness. It is all in how you choose to use it. I came here to make a life with your granddaughter, Master Josei. But do not imagine that I came unprepared to prove myself should anyone question my worth.”

For a long moment the old man stared at him, speechless. Josei slowly reached out and closed the lids of the boxes one at a time, gathering his thoughts before resting his hands on the polished knotted wood of his cane.

“Go and find my granddaughter, Lion of London. You of anyone will know where she has run to… This is something she must see, and think on, for herself. I cannot presume to speak her mind for her anymore, indeed, I wouldn’t dare.” He shook his head candidly. “She’s grown remarkably obstinate in recent months, which I have suspected _you_ are partly responsible for… But just the same, I would like to confer with her about this treasure… and I should very much like to hear your story before I retire. Go and fetch Sayaka home, boy. I will wait here to see what face she puts on when she sees the surprise you have in store for her…”

*****

The half-light of evening made the heavy clouds creeping through the trees look almost more real than the wood and stone of the village around him. Raigar paused at the bottom of the stairs, admiring the subdued reflections of the clouds in the pond’s surface. There was something uncanny in the beauty of Kyoto’s landscape. Even the simplest things possessed a subtle grace. He shook his head at his wool gathering and crossed the stepping stones to the lane. Her washbasin was tucked tidily along side the house, but there was no sign of his missing fiancé. Feeling the damp of the fog in his lungs, he tucked his hands in his pockets and headed up to the high side of the village, towards the trees.

The funerary markers, chiseled from the chalky white stone common to the region, were laid out without any obvious plan. Scattered amongst the trees alongside Iwato, the ancestral shrines were placed as time and spirit had dictated. Many of them, he supposed, were older than the young trees that grew around them. With the hour, and the weather, there were not many people out to wonder at his fascination with the dead or question where he was going. More interested in the living, Raigar paid the monuments little mind. Using the more familiar plinths as landmarks, he worked his way deeper into the trees. On the edge of the copse stood one particularly simple shrine. And with it, was Sayaka.

He stood to the side, letting her finish her meditation uninterrupted. Someone, an old companion amongst the knighthood perhaps, had once warned him to never interrupt a woman in conversation with her mother, for the consequences would be dire. Raigar smiled to himself at the random memory. In this case he doubted he could earn the woman’s disapproving glare, Sayaka’s parent was long gone from the world, as was his own. But still it was rude to intrude on the private moment, regardless of his temptation to wrap his arms around her again. She hadn’t had a hand free to grab for her coat, on storming out into the evening, he realized. Probably too angry to care how wet the fog was, she’d stalked off to the one place where she felt she might find some peace, or perhaps sympathy. The idea that his fiancé had nowhere else to turn when distressed didn’t do anything to lighten his feeling of guilt. He hadn’t come to Iwato in order to bring further upset into her life.

Sayaka turned, noticing him at last. Raigar bit his cheek to keep from smiling again as she just as abruptly turned away again, furtively wiping at her eyes before he could see any evidence of her tears. He took the opportunity to cross over to her while she was distracted, lightly catching his woman by the shoulders and guiding her into leaning against his chest. She turned towards him, pressing it into his shirt as she gave up pretending indifference. Raigar wrapped his arms around her back as he felt her relax, encouraging her to hide herself against him if that was what she wanted.

Giant that he often felt, a least his height and bulk were good for that much. Sayaka was tall by Kyoto standards, he mused, doubly so for a woman of the region. It was a frivolous reason to give, if someone were to ask why his courtship of her was more successful than anyone else’s, but it wasn’t without merit. Who else among the men of the mountain or city, would be able to tuck her head beneath his chin and cradle her close when she felt lost? Who else could she practice her demure upwards glances with? It had to be awkward to play the part of shy blossom of womanhood when she could look down on half the men she knew, and stare the rest dead in the eye without trying. He twisted slightly while hanging on to her, swaying slowly as he chaffed her back. “It will be alright, pretty flower. Have faith.”

She exhaled in quiet laughter as she clung tight to him. “You… It’s been years since you last called me that. Foolish ox-boy. I am no flower to wilt in strong sun, or be blown away by a storm.”

“No, you are like these pines.” He agreed softly, squeezing her companionably as he spoke. “Beautiful regardless of time or season, giver of shelter and warmth, a wholesome and magnificent thing.”

Sayaka laughed aloud at his poor poetry, rubbing her face against his coat. “Stop it, beloved, do not tease me so.”

“I’d call you my ‘ever green’ but that sounds even odder than ‘pretty flower’.” He mused aloud, not above making her laugh and blush again, glad of the chance to distract her from her worries. “So until such time as I can call you ‘wife’… you shall have to tolerate my poor attempts at endearment.”

She caught her breath at that. Pulling back slightly to stare up at him wide-eyed, Sayaka looked as if she was torn between kissing him and running from him.

“It was you yourself who said it would be a simple thing.” He reminded his woman gently. “I may have been both exhausted and distracted the other evening, but I remember that much. Do you doubt it now? What has changed while I slept? Has someone spoken against me?”

“Rumor of you has spread to town.” She rested her cheek against his shoulder again, “No-one has said anything outright, but… I worry. What will we do if they say no? I cannot do without you, beloved. I will not… But nor can I betray my grandfather… He’s the only family I have left!”

“Your grandfather neither would, nor could ever refuse you, if you insisted, Sayaka.” Raigar soothed her as best he could. “He wants you to be happy, as I do. And I am certain that he will be advocate for us, when the time comes. He was merely testing our resolve, is all. He said nothing that others will not say, and far less kindly, I have no doubt.”

“I cannot bear the thought of them speaking ill of you.” Sayaka tightened her fingers against his coat, grabbing fistfuls of the thick fabric as she rested her forehead against him. “Those useless court fools who no nothing of sacrifice, or loyalty, or…”

“…Love?” He said what she hesitated to, kissing the top of her head with a sudden burst of heartfelt affection. “Believe me, pretty flower, I know. I’ve met my share of courtiers in my time. London or Kyoto, they’re all the same. Still, their gossip can be as much a tool for us to use, as it is a weapon against us. It’s all in which stories they choose to listen to, and which they repeat.”

“It will hardly convince them if they hear of your greatness from _me_.” She shifted to gaze up at him, encouraged by his words. “I’m not exactly to be trusted as impartial.”

“No,” he agreed, stroking her cheek. “No you shall play the part of demure Lady Samurai, untouchable by commonplace gossip and scandal, I think. The roll of talespinner will have to be given to someone else… Your grandfather will probably know someone whom will suit our purpose.”

She shook her head, smiling up at him in disbelief. “Raigar, you have become a politician since last I knew you…”

“I have been both Captain of the Knights, and champion to the ruling house of London City, Sayaka. I’d be a fool indeed if I’d managed both without learning _something_ of how the minds of the nobility worked.” He opened his mouth to add to the fact that he himself had been raised and groomed from childhood to be actively a member of the court-world, but paused before the words left his lips. Had he never…? Seeing her curious expression it occurred to him that he had errored somewhere in their past together. It hadn’t been intentional, merely an oversight, but still he felt foolish. In London City, to be a Knight meant that a man _had_ to be noble born. In Kyoto, the two classes were distinct. Either you were a Noble, or you were a Samurai, but not both. Roughly equivalent, a person might switch from one class to the other, but Nobles rarely fought, and Samurai were rarely wealthy.

As a student he’d arrived in Kyoto City with only what he’d fled from the Sage carrying on his back. Raigar bent down to kiss her forehead, suddenly realizing just how great a shock her grandfather must be suffering from his wealth. Neither she nor anyone in Iwato thought he was anything but one like _them_, just a highly recognized warrior in service to his king. It wasn’t like he traveled with retinue during the war, and afterwards, with Lady Karin, she’d been more interested in speed and expediency than in flaunting her wealth. Sayaka had no reason to suspect he was accustomed to anything other than a life similar to her own. The fact that he’d grown up in a manor of a size, if not opulence, to rival her Shogun’s palace would probably shock her speechless.

“Raigar?” She wondered aloud at his distraction. “Is there something amiss?”

Catching Sayaka’s face between his hands, he reassured her with a kiss. The feel of her mouth, sweetly eager against his compelled him to steal a second taste of her lips before pulling back and minding his manners. “Come back to the house, my lady. There is something I wish to discuss with you and your grandfather, and I think it… it would be best that I didn’t delay any further.”

Suddenly it was more important than ever that he gift his wife-to-be with the spoils he’d brought from London. He frowned, leading her by the hand down into the village, considering how honor would compel her to react to his fortune. The money was supposed to be a way of easing their way forward together, but there was every chance that his woman would balk at the idea of him throwing himself in with her and her family on discovering his origins. Still, a fortune could hardly intimidate, if he refused to own it. Once she got over the shock, he was certain they would manage to overcome this obstacle as they had far worse ones.

The sense, yet again, that they were being watched came to him as Sayaka nimbly preceded him across the steppingstones and back into the house. Glancing over his shoulder, he couldn’t see anything suspect however, and had to give up with a shrug. Whoever, or whatever it was, they’d undoubtedly show themselves eventually.

*****