As was customary, the governing council of Joketsuzoku sat on stools in a half-circle around the warrior reporting to it. As was not customary, in this case the reporting warrior was also seated on a stool, though the warrior standing behind a Klensur almost exhausted to the point of incoherence, the warrior’s hands on her shoulders helping her keep her seat instead of spilling onto the floor, showed why in this case the stool was necessary.
“… and so we returned to the village to report while Xian Pu and Harbrus continued the pursuit of her husband,” Klensur slurred out, then slumped back with relief against her supporter.
“Our thanks for your report,” Ku Lon said, “and for your heroic efforts to bring it to us so quickly — that was very well done. Are there any questions?” she asked, looking around at her fellow council members. When no response came back, she turned back to the near-fainting warrior. “Since there are no questions, go and get something to eat and some sleep.” With a smile, “That husband of yours will be more than happy to give you the pampering you deserve.”
Klensur climbed wearily to her feet, then was saved from falling on her face when she attempted to bow to the council by the warrior behind her. With a stammered and slurred thank you, she stumbled out of the chamber, arm over her supporter’s shoulder.
As Klensur left, Ku Lon’s eyes swept across her fellow councilors. “There it is, the report of the Jusenkyo guide was accurate — there is a boy as that fat fool claimed.”
“However, the guide said that the boy also had a Jusenkyo curse, if a rare one,” responded Pad Zum. “Which means that your great-granddaughter will not be able to avoid her marriage as she doubtlessly hopes.”
“Normally true,” Ku Lon agreed, “except for the anomaly she reported of the boy appearing out of thin air. Remember, it wasn’t a case of him being present but invisible until the curse was reversed — one moment he wasn’t there and the next he was, the curse apparently reversed without the use of hot water. Even if the boy is not the mage Xian Pu suspects, there is still something unusual going on.” Looking around, Ku Lon found the rest of the council nodding thoughtfully and inwardly sighed with relief, though her stern expression was unchanged.
“So what do you suggest?” asked Pad Zum.
“That I and two other Elders, along with six warriors and their husbands, join Xian Pu in her hunt. That will be the minimum number of Elders needed to make a ruling in Xian Pu’s case, and a sufficient number of warriors to bring her errant husband back to the village if the decision goes against her.”
Dao Paz glanced sharply at Ku Lon. “And which Elders do you suggest should join you?”
“I think Lo Shun, and you, for the other,” said Ku Lon, then chuckled at the expression of surprise Dao Paz was unable to keep off her face. “After all, I wouldn’t want the council to think I was biasing the decision in my great-granddaughter’s favor. With only three Elders a unanimous decision will be required to relieve Xian Pu of her married status, and no one is going to accuse you if being in my camp in this matter.”
“That is true,” Dao Paz admitted with a slight, sardonic smile.
“Besides, both you and Lo Shun can speak Japanese, and that will be important in this case. At least one of each of the six couples that accompany us will need to speak it as well. Also, Pa Fum should join us.”
Now, the rest of the council was staring at Ku Lon in bemusement. “Japanese? Pa Fum?” Lo Shun asked.
Ku Lon nodded. “Remember, Japanese is the language the fat panda was speaking, and with their almost straight-line travel east he and his son are most likely headed home. As well, that’s where we are most likely to find that umbrella-carrying outsider that Pa Fum was beaten by and had to give the Kiss of Marriage.”
Dao Paz frowned thoughtfully. “From the way his trail vanished from one step to the next as well as the magical traces, that boy was a Wanderer — he could be anywhere in the world. What makes you think he can be found in Japan?”
Ku Lon shrugged. “I can’t say for certain, of course, but one place is as good as another. Besides, after he defeated Pa Fum and escaped I read the accounts we have of the few Wanderers that have married into the tribe and, as I remembered, while their wanderings can range worldwide they seem to have a center — a place or person that their travels bring them back to every few weeks or months. Since he was ranting in Japanese, something about it all being Ranma’s fault, whoever that is, that is where that center is most likely to be found. Besides,” she added, “Pa Fum can’t put off her year-long husband search for more than another week, and this way she’ll have a group of fellow Amazons watching out for her on her quest.”
“True enough,” Dao Paz nodded agreement. “Pa Fum can definitely use some keepers; she is growing into one of our finest healers but is no warrior and her shyness would probably get her killed or worse if she journeyed Outside alone. What was she thinking?” she lamented with a sigh.
“You know Pa Fum,” Fun Hao spoke up, “she may be practically useless in a real fight, but threaten children and she’ll be all over you with great enthusiasm, if little skill. In retrospect it’s obvious the Wanderer wasn’t threatening those children, but that’s what she thought at the time.”
“And so we have this mess,” Dao Paz grumped.
“Yes, we do,” Ku Lon agreed. “But at least this gives us the chance to get Pa Fum through this mess alive. Now, for the six warriors and their husbands, I suggest …”
Xian Pu and Harbrus stood in stunned silence on the shore, and watched as the light from the setting sun illuminated a panda swimming out to sea, pushing a jerrybuilt raft ahead of it. Finally, Harbrus shook herself clear of her shock and asked, “Where on earth does he think he’s going?”
“I’d say Japan, what else is out there?” Xian Pu growled, and turned back into the forest, slamming one of her maces into a tree in frustration.
Harbrus gawked at the younger girl for a moment, then hurried to catch up. “This just keeps getting better and better. So, what do we do now?”
Xian Pu paused and leaned against a tree while she thought for a minute. Finally, she nodded to herself and said, “Only one thing for it, we’ll have to go with a variation of what we’re already doing.” Reaching into her pouch, she took out the tracking stone paired with the one she’d given Klensur and handed it to Harbrus. Then she opened up a pocket on her backpack and pulled out another pair of tracking stones and handed one of them to Harbrus as well, putting the other in her pouch. “You hold on to these, they’ll let the others find you when they come looking and follow me. Give me your share of our money, and I’ll give you my share of the food. I haven’t seen any sign of people around here, so you’ll wait here for the others, and I’ll head up along the coast looking for a boat that can get me to Japan.”
Harbrus frowned uncertainly. “Are you sure? This is turning more into a husband quest than a husband hunt. What if the Elders accompanying the party decide not to follow you?”
With a shrug, Xian Pu nonchalantly responded, “Then they don’t follow. I keep following the boy and my husband *shudder* and if they settle down I mail a letter to the village with the location. If they don’t, I keep following them until the year’s up and come home.”
“I suppose there isn’t really an alternative,” Harbrus muttered reluctantly, then turned to her backpack to dig out her funds while Xian Pu separated out her share of the food, then watched as her younger friend disappeared into the dusk’s shadows and started setting up her own camp for the night.
Ku Lon sat in her hut, staring at the light from her meditation lamp’s flame reflecting from the blade of the old Bowie knife she held. Well, Jason, sixty years, and still as shiny and sharp as the day you gave it to me — and over thirty years since I travelled to Japan to meet your son at the US base. Your grandson isn’t there right now, but maybe if he can get some time free from his military duties he can come down from Korea’s DMZ to visit. It would be nice to meet the man I’ve been corresponding with these past two decades. With a wistful sigh, she put the blade on the table beside the lamp. Those men have done you proud, Jason, and I hope wherever you are you know that.
“So why do you disturb an old woman’s rest, Dao Paz?” she asked without turning to face her silent visitor. “Not to mention that you should be resting yourself. The weeks ahead will be hard ones, even for us.”
Unseen, Dao Paz shook her head with mild wonder. “All these centuries, and I still can’t sneak up on you.”
Ku Lon snorted. “You weren’t able to sneak up on me when we were trainees, and nothing’s changed since — the day you can surprise me is the day I retire.” Turning on her stool, she gazed at her lifelong rival. “I doubt you are here for a friendly chat about old times, so again — why the visit?”
Unbidden, Dao Paz pulled over another stool and sat and stared back for a moment, then shrugged. “All right, straight to the point. What are you up to, Ku Lon?”
Damn! I was afraid of that. That’s the downside of having a competent rival. Ah, well, nothing ventured nothing gained. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, the choices you suggested for our accompanying warriors were interesting ones, the ones I would have said were most likely to be lost to us through wanderlust and a thirst to explore the Outside. Yes, they can all speak Japanese, and so can some of their husbands, but there are others more — dedicated to our traditions, shall we say? — that can speak Japanese just as well. And with the three least, ah, traditional members of the council watching over them …” At Ku Lon’s sharp glance Dao Paz shrugged. “Yes, I include myself in that group, for all that we’ve been rivals all these decades. Anyway, the less charitable might think you are trying to lose us some of our finest warriors to the blandishments of the Outside, perhaps out of misplaced sympathy for their daydreams.”
“And is that what you believe?” Ku Lon asked softly.
Dao Paz shook her head. “No, never. However much we may have competed with each other, your loyalty to the tribe is unshakeable, and we need every warrior. Whatever you are up to, it isn’t giving some of those needed warriors a chance to disappear into the Outside. So what is it?”
Ku Lon gave her lifelong rival a long measuring look, then nodded. “Very well. You are right that we need every warrior, but we don’t necessarily need them here. Or at least, not just here.” She paused for a long moment, then at Dao Paz’s questioning look continued. “Remember, I was the one that delivered Jason MacKenzie’s dog tags to the American forces in Japan after the Second World War. I saw firsthand what the United States did to the cities of Japan, how powerful the nations on the Outside have grown. And from my correspondence with his son and grandson as well as what I saw on my trip thirty years ago, I know they have only grown more powerful since. We have been able to continue the traditions we hold to so proudly, keep our independence, only because we are in a backwater distant from the mandarins in Beijing and any of their closer supporters with nothing here of interest to them. But that could change at any time and all our vaunted skill in combat and with Chi would be useless against a single flight of bombers.”
“So you are seeking to establish a new tribe in Japan.”
“Let’s just say, if circumstances permit I want to be ready.”
Dao Paz stared thoughtfully at her long-time rival for a minute, then took a deep breath and nodded. “You are right about needing to set up somewhere else, though the more traditional members of the Council might call it treason. But it will be very difficult to hold to our traditions in the Outside, especially for our men. Why not simply move farther away?”
Ku Lon shrugged. “Farther away where, exactly? The world has gotten to be a very small place, we are as far from the centers of power as we can get right now. Anywhere more distant would require moving to another continent entirely, and how are we supposed to accomplish that? Besides, we ought to change some of our more outdated traditions at any rate, if we do succeed in setting up a sister tribe in Japan it will simply make it mandatory.” At Dao Paz’s gasp, Ku Lon gave a sharp laugh. “Oh, come now! Surely you’ve suspected my feelings in this regard for some time.”
Well, yes,” Dao Paz admitted, “I just never expected you to say it so clearly. It was that American flyer, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Ku Lon agreed. “At least, Jason MacKenzie started it. He may not have had our warriors’ skill in close combat, but his courage and honor were a match for any of them and the skills he did have working with the explosives from his crashed bomber saved our village even while costing him his life. My continuing correspondence with his descendants has simply increased my feelings in this regard — if those men can become such magnificent warriors, why not our own men?”
Dao Paz shrugged in turn. “I can’t say I’m convinced, but perhaps this trip will make the case one way or the other. As for a new tribe — the problem is a real one, but I’m not sure this is the best solution. Still, I’ll keep my silence and we’ll see what happens; if conditions in Japan aren’t right it’ll be a moot point anyway, and we’ll have to come up with something else.”
Ku Lon managed to keep herself from sagging with relief at her successful gamble, limiting herself to a slight nod. “My thanks.”
“No need to thank me, we both have the best interests of the tribe at heart, even when we disagree. And who knows? You may be right.” Rising from the stool, Dao Paz moved toward the door. “Well, it’s late, and as you said the next few weeks will be hard ones. A good night to you, my old enemy.”
“And to you,” Ku Lon replied as she watched her leave, then blew out the meditation lamp and headed for bed.
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