Six years after the Mongol Invasion
The humid air wafted gracefully through the window. The sun had just risen, stirring up the skies to begin their daily cycle of clouds and rain throughout the region. A red dragonfly landed on the windowsill of Mei’s room.
Mei looked at it cautiously from where she lay on her mat, but she didn’t move. The dragonfly fluttered its wings and felt at home. She smiled.
It was a good omen for the day.
Mei’s days in the castle usually consisted of helping her mother with looming, practicing her writing, and learning how to sit like a little lady when in the company of elders. When she had time to herself, she learned how to hide from the eyes of others and sneak all about the castle grounds, listening to whatever conversations she’d stumble upon. Mei was much too shy to approach just anyone, so this was how she came to learn new things everyday. She remained the curious one.
Mei found her mother who was preparing tea on the floor below. Kimiko the caretaker was there as well.
“Finally the little bird is awake! We were wondering when you would arrive,” Kimiko laughed.
“A dragonfly kept me from coming,” Mei knelt down by the kettle and awaited her meal.
“A dragonfly?” her mother raised an eyebrow. She was a beautiful woman from the mainland who had come to be the Jito’s wife years before.
“Yes! I didn’t want to disturb it, so I let it stay on my windowsill.”
“You can’t let every little diversion in life keep you from your duties, Mei.”
“Ah, let the child be, Shina. Remember when you would do the same at her age?”
“Sometimes,” Shina sighed.
“A dragonfly is good luck too! Hopefully I will make a great discovery today!” Mei grinned.
“Perhaps. Take care, the weather may turn for the worse this afternoon.”
“Yes, mother. Where is father?”
“He was up before dawn and hasn’t come back since. I’m sure it was something important.”
After Mei washed up and had her morning meal, she went down to the first floor. There were officials talking among themselves, so rather than disturb them, she climbed down the ladder and hid behind a crate.
“Lord Shimura is much too fearful, Kotaru! He predicts the Mongols will be upon us again already next spring! I have no idea how he has gotten this into his head. Perhaps some rumor has reached his ears, but I have no idea from where. Now he went off to gods knows where because of another rumor!”
“Hush, Jiro! You wouldn’t speak so openly about it like that if he were present.”
“But I’m concerned for my Lord! He ought to be enjoying his days now when he is ruler here, when things are at peace. We have very few bandit raids these last few months and the retainers are finally at peace with Clan Oga after last year’s conflict. The Mongols learned their lesson on what will happen if they ever strike us again! We are united, and we know how to fight them!”
“Don’t be so sure. Because you know very well it wasn’t just us who won the war…”
“True…”
This was confusing for Mei to hear, but she didn’t like the sound of it either way. She quickly ducked out of the keep before anyone saw her, and walked about the courtyard. Peasants made their market just across the bridge, where everything was strictly monitored. She never felt threatened as she walked in the crowds because there were always samurai here. Plus, everyone knew who she was from her pink and white kimono.
“Young Lady! What brings you out here on this fine morning?” it was the dye merchant Geiru. He might have been missing a few teeth but Mei thought him the most wonderful storyteller.
“I’m on a quest!” Mei bowed politely to him. “Perhaps today you will be able to give me a hint, a clue of where I am to go next. I will follow the wind, like you said.”
“Ohoho! Up to your tricks again? Do you plan to stray far from the castle grounds?”
“Not at all! But I had a good omen this morning, so I’m sure I will discover something exciting!”
“Very well. I will give you your mythic tale for the day. Legend has it that there is a very old bird’s nest by our shrine. It’s been taken care of by swallows in this castle for generations, some say it’s even older than Clan Shimura! But the key to its survival all these years is how difficult it is to find! Follow a sparrow to where it leads, and be patient. It is possible to reach the nest without hurting yourself, so don’t climb anything that looks dangerous!”
“So you have seen it, the nest?”
“Yes, but only long ago, when I was just a little older than you…”
“And you think it’s still there?”
“Of course! I had been told the tale just the same! That’s what makes it legendary.”
Mei grinned and bowed before taking her leave. The shrine was in the outer ring of the castle, the clouds of incense never ceasing from its windows. Mei ran down to the shrine and sat on a log outside to wait. People came and went but took no notice of her. No swallows to be seen.
The sun rose higher in the sky now, and clouds gathered. The wind was definitely picking up, so it would be important to find this nest before noon. Mei got up and paced around the shrine, looking up at its roof. Certainly it would be there! But she saw no holes, no nests.
It was difficult for her little attention span. It must have been only 30 minutes but there wasn’t a single bird.
“Why won’t the bird come?” she said despondently to herself. She decided to just stay in one place, and knelt on the grass. Her pink and white kimono made her look like a flower among the weeds.
“When you meditate, close your eyes and just listen,” her caretaker used to say. “The world speaks to our ears more than to our eyes.”
Mei closed her eyes and listened to the breeze moving in and out. She heard chanting coming softly from the shrine in front of her, and the sound of people talking and walking across the gravel next to her. It was nature and people, living in harmony. And then she heard it.
A faint twitter of birds. Mei looked up towards the direction. The big tree behind the shrine!
Mei got up carefully and approached the tree. She didn’t see any birds, but she could hear them clearly now. A tree limb was close to the ground, the first step. Mei wasn’t afraid of heights, but she had never climbed a tree before. She only picked the branches easiest to reach, just like Geiru warned, and sure enough, she was halfway up the tree. The sounds of people were distant now, but the birds were very clear.
And there she found it, a hollow in the tree. As soon as she was eye-level with it, a couple swallows flew out in a hurry, and all became quiet again. The sun shone through the red leaves to reveal the inside of the hollow. Inside was an amazing sight.
A bunch of tiny nests in rows, each decorated with colorful and shiny objects: pieces of metal, strips of red and blue linen, all tightly woven together. They were beautiful to see.
“Something must be inside,” Mei thought, and carefully peered in. This wasn’t the season for baby birds, so the nests were all abandoned.
“What’s this?” she pulled out a piece of faded, dark-green cloth, rolled up. It had a white, circular symbol with two triangles in it she didn’t recognize. Inside the cloth was a pen for writing, very worn, and a small piece of paper, almost too faded to make out what was written on it. Whatever had been put here had been there for years.
Mei got down from the tree and returned to Geiru.
“You’ve been gone for over an hour! I was sure you had given up the quest!” he laughed at seeing her run to him.
“I found something!” she showed him the pen rolled up in the cloth.
“What? This was in the nest?” he took it from her hands. Geiru carefully unfolded it, and immediately became solemn. He stared at it for some moments.
“Someone was hiding messages up there?” Mei offered an explanation. “It must be very old. Did you put that there?”
“No…” Geiru silently tried to make out what was written, and his face grew even more somber.
“What does it say?”
“… That’s not for me to decide. That’s your father’s decision.”
“My… father?”
“Yes. Show it to him. Not to your mother, just him.”
Geiru’s downcast face meant he was serious this time. Mei took the cloth, pen and paper away from him and returned back to the keep. Her father had not yet returned.
Mei spent all afternoon trying to decipher the characters herself. She barely knew how to read, and could only recognize characters like “smoke” and “shade.” It sounded like poetry to her.
But why must she show it to her father?
A storm was approaching from the west, and Mei was sitting in her room looking out at the clouds when she saw her father riding quickly into the courtyard with an escort of his samurai. Whatever they had done, it was completed just in time and they had escaped the rain. Mei felt sick with nervousness. How would she approach him? She always was a little afraid of her father.
Mei put the pen and cloth in her kimono and hurried down to the bottom level. She huddled in a corner and watched as he was talking to his officials. It was something confidential, but it sounded like he was also exhausted.
“You need some rest, my Lord,” the official named Jiro from before spoke up. “Today’s journey has worn you out.”
“It has. I will retire now. Where is Shinako?”
“She is awaiting you on the second floor.”
Mei sat in her old hiding place listening, and watched as her father scaled the ladder up. It wasn’t time yet.
“I’m so sorry I rode off without telling you why, Shinako,” he was saying to her when Mei followed silently behind.
“I understand you have your duties. You need not tell me everything.”
“But in this case I should have. I was asked to go to Kamiagata, and that has been resolved finally. I will stay here in the keep for the next several days.”
“You look tired. Have some rest here by the fire.”
“I am not what I used to be…” Lord Shimura smiled bitterly.
Mei crept around the side of the room to the opposite ladder, and made it appear that she had just climbed down from above. Without a word, she came before them and bowed, face to the floor as she was told when speaking to her Lord.
“Mei, I’m glad you’re here,” he smiled. “How was your day?”
“It was fine, Father,” Mei bit her lip. “I hope you are well.”
“I am. Here, help me with my gloves.”
It was only small duties for now. As her father untied his gauntlets, she would hold them and make sure they were straightened out and no mud on them. They were beautiful, etched with gold lightning over a black sky. Much like how it was storming outside now.
“If I have your permission, I wish to speak with you about something alone,” Mei mustered up all the courage she could.
“Is that so?” her father turned his head to one side. He had gotten out of his whole armor now and was wearing only his kimono and hakama.
“Yes. I found something today, and I was told that only you should see it.”
“I see… Very well. I will call upon you tonight when I am ready.”
The regal armor was placed at the back of the second floor in its traditional position. Mei remained silent for the whole evening meal and only listened, but much of it went over her head. Things that happened in Kamiagata, something about Mongols and secret information, all too complicated for her. The lightning and thunder outside kept her mind occupied for the most part, how it flashed through the cracks in the windows.
When the storm was over and the sun had finally set, Mei was asked to come to her father’s quarters. He was alone now, looking much more relaxed than before, and was currently stringing his biwa.
“So… you have something to share with me?” he said in a serene tone.
“I do. I saw a dragonfly this morning, and I knew it was a symbol of good luck. It turned out to be true, because I climbed a tree today and I made a discovery.”
“A tree? That is not very fitting for a young girl,” her father narrowed his eyes.
“It was an easy tree, not too high. I hope you know what this is.”
Mei knew not to trouble her father with childish things, but he was surprisingly open to it now and then. This was one of those times. Mei handed him the pen and paper wrapped with the cloth.
Immediately her father took a breath in at seeing the symbol. He quickly unfolded the paper and began to read it. Mei watched as his eyes went more and more distant, lost in thought.
“Where did you find this?” he asked in a broken voice.
“In… in the big tree behind the shrine. I was hoping you’d be able to tell me what the writing says.”
But he could not respond. He closed his eyes and said nothing more. Mei had never seen her father cry before, and felt ashamed. She buried her head in her lap so she wouldn’t have to see his anger.
Instead, Mei felt his gentle hand on her shoulder and she looked up. He was back to his serene self.
“I will never lie to you, Mei. These belongings were your brother’s.”
“I… I have a brother?” Mei’s eyes went wide, though she dared not stare him in the face.
“Had one, yes… long ago, long before you were born… He must have climbed that tree many years ago.”
“And the symbol? I’ve never seen it.”
Her father sat for a moment in silence.
“That I will tell you another time, when you are older,” he carefully folded up the pen and paper with the cloth and left it beside him for safekeeping.
“Are you upset?”
“No… not at you. Thank you for sharing this with me. Sit with me a while…”
They sat together, and her father picked up his biwa again. He strummed some notes while she watched. He did not sing at all, but he enjoyed the instrument, something he learned in his youth but only picked up again after the Mongol invasion.
For the first time ever, Mei’s fears in his presence left her. They were a father and daughter, happy to be with each other. She looked him in the eye for one moment, to see if it was alright.
His smile was sad, but his eyes were love.
“Let me tell you about your brother…”
Sitting under shade
The incense smoke rises up
Waiting for answers
