lxxv. Beauty and Her Beast
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She was crying.
Tears slipped from beneath her lashes as Shirayuki embraced her friends, holding them close for the last time before who knew how many more moons would pass?
The early morning light graced the four of them, gilding every edge with the mellow gold of a new day.
Torou remembered them in the rain, on a dark night in a roadside inn. What a different picture they presented now — how like and unlike that night.
Their happiness had a different quality — there was the tenderness of wounds still healing, in more ways than one.
...
Mitsuhide carried himself very differently than the slump-shouldered posture of defeat; he was straight-backed and present, with the air of watchfulness befitting a shepherd looking after his flock.
They were tarrying at a break in the road, where the paths diverged — one final good-bye before they parted.
Kiki’s edge had mellowed into the liquid tranquility of a still pond. She almost glimmered in that company; her ease was catching.
Brighter still, Shirayuki was resplendent with the overflowing of affection, tears still clinging to her lashes.
As for Obi, he still wore bandages beneath his shirt, but he was back on his feet and had laid aside his sling.
...
Torou caught his eye as she stepped forward to claim her share of the farewell. She had preferred to lay low as the inquiry proceeded, having secured the authorities’ goodwill with the little gift of the prime suspect and resolution to their diplomatic difficulties, all in one.
She had no title to claim, however, so better not to attract attention to herself.
Besides, Torou had plenty to entertain herself with, as she observed the comings and goings in the modest diplomatic abode, with the four friends knitting their lives back together.
...
Obi looked back at her over his wife’s head, and she gave him her best cat’s smile.
“Well, well, Obi, I’d say I’ve paid you back for going out of your way for me.”
He knew her too well to take the bait; he only replied without expression, “Is that so.”
...
Torou spun herself around, laughing, and shook out her hair until her earrings jangled. It never hurt to tease now and then.
“You’ve had an interesting vacation, it seems,” Obi said drily, watching her.
She cast him an arch look over her shoulder. “Oh, I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. Now, though, you’ve gone boring, Obi —”
She indicated the road leading south to Tanbarun. “It’s time for me to take my leave.”
...
Torou sketched a curtsy to the knights, winking at the big guy – he was handsome as ever, that one – but she was surprised when Kiki bowed back.
“Thank you,” she said formally. “We are in your debt.”
“Yes!” Shirayuki clasped her hands, at her most earnest. “Without you, we never would have found Obi – or made it to them in time. Thank you, Torou — thank you for everything.”
“If there’s ever anything we can help you with, “ Mitsuhide added, equally earnest.
Torou looked droll, but she forebore to tease him, just this once.
...
As Torou moved away, the impulse to embrace overcame Shirayuki again; she sprang to her friends once more and stretched her arms out to them.
“Kiki, Mitsuhide,” Shirayuki said, smiling up at them. “Thank you for everything.”
Mitsuhide looked down, rubbing the back of his head, but Kiki smiled back. “We won’t be far,” she said.
At this, Mitsuhide raised himself. “If there’s ever anything you need, then write to us, Shirayuki.” His gaze shifted to the man beside her. “You, too, Obi.”
...
He was answered with a lazy salute. “At ease, mister… we’re not headed anywhere dangerous. The missus just wants to see her old man.”
Shirayuki blushed and nodded, smiling shyly. “I thought…he’d like to know,” she murmured.
“Of course,” Kiki said.
Mitsuhide looked blankly from one to the other.
...
“We will do the same,” Kiki continued, and his expression cleared. To see Kiki’s father — that was Mitsuhide’s object now.
He would recommit himself to knighthood, not as a servant of the crown this time, but as a defender of the Seiran estates.
Besides that, there was the small manner of presenting himself as Kiki’s future intended, in petition of her father’s blessing.
He has found his new purpose, as Kiki’s partner in life, her constant support.
...
When Shirayuki stepped back, Obi slid an arm around her waist. He often found excuses to hold her like that, hand resting on her hip, getting acquainted with the little beginning of their family together.
It had not sunk in yet, this news that his wife had been carrying as a treasure inside of her; he was still feeling around the edges of it in his mind.
It helped to prove to himself that it was true, to touch and feel that it was real.
...
Obi wouldn’t miss her, Torou knew — that was why she stopped and darted to his side.
With a dancer’s grace, she raised herself on tiptoe to peck his cheek with a kiss.
Then she swooped down on Shirayuki, that small package of surprises, and kissed her, too.
“What a wonderful woman you have, hm?” said Torou, and by that she meant full of mysteries, unfathomable.
...
Torou knows there is no turning back for Obi this time: he is committed, held fast by that anchor still all but invisible to the eye.
That wild man she knew before, with his reckless and changeable ways – he is gone; someone rooted and sure has taken his place.
She had watched and watched, and she thought she was beginning to understand, though it opened up long vistas of untrodden paths, trails leading to countries she had yet to explore and perhaps never would.
Torou feared little, but there was something deep and wide here that she would only approach with caution.
She was glad, for that reason at least, to say her goodbyes.
...
A shadow of disappointment crosses over her, but she shakes it off with long practice. “Nothing much for me to do around here…best be off!”
She lifts a hand as she saunters away, not south to Tanbarun but veering off at the last moment to vanish into the trees.
She is gone like a whisper, a memory.
...
Mitsuhide and Kiki turn north.
Obi and Shirayuki set their faces to the south. “Ready, missus?” he asked, lifting their pack to his good shoulder.
They had scant possessions between the two of them, only a satchel or two of supplies. Obi didn’t like the thought of walking to Tanbarun — nor did he fancy a bouncing wagon ride.
“You’re not much for horses, missus,” he mused.
“Hm?” She blinked up at him, his train of thought too elusive for her.
...
Obi gazed back at her — his marvel of a wife who had risked everything to bring them together again, to make whole what he had broken.
He didn’t have words for that, so he only looped his hands at the small of her back and drew her against him, until he could feel the gently rounded curve of her middle.
Shirayuki reached up to touch his face, and he smiled through her fingers.
Then he brightened. “I know! Sturdy, strong – it would carry all the herbs you could want —”
“Obi—” She was laughing. “Obi, what are you talking about?”
He grinned, eyes sparkling. “Say, missus, how would you like a donkey?”
Read the epilogue: Rain, Sun, and Snow