Seekers of Light

One - The Beginning

           

It was almost midnight. Definitely the coldest evening they'd had this year so far. His face went numb every time the freezing wind blew. It was harsh against his skin, but he liked it. He decided to stay up longer outside his cottage just to feel it.

He looked up. The moon was monstrous, with its rim glowing red. A coward would want to cower and hide from it, but he was a man so he stared at it, unfazed, even though he felt slightly unnerved by it; it felt as if the moon had a life of its own. It looked unreal -- it was huge, unusually bright, and somewhat bloody, as if it just jumped straight out of a child's nightmare. But the darkness looming in the land was far more threatening, so for all the light it lent them, he was grateful to the moon.

He was sitting on the front steps of their cottage, a deafening silence surrounding him. Perpendicularly beside their house stood two other cottages facing each other, both being occupied by the close relatives of his mother. Together, these enclosed the humble space of their family compound, with just few small wooden fences marking the boundary around it.

Almost everything around him was tranquil, the leaves and the grass being the only things that moved. At this hour, everyone was already in bed; he must be the only one awake now. He brought the tobacco to his lips and puffed a trail of smoke, before shifting himself and stretching out.

He was about to discard the worn out shaft to the damp soil beneath him and reach for another one in his back pocket when he heard the cry of a tired hawk. He looked up.

"What -- " he muttered, when he saw a big black bird swooping down and straight toward him. Lazily, he raised his arm toward its direction.

It landed comfortably on his forearm and bowed its head slightly, as if reaching for his hand. He brought his fingers near its beak and it pecked him -- it was telling him to reach for its belt.

He hesitated for a moment -- he could not be receiving another assignment from the daimyo, could he? He'd only arrived from a long and tedious escort trip a few hours ago, and was not scheduled to receive another assignment until the next morning. That was how it always worked. Unless... unless something about his earlier task went wrong -- maybe he brought in the wrong child, or the child had escaped.

He rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation, his hand now reaching for the flap under the hawk's belt. As expected, the bird was here to deliver a message. He pulled out a slip of a carefully folded note.

Before letting it go, he gave the bird a soft pat on the head. "You're tired, I'm tired, but we both have no choice other than to follow the lords, don't we? Poor thing, that's your fate too. You can go now," he whispered, as he raised his arm higher.

The hawk looked at him for a split-second before leaping into the air, soon gliding smoothly and vanishing above and beyond the tree tops.

He was alone again. He unfolded the note and quickly scanned it.

"M., Itaru,

East Tower. One assignment requires discussion.
Report to us as soon as this note is received.

Signed,
K., Sachiko"

He took a deep breath, cold air painfully passing through his lungs. Itaru had no choice but to do exactly as he was told.

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Classified information was always disseminated in the two towering wings of the daimyo's palace. Military matters were managed by the West Tower, whereas everything else was attended to by the East Tower.