Perhaps I should have noticed the destiny before me when I was young. When I was 39 (8human), a samurai came to the village where my father had just gotten work as a scribe. I think he was sent by the lord of that area because his clothes were too fine to be those of a wandering ronin. My father didn’t hold with lords and allegiances like the samurai. He thought a fealty to a lord would corrupt the truth of his studies. My brother on the other hand, was enthralled by the samurai.
Daisuke loved samurai; their skill, their strength and power, their prowess. He also loved their apparently unwavering honor and devotion. Perhaps it was because we were always going from village to village that Suki loved the stability of a lord. He often told my father that he had no honor. Father said Suki had no devotion to anything that could bring honor. I said Suki was a young boy and young boys say things they shouldn’t.
The samurai came to stay with the town magistrate. He would practice his kata in the gardens behind the magistrate’s home.
We were children; children can get in anywhere. The boys would sneak in and watch him at kata and then try to repeat his moves with sticks take from a half-dead elm that stood outside the inn. The girls would watch him and then run off to whisper and giggle about marrying such a man. Suki was the worst though. He would rise early in the morning to be hidden in the bushes when the samurai came out. He would be gone all day and come home later sore and with his hands full of blisters. I had seen the other boys playing at warrior, but none of them had come home too tired to move and unable to eat from bloody wounds on their hands. Our mother didn’t say anything, I think she understood. So everyday she would meet Suki at the door and lead him around back. Soon he would enter with his hands bandaged and be sent to bed early. My mother told my father that Suki was growing and that growing boys fell down a lot. My father would then look at Suki with a sad resignation on his face. I think he understood too.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t see why my brother would want to hurt himself. Father always said I had his curiosity and that one never found an answer waiting to come home, one must find the answers. That night I went to bed when Suki did. I tied a string across the door that was connected to my shirt. When Suki opened the door to leave, the string pulled my shirt across my head and woke me up. I slipped on my shoes and followed Suki. He was already gone when I got outside but I knew where he was headed. So I run to the place where the older girls had taught me to hide.
When I got there I could see Suki’s face a few feet away, gazing raptly out of a spiny bush. He saw me creep in and raised his hands, signing I should go home. I shook my head and sat down , crossing my arms and ignoring him. Just cause he’s older doesn’t mean he’s the boss.
I had only been sitting a few minutes when the samurai emerged. He wasn’t young, but he wasn’t really old either. His black hair had a little gray but not as much as my father. His clothes were plain, as was the scabbard he carried.
Setting the sword down, he kneeled to face the rising sun and bowed to the sword. Had I not been so young I would have realized how spiritual and reverent that movement was but at the moment I was just bored. I stole a glance at Suki. His eyes were closed and his face looked like the samurai, still and serious. I turned my attention back to the samurai who was rising to his feet. His arms were stretched out before him, one hand grasping the hilt of his sword, the other the scabbard. Very slowly, he pulled his hands apart, drawing out the sword.
It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The polished steel reflected the light of the rising sun to cast illuminated lines around the garden. I could see, like a hawk, the wave of dark gray on the side of the blade. I didn’t know what it meant but I knew that line belonged there like a fish in water.
The edge it’s self was invisible, as if the two sides of the sword never actually touched but just continued closer and closer until not even a god could separate them. The light rode this invisible edge as water runs down a pole, sliding effortlessly to fall of in great release. From tip to guard, the steel was alive in the light.
The sword began to move, in sweeping arcs, elegant slashes, breathtaking thrusts, the steel carried out a deadly dance of light. I was entranced. The flashing sliver made me feel calm and quiet, like when I would listen to my father read. As I watched it was as if I became part of the blade. I could feel the wind flow down the polished sides. The experienced the surety of the samurai’s on the hilt. And as he brought in down in the final sweep, I felt the edge slide between the fibers of the leaf he had cut, as easily as if it had been water. I also felt a strange tingling like lightning flowing along the sword and I knew. The sword was magic.
I sat there for a long time after the kata ended, thinking about the sword. I went over every part of it over and over in my mind. I traced the shape of it into the ground below me. I added every detail I could remember, from the wave on the metal to twisted design of the hilt. When I got to the tingling part, I couldn’t figure out how to capture the feeling. It meant something but what I didn’t know.
I looked up. Suki was gone.
Creeping backwards out of the garden, I noticed Tetsuko running down the street with a long stick in his hand. My brother’s friend could show me where he was so I followed. We ran down the main path out of town, towards the beginnings of the fields. On the edge of town, Tetsuko suddenly turned off to the left. There was an animal track through the brush which he beat back with his stick. After several minutes of walking and whacking, I heard him call out Suki’s name.
There was a clearing in the brush and I realized we were on the edge of one of the irrigation pools. Suki moved in the middle, repeating the kata I has watched the sword perform. Unlike the sword, my brother moved awkwardly, his stick moved without the grace of steel. Over and over he moved, going through the moves, reaching for perfection. Tetsuko moved in place beside Suki and attempted to copy my brother’s movement. As Suki was to the samurai, so was Tetsuko to Suki.
As I looked at my brother, I saw how hard my brother worked. He was sweating and sunburned. His face was twisted with concentration. He looked really uncomfortable yet he kept moving. Step, slash, rise, pivot, parry; over and over. Then, in a flash, I saw the blade in my mind, and then imagined it in my brother’s hands. The idea of Suki with steel felt right. As I watched him strain against his own lack of training , I understood; only steel was worthy of my brother’s spirit. Fine, straight, wave patterned steel. Samurai steel.
I was half way back to town before I realized where I was going. I was at the door of the magistrate’s house before I knew what I wanted. The door was opening before I knew what to say. Magistrate Osumi’s stood before me, an indulgent smile on his wrinkled face. “Ah, Hiroko. Are you looking for your father?”
“Please, sir. No, sir. I need to speak to the samurai, sir. Um.” I couldn’t breathe. If I stopped I’d run away. I couldn’t run. Suki wouldn’t run. He would be a samurai. “Please, I really need to talk to him. It’s about honor, sir”
The Magistrate chuckled like all adults do when talking to a child. “Well, if it’s about honor, then the best person to talk to is a samurai. Come, I think we shall find him in the side gardens” Osumi took my hand to lead me down a side corridor. If I had thought of it, I might have worried but all I could think was about making Suki a samurai. We stopped before a door but it didn’t open onto the gardens. Inside was the library where my father worked.
“Kazumi, your daughter here, wants to see the samurai on a matter of family honor.” Osumi’s voice was laughing but my father’s face was shocked. “So I ask if I should take her to him.”
“Hiroko, what is this about?” My father turned his dark eyes to me and I saw he was confused. He looked as though he did not know me, but it didn’t matter. I had to find the samurai I had to tell him about Suki. I turned back to the Magistrate.
“Please sir, I must tell him about Suki. He has to know. Suki needs steel.”
“Hiroko.” My father admonished.
“Who is Suki?” asked the Magistrate
“Daisuki” Father said “my son.”
“Please, Father, I have talk to the samurai. Suki needs him. Please it is very very important. Please.” I begged.
“Why do you call your brother Suki?” said a voice in the doorway. It was a new voice, deep and calm. “Magistrate Osumi, what is happening here?”
The samurai stood just outside the door. I looked for the sword but didn’t see it , but I had to help Suki before they stopped me. “Please, sir, it’s my brother. He needs to become a samurai so he can have a sword.” I spilled.
“Hiroko!” my father admonished
“Your honor, I apologize” Said Osumi at the same time. But I wasn’t going to stop.
“He is practicing with sticks but he deserves steel, sir. You must see him, sir. It’s his honor. Sir”
“Hiroko is it?” said the samurai. “How do you know your brother needs a sword?” He held up his hand as my father made to discipline me again.
“I saw him practicing, sir. Over by one of the irrigation pools. He is doing what you did. He is trying to learn to be a samurai, sir.”
“Many boys wish to me swordsmen. Why is your brother so deserving?”
“I watched him practice, sir. He has been watching you and learning everyday. Then he goes and practices until his hand are all covered in blisters. He is there now, if you wish to see.” My voice trailed off. A moment passed before the samurai kneeled down to me to look me in the eye. “Hiroko, why does your brother need steel?” I knew what he was asking but I didn’t know how to say it.
“He is using a stick, sir, from the old elm tree. But when I watched him, well, sir, he needs steel. He spirit needs a sword. It is his honor.”
“And?”
“And..um, I say your sword. It was beautiful and magic and Suki needs that. It’s who he is.”
The samurai looked at me like my mother did when she thought I was lying. He looked at me like that for a long time and I wanted to look away, but I didn’t. The thought of him seeing Suki like I had made me stay there. Finally he stood up and looked at my father and the magistrate. “Kazumi, do you know where this pool is?” My father must have nodded because then the samurai told him to fetch my brother and meet him at our house. He was going to take me home.
My father left as soon as the samurai told him the fetch Suki. The samurai then turned to the magistrate, “Osumi, would you excuse us for a moment?” Without waiting for an answer, the samurai took me by the shoulder and lead me down another corridor. We stopped at a door that slide open to reveal the gardens Suki and I had hid in. Leaving me at the door , he turned to walk to a small shrine next to a fountain. From a stand on the shrine he removed his sword and turned back to me. When he stopped before me, he withdrew the blade from it’s sheath and presented it to me. Again the beauty of the blade enchanted me. Before he spoke, I raised a hand and pointed at the waves on the blade’s side. “This is my brother, sir.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, these waves belong to the sword. They make it what it is. It’s the same thing with Suki. You can see the waves in his face when he practices. But waves can’t go into wood, so he needs to use steel.”
“How do you know about the waves?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“And the magic?”
“I don’t know, but your sword tingles when I look at it.”
“Hiroko, can you read?’
I looked up from the sword. Why would the samurai want to know about me? “Yes, sir, but my brother, sir…”
“We shall wait for your brother at your parents’ house. Then we shall see.” We left the garden and headed out down the street to my home. “Why do you call your brother Suki, Hiroko?“ asked the samurai.
“Cause it makes him mad.“ I said, then realized that if Suki was going to be a samurai I probably shouldn’t make him mad.
As we neared my house, the samurai said easily “Perhaps you should call him by his real name. It may be very important in the future.”
When my mother opened the door to admit us the samurai bowed low to her and said something that sounded like “Lady .” Before I had a chance to ask my mother if her name really was Lady , my father came up the path, a very sullen Suki in tow.
My father bowed to the samurai and presented Suki. I saw from behind the adults that my brother’s face was streaked with sweat and dust. His shirt was dry though. He looked both scared and angry. I was too afraid of both Suki and the samurai to say anything. Instead I turned to my mother and asked to go inside. She gave me a little push on the back but refused to move her eyes from her husband and son. As soon as it seemed safe I ran inside and hide in the bedroom. I wanted to know what was going to happened to Suki but was too afraid that he would be mad and hit me. I had seen him now, he could kill me if he hit me now that he was going to be a samurai.
Suddenly I realized I didn’t have any doubts. The samurai would meet Suki and see what I had seen. The sword was in Suki’s soul. Any samurai great enough to have a magic sword must see it too. Yet I still did not go look to see. Whether out of fear or worry or something else, I couldn’t go see. So I waited.
It seemed like forever but eventually I heard the sounds of the adults entering the house. Footsteps headed off toward the eating room but then another set come running up to the bedroom. Suki was coming to find me. I pulled my blanket up over my head. I didn’t want to see my brother until knew everything was all right. I didn’t have long to wait.
“Hiroko!” yelled Suki as soon as he hit the door. “I’m gonna be a samurai! Lord Daigayo said that I have talent for he sword.” He jumped on my bed and yanked the blankets off of my head “I’m gonna go live with him as his foster son and learn about fighting and honor and then when I’m old enough I’m gonna serve my own lord and I’ll be a famous and …Hiroko? Why are you hiding?”
I squeaked out. “I told the samurai about you. I saw you practicing. You’re gonna be mad at me.”
Suki looked stunned. Then his faced changed and he sat down beside me. “I’m not mad, Hiroko. A samurai wouldn’t get mad at his little sister.” He sat there for a moment, looking like he was thinking hard. Then said, as if he were giving me terrible news. “He wants to see you too.”
Suki took my hand and pulled me into the eating room. The samurai and my father sat at the low table while my mother brought out tea. As I entered, my father looked gravely at me. The samurai, following my father’s gaze, turned to me.
“Ah, Hiroko. Please sit with us for a moment. Daisuki, you will wash before you join us.”
My brother bowed to the samurai and left looking very grown up. I sat down, feeling very young. The samurai lowered his head to look at me. “Why so shy now, little Hiroko? You were so brave at Osumi’s house.”
I didn’t look up but muttered, “I spied on you and behaved bad and told on my brother and now I am going to get in trouble.”
To me horror, the samurai stated to laugh. “If you behaved badly, it was for a good reason. You were right. Your brother is meant for the sword and I do not doubt he will bring your family great honor.” At this he looked meaningfully at my father. “I am fortunate to have found so much on this journey, a new student, the answer to a great mystery, and a child with special gifts. I have been talking to your father, Hiroko, and he had agreed to let you come with me and Daisuki.”
I looked up, horror-struck. Why did I have to go? What had I done? “Sir?”
My father leaned down to me and brushed my hair with his hand, like he did when I sat with him in his study. “Your brother has a great gift, Hiroko. But Lord Daigayo says that you have a rare gift too. He wants you to go to school. A special school were they will teach you magic. Daisuki is to be a samurai and you, my smart little girl, are to be a Wu-Jen.” My mother, standing behind my father’s shoulder looked like she was going to cry.
I didn’t understand. It was too strange. Suki a samurai and me a going to be a spell-caster. I just sat there and then because I didn’t know what else to do climbed into my father’s lap. He put his arms around me and began to whisper to me, nonsense words about all that I would get to learn. I sat there for a long time thinking about the sword and the tingling and me. I sat there so long that my mother came in to admonish my father for not sending me to get clean up for dinner.
After dinner, Suki and I went to bed. He was tried. Lord Daigayo had taken him out to our small garden and started his training. I was starting to get a bit excited as I thought about learning magic and magic weapons. Suki lay on his bed talking over and over about being a samurai and honor and lords for a long time. After a time he sat up in bed and looked at me. “What are you going to do as a Wu-Jen?”
I looked at Suki for a long time and came to a realization. “I will make a magic blade for the samurai Daisuki.” |
