Obediently, and gratefully, Sumomo found the bottle. It had not been tampered with. She took a sip and re-corked it. The inner warmth began almost at once. "Thank you, Mistress," she said, then continued brushing.
After the hot rice gruel and pickles, some cold roasted eel with a sweet sour sauce, and rice cakes, Koiko said, "Please sit down, Sumomo, and pour yourself some tea."
"Thank you, Mistress."
"Lord Yoshi has decided I am not to accompany him anymore but to follow, by palanquin, at a more moderate pace."
"Some of the guards mentioned that while I was waiting for you. Everything will be ready whenever you wish to start."
"Good." Now that Koiko had discovered the truth about the bottle she was much more at ease but it had not changed her decision to be prudent--her duty to Katsumata already done. "You are safely out of Kyoto now," she said softly and Sumomo's stomach twisted. But for the elixir she would have panicked. "It is time to part, Sumomo. Today.
Do you have money?"
"No, Mistress," Sumomo wanted to sound matter of fact. "But would it be poss--"
"No need for you to worry, I can give you some." Koiko smiled, misunderstanding the fluster, and continued firmly, "Your papers, are they in order?"
"Yes, but may I st--"
"It is best for both of us. I have considered every possibility. It is best if I travel on alone. You may stay here or return to your home in Satsuma--I would advise that--or make your own way to Yedo."
"But please may I stay with you?"
"It is wise if you go your own way now--of course you realize it was an extreme favor to your guardian that I accepted you. Now you are safe," she said kindly.
"But... but what will you do, you have no maid. I want to serve you an--"
"Yes, and you have been very good, but I can easily hire someone. Please do not worry about that. Now, will you go back to Kyoto?" When Sumomo did not answer, just stared numbly, she said gently, "What did your guardian say you were to do, when you left me?"
"He, he did not say."
Koiko frowned. "But surely you must have a plan."
"Oh yes, Mistress," Sumomo said, rattled--even more flustered--her mouth running away with her, "he told me I was to stay with you until Yedo. Then, then if it was your pleasure, I was to leave."
"To go where?"
"To, to go to Oda-sama."
"Yes, of course, but where in Yedo?"
"I am not sure. May I pour you s--"
"You are not sure, Sumomo?" Koiko's frown deepened. "Do you have another family to go to if he isn't?"
"Well, yes, there's an Inn, they will know where he is or there will be a message for me but I swear I will not be a burden during the journey, not at all, you teach me so much..."
The more Koiko listened as the girl rushed on-- foolishly, she thought, for obviously I've made up her mind--the less she liked what she was hearing, or Sumomo's agitation, the way she spoke and dropped her eyes.
She closed her ears to the reasons and used the time to gather her own thoughts. They became more ominous. "Your guardian, will he be in Yedo too?"
"I do not know, so sorry. Please, let me pour you som--"
"This Oda-sama is Satsuma--is he part of the Satsuma garrison?"
"No." Sumomo cursed herself, she should have said, I don't know. "The Sats--"
"Then what is he doing in Yedo?"
"I do not know, Lady," Sumomo said lamely, her mind not fast enough, more dismayed every moment, "I have not seen him for almost a year, that is ... I was told he would be at Yedo."
Koiko's eyes bored into her. Her voice became edged. "Your guardian said this Oda-sama was shishi so he..." Her voice trailed off as, saying the word aloud, the enormity of what she had done, and risked, by agreeing to have this girl with her, inundated her. "Shishi believe Lord Yoshi is their prime enemy," she moaned, "if he's enemy th--"
"No, Lady, he is not, not him, only the Shogunate, the Bakufu are enemy, he is above all that, he is not enemy,"
Sumomo said vehemently, the lie coming easily, then added before she could stop herself, "Katsum--my guardian impressed that on all of us."
"All of you?" Koiko's face went chalky.
"Namu Amida Butsu! You're one of his acolytes!" Katsumata had told her that a few, select young women were being trained by him to be members of his warrior band. "He, he trained you too?"
"I am just a humble loyalist, Lady,"
Sumomo said, fighting for control, and to keep her face guileless.
Koiko looked around in disbelief, her mind almost stopped, the blissful world she had been inhabiting fallen apart. "You are one of them, you are!"
Sumomo stared back at her, not knowing how to extricate herself from the pit that had suddenly opened in front of them. "Lady, please, let us think clearly. I, I am no threat to you, nor you to me, let us leave it like that. I swore to protect you and I will, and Lord Yoshi if need be. Let me travel with you. I swear I will leave the moment we reach Yedo. Please?" Her eyes willed Koiko to agree. "You will never regret the kindness. Please. My guardian asked a lifetime favor. Please, I will serve you..."
Koiko hardly heard the words. She watched her as a mouse would a poised cobra, no thought in her head but how to escape, how to make all this a dream. Is it a dream? Be sensible, your life is in the balance, more than your life, you must collect your wits.
"Give me your knife."
Sumomo did not hesitate. Her hand went into her obi and she gave her the sheathed knife.
Koiko took the blade as if it were on fire.
Not knowing what else to do with it, never having handled or owned or needed one before, all weapons forbidden in the Floating World, she thrust it into her own obi. "What do you want with us? Why are you here?" her voice barely audible.
"Just to travel with you, Lady," Sumomo said as though to a child, not realizing her own face was stark.
"Just to travel with you, there is no other reason."
"Were you part of the assassins, the attackers on Shogun Nobusada?"
"Of course not, I am only a simple loyalist, a frien--"