I. Parker - The Crane Pavillion

It would have to wait. Tamako would understand. He stopped in his room to take off his outer robe and rearrange his face. Then he went in search of his sister.

Akiko had brought her children again. They were gathered on the floor of Tamako’s room, laughing at some pictures on a scroll. Seeing the cheerful faces of his own children, he forgave his sister. It was enough that he should feel the pain. Children should be happy. He thought of the ones he had seen at play earlier, and of Maeko and Shiro, and hoped he had not grieved them too much with his questions.

Akiko greeted him enthusiastically. “Finally! I’ve been in a perfect agony waiting for you. I have such news!” She jumped up and took his hand. “Come, let’s go to your room to talk about it.”

Irritated, Akitada detached himself and went to greet the children. The scroll they were looking at had drawings of small animals, monkeys, frogs, and weasels, dressed up in human clothes and prancing across the paper in imitation of various human activities. A number of them wore court robes and walked in solemn procession. It was a clever and daring comment on his own class. On paper, noble lords were reduced to the level of animals, and their most treasured functions looked silly.

But he thought it a little insulting since he was himself a member of this class. He was about to comment on the unsuitability of such a work for impressionable children when he realized they did not get the message and merely laughed at the antics of animals.

He left them to it, pulled away by the eager hand of Akiko.

In his study, she said, “Sit!” and made herself comfortable on one of the cushions.

Akitada sat and frowned at her. “Better tell me what burns on your tongue,” he said. “I’m rather busy.”

“Briefly then. Your Lady Ogata may have been married to Minamoto Masakane. What do you think of that?”

“Minamoto Masakane? You mean the man who was condemned for treason?”

“Exactly. But there’s more. If she is the same woman, she is Sadako, the daughter of Soga Ietada.” Akiko smiled triumphantly. “What a story this will make! And you will be famous.”

Famous? What was she talking about? But Akitada had heard that name again: Soga! Still, it was a large family, and this Soga might not be a close relative of the hateful minister he had worked for. “Explain!” he said curtly.

“You mean you don’t recall the scandal of Masakane being sent into exile for raising his hand to the emperor?”

A dim memory stirred. Masakane had been a young courtier, a hanger-on among the imperial followers. Clearly, he had also been a man who could not control his temper. Akitada said, “Ah, I see. It would explain why she took another name and lived as she did. How did you discover this?”

“Her name and the time of her taking up residence in Abbot Genshin’s house. Ogata is one among the Minamoto clan names. I thought I recognized it when you told me. Then I just thought back to five years ago because you said she had come to live there about then, and there it was.”

Akitada regarded his sister with grudging admiration. “That was very clever. What is this about her father?”

“Oh, I asked who Masakane’s wife had been. And there he was: Soga Ietada, one of the most ambitious men in the government.” She smiled. “How he must have hated his son-in-law!”

“Who exactly is Soga Ietada?”

“Oh, Akitada! Sometimes I lose all patience with you. You make no effort at all to familiarize yourself with the names of people who could be important to your career.” She paused. “Or who could hurt you. What’s this I hear that you’re in trouble again?”

Akitada flushed. His sister had a habit of probing sore spots. “I’ve tried to explain to my superiors that I returned from Kyushu to tend to my children. They don’t seem to think this a good reason for resigning a position.” He did not mention that apparently his resignation had not been passed on by the Assistant Governor General at Dazaifu..

Akiko was shocked. “Well, clearly you’ve been careless again. Surely you know by now that there are men who are just waiting for you to make a mistake. What do you plan to do about this?”

She had veered away from the murder of Lady Ogata so quickly that his head was spinning. To Akiko a person’s status was most important, and Akitada had disappointed, just as he used to disappoint her mother. He said nothing.

“Could they dismiss you?”

“Yes.” He met her eyes defiantly. “I don’t really care about honors and positions, but I must feed my family somehow.”

“Oh, Akitada,” she wailed. “It’s so unfair. How can they treat you like this? How shall you mange? Do you need money?”

He flushed painfully. “Not yet, but thanks.”

“Toshikage is very well off, you know. The harvests on his estates have been excellent.”

Whatever her irritating qualities-and this embarrassing probing of his financial situation was surely one-Akiko could be very generous. He forgave her and steered the conversation back to safer ground. “So what about this Soga?”

She blinked. “Yes, well, he is one of the major counselors. At present, he serves as Senior Secretary under the Prime Minister. He couldn’t be more influential. I thought that very interesting under the circumstances. Imagine! One of his daughters living in the Takashina mansion under a false name?”

Akitada thought of the very unpleasant interview in the Central Affairs Ministry. So Lady Ogata’s father was indeed the man he had met. He was not certain what this meant, but surely meddling in the death of Lord Soga’s daughter was not the way to gain favors from this man. He said, “That’s rather inconvenient”

His sister’s face fell. She gasped. “Oh. Was he one of the men you reported to?”

“Yes. But they claimed they had no authority in my case.”

“Not true!” Akiko got up and started pacing. “He has the grand minister’s ear. Oh, Akitada, this will not do. We must abandon the murder. It’s much too dangerous under the circumstances. And I had such hopes! How could you let this happen?”

Disappointment emanated like a physical force from her, from the flashing eyes, the clenched hands, the agitated step. Akitada felt the blame. His own shortcomings had once again robbed his sister of a triumph.

He said somewhat sarcastically, “As I said, it’s very inconvenient, especially when I just discovered that the poor woman was murdered.”

She swung around to stare at him. “You’re sure?”

“Oh, yes. The police based their verdict of suicide primarily on the fact that the body was found just above a clothing trunk. They assumed Lady Ogata had pushed the trunk under the beam, climbed up, used a length of silk to hang herself, and then stepped off the trunk.”

“And she didn’t?”

“No. There was no trunk there when the children found her. Someone, possibly the caretaker, rearranged the scene for the police.”

Her eyes narrowed. “And how did you find out?”

“I talked to the children.”

Akiko sank back on her pillow. She was a very graceful creature, Akitada noted. His other sister, Yasuko, had the prettier face, but Akiko always was the one people called beautiful and elegant.

She chewed her lower lip. “It makes no difference,” she finally said. “Let it go. We must think how to extricate you from this mess you got into again.”

“ Again ?”

She made a face and threw up her hands. “Again! Don’t glower like that. You are quite brilliant in most things, but you have never had the knack of making useful friends. Oh, I know you have a few friends, but they aren’t able to help you. Kosehira’s under a cloud himself, and Kobe has a hard enough time holding on to his position. They want to replace him with one of the Fujiwara youngsters. Only the fact that he controls the capital and makes them relatively safe keeps him in his place. And Nakatoshi? He’s not much more advanced than you are. There is no one to impress on the grand ministers that you have served them well.”