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placed my knife close to the mattress and slid beneath the quilt without bothering to undress. I thought of what Yuki had said about gifts. I did not think I would ever be as happy again as I had been in the village where I was born, Mino—but in Mino I was a child, and now the village was destroyed, my family all dead. I knew I must not dwell on the past. I had agreed to come to the Tribe. It was because of my gifts that they wanted me so badly, and it was only with the Tribe that I would learn to develop and control the skills I had been given.
    I thought of Kaede, whom I had left sleeping at Terayama. Hopelessness came over me, followed by resignation. I would never see her again. I would have to forget her. Slowly the town started towake around me. Finally, as the light brightened beyond the doors, I slept.
    I woke suddenly to the sound of men and horses in the street beyond the walls of the house. The light in the room had changed, as though the sun had crossed above the roof, but I had no idea how long I’d slept. A man was shouting and in reply a woman was complaining, growing angry. I caught the gist of the words. The men were Arai’s, going from house to house, looking for me.
    I pushed back the quilt and felt for the knife. As I picked it up the door slid open and Kenji came silently into the room. The false wall was locked into place behind him. He looked at me briefly, shook his head, and sat down cross-legged on the floor in the tiny space between the mattress and the wall.
    I recognized the voices; the men had been at Terayama with Arai. I heard Yuki calming the angry woman down, offering the men a drink.
    â€œWe’re all on the same side now,” she said, and laughed. “Do you think if Otori Takeo were here we’d be able to hide him?”
    The men drank quickly and left. As their footsteps died away Kenji snorted through his nose and gave me one of his disparaging looks. “No one can pretend not to have heard of you in Yamagata,” he said. “Shigeru’s death made him a god; Iida’s has turned you into a hero. It’s a story the people are wild about.” He sniffed and added, “Don’t let it go to your head. It’s extremely annoying. Now Arai’s mounted a full-scale search for you. He’s taking your disappearance as a personal insult. Luckily your face is not too well known here, but we’ll have to disguise you.” He studied my features, frowning. “That Otori look . . . you’ll have to conceal it.”
    He was interrupted by a sound outside as the wall was lifted away. Kikuta Kotaro came in, followed by Akio, the young man who had been one of my captors in Inuyama. Yuki stepped after them, bringing tea.
    The Kikuta master gave me a nod as I bowed to him. “Akio has been out in the town, listening to the news.”
    Akio dropped to his knees before Kenji and inclined his head slightly to me. I responded in the same way. When he and the other Tribe members had kidnapped me in Inuyama, they had been doing their best to restrain me without hurting me. I had been fighting in earnest. I had wanted to kill him. I had cut him. I could see now that his left hand still bore a half-healed scar, red and inflamed. We had hardly spoken before; he had reprimanded me for my lack of manners and had accused me of breaking every rule of the Tribe. There had been little goodwill between us. Now when our eyes met I felt his deep hostility.
    Akio said, “It seems Lord Arai is furious that this person left without permission and refused a marriage that the lord desired. Lord Arai has issued orders for this person’s arrest, and he intends to investigate the organization known as the Tribe, which he considers illegal and undesirable.” He bowed again to Kotaro and said stiffly, “I’m sorry, but I do not know what this person’s name is to be.”
    The master nodded and stroked his chin, saying nothing. We