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armed lay brothers, the sohei , for protection. It was only a constant supply of bushi provided by loyal military clans that kept banditry out of Heian-kyo itself.
    “Will Ujiyasu-san be well enough to ride?” I asked Kenji. “Where there are some bandits, there are likely more. I’d like to put a little distance between ourselves and this place.”
    “Once I’ve finished with him,” Kenji said. “Though it would be best if he wasn’t called upon to fight for a few days. I don’t want the wound reopening.”
    “I have no control over that, but let us hope for the best,” I said.
    We reached the terminus of the Suzuka Pass without further incident. We did meet an armed group there, but it turned out to be another Minamoto force accompanying a high-ranking pilgrim returning to the Capital after visiting the Grand Shrine. Whoever it was traveled by carriage and wished for privacy. Morofusa knew several of the bushi in the escort, and there was a pause for greetings and brief conversations before separating and each continuing on their way.
    “Odd,” Morofusa said.
    “What is?” I asked.
    “Well . . . I took it upon myself to ask Jun, the shōshō of that escort, who the pilgrim was. Their client was a man, but otherwise Jun couldn’t tell me his name.”
    “You mean Jun was forbidden?” I asked, but Morofusa shook his head.
    “I mean he didn’t know. A separate group delivered the person, whoever it was, to the shrine. Jun’s group was ordered by Yoriyoshi-sama himself to travel here and take the man back to the Capital, but the client travels veiled.”
    That was strange. Normally, a pilgrimage to the Grand Shrine would be a topic of pride, and one would want it known that one had done so. Secrecy seemed out of place, to say the least. That the head of the Minamoto clan was personally involved could have meant much or little. The military families often provided armed escorts for a price, which could only mean two things. The first, the man was not a member of one of the military families himself, so he was most likely a court noble. The second, that the pilgrim was a man of means, which under the circumstances was obvious.
    “We should reach Saiku by tomorrow afternoon,” Morofusa said.
    Saiku was a small village where the shrine’s high priestess, the saiō , resided in relative peace from the bustle and crowding of the Grand Shrine; it was about two leagues northwest of the shrine itself. Calling it a village was perhaps inaccurate, since all in residence there were either close attendants or persons either directly or indirectly in service to the priestess’ household. As the saiō was traditionally an unmarried imperial princess or a close member of the royal family, it would have been extremely poor manners to ignore her. Not that I was above such behavior when I felt warranted, but I had no reason now. I had long since learned to choose my insults carefully.
    “It will be necessary to stop briefly and pay our respects to the saiō. Unless by some chance she is in attendance at the shrine, currently?” I tried not to sound hopeful, though I wasn’t looking forward to another delay. Kenji cheerfully severed the thread of optimism I was clinging to.
    “Unlikely,” he said. “There are only three ceremonies which require her physical presence, and those are in the Sixth Month, the Ninth, and the Eleventh. As it is the Tenth, Princess Tagako will probably be in residence in the Bamboo Palace.”
    I blinked. “Princess Tagako?”
    Kenji just looked at me for a moment. “Honestly, Lord Yamada, after all these years I am still amazed at what you do and do not pay attention to. Even one such as I would know that Princess Tagako is the current priestess and the longest-serving saiō in some time. She has been in residence for almost seventeen years, appointed by Emperor Go-Reizei when she was twelve.”
    I had heard the name before. In my first year at court, I had known her as a friend of