Realizing he would get no further with Urabe at present, Sano took his leave. Outside the settlement, he pondered his next move. The day was drawing to a close. Smoke rose from chimneys; orange-robed priests filed uphill toward the temples for evening rites. But for Sano, much work remained. He must requestion Chief Ohira and the Deshima guards, confront Peony with Urabe’s statement, and ask the barbarians about Spaen’s relations with Japanese citizens.

He’d mounted his horse and started toward the harbor, when someone ran out the settlement gate past him. It was Junko. Pulling a shawl over her head, she dashed uphill.

Sano considered her odd reaction to his mention of the mysterious lights. Perhaps she knew something about Urabe’s dealings with the Dutch. And, in spite of himself, he felt drawn to Junko because of her fleeting resemblance to Aoi.

He turned his horse and rode after her.

12

十二

Up the hill Junko hurried, weaving through the crowds. Soon she began to pant. Unaccustomed to vigorous exercise, her slender legs ached. She dreaded the consequences should her father learn that she’d again defied his orders, but her yearning heart propelled her toward her forbidden lover.

Until recently, she’d accepted the idea of marriage to a man chosen for his wealth and business acumen. She’d endured countless meetings with unattractive potential husbands. Then, at the town’s last autumn festival, she’d met a man with whom she’d fallen instantly and deeply in love.

“He’s too young, too poor, and has no business experience,” her father had scoffed when she voiced her preference. “And his family would never consent to your marriage anyway; they’ll want him to marry into an important samurai clan. Forget him.”

But Junko had cast aside fourteen years of proper upbringing and rebelled. They’d been meeting secretly for almost a year now, whenever his work schedule allowed and she could sneak away from home—until two months ago, when her father had caught her climbing out the window.

“I won’t have my daughter whoring around,” he raged, chasing her through the house, a bamboo cane in hand.

Junko sobbed as he rained blows upon her back. “Please, Father, I love him! We want to be married.”

“You’ll marry the man I choose!”

Afterward Urabe had hired a chaperone to watch Junko. He intensified his search for an appropriate match for her. Junko hid her heartbreak, praying that her father would reconsider her request. Today, desperation had forced her to approach him again. What she’d overheard between him and the sōsakan-sama had driven her to seek her lover. Escaping her chaperone, Junko had fled the Chinese settlement.