Excitedly Tyrer thought through the offer: Sir William will surely agree, but only if the information is truly valuable, and only if it comes direct from questioning Nakama himself. That means... oh God I can't! "I'd have to let Willie in on the secret that you speak English. No way to avoid that, and I just can't blurt out that I've been hiding such vital info, I'd get sacked for certain. Can't risk that, not when Willie's in such a foul mood!" Better Nakama leaves before my head's on the block and he's an international incident. "Sorry," he said, in despair. "It's not possible."

"Ah so sorry, perhaps have way," Hiraga said, and made a final gambit to give himself time.

"Have message from Fujiko--eeee, Taira-san, you make great mark on her, now she thinks you very best friend. Mama-san say, so sorry but Fujiko yesterday begin woman's sick, month'ry sick so cannot receive you for one, two days." He had seen Tyrer's immediate disappointment, followed by resignation and anticipation in quick order.

Weak with relief, he relaxed slightly, at the same time once again astounded that any man, let alone an important official like Taira would allow himself to show his inner feelings so openly to anyone, let alone to an enemy. These barbarians are beyond belief.

"Here," he continued, offering him the fan with the calligraphy on it he had had prepared. "It poem, Fujiko writes: "Counting hours, very sad. Hurry hours when your sun shine on me, then no sad, stop time."" He watched Tyrer take the fan reverently, pleased with his choice of words though disgusted with her inadequate writing skill. Still, he thought, the effect seems to be perfect. "About Chief Gai-jin, have p'ran but first, meeting with Shogun, Taira-san, the meeting was good yes?"

A gust of laughter took Akimoto, so infectious that Hiraga joined in. "Eeee, Hiraga-san, brilliant to manipulate the gai-jin like that! Brilliant! Sak`e, bring more sak`e!"

They were lolling in their isolated room in the grounds of the Three Carp, shoji windows closed against the night insects. Sprigs of autumn maple in a green vase decorated the alcove.

Oil lamps. Their swords on racks beside them and when the maid had left and they had refilled their cups and quaffed them, Akimoto said, "What happened next?"

"After little fish Taira swallowed the bait, we went to bow before the Great Grouper who gorged on both. I told him that unbeknownst to Taira I spoke some English that I had learned from Dutchmen from Deshima..."

"And that's no lie," Akimoto said and replenished their cups. He had gone to the same school for gifted Choshu samurai at Shimonoseki but had not been selected for the language classes, instead he had been ordered to specialize in the western naval affairs, taught by a retired Dutch sea captain.

"Baka that I never learned Dutch or English. What did the gai-jin leader say?"

"Not too much. Taira pretended to be equally astonished as we had agreed. It was easy to divert the man with unimportant information about Satsuma, about Sanjiro and his fortress at Kagoshima, some of their history and so on,"

Hiraga said easily although the meeting had not been easy at all. The questions had been probing and he had found it difficult to convince the leader his pretended sincerity was genuine. In his anxiety to get permission to stay he had told more than he wished, both about the political situation of the outside lords of Satsuma and Tosa but also about his own fief of Choshu, and even about the shishi.

He felt a new heaving in his stomach remembering the cold blue, fishlike eyes staring at him that somehow had squeezed knowledge out of him, and the final, curt: "I will consider allowing you to stay a few more days. We will talk again tomorrow.

Meanwhile you will move back into the Legation for safety."

"Better I to stay shoya, Sir W'rum-sama."

"You will move into the Legation tonight and stay with Mr. Tyrer, leaving only with his permission or mine. When you are on the streets you will be most careful to avoid inflaming any of our people. You will obey without question or you will be marched to the North Gate... at once!"

Again he had feigned a meekness and most abject thanks but inside he had seethed at the man's lack of manners and was still seething, and more determined than ever to implement Ori's plan to burn the Settlement--at a time of his own choosing. All gods, if there are any, curse all gai-jin.

"Sak`e?" Akimoto asked, a dribble sliding down his chin.

"Yes, thank you." His face twisted with anger. "Ori! Baka that he's dead before I could kill him."

"Yes, but dead, so is Shorin. Nothing but trouble, both of them, like all Satsumas. The men," he added hastily, remembering Shorin's sister, Sumomo, "not the women."

"Satsumas are trouble, I agree,"

Hiraga said darkly. "As to Sumomo, I don't know where to send for news of her, where she is or if she reached home safely--that could take her weeks, and more weeks for father to send word here.

News would take two, maybe three months."

"You asked Katsumata to watch for her. He will have spies out from here to Kyoto. She can take care of herself that one. You'll hear soon."

Akimoto scratched his crotch irritably.

To see Hiraga so unsettled was disturbing. "You know we're almost locked in here. The Bakufu Enforcer patrols have been reinforced and they wander in and out at random. All the mama-sans are nervous and after the riot today, Raiko... she will not let us stay much longer."

"As long as we pay we will stay. And as long as the tunnel is safe we can escape by sea if necessary. Curse Ori!"

"Forget him," Akimoto said impatiently. "What should we do?"

"Wait. The gai-jin will provide us with cover --Taira will see to it."

"Because of Fujiko? Eeee, he is mad.

What does he see in that drab? I cannot fathom that. She is nothing but a drab." Akimoto laughed and ran his fingers through the stubble of his hair.

"Think I will try her one night, just to see if anything is special--even though she's polluted."

"Try her tonight if you want, Taira won't be using her."

"Raiko will already have given her other clients-- she's rapacious."

"Yes, but Fujiko's already paid for."

"What?"

"My new arrangement is that Raiko will not offer Fujiko elsewhere unless she and I agree first--so I can keep her available for Taira at a moment's notice, in case I decide.

Try her if you want, she is cheap enough."

"Good, I need all the cash I have left, Raiko squeezed a down payment out of me, rumbling about the extent of my credit."

Akimoto grinned and drained the flask into his cup. "I want to bribe one of the fishermen to take me out to the frigate--perhaps I can talk myself aboard one of the warships, pretending to sell fish. I must see inside an engine room, one way or another."

Hiraga's stomach heaved, thinking about his own visit. "Perhaps I could get Taira to take me again, with you this time. I can pretend you are the son of an important Choshu merchant, a shipbuilder, anxious to do business with them, but any business must be kept secret from the Bakufu."

Secret? How long will we be secret here?

A tremble went through him. "It's cold tonight," he said to cover his fear that once again Akimoto politely feigned not to notice.

A few metres away in her own quarters Raiko had finished her makeup and was dressing for the evening. She decided on the new pink kimono. A large heron decorated the back, embroidered with gold filaments. For many months she had coveted it. Now it was hers, paid forwith part of the profit garnered from the hugely successful sale of the pearl earrings. They proved to be even more valuable than she had estimated.

Eeee, she thought happily, the kami and gods that look after mama-sans were looking after me that day. A major business coup, all profit except for Furansu-san's part. Money for the medicine was hardly worth considering though she had put a substantial debit in her open set of books. She smiled to herself. The cost was nothing but the knowledge of which plant and who could harvest it, at what correct season and how to make the infusion, ah, that was worth whatever the market would stand.