"I understand."

"All right. Now let's hear what hopes you have of me. Speak up and I'll promise." Despite this request, Nene was unable to say a thing.

"Whatever a wife wishes of her husband. If you won't tell me your desires, shall I say them for you?" Nene smiled and nodded at Tokichiro's words. Then she quickly looked down.

"A husband's love?"

"No…"

"Then an unchanging love."

"Yes."

"To give birth to a healthy child?"

Nene trembled. If there had been a lamp to see it by, her face would have burned as red as the color of cinnabar.

On the morning following the three-day wedding party, Tokichiro and his wife put on formal kimonos for yet another ceremony, and visited the mansion of their go-between, Lord Nagoya. After that, they went around to two or three houses, feeling as though all the eyes of Kiyosu were on them that day. But Nene and her young husband had nothing but good intentions for the passersby who turned to look at them.

"Let's go visit Master Otowaka's house for a moment," said Tokichiro.

"Hey, Monkey!" Otowaka yelled, and then corrected himself in a fluster, "Tokichiro."

"I've brought my wife to meet you."

"What? Of course! The honored daughter of the archer, Master Asano! Tokichiro, you're a lucky fellow."

It was only seven years ago that Tokichiro had come up to this veranda selling nee­dles, dressed in dirty, travel-stained clothes. He had felt as though he hadn't eaten in days. When they had given him some food, he had sat there eating greedily, with his chopsticks clacking.

"You're so lucky, it's scary," Otowaka said. "Well, the house is filthy, but come in." Somewhat flustered, he yelled to his wife inside the house and then showed them in him­self. Just then, they heard a voice shouting in the street. It was a herald, dashing from house to house.

"Join your regiment! Join your regiment! By His Lordship's order!"

"An official order?" Otowaka said. "The call to arms."

"Master Otowaka," Tokichiro said suddenly, "I have to get to the assembly grounds as quickly as possible."

Until this morning, there had been no indication that something like this might hap­pen, and even when Tokichiro had visited Nagoya's residence, appearances had been nothing but peaceful. Where in the world could they be going? Even Tokichiro's usual in­tuition had failed him this time. Whenever the word "battle" was spoken, his intuition was usually right on target as to where they were headed. But the young bridegroom's mind had been far away from the current situation for some time. He ran into a number of men dashing from the samurai neighborhoods, shouldering their armor.

A group of horsemen raced from the castle. While he didn't know what was going on, Tokichiro had a premonition that the battlefield would be far away.

Nene hurried home ahead of her husband.

"Kinoshita! Kinoshita!" As he approached the archers' tenement houses, somebody yelled from behind him. Turning to look, he saw that it was Inuchiyo. He was on horse­back, in the same suit of armor he had worn at Okehazama, a banner decorated with a plum-blossom crest fluttering from a thin bamboo pole fastened to his back.

"I was just coming by to call for Master Mataemon. Get yourself ready and come immediately to the assembly grounds."

"Are we marching out?" Tokichiro asked.

Inuchiyo jumped off his horse. "How did it go… later on?" Inuchiyo asked.

"What do you mean, 'How did it go?'"

“That would be better left unsaid. I was asking if you are now man and wife."

“That's nothing you need to ask about."

Inuchiyo laughed loudly. "But anyway we're going to the front. If you're late, they'll laugh at you at the assembly grounds, because you just got married."

"I don't mind being laughed at."

“An army of two thousand infantry and cavalry is marching to the Kiso River at dusk.

"We're going into Mino, then."

"There was a secret report that Saito Yoshitatsu of Inabayama suddenly became sick and died. This call to arms and the advance toward the Kiso River is a feeler to determine whether there's any truth in the story."

"Well, now, let's see. There was a lot of excitement when we heard that Yoshitatsu had gotten sick and died earlier this summer, too."

"But this time it seems to be true. And regardless, from the clan's standpoint Yoshitatsu murdered Lord Nobunaga's father-in-law, Lord Dosan. In terms of morality, he's the enemy, and we cannot live with him under the same sky; and if the clan is to gain the center of the field, we must have a foothold in Mino."

"That day is coming soon, isn't it?"

"Soon? We're leaving for the Kiso tonight."

"No. Not yet, not yet. I doubt if His Lordship will attack yet."

"The armies are under the commands of Lord Katsuie and Lord Nobumori; His Lordship will not go out in person."

"But even if Yoshitatsu is dead, and even if his son, Tatsuoki, is a fool, the Three Men of Mino—Ando, Inaba, and Ujiie—are still alive. Plus, while there is still a man like Takenaka Hanbei, who is said to be living in seclusion on Mount Kurihara, it's not going to be done so easily."

"Takenaka Hanbei?" Inuchiyo cocked his head to one side. "The names of the Three Men have echoed for a long time even in neighboring provinces, but is this Takenaka Hanbei so formidable?"

"Most people have never heard of him; I'm his only admirer here in Owari."

"How do you know things like this?"

"I was in Mino for a long time, and…" Tokichiro stopped in midsentence. He had never told Inuchiyo of his experiences as a peddler, the time he spent with Koroku in Hachisuka, and of his spying in Inabayama.

"Well, we've lost time." Inuchiyo remounted.

"See you at the assembly grounds."

"Right. Later." The two men sped away from each other, toward opposite ends of the neighborhood.

"Hello! I'm home!" Whenever he returned home, he always yelled out loudly at the entrance before going in. This way, they would all know that the son-in-law of the house had returned—from the servant working in the storage room to the corners of the kitchen. But today Tokichiro did not wait for people to come out and greet him.

When he entered the room, Tokichiro was struck by what he saw. A new mat had been spread out on the floor, and his armor chest placed on top of it. Naturally enough, his gloves, shin guards, body armor, and waistband were there, but also some medicine for wounds, a brace, and an ammunition pouch—everything he would need to take with him was laid out in order. "Your equipment," said Nene.

"Very good! Very good!" He praised her without thinking, but was suddenly struck with the thought that he hadn't yet judged this woman correctly. She was even more ca­pable than he had perceived before marrying her.

When he had finished putting on his armor, Nene told him not to worry about her. She had taken out and arranged the earthenware cup for sacred sake.

"Take care of everything, please, while I'm away."

"Of course."

"There's no time to say good-bye to your father. Would you do it for me?"

"My mother took Oyaya to Tsushima Temple, and they still haven't returned. Father's been ordered to duty at the castle, and sent a message a while ago that he won't be coming home tonight."

"Won't you be lonely?"

She turned away but did not cry.

She looked like a flower caught by the wind with the heavy helmet on her lap. Toki-chiro took it from her, and as he put it on, the fragrance of aloeswood unexpectedly filled the air. He smiled at his wife appreciatively, tightly knotting the scented cords.