The world around Keiko blurred again, and she was vaguely aware of her mind tumbling from one end of the globe to the other. Finally, blinking and dazed, she found herself right back where she started – seated comfortably in Takeshi’s chambers with Yui on one side, the monk on the other, and a steaming pot of green tea on the low table between them.
Yui reached for the kettle and expertly refilled their tiny cups. “Did you find what you were looking for, Father?” Her tone, though light, betrayed her curiosity. “You were gone longer than I expected.”
“Questions eventually lead to answers, Yui-chan,” Takeshi said blandly. “Sometimes, however, the answers are also questions.”
Yui fixed Takeshi with a flat, irritated look before returning the pot to its place on the table. “If you will excuse me, Father.” She stood and made a halfhearted bow. “I will prepare more tea. This is likely to be a long night.”
Takeshi stared thoughtfully at the ceiling as Yui’s footsteps retreated to the side panel.
“You’ll have to tell her eventually.” Keiko waited until Yui closed the shoji behind her before speaking.
“Perhaps. Though I rather think it will become irrelevant. She’s not the only one who’s suffered, and the sooner she realizes that, the better. Roarke Zar Ranok sacrificed his heart, Aeryk and Seirin their innocence.” He closed his eyes as if savoring something long since gone. “Vissyus lost more than any of us. The Great Lord of Fire lost everything that made him who he was.”
Yui returned through the shoji with a lacquered tray filled with cookies, sweet-cakes, and a fresh pot of the same green tea that now swirled, stone cold, in the cup at Keiko’s wrist. She set the tray on one corner of the table and proceeded to arrange the platters precisely, beginning with the cakes, which – to Keiko’s great disappointment – she placed in front of Takeshi.
Keiko’s frown deepened as Yui lowered the cookies next to the cakes. Her stomach growled loudly at the sight of them. Politely ignoring the rumbling, Takeshi removed two of the sweet-cakes and a handful of cookies before passing the plates to Keiko. Yui was already seated by the time Keiko filled her small dish to overflowing, the eyebrows on her face climbing to match Keiko’s growing pile.
“Are you going after Akuan?” Keiko mumbled, her mouth so full that the words came out in a muffled mess.
Yui rounded on her father. “Akuan? You saw Akuan?”
“The ice dragon was searching for Seirin near Lon-Shan’s Gate,” Takeshi admitted.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! This changes everything. We don’t have time to sit here and talk. We need to finish our preparations and–”
“It changes nothing!” Takeshi slammed his hands onto the table. Teacups rattled, the hot liquid rippling precariously close to the edges. “We made our plans for a reason. You need to control yourself, Yui!”
The room fell deathly quiet. Takeshi’s gaze swept over the two women, holding them, daring them to speak. Dark red splotches colored Yui’s cheeks. She lowered her head and kept it down throughout the silence.
Beside her, Keiko cleared her throat and reached for the tray in front of her once more. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. I haven’t eaten a thing since lunch.” She selected a moist cake and transferred it to her already full plate. A second followed, then another. Before long, cookies and cakes flew across the table in a blur of golden brown and sugary white. When the tray was empty, Keiko lifted a large wafer, bit into it, and waved the remaining piece airily. “This is so good,” she said between bites. “I love pastries. I just can’t help myself. It’s like an instinct, you know? A compulsion.” She glared at Takeshi. Her voice, though breezy, had a steel edge to it. “Some people don’t think before they talk, others keep secrets. Me? I lose my mind for a good piece of cake.”
Takeshi folded his arms over his chest and chuckled. “You have a unique friend here, Yui. I hope you appreciate her.”
Yui’s head remained lowered, but Keiko caught the hint of a smile.
“As for secrets – I think Keiko’s waited long enough to learn about hers.”
Keiko swallowed and dropped her hands to her lap. Blood roared in her ears. She inhaled to calm her pounding heart and nodded. Yui remained as she was.
Across the table, Takeshi smiled kindly. “Every spirit has a power,” he continued. “Can you guess what forces your father controlled?”
Keiko was about to shake her head, when a rush of images flashed through it – the mummified agent in her father’s house, different decades, her father speaking to her as she looked through a viewfinder, telling her to focus her thoughts.
It was so simple.
“Pictures,” she said after a pause. “Captured moments. He could do something with time.”
Takeshi beamed at her. “Yes, Yamanaka-san. He had the ability to manipulate how a person passes through time.”
Keiko exhaled forcefully. “So that’s how he did it.” She stared – wide-eyed – at Takeshi. “That’s what the camera was for; he used it as a training tool to help me focus my mind.” Her hands trembled as something new occurred to her. “You want me to do that, don’t you? Take us back to the beginning so you can show me what started all this.”
Takeshi knitted his fingers together and leaned forward. “Though we could test your theory now, I don’t think you are ready. For this, I will maintain control.” Takeshi cupped his hands around the kettle and collected the steam wafting from the spout. “We begin with Seirin. Tragedy fills her spirit. She remembers anything connected to her power.” He let the small cloud hover above his palms before casting it into the room, where it expanded. “Her memories call us through her element. Breathe it in, let her steam fill you. You will see what she saw, experience it as she lived it when the world was young.”
Keiko’s mind drifted, and she felt control slipping away as she merged with another consciousness.
“A word of warning,” Takeshi said, his voice fading. “After Seirin, we’ll move on to Vissyus’s trace memories. Prepare yourself, his are strong and powerful. I will anchor your thoughts to mine to keep his madness from sweeping you away. We finish with Seirin’s reaction to what she’s done. Only then will you understand who is responsible for what.”
Keiko swallowed nervously. This was why she was here; backing out meant letting her father down. She couldn’t do that, not to him and not to herself.