Chapter 10: A Rainy Afternoon

The storm came on the fifth day of his week of nothing, and it closed the road.

By noon the river road was a brown stream and the Kita Road was knee-deep in mud.

Hanae hung a board on the lantern that said CLOSED, THE ROOF IS BUSY.

Tamae went home to her cottage with a pot of broth under her coat.

The two rice merchants, who had stayed three nights because they liked the miso, played dice in the dining room with a lamp between them.

And Hanae took the Sword Saint of the kingdom by the sleeve, and pulled him up the back stairs, and into her own room.

It was a small room under the eaves, with a sloped ceiling and one round window.

The futon was heaped with quilts.

A shelf held her grandmother's tea set and a jar of dried persimmons.

The room smelled of soap and lamp oil and her.

Jiro stopped in the doorway.

"It's my room," Hanae said. "You've never been in it."

"I did not like to ask."

"It's the one place the rain doesn't come in. Sit."

He sat on the edge of the futon, carefully.

She sat across from him with her knees drawn up.

The rain beat on the roof so loudly that she had to raise her voice.

"Tell me something funny."

"Funny?"

"You've been here nearly a month. You've told me nothing."

"Twelve years of the Crown's service, and there has to be one thing that made you laugh."

He thought about it with great seriousness.

"There was a bridge," he said at last.

"A bridge."

"In the east. The Crown opened a new bridge over the Aoi River."

"The governor asked the Sword Saint to cut the ribbon with the sword, for the crowd."

"I stood in the middle of the bridge in full dress, with all the banners behind me."

"And?"

"I raised the sword. I cut the ribbon. The ribbon fell, the crowd cheered, and the sword flew out of my hand."

Her mouth fell open.

"It was wet from the rain. It sailed over the railing and went into the river."

"Four hundred people watched. So did the governor's wife."

"No."

"The governor made a speech about how the Sword Saint offers his blade to the river in thanks."

"The river god was very honored. They put up a stone."

He folded his hands in his lap and looked at her gravely.

"I spent three days in a boat with a net."

Hanae laughed.

She laughed until she had to put her face in her knees.

She laughed until tears ran down her cheeks, and when she looked up, Jiro was watching her.