Presently, the steps grew closer and an old man, clad in simple, but fine silken robes appeared before them.
He smiled as he saw them, a bitter troubled smile.
"Ah..I was wondering about all the noise, so it's you guys, I see. "
At the arrival of the master of the manor, the small spirits ceased their clamoring and each stood politely at the wall, greeting Seimei with puffed out chests and refined posturing.
"Hello Lord Seimei! "
"You look as young as ever!"
"You should come visit us something."
Seimei signed at the gathered spirits before taking a seat next to Akiko.
"Lady Akiko, you look a bit pale, what have they said to you?"
Seimei cast his gaze to the two fidgeting mononoke, before settling his questioning gaze on Suzaku and Tenitsu.
A moment of tense hesitation passed before Suzaku nervously cleared his throat and quietly answered.
"They were merely passing on a message. They had informed us that Lady Shouko at the Palace has fallen very ill, and her palace induction ceremony has been cancelled. "
Seimei gaze fell as he nodded gravely... so that was the matter.
Akiko was silent, she gazed at Seimei with wide troubled eyes.
"Lord Seimei..."
"Yes?"
Akiko hesitated.... a tense, trouble moment passed before she hesitantly confessed her fears.
"Shouko's illness....do you...do you think it was caused by the mental and emotional burden of undertaking the fate meant for me.....of her taking my place at the palace? "
Seimei's eyes widened with shock. Behind Akiko, mononoke and Shinshou alike were taken aback at her words.
Akiko's pale hands wrung in her lap, her delicate fingers trembling with every word.
"Originally..... Originally... it was me who was meant as an offering to the palace...... It was me who was destined.....Lady Shouko..... she would have been spared..... she could have lived her life peacefully at home."
At her side, Seimei was quiet and contemplative, giving Akiko the space and the peace to express her thoughts.
"Perhaps it was because I violated my fate, my destiny inflicting it's dues on Shouko, who took burden in my place."
She was happy here, but her freedom and contentment came at the price of another. Her half-sister Shouko had become the victim to her freedom.
Mokkun had once said, that had events not transpired as they did, Shouko would have been destined to spend a dull, lonely life in the manor, surrounding only by her servants. Of course, her father, the minister of left, had not wanted this fate for her. He cared about her after all, though far far less than the care he afforded to the children of his main wife. Mokkun had assured her, that for Shouko, entry into the palace was a fortunate thing.
Akiko wasn't so sure.
"I've thought about this a lot..." She continued.
"What is the price exacted for violating destiny? If it were my own life span that was reduced, that would be acceptable..... But it's not like that....."
"Lady Akiko!"
Akiko looked up in surprise as Seimei interrupted.
Though a man of eighty, Seimei's gaze still retained the sharpness and fiery passion of youth. His steely gaze seemed to cut through her as he spoke.
"I'm sure you speak in jest, but please do not ever repeat what you have just said, or my grandson, who has countless perils to save you.... his efforts would have been in vain."
"ah..."
Masahiro's smile flashed into her mind. They day that they had met, with the bamboo curtain between them seemed so long ago, a distant memory.
Her nose was sore. Akiko gritted her teeth, forcing her tears back. She couldn't cry... to cry was to escape the reality, to shield herself with comforting tears.
"Please calm yourself and listen to my words... Lady Shouko's illness was far from your doing, and the burden of destiny that once awaited you has been lifted. It not longer exists and will never exist again."
"What do you mean? "
"The stars have bee changing. Their pattern and course has undergone fundamental changes..... and so has the fate that awaited you. The stars have shifted to a positions that defy even MY vast experience. The path that awaits you, Lady Akiko, and your half-sister Lady Shouko is now uncertain."
The oracle that determined Akiko's unsuitability for the palace was read and delivered by Seimei himself. To find a replacement for her intended course, he must find one with a similar star sign.
The daughter of the house of Fujiwara was destined to enter the royal harem, that is an unchangeable, indisputable truth, long set in stone. But it couldn't be Akiko.... It had to be someone born under the same star sign, the same constellation group.
Seimei had never heard of Shouko before she had been mentioned by her father, Lord Fujiwara. Nor had he know of her existence. Seimei had merely based his decision from his divination and analysis of the star signs.
"Shouko's sign has shifted. Her stars have begun to move north. Your stars, on the other hand, are far from the polaris group. ( translator note: the group that represents the royal court.) The path ahead has diverged. Your stars... your destinies, will never again converge...."
Seimei smiled as he patiently explained to Akiko.
"Will you feel left out? For from now on, you are no one else, but Akiko, not a princess or a courtier."
Akiko had listened quietly, as if silently absorbing Seimei's every word.
"Is .... is it then my destiny to remain here? "
"Yes......"
He paused before speaking again.
"Shouko has taken on a different name. Her ties to her birth family has dissolved....as it will be for the rest of her life."
"Really?"
Akiko pondered this in silence. Gradually, the heavy burden of guilt the regret that weighed on her began to ease.
She had always felt that condemning Shouko's to a life of solitude in the palace was her greatest shame and regret. For all the hardships that Shouko faced, the solitude, the unforgiving decorum and even the illness, had been the burden of destiny meant for herself.
"But...."
"That's right..... From now on, your destiny is in your hands. It is your own. The path that Shouko walks was not the one meant for you. Her path too, is her own.... distinct from the one you would have traveled had you entered the palace. So there's nothing to blame yourself for. "
Her illness, was not because she took your place..... that is absolute.
The child that had the talent to change the stars, to divert fate, was the heir that would carry on his bloodline.