Beyond the Werefox Whistle
Written by Uehashi Nahoko
Illustrated by Yumiko Shirai
Part 1: A Seal is Broken
Chapter 3: Umegae Estate
The New Year’s Eve festival passed without further incident. The next morning, the sun rose to greet the new year to come. It was spring in Haruna, but most of the mountaintops and the villages were still lightly covered in snow.
Sayo grew a year older, all alone in the world. She kept herself busy with work from sunup to sundown each day. At night, she watched the fire in the hearth burning until late and thought of her grandmother and her forgotten mother and everything she’d lost. Her loneliness covered her like the thin blanket of snow covered the mountain forest, harsh and cold.
If Sayo were one of the village girls, it was likely that she would already be married. But she wasn’t, and Sayo didn’t think she would ever marry. She thought about her grandmother but tried not to. Thoughts of her invaded at inopportune times. Sayo strangled those thoughts harshly before they could shake her equilibrium.
Sayo had discussed a possible future marriage with her grandmother, of course. But her grandmother was opposed to the idea, and when they argued Sayo felt like there was a thorn in her side. If she ever did find a husband, living with him would be unbearable; she’d be able to sense all his thoughts and feelings. Sayo’s opinion now was that she shouldn’t get married because it would make her and her potential husband deeply unhappy.
Being alone all the time also made Sayo unhappy. Loneliness gnawed at her late at night. Spending her whole life alone until she grew old and died struck Sayo as untenable. She had no reason to live as she was, hollow and empty on the inside.
Sayo couldn’t abide whiners in the village—their thoughts were annoying—so she tried not to complain of her loneliness, not even to herself. Why had she been born this way? She was angry about it, and sometimes even resentful, but she had no one to vent these emotions to. They remained buried deep within her, an old secret she could never tell.
I hope spring comes early this year, Sayo thought. The winter nights were too cold and isolating for her liking.
“I can send a messenger to you when the plum blossoms bloom. You’re welcome to visit us then.” That was what Dairou had said to her. As she repeated his words over and over again in her mind, Sayo realized that she was looking forward to his invitation.
Suzu’s face was like the sunlight in summer. Dairou had known Sayo’s mother. Who were these people? Why hadn’t Sayo ever met them before, or even heard of them? And what horrible fate had befallen her poor mother?
Thinking about her mother made Sayo’s thoughts take on sad colors. She couldn’t think too deeply about her past without withdrawing in fear or pain. To distract herself from thoughts of her distant past, Sayo recalled the face of the young man who’d saved her from the bandits.
The bandits he’d fought might be dead. Their bodies might still be in the forest around her home. Sayo shuddered; she couldn’t even bring herself to peek out of the windows.
The young man hadn’t wanted to scare her. He’d reached out for her hand to help her up with great care and gentleness. She wanted to see him again—preferably under safer circumstances.
***
On a night at the end of winter, men from the village traveled up the mountain to gather firewood to burn for ashes to fertilize their fields. They had not traversed the mountain paths since the new year began.
That night, Sayo had a strange dream.
A bright green bush warbler flew in through the chimney hole and nudged Sayo’s head with its beak as she slept. Sayo opened one eye.
A bush warbler, in this season? Sayo asked herself. And bush warblers can’t see at night…
The bush warbler tilted its head like a confused child, then pecked urgently at Sayo’s hair. The bird’s call, kyok-kyok-kyok, was low and muted in the surrounding stillness.
As Sayo slipped her hair out from underneath the bird’s beak, she felt her spirit leave her body.
The bush warbler flapped its wings; Sayo felt it moving as if she were the one who’d decided to move. Before she could blink, the bush warbler flew up the chimney and out into the cold night air. Sayo flew with it, seeing through the bird’s eyes.
The bird glided across the moonlit night sky, flying over the river and the mountains and the village in the distance. Snow clung to the edges of the rice fields far below.
Sayo smelled something pleasant on the air but couldn’t identify it right away. A few moments later, the bush warbler landed in a grove of plum trees. The sweet scent of blooming plum blossoms suffused the grove.
The grove was enormous; Sayo couldn’t see the edges of it. White plum blossoms shone like snowflakes in the bright light of the moon. A few blossoms were pink or blood-red. It was the end of winter, so Sayo hadn’t expected to see so many flowers in bloom. There were dozens—no, hundreds!
⟡ The plum blossoms have bloomed, Sayo. ⟡ Dairou’s voice reached her, mind-to-mind. ⟡ I will send a messenger at dawn. Get on his back and come for a visit. ⟡
Sayo awoke with a start. It was the middle of the night and freezing cold. She shivered violently for awhile.
What a strange dream, Sayo thought. As she sat up, she heard a horse nickering outside. Hooves stomped the ground and shook the floor.
There was a horse right outside her door. How? Why? Had it fled from the village? Had bandits tried to take it? Sayo jumped up quickly. She had to prevent the horse from trampling her herbs and vegetables. She’d buried a lot of plants to shield them from the winter’s cold; letting the horse undo all her hard work would be disastrous.
Sayo opened the door and looked up at the most magnificent horse she’d ever seen. Its coat was pale and reflected the colors of the rising sun on the eastern horizon. She knew enough about horses to understand that this wasn’t a workhorse that pulled plows or carriages. The horse was fitted with reins, a bridle, saddle and tack. This was the kind of horse that wealthy people rode from place to place.
Sayo gaped stupidly at the horse for a few moments. The horse snorted a plume of white exhalation into the freezing air and stared back with an air of impatience hanging around it.
The words Dairou had said in Sayo’s dream came back to her.
I will send a messenger at dawn. Get on his back and come for a visit.
The horse nodded briskly in agreement as if it could hear her thoughts.
When Sayo didn’t move, the horse walked slowly over to a large rock that Sayo had played on frequently when she was a child.
Sayo had never ridden a horse before, but this one seemed docile enough. She used a stone to give her height, put her feet in the horse’s stirrups, and climbed onto the horse’s back.
The horse is much taller than I thought, Sayo thought. She was trusting this animal with her safety. She hoped that wasn’t the wrong choice.
As the horse started to move, Sayo grabbed onto the reins and held on for dear life. The horse seemed to be walking with care, but even so, it was difficult for Sayo to remain balanced so that she wouldn’t fall. Every step the horse took jolted her body and threatened to send her flying backward or over the side. Sayo gripped the sides of the horse with her legs as hard as she dared and felt herself stabilize as she matched her movements to that of the horse.
As Sayo became more comfortable on horseback, her mount picked up speed. The sun was rising; it was just about time for the villagers to begin working for the day. She hoped she wouldn’t run into anyone. Noblewomen could ride horses accompanied by their servants, but a common girl like her riding a horse like this through the village would be unthinkable. Rumors would spread.
As if it were aware of Sayo’s anxiety, the horse turned off the main path and onto a much narrower one that led further into the mountains. The bandits had attacked Sayo near here, which made her nervous. She trusted that the horse knew where it wanted to go and tried to focus on staying on its back.
The horse did not descend onto the main path again, instead flitting from path to path and jumping over narrow streams. Sayo lost her sense of direction. She couldn’t see the sun beneath the tree canopy and soon lost track of time.
The sweet scent of plum blossoms drifted through the air. The horse slowed down. Sayo breathed in slowly, feeling the breeze caress her cheeks. She looked around and found the sun high in the sky. The grove of plum trees that she’d seen in her dream stood before her in all its glory.
Looking up at the plum tree grove where it sprawled on the mountain slope above the village, Sayo thought that it was vaguely familiar, like she’d been there before (and not just in a dream). Looking at it as a bird, gazing upon it from on high, she hadn’t recognized it at all. The only detail that was different from her dream was that the plum blossoms were not yet in full bloom, though some flowers were open and more were opening.
The horse traversed a narrow path that wended through the grove. It stopped near a bubbling brook that was overshadowed by blooming white plum blossoms. There was a wooden bridge over the brook that led to a gate with turreted gatehouses to either side. Beyond the gatehouses, a wooden fence stretched in both directions as far as Sayo could see. Plum trees blocked her view of the fence in places. It almost looked like the fence had grown in the middle of the grove, much as the trees did.
The roof of a grand mansion peeked out from atop the fence. She’d thought that Dairou and his family were quite wealthy before; here was further proof.
It was quiet. Sayo didn’t see anyone besides herself and the horse nearby.
Then there was a flurry of activity near the gate. Sayo was too far away to see exactly what was going on, but she guessed that the gatekeeper was stirring. She approached and saw a tall, stout man with a high, thin nose and huge eyes that looked like they were about to bulge out of his face.
“Ah, Sayo has arrived!” Suzu called out from somewhere beyond the gate. She came into view and waved to Sayo. “Yata, hurry up and guide the horse in.”
The gatekeeper, Yata, sprinted to Sayo. He reached for the horse’s bridle and led the horse and Sayo over the bridge.
Suzu greeted Sayo, grinning from ear to ear. She followed Sayo’s horse through the gate.
Just ahead of her, Sayo saw a wooden folding screen about the height of a person with a strange pattern carved into it. She walked around the screen on horseback and found herself in front of a mansion with a veranda. There was a large stable to her left where someone was ringing a bell. Chickens milled about in the yard, pecking at worms. Suzu’s son, Ichita, chased after the chickens.
When they arrived in front of the stables, Yata lifted Sayo up and helped her off the horse. Sayo’s knees nearly buckled and she gasped. Yata quickly grabbed her under her arms and supported her. Her legs were shaking.
“Yata, please hold Sayo for a bit. Poor child; it’s her first time riding a horse.”
Yata supported Sayo with ease.
Sayo blushed and felt herself tensing all over. Yata didn’t sense her distress. He carried her over to the veranda and helped her remove her sandals. He brought over a basin of water so that she could clean her hands and feet.
“Oh, Sayo!” Dairou said as he came out of the mansion. “Welcome to Umegae Estate. We just had lunch. Have you eaten?” He smiled down at her.
Dairou gave Sayo his hand and helped her to her feet. “You can go, Yata. Take care of Kumokage.”
Yata lowered his head and then obeyed the command, moving as swiftly as a hunting dog.
Dairou led Sayo into the main house’s living area. Clean rice mats laid over a wooden floor tickled her feet. Sunlight poured into the room from several windows. The scent of plum blossoms wafted gently through the air.
She was here. Umegae Estate.
As Sayo entered the living room and looked out at the bright garden, she got the sense that she’d taken her first steps onto a new path. A dangerous path. She felt like she wouldn’t be able to turn back now, even if she tried.
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