It was not particularly ladylike to fan oneself with a sheaf of notepaper, which was why Minerva took care to do so surreptitiously.
"Forgive me for speaking on a topic so devoid of interest and consequence as the weather," she muttered, "but is this sort of climate normal for Gensokyo? First the overbearing warmth of summer, followed by downpours, which then result in fog, upon which the cycle continues once again."
"The weather has been slightly unusual this past month or so," Aya admitted, handing her a proper fan, "but it is still within the realms of meteorological plausibility. In any case, autumn should be here in full force soon enough, even if it seems rather late this year. You might even be able to experience winter here in Gensokyo, Margatroid-san."
Minerva had travelled to enough regions with geographical features resembling Gensokyo's to know that the locals tended not to bother measuring snowfall using units as puny as inches. "I suspect my business here will take rather longer than that to resolve. Are there any special features of Gensokyo's winter that I should take note of?"
"Apart from a whole host of winter youkai?" Aya shrugged. "There are the usual hazards of winter in a rural mountainous area, but we have survived millennia of the same. It is not a difficult thing to overcome, as long as you do not do silly things like venture far outside the village alone."
"Lose many explorers that way?"
"A few," Aya said. "Youkai hunters who have more pride than sense. Unfortunate souls who wander a little too far, and are lost in the darkness. We forbid our children from leaving the village for a reason."
There didn't seem to be anything Minerva could say in response, so she changed the subject. "Do the mansion's servants have to follow us everywhere we go? We're just going to meet Miho-san and Alice at the school, aren't we?"
Aya glanced back at the two servants who had been trailing them from a respectful distance, as though alerted to their presence for the very first time. From what Minerva could gather, this unusual discretion was a special arrangement based on Minerva's presence; normally the servants would walk beside, or at least a few steps behind, the lady of the house, viz Aya. Presumably whoever had given the orders to lengthen the leash was worried about the contagion of Minerva's heretical Western philosophies.
Minerva recognized the servant couple, in any case. And a couple they were, if the rather determined female half of the pair had anything to say about it. The girl had approached Minerva one evening, asking for charms or potions to attract the attention of the more obtuse variety of young man. She had seemed disappointed when Minerva had gently declined to brew something up; as far as Minerva knew, there was no such thing as a true, effective love potion, and even if it existed, Minerva would not have known where to start.
Minerva gave her some advice, largely to do with the benefits of being direct, and a few perfume recommendations. The young man currently had a startled, wary expression, as though he suspected some subtle prank being played on him, but could not quite fathom what.
The servants seemed more preoccupied with their own little world than Aya and Minerva's conversation, anyway. "It is not entirely my decision, but the inconvenience is trivial," Aya said, dismissing the servants from her immediate sphere of notice. "I enjoy walks through the village like this, and there have hardly been any... incidents. Certainly none worthy of note."
Minerva reflected that any incident involving Aya's health worthy of note would probably happen only once. It would only need to happen once. "But they do come to your aid should you have any, shall we say, shortness of breath? Rendering immediate assistance?"
"Well... yes." Aya rallied. "But it is still something of a bother to both myself and the servants. I try to leave them at the mansion, but sometimes..."
"You'd need some way of calling attention to yourself when necessary, then," Minerva mused. "Shouting won't do, since you might not be able to summon the wind for it. A whistle? No, that runs into the same problem. A bell, then. A little silver bell that you can ring when you are in peril."
Aya stared at Minerva.
"It can be a very ladylike bell," Minerva said encouragingly. "Not too large. Handy for keeping in your purse."
"And if I ring it, I'm sure you will come flying to my rescue."
"On a white horse."
"A tempting, productive, and might I say heroic offer," Aya said. "But here is the schoolhouse, and it appears lessons are not yet over."
The schoolhouse was, in fact, an ancient annex of what seemed like a part of the local town hall equivalent, where the tiny civil service of the village held office. Some effort had been spent to spruce up the building with whitewash and paint, and Minerva could see the clear delineation between the work done by bored but professional workers on the administrative side, and by enthusiastic volunteers on the school side.
"Miho-san is teaching the younger children, isn't she?" Minerva asked, looking around for signs of authority figures to avoid, lest they be caught and forced to take tea with the smallest of talk. "Aya-san?"
Aya was staring at the administrative building, where the usual number of people were conducting the everyday business of running a large village without undue complications. Overall traffic was sparse, and was composed largely of messengers and errand boys, as well as the occasional civil servant venturing forth in search of an early lunch.
"Aya-san?" Minerva repeated.
"I apologize," Aya said distantly, as she started a beeline towards whatever had caught her interest. "There seems to be someone I must speak to, regarding a certain business that I had thought settled."
Minerva caught up with her after a few paces. "Would it be a bother if I joined you?"
Aya glanced at her. "I suppose not. I'll explain the situation to you as soon as I am able, later."
Aya's target turned out to be a middle-aged man, rail-thin and balding, with the lined face of a constant worrier. He had apparently nipped outside for a quick cigarette during a break in his duties, despite the heat that required him to mop the sweat off his brow frequently. Both his perspiration and lines of worry increased as he spotted Aya bearing down on him. He seemed to contemplate escape for a very brief moment, before resigning himself to his fate.
"Nakamuraya-san," Aya said without preamble. "I see you've finished your work in Tokyo."
"Er, yes," Nakamuraya said guiltily. "I just came back in last week."
"Which is strange, since you said you were going to be there for much longer."
"Things, er, things were expedited," Nakamuraya said. "Certain arrangements were made, and they helped greatly with my work. I am very grateful to those who agreed to assist me."
"What arrangements are these?"
"Oh, you know, this and that..."
"Which you have not yet elaborated to my satisfaction, even after you returned to the village last week. If I did not know any better, Nakamuraya-san, I would even say that you seem to have been avoiding me."
"Anyway," Nakamuraya said desperately, "this must be the, um, the magician."
Minerva took this cue to curtsey. "Minerva Margatroid, at your service. I am but a humble scholar of the arts arcane."
"There is no need to be modest, Margatroid-san," Aya said relentlessly. "Nakamuraya-san knows exactly who you are, and what you are. Don't you, Nakamuraya-san?"
Nakamuraya squirmed. "Well, not to the precise extent of... which is to say, it is a complicated matter, and I hardly think this is the right place to-"
Minerva kept her polite social smile on her face. "Do tell, Nakamuraya-san."
"I was... informed that a great magician would be coming to Japan, and to this village," Nakamuraya said. "I was in Tokyo on other business at the time, and felt it would be proper to present an official welcome and escort to our poor land. However, Hieda-sama had, er, pre-empted me by a few days..."
Thus far the hypothetical conspiracy did not sound all that menacing. Minerva had a fairly short list of Nakamuraya's possible informants, but she was not yet certain why it had been imperative that Aya had gotten to Minerva first, rather than Nakamuraya. Would it have made any difference? In any other situation, these maneuverings would have made sense in terms of whoever managed to gain Minerva's ear first and influence her opinions, but Aya had resisted telling Minerva anything but the most basic of information about Gensokyo. Was leaving Minerva with an open mind truly so important?
No, that was implausibly inefficient for all the parties involved. Discard that hypothesis, and create another.
"The assistance you received must be efficacious indeed, if you managed to complete it so soon, and go out of your way to pick up a prospective youkai hunter," Aya was saying. "One would think that the true priorities had been reversed."
"N-no, not at all," Nakamuraya said, mopping his brow. "The business was concluded satisfactorily, and the results will be forthcoming, if all goes well... I mean, all will go well, of course. There's nothing to worry about."
"You are strangely confident."
"Arrangements, yes, arrangements have been made." Nakamuraya spoke quickly, a condemned man confessing all he could before the noose was tightened around his neck. "And in the end Kuzunoha-san wasn't interested in travelling here, said that there were things to take care of in the capital, but now we have Margatroid-san the magician, don't we?"
"Libri vermis," Minerva corrected. "A mere scholar. But yes, I am presently engaged in finding a solution to your village's problems with unwelcome intrusions of the supernatural variety."
"Yet everything you have done," Aya said, "has been at the behest of..."
"I had no choice, Hieda-sama," Nakamuraya pleaded. "I was just following instructions. I, I understand your disapproval, truly I do, and I wish there was some other way, but these things happen. There's no helping it."
Before Aya could press further, the rapidly growing sounds of chatter drew their attention, as classes were dismissed. Nakamuraya took this opportunity to flee, mumbling about unfinished work at his desk.
"Aya!" This was from Miho, who was waving cheerfully towards them from the midst of a small clump of children. "Over here!"
Aya's disappointment at Nakamuraya's escape smoothed over into her usual quiet fondness for her cousin. "Good afternoon, Miho. How did lessons go?"
As Aya and Minerva approached, Alice detached herself from Miho's side to scuttle towards Minerva's skirts. Minerva absently patted the child's head.
"Quite well, actually!" Miho was saying. "I might see if I can get a full-time position here. Kamishirasawa-san is looking for more volunteer teachers to... ah, where are my manners? Everyone, this is Hieda no Aya-san, a very important person. And this is Margatroid-san, a guest who will be living with us in the village for a while. Say hallo!"
There was a general toccata of greetings from the handful of students clustered around Miho. Minerva guessed them to be between six to eight; Alice was already viewing them with the smug superiority of her extra years.
The other students of the school were dispersed throughout the area, with the older children gravitating to their little cliques, beyond the supervision of their teachers. Minerva noticed more than a few of them hurriedly averting their own stares at the strange foreign sorceress surveying their school.
There were less than forty students all told, with the oldest looking not more than sixteen.
"It is still a vast improvement from just a few years ago," Aya remarked, interrupting her aura of Very Important Person gravitas to read Minerva's thoughts. "Normally the parents would prefer work in the fields, or apprenticeships, over formal education, as soon as the child learns their way around livestock or tools. Little by little, but all the more sure for that, we are changing."
In between dealing with the shy but persistent demands of her charges, Miho quickly outlined the curriculum of the school: mornings were taken up by lessons for all ages. Come noon, the younger children would go down to the village for lunch, accompanied by their teachers, before returning for afternoon classes. The older students were dismissed at lunch; optional classes were available should they wish, which about half of them did. The rest returned home to learn their respective crafts or help out around the house.
Alice was thus in a peculiar situation: by age, she should return with the younger students, but by her education level, she fit far better with the more advanced classes. Enduring the afternoon's simple lessons would probably bore her to distraction.
"It's all a work in progress," Miho admitted. "We'll probably straighten out all the details after a few more years."
"You have decided to continue teaching here?" Minerva asked.
"If Ryotarou lets me, but there shouldn't be any problems there." A broad grin. "It'll give me plenty of practice with children, after all."
"What about you, Alice?" Aya said. "Are you interested in enrolling in Kamishirasawa-san's school?"
Alice indicated, with a wiggle of her hand, that the answer was yet unknown, and she would need a few more days and classes to decide.
"Fair enough," Minerva said. "At least there should be no objection to a shopping trip for stationery?" None were raised, and Alice seemed tolerant of the idea. "Aya-san, Miho-san, if you'll excuse us?"
Aya nodded. "We shall meet you back at the mansion."
As she departed, Minerva gave a small wave to the two servants loitering in the background, prompting them to come to some sort of attention. Since Aya would be staying at the schoolhouse with Miho, their responsibilities lay here. Minerva could not help her relief at being free from the polite, unobtrusive, and yet nigh-constant surveillance, even if the target of their watchfulness was not Minerva herself.
Minerva and Alice picked up some food on the way to the shops, to serve as their walking lunch. Chicken skewers, slathered in a dark sticky savoury sauce, putting Minerva in mind of the usual fairground foods, strong of taste and dangerous to moderation. Alice was perfectly content with this meal, attacking it with vigour now that she was temporarily assured not to lose any more milk teeth.
Their purchases included yet more notepaper, pencils, and a Japanese dictionary; Alice's weak subject at the moment was that language. Books to practice her reading comprehension skills on would presumably be available in the Hieda mansion, but Minerva also added a couple of collections of children's short stories as supplementary material.
The shopping trip turned general from there, after Alice had shown an interest in some soft fabrics, suitable for making doll clothes. This led to a congenial discussion with the shopkeeper on needlework, the cautious purchase of some short lengths of lace, directions to other stores of interest, and an afternoon spent most agreeably.
Almost without realizing it, they found themselves at Kirisame's store. The oddities and curios that were stocked within fascinated Alice, who flitted among the shelves, her attention caught by one trinket after another.
"Be careful with that," Minerva instructed. "If you break anything, you'll have to pay for it out of your own pocket."
"It's all right, Margatroid-san," Maria said indulgently. "I'm sure the girl..."
"Alice. She's under my care, at least for now."
"A lovely name. I'm sure Alice will be careful."
Alice nodded quickly, and clasped her hands behind her back to show willing.
"Was there anything in particular you were looking for?" Maria asked, diplomatically avoiding the subject of Alice's precise status with regards to Minerva. "I've managed to track down a few more of the items you wanted, but it will take some time before they arrive here. The disruption of the trade shipments to the village was not kind to business."
"Disruption?"
Maria shrugged. "It started about a few months or so back. Something about new bureaucratic rules on goods travelling through the country. I never could get a straight answer from the village business association, but I think it had much to do with taxes, or smuggling. Possibly both. Whatever the reason, the shipments haven't recovered."
Before Minerva's arrival to Gensokyo, but not by much. A coincidence?
Minerva shifted away from the counter, as more people entered the shop. "Well, I'll not keep you from your business," she said amiably. "I will browse around to see if anything catches my eye."
Kirisame's store was spacious but inconsistently lit; Minerva secreted herself in a shadowed corner, ostensibly inspecting a line of luck charms, but keeping an eye on Alice's movements, as well as the other customers. Most of these were not particularly notable, being men and women of the village looking for something or other for their homes or themselves. Conversation pieces, from all over the world.
One of them, a young lad of twelve or thirteen, was surely no customer. In fact, he slouched through the store in the manner of disaffected adolescents everywhere, but roused himself to give a quiet, warm greeting when he reached Maria. Maria, for her part, returned the affection, and the boy proceeded into the back of the shop with the easy familiarity of...
"Her son," said a voice beside Minerva in English.
Minerva set down the small silver handbell she had been holding with a sort of steely resignation. "I hope you realize that you have probably wasted both your time and mine with these charades, Miss Hearn."
Violet Hearn smiled easily, shifting her folded parasol to the crook of her arm. "Hardly a waste. I admit I was moderately alarmed when you failed to arrive at the capital as instructed." There was the slightest hint of emphasis on the last few words. "However, you have made your way to Gensokyo without undue delay, and so matters are proceeding as originally planned."
"Were you waiting for me long? Or did you send a representative in your stead?"
"The latter. I'm afraid Miss Aya got wind of my schemes, and arranged to intercept you before my representative could react. The difference is trivial, and perhaps it is better this way. You have a great ally with the Hieda family, Miss Margatroid."
Minerva turned to face Violet. "And you? What are you, Miss Hearn? Are you my benefactor, my ally, my rival, my foe, my puppeteer?"
"I am, as I always have been, my own counsel," Violet said, picking up a porcelain figurine of a cat. Some quirk of the manufacture had given it two tails; Minerva was not certain if this was an error or deliberate. "But know that from the beginning, even to the end, I will do anything to save this land. In that, if nothing else, I am firm of purpose."
"I have met your monsters," Minerva said. "Your youkai. It was only a fairy, simple and weak, but not something the humans here need assistance with. Even now, they don't seem to act as though they are under threat of destruction. What do they truly fear?"
Violet sighed, and replaced the figurine on the shelf. Minerva had the impression that she had failed some kind of minor test. "Fear takes on many forms, Miss Margatroid. Yes, the people of Gensokyo are cheerful, honest, and not given to wild panic. And yet have you not already heard of their warnings and advice? Do not venture too far out of the village. Never travel singly. Always have a friend walking beside you. Should you meet something not quite the same as yourself, be polite and respectful. Be wary of giving offense, however inadvertent. There is nothing to fear, if you follow the rules, but ask yourself, Miss Margatroid: why are these rules there?"
Minerva was silent for a moment. "And you still require me to save the humans from monsters?" she finally said.
"That is, indeed, what I require you to focus your efforts on doing," Violet agreed. "I will endeavour to provide assistance when I can, now that I am back in Gensokyo."
"A gracious offer, but, alas, suspect."
"I pray that you will accept my help in the spirit it was given," Violet said without hint of offense. "Although I understand that Miss Aya will most likely not approve of my interference. She is a cautious one, and rightly so. I will leave you your research, and its conclusions, so that you may be certain that what you know is correct and true. For now, I shall simply point you in a useful direction, and say that it may be productive to explore the dark forest not far from the village."
"To what end."
"There may be interesting discoveries found there," Violet said. "To whit, certain mushrooms which are native to Gensokyo, and Gensokyo only. Examining them and their properties may reveal further insights into the nature of this land; I believe you have already initiated your own experiments in this regard, and I hope this will hasten the process."
Minerva considered this. "I will keep it in mind, and thank you for the information, Miss Hearn."
"You are most welcome. However, do beware of the forest's mushrooms; they are of Gensokyo, and all that implies. Do not bring along your young ward, for instance," Violet said, glancing significantly at Alice.
"I had not considered doing so," Minerva said stiffly.
Violet bowed her head. "My apologies if I have given offense, Miss Margatroid. I wish you all the best in your task, both the immediate and the greater."
"A task that, for some reason, you could not accomplish yourself," Minerva noted.
Violet bobbed in a brief shadow of a curtsey. "But I am not the greatest magician in the world, am I? Do excuse me, Miss Margatroid, and good day." With that, she swept out of the store, humming a nameless tune to herself.