5

He sent Yu~giri with a message. “How did the screaming winds treat you? I had an attack of chills* just as they were their lunatic worst, and so the hours went by and I was not very attentive. You must forgive me.”

Yu~giri was very handsome in the early-morning light as he made his way along a gallery and through a door to Akikonomu's southwest quarter. He could see from the south veranda of the east wing that two shutters and several blinds had been raised at the main hall. Women were visible in the dim light beyond. Two or three had come forward and were leaning against the balustrades. Who might they be? Though in casual dress, they managed to look very elegant in multicolored robes that blended pleasantly in the twilight. Akikonomu had sent some little girls to lay out insect cages in the damp garden. They had on robes of lavender and pink and various deeper shades of purple, and yellow-green jackets lined with green, all appropriately autumnal hues. Disappearing and reappearing among the mists, they made a charming picture. Four and five of them with cages of several colors were walking among the wasted flowers, picking a wild carnation here and another flower there for their royal lady. The wind seemed to bring a scent from even the scentless asters, most delightfully, as if Akikonomu's own sleeves had brushed them. Thinking it improper to advance further without announcing himself, Yu~giri quietly made his presence known and stepped forward. The women withdrew inside, though with no suggestion of surprise or confusion. Still a child when Akikonomu had gone to court, he had had the privilege of her inner chambers. Even now her women did not treat him as an outsider. Having delivered Genji's message, he paused to talk of more personal matters with such old friends as Saisho~ and Naishi. For all the informality, Akikonomu maintained proud and strict discipline, the palpable presence of which made him think of the ladies who so occupied and disturbed his thoughts.

The shutters had meanwhile been raised in Murasaki's quarter. She was looking out over her flowers, the cause of such regrets the evening before and now quite devastated.

Coming up to the stairs before the main hall, Yu~giri delivered a message from Akikonomu.

“Her Majesty was sure that you would protect her from the winds?” he said to Genji, “and thought it very foolish that she should be feeling sorry for herself. She added that your inquiries brought great comfort.”

“It is true that she has a timid strain in her. I imagine that she felt very badly protected with only women around her—and rather resentful too.”

As Genji raised the blinds to go inside and change into court dress that he might call on her, Yu~giri saw sleeves under a low curtain very near at hand. He knew whose they would be. His heart raced. Ashamed of himself, he looked away.

“See how handsome he is in the morning light,” Genji said softly to Murasaki as he knelt before a mirror. “We all know how badly illuminated a father's heart is,* and no doubt I have my blind spots. Yet I do think he is rather pleasant to look at. He is still a boy, of course.”

Probably he was thinking that for all the accumulated years he was still rather pleasant to look at himself. He was feeling a little nervous. “I am always on my mettle when I call upon Her Majesty. There is nothing exactly intimidating about her, but she always seems to have so much in reserve. That gentle surface conceals a very firm core.”

Coming out, he found Yu~giri sunk in thought and not immediately aware of his presence. Very much alive to such details, he went inside again.

“Do you suppose he might have seen you in the confusion last night? The corner door was open, you know.”

“How could he possibly have?” Murasaki flushed. “I am very sure that there was no one outside.”

Very strange all the same, thought Genji.

While he was having his audience with Akikonomu, Yu~giri made light talk with the women who had gathered at the gallery door. They thought him unusually subdued.