Chapter One: Turning Leaves CHAPTER ONE Turning Leaves Hiding in a ginkgo tree in the Imperial Palace''s gardens, Toshiko Kawakami did wonder if she might be out of her depth. She''d been looking forward to this mission, excited to put herself to the test, spying on Emperor Asayo Soramoto and her guests as they celebrated the Turning Leaf Festival. It had been a difficult evening already, though, involving a hard climb over the walls into the Imperial Palace''s grounds, and then a desperate dash past the cameras and alarm systems, which Mei had helpfully disabled. Encountering the Palace''s guard dogs had certainly been alarming, too, although Jun had prepared her well, with a giant backpack of chicken gyoza that had done a surprisingly good job of distracting them. She''d faced a breathless scramble over the inner garden wall after that, before a last, hand-over-hand climb through hanging lanterns and leaves to make it all the way up here, to where she was perched high in the tree canopy. She''d been so sure she was ready for tonight. After all, she''d recently turned seventeen, which surely counted as practically adult. Now, though, her palms and fingertips were raw, and she could feel herself shaking, only just maintaining her grip on the branch beneath her.
She also couldn''t rid herself of the thought that her Auntie Reiko most certainly wouldn''t have been happy with any of this. Taking a moment to catch her breath as she watched the stars and the Three Sister Moons shine out from the sky''s deep evening blue, Toshiko found that she could fully picture Auntie Reiko now, in her mind''s eye - Auntie Reiko with her eyebrows rising higher and higher up her lined forehead. You think this is a good way to behave? she might have said, accompanying the words with a slow, disappointed shake of the head. Look at this girl. She thinks she can just go off and do whatever she likes. No worry for safety. No cares for the consequences of breaking the law. Reiko, however, was gone.
Toshiko let the mental picture dissipate into the dusk and sighed, prompting a ''What''s up, Tosh?'' from Mei, in her earpiece - Mei, her sister in every way but blood, and who, at twenty-one years old, was annoyingly unflappable. Mei always acted like she''d seen it all before and, irritatingly enough, more often than not it seemed she actually had. Mei, unlike Auntie Reiko, was a family member who was, emphatically, still here. She was even perhaps too here sometimes, Toshiko reflected now, given that her older sister had predictably used the earpiece to provide a constant and generally critical commentary on all of her actions throughout this mission so far. Of course, though, Mei wasn''t actually physically anywhere nearby. Always hostile to the idea of leaving the comfort of her tech lab and its vast stockpile of snacks, she never risked her own skin, or did anything strenuous enough to chip her long acrylic nails. ''What can you see?'' she piped up again in Toshiko''s ear, interrupting these mutinous thoughts. ''You''ve made it into the gardens properly by now, right? Also, we need to discuss those dogs.
I couldn''t tell from all the barking - were they cute scary or just scary scary?'' Judging the question sufficiently ridiculous to ignore, Toshiko took an extra moment to collect her thoughts. ''Come in, Tosh? You could start speaking to me any time. now? Are you okay?'' ''Yes, I''m fine,'' Toshiko hissed, scowling into the froth of gold-tinged leaves around her. ''This may come as a surprise to you, but those of us who do things physically instead of virtually sometimes need a moment to breathe.'' She heard a pop on the other end of the line - the sound of Mei bursting her bubble gum. The sharp clarity of the noise was both a reminder of how little Mei cared about the physical versus virtual snipe, and of just how good the tech she built really was. Mei had earned her place at home with the snacks. Toshiko found herself rolling her eyes, only to have a passing squirrel flash her what was surely a look of reproach.
''You''re getting flustered,'' Mei told her. ''Come on, you''re doing great so far. How about you just tell me what can you see?'' Like most of her citizens, Emperor Asayo Soramoto made the most of summer''s lingering heat to celebrate the Turning Leaf Festival - Rainshadow City''s official first night of autumn, when the leaves were just beginning to change their colours - with a lavish outdoor banquet. As Toshiko shimmied forwards along her branch to peer through the leaves, she was rewarded with her first clear view of the banquet table below, not twenty feet in front of her, set out beneath the avenue of trees. She also got her first glimpse of the Emperor herself. It was almost a surprise to discover that Emperor Asayo looked, in person, almost exactly as she did in the daily telecasts. Sitting towards the centre of the long, laden table, she was dressed to perfection as usual in a sharply tailored trouser suit, its material the burnt-orange colour of an autumn forest. Toshiko had just begun to shift further along her branch, hoping to see who the Emperor was talking to across the table, when her foot caught on an unexpected knot in the wood and then slipped against the tree''s ridged bark.
She managed to recover her balance, but the movement set the many paper lanterns that were suspended from the tree swinging gently back and forth, the whole cluster of them moving like a cloud of outsize fireflies. Toshiko held her breath, certain she must have revealed her presence to the whole gathering. Everyone sitting at the table below, though, still seemed too intent on each other and on the spread of festival food before them to even think of looking up into the branches. The stewards serving them also appeared far too focused on carrying out their duties to the Emperor''s satisfaction to expect anything more than a gentle breeze at work in the treetops above - thank the Gods. Toshiko let her breath out, slowly, feeling her heartbeat settle. The sound of Mei popping her gum came crisp and clear again over the earpiece. ''Well?'' she asked Toshiko. Toshiko looked back down through the ginkgo leaves, and considered how she might describe the scene to Mei.
There were perhaps as many as fifty people seated at the long table below, being waited on by a mixture of stewards in Imperial livery and simple Service-bots on wheels. The table itself was laid out with a magnificent spread of different types of food, and set with more gleaming cups, plates and glasses than Toshiko would have known what to do with. Many of Emperor Asayo''s guests seemed to be high-ranking ministers or advisors: the kind of people responsible for delivering her agenda in running day-to-day life in this island city state of Rainshadow City, as well as for managing the city''s relationship with the other islands that made up its wider Empire of the Rainshadow Archipelago. These were all people in nondescript middle age, looking elegantly professional in well-cut suits and dresses, which were all of subtly rich shades of dark blue, grey and black. Scattered amidst these guests were others dressed in the colourful reds, oranges and golds that were more typical of the Turning Leaf Festival. Toshiko guessed these might be members of the Emperor''s extended family. With a start, then, she registered that the Emperor''s young son was here, sitting next to his mother on her left-hand side. Like his mother, the Crown Prince, a boy of ten, looked just as he did in the telecasts.
He wasn''t the only child at this banquet, either. There were a couple of small girls sitting a few seats further down from him, who Toshiko thought might be his cousins, and a small cluster of even younger children at the table''s far end. Somehow, Toshiko hadn''t expected any children to be here tonight at all, though she realized now how foolish that had been of her. While there were big political dinners and events at the Palace almost every evening of the week, the Turning Leaf Festival was one of the city''s most family-focused celebrations. It was sometimes all too easy to forget, given the enormous power that Emperor Asayo Soramoto held in her position as autocrat of the whole Rainshadow Archipelago, that she was also in fact a real human being, with a family of her own. Family festival or not, Toshiko knew there would surely still be a high degree of political manoeuvring taking place between the adults at the table - something that was obviously contributing to rising levels of restlessness and boredom amidst the gathering''s youngest members. If she were going to be spotted tonight, she realized, it would most likely be by one of them. ''So, did you fall out of the tree, or.
?'' Mei''s words were accompanied by an impatient tapping sound, and Toshiko could just picture her drumming her lime-green nails on the shiny surface of her desk. ''As if you''d care.'' ''Of course I care. I have a vested interest in this mission going well. Now, stay focused. Is the target there?'' Tearing her eyes away from all the beautiful clothes, raden-worked rice bowls, lacquered chopsticks and platters of sushi, tempura, golden sweet potato tartlets and huge grilled matsutake mushrooms, Toshiko made herself remember the real reason she''d come here tonight, and began studying the guests at the table with more intention. To begin with, she thought that maybe he wasn''t here and Jun''s information had been faulty. Then, finally, she clocked him: Ken Saito of the Lucky Crows, sitting next to the Crown Prince, just.