Not just the West

Eien Akagawa

“We need to go to the borderline between the business and the pleasure district,” Kizuna said to the twins after we had gotten on their rickshaw again. Thankfully they had been shown up as we had descended the temple stairs. It was late afternoon now and the sun was still high in the sky. The rickshaw burst forward and left a trail of flames behind us. We were headed west, just past the old district.

“So, where exactly are we dropping you two off?” Norie asked as we turned a corner.

“There’s a seer named Hino that I need to see.” Kizuna said. “Do you happen to know where her business is?”

The twins were silent for a moment and then the rickshaw swerved violently. I grabbed onto the armrest and Iroha as we narrowly missed a rickshaw that was being pulled by a person.

“Whose name did you say again!?” Taya said, nearly screaming. It was right then that I considered hiring another rickshaw in the future. I looked over at Kizuna who was white in the face under her hat. Her hand was gripping the armrest tightly and her hooves were planted against the footrest.

“I said Hino.” Her eyes were wide and we both waited for the rickshaw to swerve again.

“How…” Taya began before trailing off. I looked at her wheel. Her flames were flickering between red, orange and green. “How do you know her? It’s almost impossible to get an appointment from what we know.”

“I had a meeting with her as a child.” Kizuna kept a careful eye on the road, ready if the twins lost their focus on the road. “Most everyone in my family has met with her. From what I know, my father paid good money for our meetings. He wanted to know which of us could become a god.”

Iroha flicked me and I let go of her. She gave me a look and turned to Kizuna. “I assume that you’re the only one who has the chance of ascension?”

Kizuna looked at Iroha and shook her head. “One of my older brothers might be able to but that’s far in his future. If he’s able to at all.”

“Are you even going to be able to meet with her again?” Norie asked. “Given that you’re with Eien at the moment and not your clan, I assume that you don’t have their backing at the moment.”

We burst out onto a main road that led straight past the shipyards and into the old district. Over here there were carts full of building materials going in and out of the Ryu shipyards. I looked over the ships but all I saw were the warship class. What we needed would be further into the shipyards.

“She told me that I would need to meet with her one more time after I met Eien.” Kizuna also looked at the shipyards and the skyscraper in the distance. “How do you know about her? You two seemed to be a bit…” She looked at me as if for help.”

“A bit out of sorts,” I finished for her.

They were silent for a moment before Taya said, “She’s the one who helped us out of hell.”

I raised my eyebrows at that information. I had thought that they had escaped on their own. But then again, I hadn’t actually heard them say how they had escaped hell.

“Is there anything that I should know about her?” I asked.

“She has real power,” Norie said. “She has enough power to reach down into hell and sort through different futures. Listen when she speaks.”

I almost said something disparaging, but then I stopped. It wasn’t just Kizuna, now it was Norie and Taya. One person I could remain a skeptic, but if there were three, at that point I had to start changing what I thought.

We entered the old district and startled a few horses. The roads here were enclosed by walls since the old nobles didn’t want anyone to look in on their properties. We quickly passed by the well maintained streets and into the business district. The twins slowed the rickshaw down as they navigated the heavily populated streets.

Not many Edoites balked at the sight of their flaming rickshaw as the twins were now a mainstay in Edo, and you could tell who the visitors were from those who stared wild-eyed at us. Many people walked around the shops buying food, clothes or other essentials. Several restaurants were sprinkled here and there along with the odd sweet shop.

Soon enough the twins rolled to a stop in front of a nondescript building just on the edge of the business district. There was a small awning in front of the building with the door down a small staircase.

Standing around the street were dark skinned men wearing western suits. They had on golden bangles and earrings. At their hips they wore thick wooden swords with black glass embedded as ‘teeth.’

I helped Iroha and Kizuna away from the rickshaw and eyed the men. They stood wearing disinterested expressions but I knew they were watching us. They were from across the seas in the so-called New World from the Tenochca Empire. It was easier to call them the Aztecs.

“Eien…?” Kizuna asked as she stuck close to my side.

“Just stick close, they won’t do anything as long as we don’t provoke them.” I wasn’t worried about them. I was worried about their boss. If they were here then Extli was somewhere here too.

“Good luck,” Taya called out. I turned and waved to the twins as they sped off.

“Okay, no sudden movements. Is that the place?” I asked, nodding towards the building.

“Yes,” Kizuna said.

As we stepped towards the door, a man slightly shorter than me walked out. He had dark skin and was heavily muscled. He wore a rather long and colorful green and red loincloth. Below that he wore simple sandals. Underneath his green and red cloak he was barechested.

On his head he wore a metal headdress gilded with gold and silver. Blue green feathers sprouted from the back of the headdress. At the front of the headdress was a carving of a jaguar.

His black eyes flicked to me as we passed by and he grinned. I tried to ignore that he was now at my back as we reached the door that he had just left.

Extli, the Aztec ambassador. A man who was bored with his job and toured the city to find something to do. A man who I had almost come to blows against and had only gotten away due to a dirty trick.

“Well, that might be trouble,” I muttered as we stepped inside the building.