Liz Williams - Ikiryoh

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Ikiryoh

Liz Williams

The author's poignant new story is set in the same universe as her novel, Banner of Souls, which was

published by Bantam Spectra in 2004.

Every evening, the kappa would lead the child down the steps of the water-temple to the edges of the

lake. The child seemed to like it there, although since she so rarely spoke, it was difficult to tell. But it

was one of the few times that the child went with the kappa willingly, without the fits of silent shaking, or

whimpering hysteria, and the kappa took this for a good sign.

On the final step, where the water lapped against the worn stone, the child would stand staring across the

lake until the kappa gently drew her down to sit on what remained of the wall. Then they would both

watch the slow ripple of the water, disturbed only by the wake left by carp, or one of the big turtles that

lived in the depths and only occasionally surfaced. Legend said that they could speak. Sometimes the

kappa thought that she detected the glitter of intelligence in a turtle's ebony eye, behind the sour-plum

bloom, and she wondered where they had come from, whether they had always been here in the lake,

indigenous beasts from early times, or whether they resulted from some later experimentation and had

been introduced. If the kappa had been here alone, she might have tried to capture one of the turtles, but

she had her hands full enough with the child, the ikiryoh.

Now, she looked at the child. The ikiryoh sat very still, face set and closed as though a shadow had

fallen across it. She looked like any other human child, the kappa thought: fine brows over dark, slanted

eyes, a straight fall of black hair. It was hard to assess her age: perhaps seven or eight, but her growth

had probably been hothoused.

When the palace women had brought the child to the kappa, all these questions had been asked, but the

kappa had received no satisfactory answers.

"Does she have a name?â€• the kappa had asked the women. One had merely stared, face flat and

blank, suggesting concentration upon some inner programming rather than the scene before her. The

other woman, the kappa thought, had a touch of the tiger: a yellow sunlit gaze, unnatural height, a faint

stripe to the skin. A typical bodyguard. The kappa took care to keep her manner appropriately

subservient.

"She has no name.â€• the tiger-woman said. â€œShe is ikiryoh.â€• The word was a growl.

"I am afraid I am very stupid,â€• the kappa said humbly. â€œI do not know what that means."

"It does not matter,â€• the tiger-woman said. â€œLook after her, as best you can. You will be paid.

You used to be a guardian of children, did you not?"

"Yes, for the one who wasâ€”â€• the kappa hesitated.

"The goddess before I-Nami,â€• the tiger-woman said. â€œIt is all right. You may speak her name. She

died in honor."

"I was the court nurse,â€• the kappa said, eyes downward. She did not want the tiger-woman to

glimpse the thought like a carp in a pool: yes, if honor requires that someone should have you

poisoned. â€œI took care of the growing bags for the goddess Than Geng."

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Liz Williams - Ikiryoh

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