Chapter 15

"Anko is talking to the foreign boy, the one in charge of the group that's tramping around the mountains taking measurements and digging," Satsuki, Anko's mother, informed her husband. She knelt on the hearth in his office, making tea, while he reviewed papers at his desk.

"What?" Eitaro, the successor Sheriff, nearly dropped his seal into the inkwell. "That foreign stripling? Our Anko? Why would she do something stupid like that?"

Satsuki looked in the pot. The tea had steeped long enough. She poured Eitaro a cup. Carefully, she presented it to him, making a calming ceremony of the simple gesture.

"He's a boy and she's a girl," Satsuki replied, "On one level, that's all it is. Kiyo saw them; he was offering her flowers. But also, he is foreign and you know how Anko is about anything new and different."

"More curiosity than sense, that girl." Eitaro usually enjoyed his daughter's inquisitive mind, but now he was simply angry. If Anko spent time alone with the foreign man, she could lose her reputation and standing in the community, even if the friendship was completely innocent. The local people distrusted the foreigners even more than he did, no matter how popular they were becoming in the cities.

"Indeed." Satsuki sipped from her own cup. She didn't like the House of the West, so they only used that for Western guests and parties, and lived in a comfortable Japanese house, with a proper garden, that she built on its grounds. In fact, Benjamin's working group was staying in the Western house, which meant it was impossible for Anko to avoid him entirely. "I am wondering what to do about this," she continued. "I'd like to know what you think."

"Out with it," Eitaro responded abruptly, turning the cup in his big hands. He knew Satsuki well enough to know she had a plan. She would want to present it subtly, in a way that would make it seem his idea, but he didn't have time to tease anything out of her today. He was busy. Things always went better when they talked it over and decided together. He didn't dispute that, so they might as well get on with it.

"I think we should allow this," Satsuki said. "Perhaps even encourage it."

Eitaro reared back in astonishment. "I thought you opposed the unnatural mixing of cultures those foreigners always demand! He's not one of us. We know nothing about him or his people! Anyway, marrying foreigners is not even legal."

Satsuki shot him a droll glance. What was "legal" changed so often, it almost didn't matter. It was probably legal in the boy's country, and if it wasn't, that would be even worse should Anko be fool enough to run away with him. Which she wouldn't be. Satsuki felt confident about that, at least.

"I don't approve," she said. "I don't think Anko could be happy with a man so different, a man who will have to take her away and want to try to make her Western, something she can never be. How could she possibly be happy a Japanese woman in the West, wearing their funny clothes, learning their ridiculous rules and customs, living in their country and speaking that oddly difficult language?" Satsuki waved her hand, brushing the West away. "You can't change your essence; it only leads to unhappiness if you try."

"Even so, you want to allow Anko to meet with him?" Eitaro shook his head all the way down to his shoulders, toppling his arm rest. Fussily, he adjusted its position, giving Satsuki an entirely spurious "I meant to do that" look.

"Yes." Satsuki nodded, not fooled. "Those people are here to stay. You've heard the reports. They sailed right into Edo Bay, remember. There will be free ports all the way to Hakodate! The whole country is going to be crawling with foreigners. Their English will be everywhere; the ones who speak that don't usually bother to learn anything else. One of us will need to speak English. Why not Anko?"

Eitaro's handsome, weathered face looked thoughtful. Someone in his household, someone he could trust, who could communicate directly with the foreigners, or simply listen and tell him what the translators didn't, would give him a distinct advantage. It would also be something Anko would enjoy gathering information from people who didn't know she could. In a good cause, of course. He smiled.

"They have a translator," Satsuki prompted.

"He could give her lessons, you think?" Eitaro enjoyed watching his wife at work. He smiled at her.

"Chaperoned properly, of course," Satsuki said, smiling gently in return. "Together with the boy part of the time, so they can learn to talk to each other. I'm sure he'll see the advantage to himself of learning Japanese. In fact, I think he's already doing so. He said 'good morning' to me today."

Satsuki, Eitaro thought, was clever, if he understood her correctly. "If Anko studies with the translator and the boy, she can satisfy her curiosity, learn a useful skill, and keep her reputation intact?"

Satsuki nodded. "Rather than run out into the woods to meet the boy like a girl with no self-esteem or sense, yes. I think it is a solution that benefits us all."

"I agree," Eitaro pronounced, tossing back his tea and slamming the cup onto the table in emphasis.

Satsuki smiled at her husband as she rose. "I'll send for the translator," she said.