Chapter 146

"I am sorry I couldn't come earlier," Renko said to Azuki. "Noriko-sama needed transport." The two girls sat on Tsuruko's porch, out of the wind and wrapped warmly against the chill. Tsuruko and little Kichiro, for that was what the baby would be named, were sleeping. Kojiro, his father, had ridden Blackie, who was restive and wanted to see his own son, to the village to get provisions. He wanted to stop first to reassure the midwife that his wife's cousin had arrived shortly after the midwife had left the night before and to tell her that both his wife and his son were doing very well. He also planned to stop at the local shrine to arrange for the rest of the purification rituals.

"Did she find what she was looking for?" Azuki, curious, asked.

"She made a start, anyway. I took her to Tsu, the capital of Mie, so she could research property records. Records used to be kept in the villages, but they moved them to the capital. There's some new system being put in place."