Monday morning meant back to the gym and then the office for me. I was glad for it, since the return to my old, familiar routine was very welcome, especially since Emmy and Angela would head to Toronto for the first stop of The Downfall’s North America tour in just a few days. This meant that it would be another week until I got to see them in New York- week of work, and dealing with the Japanese Night Children.
Joey and I had a little light contact session that morning, and while it was gratifying to see that he was taking my suggestions seriously, my heart just wasn’t into it and I felt lazy and lackluster in the ring.
“Sorry, Joey,” I apologized when we stopped.
“Sorry for what?” he asked, wiping his face with his towel.
“For not giving it my all, I guess. I’m just, I dunno, feeling distracted or something today.”
“Didn’t stop you from using me like a speed bag,” he countered. “I swear you’re so freakin’ fast, I didn’t even see the hits comin’.”
“He ain’t wrong,” Duane said, leaning on the ropes. “I just don’t understand how anybody as tall as you can throw a fist like that.”
“Yeah, I still need to build up my strength, though. I might hit fast, but I don’t hit as hard as you guys,” I said, climbing out of the ring.
“Thank Christ for that,” Joey said.
“Leah,” Richie said, following me as I walked back to my corner of the gym to stretch. “You want to know what I just saw?”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“You looked bored,” he said in a low voice so the other guys couldn’t hear. “Watching you run rings around Joey like that, it was obvious that you could take him any time, right? But you looked, well, uninterested. I guess I’m not saying this very well, but it’s like… well, like you’re over it, somehow. Like you just humored Joey to be polite or something.”
“It was just a light touch spar, that’s all,” I said. “It doesn’t mean much.”
“Well, like, that’s it. It doesn’t mean anything to you, right? But Joey, he was doing the best he could. You said you weren’t giving it your all, but he sure was.”
“You know, it was just light contact- not a real bout, right? I can promise you that a few solid punches to my face would have sharpened up my focus quite a bit,” I said.
Richie chuckled at that. “I think I’m not getting my point across,” he said. “But maybe you just made it for me. Like you said, the stakes were so low for you that you couldn’t bring yourself to care, but for him…”
The rest of the day I found myself thinking about what Richie had said. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I was getting stale there at Clancy’s Gym, and I needed to do something to shake myself out of the rut into which I was quietly falling. What that actually meant I wasn’t sure, but I needed a new challenge. I’d really enjoyed training with Mr Han in Singapore, after all. He taught me new ways of fighting, and the physical training program he’d developed for me had helped my speed noticeably.
That was it, I realized- I needed to find myself another Mr Han. Sparring with Joey and the guys down at the fight gym wasn’t going to help me up my game at all, especially since the game they played there wasn’t really the game I was training for after all.
Idly wondering when, or even if, Mr Han was actually going to reach out to me here in Los Angeles, I did my best to focus on the paper on macroeconomic trends in residential real estate that was boring me to tears.
“Hey, boss lady,” Jake said, knocking on my open office door. “Got time for a site inspection?”
“We haven’t done that for a while,” I said, surprised. “What’s up?”
“Just feeling nostalgic for the good ol’ days, back when you used to spend your days here,” he said, getting a laugh from me.
“I’ve got to go up to San Jose on Friday and Monday, then next Friday I’m going for a long week in New York to see Emmy play there, then Atlanta. So don’t get too used to me being around the office a lot,” I told him.
“Must be nice,” Jake said.
“It’s good to be the boss,” I agreed.
I was sad to see Emmy and Angela take off for Toronto, but at least it was only a week until I saw them again in New York. Since the North American leg of the tour faced no logistical challenges the dates were packed in much tighter than they had been up to that point. Of course, this meant nearly no down time between shows, but that was a trade-off everybody was willing to accept this late in the tour. Adding to the hurry-up scheduling, Stephanie had managed to add nights in most of the stops. There is no way the earlier legs could have managed such a breakneck pace, but with only one border crossing and no drives longer than a day, it worked out.
I was going to miss the Toronto and Montreal shows, but catch the two in New York, and then the first Atlanta night before flying back to Los Angeles. The next shows I’d see would be Seattle, then San Francisco and of course, Los Angeles at the very end of the tour.
After that, it was time to settle down and be domestic. Seeing Angela and Emmy’s bellies swelling with the growing lives inside them had long since put any doubts I might have had to bed. I was going to have not one, but two newborns in the house in just a few months. First, Angela Jr, then after we’d had just enough time to settle into parenthood, Emmy Jr would come along.
I was looking forward to that time with excitement, and maybe just a touch of dread. I’d heard all the horror stories about lack of sleep and of endless diaper changes and so on, but consoled myself with the thought that we’d have the three of us to share the burden. We’d be better off in that respect than typical families with twins, right? At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.
When people asked about Angela at the club in San Jose, I told them the truth- she was on tour with Emmy. This really didn’t seem to raise any eyebrows anymore, so I’m pretty sure that our household of three had become common knowledge, at least among that crowd.
I spent that Saturday afternoon and evening over at Michael’s house. We mostly talked about how Michael had decided that moving to New York, as we’d suggested, made a lot of sense. That was where all the recruiting activity was happening, after all. Being a two hour drive from Jassie’s college was a huge bonus, too.
Discussing where he’d want to live, we also talked about the possibility of setting up some sort of fixed location to serve as an operating base. Maybe a cultural center there in New York, or maybe one in each of the large East Coast cities that held substantial Night Children populations, as we were discussing doing in Cartagena.
A dozen Night Children in a given city wouldn’t be enough to justify the work and expense, but where there were a lot more it might make sense. We were due to announce the Night Children to the world soon, and setting up obvious cultural centers which could be open to day walker visitors might go a long way to further our agenda.
I discussed the possibility that her family might be willing to display some of their ancient relics with Emmy that night’s Facetime call.
“Even if they don’t want to part with the actual original pieces, at least some sort of replicas can be made under the guidance of the Louvre, maybe,” I suggested. “We’re getting close to time to let the world know that Night Children exist, after all, and documentation of any sort would be really useful.”
“Do you want to know the truth?” Emmy said, thinking about it. “You might be more persuasive than I would be with my parents. I am certain they love me, but they have come to truly respect you. If you approached them with your usual candor and with a convincing argument, I believe they might go along.”
I told her about my discussion with Michael, which led into talking about the Cartagena Night Children. I told her that things were going very well down there and well over a hundred had joined our New Nation so far.
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“Incredible!” she exclaimed.
“It sure looks as if the Japanese are leaning towards some sort of agreement, too,” I told her. “My last text from Akiko Tanaka indicated that they want to talk when I get back to Los Angeles.”
Emmy sighed, then said, “I am sorry that I have laid this burden upon you, Leah. You… I could never have done what you have managed to do, even though I was raised for it. You, though, you have risen to the task.”
“Em, we’ve been over this before. I’ve been happy to do all this, to allow you the room to be the beloved figurehead our people need-” I started to say, but Emmy interrupted me.
“I feel a little thrill every time you say ‘our people’, Leah. Our people. Not ‘my people',” she said, touching her chest. “You have taken the Night Children as your own. This means more to me than I could possibly express.”
“They are my people now,” I agreed. “They accept me as their queen, but they adore you,” I replied. “You’re the guiding light.”
“It is sweet of you to say so,” Emmy said, smiling wistfully.
Back in Los Angeles on Tuesday, I had dinner with Akiko and her grandmother at their hotel’s restaurant. I’d suggested we go out, but they wanted a sunset dinner on the rooftop terrace.
“Ms Farmer,” Akiko said when I joined them at their table.
“Sorry I’m late,” I said. “Have you ordered yet?”
“No, just drinks,” she replied, indicating the tropical-looking cocktails in front of them.
“An Old Fashioned with Buffalo Trace,” I told the waitress, sending her back to the bar.
After we ordered our food, I asked what the two of them had done the last few days.
“We went back to Disneyland, but looking like this,” Akiko said, indicating her pitch-black face.
“How did that go?”
“About the same as the first time we went,” Akiko admitted. “A few people stared, but that was it.”
“What else have you two done? It’s been almost a week since I saw you guys last,” I said.
“We have done typical tourist things. Trying to be as normal as possible.”
“With no makeup on?” I asked.
“We haven’t worn it since our second day in Los Angeles,” Akiko said. “You were right. It is very freeing. I don’t know how well it will go in Japan, but here…”
As we ate, I tried unsuccessfully to steer the conversation towards what the shinobi wanted from me. Eventually I just came right and asked.
“Your grandmother said that when she was satisfied with what she saw she would tell me what it is that you want from me. Has she decided it’s time?”
After a few minutes conversation between the two of them, Akiko turned back to me.
“Several nights ago we ate in a restaurant in Santa Monica,” she said. “We met a… Night Child working there. He was showing his face, as we are right now. We asked him how it was to have you as his queen, but he told us that you are not his queen. He does not… swear fealty?” Akiko said, unsure if she was using the right words. When I nodded, she continued. “He said that he knows of you, and knows other Night Children who have sworn fealty, but he chose not to. He had spoken to your men and knows that it is open to him, but he didn’t feel he wanted to do it.”
“Sure,” I said. “There are quite a few like that.”
“He said that you and your people have made no attempt to… coerce him. He knows that you give work and housing to your people, but felt he was doing well enough on his own. Speaking with this man… That was when Grandmother decided that you could be trusted.”
“I’d told your elders that we have no interest in forcing anybody to do anything they don’t want,” I said.
“Yes, but that was merely words. To hear confirmation, that was different,” Akiko said.
“O.K., I can understand that.” Turning to Mrs Tanaka directly, I asked, “What can I do for you and your people?”
After a quick bit of translating, Akiko asked, “How much do you know of Japanese history?”
“Not much,” I admitted. “Honestly, most of what I know comes from popular culture.”
“For most of Japanese history, Japan was ruled by feudal lords, who were at war with each other more than they were at peace,” Akiko said.
“That part I know,” I agreed.
“We- our people, our clans, lived in an area that was not worth fighting for by the powerful clans, and our… nature made it so that trying to take control of our territory was simply not worth it,” Akiko said.
“Iga Province, right? Forested, mountainous, off the beaten path.”
“Yes, that’s correct. We made it so that outsiders avoided our territory for nearly one thousand five hundred years. We didn’t… flourish, exactly, but we had our autonomy. We were poor peasants, farmers and tradesmen. We built no palaces, we had no royalty. We had our clan elders and our heroes, but that’s it,” Akiko continued.
“This mirrors the life that Night Children have led in a lot of other parts of the world. In Europe, for example, up until the urbanization of the Renaissance and Enlightenment, most Night Children lived in isolated villages that were unwelcoming to outsiders,” I said.
Nodding, Akiko said, “During the Edo period, many forces united to end us as a threat. We were invaded, but oddly enough, no shinobi were ever actually caught. We did go into hiding, as you might expect, and when the Shogun’s troops left our villages we returned to our old ways of farming. We made no further effort to involve ourselves in any way with the politics or warfare of the rest of Japan.”
“This all jibes with what I’d assumed or come to understand,” I said, nodding.
“You need to know this history, and we would invite you to meet with our historians for a more complete explanation, but this basic outline will do for now. The important detail is that we have never, in nearly two thousand years of history, ever accepted to be ruled by outsiders.”
I nodded that I understood, so Akiko took a big breath and let it out. “This will not change. We are not asking you to rule us, and it seems, from what we have learned, you would not try to conquer us. Do you understand?”
“I’m pretty sure I’ve understood everything you’ve said so far,” I agreed.
“We would ask you to take us under your protection. This doesn’t mean that you would rule us-”
“Yeah, I got that part,” I said, interrupting. “But what do you mean by ‘protection’?”
“There are very few among us who understand how to navigate the higher levels of law and society,” Akiko said. “We need someone who can… who can show us the way to transition into full members of Japanese society, socially, economically, and politically. You are doing these things for your people here. Please do them for us as well.”
“This is a big commitment from me,” I said. “Not to be mercenary about it, but what do I get in return?”
“What would you want?” Akiko asked. “I am not certain what we could offer, but…”
“I want to meet the elders again. I have some ideas, and what you’ve said tonight has me thinking of some other possibilities. But let’s start with this- another meeting. No posturing, no intimidation tactics, no knives on the table. Your people want my help, and I’m willing to offer it. Let’s agree right now to this arrangement. The Japanese shinobi will be an independent and self-governed ally state of the American New Nation. The shinobi will agree to do what they can for the New Nation, and the New Nation will do what it can for the shinobi. We can work out the details later,” I said.
Akiko translated, for her grandmother, who nodded. Translating for her grandmother, Akiko said, “We have reached an agreement in principle. Our five clans declare an allegiance to the New Nation, and to Queen Leah’s guidance.”
“I, as queen of the New Nation, agree in principle to guide and aid the five clans to the best of my ability. I expect allegiance, but not fealty. The five clans are equals, peers, and friends to the New Nation. Together in mutual support, we will prosper,” I announced, bowing to Mrs Tanaka, who returned the gesture. It may have been my imagination, but it seemed she bowed a little more deeply and for a little longer than I had, making me wonder if I’d screwed up the etiquette or if she’d used it to indicate relative status in the relationship.
The next day I bought Mrs Tanaka a plane ticket to return to Japan. Akiko was to stay in Los Angeles to work with me and to serve as the shinobi’s de facto ambassador for the time being. I delegated to Michael the familiar tasks of getting her settled into American society. Given Akiko’s age, it was easy to get her a student’s visa, allowing her to stay indefinitely. Of course, this also meant enrolling her in classes of some kind, but that was also quite easy and well within Michael’s skill set.
For my part, I signed off on a nice two-bedroom apartment in a building I owned in Westwood. I figured that a place to live in a part of town with a high student population would be good for her. Sure, we’d have to furnish it, but that could wait until after I got back to Los Angeles after my trip back east.
I did a really poor job of concentrating on work, my mind spinning with what could be done with the shinobi. While the possibilities weren’t exactly endless, I could well imagine a lot of avenues of cooperation that could benefit both parties.
Of course, I had to share the news with Emmy’s dad. During the call I mentioned that Emmy and I were nearing the point when we felt it was time to announce the Night Children, and broached the idea of loaning artifacts to top museums when we did.
“The princess has spoken of our family treasures?” Mr Lascaux asked.
“In vague terms,” I replied. “We saw some pottery in the British Museum and Emmy said it was from Bronze Age Night Children. The little plaque said that the pottery came from an unknown culture. It would really be something to be able to point to that and say, ‘Yeah, that was us’,” I said. “And if we had similar pieces, with that same kind of writing to back up the claim, well, that solidifies the Night Children’s place in history.”
“This is true,” Mr Lascaux admitted. “But our treasures are beyond priceless. They are irreplaceable, and the chance that they would be damaged…”
“Seventy per cent of the objects in the Louvre fit that description,” I countered. “I can’t think of very many people who understand that kind of thing better than them.”
“No, you’re right,” Mr Lascaux acknowledged. “It is something to consider.”
Figuring that the seed had been planted, I didn’t push any more.
During dinner at Jenna and Andy’s house the following night, I asked Andy when Jenna was getting something from the kitchen if he’d told her about the shinobi. When he said he had, I asked him about how much she knows of the Night Children in general.
“Probably more than I do,” he said with a shrug, turning the chicken pieces on the grill with his tongs. “I mean, I’ve told her what I know, and I know she talks to Angie, right?"
“Well, I’m gonna tell you guys some stuff tonight. I’m going to bring you up to speed.”
“Um, why now?” Andy asked, taking a sip of his beer.
“The shinobi agreed to ally with me and come under my protection on Monday,” I said.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Andy demanded, stunned.
“No, not kidding,” I said.
“Kidding about what?” Jenna asked, setting the salad bowl on the outside table.
“You remember what I told you about the ninjas in Japan having a meeting with Lee here?” Andy asked. “Well, she just said they want her to be their new boss.”
“That’s not exactly what I said, but yeah, sorta,” I agreed.
“Ninjas. Ninjas want you to be their boss,” Jenna said, her hands on her hips.
I spent the rest of the night giving the two of them a complete background on the Night Children, from ancient history to the efforts Emmy and I had been putting in to form our new nation. I told them about the meeting in Tokyo, and the discovery of a large community in Colombia. I pretty much told them all, only omitting the stabby bits.
“You know this is all like some sort of science fiction story, right?” Jenna said when I wrapped up.
“It really is,” I admitted.