Yukiana awoke to utter darkness. She could see nothing, hear nothing, and sense nothing except for the thin futon underneath her and the light blanket on her skin. Remembering only fragments of what had happened, and not knowing what was real, she began to lift her hand toward her face. She touched her cheek first and felt her warm fingers press into her soft skin. Then, slowly, she walked her fingers up. There was a bandage covering the socket where her left eye should have been. She pressed into it and knew, as she knew before she even lifted her hand, that it was gone. The grim realization rolled across her like a powerful wave. Her hand dropped back down to her side.

“It’s gone...” she thought.

She could tell that someone had dressed the wound and taken care to clean the blood and viscous fluid of the eye off her face. She lifted her right arm and felt around for the other eye. This time she was not as certain. There was an even larger bandage that must have wrapped around her entire head, holding many layers of cloth over the right side of her face. But as hard as she tried, she could not see anything. She was immersed in complete darkness.

At that moment the despair was so strong that it felt like the weight of a mountain upon her, crushing her, breaking her apart. She wanted to cry, to weep, but it was not physically possible. There were no tears available to her. She let out a moan of anguish but stopped suddenly.

She could hear her own voice, and not just inside of her head.

Yuki jerked herself up suddenly, but because of the loss of her vision, her balance failed, and she tumbled onto the wooden floor. She cried out and groped around for a way to right herself.

“Easy, child. Take care now,” said a voice from beside her. “Here, I’ll help you up.”

She shrank back, instinctively afraid of the voice that seemed suddenly so nearby. But steady hands came beside her and helped her up, then she was able to sit back on the futon. She tried to look out to see the face of the person who was helping her, strained with all her might, but there was nothing but darkness. Yet she could feel the hands on her skin and hear the labor of his breath, and this was something.

Eventually, the hands left her. “Can you hear me, child?” the voice said after a moment.

Yuki nodded her head, but it made her feel strangely dizzy, so she stopped. “Oh, thank the All-kami!” the voice said in a hushed tone. “Can you speak?”

Yuki opened her mouth and moved it around as if practicing making a sound. “Yes,” she finally said, apprehensively. The feeling of being able to speak once again gave her a momentary burst of joy.

“Dear heavens!” the voice now cried, unable to contain its elation. “You can speak! You can hear me! Oh, how wonderful!”

Yuki sat still, listening to this person, who sounded like an old man by the voice alone. He was praying and celebrating unabashedly. At length, he was able to master himself. He must have noticed her once again, with her head bowed, sitting deathly still like a corpse because his voice shifted to a tone of concern.

“I am sorry, my dear. It’s just that, when you came to me, I did not know if you would ever recover. Your injuries were grievous, and the trauma to your head might have never healed. But here you are, alive! And you can speak and hear me. What a miracle!”

“It’s gone...” Yuki murmured, bringing her hand to the wrapping around her left eye.

There was a long pause where the voice did not reply. Evidently, he was considering his next words with great care.

“It is,” he said somberly. “I am terribly sorry. I could not save it. It was already destroyed beyond repair by the time you came to me.”

Yuki said nothing.

“But you may not be completely blind,” the voice continued with a hint of hope. “Your right eye was severely damaged, but it is still intact. It will need some time before we know for sure, but it may provide you with some sight.”

At this, Yuki lifted her head. “Do you think I will ever see again?”

There was another long pause. “I do not know, child. But so far you have been remarkably resilient. So, let’s be cautiously optimistic, shall we?”

The despair that had consumed her at first eased if only slightly.

“My name is Mori Tadamichi,” the man said, nervously trying to abate the silence. “I am a servant of the Shōgun. I am one of his personal physicians.”

“Why did you help me?” asked Yuki quietly. “Why didn’t you let me die?”

“What do you mean, child?” Mori said with great concern. “You mustn’t talk like that! Your life must have tremendous value if you could overcome all that was put against you. I have never seen such dark power at work on a person before, let alone against a young girl. It took me hours upon hours just to gather the right materials to try and heal you. You were stricken blind, deaf, and dumb. But you came back from the depths. You came back!”

Yuki did not feel like this was any kind of accomplishment to be proud of, but Mori was trying to make her feel better, so she managed another nod of appreciation.

“That was black, evil magic, darker than I have seen since I was a young man. We will not talk about how you came to be stricken yet, for I do not know who may be listening, but let us just say that you were rescued and brought to me, and the Shōgun himself ordered that everything necessary be provided to make you well. He was not pleased that you had been injured, not pleased at all.”

Yuki did not understand. She could now remember her horrific encounter with the Lady vividly, but she did not understand why the Shōgun would have her healed. Were they not lovers? Did they not have the same intention for her? But then she remembered the plot against the Shōgun and the reason why the lady had punished her so violently.

“Perhaps he suspects?” she thought. She then committed herself to the conversation for there was more that she wanted to know. “Why did the Shōgun send you?”

“Well,” Mori said hesitantly, “The official reason is that I am the chief of his physicians. However, the real reason is that I am a Truist, and the only one with experience in treating these kinds of afflictions. Please, you cannot repeat that outside of this room, or ever again. It could be my head if that became public knowledge.”

“Where am I?” she asked, turning her head as if to look around out of habit.

“You are within the Castle of the Shōgun, The Hawk’s Perch, Taka-no-jō. For now, you are afforded this private chamber until you are fully recovered. You should be safe for the time being if that is why you are asking. You are far enough away from her, but then again no distance is too far if you ask me.”

“You said I was rescued by someone. Who?”

At this, she could hear the man rise to his feet, shuffle across the room, and peek outside of the door before shutting it again. “It was a woman. I think she was one of those detestable ninja from the Shin-Shadowhand. She did not give her name. She just said that she was your new caretaker. I told her that she had done quite a poor job allowing you to suffer as you did, but she told me only what had befallen you and nothing more. She left just as quickly as she came and has returned only once to make sure you were going to survive.”

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“She must be Kondo’s replacement,” Yuki thought to herself. “I wish Kondo were still here. If he had been there, this might not have happened.”

“I will say this,” Mori continued. “Few who face the wrath of the Lady survive it. You are perhaps the only one I know of who has. You also have the favor of the Shōgun, so she is not likely to come and finish the job, not yet at least. I am not sure why, and you need not tell me, but you are indeed quite special to be afforded protections by my lord. It may not seem like it, with all that has happened, but I believe you are here for a reason. You must choose to live, child.”

Yuki turned her head to face the man. She did not know why, but she felt like she could trust him.

“Thank you for saving me, Mori-sensei.”

“Thank the All-kami,” he replied calmly. “For I am only his instrument.”

For the rest of that week, Yukiana spent all of her time in the small, isolated room relearning how to move about without her vision. At first, she did not have the will to try, but at Mori’s kind insistence, she began to do some on her own. Her body was restless, and at the same time she was exhausted, for in her inner darkness she could not tell day from night, and she slept for only a few hours at a time. The exercise seemed to help her sleep more fully, so she made a habit of exploring her small cell several times each day.

Her room was part of the castle architecture, located within the very battlements themselves, likely in some elevated position within the castle grounds. She knew this because from her small window to the outside the wind would often blow and howl with great strength. The room was also quite cool, even on sunny days. The walls of her room were made of wood beams and plaster, and the floors were of hard, polished cedar. There was space for her small futon, a low table, and a few pillows for sitting, and a cart with Mori’s ingredients and tools.

At first, she had to feel her way around, stepping slowly and cautiously with her arms on the wall or outstretched. She tripped over the table frequently and knocked over poor Mori’s cart so many times that he eventually put it outside of the room. After a few days, she became familiar with her surroundings and could navigate the room with relative ease.

The doctor had promised that after one week, he would test her right eye and see if it was still viable. This gave her what little hope she had to go on, but also an ominous dread of the worst case in which she would find herself permanently blinded. Mori was a busy man, but he came to visit her throughout the day. He spoke openly and honestly, for he had discovered that this area of the castle was unoccupied, and all adjacent rooms were empty. Her room, however, was always to be locked, as commanded by the Shōgun himself. Only Mori and a few servants ventured to this wing of the castle, and only every so often. The servants brought her food, clothes, and water for a bath.

The doctor came once or twice a day to check on her and to rebandage her eyes if necessary. He was always exceedingly kind to her, and they often spoke about growing up as Truists. He told her about his upbringing in the monastery, which was not so different than her own, and about his early days as a physician.

“Back then, almost every monk was trained in the healing arts, to bring relief to the communities in which they were placed, but physicians were of a different order, and our charge was to care for several precincts, traveling here and there as need pressed us. Early on, I was sent to a very rural region in what we now call the Middle Country. It was there that I treated many unnatural afflictions, similar to the ones you have suffered from at the hands of the Lady.”

Yuki shivered, still reeling from her encounter with Ishihara. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was as if she was a witch or a yomi, the kinds I’ve read about in stories. She spoke, and I could do nothing, and her strength was terrible!”

Mori cleared his throat and spoke in a faint voice. “Since the Lady has become my master’s prime consort, I have gotten just about all I can take of that woman. She is more than what she seems, that is certain. People close to her die in very unusual, even unnatural ways. Some of which are beyond my powers to heal.”

“So, is she a witch, or is she a yomi?”

“I am not sure. She certainly has some kind of unnatural power. But whether it comes from within, or from her hidden allies, remains a mystery. Were there any others with you when you were attacked?”

“No,” Yuki said, shaking her head. “Not that I know of. But the Lady, she appeared to change shape, and her eyes, they changed too.”

Mori shivered. “Quite disturbing. Two yomi come to mind that have been known to cause deafness and the inability to speak. The yamanba of the deep mountains was said to steal the voices of young maidens and use them to entice men to their deaths. The futakuchi-onna is a yomi who reportedly has two mouths and can scream so loud it can destroy one’s hearing. I could understand if she were able to do one of those things, for then we could certainly guess what she is, but for her to do both is well-nigh impossible. I have never heard of such a thing.”

Yuki lifted her fingers to touch her vacant eye socket. “And my eyes?”

Mori shifted uncomfortably. “Those she did by her own power, I’m afraid.”

There was silence for several moments. “But you were able to save my ears and my voice,” Yuki finally said with quiet resolve. “You truly are a good doctor, worthy of serving the Shōgun. But he, the Shōgun I mean, does he know about your past?”

“Back when I was first appointed to the court, nearly every nobleman had a Truist physician, so yes,” Mori explained. “It was fashionable, and we were quite good at our work. Even nowadays the most wealthy and powerful still have them, though it is illegal. But I am here, aren’t I? My lord knows what I am, and he has not removed me yet.”

“Don’t you ever get angry?” Yuki asked. “Wasn’t it he who allowed the persecution of Truists to take place?”

“I have lived with Hideyo-sama since he was a young child who loved to chase butterflies and climb trees. I saw that little boy eventually rise to become a Shōgun and unfortunately, such an endeavor takes its toll on a man. It greatly saddens me that he has taken to treat my people so, but I have never felt that I should abandon him. The All-kami has given us each our own mission, and mine is to serve the Shōgun for good or for ill. Perhaps one day he will change his mind, and I may play a small part in that.”

Yuki did not see the wisdom or courage in this kind of arrangement, but she held her tongue. The old man had done enough to help her. She did not mean to insult him.

Over the next few sessions, Yukiana also shared her own story with the physician. She did it not only to pass the time, but also because he seemed to be the first person to really care and listen to her, and it was relieving to put it all into words. She told him about her father, about the bliss that was Kokoro. She then described her kidnapping by Kondo of the Shin-Shadowhand, and all that had occurred from then until now, giving great detail about the encounter with the Lady Ishihara.

Mori grew quiet as she finally came to the end of her tale.

“There is one last thing,” she offered cautiously. “The reason why the Lady attacked me so was because of a secret. I knew something that she would not want to get out. I am afraid to tell you because it has brought me and all I knew here to ruin. In fact, I am sure she would have already killed me if it were not for my other accursed purpose.”

“Then you need not say it,” Mori said softly. “For I have long suspected that she had a villainous intent. But as she is now with child – his child, I could not bring myself to accuse her.”

“Even if it were to protect your master?”

Mori sighed. “I would do anything for him, but I know my master. Even if all the evidence pointed to her, he would still not believe me. And such a claim would cost me my life. Then I could not help you.”

“So, there is nothing you can do?”

Mori shook his head solemnly. “No, I am afraid not. At least not yet. He must see her for what she truly is. Though, I fear that he will only realize it too late.”

Yuki grimaced. “So now you see. My life has been just one tragedy after another. Once I feel that it cannot possibly get any worse, it does. I am beginning to think my father will never come to rescue me, and if he does, what will be left of me?”

Mori mulled over his words, sensing that this was an important moment. “Yukiana, have you ever considered that perhaps it is not your father who is meant to rescue you, but you who are meant to rescue your father?”

She lifted her head. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” the doctor continued, “The way I see it, what you have been doing up until now has not worked out so well. Waiting for him, I mean. Perhaps you should consider a different approach.”

Yuki was stunned by this seemingly foolish advice. “I don’t understand! My father is a great warrior, and I am just a crippled little child!”

“That may be how you feel,” the doctor said sternly. “But I think you are more powerful than that. Think of all that you’ve endured.”

“How would I even begin to help him anyway? I am a blind captive of the Shōgun!”

“Your situation is quite dire,” the old man admitted. “And I am not saying that you must act on it right now. But waiting to be saved, and suffering the worst to save another, are two different things entirely.”

He left shortly after this conversation, and Yuki was left to meditate on his words. She did not understand what she could have done over the past several weeks besides fling herself off a cliff or into the ocean when she had the chance. Now blind and locked in darkness, she felt more helpless than ever before. How could she rescue her father, and from what? Her father was as self-sufficient as any man alive. And she…she had nothing.