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“Girls, wait on the cushions. Fumiko, Hana, with me. Kakuzu-san, please watch their retainers.” Aiko turned to the last person waiting for instructions. “Pretend not to be here,” she said bluntly.

Izuna mimed receiving a wound. She ignored him and went out to meet the extremely nervous courtier who had come to pay his respects. She could feel Izuna move to obey her, a little sulky but not protesting. He slipped through the woods behind her shrine and circled around to approach a house. She stopped paying attention to him then, because she had reached her guest.

“Modachi-san,” she said, because she wanted to see how he’d react to the disrespect. She could feel Hana flinch at her shoulder.

The old man bowed low, lower than etiquette demanded for anyone but the Daimyo. “Priestess. This one has come to declare piety and ask for forgiveness.”

Fair enough, Aiko decided. If seeing Hell open up wasn’t enough to inspire religious sincerity, nothing would. She gestured for him to straighten. “The former lord lost the mandate of heaven, but you may have nothing to atone for.”

He winced. That might mean he was afraid of her finding out something he’d done. It might also just mean that he was very desirous of her good opinion. Aiko invited him into the shrine.

Modachi was one of the most important people in the country. She knew that, because Izuna had known his name off-hand and rattled off Ministerial titles the man had held over the decades. He should have been arrogant and annoying. The courtiers she’d met as a Konoha soldier always had been puffed up and confident.

He was humble. It might have been genuine.

Either way, she had Fumiko serve him tea, listened to his careful politeness, and accepted when he promised a gift of art for her shrine.

“A statue of Izanami-no-Mikoto,” Aiko said. “I am not concerned with the material. I am as pleased with wood as with gold. However, it must convey her majesty and mercy.”

Modachi accepted that without any pushback or surprise. It was a little funny, given that Modachi hadn’t yet seen much mercy from the church of Izanami.

The whole visit was done and Modachi sent on his way before the afternoon.

Izuna slipped into place at her side as if he hadn’t been tucked away in a villager’s house for safekeeping. Aiko glanced down to see dirt under his fingernails. Hana gave him a withering look.

…Maybe he’d kept busy by working in their garden.

“Grandmother Kasumi has a lot of radishes,” he said, when he saw the direction of her eyes. “Behind her lovely home.”

That explained it. Aiko hummed her acknowledgement. “I want to train.” She started walking to the forest. “Fight me?”

“I think that Kakuzu-san might do me bodily harm,” Izuna said silkily. But he fell in step behind her.

“You’ll endure his displeasure bravely.” Aiko stretched her hands in front of her as she walked. “I have faith in you.”

“I don’t think I’m needed for this,” Fumiko said. Her voice was a bit dry. “I will tend to the acolytes. Should they have lessons today?”

Aiko thought about it. “Yes, they should start a routine. Thank you, Hana, Fumiko.”

“Don’t thank me, priestess,” Hana begged. “I want to watch the fight.” Her eyes drifted over to Izuna in a mildly predatory anticipation.

Fumiko made a disapproving sound. But when Aiko didn’t protest, she left without more than a sigh for her cousin.