"Ei'Torii? Through here..." Fan had led them to a set of gilded wooden doors. The panels were carved with a representation of Inari's ascension to the Shadow World—the elongated figure of the god being lifted up toward the clouds while below an immense fissure yawned in the globe below, where Inari had fallen in his struggle with the Otoko, His children. Lishi stroked the polished wood as Fan pulled open the doors. Beyond was a small, simple chapel which might have held fifty people at the most, lit by candles set in silver candelabra swaying on chains from the high ceiling. Lishi could smell incense burning in a brazier, then motion caught her eye near the altar covered with fine damask at the far end of the chapel. The Guji stepped up onto the altar dais, supported by a young male ei'torii who towered over him. The Guji gestured to them as Fan closed the chapel door, remaining behind in the corridor. Lishi glanced around; there was no one else in the chapel.
"Are you disappointed, Ei'Torii?" the Guji asked, his voice reverberating from the stone surfaces around them. "I know that the official ceremony was better attended with all the families and all the an'torii...."
"No, Guji," Lishi answered. She remembered An'Torii wan'Kang's stern, unforgiving face staring at her, and the way the others had looked at her as if she were a puzzle they had to solve. She was pleased none of them were there now. "I'm sorry. I'm... very happy tonight."
"Then please come forward and sit—there are chairs for all of you here in front. This is your papaqin and mamaqin?"
"Yes, Guji." Lishi introduced her parents, Deng going forward to kneel before the Guji with clasped hands, playing—as he always did—the devout follower. The Guji came forward to put his own gnarled and small hands around her papaqin's.
"I thank you for sending us your daughter," the Guji said. "Mister shu'Ling, I've arranged for the Inarian treasury to transfer five thousand solas to your family's account against Lishi's future services to the Faith. I assume that will be sufficient?" Lishi could see Papaqin's eyebrows lift and his mouth drop. She sucked in her own breath in surprise as well—the families of the acolytes in her class had been given a tenth of that sum.
"Oh, yes, Guji. That is quite..." Deng stopped. She wondered what he'd intended to say. His mouth closed and he swallowed. "...adequate for the moment," he finished. Lishi could see him toting up accounts in his head.
The Guji had noticed the internal greed as well, Lishi realized. He favored her papaqin with a dismissive smile. "One of my clerks will be outside when you leave, Mister," the Guji said. "She will have papers for you to sign that will complete the transfer. You'll note that you will also be giving up the family's right to either select or approve a husband for Lishi: she now belongs to Inarian and can make her own choice freely. You will have no voice in that, nor will you receive any further dowry for her."
Her papaqin frowned at that. "Guji, we had expected to advance the family through Lishi's marriage."
"Then perhaps a thousand solas will suffice, if you prefer to retain those rights. It doesn't matter to me. My secretary, Ei'Torii Baihu wei'Shaoge, is right here." The Guji nodded to the torii who was standing next to him. "Baihu, would you be so kind as to tell the clerks to make that change in the contract..."
Papaqin's eyes widened again and he hurried to answer as the ei'torii bowed and started down the aisle of the chapel. "No, Guji," he answered. "I think the agreement will be sufficient as is."
"Ah," the Guji said. Baihu, with a slight smile, returned to the Guji's side. To Lishi, the Guji seemed to be smothering laughter. "Then let us begin..."
The ceremony was brief. Afterward, Ei'Torii wei'Shaoge handed the Guji the purple robes that would be Lishi's attire from this time forward. The Guji uttered a blessing over the robes, then handed one set to Lishi. "If you would put this on," he said. "You may go behind the screens there at the side of the altar."
The robes felt strange against her skin; softer than she'd expected from the times Hu'Torii shu'Chang's robes had brushed against her. She touched the slashes at the shoulders of the robe: yes, they were those of an ei'torii, and on the left shoulder was sewn the broken-globe crest of the Guji. Taking off her tashta and putting on the robes, she realized that she was also severing herself from her old life and putting on a new one. She would not be returning to her family's home this evening, but retiring to a new apartment here in the shrine complex.
I'm finally gone, Papaqin, and you can't touch me anymore...
She came out from behind the screen, holding her yellow jōa folded in her arms. Zoushi, beaming, hurried forward to take it from her. Her papaqin nodded his approval, tears glistening unashamedly in his eyes—she wondered whether he was truly proud of her, or only saddened by what was being taken from him. Her mamaqin stared blankly ahead, as if transfixed by candle glints from the gold-threaded robes of the Guji.
"Ah..." the Guji breathed. "Now you look the proper torii. Mister shu'Ling, I wonder if you would allow me a few minutes alone with your daughter. My clerk, as I said, is waiting outside to take care of the fund transfer while you wait. Your servants should go with you, but I would like Miss shu'Ling to remain."
Lishi's papaqin looked startled, but he brought his hands to his forehead and motioned to Zoushi and the other servants. The Guji waited, silent, until the chapel doors had closed again behind them. Then he turned to Lishi.
"I deliberately brought you here, to this chapel and without any of the an'torii about. Your mamaqin, her illness is grave. The Fever, isn't it? She was incredibly fortunate to survive at all. I've only rarely heard of anyone recovering who has been affected that badly. I remember all the funerals years ago when the Fever was at its height here in the city."
He was staring at her, as was Ei'Torii wei'Shaoge. "It was Inari's Will that Mamaqin lived, Guji," she said, and the lie felt like pins stabbing her throat
"No doubt," the Guji said. "And your will, also."
"Guji?" Lishi started.
Faintly, the dwarf smiled. "There's no one here but the four of us, Lishi. No an'torii listening, no ears here that shouldn't hear what you might say, no prying eyes watching." Lishi couldn't stop her gaze from going to the young ei'torii. The Guji's smiled widened slightly. "Baihu wei'Shaoge is someone I trust implicitly, so you must also." He paused. "You no doubt prayed for your mamaqin's life."
"Of course, Guji. Every day."
"And Inari answered your prayers? Or was it something else?" the Guji prompted, and Lishi's face colored helplessly. "You lie badly, Ei'Torii," the Guji said. He stepped from the dais and put his hand on her mamaqin's arm. At the touch, the woman stirred, turning her head slightly but still staring off vacantly. "Your innocence and naïveté is very fetching, Lishi, but we'll need to work on that. Tell me the rest, and tell me the truth now. Did you use the Gift of Inari to thwart Inari's Will for your mamaqin? Did you do what you knew was forbidden for the torii by the Confessions? Tell me the truth, here where you can."