Ai of the Mountain (A Fairy Retelling #2) by Dorian Tsukioka Read Free Book Online

about the injury, he says, “Look, Ai-chai.”
    His head nods at my hand, to my fingers clutched tightly around the scales he has given me. I loosen my grip. The scales are no longer there; they are gone. Instead, lying in my palm are two, beautiful gold coins, each embossed with the image of a rose. Thin ridges covering the delicate surface faintly resemble the texture of scales and are the only clue that the coins are related to the fish at all. They are beautiful, enchanting.
    I look at Grandfather Koi, too amazed to speak.
    “They are for you, Ai-chan. I want you to use them. Perhaps they can help to save you and your family from Lord Nakaguchi. They should at least be worth enough to pay the daimyo’s taxes.”
    Grandfather Koi does not say goodbye, but slips down into the river. I stroke the gold in my hands. The coins are worth more than anything I have ever owned before. They will surely be enough to settle my family’s debt with the daimyo. Then, why do I feel like crying?
    A small pool of blood flashes through my memory. Grandfather Koi lied to me when he said it would not hurt. These coins came at great cost, and though I know he did not wish to worry me, the truth of their full cost was there in a pool of red that disappeared into the river. He must love me very much.
    The feeling is mutual. I have never been given a gift so precious and costly before.
    “Thank you, Grandfather Koi,” I whisper to the silent river before I leave.
    Mother is still sleeping when I enter the house. A new fear steals into my heart that she may never wake again. What will we do then? Father is sleeping next to her, holding her tightly. I wonder if he shares the same fear.
    I take the two gold coins into my room, and wrap them carefully in a soft sheet of washi. The paper is so thin that it is nearly translucent. I slip the wrapped coins into the folds of my kimono, next to my heart, before I lay down to sleep.
     
    Kaito is sitting in our spot, his back resting against the giant maple tree. The maple tree’s leaves have turned to brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow-gold. I have never realized before that in my dreams, our maple tree has always been green, full and verdant. Even in the midst of winter, this place of my dreams is always full of life.
    I stare at the leaves. Their change unnerves me. Some of them litter the ground. I bend to pick one up. It is the same mottled red and gold of the others, but in my hand it shimmers for an instant, reminding me of something for a brief moment, but then it is gone. I look at Kaito, and see him staring at me with that same beautiful, sad smile that I have seen on his face a thousand times. It is the look he sometimes gets when I tell him I want no one other than him, that I can be happy living with him in our dream world, even though we will never meet in the waking world.
    I walk over to where he is and sit down next to him. He pulls me to his chest and I lean against him. He feels so sturdy, so real. I know this is just a dream, but everything about this place, about Kaito, is just as substantial as the world I live in during the day. I thought he was a ghost. But, how can a ghost have a heartbeat? I can hear it now, with my head pressed against his chest. No, Kaito is as real as I am. I don’t know how this is, but it has to be true.
    I hold the dying maple leaf up for him to see. “I never realized until now that it has always been summer here. Though the seasons change when I’m awake, this place has never changed.”
    “Until now,” Kaito says.
    “Until now,” I repeat.
    His voice sounds so melancholy, I have to turn to look him in the eye. They glisten with unshed tears.
    “Kaito, what is wrong?”
    “Nothing of importance, my little mountain girl. I am just afraid that I may not have much time left to be with you.”
    “Why do you say that?” Kaito has never spoken like this before. “Why should we have such little time left together? What is happening,