Sea of the Wind, Shore of the Maze, Prologue

corresponding area as her egg. The fruit was still very small, so  small that you could wrap two hands around it. The sunlight shined upon her sensitive skin, which was not  completely dry yet. She used both her hands to surround the fruit and carefully pressed her cheek against it.
    She was still crying.
    "Taiki..."
    This was Sanshi's birth.
    The Yellow Sea is situated at the center of the world.
    Although it's called the Yellow Sea, it isn't made up of water. The only things that flow in the Yellow  Sea are time and the wind. What's left over are boundless deserts and endless forests, as well as large  swamps and continuous mountains.
    In the center of the Yellow Sea, there is a particularly high mountain range. This mountain range is  called the "Five Mountains" and consists of five lofty mountains with complex shapes.
    The tallest mountain located at the very center is called, "High Su." The mountains connected all  around it are separated into Mt. Hou, Mt. Ka, Mt. Kaku, and Mt. Kou. In ancient times, Mt. Hou was called  Mt. Tai, but every time a disaster occurs, the name is changed. For the last thousand years, it has always  been called Mt. Hou.
    Legend has it that the Five Mountains belong under the authority of Seioubo, and Mt. Hou belongs to  Oufujin. Regarding the masters of the other four mountains, the rumors have always varied. Regardless of  whether these legends are real or fake, it is known absolutely that the Five Mountains are the lands of  goddesses and nyosen.
    All of the Five Mountains reach up very high in the sky, but, like the Yellow Sea at their base, they are  very uncultivated. The complex terrain is made up of only trees, rocks, water, and a wind that never stops  blowing.
    There is a small palace on the middle section of Mt. Hou, called "Houro Palace." This is the only place  in not just Mt. Hou but the whole of the Five Mountains where people live.
    - - - - -
    "Oh? It's a poppy."
    Teiei mumbled to herself as she squatted down for a closer look.
    She was drawn to several poppy flower petals on the surface of the spring water.
    Youka, who had been walking behind Teiei, also stopped. The radiant red flower petals floating on the  crystal clear surface of the water was such that it drew people's eyes to it.
    "Are they from the poppy garden?"
    Teiei nodded her head in reply to Youka's question and extended her hand again to pull some petals out  of the water.
    "The wind probably blew them over here. The wind feels a little bit different today."
    Youka nodded her head in agreement and then lifted her head and looked around.
    Interesting rocks can be seen everywhere on Mt. Hou. The green moss that grows all over the surface  of the rocks turned the perimeter outside of Houro Palace into a maze, especially on the high terrace where  Houro Palace sits.
    The crags are really worthy of their reputation. The surface is rugged and goes in and out as if the  towering rocks will collapse at any time. Even the smaller of the rocks are three times the height of a person.
    In addition, the small paths that weave through the rocks are so narrow that they only allow two women to  pass through at one time, walking shoulder to shoulder.
    Teiei was now walking on a small path, stopping en route to gather the poppy petals drifting around on  the surface of the mountain spring water.
    She was a nyosen who looked as if she were eighteen or nineteen, but a nyosen's age could not be  determined by looking at her appearance. Neither how nor when she became a shousen are clear even to her.
    This meant that she had arrived at Mt. Hou a very long time ago. Out of the over fifty nyosen, Teiei had  lived on Mt. Hou the longest.
    Opposite to her, Youka had just become a nyosen not too long ago. Only 16 years of age, she was  originally a girl from an ordinary peasant family. However, not knowing why she was totally incompatible  with the common customs, at the age of 13, she took the shousen oath, and from then on, did not eat grain.
    She spent three years at the shrine of Seioubo living a pious life, and she finally attained purity just recently  and was summoned up to Mt. Hou.
    Thus, it had not been long since the day Youka arrived at Mt. Hou. She had just moved from living on  Mt. High Su to Houro Palace only half a month ago, but even she felt as if the wind that day did not blow as  it usually did.
    Ordinarily, the wind calmly whisked through the small path, but this day, it was both