His despair, however, had been short-lived. Summoned to the palace at
Sara-kusa, Izo Wantanabe had been met by an official of Lord
Yama-Shita's court who offered him the post of Resident Agent to the
Outlands.
He would, explained the trade-captain, be one of a trial batch of five
appointees - the first to be stationed beyond the borders of
Ne-Issan.
Aware that this was a heaven-sent opportunity to get in on the ground
floor of a pioneering enterprise and escape from the veiled but
vengeful discrimination that continued to shadow his marriage and
career, Izo accepted the offer without hesitation.
The wheelboats of the Yama-Shita had visited the two established
trading posts at Bei-sita and Du-aruta once a year for several decades,
but in the summer of 2990
Domain-Lord Hiro Yama-Shita had decided to set up a chain of resident
commercial agents to develop regular contacts with the Mute clans in
the hinterland.
Izo and the other four appointees were to be the first links in this
chain which - if positive results were obtained - would eventually
extend right around the southern shores of the four, interconnected
lakes which formed the Western Sea; the vast body of water the Mutes
called 'The Great River'.
Each resident would live with his family aboard a house-boat, smaller
cousins of the three-storied steam-powered monsters that made the
annual journey to Du-aruta. It was envisaged that the house-boats
would be permanently moored to purpose-built jetties but, if the need
arose, they could always cast off and put to sea.
Domestic servants would be provided and the boats would be maintained
and, if need be, protected, by a small detachment of sea-soldiers.
For Izo, it meant assuming the leadership of an enclosed community of
thirty-five souls. Food and other stores would be delivered by sea
until adequate supplies could be obtained locally.
Yumiko had not been overjoyed at the prospect of an isolated existence
in the back of beyond, but the chance to make a fresh start plus the
generous lump sum payable on completion of a nine-year term and the
promise of three months' paid home leave for every thirty-six served in
the outlands had softened her protests.
The possibility that she and her family might not even survive three
years, let alone nine, did not appear to have occurred to her and Izo
had wisely kept silent about the possible dangers of living amongst a
