If it were a clear day, Lawrence thought, peering up through the trees at the mountain. I should probably be able to see the temple from here.

“Can you see it?” Sakura asked.

“Nothing. It’s too cloudy.”

“Cloudy or smoky?”

“It’s a storm,” Tomiichi interjected. “The clouds have been darkening in the north for some time now, thank the kami. That should put out some of the fires in the city.”

They were two hills ahead of the group. Hitomo had been left behind to maintain the two prisoners they had as Lawrence and Sakura came to the front, along with Princess Noriko and her maidservants.

“Did you”—Noriko panted—“say rain?”

The failed mage turned to regard the young woman. For a princess, she sure was good on her feet—and in these hills even. Her cat eye made was directly behind her, her younger handmaiden trailing at the bottom of the hill. “Indeed,” he said. “As our guard captain has said, we should thank the gods.”

“I think I can feel it,” Noriko said excitedly, “a cool breeze coming in.”

“As can I,” Sakura said.

Lawrence just now realized she was wearing the black silk kimono he had purchased off a refugee earlier in the day.

Sakura looked at him. “What?”

“I…” he gestured toward her, and the dancer looked down at her breasts. “I mean—my kimono.”

Sakura laughed. “Your kimono?”

He grunted in exasperation at his own stumbling thoughts. Heavens, she makes me nervous. “I meant the one I gave you.”

“Do you like it?”

“Yes,” he said plainly. “It suits you well.”

She smiled, proffering a small bow of thanks. Lawrence returned the gesture. It wasn’t one he was unfamiliar with, living in this part of the world for near on a decade now. He was well versed in many of the customs and beliefs.

He decided to change the subject instead of lingering awkwardly. “We need to press on. I can hear Hukama’s army now. It sounds like they’re making a push toward the temple.”

“Let them try!” Tomiichi said. “No one can take the temple with a defending force occupying the area—not even Hukama!”

“I’m partial to agree with you, my friend,” Lawrence said as he looked back up toward the mountain, the clouds misting the summit from view. “However, legendary generals don’t attain that status by attaining victories through conventional circumstances.”

Tomiichi sighed. Lawrence could see that his words were dampening his spirit. He was only trying to be realistic so that in the event that Hukama took the temple, he would have less to be disappointed about.

And better prepared for a plan of action, too.

“Cheer up,” Sakura said, moving next to her brother, who was nearly a head and shoulders taller than she was. She put a hand on his back. “Everything will be fine. You’ll see.”

Tomiichi nodded and Princess Noriko seemed to take that in. She looked deep in thought, as her cat eye maid watched her reaction to the words spoken, just as Lawrence was. “I pray to the gods that you’re right, Sakura,” she said.

Mika finally made it to the top of the hill, panting and asking what she missed. “Do we even know if anyone is up there defending the temple?” she asked, huffing as she came between them.

“There would be no need to march an army to the base of the summit otherwise,” Sakura said.

Lawrence smiled. “For a dancer,” he said, “you certainly have a keen mind for this sort of thing.”

Is that a smirk?

Lawrence certainly had no intention of telling the dancer what he thought at this time, but he was really beginning to like her.

Something stirred.

“Quiet,” Tomiichi hissed. “Someone is coming.”