Seirei no Moribito - Volume 1 - Chapter Ep

EPILOGUE: IN THE RAIN 

The drops fell incessantly, like fine threads of silver trailing from the heavy, low-lying clouds. Cloaked in a straw cape and hat, Balsa strode through the rain, carrying her spear bundled in oiled paper. She intended to cross the Misty Blue Mountains before autumn and enter the kingdom of Kanbal. 
She thought back to her conversation with Tanda after they had parted from Chagum, and the expression on his face when she told him that she planned to set off for Kanbal immediately. “I need a little time,” she said then, groping for words. “Time to think. I’ve avoided this for many years, but now I’m ready to go back. I want to find Jiguro’s friends and family to tell them what happened, what kind of life he lived.” She gazed at the other side of the bridge where Chagum had disappeared. “I think that after meeting Chagum and serving as his bodyguard, I can finally understand how Jiguro felt. That’s why, you see.” 
She turned her gaze back to Tanda. He was smiling faintly. “I’m glad to hear it. Off you go then, to Kanbal. But don’t go wielding that spear of yours over there. There may be better men than me in Kanbal, but I doubt there are any who will sew up your wounds for free.” 
Balsa laughed out loud. And so they had parted. 
As she listened to the patter of the rain on the leaves above her head, she felt the aching void of Chagum’s absence at her side. They had not even spent a year together, yet she had so many memories of him…. As she walked, she recalled, one by one, all the things that had happened since she had leapt into the Aoyumi River and dragged his body to shore. 

I wonder what he’s doing now, she thought. What kind of life will he lead? She felt a sharp pang at the thought that she would not be a part of it. We’ll probably never meet again. The boy that she had met so suddenly and parted from just as abruptly would spend the rest of his life within the palace, the son of a god descended from heaven…. In the end, all I could do was to help save his life. Yet perhaps the day would come when he would remember her with the same feeling she held for her foster father, Jiguro. 
Rain streamed from the edge of her straw hat. 
The world around her could change so suddenly, for no apparent reason. She could only do her best to live with those changes, seeking, as everyone must, the path in life that was right for her. There was surely no such thing as a life without any regrets at all. 
Ah, how I’d love some of Tanda’s vegetable stew, she thought. She smiled. Through the trees in the valley, she could glimpse, far in the distance, blue mountains shrouded in rain. 
THE END