<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">In moments Akiko was high above the shrine, the green of its mountain standing out against the sea of clouds, the roof of the shrine shining like a beacon. Then the wind dropped her, and she screamed.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">It caught her again while she was still far above the mountain peak, tossing her up again, and then flinging her sideways. She tumbled upside-down, and the wind blew from above, tangling her vestments around her head, leaving her blind as her stomach lurched at the sickening downwards plunge.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Tamao!â€ she screamed, grabbing at the heavy material and trying to get it out of her face. She tumbled again, and now the wind was lifting her once more, while pressing her vestments closer around her upper body, twisting her around so that they gradually became more tangled around her, while the cold air bit into her exposed legs. Desperately, she grabbed at the cloth, trying to pull it away from her face at least, but now the wind was rolling her through the air, and she was getting dizzy, nausea rising in her stomach. The thought of actually vomiting while her face was covered in cloth made her panic even more, and she pushed harder at the fabric. It was no good; the cloth was too heavy, the wind too strong. She continued to lurch through the air, the motion getting ever more violent.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She tumbled round in the air, and for a moment the wind was no longer pressing her clothes against her face. She pushed them out and away, gasping for breath as cool air flooded into her mouth, and her vision cleared.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She was still suspended in whiteness, with nothing visible in any direction. As she fell once more, her stomach rising into her throat, she realised that she felt wet, that she must be inside a cloud. Then the wind spun her round, whipping her skirts back up around her face and twisting.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Somehow, the cloth was around her neck, twisting, tightening, and she couldn’t breathe. Desperately, she tried to get her hands inside the folds, pull at the material, but she could only just get it loose, and as she spun the motion threatened to wrap it tighter once more.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She tried to cry out to Tamao for help, but she couldn’t get the words out, and for a moment she remembered the calm she felt when touching the sacred tree. That was what she needed now. As she thought that, she felt something whip against her foot as she spun round once more. Something like a twig. Blindly, she reached out, feeling bark, and closed her hands, grabbing and holding on.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The bark was rough, its texture calming her as it pressed against her skin, soothing her, settling her stomach. She could feel the tree accepting her panicked breathing, her racing heartbeat, and drawing the fear from her as she pressed herself closer to it.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Her legs were pressed against the bark of the tree, but her vestments were still wrapped around her upper body, separating her from the tree, cutting her off…</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“No, I just want to get down,â€ she said.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Instantly, the feeling vanished, and she found her clothes shifting, falling back towards a more normal position now that she wasn’t being tossed by the wind. Shifting her grip on the branches, she was able to settle them in something like the normal position, and see an easy route for climbing down. <em>Was that an answer?</em> she wondered, as she started to descend.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">As reached the foot of the tree, she marvelled at how clean the vestments were. Even cleaner than the had been when she put them on, if anything; no sign that she’d been climbing a tree in them. She looked up at the tree, and knelt, performing the obeisance while kneeling.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Thank you,â€ she said, with as much feeling, and respect, as she could manage.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She hurried back to the shrine house, bowing quickly to the iwakura as she passed, thinking about what had happened. It seemed likely that the aramitama had seized her when she mentioned it, and then the tree had rescued her. From somewhere. Although you could argue that she had never left the tree. Shaking her head, she decided to talk to Shiraishi.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The priest was in the office, just finishing a phone call, and she looked round as Akiko came in. She didn’t look very happy, but Akiko had to tell her what had happened.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Revd Shiraishi, I just saw Tamao again. He told me that we had to purify the area.â€ Something struck her. “He called you Spirit Child; is your given name Tamako?â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“No, Reiko. Look, could you start from the beginning? I can’t follow what you’re saying.â€ Akiko took a deep breath, and nodded. A bit more context would make it easier to understand.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“I decided to check the shrine grounds, to make sure there were no protesters around, and I walked as far as the sacred tree.â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Sacred tree?â€ Shiraishi looked puzzled.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Well, I don’t know what it’s called. The big one with the shimenawa and shide around it, towards the back of the shrine.â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Shiraishi still looked puzzled.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“I don’t think we have a god tree at this shrine. Just the iwakura, and, normally, the honden.â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Now Akiko was puzzled.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“But the shimenawa has fresh shide on it all the time. You must be changing them at least once a week.â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Shiraishi shook her head.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“It’s not me. I think you’d better show me this tree.â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Er, yes.â€ Akiko led the way out of the house and back to the woods.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“It’s somewhere around here, just a moment,â€ she said, as she tried to get her bearings. She realised that, although she knew where the tree was, she didn’t know a particular way to get there. “Ah, through here, I think.â€</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">She led the priest through the trunks, and out into the space around the trunk. The tree soared above them, its leaves whispering in the breeze, patches of sunlight catching the white of the shimenawa. Akiko looked at the priest.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">Shiraishi had stopped at the edge of the space, and was staring at the tree, awe on her face. She took a tentative step forward, then another, then another, until she was standing next to the tree. She started to raise her hands, then dropped them.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“It’s OK. You can touch it.â€ Akiko couldn’t understand Shiraishi’s reaction, but she understood what the priest was feeling when she touched the tree, then embraced it. And, when she blushed and quickly stepped back, Akiko thought she understood that, as well.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">The priest looked up at the tree, then performed the standard obeisance before turning back to Akiko.</p>
<p style="margin: 8.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 28.0px; font: 13.0px Optima;">“Akiko, this tree.â€ She stopped, and a look of wondering incomprehension passed over her face. “This tree wasn’t here before.â€</p>