They talked until late in the afternoon; after the initial shock and exclamations of surprise they settled down and each in turn told their story.
He shared his last memory of her. "After I pushed you on some floating debris, I went briefly underwater. When I resurfaced, you had disappeared..." He was saying in a faltering voice. "I despaired. I thought you had tried to dive after me and had drowned. After that I lost my will to fight. I let the water pound on me, but, surprisingly, I was still floating. Eventually, I was bashed on the rocks and left broken on a beach. That's where I was found by a young boy..."
"Hikaru." She breathed, already guessing.
"Yes. He pulled me out of the water. I was delirious and by this point didn't care what would happen to me... He came here and begged the monks for help. I was nursed to health in secret, but I had lost my sight and my leg never healed properly. There was no hope I could ever go back home, not with these injuries and Sakoku in force. So I stayed... Hikaru hid my presence from his father, but he visited often. He was probably curious about Gai-Jin." He smiled. "Eventually, I started teaching him English, predicting perhaps that it might come useful one day." He fell silent for a long while, lost in the past. "My child, but how is it possible that you are here?"
Now it was her turn to recount the story, as she had told it to Hikaru all those months ago.
"I was happy here, living a simple, but peaceful life. Yet, as the years passed, I couldn't suppress the deep yearning for my real mother and I decided to go back home. However, on my arrival in England I found no one..." Her voice broke a little and she had to pause. "To my horror, I discovered that hearing about our assumed fate mother had miscarried her baby and died soon after from a broken heart." She paused, knowing that this news would be as painful to him as they had been to her. Indeed, he wept for his wife and unborn child, while she held his hand between hers.
Only after a long while Lottie was able to continue. "I was seventeen and had neither family nor the means to survive. I would have been forced to seek help from your relatives in Norway; it would have been difficult and humiliating, considering that they never wanted to have anything to do with us, but I found out about my uncle Gilbert in America. I lived with him for nearly ten years, until this spring, when he was killed and I was framed for his murder..." She paused, once again struck by the magnitude of the loss. "I had to run away. Then luck, or fate, or... the gods sent me an American ship going to Japan... Pappi, Sakoku is crumbling away as the ShÅgun is losing power and the Emperor moves to regain it. We might yet be able to go home!"
"How do you know all this? And how you are here? With Lord Takeda?" He asked again, with incomprehension.
"I returned to Japan as an interpreter for the official negotiations between the ShÅgun's representative and the American government. The Americans got the rights to trade in Japan and I believe it is only the beginning. Sakoku will not survive with the pressure from all the western nations."
"And Hikaru?" He pressed further, guessing perhaps that Lottie was reluctant to talk about it.
"This is a very complicated story. Maybe we should leave it for another time?"
"No, I need to know everything." He could hear reluctance in her tone. He touched her face, tracing the contours of her cheekbones, then feeling her clothing and the two samurai swords.
"Yes, Pappi." She sighed, accepting his authority as her father. "I met him in Kanagawa, south of Edo, where the negotiations were going to take place..." She started quietly; suddenly shy to talk to him about her intimate relationship with a man." I saved his life in an assassination attempt. At least this is what we believed at the time. As it turned out they had actually tried to kill me, to delay the talks. But Lord Takeda must have suspected I was still in danger and insisted on offering me his protection. We..." She hesitated briefly. "We became very close for a time." She was as succinct as possible. She paused to see his reaction, but he just sat there, with a benevolent expression, waiting for the rest of the story.
"After the negotiations ended I sneaked out from Kanagawa and went away to find the people who had saved me all those years ago. I found them and for a time I lived with them, helping with the everyday work. However, I discovered I was with child..." Her voice broke again. Even mentioning her baby was painful. "I planned to return south and find a passage out of Japan. But there was another attempt on my life. I was seriously wounded, however, My Lord again came to my rescue. Then he brought me here, to his home."
"Does he know?" Her father asked quietly. "About the child?"
"Yes. But..." She closed her eyes and breathed deeply a few times to control her rising emotions. "I have lost our baby."
"My poor girl." He reached out and embraced her. "I am so sorry."
"That was a few weeks ago. I suspect he brought me here to distract me. And to introduce me to another Gai-Jin." She added with a sad smile.
"Do you think he knew that we were related?"
"No. He was as surprised as I was. I believe he has never made the connection."
"But how many foreign shipwrecks could there be in his neighbourhood?"
"We can ask him one day." She grinned unexpectedly. "Although he will not be proud of that, I imagine."
"And how is it that you carry the swords?" He continued examining her.
"I saved his life and recently that of his son, Haru. For that I was officially recognised as his samurai and even given some villages for my own. One of them is the village where I was raised as a child. He is a very generous man. And honourable."
"You love him." He could hear it clearly in her voice.
The question, or rather the statement didn't surprise her as much as it should. "Yes." She answered honestly. "I do. I love him above my own life."
"And he?"
"I believe he loves me too. He wants me to stay here with him."
"But not long ago you were ready to leave Japan with me." He smiled with tenderness.
"You are my father! You are my only family!"
"Let us not talk about it now." He dismissed the subject for the moment. "I want you to tell me more about your life in Japan. And later, in America, with Gilbert."
*
Lord Takeda explained to the surprised monks that what they had just witnessed was a reunion of a father and a daughter, who both thought until now that the other had perished many years ago. "The same storm that brought my Sensei here, threw her on a shore some distance to the north, where she lived in a fishing village. Now they have finally found each other." He smiled. "I will return home now. But I will send people to wait here until Ana-San is ready to leave."
On his way back Takeda marveled on the strange ways of fate... First it brought him to the rescue of an ill man, later it brought Lottie to him and bound them by bonds stronger than blood or family and, eventually, it brought the father and daughter together again. More than ever he was sure that his fate lied with Lottie at his side.
Now, when he thought about it, it seemed quite obvious that the only white people in his domain came from the same ship. But he had failed to see the connection until that moment. Perhaps that was also fate? Maybe events were to unfold in their own order and time?
He couldn't be happier for her. She had found her lost father and she wasn't alone anymore. He knew that was one of her constant worries. But that also brought another thought... Perhaps she will want to leave Japan now? Her father was a noble in his faraway country and they might want to go back to reclaim his position? Although his heart contracted painfully, he knew he must leave this decision to her alone.
In the courtyard he found Kazuki, resting in the sun. "I see you feel much better." The Lord smiled, dismounting. The groom took the reins and his horse was led away.
"My Lord," Ronin bowed, still a little stiffly, due to his wounds. "I am fine. Just couldn't stand the look of the wall anymore." Kazuki looked around, realising that Takeda was alone. "My Lord, forgive me, but... where is Ana-San?"
"She stayed at the temple for a little while. She is safe there." The Lord assured with a smile, but then stopped, suddenly struck by an idea. "Kazuki, you have served me faithfully for many years now."
"My Lord, you honour me." The man gritted his teeth and bowed low to show his respect.
"And you have demonstrated many virtues of Bushido in that time, plus some other unusual skills." Takeda acknowledged his Ninja-like accomplishments. "I think the time has come for you to become samurai again."
Kazuki couldn't see how it could be possible. He had been dismissed in shame and lived under a false name since. No Lord would want to be tainted by his presence.
"You have also proven your loyalty to Ana-San. She will need her own samurai to serve and protect her when we go back to KyÅto. Will you consider that?"
"My Lord," Kazuki fell to his knees, his wounds forgotten. "When you first ordered me to protect Ana-San, I couldn't understand. But soon I got to know her and saw that, although Gai-Jin, she was a true samurai by the strength of her virtues and character. I would be honoured to serve her and to die protecting her, should that be necessary!" He professed with conviction.
"I have thought that much." Takeda smiled to himself. "She has a way of winning the hearts and minds of people who get the chance to know her." He mused. "If she accepts, you will be charged with her safety and with finding more trustworthy men to serve her. Can you do that?"
"Yes, My Lord." Kazuki bowed ceremonially, with his head almost touching the ground.
"Now, are you strong enough to ride to the temple with some of my men and bring her back safely?"
"Hai, My Lord."
Lord Takeda smiled again and gave orders to prepare horses.