Azuki, the Toki-girl, stood on the front gallery of their newly enlarged house clutching a neatly bound twig broom. Despite the lowering clouds, she could see over the compound wall down the hill where the horses, Blackie and Red Wind, pushed aside the last of the snow to graze on the first of the season's grass. She smiled and sniffed the freshening air. It was already a brand-new year! In the Lunar Calendar, New Year's marks the start of spring, and there were signs of it everywhere in swelling buds and hints of green.
Smoke rose from the chimney of the new bathhouse by the river Shota's idea, eagerly endorsed by Azuki managed by a formerly outcast woman and her son. Hanako, their cook-housekeeper and another former outcast, banged a pan as she put things away after clearing up the br
