Kyogoku met them at the inner entrance, in response to Ieyasus loud knocking upon the door-case.
Welcome, my lord, vouched the former; whereat the latter responded:
Thank you, but not as lord; I seek, am harmless, hence lordless. I trust I find myself still bidden and the princess in good parts. May I enter?
The leaves upon the trees, standing here and there like sentinels, rustled gently in the days abiding round, yet there arose out of its vigor as it were the meaning of a rebirth, the resurrection of man, the inspiration of soul—an ever-present God, whom the grind of time or the compensations of living alone reveal.
Conjure that God as we may, borrow if we can, proclaim Him from the house tops though we do, worship whom we will, there is no salvation till the eye has responded to conscience; and going there, as he did, had Ieyasu but answered to the call that emanated betwixt duty and neglect? Had Yodogima found a haven that is neither of the real nor of the ideal? Had the circle that encompasses encountered its magnet?
The broad vistas opening to the eastward carried their gaze back over the same fields they had but trodden: a Star illuminated the universe, and their hearts throbbed with the freshness of a regenerated past. No earthly thing could have parted them: might a heavenly grace have cemented more deeply the affection they two had wrought in the fiery cauldron of human endeavor? Ieyasu bowed low in her presence, and she responded as no other living thing responds—the light of intelligence made certain the order intended.
Sitting there, in quiet contemplation, upon the floating bridge they trod, the future alone bursting jealously, they greeted each other; he, How good to meet a lovely woman; she, How lovely to meet an honorable man: thence love ruled and blessings showered.
Out upon the field, in front, Hideyori thundered the cry of, To battle, and Esyo marshaled, as well, the hosts against him. War reigned there.