During this interval he was watched with the greatest anxiety by Seimei, Tora, and Motosuke. Servants and physicians came and went. The prognosis went from desperate to hopeful, and still the three watchers persisted, leaving only for meals or urgent business. When Akitada finally came back to full awareness of himself and his surroundings, he happened to be alone. Sunlight filtered through the wooden lattices and fell in broad rectangles across his chest and bedding. Faint, pleasant traces of incense lurked in the air and dust motes danced in the sunlight. Akitada’s first sense of himself was one of lightness, of floating almost. Intensely aware of the pleasurable warmth of the bedding and of the sun on his chest, he sighed. He had woken from a dream, one of many, he thought, but in this one he had been walking with Ayako, first in a mountain meadow, then through the grounds of a temple. Their hands had touched, and she had smiled at him.
