Free Dendera by Yuya Sato

watched the rest of the expeditionary squad charge ahead determinedly, a memory from her past floated into her mind.
    Last year had seen crop shortages in the Village, but that paled into insignificance compared to the great famine of ten years ago that had brought the Village to its knees. The Villagers had resorted to desperate measures, surviving on thin soup with tiny dumplings made of vegetable scraps and the flour left at the bottom of mortars, or by chewing on roots like wild animals. Before long the last of the Village’s livestock had perished, and the last ounce of nutrition had been wrung out of their withered carcasses, and then the Village had faced the real prospect of mass starvation. It was against this backdrop that a decision was taken to relax the normally rigid rules surrounding Climbing the Mountain. At a household’s discretion, its elders could now be sent to Climb the Mountain even if they had yet to reach the age of seventy. Kayu Saitoh had been sixty at the time and had wanted to go herself, but her son and in-laws refused to send her. Other families were quicker to take advantage of the new rule, however, and that year had seen ten women—Tai, Kaga, Guri, Tsugu, Tsuina, Tahi, Ume, Kan, Mitsugi, and Shima—all Climb the Mountain, even though they were all technically underage. All ten of the premature Climbers were here now on the hunting expedition. Even with the ten years that had passed, Kaga was only sixty-seven years old, and Tsugi was still only sixty-two. From her prone position amidst the thick snow Kayu Saitoh couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy at their relative youth, but then she considered that most of those who had to Climb the Mountain that year were now older than she, and she pulled herself together and forced herself to stand up again and push on.
    The expeditionary squad was moving through the Mountain at a fair pace, and before long Kayu Saitoh started to notice things about the way the more experienced women moved, how there seemed to be a knack of sorts. They were lifting their legs in a way that allowed them to spring against the ground, to utilize the momentum of each step rather than allow it to be absorbed into the ground. Kayu Saitoh attempted to follow suit and found that it made an immediate and noticeable improvement. This discovery lifted her spirits, and she sped up, only to trip and fall again—her earlier exertion had taken its toll. A figure ahead doubled back and appeared beside Kayu Saitoh, holding out a hand to help her up. It was Kyu.
    “I can stand on my own,” Kayu Saitoh snapped, hastily gathering herself back up. She wasn’t about to let an eighty-seven-year-old rescue her.
    “Sure, I know where you’re coming from. You want to pull your weight, right?” Kyu, stinking of sweat and grime, grinned at Kayu Saitoh. “Ms. Hatsu told me all about you. That’s the spirit, kid!”
    “But I’m not pulling my weight. I’m a burden,” said Kayu Saitoh, disgusted with herself.
    “Hey. Before you start kicking yourself, isn’t there something else you should do?” Kyu said.
    “Huh? What?”
    “Why, walk , of course! Lift your legs! First one and then the other! You can wish all you like, but you won’t get anywhere until you start walking! Now, come on. With me!”
    Urged on by Kyu, Kayu Saitoh managed to get some of her breath back. The clouds of white vapour emerging from her mouth flowed more steadily. She moved one leg and then the other, and soon she was walking at a decent speed again.
    “That’s it. Remember, take it at your own pace,” Kyu said from behind, gently encouraging her. And then, “By the way, Ms. Kayu, I’ve been wanting to ask you. Why are you always so angry all the time?”
    This new line of conversation stopped Kayu Saitoh in her tracks. She certainly hadn’t considered herself the angry sort before. Certainly not compared to the hot-blooded Hawk faction of Dendera. Indeed, she had always thought of herself as one