Seirei no Moribito - Volume 2 - Chapter 4.2

CHAPTER II TO THE MOUNTAIN DEEP 

Balsa and Kassa left at dawn the next day. Tonno did not tell his family why Kassa was leaving, only that he was being sent by the chieftain on a confidential mission to the capital. Avoiding their worried eyes, he put his hand on Kassa’s shoulder and they left the house together. 
It was a cold morning. Frost covered the ground and the frozen grass glittered in the light of the newly risen sun. They headed toward the cave where Kassa had first met Balsa. She was already there waiting for them with Kaguro and Toto. To their surprise, even Laloog, the Yonsa Elder, was there, using his spear as a staff. Kassa went to stand silently beside Balsa, his breath turning white in the frosty air. Toto gave each of them a goatskin knapsack. 
“There are togal and yukkal leaves as well as laga in these bags. Remember never to light a flame in the caves. You’ll be able to see in the dark if you use the togal leaves, but there isn’t much you can do about the cold. If you can’t stand it, eat one of the yukkal leaves. They’ll warm you up from the inside, and you can rub them on your feet too.” 
Toto grabbed Yoyo by the elbow. “Yoyo will lead you to the Yonsa clan. Other Herders will be waiting for you in each clan territory. They’ll give you more food.” 
Kaguro stirred. “The ceremony chamber is at the bottom of the cave behind the king’s palace. It takes ten days even on horseback to reach the capital from here, but there’re only about five days before the ceremony starts. Are you really sure you can make it in time just by traveling underground?” 
Toto grinned. “Don’t worry. Leave it to us.” Then the smile faded from his face and he looked intently at Balsa and Kassa. “When you’re in the caves, you may use togal. But don’t use it after you enter the ceremony chamber. Promise?” 
“Why?” 
“If you see the hyohlu’s true form, you can never return above land.” 
Kassa felt his father’s hand tighten on his shoulder. “Balsa,” Tonno said. “Take care of Kassa for me.” 
She nodded slightly, then turned to Kaguro. “If Kassa should return alive, will you and your clan swear to protect him no matter what happened in the Mountain Deep, no matter the result?” 
He gazed steadily back at her. “Anyone born to the Musa clan is the same as my own blood kin. Even if it means opposing the king, I will never abandon Kassa in order to protect the clan.” 
Kassa looked up at him in surprise. A stern light gleamed in Kaguro’s one eye. He looked down at Kassa and then finally back at Balsa. In an unusually quiet voice, he said, “It’s said that in the Darkness under the mountain, men can’t hide what is in their hearts. I wonder what Yuguro will see there.” 
Balsa looked back at him wordlessly. Then with a faint smile she slapped Kassa lightly on the shoulder. “Well, shall we be off?” 
He looked up at her and nodded. With Yoyo in the lead, they stepped into the dark cave. 
“Make sure you come back!” Tonno yelled after them. His voice bounced off the walls, gradually fading into silence. 
 
When the three figures had disappeared from sight, Kaguro turned abruptly from the cave entrance and stalked away. Toto the Elder fell in step alongside Laloog. 
“Do you think Balsa will succeed?” Laloog whispered. 
Toto glanced up at him. Only he and Laloog knew the secret that they had not shared even with Balsa and Kassa, let alone Kaguro and Tonno. “She will. I believe it was fate that brought her here, although she was furious with me for using that word ‘to dismiss her suffering,’ as she put it. But sometimes things seem connected by a strange thread that pulls them all together. You know what I mean?” He smiled slightly. “At least, that’s what I felt when I heard that a hyohlu had not only met Balsa on her way through the caves, but danced the Spear Dance with her and gave Gina a piece of luisha. And now look. In the winter that Balsa and the hyohlu met, the ceremony is finally about to take place, after a delay of fifteen years.” 
Laloog stopped walking abruptly. A sad light gleamed in his eyes. He whispered gently, “I see … You mean the hyohlu was waiting for Balsa?” 
Toto nodded. “I think so. This ceremony is special. Though the king of Kanbal and his Spears don’t know it, this ceremony must cleanse the people of Kanbal of Rogsam’s sins. His scheming warped and twisted Balsa’s life, and the suffering he caused affected her perhaps most of all. Could there be anyone more suited to purifying this rite than Balsa?” 
He looked up at Laloog and lightly touched his hand. “And who better than she to lay to rest the Guardians of the Darkness, who were also tainted? So, Laloog, let’s pray that Balsa succeeds in washing away these sins and giving them peace at last.” 
 
Balsa and the others walked silently until the light behind them dwindled to a white dot. When the light disappeared completely, they stopped to moisten the togal leaves with drops of condensation from the wall and brush them against their eyelids. 
Kassa opened his eyes and gasped in surprise. The white hakuma walls now sparkled around them. He noticed holes here and there in the stone. “What are those?” he asked Yoyo. 
“The houses of the Titi Lan, the Ermine Riders,” Yoyo whispered. “Kassa, don’t talk so loud. The people who live here have just gone to bed. And don’t tap your spear on the floor as you walk either. Sound carries along the rock walls.” 
Kassa hastily slung his spear on his shoulder. The hakuma stretched before him like a corridor of snow. The caves were much bigger than he had ever expected. When he looked up, the roof was so high he could not see where the space ended, and the branches opened up in countless directions. Yoyo pressed ahead without hesitation, and Kassa wondered what he was using as landmarks. He and Balsa had already completely lost track of which direction they were heading. If they were separated from Yoyo now, death would be their only exit. 
Balsa rubbed her finger over the mark on her spear. Judging by the fact that she had seen the same mark on Kaguro’s, long ago the Herder People must have taught someone from the Musa clan the route through the caves to New Yogo. What drove that first wanderer to travel there? she wondered as she walked along. 
After a while, the walls began to glow a light green. “Lyokuhaku,” Kassa murmured. Up to this point, they had walked through a deep silence broken only by the sound of their footsteps, but now they could hear the sound of running water. 
“This branch road is quite narrow, so be careful,” Yoyo said as he bent over at the waist to duck inside. Balsa and Kassa got down on all fours and somehow managed to crawl through. 
When they came out on the other end, Balsa caught her breath. A vast river flowed in front of her at alarming speed, carving away the luminous pale-green walls and lapping against the ledge on which she knelt. “It’s so deep,” Kassa gasped in fright, gazing down into the water. Balsa looked over the edge and a chill went up her spine. The water was crystal clear, and though she could see a long way down, she could not see the bottom. Shimmering with a pure green light, it was both breathtakingly beautiful and absolutely terrifying. 
“Yoyo, what are we going to do?” Kassa asked. “You’re not expecting us to swim through that, are you?” 
Yoyo laughed. “Of course not. Put your hand in it and you’ll see. The water’s as cold as ice. If you fell in there, you’d be dead before you knew it. Just be patient a minute.” 
He began whistling. The high sound echoed off the walls, reverberating through the cave. Before it faded, he pulled some yukkal leaves from his bag. The pungent odor stung their noses. 
“Take off your boots, and your socks too. Then knead some leaves and rub them against your legs like this.” He rubbed the juice from the leaves into his skin, starting from his toes and traveling all the way up to just below the knee. 
They did as they were told and felt heat spreading up their legs. “Hey, it’s really hot! Are you sure it’s all right?” 
Yoyo grinned and pulled on his socks and boots. “Believe me. You’ll soon be more than grateful for that warmth…. Look. It’s here.” 
They followed the direction of his finger and stared in astonishment. An enormous, slender creature was weaving its way up toward them from the river depths. It was the strangest thing Kassa had ever seen. At first, it looked like an eyeless snake, but then he saw its pectoral fins paddling through the water like legs. Its body glowed with a faint, pearlescent luster. Two large airholes at the tip of its pointed face stayed closed under water, but when it surfaced, they opened with a shrill whistle. 
Yoyo whistled again for what seemed a long time. As if in answer, the creature huffed from its airholes. Then Yoyo took out a lump of dried goat meat and threw it. With a loud splash, the creature caught it in jaws lined with sharp teeth and gobbled it up. “Sootee Lan, Rider of the Water Currents, will carry us to Yonsa territory,” Yoyo said as he casually climbed on its back. 
Balsa looked at it doubtfully. “That Soo — whatever you called it … If it eats goat, it must be a meat eater, right?” 
“Sootee Lan. Yes, it’s a meat eater. It loves goat. We give it the carcasses of goats that have died of old age. It’s all right; we’re good friends with the Sootee Lan. It’s already agreed to take us, so hop on!” 
Balsa sighed and looked at Kassa. “Now I understand. We’ll travel the underground waterways. It will certainly be faster, but we might have preferred to walk, don’t you think?” 
“Mmm.” Kassa nodded. 
“You go first and I’ll sit at the back.” 
Kassa clambered nervously on behind Yoyo, then Balsa crouched down and slipped gingerly behind him. The creature’s skin was much drier than she had expected but it was extremely hard. To her surprise, it was also slightly warm. The water flowing past their lower legs was so cold it cut like a knife. Now she understood why Yoyo had made them rub their legs with yukkal juice. 
“Hold your spear in your left hand and grip my clothes tightly with your right,” Yoyo said. Kassa grabbed his shirt tightly in his fist while Balsa took hold of Kassa’s cloak. 
“Are — are you sure we’ll be all right, Yoyo? You said we’d die if we fell in.” 
“We’ll be fine, Kassa. Just grip tightly with your legs. Sootee Lan won’t try to buck you off or anything like that.” 
“He won’t dive underwater, will he?” Balsa asked. 
“What? Are you afraid too? Don’t worry — you’re with me! And off we go!” Yoyo whistled and Sootee Lan began gliding through the water. 
 
The capital of Kanbal spread out across a bowl-shaped valley, nestled in the heart of the Yusa mountains. Encircled by a large outer wall, it was like a giant version of the clan village. The King’s Road stretched from the main gate in the south straight through the city to the castle perched on top of a high hill deep inside. A heavy snow had fallen and the white against the damp, black stone of the walls created a strange beauty. 
The castle soared above the city, its sturdy walls rooted in solid bedrock. The numerous steeply roofed halls within were joined by covered corridors and topped by tall spires that split the air like spears. The city housed a force of a thousand soldiers from the king’s clan, as well as another thousand soldiers taken from each of the other nine clans and changed every ten years. At the moment, an elite troop of five hundred men had gathered within the castle walls. Their leather tents were pitched in the courtyard and smoke from their cooking fires hung thickly in the air. Clearly, they were preparing for war. 
King Radalle looked down into the courtyard from the meeting room at the top of a tower. His young face was pale and nervous. “It looks like we’re almost ready,” he said. He turned around to look at Yuguro, who was standing with his fingertips resting lightly on the huge meeting table. “The troops seem much calmer than I expected. That’s a relief. Once the priests perform the rites of power, we can go.” He brushed his fine brown hair back from his forehead and looked anxiously around the meeting room, checking to make sure that no one was there. “Are you sure it will be all right?” he whispered to Yuguro. Fear flickered in his eyes. “They say that the Darkness reads the hearts of men. If the hyohlu sense that we’re plotting against the Mountain King, they’ll attack.” 
Yuguro sighed inwardly, but outwardly he smiled. “Of course it will be all right. We’ve already gone over this many times. The hyohlu won’t enter the chamber until I’ve announced that I’ve been chosen as the Dancer and the Darkness falls. While the hyohlu and I dance, all you need to do is repeat hymns of praise to the Mountain King in your mind. It will all be over in no time. The Last Door will open and your soldiers will pour in to protect you. No matter what happens, you won’t be in any danger.” 

In fact, Yuguro was not in the least worried about the king. Radalle was a weak man; indeed, it was hard to believe that he was really Rogsam’s son. As soon as the hyohlu appeared, he would be so frightened that he would have no time to think or do anything but pray fervently that he be spared. The kings of Kanbal have never been more than figureheads. They’re just a symbol to unite the clans, Yuguro reminded himself. It makes no difference if the king is a coward: It’s the Dancer’s mettle that will be tested. 
“But …” The king looked at him with pleading eyes. “Will you be all right? It’s not that I don’t believe in your skill. But I can’t help but wonder — can you really prevent the hyohlu from reading your mind when you dance together?” 
Yuguro rapped the table with his knuckles. “We’ve gone over this time and again. As you know, my elder brother Jiguro was also chosen for the Spear Dance. Before we fought that last time, he gave me his gold ring and taught me everything he knew.” 
Yuguro’s eyes never wavered from the king’s. He knew very well that it was best to look people straight in the eye when lying, and the closer a lie was to the truth, the more true it sounded. He had realized when he was young that everyone had something they wanted to believe. If you told them what they wanted to hear, even if it was a lie, they would fall for it easily. The king was afraid, so he wanted someone to reassure him that he would not fail. 
“Your Majesty, the Spear Dance is the art of transcending oneself. The mind becomes as clear as water and the body moves of its own accord, as it has been drilled to do. Once I face the hyohlu, any enmity I might feel won’t matter, because one can’t cross spears with another unless one seeks to defeat him. The hyohlu will only be watching to see if I can reach a state of true nothingness and perform the dance well.” 
Yuguro felt almost no anxiety. He was confident that his skill was equal to the Spear Dance, and when his brother had taught him the dance on that overgrown riverbank in the mountains, there really had been no time to think. Besides, everyone has some evil in his heart, he reassured himself. He could not believe that all those who had met the hyohlu before had harbored no trace of fear, hate, or desire for luisha. Yet there had never been a ceremony in which they had not received the precious gem. 
I don’t care how many cowards the hyohlu kill, he thought. As long as I succeed in the Spear Dance, the rest will fall into place. The Yonsa Elder, Laloog, had told him what the hyohlu were. The information had made him shudder, and that was precisely why he had decided that none of the others should be told. If the warriors knew the true nature of the hyohlu, or why they could read the minds of men, some would be sure to waver in their resolution. That was what Yuguro feared. 
He laughed to himself, thinking of those he might face. I deceived you once before and I’ll deceive you again. I’ll put you to rest once and for all. Open the door to me, and vanish into the bottom of the Darkness. 
He moved closer to the king. “Your Majesty, your father, King Rogsam, commanded me to protect you. Therefore I must warn you never to show this kind of doubt until the ceremony is over.” He held the king’s gaze and said in a low voice, “The hyohlu who live in the Mountain Deep are not the only ones who can read the minds of men. This world is full of such enemies. The instant they sense any weakness in you, they’ll rip out your throat. King Rogsam knew that well.” 
He allowed his voice to soften into a more coaxing tone. “But of course, this doesn’t mean that men never feel any fear. My lord, if ever you are afraid, look to me. I will stand by your side to the end. I am your Spear.” 
The king blinked and nodded. Yuguro was not lying. He had protected and trained the king for the last ten years, since Radalle ascended the throne at the age of fifteen. And, just as Yuguro had intended, the king remained a puppet in his hands. King Rogsam had been rotten to the core, but his ability to see what was coming and utilize it to his advantage was brilliant. Radalle was his only son, born late into his marriage, and he had doted on him. Yet he had no illusions: Radalle was weak-willed, and, without support, he would be ousted from the throne by Rogsam’s brothers. When Rogsam realized that he was dying, he immediately took steps to ensure Radalle’s reign. 
Rogsam summoned Yuguro to the throne room, where they met alone. Yuguro remembered every moment of that meeting. Eight gold rings and a dagger rested on the table in front of the king, and with a laugh, he had given Yuguro a choice — to become a hero or to be slain on the spot as a rebel. He could, he claimed, create as many reasons to brand Yuguro a traitor as there were stars in the sky; and to underscore the point, he casually described the plot by which he himself had become king. He knew only too well that there was nothing Yuguro could do about it now, even if he wanted to; he would never be able to prove Jiguro’s innocence. 
Thus he laid out his proposal. Yuguro would travel to New Yogo, find Jiguro, and wrest the spear ring from him. He would return to Kanbal a hero, bearing all nine rings, and assume the role of Radalle’s chief Spear. Then Rogsam’s line would live on in the kings of Kanbal, and Yuguro would achieve all the prominence for which he’d hoped. 
To Yuguro, Rogsam’s proposal was like a dream come true. He felt no compunction whatsoever about deceiving his brother or becoming a hero by falsely claiming he had killed him. Thanks to Jiguro, he had spent much of his life hiding in the shadows, trying to avoid the contempt of the court. To use him as a stepping-stone into the light was a fitting revenge. Rogsam’s and Yuguro’s interests were thus perfectly aligned. 
Again, the fact that Radalle was so easily manipulated and timid proved fortunate for Rogsam. If he had been strong-willed, at some point he and Yuguro must inevitably have clashed, and then Yuguro might have allied himself with a different, more manageable prince. But Radalle would likely live out his days resting comfortably in the palm of Yuguro’s hand, and die without questioning the machinations that held him there. Rogsam was sure Yuguro would protect his son in order to maintain his own position as a hero. What better plot than this? 
But even Rogsam failed to foresee that Yuguro’s ambitions would far exceed what he imagined. While Jiguro was teaching him the Spear Dance, Yuguro had a sudden revelation: None of those who had experienced the last Giving Ceremony would be the right age to participate in the next one. He had hurried back to Kanbal, his heart dancing with a new vision that expanded in front of him — a vast and untouched plain just waiting for his hand to change it. All the young heroes who had shone as Spears by preserving the ancient traditions were dead. If he could consolidate his power and win the trust of the young warriors before the next ceremony, he should be able to develop enough military might to overthrow the Mountain King. Those who were too steeped in tradition to change, who stood in awe of the Mountain King, would by that time be too old to interfere. If he could gain free access to luisha, fulfilling the dream of every Kanbalese, his name would never be forgotten. This was the road by which he would become a true hero. 
He smiled at the young king. “Tomorrow we’ll set out to create a new history for Kanbal.” 
 
Sootee Lan glided swiftly and effortlessly along the underground waterway. Kassa feared he would fall off at first, but he soon relaxed and then stared around him in wonder. What surprised him most was the fact that the caves were teeming with life. At first glance the ice-cold water appeared empty, but many fish and water insects swam within it, their transparent bodies glittering. Countless holes dotted the lyokuhaku and hakuma walls, and here and there Kassa caught glimpses of movement inside. A beautiful, flutelike sound echoed off the stone and down the branch tunnels, creating a complex melody before fading away again. 
At first Kassa was so absorbed in this strange new underground world that he had no time to feel bored, but as time passed, he became increasingly uncomfortable. The worst thing was not being able to see the light of day. Although togal gave him the ability to see, he desperately missed the gentle touch of sunlight soaking into his body. 
At noon on the first day, Yoyo left them in the care of another Herder, who was waiting for them on a rock ledge in Yonsa territory. Kassa felt somewhat forlorn when Yoyo disappeared from sight, as though his last connection to the Musa land had dissolved with his friend. Their new guide was darkly tanned and looked to be in his late thirties. He grinned when he saw Balsa. 
“I suppose you don’t remember me, do you?” he said. “We used to play together.” 
“Really?” Balsa stared intently at his small face. 
He laughed and shook his head. “Well, I’m not surprised. You were only five at the time. But I remember you very well. You were quite a handful! When I showed you a goat, you insisted on riding it and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I let you try, just as a joke, but you actually rode it surprisingly well.” 
Balsa, embarrassed, rubbed the back of her neck. “Really? Did I do that?” 
“You sure did. I was very sad when I heard that you’d died, and very surprised when I got Toto the Elder’s message. They had to repeat it for me twice! When I knew you really were alive, well, I just had to meet you again, so I volunteered for this job.” 
Kassa was grinning, and Balsa laughed and shrugged. 
As they rode Sootee Lan smoothly through the dark caves, the Herder, whose name was Nono, continued to regale Balsa with detailed stories of things she barely remembered. It was odd to think that someone still recalled the time when she had been Karuna’s daughter. To relieve the monotony and fatigue of the journey, she responded to his questions about her life after she fled with Jiguro. The memories came flooding back with remarkable clarity: the hard days of hiding; the pleasures of her friendships with Tanda and Torogai; her work as an itinerant bodyguard. She told them about her adventures with Chagum, the Guardian of the Spirit, and Nono and Kassa listened as if it were some ancient and fascinating legend. But at one point, Nono interrupted her. 
“Nayugu?” he murmured. “You said it’s another world, usually invisible to us, but laid over and linked with this one? That sounds like Noyook.” 
“Noyook?” 
“Yes. We too know of this other world. And we call it Noyook.” He twisted his head to look back at Balsa. “If you see the door open in the Mountain Deep, you’ll get a glimpse of it. The palace of the Mountain King is usually invisible, because it’s in Noyook.” 
Balsa smiled wryly. Nono looked puzzled. “What?” he asked. 
“Nothing. It’s just that up until now, in my work as a bodyguard, I’ve mostly dealt with problems like fighting between rich merchants. But lately, I keep running into this mysterious world! It’s strange stuff for someone who knows nothing about magic weaving.” 
The familiar, carefree face of her friend Tanda came to her mind. He would love to take a trip like this, as he always longed to learn more about the strange and extraordinary. Balsa was not really interested in an invisible world regardless of what it was called, but Tanda would be thrilled if she told him that in Kanbal it was called Noyook. 
To Balsa, deep under the rock of the mother range, Tanda’s hut in the forested mountains of New Yogo seemed very far away. Since the day she and Jiguro had first found their way there when she was ten, they had always returned to that house, no matter where they traveled. It was the closest thing to home that she knew. She pictured the slanting rays of the sun falling across the hearth. Will I ever sit by that fire again and share some stew with Tanda? When she thought about what lay ahead of her, this did not seem possible. 
If I die at the ceremony … He would probably still wait for her by that same hearth, without ever knowing what had happened to her. 
She took a deep breath and shook her head. It can’t be helped. Magic weavers can see spirits, right, Tanda? If I die, I’ll come back to you as a spirit. 
Soon, four days had passed since their departure from Musa territory. The Herder People had been careful to stop when it was night in the outside world so Balsa and Kassa could keep to their sleeping patterns. Their guides from each clan were very kind, but still Kassa and Balsa talked less and less as they drew closer to the ceremony chamber. 
On the night of the fourth day, two Herders from the king’s territory met them when they stopped. One was quite old and the other young. “From here, we’ll walk,” they said. Balsa and Kassa thanked Sootee Lan and bid him farewell. 
Before they had gone far, they came to a cave shaped like a small plaza. Unlike the other caves they had been through, there was no sign of life, and the space was filled with silence. While she sensed no living creatures, Balsa was overcome by a strange sensation. It seemed as if the very air was watching them. 
The Herders stopped, and the older one pointed to a window-sized hole on the far side of the cave. “That hole leads to the ceremony chamber. Go and take a look.” 
They did as they were told, placing both hands on the edge to peer inside. Just a few steps lower down, they saw a bright space enveloped in a hazy, pearly light. 
“Tomorrow at dawn, the king, his Spears, and their attendants will descend into the ceremony chamber.” 
“What’s that light?” Kassa asked. 
“The walls of the chamber are alive,” the old man said in a hushed voice. “When the day of the ceremony draws near, it begins to glow like this. By that light, the King’s Spears compete with each other. When the chosen one summons the hyohlu, the light will vanish and complete Darkness will fall.” 
He looked at Balsa. “You’re Jiguro’s foster child, I hear.” 
“Yes.” 
“Thirty-five years ago, I watched from this hole as Jiguro fought. He was unparalleled.” 
Balsa nodded. He shifted his eyes to Kassa. “Do you have the letter from Laloog Yonsa?” 
Kassa pulled a goatskin scroll from inside his shirt. The string tying it was sealed with wax that bore Laloog’s seal. 
“Good. Listen then. You’ll have only one chance to show that scroll. If you reveal yourself before the spear fight begins, the king will think you’re interfering, his men will attack you, and you’ll have no chance to escape. But if you wait until after the chosen one summons the hyohlu, you’ll be in pitch darkness and unable to read the letter. 
“The only chance you have to address the warriors and the king is after the chosen one announces himself, but before he summons the hyohlu — a very brief moment in time. Once the Dancer is chosen, all the other warriors must place their spears on the ground. If you speak at that moment, you’ll still have a chance to escape, no matter what happens afterward. Even if the men plan to storm the Mountain King’s palace, they must obey the rules of the ceremony until the hyohlu opens the Last Door. Do you understand what you must do?” 
Trembling, Kassa clutched the scroll and nodded. The old man smiled for the first time. “Good. You will sleep here tonight. Even if you can’t sleep, it will help just to close your eyes and rest. We’ll make sure to wake you up before the king and his men arrive.” 
Setting down a bag of dried grasses and goatskins that he had been carrying, the young Herder quickly made up their beds. Kassa crawled inside but could not sleep. The words he must call out to the warriors kept spinning through his mind, keeping him awake. There seemed to be a cold board in his stomach, and light flashed behind his eyelids at every little sound. 
He tossed and turned until Balsa laid her warm hand gently on his shoulder. Slowly and quietly she rubbed his back, and he felt himself relax a little. 
The silence underground seeped inside him, and before he knew it, he was asleep.