Placeholder for discussion of Book 2.

Okay, I'm here now. LOL!  I think I left off on page 244 last night.  I'll finish this section tonight for sure. 

As I mentioned in the thread for the previous section, I am enjoying the wandering samurai's adventures.  I was a bit confused by the brief section about Lady Utsu.  She has apparently aged several years, is in the service of an Empress and has heard the voice of a young man which is familiar to her.  I'm confused by this.  At first I thought the man was Matsuhitso, but she refers to him as a "young man," so that can't be it.  I guess time will clear this mystery up.

Another observation is that I don't feel the "love" between Matsuhitso and Lady Utsu.  I mean Matsuhitso seems to remember the Lady quite well and is, after all, seeking her, so apparently he was in love.  In the passage I just read on Lady Utsu, though, she can't even remember Matsuhitso's name and after some deliberation even though she has some fondness for "the man who was her bodyguard during the plague," she seems to classify her time with Matsuhitso as an "encounter."  LOL!  This is certainly not some passionate love story! 

One more thing that may actual belong in the previous section's discussion - I'm at work, though, without the book to refer to and in case it's not in that section, I'll ask my question in this thread so as not to spoil any surprises for anyone.  Apparently the guy in the hut in the mountains is the monk that eventually writes down the story of the four children and is one of the four children.  Matsuhitso, of course, is another one of the four.  In the part where Matsuhitso finds out that the man in the hut also knows the story of the four children, it is implied that Matsuhitso also knows that Lady U is one of the four children.  Huh? Had that been determined yet?  I know at the very beginning of the book Lady U's daughter tells us that Lady U is one of the four, but I don't believe we've ever heard the story on Lady U.  How is she one of the four children?  Did I miss something?

Boy, I'm confused!! Help!

I'm having a hard time following who is who and stories come along I'm not sure if it is a character I've met or not.

Having said that, I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would after the first part.  I'm finding myself wanting to know more about the story.

Is anyone else finding that there is nothing that specifically places it in a timeframe for them? If the back of the book didn't say that it was Medieval Japan, it could have been set any time.