Noon set for the departure

Mariko sets noon for the departure. Kiri backs her but asks why Toranaga, who had Kiri plant the idea of the Emperor's presence in Ochiba's mind, would spring the trap on himself; Mariko cannot say. Ishido has put twenty Grays around Blackthorne, so Yoshinaka seats the pair on the far dais of the audience room where they can talk in Latin. Blackthorne accuses Toranaga of using them all as bait and calls her a liar; she admits the challenge was deliberate, on orders, "because Ishido's a peasant and he must let us go". If she is stopped tomorrow she will come to him at night. Mariko waves gaily from the forecourt and leaves with ten Browns and fifty Grays, never looking back. Blackthorne sets a stone on the parapet to watch it grow. Aboard the Santa Luz, Rodrigues, summoned by Ferriera, prays to be spared the Evil Eye. Eight bells: high noon.

A chapter of waiting, built around a question Mariko will not answer: why would Toranaga spring the trap on himself? Clavell keeps Blackthorne's accusation of bait in play so that the reader shares his suspicion. The stone on the parapet and the eight bells are two clocks running at once.