It’s interesting to note that Otoyomegatari seems to have transitioned to more “masculine” themes in the past several chapters.  It’s certainly an enlightened story that celebrates strong and powerful women, but to a certain extent Mori Kaoru always writes in a fashion that reflects the context of the setting.  The bulk of the series has focused on matters of pre-eminence in the life of women and girls in this region at the end of the 19th Century – things like marriage and craftwork – though characters like Amir and Pariya certainly show prowess in areas normally reserved for men in this time and place.

Mori-sensei has taken an interesting direction recently though.  First she took an extended look at Karluk in a classic male coming-of-age arc – and brilliantly no, needless to say.  Now we’ve moved on to Mr. Smith and Ali, and the focus has turned to matters like politics and warfare – normally the purview of men in this setting, certainly.  And not only that, this time we touch on another theme of importance to males in Turkic society of the time – revenge.  It would be nice to believe what we see here is a relic of the past in this part of the world, but the sad truth is that revenge killing is one old tradition that hasn’t totally disappeared.

For the first time (that I remember, anyway) we get a look at Mr. Hawking, the friend who awaits Mr. Smith in Ankara.  And anxiously too, because his friend is behind schedule and Hawking knows all too well that Mr. Smith is a man whose curiosity can get the better of him.  He dispatches one of his local contacts to hunt for Smith on the road – and to bring back any news of Russia’s movements in the region (which are highly aggressive). Hawking is smart enough to realize that the potential exists for things to turn very ugly in this part of the world – and it’s clear Mr. Smith’s father back in England is very worried for his son’s safety.

And well he should be, by the look of things.  The caravan is traversing a perilous mountain path (I don’t think it’s inaccurate to say Ali is enjoying the act of scaring Mr. Smith a bit).  The caravan comes to a temporary halt when they run across a mountain man, desperate to trade animal skins for some flour.  Turns out this fellow is in hiding from the family seeking revenge against him, and has been secreted in these remote mountains for sixteen years.  Smith is shocked, but Ali is not – to him, this sort of vendetta is a social norm.  It’s another hard lesson for Mr. Smith that he’s no longer in his comfort zone, but I suspect things are going to get even more uncomfortable for him before this arc is done.