Favored (Among the Favored Book 1)

by Stone, C. L.

  Did they want it that badly? Even if we weren’t selected for the special position she had mentioned to us in private, they were all qualified for positions through the regular registration. Wouldn’t her seal of approval at least give them a leg up in such a case?

  I couldn’t identify where they were from, but their clothes were far nicer than what I wore, and they were so clean and appeared sophisticated. The youngest, the girl with a female escort, had plump cheeks and tiny features. The other girls, while more mature, were just as beautiful in their own ways: slender, with oval faces that were considered classically beautiful among the people of Kuni.

  My face was smudged with dirt. My clothes had holes and gave me no shape. My hair was long and wild. I felt like a cow brought into a flower shop.

  They all knelt in a semicircle facing Mrs. Satsu at the front of the room, all sitting beyond arm’s reach from each other. Ryuu, Shima and I were the only ones who sat together. Escorts knelt behind us.

  Mrs. Satsu addressed us. “Now that everyone is here, we will begin training. You’re my students until this selection is over, unless you are disqualified for any reason prior to that time.” She spent a long time looking at each of us. “Where is Apricot?”

  I gazed at her other students, pondering who she meant.

  “She left just as we were coming in,” Sota said behind me. I twisted to look at him, but he focused on Mrs. Satsu with a displeased expression. “Her escort was running to catch up with her.”

  “Foolish girl,” she said. She shook her head. “Apricot has already been selected by His Majesty. She is betrothed to be one of his seven wives, and their wedding will take place after this registration is over. It would be in your best interest to get on her good side. To disobey her is to defy a future empress, and it may cost you your life. But don’t think you can walk out of here anytime you wish like she likes to do.”

  My heart threatened to explode in my chest. A future empress lived here, in this house? Why didn’t she live in a palace? Perhaps she couldn’t until they were married. And why run off? Wasn’t that dangerous?

  Mrs. Satsu went on, introducing us to the rules we were to follow while in her house. Lessons were picked by our escorts and depended on our talents. They included everything from politics and economics to how to pour tea and dress befitting someone who lived in a palace.

  “You are not allowed in the storehouse, kitchens or the maids’ house,” she said. “Food will be brought to you in your rooms, with special diets considered for each person. You will eat what you are given. When you dine with His Majesty, you must learn to eat what he likes.”

  Ryuu leaned into me to whisper, “I hope he doesn’t like shellfish. I’m allergic.”

  I smothered a grin. I wondered what would happen if you refused to eat in front of the emperor.

  Sota nudged my back, and I checked in with him. He motioned for me to be quiet and pay attention.

  Shima seemed disinterested. He gazed silently at the floor. I wasn’t sure he was paying attention, but Sota didn’t bother nudging him.

  Mrs. Satsu continued. “I will instruct your escorts every morning on what you’ll do that day. You will listen to your escorts and do as they tell you. When you eat, when you sleep, when you read or think or bathe, they are now in full control of your schedule. You are not allowed to leave this house without them.”

  She went on about not touching anything unless we were told. “Disobey, and you may find yourself kicked out, on your own.” She gave us a learned look. “If you think my rules are strict, the palace will be much more dangerous for you. The wrong move could see your life ended.” With that, she slid a finger across her wrinkled neck.

  I touched my own, feeling my skin and the thud of my heart pumping so wildly. My life. What were we signing up for? Was this worth it?

  A smooth, soothing hand touched the small of my back. Sota leaned in behind me and whispered in a confident tone, “I won’t let it happen.”

  I was surprised by this, but he did calm my nerves.

  Shima and Ryuu glanced at him.

  Shima leaned into him and spoke. “What about us?” he asked. “What if we get in? Will you protect us, too?”

  Sota pressed his lips together solemnly and nodded but said nothing further.

  Despite knowing the danger, I still desired to stay and learn. Mrs. Satsu went on about house rules and how we supposed to treat each other with the utmost respect, even if we were competitors.

  “With my help, you’re all more likely to gain at least some sort of position, even if you’re not selected for our primary goal. Look around you. You are sitting with future ministers or advisors of His Majesty. Disharmony now means discord all your life if you behave rudely.”

  With that, she snapped her fingers and waved us away, into the control of our escorts. I pondered, as I would for the following weeks, if spending this winter starving back home wouldn’t be better for my health in the long run.

  BATHED

  AFTER THE INTRODUCTION from Mrs. Satsu, Sota allowed Ryuu, Shima and me into the room we’d be calling home for the next few weeks.

  “Stay here and I’ll bring food,” he said. He snapped the paper door closed and his footsteps quieted as he walked down the hall.

  “How much would you wager he’ll bring us small bowls of rice only?” Ryuu asked and then patted his stomach. He stood by the room’s only window and gazed out. “Smell all that wonderful goodness? Someone’s frying.”

  Shima stood by the door, absently scratching his forearm. He looked around the room and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I should check on the oxen.”

  “Oh no,” Ryuu said. “You’re not leaving me and her alone with Sota. Personally, I don’t think I could take him by myself if he tried anything funny.”

  “He’s not going to try something funny,” I said.

  “We don’t know him that well,” Ryuu said. “To be honest, I don’t know if I even trust Mrs. Satsu. This could all be a trick to keep us detained in her big house or distract us so we don’t register at all. Take out the competition for someone else.”

  “Let’s not talk here,” Shima said. He nodded his head toward the paper walls.

  He was right to be suspicious. The walls were thin, and when we fell silent, we heard very little. Not that we were talking loudly before, but anyone next door could have heard us.

  Ryuu motioned to Shima and myself to sit on the floor in a tight circle, until our knees were touching. He leaned in. “How quiet do we need to be?” he whispered.

  “Do we have to be so secretive?” I asked. “It’s not like we don’t know what we’re all here for.”

  “We should still be cautious,” Ryuu said.

  The Taka was on the low table, still in his cage. At that moment, he started to whistle a tune. It was a soft tune, but he kept it going for a full couple of minutes.

  “Maybe someone can teach him to sing more,” Shima said. “It could mask our voices.” As if in response, Taka started another round of soft whistling.

  “Shima, you’re brilliant,” Ryuu said. He went to the cage and opened the door, leaving it hanging so the Taka could come out.

  He instantly took flight across the room, landing on my shoulder. I tilted my head awkwardly away from him and he started to whistle.

  “Just sit normally,” Ryuu said. “He’ll adjust to you.”

  “It’s his big beak,” I said. I tried to sit normally, but it was hard not to tilt my head just feeling him nearby. “I’m afraid he’ll bite me.”

  “You’re the last one he’d bite,” Ryuu said.

  The door to the room slid open and Sota entered, carrying an overburdened tray. He balanced it with ease, without a crease of concern over his dark brow.

  He placed it on the low table, taking Taka’s cage off it to make room. He glanced at us, over on the floor together. “You should know before I serve this, this house isn’t built on generosity. If you stay here, if you eat the foo
d prepared, you should be putting forth your best effort to repay Mrs. Satsu.”

  I was shocked into silence for a moment, my tongue moving but no sounds coming forth. Repay?

  “I’ve nothing to offer her,” Shima said, saying the words I was struggling to come up with.

  “It isn’t necessarily coin she needs,” he said. “She puts herself at risk allowing other people into her house. We must respect her rules, and do our best to show loyalty.”

  It was like he’d heard Ryuu speaking just now. I paled, fearing he thought we were conspiring. “We don’t wish anyone harm,” I said. “But if this competition is as dangerous as suggested, how careful do we need to be?”

  Sota picked up a bowl, passing it to Shima, though he looked at me and spoke. “You’ve decided to trust these two,” he said, motioning to Ryuu and Shima. “And you’ve trusted me. You should start with trust until proven otherwise, but don’t get carried away.”

  We were given bowls of miso soup, fried fish, and a platter of fresh berries, some of a sort I hadn’t seen before.

  The four of us ate together at the table, with Taka eating from my plate, particularly the fish and berries. At first, I discouraged it, as was my habit when birds tried to eat my vegetables from the garden back home, but Sota had loaded my dishes with portions that were more than enough.

  “How come she gets more than I do?” Ryuu asked Sota.

  I hadn’t noticed until we started, but my fish and berries were double the size of Ryuu’s.

  “She needs it,” he said quietly and knelt nearby with his own bowl of miso. He sipped it while watching us eat. “If she can’t finish, you can have the rest.”

  I couldn’t finish, and Ryuu got more. Shima had more than the both of us, with double the helping of rice and miso.

  I felt I had swallowed an entire melon whole after I was done. The fullness in my stomach made me sleepy, especially after walking all this way into the city.

  Only Sota wouldn’t allow it. “It’s time to change,” he said.

  I thought he meant to just give us new kimono and was surprised when he said we’d be leaving the house.

  With the sun warming up the autumn air as it descended in the western sky, we were ushered down the stairs and through quiet halls. Sota accompanied us out of Mrs. Satsu’s home.

  Part of me was sleepwalking as we followed Sota.

  I drifted along behind Shima, occasionally reaching out to Ryuu when I’d stumble over a hump in the road because I wasn’t paying attention. The drowsiness was overwhelming.

  Ryuu caught my elbow and guided me to stop me from tripping so much. “Tell me we aren’t going far,” he said to Sota. “I don’t think I can carry her back.”

  “I can carry her,” Shima said.

  “I’m her escort,” Sota said. “I do the carrying.”

  “I mean, couldn’t this have waited until we’d rested properly?” Ryuu asked.

  “No,” Sota said. “From this point on, you won’t be so dirty.”

  “I’m not dirty,” Ryuu said. He looked over at Shima. “He’s worse than I am.” Shima grunted.

  Sota stopped at a bathhouse. I only recognized it by the sign out front. I’d read about them in books. Our village didn’t have one. It was a large building, flat-faced and painted white. The top had several chimneys, puffy white clouds of steam already billowing from each one.

  I followed Sota inside a formal entryway, where we traded our shoes for wooden slippers. A woman greeted us, bowing low and welcoming us inside. She was mature, with tiny eyes that always seemed to be closed, and she wore a light servant’s kimono.

  Sota spoke to her and held up two fingers. “And I need them next to each other.”

  The woman bowed her head and ushered us through a narrow hallway decorated with hanging tapestries depicting images of women bathing in ponds and hot springs. The hall was lined with sliding paper doors, all closed. The area was steamy, too hot for my taste, the air thick with the heady scent of oil and mixed fragrances. I was unsure if there were rules on how to behave in a bathhouse, so I kept my hands to my sides and mimicked Sota’s mannerisms.

  The woman stopped in front one of the sliding doors and rolled it open without a sound. She bowed to us, allowing us to enter ahead of her.

  The room had a bamboo floor, lacquered thickly and with a drain in the center. Near the far wall next to a window was a large tiled bath, big enough for three large people, sunken so that the lip was level with the bamboo floor. There were steps you could walk down into, or sit on. The bath was already filled with steaming water. There was a table nearby with a tray laden with bowls of salts, oils and herbs.

  “If you’ll come with me,” the woman said quietly to Ryuu and Shima.

  “I guess we get our own bath,” Ryuu said. He glanced at me and then motioned for Shima to follow. They moved on with the woman to the next room over. I could see their shadows through the paper walls.

  “Get undressed,” Sota said, and he went to the table nearby. He picked up the salt dish, took it to the bath, and poured half of it into the hot water.

  I stood aside, removing my shoes and pants, leaving my long peasant shirt on to cover me. From there, I paused, hesitating. It wasn’t modesty. I had grown up swimming naked in the sea with other boys and girls for much of the summer while my parents were alive. I was waiting to see if there was some protocol and was distracted as he kept putting different things into the bathwater, like brewing some sort of magic potion. Even the color changed to pink.

  I approached the water, peering at all the swirling, dissolving salts and oils. The air filled with the scent of berries and sugar. It was appealing. I bent down to test the temperature.

  He stopped me before I could stick my fingers in. He took my wrist and pulled me away. “I need you to wash before you get in.”

  I’d read about this. I had a washbasin at home but had never had a bath, at least not since I was little and could fit into a tiny tub. However, there were books that described elaborate bathhouses, and how one washed before soaking.

  Sota brought me to the side of the room that had the drain and dragged over a small stool. He brought another tray over with supplies.

  He had me sit on the tiny stool. I reached for the washcloth to get started when he patted my hand to ward me off.

  “I have to clean you,” he said without looking at my face. He sorted through cloths and soaps and then moved to a bucket that had been sitting nearby, filled with water. He brought it close to where I was sitting and knelt in front of me.

  I retracted myself, curling up into a small ball onto the stool with my arms around my knees. “I can wash myself,” I said. “I’ll be careful to do a good job and get all the dirt out.”

  His eyebrow rose and his blue eyes lit up with curiosity and patience. “This is my job,” he said.

  “Do you have someone do this for you?” I asked. Was it a cultural experience I wasn’t aware of from the city? It seemed like a trivial task, and I didn’t see why I needed anyone else to do this.

  He pressed his lips together calmly, gently reaching for my feet, enclosing them in his hands as he looked at my face. “Mizuki,” he said softly. “If you enter the Immortal City, or are given a position, this will be your life. I am to take care of you. I bathe, dress and feed you. I choose what you wear, what your schedule will be, and who you surround yourself with.”

  “But why?” I asked him. “I don’t understand. Don’t you have more important things to do?”

  “You are that important thing,” he said and then coughed, shaking his head. “I mean, my job is to provide you with all the things you need. From this point on, I give you everything, so you can do what you’re asked to do. It relieves your mind of the burden of thinking of trivial things so you can focus on what’s imperative.”

  “What is it that I have to think about?”

  “That’s what we’re going to find out,” he said. “Whether you become a minister or are selected for this
secret position, your life will be filled with obligations. In the meantime, what I’m doing here is what we’ll be doing from now on. If it isn’t me in particular bathing and dressing you, it will be someone else taking care of you. The choice is yours, of course, but for the moment, let me show you what will be done.”

  I frowned. Not that I didn’t appreciate him being so patient and teaching me what would be expected of me, but there was so much I didn’t know. Did I think the emperor bathed himself? Did his wives or ministers? I thought of the massive numbers of people outside the walls and wondered what parts they played in providing for the royal family and the court, for every little job to be done.

  Where would I fit in?

  Sota quietly urged me to allow him to take one foot into his hands. He dropped a handful of water on the surface of my skin.

  “Close your eyes if that will help,” he said to me as he lathered soap. “Use the time to think.”

  “What do I think about?”

  “Right now, just clear your mind. Think of things that make you happy. Or of nothing at all. Whatever soothes you. If you can’t use your mind for planning what’s next, you should relax your mind so it is ready for whatever is ahead of you.”

  I spent the time starting to think of my home but found it depressed me. What did make me happy?

  A full stomach, which I had.

  Warmth, and the room was plenty warm.

  Could I want more than this? I didn’t think so, except perhaps that I’d get the same again tomorrow.

  If I listened to Sota, I could get this for the rest of my life.

  This thought made what came next easier. Sota scrubbed me all over, in some ways that were painful as he scraped away dead skin and dried dirt between my toes and deep in crevices I’d never bothered to clean much before.

  He started slow, and with a sponge and the collection of soaps and other potions, he washed me.

  From foot to head, and even my hair, until every piece of sand and dirt was cleared from my body.