by C. L. Stone
The top floor had bedrooms. She gave us a room to ourselves. I thought it odd we would share a room, but she only had so many and she’d filled the others with our competition. We were the last to arrive, and got the last room at the furthest end of the house.
Others she had collected under her wing were given an escort of her choosing, like Sota, only Sota was the only one who was a foreigner. Everyone else was a local to the Immortal City. I wondered how he managed to become an escort, trusted by Mrs. Satsu.
After we had dropped off our bags and the Taka in the room we had been given, Mrs. Satsu had us join her in the school room. She had one of the maids, a mature woman with a plump pumpkin bottom, to fetch the others to join us.
This took several minutes. I wasn’t sure where the others had been hiding, but apparently, they had all been sitting in their rooms, waiting for this moment.
Two by two, people entered. At first was a young girl, who I guessed to be fifteen, came in, wearing a plain indigo house kimono. With her was a female escort, wearing similar, but identified with a dagger tied to her waist.
Three more girls entered, with male escorts, as did two boys, also with male escorts.
They all gazed at us with either disinterest or hatred, even as they smiled. I was startled at first until I realized why. Six others. Ryuu and I made eight. One position.
Did they want it that badly? Even if we weren’t selected for the special position she mentioned to us in private, they were all qualified for positions through the regular registration.
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 girl 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 classic beauty 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 semi-circle facing Mrs. Satsu at the front of the room. Ryuu 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 this.” She took 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 him 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. Disobeying her is defying a future empress, and may cost you your life. But don’t think you can walk out of here any time 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.
Mrs. Satsu went on, introducing us to the rules while we were in her house. Lessons were picked by our escorts, and it depended on our talents and 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 maid’s 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.
And then I wondered why we were all being told this. Didn’t the others know? Or was I not the only new one so she was just announcing this to everyone to cover the basics?
Mrs. Satsu continued. “I will instruct your escorts every morning on what you’ll do that day. You will listen to your escort, 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. 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.
Despite knowing the danger, I still held my desire to stay and learn. Mrs. Satsu went on about house rules, about how we supposed to treat each other with the upmost respect, even if we were competition.
“With my help, you’re all more likely to gain at least some sort of position, even if 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, and into the control of our escorts.
5
BATHED
Sota finally allowed Ryuu and me to eat. He escorted us to our room upstairs in the main house, and then disappeared, and in a few minutes, he returned with a tray.
We were given bowls of miso soup, fried fish, and a platter of fresh berries, some of which I’d never seen before.
We ate with relish. “How come she gets more than I do,” Ryuu asked Sota.
I hadn’t noticed until we started, but my amount of 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. I felt I had swallowed an entire melon whole after I was done, and wanted to sleep.
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.
It was late afternoon now, with the sun warming up the autumn air. Sota accompanied us out of Mrs. Satsu’s home.
I drifted along behind Sota, occasionally reaching out to Ryuu when I’d stumble over a hump in the road because I wasn’t paying attention. The heavy food in my stomach had me feeling very sleepy.
Ryuu caught my elbow and guided me to stop me from tripping so much.
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, each one already had white puffy steam clouds billowing.
I followed Sota inside a formal entryway. We traded our shoes for wooden slippers. A woman greeted us, bowing low and welcoming us inside. She was mature, with tiny eyes that seemed to always be closed, and 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 was heady with the 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 followed 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, and it was sunken in, so 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.
“I guess I get my own bath,” he said and 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 took off my pants, leaving on the peasant shirt hanging over my waist to cover me. From there, I paused, hesitating. It wasn’t modesty. I grew up with other boys and girls swimming naked in the sea 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 bath water, like brewing some sort of magic potion. Even the color changed to pink.
I approached the water, peering into it and all the swirling, dissolving salts and oils. The area 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 from it. “I need you to wash before you get in.”
I’d read about this. I had a washbasin at home, and never had a bath, at least not since I was little and could fit into a tiny tub.
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 raised; the blue eyes curious. “This is my job,” he said.
“Do you have someone do this for you?” I asked. Was it a culture experience I wasn’t aware of from the city? It seemed like a trivial task, and I didn’t see how I needed anyone else to do this.
He pressed his lips together calmly. He reached for my feet gently, enclosing them in his touch and 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.”
“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 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 positon, 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 that 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 amounts of people outside the walls, and wondered what parts they played in providing for the royal family and the court.
Where would I fit in?
Sota quietly urged me to allow him to take one foot his hands. He dropped a handful of water on the surface.
“Close your eyes if that will help,” he said to me as he worked in the soaps into my skin. “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 sooths 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 cleared from my body.
It surprised me as he moved along that my skin tone was actually much paler than I’d known it. My skin was soft, too. It was a strange to me.
When he was finished, he draped a towel around my torso, and guided me toward the bath.
It was still warm to the touch, but I adjusted quickly and sank in.
I’d never felt anything so luxurious. I’d swam in the sea, but this was different. I could sit comfortably with the water up to my shoulders. Sota made a pillow out of a towel, and told me to simply relax and allow the pink water to soak into my skin.
“I need to go take care of Ryuu,” he said quietly. “I’ll be back later.” He bowed his head to me and left.
I thought I would sleep, but I remained awake in a sort of half dozing state, staring at the paper walls.
I still felt Sota’s hands washing my body. I blushed now, having forced myself not to think about it before. He had been gentle, and so focused, it was easy to forget what he was doing to me.
In the deepest parts of my heart, I desired that. I came to realize if I didn’t earn my place within a court, this could disappear.
I had to do something. Could I go back to my peasant life after this? Could I starve in the winter and not be bitter about what others had?
In a way, it was torture to think this could all disappear in a couple of weeks.
This brought a new resolution inside me, to be determined to earn a place so I could belong.
I heard a voice, and thought it was Ryuu and Sota next door, but the voice was strange to me, and coming from the opposite room.
“That’s not enough.” The voice was deep, a man’s. “If you want her eliminated, you’ll have to give me a higher percentage.”
My eyes opened wide. I wasn’t moving at all, so the water was still, and I was silent. I didn’t dare say anything, but my heart was thundering in my chest.
A softer voice spoke, feminine and so light I couldn’t hear it.
The masculine voice spoke, low as well, and I only caught a few words. “…what you’re asking will kill her.”
There was more, but I couldn’t hear it.
I stared at the ceiling, afraid to move. I clenched my hands into fists, and then released to feel the
tiles of the bath’s seat below me.
It could have been a thousand things they were talking about, but I couldn’t imagine they were talking about anything other than eliminating the competition within the selection.
And then I heard his voice again. “If you asked my opinion, if you’re going this far, may as well get them all.”
I sunk lower into the water as if I could hide in it.
The water lapped at my movement, and splashed against the tile on the other side.
The voices next door turned into more whispers, and then ceased.
It didn’t matter to me who they were talking about and why. It brought to light the desperation I felt in wanting to secure a position might be shared with others.
And some would kill for it.
I didn’t know what to do. Time passed, and my heart was beating so quickly, as if counting down the seconds. I listened for more, and yet wished not to hear anything.
I shouldn’t have heard this.
Sota returned, and I was still in the bath. He told me to step out and waited nearby with a large towel to wrap myself in.
I stared at him, thinking to tell him about what I heard, and then wondered if I should. Sota I liked, but telling him this meant I was getting involved. Honor demanded I reported what sounded like a conspiracy to commit a crime, but telling Sota put him in the middle.
However, I didn’t know who to tell. Did I dare bring this to Ryuu? Or Mrs. Satsu?
Should I keep it to myself and forget about it?
I didn’t think I could. I had a sinking feeling I shouldn’t, that I needed to think this out, but we may be losing time. The people next door could commit a crime at any moment.
“Sota,” I said. “Do you know the woman who owns this bath house?”
“I know her well enough,” he said. “Why?”
