Royal Intrigue

A Spark In The Dark?

When Kaiki's latest scroll was delivered to Metori's chamber she thought little of it. The man had been sending her bits and pieces of information in the same plain bamboo tubes for months. Nothing special to look at, but good for storage. The bits on languages and different countries had been carefully added to her personal shelves and labeled with small pieces of paper that fluttered in the wind as it blew through her chambers. Sometimes she liked to think of them as butterflies or other small creatures, free in the wind. As interesting as the things he sent were, they were not particularly useful to her end goal and therefore she simply left the latest scroll with her coorespondance for later the next day.

She had almost forgotten that she had received something from him until late in the afternoon the next day. Having spent the humid and horridly suffocating morning near her pond, wishing she was young enough to still dip her legs in the water and splash them around instead of waiting for her ladies to fan her, she hadn't thought of her pile of letters at all. Then a quick trip to the bath house after lunch had cooled her some, making her thankful for the clean linen robes waiting for her afterwards. The rougher fabric not as pretty as silk, but still comfortable and dyed in some of her favorite colours. Her hair had even been piled loosely on her head, servants ensuring that she was screened as she walked from the baths to her quarters, all attemps to looking court appropriate gone in view of the relentless heat.

Thankfully, around the dinner hour a nice breeze had begun to blow across her pond and she asked for a small table and all of her work to be brought to her, placing herself directly in the middle, leaving enough room on either side for her ladies who were equally hot and annoyed to array themselves as well. Most picked up projects they had been working on for the last few weeks, delicate embroidery that didn't weight much, braiding cords that could be kept far from the bodies, or their own writing. Most of her ladies were women from important families who had found themselves wanting in some way, never quite what their families had wanted, but still worthy to enter the palace. For them, keeping up their basic skills such as writing, calligraphy, composition, and sewing was a matter of pride. It wasn't uncommon for a gift of impeccible quality, made with materials the very families who had shunned them could never have afforded, to be gifted to the very ones who had shunned them.

Sipping gently on chilled tea with beautiful blossoms floating on the surface, Metori focused her attention back onto the papers in front of her. Most of them were simple, requests from families of her servants for time off, a few notifications of upcoming events, quick notes about pieces she had commissioned, and a note or two from her half sisters filled with flowery pleasantries designed to keep them in her good graces and her mother's as well. With those taken care of she could focus on the 3 bid pieces in front of her; one from her father, bound in a less formal way than usual, but still concerning, one from her mother, and one from Kaiki. She chose the one from her mother first, a simple invitation to tea in the next weeks, nothing to be concerned about. She dashed off a quick reply before opening her father's, a simple missive about new merchant goods being delivered within the week. She didn't need anything for her household so she thanked him for his thoughtfulness and asked that he select a gift for her mother in her stead. Finally, it was time to open the simple bamboo tube.

She had saved Kaiki's for last, reasoning that she would get lost in whatever he had sent, learning more about the world around her and lamenting that he did not seem to return her desire for a union in the future. It was therefore surprising when she slid it out and found only a single page, not the usual bundle that was sent, and even more surprising when the illustration began to reveal itself as she unrolled it. She sat staring at the beautifully rendered heron, her favorite bird and the subject of many of her dreams for long enough that several of her ladies stopped what they were doing to comes look as well, their concern for her well-being outweighing the usual commitment to her privacy.

"It seems that you have an admirer princess. A shame that he doesn't know how to compose a proper poem, still... it seems that his meaning comes across well."

"I think it's charming that he is still so rough in his ways, what longing and beauty he expresses. Besides, what he lacks in words he makes up for in looks and art princess. Much better than the Rus whose smile never seems to reach his eyes if you ask me."

"Oh! Is that what my brother sent? I haven't seen him draw anything that big in quite a while. It's gorgeous!"

Through all of this Metori remained silent, her brain racing quickly. She had truly expected that Kaiki had given up on her and that she would be unable to net him as a surprise. She had instead been focusing her efforts on the other suitors, hoping that one of them would be a good option. This change of heart from him opened up a whole new world of possibilities. She needed to figure out how to reply, to send him a message that his advances were welcome, but not to commit herself in a way that would make it hard for her to walk back her advances should he change his mind.

"Hang it on the wall over there please, above the tea set with the herons. It is beautiful work and I think the rustic charm of the poem is sweet. I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the ambassador and am deeply sorry that he feels lonely in this country. Perhaps we should invite him for tea soon?"

The princess's words were met with a flurry of activity, her ladies scrambling to do as she bid and to plan a tea party for the man they all secretly wanted their mistress to end up with as well.