Royal Intrigue

Let's Get Down To Business

"Both of you have very tenuous positions at court. Ju, your family sent you here to be educated, but you know that they want you to make a good marriage, something that would be difficult given past scandals at the Qin court. Tsuikimine, your family obviously wants to help normalize relations between our two kingdoms as both you and your brother have been sent here. Both of you will need allies in the coming years. Both of you have identified me as someone you would like to ally yourselves with, both because of my father's love for me and because of my mother. However, I must warn you that there is no guarantee that my father's love for me will save you or anyone connected to you if mistakes are made. 

My father is known for being ruthless and rigid. Women who do not behave in ways that serve the kingdom are sent away to temples, spending their lives in service to the empire without rest. To some this is an honor, but to most it is the worst kind of exile. Away from your family and friends, with only a few other nuns and priests to keep you company. To be banished in such a way is to never marry, to never have children, and to never have freedom again. 

Michiko and all of my other ladies are well aware of this. While being married does provide you with some stability, the same issues may befall you if your husband is disgraced as well. It is important for you to both be an upstanding paragon of virtue and to make sure that those you associate with are as well. As a wife it is your job to advise your husband on matters that could potentially embarrass your family as a whole. Even the behavior of your parents and siblings may be called into question if there are questions of impropriety. 

To be in a good position within the court you have to play the games that are set forth, but you also need to make sure that everyone around you does as well. Do not trust the servants unless you have brought them with you and know them deeply. Do not leave personal writings around where they can be found. Do not ask questions that could seem as if you are not completely loyal to the empire. As both of you know, I myself have even been called before my father in the previous days. While I was able to clear myself from suspicion thanks in part to Lady Tsukimine and her brother, I feel that it highlights the dangers that are faced within the palace. 

Today I want to go over cultural expectations for a learned woman. Your studies, language, and speech thus far are fully appropriate, but it is the application of them in the future that will determine your path in life. 

Ju, you do not yet have a husband picked out for you. However, if you formally enter into service as one of my ladies it would be upon me to arrange such a marriage. I know that you cannot make this choice without talking to your family first, but I urge you to write to them and ask about taking me up on my offer. 

Tsukimine, your husband is known to love another, one who shares his quarters and has known him from infancy. Such a union is not shameful, but to object and make it the focus of public scrutiny would be. You said that you have already had conversations about you life and that you are allowed to live where you wish. However, I would like for you to stay in the foreign quarters for now, both to give all of us more freedom to move around the palace, and because I wish to speak with your future husband myself to ensure that he does not object to you aligning yourself with my person. I have summoned him to speak with me later this week in the tea garden, and will inform you of his desires once that has happened." 

By the time I had finished speaking Michiko had managed to relax into the water in a way that made her seem almost boneless, only the top of her head from her nostrils onward was visible. Ju and Tsukimine on the other hand were tense and still sitting in the shallowest part of the pools, trying to pay attention to my speech, rather than enjoying themselves. 

"Come, let us enjoy the baths and speak again on this later. It won't do to be too tense when bathing, especially with others around. The baths are seen as places where people let their guards down, tenseness and fear will make you seem suspicious. Tell me something about your homelands that you miss." 

Ju was the first to speak after worrying her lip between her teeth, a word that I couldn't identify spilling from her mouth before she corrected herself. "I miss most the rivers. We are far from the sea here and the river that flows through the city is much smaller. While it is beautiful in the mornings when filled with silks and shining stones, it can't compare to my home. Large fish that play and bask in the sun fill the river at home and the water is so deep that it looks almost black in the early morning light. When I miss my home I miss sitting on the banks and watching with my friends." She fell silent again and lightly splashed in the water as she sank deeper, lost in thought and memory. 

Surprisingly, Michiko was the next to speak. "I miss the Zushi as prepared in my village. Fresh from the sea and stinging of salt. The taste is unlike any other. Before I die I hope to make a pilgrimage to the shrine on the beach one more time and taste the food of my family." 

Finally Tsukimine spoke, her words carefully chosen. "I miss the heat. It is cold here, always. Even in the summer it feels cooler. The fruits here do not grow as large, and while my brother makes sure I receive things from trade shipments, it isn't the same as walking outside in the air that smells of salt and sea to pick my own food. Apologies my lady, for I am sure you know of food that is just as delicious and fresh, I simply have not sampled it yet." 

I took pity on her downcast eyes and defeated look. "Perhaps you can introduce me to some of your native foods? I am sure your brother could procure some of the more interesting things you miss and a request from me would carry more weight than one from you, maybe even result in fresher offerings?" 

At my words her face lit up with joy and she too began to relax into the waters. We stayed there for another hour, getting out to wash ourselves with cold water before putting on the robes we had been given and laying out in the common area while maids coiffed and set our hair. By the time we were ready to go back to the palace everyone was more relaxed and the atmosphere seemed less formal, with tenuous bonds of friendship forming between everyone involved.