Royal Intrigue

A Time To Grow

After the children had finished eating and helping clean up the morning dishes in the temple they were quick to come for their lessons. The princess tried to make it there at least once a week, both to keep up appearances of piety and to help the younger children, but some months she was barely there. It had been almost 3 weeks since she last visited, and the children were eager for new stories and time spent away from traditional texts.

The youngest were still learning how to bow properly, stumbling a little when they got up from the floor. The more formal robes that they were expected to wear often made them feel like they couldn't properly move. As such, much of the morning was spent on teaching them how to walk, greet people of different statuses, and how to sit appropriately. By the end of the day, even Kaoru seemed to be more comfortable with herself. Her face holding a smile rather than a worried grimace.

After these basic lessons she took time to teach them about the different countries represented at the court. While the monks could teach them all about the kingdom they were in, most had never left the country and many did not view anything outside of the realm as necessary to learn about. With all of the children in question coming from noble families, it was likely that they would be at least interacting with people from other lands, if not sent there themselves for marriages or other political reasons. Metori viewed it as extremely important for the children to know about the world around them and to know more than their parents had. To receive an education at the court was a privledge many of the lesser nobles worked hard to provide for their children, least she could do was make sure that they were receiving all that was expected and more.

The oldest boy in the group, Kenta, was most interested in the trade potential of other nations. His parents were responsible for the rice levy in their region, and his mother had taught him sums from a young age. Metori was pretty sure that he would end up working with the palace record keepers, but he might also serve a diplomat to other courts. He was quick to memorize and understand the treaties that were in place and the responsibilities of each group in the region to maintain stability. Most of his questions that day focused on how the different diplomats at court brought their tributes and how it was disributed. Once she had answered most of his questions she handed over a small ledger book she had copied by hand the day before. Simple information about her own household accounts, but to the boy it was more information than he could have ever dreamed of having. Satisfied with her answers he took his prize to one of the seating alcoves and quickly began re-working the sums on his own scroll, checking that they were correct and learning the prices of the most common goods.

With Kenta satisfied she moved onto her favorite part of teaching them. Stories and myths from the known world. With the children gathered close and looks of anticipation on their faces, she told them stories of dragons, creatures in the sea who helped the sailors along their way, and of the spirits that lived in everything on their own island. Each story was interupted over and over again for questions and exclamations. During the stories of the dragons she and her ladies hoisted the children into the air, tickling their giggling bodies and making them scream with glee as they whooshed around like the dragons they were learning about. During the sea stories they made glubbing sounds and talked about blowing bubbles in the baths.

As the children began to wind down for naps, something they protested needing but knew was a requirement of the temple, Kaoru crawled into Metori's lap and started to play with the loose tendrils of her hair. She wrapped them around her small hand multiple times, bringing her hand closer and closer to the princesses face as she got more and more nervous. Finally, after she had twisted it and let it go several times, she spoke; "Could we go to the baths with you one day? The others say you take them sometimes, but I have never been. The monks send us with the cleaning ladies, but they don't enjoy themselves and get mad if we take too long. I miss when I would bathe with my mom."

The anguish and longing on the little girl's face was plain to see. The homesickness tugging at Metori's heart, reminding her of when she was removed from her own nursery and forced to grow up, to be a princess, rather than to be a child. "Of course, we can go later this week if you like. I'll send for you all."

Metori nodded at one of her ladies with her head, sending her to prepare the beds for the children who were now beginning to fall asleep where they lay. As she left, Metori began to sing low and soft, songs about the rolling fields, the beatiful sea, and the sky that held the sun above. Common songs that each of the children would have heard from their own parents. When the lady came back she again nodded to her companions to help her carry the children to bed, a luxury they rarely received now that they were in the palace. Kaoru had fallen asleep in her lap, but Kenta and the rest tried to protest being picked up, their sense of responsibility contrasting with their wishes to be children once again.

Settled into their beds with their new toys and bedclothes, the children quickly nodded all the way off, even the oldest clutching their toys to their chests, a little bit of comfort in a world that was too strict and hard for their needs.

Leaving the temple was always bittersweet for Metori, on the one hand the children were happy and well taken care of, on the other they did not get to be children in the way that she would have liked. Her plans after they departed were to simply spend time in her chambers, perhaps having her ladies read to her while she looked over her own letters. But those plans were not to be. Instead as she exited the temple she was met by one of her father's minor wives, a woman who resented the freedom Metori had, not seeing that she trapped her own self in her desires to be perfect. Before she even opened her mouth Metori knew their meeting would not be positive.