“My lady, should you not excuse yourself for dinner? Your father cannot see you like this.” Saiko, Youko’s serving girl asked while applying salve on Youko’s face.

“Father will not tolerate my absence, we will have guests tonight and it is imperative that I be there.” Youko looked at the polished metal before her that reflected a blurred image of herself. She was never sure of how she looked because the metal could not show her the details she wanted to know. She constantly needed Saiko to check her appearance. “Saiko, do I look presentable?” She asked absently, in her usual calm and quiet way.

Saiko stared miserably at her mistress. She sat clad in a jewel toned green kimono decorated with pink and lavender blossoms. Three obi belts were wrapped around her waist, a white one under a black one and a final darker hue of green at the uppermost. The garment was heavy as it had several more layers underneath and Saiko knew that it had to hurt to have them on over her mistress’ wounds and bruises.

They have worked hard to conceal the bruise on her cheek and the wound on her lips and for the most part, at least in candle light, they were successful. Her hands fisted as she remembered the condition her mistress was in when she found her. She was against a tree and her torn and muddy clothes made it obvious that she had crawled to that position from somewhere else. There were wounds and bruises though that Saiko was sure did not come from a fall from a cliff as her mistress told her as an explanation. She sniffed as she remembered the condition of the soiled clothes that could not have come only from her fall and crawling to that place.

She had gone out looking for her mistress who was late for their dinner preparations. She entered the woods behind the grand manor and found the lady in that poor condition. The lady refused to tell her more than the doubtful cliff excuse. She had gone back and immediately asked the help of the stable boy to carry her mistress back home.

Her mistress had refused to let her help. She insisted on bathing alone and she had bathed as if she had been dragged through all sorts of dirt, she bathed and rubbed her skin as if she wanted to clean both inside and out. Only then did her mistress welcome her assistance. Then she had given strange orders that concerned the disposal of her bath water. It was as if there was a stain she did not want anyone to get tainted with.

Saiko was sure the stain was dealt by a man.

She looked at the steady and gentle eyes of her mistress. Those eyes looked at her as they usually did, as if she had not just spent the afternoon falling off a cliff. Her mistress looked as she usually did, serene and lonely. “You look beautiful, my lady,” she said honestly.

“Thank you Saiko,” she smiled. “Can you help me with my hair? I cannot reach up properly.” Her voice remained serene. “And I seemed to have wounded my palm.”

“Of course, my lady.” Saiko stood and knelt behind Youko. She took a comb and began running it gently through the obsidian tresses. Youko’s hair was long as it had not been cut for more than seven years. The straight and thick length reached past her hips. Saiko proceeded and arranged it artfully, framing her mistress’ face better.

When she finished, she walked around to see the over all effect and nodded in satisfaction. “You would charm the guests, whoever they are,”

A knock came on the sliding panel. “Lord Aono asks for your presence.” said the man behind it.

“I will come immediately.” Youko stood gracefully and walked towards the door. She stopped before completely exiting. She looked back at her helper Saiko. “Riyagi’s father is visiting tonight. Perhaps they have come to finalize our wedding?” she told her.

“You must be very happy, my lady.”

“I must be.” She answered and stepping out of the room.

Saiko stood in place and stared at the place where her mistress had looked back at her. Her mistress’ most arresting feature was her eyes because they were two deep wells of loneliness. They looked at you with a haunting vulnerability that you cannot help but remember them. Those eyes were quieted for a while now in the company of the Daimyo’s son Riyagi, why were they lonely again?

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...some people are only alive because it is illegal to kill them...