Hitomi: From the Convent to the Palace

Arrival at the Palace

The caravan of coaches pulled to a stop at one of the great palace gates. After a moment's pause, they jerked forward again, causing the girls they contained to catch themselves against the motion. In the second of the four carriages, three of the four girls had pushed back the curtains and leaned forward in their seats to look out the glass windows. The fourth closed the book in her lap, finally giving her mind up to the chatter of the others.

"This is terribly exciting!" squealed one.

"Did you see that handsome guard that waved us through? Those uniforms are awfully dashing!"

"I've always thought I'd marry a military—a young knight or captain or such," a small, dull-brown haired girl said idly, hazel-grey eyes looking out languidly. "That's probably because I've grown up with my father as a commander and had so many warriors about home when I was a child."

"Oh, Roxanna, you're positively wicked," replied the girl sitting across from her. This came from a tall girl in a pale green traveling dress. It showed off her hazel eyes framed by long lashes. These eyes danced as she giggled. "It doesn't matter to me what I get as long as he's handsome and ready to marry quickly."

Roxanna and the other excited girl joined in the silly laughter, while the book girl could only smile thinly. With one finger she lifted back the curtain on her side to peek out. They were going up the incline from the outer palace gates toward the castle itself. Her crystal blue eyes took in the soldiers of the practice courts as they passed; large groups of men were sparring and socializing under the early afternoon sun. It was late autumn and plenty cool for the time of day, but the coach full of four girls in warm travel gowns was rather stuffy in comparison. Luckily, that was soon to end.

Blue-eyes dropped the curtain when the coach entered the inner gates; she could tell that they were about to stop and unload. She lifted the side of her skirt inconspicuously to tuck her book into its secret pocket. The Daughters had told her repeatedly that reading in a moving carriage would make her unwell, but the girl had neither believed them nor experienced these ill effects. Nonetheless, she decided to remain discreet about her disobedience as to not hurt someone's feelings with a confrontation. As she heard the head driver call for a halt, she smoothed the fabric of her rich brown dress over her lap and put her hands up to do the same to her dark brown hair that was pulled back in a simple braid.

The other girls were smiling and chattering as usual. Blue-eyes had nothing against them; she would even say that they were her friends, or as close to friends as she had in her world of convent girls. Sometimes they just talked too much for her taste.

Suddenly, the coach door was opened by a liveried palace servant, and blue-eyes held back to let the others step out before her.

First, Roxanna of Courage's Column (referring to a monument on her fief commemorating some long ago Tortallan victory there) was a petite girl from the southeast who could quickly have plenty of charm or a harsh temper whenever she required either. Her family boasted a long line of military heroes, and it was well known that her commander father would probably handpick one of his favorites as her betrothed. But since she was the third daughter, her husband probably would not be too important. She was attractive when she needed to be, but no beauty by anyone's standards.

Next to step down was Alisonne, the tall girl with the longest and straightest strawberry-blonde hair anyone had seen at the convent. She was thin and willowy and towered over Roxanna, her most recent best friend. She was from Davensy to the east of Corus. Her family had a small fief in the mountains and produced some of the finest wines of the country. Her younger brother was currently a squire, and as the only daughter of her family, it was thought she could make a good match. Her long eyelashes and lightish hair were her best features since she had too many freckles across her nose for current fashion's taste for flawless white skin.

Blue-eyes gestured to Amelie of Cobbin's Cove to exit before her, and the dark-haired beauty smiled sweetly in thanks before moving. Her skin was naturally tanned due to her Copper Island mother. Her father, when he had traveled there with a Tortallan embassy, had impulsively married a native and taken her home with him, causing quite a scandal in their time. Now, with their son a successful young knight and their daughters growing up beautiful, no one minded as much. Amelie, with her sweet temper, delicate smallness, and exotic looks, did not even know how lovely she was. Maybe that would help her make a much desired and sighed-over 'love-match.'

They were all going to find out their prospects soon enough, or so thought the blue eyed girl as she crawled out of the carriage last. Reaching a foot down for the step, she slipped, and the servant caught her arm to save her from a fall. Feeling a blush coming on, she murmured thanks to the boy without meeting his eye and prayed that nobody else saw her clumsiness.

It seemed that she was safe, since the other ten girls fresh from the convent had grouped together to talk—sharing what they had gossiped about in their respective coaches, what they had seen driving through Corus and the palace grounds, who they hoped to meet, and even who they hoped to marry. The two Daughters who had escorted the girls from the convent, an almost four days' journey, were trying to establish order. Blue-eyes slipped over quietly to join the little mob. One of the Daughters, somewhere near the age of the sixteen-year-old girls' mothers, explained what was to be done.

"There is a wing of the palace with suites for the young ladies at court. Each is for two girls, and I trust you can match yourselves up without my assistance…" There was a sudden buzz in the courtyard accompanied by a ripple of movement as eleven convent girls tried to grab their preferred roommates before someone else did. Inevitably, blue-eyes was the one left out, but a single room did not seem half-bad to her.

The girls were instructed to follow the other, younger Daughter into the palace interior. She would lead them to their rooms where their luggage would be delivered promptly. Blue-eyes took her place at the end of the line, behind the pairs walking arm in arm in the girlish fashion.

"Laurel," called the elder Daughter evenly.

The blue eyed girl turned around and curtsied. "Yes, Daughter."

"As the odd one out, you have a special assignment. I was hoping it would work out this way… Follow me," she instructed.

Laurel folded her hands before her and fell into step just behind and to the right of the woman, paying great attention. Her curiosity was piqued by the phrase 'a special assignment.'

"As you were among the last batch of girls for this season, and the wing is now full, you will be living in a slightly different part of the palace." Laurel nodded, and her mind partially focused on memorizing the path they walked by taking note of the paintings and tapestries they passed.

"I'm sure you know that a Yamani delegation came a few years back with Princess Shinkonami. Well, in order to encourage more ties between the countries, the Yamani Emperor has ordered some noble families to send their daughters to Tortall to marry our boys. You did take private language lessons, did you not?"

It took Laurel a moment to realize that she had been asked a question, so even was the woman's voice in the transition from explanation to interrogation. "Yes, Daughter. I am fluent in Tyran, and I have been studying Yamani for four years," she volunteered.

"Good, good," was the reply. They reached the end of a great hall to some tall doors that were propped open. Stepping across this threshold was like entering another palace, a Yamani palace to be exact. The hall was decorated with silk hangings and Yamani ink paintings of the islands' famed mountains or flowers or birds. There was not a Tortallan battle scene to be found—it was rather refreshing to be surrounded by natural images.

As Laurel took this all in, the Daughter had knocked on the first door to the right, and a Yamani matron in a traditional kimono opened the door and glided out to them, offering a Yamani bow which they returned with Tortallan curtseys. "Welcome both of you," she said in heavily accented but correct Common. "I am Lady Jin. We have been expecting you. We have had three new Island ladies arrive just yesterday. If you will excuse us Daughter, I think I can show Lady Laurel to her chamber."

Curtseying in acquiescence to the Yamani, the Daughter turned to the quiet blue eyed girl. "You will be well looked after here, and these ladies will do most things with our convent girls at the beginning, so you will still be with the others. I hope that this will help with that burning curiosity of yours, Laurel." The old woman looked down at her fondly, her eyes crinkling in amusement. She did not usually work with the girls at the convent on a day to day basis, but she had heard of the case of this particular one. The Mother of their convent believed in encouraging interest, so Laurel had been supplied with a few extra lessons to occupy her. This Daughter usually arranged the deliveries of food and supplies to the convent, and another one of her tasks in recent years had been to find books to supplement the blue eyed girl's education. She made sure to add, "The palace library is much larger than the convent's as well. I will see you at the introduction banquet tonight." The older woman excused herself and left the Tortallan girl with the Yamani.

With the traditional blank face of the Yamanis, Lady Jin met Laurel's eyes. "I will take you to the ladies now, and you may meet your roommate." The girl nodded and followed her, her nervousness at odds with an interesting feeling of anticipation; here she was already one of the new girls at the palace, and it seemed that she would also be the Tortallan lady amongst Yamanis. She always wanted to do something different, and here was a perfect chance to learn of an exotic culture and use those endless afternoons of language classes she had been selected to take at the convent. Her own mini-adventure, like those she read about in her books.

The Yamani stopped at a wooden door with plaques that read 'Laurel of Fury Valley' and below that, 'Mitsuko…' She did not get a chance to see the rest because the door opened to a dark-eyed Yamani in a red kimono embroidered with yellow flowers. It was very bright to Tortallan eyes, somewhat like her name, Mitsuko, meaning 'child of light.' "Welcome, Lady Laurel of Fury Valley. I am to be living with you here," she said.

Immediately, Laurel considered her aptly named, for despite the Yamani's carefully blank face, her very presence seemed to light up the room and melt away a number of doubts the Tortallan had been feeling about making friends. "Greetings to you Lady Mitsuko. I am honored to be your roommate," the girl replied in Yamani with an eastern curtsey in stark contrast to her choice of language. The amusement of the two foreigners crackled in the air. Lauren was surprised; she had read that their culture was strict about showing no emotion, yet she could still make out everything they felt. Maybe it was because she made a point of rarely showing emotion as well. Maybe she was better able to recognize it in others.

"Well, if you truly speak our language, then I think you will have no problems," said Lady Jin. She continued in Common, "You must be ready at seven bells for the informal banquet with all of the new ladies where you will meet some women of the court. Your things are already in there." The three bowed and curtseyed their goodbyes, and Mitsuko let Laurel into their room.

Sure enough, there were two trunks at the foot of her bed to the near, right-side corner of the room. Next to it was a small dresser with carved, clawed feet and with a mirror hanging on the wall above it. There was also a tall armoire for her dresses and a set of shelves beside that. A matching arrangement was in the far right-hand corner, but it had been altered with multiple, subtle Yamani touches. Fans and little cat statues decorated those shelves.

To the left of the door was a fireplace with only some glowing embers left. Before it was arranged a low table and four cushions. A jade green Yamani tea set was laid out on a tray. Beyond that was a Yamani painted screen that hid a door that Laurel assumed led to the privy.

Her surroundings now observed, the blue eyed girl stepped over to her trunks. The first she opened contained clothes. Laurel moved immediately to the second, lifting the lid to reveal rows and rows of books. She grabbed a stack and moved toward her shelves.

Mitsuko had moved around the room to perch on the edge of her bed. She pulled out a red fan and hid her face, though not her widened eyes. "Then, half of your belongings are books?" she asked. Books were expensive, and the amount of volumes in that trunk probably outnumbered that of many nobles' personal libraries.

"I like to read," Laurel replied absentmindedly in Yamani as she returned for another handful. "And I spend all of my money on these instead of baubles or dresses."

A soft knock on the door stopped the conversation there for the moment, as Mitsuko rose to answer it. Low tones of Yamani were exchanged in the doorway as the Tortallan girl continues to unpack her books. As she carried the last stack over and placed the texts on the bottom shelf, the door shut and Laurel turned to meet the arrival.

This Yamani was shorter that Mitsuko and a little wider. She had an intelligent face with almost a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. Laurel stepped forward and curtseyed. "Greetings—"

"So it is true you speak Yamani, Hitomi," the new girl announced. "I am Kaida."

Kaida. That meant 'little dragon,' and Kaida was shaping up to be something of the sort—a little fiery. But Hitomi? Laurel thought. That was 'blue eyes.' She voiced as much.

Kaida replied in gentle Common, "Laurel is too hard to match in Yamani for we do not have such a flower in the Islands. We shall call you Hitomi when we speak Yamani. Now what are all these books for?"

The Yamani ladies glided over to the bookshelf, and Laurel began to explain her collection to her new friends.