Kotori's new position as Royal Gardener is solitary.
Otherwise, it's perfect. There are two things that Kotori loves about being appointed as Gardener To The Empress. The first is the challenge.
The palace grounds are beautiful, but they are all rigidly designed. The gardens around the palace serve two purposes: either they are kitchen gardens, meant to bring in produce and herbs for cooking and medicine, or they are meant to impress guests. Either way there is no room for creativity, no room to experiment: they look the same. They grow the same hardy, native plants in the same grid patterns, or have carefully allotted plots meant to keep just enough mint and spinach in the pantries.
They are designed for efficiency, and there is some beauty in that, but Kotori longs for more.
But the Royal Garden is full of rare, imported plants that require delicate care. There is a hedge maze that Kotori is allowed to redesign at her own discretion. An underwater garden has been begun in the base of the fountain. There are no rules about the way the flower beds have to be laid out, and she has unlimited resources to create bigger and better ones. Her earthcraft, used sparingly on the palace grounds to avoid the resentment of her fellows, can run wild here.
Maintaining it requires balance: her creativity, always tempered by the intent of the original designer. The Royal Garden requires thought that Kotori could never exercise as one of fifty gardeners maintaining the palace grounds.
The second thing Kotori appreciates about her new job is the location.
The garden is close to the palace, just beneath the Empress's quarters. It's far from the road. It gets plenty of sunlight and plenty of water.
And in the evenings Kotori can work in the dark, and look up to the see the Empress leaning against her balcony rail, watching her.
Moonlight suits her.
It's the closest Kotori has ever been to the Empress she serves.
The isolation is getting to her today.
Kotori stops in with Haru, the Head Gardener, once a week to make sure she's doing everything correctly. Normally it's a pleasant visit, and Kotori can partake of Haru's delicious cooking and steal her latest blend of herbal tea before going on her way.
This morning she spends too long just trying to find Haru. The grounds are teeming with people; when Kotori finally finds Haru, after enduring hundreds of dark looks and muttered insults from the gardeners she would have called friends before, the old woman is too busy to talk much.
"Haven't you heard?" Haru asks. "Lord Tetsuo and Lord Byron's second son are being received here tonight."
"Tetsuo?" Kotori is so shocked she forgets his title. She knows Tetsuo, and he's certainly not important enough to warrant this kind of reception.
"They've come to court her Imperial Majesty," Haru says. She shoves a packet of tea into Kotori's hands. "I'm sorry, dear, but I don't have time to talk."
"Of course," Kotori says mindlessly. She clutches the packet to her chest. "Excuse me."
She walks back to the Royal Garden in the daze. The sunlight is bright and the tea is delicious and sweet. The plants are louder here than they are anywhere else; they know her.
But it's still too quiet. No one visits her, no one brings her the news, and no one seems to remember that she didn't become Royal Gardener just to spite them. Kotori doesn't think she's above anyone just because she's gardening for the Empress now, but…
…well. She misses home fiercely in this moment. She misses the snow, the mountains, her parents and Yuuma and Tetsuo and Akari, the long winter nights she spent hidden under a blanket with her friends, talking by the moonlight. She misses not being alone, even if the soil up north was never as fertile as the soil here. She misses the soft whisper of the ancient trees, calling out to her from the depth of the woods.
She closes her eyes and downs the last of the tea. Then Kotori rolls up her sleeves, sheds all but the first layer of her skirts, and puts on her gloves. It's time to tackle the underwater garden again.
In the darkness, Kotori has to use her earthcraft instead of her eyes to work, and she feels around in the bottom of the fountain while she assembles tomorrow morning's bouquet in her mind. The Empress will being seeing suitors, so the flowers will have to be appropriate for the occasion - it will be easier, since Kotori has tried to avoid overtly romantic flowers until now - but she doesn't want them to be too simple, either.
Underwater plants are much harder to hear, and what they do say to her is hard to understand. She can tell where the plants are, and that they're unhappy in their environment, but everything else is a guessing game. Do they want a deeper pool? Saltier water? Should she add some dirt at the bottom, or some native fish? Wrist deep in the brackish, cold water, Kotori's mind wanders again. Roses are too much, but perhaps a nice tulip. For that matter, Kotori thinks, she has some lovely ivy climbing the trees around the edges that she could cut. It's not a traditional choice, but surely someone with the Empress's refined taste will appreciate Kotori's attempt at -
"Excuse me."
She turns around.
Empress Rio is even more radiant in person.
"Y-your Imperial Majesty!" Kotori scrambles to her feet, horribly aware of the fact she's still only wearing her overskirt, which doesn't cover her dirty, bare knees, and curtsies deeply. The dandelions twisted around her bun flop down into her eyes.
In contrast, the Empress is dressed in pale blue and grey, the neckline daringly low, with pearls at her wrists and throat. She's holding up her skirt with one hand so that Kotori can see grass tickling her bare ankles, probably to prevent it from getting stained. Her hair is braided and piled atop her head with silk ribbon; in the gloom, her hair and her dress are the same color.
A moth swoops down and lands on her shoulder. The Empress freezes, rather than screaming, and Kotori feels a rush of respect.
"How can I be of service?"
"Your bouquets show promise." The Empress inclines her head. "I thought you might pick out a flower for my hair."
"Of course, your Imperial Majesty," Kotori whispers. Her heart is pounding, but she straightens up and looks around. "What is the occasion...ah, if you don't mind me asking!"
"Tonight the court is welcoming Lord Tetsuo and Lord Arclight."
And one of them might be the Empress's husband. Kotori nods absently, thinking. The flower has to complement the Empress's dress, but also express something about her. She looks from bed to bed - the garden is organized in a kind of spiral, with the flower beds curving around the central fountain - and waits for something to speak to her.
"This one."
Kotori picks up her cutting knife and carefully slices a sprig of bright blue periwinkle, with four or five flowers. It's just bloomed and still smells sweet.
"Why?"
Kotori steps closer to the Empress, so that she can reach her hair. The Empress is taller than Kotori, but not by much; perhaps not at all if Kotori were wearing shoes. She sets the sprig in the Empress's hair, and blows lightly on it.
The stem curls, winding around her blue braid, the cut end tucking itself out of sight. The flowers won't wilt until morning, touched by Kotori's power.
They whisper to her that the Empress is cold.
"You're an earth mage?"
Kotori nods. "But I'm not very powerful, your Imperial Majesty."
Empress Rio looks around. She appraises the garden. Kotori squirms in place while she stares at every plant, every arrangement, every place Kotori has made a change.
"...even so. It looks beautiful."
"T-thank you!" Kotori curtsies again, deeply. "A blue periwinkle represents the beginning of a friendship, your Imperial Majesty."
The Empress is silent.
"...auspicious." She touches one soft petal with a fingertip. "You should rest, Kotori."
"Of course."
Empress Rio smiles. It really is lovely, Kotori thinks.
"I look forward to seeing my bouquet in the morning, Kotori — and I'll look at their meanings, too."
The Empress walks away, and Kotori stares at the grassy path, her smile huge. She's been noticed. All those nights the Empress peered down at her, all those arrangements Kotori labored over preparing, have been seen.
The Empress knows her name. Heart bursting with pride, Kotori sponges the dirt off her arms and legs, slides on a clean white shift, and falls asleep.