Weeks passed in the Palace, and Asha's life in the House of New Strings became ever more complicated. The newer Flowers were instructed in various subject by older concubines and the eunuchs, and a regular timetable was not part of their structure. Somehow messages were passed from the eunuchs to the maids who then prepared and escorted their charges to their lessons, and Asha saw different girls at every lesson. The one thing that did not change was that Asha and Bazan shared the same lessons; and Asha disliked this. Bazan had not improved since their first meeting; the girl continued to be snappy and cruel to Asha, and so was best avoided. Fortunately whenever they were in the rooms together Bazan tended to seclude herself in her room. Asha heard the two maids talking together as she did her calligraphy, and from what she heard Bazan spent most of her time brushing her hair at the mirror or experimenting with her makeup.
The person that Asha had grown closest to was Hanami. While Hanami brushed her hair Asha read aloud from her scrolls, and they discussed philosophy and aesthetics at the same time. Asha had discovered with delight that her mother had packed the ball with which she used to play with her cat, and this sat on her bedside table when mistress and maid weren't playing with it, tossing it back and forth. They also talked together about subjects other than those Asha was learning. Hanami was curious to know about the privileged life that Asha had led, and in turn Asha learned about Hanami's very humble background in the Market Quarter of the capital. Asha also learned so much about the workings of the Palace of Caged Birds.
One thing she had learned was the origin of the names of the four Houses of the Palace. The house that she inhabited, the House of New Strings, was named after the strings of the mandolin, and the slightly different sound each makes, even on the same instrument. Here the newer girls were trained in all the arts they required to become concubines until they could graduate to the House of the Blossoming Blooms. This was the most exciting House, where the newly trained concubines practiced and perfected the arts that they had learnt. It was perfectly possible for concubines to remain in this house for the rest of their career, unless they were particularly favoured and were given the opportunity to live in the House of the Beloveds, where they were permitted follow their own routine and have apartments full of rooms to themselves. When they reached the end of their working life, some were allowed to leave the Palace and set themselves up in the city – the first time they would have seen the outside world in decades. Others joined the eunuchs in the House of the Calligraphers, teaching the younger concubines in the more specialised arts of their world.
Once a day, Asha and Bazan and their maids took a walk in the gardens. It was often the only time that Asha and Bazan spoke to each other, and then it was an opportunity for Bazan to bully and belittle her maid Sharza in regards to her clumsiness and incompetence. Asha replied in a similar manner about Hanami, although her answers were calculated to offer more insult to Bazan than to Hanami. Bazan sometimes seemed to realise this and gave Asha an icy stare, while the two maids followed them bearing parasols and innocent smiles. Later in the apartment Hanami congratulated Asha on her verbal sparring, and they both laughed at the fact that Bazan was unable to think of anything clever to say in retaliation.
One thing that Bazan could do very well was dance. While dancing was very little more than entertainment to those in the Kingdom, in Khishani culture dance was of central importance to the tribe for story-telling and as a collective memory. Tribal dancing was of course frowned upon at court, but because of her skill and quick learning Bazan was asked by the dancing tutor to give a demonstration of Khishanan dance. It was in stark contrast to the slow, ponderous style of the Kingdom, where elaborate hand gestures and facial expressions conveyed meaning to the gentle notes of pipes and drum. Bazan played a quick succession of notes on a mandolin and passed it to one of the musicians, asking her to repeat it over and again. Her dancing was a technically brilliant series of steps and handclaps as she whirled and spun. Even in the heavy robes of court dress, her movements were elegant and sensual. After several minutes of this, the dancing tutor clapped his hands once, and Bazan brought the dance to a natural pause. Asha joined in the applause with just as much enthusiasm, for what she had just seen was beautiful.
As for what Asha excelled in, she had very little interest in dance and so struggled with it. When offered a choice of musical instruments she decided to take up the mandolin and the hand-drums, as there were many compositions for both those instruments and Hanami could join her in practicing them. She took great pleasure in philosophy and literature, although she found the strictures upon the literature that women could read frustrating. The Concubine Library was very limited in terms of reading material, and while there was sheaf after sheaf of poetry and philosophy there was little on any other subject of interest such as political history or warfare.
"How are we supposed to converse with men on subjects sensibly if we don't know anything of their world?" Asha said one day, impatiently throwing aside a scroll of Jezdeen Al'Watir "I know nothing of things that would interest a man, but plenty of what would send them running for the door! 'The Play of Light on the Oasis' indeed! As if any man I'm likely to entertain will have read that poem!"
"As far as I'm aware, many men aren't entertained by a woman's knowledge of poetry, but rather her knowledge of more intimate talents!" scoffed Hanami "Besides, the best concubines can turn any conversation to their advantage."
"There is so much that separates from them," Asha mused, looking at another scroll "A different script, a different way of life. The men of our class get to hunt, get to study, get to fight, get to do almost anything they want to do. They have all the opportunity and only half the talent!"
"Would you want to be like Bazan's mother?" quizzed Hanami "Remember how Bazan speaks of her mother having learned to ride, to fire a bow and arrow, to wrestle and sit at the table and eat with the men with knives. Imagine the state of your silk dress if you were allowed to act like that. And they live in leather tents and tend flocks. They count their wealth in the number of goats they have!" She practiced a little rhythm on her hand drums.
"Is this what always happens?" asked Asha "Do maids get so close with everyone? Won't you be given to someone else next year?"
"Maids are presented to new Flowers and stay with them throughout palace life. I have a feeling that rule was made by a man who realised how lonely life in the Cage can be. But we train to become maids several years before – there's a lot of preparation to become a Flower's handmaiden, just like becoming a concubine!"
"Then I pity Sharza! She's stuck with Bazan for the rest of her days! The poor girl must be driven to distraction!"
"Oh we're well trained to deal with such silly little girls. Maybe you should pity Bazan instead! Sharza has me; and she has the other maids that she trained with. She even has you to a certain extent. Who does Bazan have? I know that you do not share a bond with the girl, but she must be very lonely, don't you think?"
Asha rolled up the scroll and tied it with a leather strap "If she's lonely, it's her own fault. She's spiteful and cruel and far too pleased with her own talents. I don't know how she'll ever entertain clients with such a sour expression on her face! But I've seen her in lessons, she can charm her way anywhere she wanted – the better the profit in question the more charming she can be!"
One of the eunuch instructors continued to talk about the Four Wonderful Precepts that determined both the choosing of the Flowers and what they were trained in before they moved up to the House of the Blossoming Blooms; intelligence, beauty, music and artistic expression. Every year new challenges were made up to test the Precepts, such as finding examples of perfection from the courtyard garden, or requiring a concubine to compose a rendition of the song of a particular bird on one of her chosen instruments. Some were riddles or mind puzzles, others were passed by painting a living animal when instructed. Those that did well were given more favour and better apartments – those that performed poorly were given fewer comforts so that they remembered the benefits of hard work. The penalty for failing a test was dismissal or even death. Fortunately, there hadn't been any failures for a hundred years, and so the women of the Palace were considered the epitome of accomplishment anywhere in the known world.
Asha continued to enjoy her time with Hanami and the other girls, and from time to time she received letters from her parents to which she dutifully replied. Behind the words of the goings on in the outside world lay the deep sadness of her mother and bitter regret of her father, and she tried to bridge the gap by saying how happy she was, how much she was learning and how well she was doing. All she wanted was to stretch out her arms and have them hold her, rather than these imprints of themselves and the outside world painted on rolls of paper.
Asha sat at the central table in their entry hall to compose letters to them; it was also the room where the girls and their maids ate. Asha often took a drink of orange nectar infused with honeysuckle when she wrote her letters, accompanied by a bowl of sugar biscuits. This was one of the few times that Asha allowed herself total immersion in thoughts of her family. While it was always present in her mind, writing letters to them was the closest personal contact that she could have, and it often had an emotional effect on her and sometimes she wept. It was on one of these occasions that Bazan entered from her own apartment, and watched Asha crying with steely incomprehension, as she tidied away her tear-stained letters.
"Why are you crying?" she asked, not concerned but insolently curious. Then she swept over in her deep purple robe with its silly sleeves and arranged herself on the cushion opposite Asha. She reached over and took one of the sugar biscuits, crunching it impolitely and scattering crumbs over Asha's father's letter that she had rolled out to give her inspiration for things to write. Asha picked it up in irritation and shook the crumbs onto the table top; there would be no more letter writing that day. Bazan's intrusion had shaken her concentration.
"We are sisters, you know," said Bazan conversationally "We are fellow Flowers, thrown into this woman's world at the same time. We should share our problems."
Asha stared at her in horror. Hanami entered from Asha's apartment and watched the two girls silently; Bazan was unaware of her presence. Asha paused a moment before replying; "Thank you, but I am quite well. This is a momentary lapse of control, I assure you. I do not require assistance, freely as you give it, sister."
"You have no problems to discuss then?" Bazan sounded disappointed.
"I assure you, nothing worth discussion. There is nothing one can do in any case; being away from their family for such a long time is bound to draw forth some emotion. It is perfectly normal."
It was Bazan's turn to stare. Asha's challenge had not gone unnoticed. Asha forced herself not to look away from the glittering eyes that stared at her across the table. Deeper than the coldness that emanated from her was the hatred that simmers beneath the bewitching brown eyes and alabaster skin. There was no channel of contact between them, no common ground.
Bazan reached over the table and took another biscuit, standing up to leave. "You should watch yourself, Flower. You eat enough of those and you'll turn into a plump little fruit!" She put the biscuit into her mouth where it made a bulge in her cheek, and turned to go back into her own apartment, treating Hanami to an icy glare as she passed her. Asha watched her go and then collected up her scrolls and brushes, and Hanami came forward and picked up the ink stone, being careful not to spill the ink on the carpeted floors.
Once they had retreated to Asha's room and replaced the scrolls and other accoutrements, they knelt down on the carpets. Hanami had brought a basket of robes from the laundry, neatly folded and perfumed. They now had to refold the clothes to put them in the chest of drawers. While they did so, they talked together about what had just happened.
"I don't trust her Hanami," Asha told the woman. "Did you hear what she said? I don't believe that she cares one jot about me; not after all we've ever talked about is Sharza's incompetence and how Bazan's mother is an uncouth barbarian! I did not expect that, and I suspect her motives."
"She wants to unbalance you Flower," said Hanami as she refolded an under-robe "She is trying to catch you while your emotions are raw and she can get her claws into you! Were you less intelligent, she would have become your most trusted companion and then destroyed you."
"She is like a snake! This is what I thought when I was looking at her, that was the one image that was running through my mind! I've heard how snakes watch their prey until they can calculate the optimum moment at which to strike – she is exactly like a desert snake!"
"Indeed. She would have become your friend for years before she struck you like a snake or a scorpion. Women like her are always looking for ways to destroy people – and you must be on your guard against her. This is, I think, why your life will be lonely and sometimes difficult. Concubines rarely make friends with each other."
"I would be so lonely without you, Hanami!"
"But I can't look after you all the time. You must continue to grow stronger against all these women. This is the only way to succeed. Here in the House of New Strings they will give you all you need to be a concubine apart from a hard shell. The most successful concubines are the ones who can strategise and plan their futures. The ones who can do everything but this remain in the House of the Blossoming Blooms until they become a dancing or a music instructor! Without a business head on your shoulders you can never become a Beloved!"
"What a pity that we can read nothing of economics or mathematics then!"
"The business of concubines requires little of economics or mathematics, apart from the Four Wonderful Precepts or the beauty of geometrical poetry! But anything you can learn from men is very valuable; because it can be applied elsewhere."
"How many men will we see? I thought we were in the service of the King and only the King."
"Goodness me, he'd be a busy man! No, the Palace of Caged Birds is put at the disposal of guests, friends of the King, male members of the Royal Family. It is true that it was originally only the King who was permitted to enjoy the delights of the Cage, but it is far more business-minded now. And of course this allows the concubines a far wider scope of influence among the court – and the more popular the concubine, the better her clientele become, until they have the ear of the King himself!"
"Ah, so this is how it works! Then I must strive to be better than anyone else. This is the only way to exercise power for a woman."
"This is correct. Pay attention to the Four Wonderful Precepts and you will surely become a Blossoming Bloom. Only with skill and precision can you become a Beloved!"
Asha was left with this thought as she retired to bed that night. She thought again of how Bazan tried to entrap her in a web and knows that Bazan is already trying to move ahead in the game. And she doesn't have a valuable companion like Hanami to guide her, Asha thought, so she must already have a handle on the intricacies of life as a concubine, however inexpertly she tries to implement it. Even if I haven't given her a plaything to manipulate, she knows that is not the way to conduct herself now. I have given her an advantage, however slight. I should have pretended to be taken under the sway of her pretended friendship, and struck her back!
As she drifted off to sleep, Asha felt nothing of the unhappiness that she did while writing her letters. Knowing now that there was a game to be played filled her with a strange exhilaration. She found she enjoyed the idea of playing a war game that did not involve capturing cities and fortresses, but instead ensnaring hearts, minds and confidences to seize power in the kingdom.