A/N: Every one of you needs to give me a kick.
E/N: ~Kicks with love!~
A/N: ...Did something just brush by me?
Till You Die
35 - Mistress of the Clan IV
"...Quite elaborate for a dungeon. You folks don't hold back on anything, hm...? Oh-...!"
By then all the guards' incredulous eyes were turned to the young woman walking through their midst.
"There you are," Loreli declared soundly, ignoring the guards' presence entirely.
"Pardon the insolence, Hermitess," the closest guard came to intercept her path. "Have you permission to access this area?"
"...What...?" She looked to him innocently. "Has the captain of the guards not informed you...?" Holding up the water jug and the pills up in emphasis. "This man needs to take medicine regularly from me."
He inspected the jug to check if indeed it was only water contained in it.
A curt nod. "Carry on, then."
The guards retreated to their posts, but kept a watchful eye on her.
"Well..." Loreli approached a very unamused Murata at the same time he rose and went to her. "How are they treating you...?" she asked.
The Uchiha shinobi skipped right past the pleasantries. "What is happening?" he asked.
"They want me to take a few tests," she told him simply. She held out the water and chakra-suppressing pills to him. "So I am going to need a little time..."
"What?" Murata gripped the bars separating the two of them.
...The guards glanced over at their exchange with keen interest.
"...I am going to need a" she started to repeat.
"The tests," he hissed humourlessly.
...
...She gingerly lifted a finger to her lips.
"...You and I...had an agreement..." Loreli reminded smoothly. "As long as it is not they who initiate things, I want no move on your part that would make my work harder. Understand?"
"You will be found out!" Murata protested vehemently, his ominous onyx eyes pinned down at her as a frown broke through his normally stoic expression.
"Oh...? You are so certain?" Loreli asked in a light voice.
It was a question which he deemed unworthy of an actual reply.
Murata's cold, stoic voice responded to her. "This is no longer a matter of pride," he said, his pure black eyes boring into her. "That man" with deliberated emphasis "has death on his hands; his eyes say you will be disposed of as soon as your use runs out. You think he is an opponent you can subdue with your lies and coercion?"
Her lashes lowered over her eyes. Silence stretched between them.
But he knew better than to suspect that his warning got through to her, their leader's—Uchiha Madara's proud and fearless woman.
To think that a defenseless young woman could be so negligent with her own safety. She didn't know what their leader threatened to do should she get hurt. Her boldness had served her well only because their leader had a fondness for her, but this was hostile territory: she was mistaken if she thought she were in the same league as warlords, schemers, and murderers.
...sigh.
"...And me?" Softly, so softly and absently that she couldn't have been saying it for anyone to hear. "What about me...?"
If she indeed had spoken, then those had been her words.
But if she indeed had spoken, he questioned why a deafening emptiness was ringing inside his ears...
"Lady Hermit," a servant called to her from the corridor, the voice amplified twofold by the silence it interrupted. "The lord steward requests your assistance."
After a heavy moment, she looked in the direction of the sound.
"Hold on," Murata said with jaw clenched.
She looked back at him.
"...Have patience," the young woman said, almost as though she were speaking to someone less than a child. A pet, so to speak, that she was leaving behind for the time being. "I won't be discovered." She absently brushed down her robes and squared her slim shoulders with a sigh. A wry smile curved her mouth. "...I still have a trump card with me, after all."
"And if you're wrong?" Murata shifted on the opposite side of the bars, following as she moved from her spot. "What happens if you fail?" he questioned with a stiff expression.
...She placed a lingering smile over her shoulder.
"Come running."
...-Is what she said. But things would indeed become quite messy if they came down to that.
...Loreli drew in a small, soundless breath.
Well, no matter. She was safe from that threat as long as they could not ascertain her real identity.
She just needed to focus on doing what she had been doing for ages.
The painted silk screen doors parted before them.
"I have brought her, Honoured Mother."
It was a large, rectangular and spacious room with plenty of light and sea breeze sweeping in from the window. Scroll paintings and calligraphy hung on the walls, depicting scenes of long sea voyages and snowy mountains. It appeared to be a place of quiet leisure.
...
Snip.
The figure had its back to them, clad in splendid blues and violets.
Snip.
As Loreli watched, the slender hand with perfectly trimmed nails reached over to the side, letting leaves flutter to the floor.
The shears paused and then lowered to the table with a light thud.
Placing one sleeve over the other in a refined manner, the woman turned around to face them.
She was fair-skinned and slightly rounded, fitting snugly into the standard of who was defined as a beautiful woman. Her long hair thick and shiny, piled up into the rigid fashion of court.
"Ah." The suave voice spoke with a drawl. "You are the hermitess?" An inclination of her head. "I am the lady of the castle. I bid you welcome."
She had the bearing of an aristocrat, and her words were pleasant and cultured. But there was something...something about the way she wore her expressions like a false skin...
Loreli leaned forward in a small bow. "I am at your service, my lady."
...All her internal alarms were going off.
"I understand my boys gave you a bit of trouble," the lady of the castle brought up. "I hope you do not hold it against them. They were merely following orders."
...
Loreli gave a light smile in return.
The violet-gowned woman looked to the doorway.
"You may leave us."
At the command from their lady, the steward and guards who escorted her there made their retreat.
"Come." Loreli was beckoned forward with a wave of the lady's hand as the screen doors slid firmly shut behind her.
Pouring them each a cup of tea, the lady offered for her to be seated across from her. She looked young, for someone who conducted herself with such experience. Young, to be a mother of a full-grown son.
One fine eyebrow arched slightly as the woman caught her looking.
"I am told you are the successor to the legendary hermitess. I have a need for your skills here," the woman said, not once hinting upon the question of her credibility. "It is a small feat for you to cure the ailments my medics have failed to. You will be rewarded handsomely for your work"
"...I understand it would serve as my qualification," Loreli said, staring into her cup.
The lady laughed; an abrupt, rich sound. It shimmered down to a chuckle before she spoke.
"Since we are both women," the aristocratic beauty responded dramatically, "I will tell you something out of kinship."
The woman leaned forward slightly, her violet gown rustling against the table.
"...If a challenge is what you came for...I advise you to turn back, now." Both her fine eyebrows quirked lightly as she informed the younger woman, "What our liege will ask of you...is impossible to be done."
Loreli allowed a moment for that to sink in. It didn't sound like the woman was being untruthful to her.
"...It will nonetheless," Loreli slowly replied, tasting her tea with disinterest. "...pose no problem for me."
The lady of the castle nodded, appearing pleasantly surprised. Or it could have been a meaningless gesture owing to the burden of wearing such a heavy hair fashion.
"As you'd like," the violet-gowned woman told her. "Find a remedy for the two cases presented to you, and I will arrange a meeting for you with our liege. I have my position on the line, after all; I cannot bring a falsehood before my lord."
Loreli inclined her head forward. "Of course, my lady."
...Mistakes were a luxury she could not afford here.
"You will be asked to display your skill here. My men will have whatever you need brought to you."
"...Pardon the impoliteness," Loreli spoke up. "I work alone with my patients. It is the tradition of my craft."
A look of surprised amusement, and then chuckle from the violet-gowned woman. "You have no need to fear. I will not watch you work; your trade secrets are safe from me."
In response to the guarded look on Loreli's face, the lady of the castle let out a short, abrupt laugh. "You expect my absence, when I am to be your first patient?"
Loreli's large, brown eyes widened. That...she had not been expecting.
"Are you ailing, my lady?" Loreli asked. "You have such a radiance to your skin, I can scarcely believe it."
Another laugh. She could no longer tell if those laughs were out of genuine amusement or if they were ironic in nature. They were startling sounds rather than soothing ones.
"My, but aren't you a darling creature?" the lady of the castle remarked with a quirk of her fine, dark eyebrows. "And here I was expecting a little spitfire, judging from what was described to me."
"You shame me, my lady," Loreli replied with a bow of her head. "I did not make the best of impressions on the others." She then held out a hand. "May I?"
Loreli took the lady's outstretched arm. What the other woman said was a matter of course...There was no sense in displaying hostility towards someone who hasn't threatened her first.
Minutes passed as she pressed two fingers to the woman's wrist, adjusting until she could get a good sense of the pulse. The appraising gaze was on the side of her face the entire time.
Loreli looked up. "Your tongue, my lady," she requested.
...
Was it due to her lack of expertise...? Her mind sped up and slowed down simultaneously as unease assaulted her. She couldn't find anything out of the ordinary...
"Have you been sleeping well, my lady?" Loreli inquired.
"With the current political climate our country is in?" the lady of the castle rhetorically asked. An ironic smile.
...But the Shujinchi Castle had tactfully avoided politics for decades. It helped that the castle claimed little land, was situated on no strategic landmark, and had its trades all but ceased since the supposed plague all those years ago. It stood isolated from the wars which raged all through the land, attracting no threat from the other lords who have little interest in it. The only thing she could be referring to...is to the arrival of the Senju army on the scene.
"Then," Loreli continued, "what of your diet, my lady? Your pulse tells me that your body is lacking its usual vigor."
"You think so?" the lady asked lightly. "...Well, you are correct. I have suffered a decrease in appetite ever since" she touched her stomach "this pain formed in my body."
Upon the other woman's beckon, Loreli moved closer and felt around the place the problem was located. There were no lumps or outward indications of an underlying problem. A small, puzzled frown appeared on her brow as she mentally sorted through the list of symptoms.
"You are quite comely," the lady of the castle unexpected spoke, catching her by surprise. Surprised Loreli was, but a shiver ran inexplicably down her spine.
"What brought you into the lifestyle of a traveling healer? I understand that your predecessor lived hidden in one place, had she not?"
"...Not in her early years," Loreli answered smoothly. "I am following her footsteps in expanding my knowledge and horizon before I settle down in any one place."
"I see," the lady replied lightly. "It must be tough on you, being a woman."
...Sincere as they sounded, there was no compassion behind those words.
"...Your ladyship is too kind," Loreli replied. "...There is no need to worry for my sake: I am not alone." She drew back and requested for the lady's hands, pinching her hard between the thumb and index finger and holding that position. "Am I to understand that your medics failed to trace the problem to its source?"
"They have identified the source," the lady of the castle replied as a matter of factly. If the pinching hurt her, she did not evidence it on her face. "The pain is from something I ate a fortnight ago. Yet despite knowing the cause, their suggested remedies have yet to show desirable results. Our medics were trained and kept here at the castle: when they have exhausted their limited knowledge, they have no other option to offer."
"The Shujinchi Castle," Loreli commented with incredulity, "is known for having the most opulent archives found in the Fire Country."
The lady laughed.
"And it is." Her voice high and with a hint of pride, the lady of the castle replied, "And it is what you are here for, is it not?"
Loreli offered a polite smile and chose to refrain from speaking.
In response to her silence, the woman offered by explaining, "The innermost chambers of the royal archives, where the most valuable knowledge is kept...is a place accessible to members of the royal family only."
"But if it's you," the lady eloquently proclaimed, "you might be made an exception."
...Loreli released the woman's hands. "...Has your pain subsided a little, my lady?" she asked.
Dealing with men was easier. It was easy to tell what men wanted of her. But women...well...
...
'…When…I was about twelve or thirteen...' her own solemn words to Madara resounded through her mind.
"It appears not." The lady's voice diverted her thoughts. She leaned forward a bit. "Isn't there anything you can prescribe?"
"My lady...What was it that you consumed that resulted in your condition?" Loreli asked.
"Nare-zushi our kitchen made," the lady of the castle replied. "And it was not the first time I've sampled them, which is very puzzling to me."
"Then," said Loreli, "will your ladyship have the same kind of nare-zushi that was served brought up here?"
Surprise was evident in the way the woman's brows rose, but the lady nodded her head and said, "Of course."
"I will need access to a fire, a pan, mortar and pestle, and a kettle," Loreli said.
"You will have your cure."
Loreli coughed out the smoke that assaulted her eyes and nose. Deciding that the fermented rice had been seared to a good enough state, she scraped the mess from the bottom of the pan into the mortar. She then started the process of grinding the rice into powder.
If the violet-gowned woman thought what she appeared to be doing was strange, she made no comment. She remained a passive observer the entire time Loreli spent with the pestle.
"You are familiar with life at court?"
Loreli glanced to the other woman at the unexpected question.
The violet-gowned woman raised an eyebrow and said, "...It's the way you conduct yourself."
...But that was impossible, Loreli thought. She had been monitoring her movements all this time.
"One who lives at court has to watch what she says, or what she reveals on her face. Knowing more than one should is never a safe thing in a place of political intrigue."
"Yet you," the lady of the castle observed, "You have not given away a trace of doubt or anxiety since the beginning. From where have you picked up that skill?"
...Loreli set the pestle aside, shaking the contents into the porcelain bowl before her.
"My lady," Loreli asked, "What have I reason to fear?"
"Any capable healer," the lady said attentively, with a small, ironic smile, "would have questioned oneself whether or not the symptoms were real by now."
Her heart pounded inside her ears.
...
"...My lady," Loreli said, calmly pouring in freshly boiled water from the kettle. "...I am a healer; my patients' words are paramount. Whether I believe in them or not..."
The bowl was offered to the aristocratic woman magnificently seated before her.
"...is of no import."
"Oh...?" The bowl was accepted from her. The lady asked her interestedly, "Will drinking something that was the cause of my condition truly be able to heal it?"
"...Yes, my lady..." Loreli replied. She offered a diminutive smile. "...If those symptoms were correct."
The lady smiled ambiguously. "You are right. I suppose sometimes...it requires a leap of faith."
Loreli watched as the woman raised the white porcelain bowl to her lips, blowing softly before downing it whole.
The empty bowl was lowered. "I am intrigued, however," the violet-gowned woman admitted, asking, "You say it is of no import...when your life hangs in the balance?"
"I am intrigued as well, my lady..." Loreli replied. "You readily swallow what a stranger suggests?"
An abrupt laugh. Eyebrows quirked upward, the lady replied, "I have been a secondary food-tester ever since I entered the castle nearly thirty years ago." She gave a telling, ironic smile. "What have I to fear?"
Loreli managed a small smile in response. "Then, my lady..."
"You should be off."
Loreli looked up cautiously.
"You have to tend to your next patient, do you not?" the lady of the castle asked with light amusement. "A guard outside will show you the way. I will call upon you should I have need to do so."
...Loreli bowed her head. "Yes, my lady."
It was dark outside by the time she was putting the materials away.
"Head Advisor," a servant's muffled voice spoke through the screen door, "The lady of the castle here to see you."
Loreli paused, darting a glance at the elderly man seated across the table from her. She then rose respectfully to a stand.
The door slid open and the violet-gowned woman entered, stepping gracefully onto the raised platform floor. Arms folded within her long sleeves, she nodded toward the white-bearded man.
"Pardon the unexpected visit," the lady said to him. "I have received word that everything went well?"
"Yes, my lady," Loreli offered to say. "The wild asiatic grass I have instructed the servants to gather seems to be effective. With a few more washes his rash should disappear completely."
The lady picked up a long stalk of the green, thin blade of grass that was left over.
"This is the wild asiatic?" the aristocratic woman asked. "Does it have a common name?"
"Different places give it different names," Loreli replied. "It is a grass commonly found in mountainous areas, identifiable by the tiny white blossoms it bears. Few aside from the farmers living nearby these grasses know of its medicinal value. Rashes caused by prolonged contact with sweat-soaked clothing is not unfamiliar knowledge to them. I advise your people to take care in these hot, humid climates."
"That which the costly herbs in our vaults did not cure," the lady observed with interest. "I am shamed by this revelation." A slight inclination of her head. "You really are quite something."
"That is undeserved praise, my lady," Loreli commented. "If it were not for your medics' carefully documented record, how would I know the symptoms and the list of prescriptions they have already tried? And it is due to the efforts of your subordinates that the desired herb is promptly found."
An eyebrow quirked lightly as the lady picked up the thin record book. "You can read...?" the woman asked with mild surprise. "The old language of the northern lands...?"
Loreli replied with a fixed smile, "...As a traveler crossing into hostile territories, is it not advantageous to be able to read and speak several of their tongues?"
"Quite so," the lady agreed. She turned to the elderly man and asked, "Head Advisor, do you need further confirmation of her qualification?"
A long sigh was heard from the man. "Whoever fulfills his lordship's request will be named his successor, eh?" Pouring himself a dish of sake, the white-bearded man pensively stared into it. "For a concubine who can never become a wife, do your actions not seem too ambitious?"
The violet-gowned woman smiled and inclined her head forward in a light bow. "What are you saying, Head Advisor? Are we not all loyal subjects whose sincere hope is for the Shujinchi Castle's legacy to be complete?"
...Loreli glanced up at the ceiling. It looked like a troublesome setting she had landed herself in. She should be more careful...
"As agreed upon," nearly startling her with the suddenness "You shall meet with the lord." Loreli looked to the lady of the castle, who smiled a little knowing smile. "He will also want to meet you."
Loreli responded with a small nod.
"Then, Head Advisor," the lady excused herself, "we will await the lord at his receiving room."
Loreli followed, bowing out.
"Age has caught up with him," the violet-gowned woman said once they were out in the hall. "He tires of this unsightly search. Well..." She smiled. "I have a feeling our search will end soon."
They began moving again, with Loreli trailing a little behind.
...She couldn't have known what the woman had meant, but the feeling of unease...hadn't left.
"In here," the lady of the castle directed her inside the large, spacious room.
It was grand, perhaps grander, than the one back at Lord Yukino's castle. It shouldn't be a surprise: This room had been used to leave an impression of wealth on foreign merchants.
"I will need to have a talk with the servants," the lady's voice drew her attention to the row of potted flowers lining the side of the room. "They allowed my flowers to wither."
"Flower arranging is a hobby, my lady?" Loreli asked out of politeness.
"A hobby." The violet-gowned woman paused with her shears, picking up the pot of bijozakura flowers and examining them. A single stalk of kigiku stood lightly drooping it its midst. "I have a different hobby. One of collecting."
Placing the flowers back down on the display shelf, the aristocratic beauty caressed the petals.
Violet, the cluster of tiny bijozakura flowers were...the same colour as the woman's gown. In the language of the flowers, they stood for cooperation.
"...To be more specific," the lady said, raising the shears to the single wilting kigiku flower inside the ring of violet. Kigiku, the majestic yellow flower representing the royalty. The woman drawled, "I collect...people."
Snap.
Loreli watched, motionless, as long yellow petals drifted one by one to the floor.
It was only a dying flower...
Was she reading too much into it?
"The innermost archives of the royal library," the lady chose to remind her, dangling the flower between two fingers. "Is accessible to the lord only."
A smile crept up on the woman's lips.
"The Lord of Shujinchi Castle entering."
As soon as that was announced, uniformed male servants rushed in. The large screen doors encompassing an entire side the room was pulled apart one after another. The last one slid open to reveal a screened throne.
The head advisor was already there along with a couple of others in full court attire, waiting on his liege.
He cleared his throat. "As First Advisor to the lord of this castle, I will be governing this event. The one who seeks this audience, come forward."
Loreli eased up and went forward, kneeling down at a respectful distance before the screen.
"To the lord of this glorious estate," she said with her gaze subserviently lowered, "I pay my humblest respect."
For a moment there was no response. Then it was the head advisor who spoke.
"You have a name, Hermitess?" the elderly man questioned.
To which Loreli replied, "Forgive the insolence: This lowly traveler has nor needs no name. The day she takes one on will be the day she demonstrates her desire to give up her nomadic ways."
Another pause. She realized that the head advisor was relaying the muted words of the feudal lord residing behind the screen.
"You are aware that, should you fail," the advisor declared, "you will be facing severe consequences?"
"Your Excellency," Loreli answered. Bowing lightly in the direction of the throne. "My lord. Is it not the path of every true healer to attend to any patient, regardless of risk and alignment?"
He made a sound that was half resignation, half approval. "And what if-"
"My liege." The violet-gowned woman spoke up, cutting him off. "I question our hospitality, presenting such a serious request before welcoming our guest." She said to Loreli. "You must be tired and have not eaten since you arrived." Turning back to the lord behind the screen. "My lord, if I have your permission...?"
The head advisor grudgingly lent an ear to his lord's response. He nodded, confirming that the answer was an affirmative.
Smiling, the violet-gowned woman looked sidelong toward the entrance. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
On that cue, servants poured in from either side, setting down low individual tables before each of the occupants in the throne room. Others came forward with dishes of extravagant food, arranging and rearranging the plates until they couldn't possibly fit any more on her table. Loreli had to hold onto her cup which was handed to her because there was nowhere she could put it down.
"Our kitchen spent the entire afternoon preparing this," the lady of the castle declared. "I hope none of you will hold back."
Loreli placed the cup down on the floor beside her. With her peripheral vision she could tell that the advisors have been seated, but all appeared rather restless.
There was a tense atmosphere in here.
She picked up her silver chopsticks. "...Then it will be rude to allow their hard work to go to waste," Loreli commented. Despite everything else, it wasn't as though she couldn't use some food to energize herself.
As if taking her lead, the rest of them began picking up their chopsticks.
"But, my lady," someone, one of the advisors asked. "Have you recovered your appetite?"
"Indeed." The violet-gowned woman's voice raised feelings of discomfort up Loreli's neck. "And who have I to thank but our honoured guest?"
Loreli chewed delicately on a piece of seaweed.
"Rightly said." The head advisor's following words turned all eyes on her. "It is seldom we get travelers this close to the coast. You have our gratitude for coming all this way."
Loreli only smiled in response, munching on a few grains of rice.
"You must have made several stops along the way," the lady of the castle said with keen interest.
The single stalk of soybean took an inordinate amount of time to chew.
"Perhaps you can enlighten us to what word is going around in other areas," the lady said. "Particularly...what word is there concerning the Senju Clan of Forest?"
...
"Lady!" the head advisor exclaimed. Angry voice. "You still have not abandoned that atrocious notion? You plan to violate our three-decade long neutrality by offering hospice to the invaders?"
.What?
...
"My liege..." The voice, surprisingly fluid, surprisingly sinister; belonged to the violet-gowned woman. "Please reconsider. The Senju Clan single-handed united many shinobi clans of the Forest under its banner and had stabilized the Forest Country; that much is the Senju's power. But its movements and influence are greatly inhibited by it being a foreign clan. Many lords will want to take this opportunity and offer the Senju a place to build their base within the Fire Country. That being done," she claimed fluently, "even the lowliest of lords...can aspire to control the fate of the land."
Slam. "Preposterous!" The head advisor rose up shakily from his seat, pointing an accusing finger. "You think the other lords of the Fire Country will just stand by and let you designate a chunk of this land to a foreign clan? If anything were so easy, it would have already been done! The Council of Lords," he sputtered, "will order the complete annihilation of this province before construction even begins! Don't forget for a second that the Fire Country has its own elite ninja clans that are no lesser in power!"
"...The Uchiha, you mean?" the violet-gowned woman asked. One fine eyebrow quirked up. "The strongest of them all...?"
Loreli had lost all interest in eating at this point.
"It is true," the lady of the castle conceded. "The Uchiha is a powerful clan of elite shinobi. It could rival the Senju. No, it is the only clan that could rival the Senju at this time."
"But the Uchiha," the woman went on, "is nonetheless under the jurisdiction of the Fire Country. Without a proper contract, attacking on a feudal lord's property is considered treason."
Loreli gripped her chopsticks tighter, feeling as though they were about to slide out of her hand.
"And so?" the head advisor demanded stormily. "What are you getting at?"
The violet-gowned woman was in no hurry to answer. Instead, she asked lightly, "...What if it is a shinobi clan of the Fire Country that has violated the truce first of all?"
Ba-bump.
"The Council of Lords...will have nothing to say against self-defense, now will it?" the lady rhetorically asked.
The advisors were silenced, exchanging fugitive glances with one another. The head advisor finally spoke up, asking, "If a shinobi clan were to breach our code of neutrality first, it is only expected that we retaliate. But Lady, what are you implying?"
...
"I heard that the leader of the Uchiha clan recently took a wife," the lady mused. "I heard this young mistress is not from a ninja clan...but rather, she is rumoured to have been a servant at Lord Yukino's castle. A young woman with black hair and brown eyes...What was her name called...?" The violet-gowned woman elegantly turned her head to look at her.
"Loreli." A pause, in which her smile widened. "...That was her name. Have you not come across such a rumour in your travels?"
Her face carefully blank, Loreli looked back at the lady's knowing expression.
...But how?
How could she be so certain?
The most she could have found out...was which ninja clan Murata belonged to. What reason did she have to make such a dauntless conviction?
"More sake, my lady?"
Two things seeped into her disordered state of mind at the same time.
One, that a servant had spoken where servants were required to remain silent at all times. And two.
That voice.
She recognized that voice.
Eyes widened, Loreli stared as the female servant finished refilling the lady's cup and backed away, straightening up to reveal her face.
It sounded as though all the blood in her body rushed to her ears all at once.
"…When…I was about twelve or thirteen...the only person I might have considered a friend…"
"…betrayed me."
Su...Suteki?
Were her eyes not deceiving her?
Ha...
Struggling, Loreli looked away.
She didn't think all her years' worth of experience in hiding her thoughts was going to help her, now.
Aha...
Haha.
If the violet-gowned woman thought her reaction was unexpected, she only had that tiny, ironic smile to show for it.
Be wary of the steward, Murata warned? The one that she really had to watch out for...was this woman right here.
It was only a little while before Loreli got herself under control. But, to her, and to those who were watching...those moments might as well have lasted a lifetime.
"I may..." Loreli said, staring ahead of her "...have come across such a rumour."
"Ah...You are not here to talk of rumours, of course," the lady told her sympathetically, seemingly in response to her disinterest. "My lords," she said, turning to face the screened throne. "Perhaps we shall speak of this further, after the matter of succession is settled?"
"You-!" It looked like the mention of succession got the head advisor riled up again. Before he could say another word, however, he was interrupted by words from behind the screen. "...Yes, my lord."
He cleared his throat reluctantly.
"Hermitess," he addressed Loreli.
She gazed up.
"Our lord's task, are you prepared to undertake it?"
"Yes, your excellencies." She bowed her head toward the throne. "My lord."
Sighing, the grey-bearded advisor said, "Very well. I will announce your duty."
She waited.
"Your job is to find the cure to death itself."
She blinked.
"In other words," the head advisor clarified, "The essence of immortality."
...
Immortality.
She drew in a slow breath.
Immortality?
"The ones ahead of you all but declared it an impossibility," the head advisor went on, "H-"
"It is not impossible."
She could feel the surprised gaze of every individual in the room with her.
"...It is not impossible," Loreli calmly repeated. She blinked and looked up.
"...Grant me access to the royal library and my servant the freedom to gather," Loreli said lightly, "And you will have what you want in three days."
What was stunned silence exploded with murmurs of incredulity.
"You mean it?" the lady of the castle chose to speak. "You can find the solution in this small amount of time?"
Loreli answered with a small, wry smile. "...After all, aren't I the Lady of Stillwaters...the legendary hermitess said to be able to cure anything...? If I say it is possible," she noted, "It most certainly is possible."
...The lady turned toward the throne. "My liege," she insisted.
...
"Very well," the head advisor announced. "Your conditions will be met. Three days." He raised his head with the declaration, "This meeting is adjourned!"
...Loreli got up when the others were getting up, their presences a mere blur around her. Her gaze instinctively sought out the long-haired female servant, but she was nowhere to be seen...
She met the lady of the castle in the hallway.
Their paths crossed. She stopped. The lady, likewise.
"...There is no reason why I can't help you," Loreli said with a small, cold smile; glancing over her shoulder.
"And no reason why your background should matter," the violet-gowned woman lightly replied, inclining her head.
...Loreli bowed her head lightly in response, and then strode away.
The woman only watched her go with a pleased expression.
The flapping of a folding fan.
"Is that wise, Mother?" Her son, the steward of the castle, came up beside her. "If she really is the mistress of the Uchiha clan as you say..."
She glanced at the man with a quirked eyebrow. "Tell me, how did the leader of the Uchiha clan come to have her as his wife?"
The steward thought about it. "Wasn't there a disturbance at Lord Yukino's castle several months ago? The princess's favourite servant retired from duty with her whereabouts undisclosed...or so the saying goes."
"A non-ninja abducted into the Uchiha clan...and from the hands of a powerful heiress at that," the woman stated plainly. "It means that outside of the ninja clans, their union is not recognized."
She smiled; a knowing, ironic smile. "I don't care what you have to do," the violet-gowned woman said.
"Make that woman yours."
He knew something was off the moment she entered the dungeon.
That wasn't her usual haughty and mischievous air he came to know her by.
Murata got up as she approached him alongside with two guards. One of the guards began unlocking the door to his cell.
He watched her with a slight frown. She didn't look at him. He had reason to worry that she was acting under threat of harm before she finally spoke, her voice low and sober.
"There's been a change of plan."
A/N: Someone write my women's studies paper for me so I can flail around and procrastinate some more...
OTL