They were all alone, away from the muffled noise of the feast, busy pressing their bodies closer together and inhaling each other's essence. The antsy handmaiden stood cornered between him and the wall. She was a pretty passive partner, although he didn't really mind.

Madara held her by her skinny waist, spreading hungry kisses down her neck and collarbones, leaving little marks here and there. Supporting himself against the wall with one hand, he went to give attention to her cleavage, using the other one to tug the collar of her dress down. It didn't reveal as much as he hoped for, but the fair skin of her shoulder was exposed to him and he wasted no time in getting to it.

It was one of the rare moments where everything felt completely right – the way she felt thin and small under his hands, the way her skin flushed under his lips, the sound of her yelps whenever he'd bite her soft flesh… and then he had to stop, realizing the way his kiss upon her lips tasted… salty.

She was crying. Making no sound, without even trying to move away from him, she looked at him wide eyed, silent tears streaming down her face. Her lips parted as if she was intending to speak, but ultimately she gave up, remaining quiet.

She's frightened.

Well, that was nothing new to him, if he'd be honest, but it rarely happened in this kind of situation. He sighed, as irritation built up inside him, and stepped away. He was neither an animal nor a rapist, he didn't care how she felt about the whole thing but if she was obviously unwilling, he wouldn't presume to touch her. He wasn't the one to degrade himself in such a manner.

Turning away, he planned to just head back to the feast and pretend all this never happened, but found it bothered him too much to simply neglect it. He wasn't even trying to intimidate her, and couldn't understand why she didn't simply resist or say something, instead of crying from his touch.

"You know, you could've just said no. I wouldn't have forced you." He said over his shoulder, as a matter-of-factly. Slowly fixing her dress back into place to cover the exposed skin, the handmaiden said nothing. She wouldn't even meet his gaze.

Madara was swift to take the hint and leave. Retaking his place among the wedding attendees, he returned to his cold food, trying to forget all about the ordeal with the woman. Well, she wasn't the first and most certainly won't be the last girl he failed to seduce. He wasn't exactly known for his charm. Truth be told, he wasn't even trying with her.

After dining in peace, he glanced over to Izuna's spot, to see how he's doing, but averted his gaze elsewhere, scanning the room, as he saw that the bride and groom weren't in their seats. They were dancing, laughing and staring at each other.

I'm going to throw up. He told himself, unimpressed. They literally met today! What's with all the loving behavior? Sure, he was glad to see Izuna happy, but it's way too soon for them to be so close. Whatever. The sooner they got close, the sooner would they produce a child. That's the whole point of this mess.

….

Mego slowly opened her eyes, squinting as they were welcomed by dim sunlight. She could hear chirping birds, chicken, a loud rooster, and buzzing of different little creatures through the thin walls. She let her gaze roam the unfamiliar room, taking in the details, pleased with the amount of space and decoration.

Last night, when she and Izuna came in, they carried one candle just to see the way. She couldn't see the room at all. Even now, it was slightly unclear, as it was so early that some corners of the room were engulfed in darkness.

Izuna was still soundly asleep next to her. Slowly, she got out from under the cushion and went to get dressed. She had to meet Madara in the garden. There was still a custom left for her to perform before she could become the bride of the house. As she finished fitting her dress and brushed her hair, she heard the cushion move and turned around to face Izuna. His face was a little pale, his eyes squinting and his hair all over the place. She giggled at the sight. He looked funny. My husband… The thought sounded so unfamiliar that she almost laughed again, but composed herself.

"Good morning, husband." She greeted and he blushed, looking taken aback by the honorific, and probably due to facing her after their first night together. It somehow encouraged her not to feel as embarrassed, herself.

"Good morning." He returned softly.

Mego looked into the mirror once more, and headed out. She would meet her brother in law in the garden and fetch water for him, then prepare breakfast for the household. After the first day, those responsibilities would belong to the servants once more. All she needed was to perform them as a part of the custom.

She lingered around in the garden, enjoying the freshness of the morning and the sounds of the waking day, while she waited for Madara to join her. Once she spotted him coming out of the house, she put a wooden bucket under the tap and waited for it to fill up. All she had to do was bring him water to wash his face. That was supposed to be easy.

Come to think of it, she didn't recall ever interacting with Madara during the wedding nor the feast. He came by once or twice to speak to Izuna, but she wasn't a part of it.

"Good morning, brother in law." She said cheerfully, offering a smile, which he didn't return. Instead, he nodded in recognition and stood before her, waiting. Gulping, she tried to remain unbothered by how intensely somber he was.

Regardless, she complied, lifting the bucket up with both hands, finding herself barely able to hold back a frown at its weight. She seemed to have overfilled it, so it was quite heavy and unstable. However, Madara was already leaning in to take the water in his palms, she felt it would be too rude at this point if she pulled away to go spill some water to make the bucket lighter.

And sadly, the predictable was starting to happen. Her arms became shaky and unstable because of the pressure and, against her will, they refused to keep supporting the bucket. She could very well see it in her mind already: soaking her brother in law with icy cold water the first day she came. He seemed stern enough already, she couldn't bring herself to imagine his reaction once she fails to do this extremely simple thing right.

However, nothing happened. Cold, wet hands covered her own, making her palms painfully squeeze against the wood, however, he helped her keep the bucket in place. He took it from her, spilled the excess water with ease and handed it back. Contrary to her expectations, he didn't appear angry or exceptionally annoyed… bored, maybe.

She smiled politely, not really knowing what else to do, as they finished up, when he finally washed his face and she returned the bucket to its original place, than hurried back to offer him her towel.

The rest of the household still slept, or perhaps they just chose to stay in their rooms since it was still very early. Only Mego was in the kitchen, and Madara with her… quiet. Well, it was a nice morning, many noises came in from outside, as well as from the pan and the fire, while she was preparing the food. In different company, this would be one of those enjoyable silences. As is, it wasn't.

"So… did you sleep well, brother in law?" She asked slowly, stirring the food. She did hope conversation would pick up organically from there, but his aloof expression wasn't very promising.

"Yes." Came a simple response. "Did you?" Madara added several seconds later, sighing, as if he didn't really want to ask but felt like he should.

"I slept wonderfully! I could have stayed a bit longer, but I had to get up really early… Well, you already know that, you did too." His lack of enthusiasm didn't stop her, as she babbled on, to which he smiled. Very, very lightly, but nevertheless, he smiled. She felt encouraged, and the thick feeling of awkwardness had started to leave her.

"Would you taste this?"

"Needs more salt."

She smiled, heeding his advice and fixing the almost finished breakfast. Alright, we're going places. She told herself internally, happy because of the successful interaction.

"Hey, stay here!" Mego called out when she saw Madara head for the door, then proceeded to panic because of her tone and the way he looked at her. "I mean… the breakfast is about ready… brother in law. I'll go wake the others." She quickly found herself a reason to get away from him, squeezing through between him and the doorframe on her way out.

….

Mego's first day as a married woman was quite nice… Just not as exciting as she always hoped it would be. Her husband was busy for the most part – she last saw him at the table during lunch, then he went out again. Sumi was strangely moody and uncommunicative. Madara and Tajima were busy doing something too, she assumed.

She made breakfast, and kept herself busy with helping the help prepare lunch too, then cleaned up after with Sumi… And now she was left with nothing to do again, but hang around in the kitchen and hum a song to herself while Sumi worked. Fine, she was always aware than not every day of her married life would be a crazy romantic ride, but when the first one was so boring and fruitless she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

She expected Izuna would spend it by her side, talk to her, show her around, make an effort to… well, to know her. They were only able to get so familiar with one another during the few hours of the wedding feast. Once they made it to bed, as nice as that was, they didn't spend the time chatting. Perhaps it was the wine she had, or the thrill of lying with a man for the first time, but she felt as if they were really connected. Now, however, she felt completely estranged.

"Where are the other servants?" Came a question from the door.

Madara stood by the door frame, his dark eyes flowing from her to Sumi. His gaze became a tad bit more intense when the handmaiden faced him. That left Mego slightly confused, especially after Sumi offered no answer. She'd obviously know better about the whereabouts of the help. Nevertheless, Mego took it upon herself to answer.

"We don't know, brother in law. Did you need something?"

"Tea, at the training area."

When he left and his steps could no longer be heard, Mego went to face her friend and voice out her suspicion.

"What was that? Why didn't you answer?"

"I… didn't…" The girl tried to come up with something, but failed without even trying. "I'm sorry."

"Was it because he called you a servant?" Mego frowned. She never used that title for Sumi, but it would be a little too much to expect everyone else to refrain from using it.

"No, lady, of course not."

"I know you don't like him, well… all three of them, but they're my family now. And you're my family. So I really need you all to get along."

"I know. I will answer first in the future." Then she turned away and began preparing ingredients for the tea, leaving Mego's question unanswered still. However, Mego didn't want to push her either. She could only guess that this was a big change for Sumi as well. She excused herself and decided to take a stroll through the small garden, with a scroll she would read. She discovered that they had quite a library in the house. Unsurprisingly, there were no romance novels, most were books about history or warfare. It wasn't her favorite literature of choice, but it would do.

Her reading didn't last too long for the sun was already setting. Still, the evening was refreshing, and instead of heading inside, she decided to take a stroll around the garden, listening to buzzing insects and watching blooming flowers.

Regrettably, they reminded her of her fantasies about the kind of life she would lead in this house. It was almost unbelievable how beautifully the day began, just for it to come to an end in such a dull fashion. For a moment she felt blue, but then again, it's only the first day!

And so it happened that Izuna was very busy. One of these days he'd surely have some time to devote only to her. Besides, she had to provide understanding and comfort for her husband during this time, not pressure him with her needs right off the bat. With newfound resolve, she let her eyes take one more admiring look at the colorful, slightly starry sky and then headed towards the house. She still had to join everyone for dinner and then get ready for bed.

"Can't you get over yourself? All I want from you is my scroll."

She stopped walking upon hearing whispers. She didn't really try to eavesdrop or hide, but it happened before she knew. She leaned against a tree that was before her, and watched the two people whom she recognized to be none other than Madara and Sumi.

"I don't have your scroll, my lord! Believe me." She was almost about to walk over there upon seeing Sumi as upset as she was, but what would she even say? She had no idea what they were talking about.

"You do. I don't have it, and the only other person who can have it is you, or Mego. I want you to find it now!" He insisted, unbothered by her claims.

"Even if I took it, it's all back in the lady's parent's house. We didn't bring any novels here with us." Her voice cracked, as if she was suppressing tears. "Please, believe me."

"Alright, calm down." Madara sighed, lowering his tone as well. "Listen," He placed a hand on the maid's arm, then immediately pulled it back when she flinched. "Find a way to bring those novels here, let me find my scrolls, and we never have to speak again."

She nodded, and with that Madara turned away and left, and Sumi finally broke down in tears. Covering her mouth, she plopped down on a bench, looking genuinely desperate.

Mego ended up feeling even more confused, unable to understand why there was such tension between her brother in law and Sumi. What scroll would Sumi take from him, and why? Before her wedding, the two of them wouldn't have even gotten a chance to speak to each other. And what novels was he—

"Oh gods…" She whispered to herself. He knew about their books the whole time?! How was she supposed to face him now? And more importantly, had he told anyone? She didn't want Izuna to think badly of her for the things she read.

…..

Note: The custom where the bride brings her brother in law water to wash his face wasn't made up by me. I read about it in this Serbian novel that tells of such a custom being practiced in remote villages. You might have already noticed the European type customs I described here, and that's simply because they're closer to me. I don't think it'll do any harm to the story. Enjoy!