Chapter Three: In which Hotohori and I have some fun on the town.....



Somewhere in the cottage, Mother was beginning breakfast. I knew I should get out of bed and take care of the cow and feed the chickens, but I was just so tired, and my bed was so warm, and so soft, and so silky! I sighed, rolled over, and snuggled further into my pillows, drawing my blanket up to my chin and relishing in the warmth of the sunshine on my face.
TAP!
I frowned. What in the hell was that?
TAP! TAP!
I tried to sink further into my blankets and forget the world. I was, after all, still asleep. And I so hated to tend those awful, nasty chickens!
This time there was a volley of taps followed by a shrill bird-like call.
I frowned again and growled low in my throat. Fine. Just fine. I'll get up now...although I emphasize this is not a willing defeat.
I cautiosly opened one eye and was mildly shocked to find myself staring at a long light purple curtain emboidered with red flowers, green vines and leaves, and white and gold peacocks.
Peacocks? Maybe that's what that bird sound was. We didn't see too many peacocks around here, though. Maybe it was Tashi playing some bizarre trick on the dog again.
TAP! TAP! TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP!
I gritted my teeth, and prepared to wake and do battle with the chickens.
I sighed, flipped back my covers, and thudded to the floor.
I had already remade my bed, pulled on a robe and slippers, and was sitting at my dressing table brushing and braiding my hair when I realized it: There were no peacock curtains in my room!
And I didn't have a dressing table!
"ACK!" I cried before beating my head solidly on the table before me.
"I will never get used to this infernal palace!"
I realized the tapping had been a maidservant knocking on my door. I got up and finally answered it. She entered balancing a huge covered tray, which she set on the small carved table with the chair in the corner. Then she turned and bowed to me.
"Did Lady Miyoko rest well?" she asked.
"I'm not a lady," I murmured. I had been here four months now, and every morning it was the same thing.
The little maid gave me a strange look, then went straight to the bed, and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw it was already made.
"Forgive me, my Lady Miyoko, perhaps someone has already made your bed, Lady?" she practically whispered, trembling for some odd reason. I rolled my eyes. Since when did I need a maid anyways? I wasn't that messy!
"No, it's wasn't someone else, it was me. It's called eleven years of habit. And I'm not a Lady!"
The little maid shrugged good naturedly, not trembling anymore. (Maybe she had been cold...?)
"Also, Lady Miyoko, his Majesty the Emperor's personal attendant gave me this with orders from his Majesty to deliver it to you," she said, bowing again and holding out a small peice of folded paper with a red string around it.
"Cut it out! I'm not a lady! And thank you," I said somewhat harshly, adding the 'thank you' as an after thought.
The maid bowed again, clucking in her usual 'That's what you think' manner.
"Um, you can go now. Thank you," I said.
The girl bowed about forty times on her way out the door.
"Yes, Lady Miyoko. Have a good day, Lady, and if you have need of me, you have only to call,"
I was about to correct her on my station again, but...oh well. I give up.
"Fine. A good day to you, too,"
She finally left. Uh huh.
You'd think after four months in a palace I'd have figured it out by now. But I refused to get used to it. I'd be going home soon. News was rare from home. I treasured the few letters that made it my way from Mother Suki. Every one could hold the news I was dying to hear.
Soon, I knew, even though the letters said nothing of my return.
I shook my head and sat down at the table, wolfed down my breakfast of rice, tea, some sort of soup and a spicy dumpling-like object with meat in it that I sniffed, pushed around my tray, and finally just sort of pushed off to the side and hid under my soup dish. I replaced the cover to the tray and decided I'd figure out later what to do with it today.
I then sighed and turned to look at myself in the mirror.
I was gonna have to do something semi-elaborate with my hair, here.
Let me explain the mess I'd been gotten into.
His Majesty has found a new friend. Sure, she's only the daughter of a poor widowed woman who weaves and dyes silk cloth for a living, and sure, she knows nothing about palace etiquette and has spent most of her life feeding chickens first thing in the morning, and oh yeah, she comes from a different empire, but, a friend she is none the less, and should be treated as one. And treat me as a friend he did. A very good friend. Every now and then I found myself wondering if the Emperor was "all there," if you get my meaning....
Well, his majesty didn't want his new found friend to be a serving maid, because then he couldn't talk to her anymore. And that wouldn't do at all, now would it? (This is the part where I roll my eyes)...
So, here I am, "Lady" Miyoko, living in the palace, in a room hand picked by the Emperor himself(and not far away from his own private chambers, I might add. ERGH!)eating strange, unpronouncable foods for breakfast, and putting on too much clothing and whore paint every morning.
I sighed again and set to combing out my hair.
It's a least a twenty minute job just to get the tangles out. Forty five to get it as smooth as I like it to be. However, once you brushed it out in the morning, it stays like that all day, so it was worth it.
After this was done, I regarded it carefully for a moment, and then set to braiding.
Now, let me tell you what other trouble this imperial friend of mine went to for me.
He spent an entire evening of his free time picking out jewelry, hair ornaments, fine robes, gowns, belts, ribbons, laces, silk flowers, slippers, boots, cloaks, parasols, fans, purses and other various useless items he felt I'd need.
I had absolutely no idea what to do with most of it. I mean, how many layers of clothing does one person need to be decent? In Konan, apparently, the answer to this question is always "Eighty or more".
Back to the present, now. I put my hair into two braids: one high up on my head and the other just above it. I took the higher braid and wrapped it repeatedly around the base of the lower one and then pinned it in place with lots of these little teeny tiny little pins that hurt real bad when you accidently jabbed them into your scalp....
I now turned to the vast expanse of little jars, bottles and boxes containing my cosmetics. Hotohori said I had to wear make up, or I'd just stand out too much, even though he agreed I looked more ridiculous with it on than off.
Sigh.
I powdered my skin just enough to hide the dark tan I'd developed from running free in the wind and sun all my life, and added just enough pink to my cheeks to make me look healthy again. I outlined my eyes thinly with black so they'd stand out a bit, and shaded them with a deep rosy brown. I painstakingly curled my lashes and slightly darkened my brows so they were the same black as my hair. At least I didn't have to tweeze anything. And these so-called 'educated' ladies of the court needed how many girls to do this for them? I was just a dumb peasent, and I figured it out in thirty mintues flat! Dumb peasent indeed!
There were only two parts of the morning rituals I enjoyed.
One was the lip color. I'm not talking the "I'm-a-whore" bright, cooked lobster red favored by most of the ladies of the court.
I had concocted, by mixing a clear lip salve with some of my cheek and eye powders, a deep, blood, ruby wine red that I adored. I loved the way it made my lips look. I don't care what anybody says, I was taking the lips home with me!
The other was the perfumed oil, which smelled like the field of wildflowers across from my old home.
Now I went to my rather large closet and dug through for some semi-normal clothing amongst the gem-toned silks and brocades. Hotohori wasn't used to clothing short little girls like myself, so most of them were way too big and I would have to hem them up soon or be doomed to spend my days tripping on myself....
Near the back I found a plain, deep brown silk robe whose only decoration was some flowers and vines embroidered in gold around all the outer hems. I threw on a simple linen gown, put an absolutly pointless sheer golden robe that did nothing but hang down over my hands in that maddeningly frustrating fashion these people favored, and stick up above the collar of my robe and tickle my neck over it. I put on the brown silk robe and put a deep green middle wrap over that, and tied the whole thing on with a simple woven belt that combined all three colors into a nice flowery design.
I slipped on some of the more practical slippers of the whole useless lot of footwear and returned to the mirror.
I burst out laughing.
Now, let me explain, I am no beauty. I'm short. Yes, I know, most women are short, but I look up to even them! I just barely cleared Tashi's elbow, and he wasn't even all that tall for a man! Hotohori dwarfed me. I'm serious. I looked like a toddler next to him! Now add to that that I'm overly thin. People have called me slender, and I've laughed at them. Slender does not mean bony knees and elbows!
And then there's my face. It's roundish, with a slightly pointed chin. My cheeks too round. My eyes are too big, and they're an odd color that looks like polished wood. I'd always wanted sharp black eyes like Tashi's. My lips are nice enough, curvy and full, but they're just a little too big for my face. My nose is the worst. It is short, for one thing, and too thin, and it sticks up kind of strangely at the end.
Now add enhancing make up, and you see what you get?
Yep, that's right. A perfect disaster in courtier's clothing.
I was rummaging through my new jewelry, still chuckling about my appearance, when I suddenly remembered something.
The note!
I shuffled over to the table best as I could and groped for the note with my silk covered hands.
I soon gave up, kicked off the slippers and rolled the sleeves up over my hands so I could actually use them. I untied the string carefully and unfolded the delicate parchment.
Now, I wasn't from the gutter or anything, and my family had once had a comfortable amount of money, before Father died, and so I did have some education. However, I hadn't attempted to read anything other than the occaisional sign or bit of odd news in town Tashi and I ran into. Tashi didn't like to read. I'm not sure he even knows how, but he makes up for that in other ways. Tashi knows things books could never teach a person. The point is, I haven't read in a long, long time, and even before that, it was a struggle. I think maybe Hotohori took it for granted that not everyone in his empire was as educated as he was. Of course, how could he know otherwise? I didn't think it would be much fun to rule a country. Let alone be a kid and rule a country.
I stared dumbly at the note, and it took a few minutes for the characters to take on any meaning.

Lady Miyoko-
Open your window and look down.
~Hotohori

Uh huh.
I frowned. What kind of an order is that? Oh well. He was the Emperor, after all, so I guess I had to obey him. Not that I really think he'd actually do anything to me if I didn't, but, you know...play the game.
I walked to the window and drew back the sheer curtains, pulling the latch and opening the windows wide. The was a very small veranda there, and I stepped out onto it and looked down.
There was nothing there but a garden. The point of this embarrassing activity was...?
I had to admit, the gardens were lovely. I loved flowers and plants, and they were everywhere, along with fish ponds and fountians and statues and winding little pebble paths. I smiled. He was right, it was a pretty view. What a nice way to start my day, even if the delivery was a bit strange...
"Pssst! Miyoko! What were you doing in there? Building a new palace?"
I frowned and looked around for the source of this phantom whisper. The whisperer sighed in exasperation.
"Miyoko! Look down here!"
I looked straight below my feet, and for the second time that morning, burst out laughing.
Hotohori stood below me, dressed in the usual extravagant robes of an emperor.
This, however, was not the funny part. The funny part was the fact that he had a long red blanket covering himself from head to foot, so that he had to peek out like an old Grandmother.
"Your Majesty! What are you doing in that old bedsheet!?" I demanded, still laughing.
"SHHH! Do you want me to get caught!?"
Huh? I frowned in preplexity, still giggling incontrolably.
"C'mon, Miyoko! We're playing hooky today!" Hotohori cried at last, tossing a golden brown piece of cloth up to me.
"Put that on and meet me down here!"
I sighed. Now what kind of foolishness was this? Why did he have to sneak out? I would imagine that the most powerful man in the empire would have the freedom to take a day off now and then...
And why was he so cheerful? If there was one thing I had learned about my mysterious new friend, it was that getting the boy to crack a smile was a full time job. This can get very frustrating when you've grown up with the dry, tactful wit and humor of Suki Tadashi by your side. Hotohori was not a very carefree person, and certainly not "cheerful". Sometimes I doubted he even knew the word existed.
I was pondering all this before I had another question. I went back out onto the small veranda.
"Are we going into the city?" I asked the rumpled red pile of cloth below me.
"Of course!"
I sighed. He had a lot to learn about incognito!
I quickly surveyed the veranda and discovered a convientent vine.
"Your Majesty, can you climb up that vine?" I asked doubtfully. I didn't think that emperors got much physical training....
He sighed in exaspertaion.
"Of course I can, but w-"
"Good. Than do it,"
He complied, climbing up more swiftly and easily than I would've expected him to. He struck me as the type who wasn't allowed to lift a finger to work like that. I watched him like a hawk, lest he fall and break his royal neck and get me sent to the executioner's block. And wouldn't that be wonderful?
Meanwhile, I was taking off my frivolous clothing with great pleasure.
Hotohori turned bright red and spun swiftly to face the window.
"What are you doing?" he demanded.
"I'm getting ready for a day in the city, what else? You think common folk don't notice money when they see it? If you're going to sneak out, you have to do it right. And that means blending in!"
He turned back to face me as I expertly tied the brown silk robe over my cream under dress with a simple woven green belt. I then put on the appropriate slippers I slipped in my bag before leaving home, and greatfully let down my hair, tiny gold pins showering everywhere and sounding little itty-bitty bells as they hit the marble floor below while I shook my head madly to undo the braids.
"I never thought about that. Of course, I don't exactly own 'blending in' clothes....oh my, you have a lot of hair!"
I grinned at him over my shoulder as I pulled it all into a single braid as I always had at home.
"The clothing issue, your Majesty, we shall have to remedy. And soon if we're going anywhere today," I said, doubling the braid on itself and tying it firmly into place. I draped the golden brown cloth easily around myself like the simple cloaks I had so often wore at home, and turned to my closet.
This was going to be no easy feat....I had now to dress an emperor from a wardrobe compiled of women's clothing....I thought of Hotohori dressed as a woman with his face painted and his hair piled up on his head, and one of his stupid little hats perched on top of it all. I laughed.
"What?" He asked a little worriedly.
"Oh, nothing," I replied, still giggling.
I dug through the piles of robes and under garments before I gave up and faced the music. We'd have to work with the current ensemble.
I turned to Hotohori.
"Okay, your Majesty, get out of those monkey clothes,"
His eyes widened and he looked at me in extreme shock and nervousness.
"But I like this robe! It matches my eyes perfectly!"
I might have known! I rolled my eyes and sighed, praying for patience.
"Be as that may, you'll stick out like a beacon in those. Even members of the court wouldn't wear a robe like that in the city!"
He sighed, removed his bedsheet, and grudgingly took off his multiple expensive garments. He carefully set an ornate sword and sheath on a nearby chair, and then he stood before me in a saffron silk robe that I could work with...maybe....
The slippers were okay. Scarlet and made of silk, but okay. The pants gathered at his ankles were good. The color of dawn sunlight and patterned in gold, but passable. The socks were perfect. White. Plain. Excellent. I made a mental note to get him more clothing like that.
I had never seen a robe like his, however. It did not tie, but rather was all one piece with a slightly high neck, under which showed a collar that matched his pants.
I shook my head. The boy looked like a sunrise. Why did rich people insist on being visable from thirty miles away? Easier to aim at? I banished the thought.
I turned back to his pile 'o clothes, and dug out a rust colored, sleeveless robe.
Shaking my head, I crossed the robe over his chest and tied it into place with a yellow woven tie belt.
I looked at him closely. The only thing amiss was the fact that his wrists were bandaged, but he obviously wasn't injured. I made another mental note to ask him about that charming new development later.
"Better," I commented.
Actually, he looked good. Far better than he did in the royal frippery, anyway, or at least I thought so. The slightly dull rust color suited him well(especially since the damage I had inflicted upon him that first night had healed very nicely indeed, leaving only a very, very tiny scar near the corner of his lip that was completely invisible unless you knew exactly where to look. He whined about it a lot).
I grinned.
Now, the hair....
The jewel encrusted hat his hair was stuffed into just wouldn't do. Not only was it gaudy and ugly, ordinary people did not wear crowns.
I told him so as I shoved him down into the seat before my dressing table and pulled the little pin in the hat. His hair tumbled down his back. I had forgotten the guy had that much hair.
His reflection in the mirror grinned at me.
"You know a lot about this, Lady Miyoko,"
"I have years of experience, your Majesty,"
He was about to say something as I grabbed his hair and frowned.
I looked at it critically for a moment. Tashi's hair wasn't anywhere near as long, and he usually just wore his tied back, unless he was upset.
I didn't really want to tie it back, because frankly, he has great hair.
I compromised by pulling it back and braiding the very bottom length very loosely.
I fastened this visiously with a peice of silk I tore quickly from my under gown, and tossed the braid over his shoulder.
"OW! Watch it, Lady Miyoko! Hey...that looks good...!"
I rolled my eyes and shook my head again, sighing. The worst part was, it did.
I would have to work on this "self love" issue.
I gathered up is half ton of discarded clothing and heaved it easily under the bed.
"You're quite strong for such a small girl," he said appreiciativly, wrapping the sheet around himself in a style that imitated my own. I let him live with the "small" remark because he was trying to be nice and only because he was trying to be nice.
"I've worked for my living since I was young, your Majesty. Of course I'm stronger than the women you've encountered,"
He nodded, tying the sword back onto his belt.
"Good point,"
I eyed the sword skeptically.
"Your Majesty, do you know how to use that thing?" I asked doubtfully.
His only reply was a slight raise of the eyebrows as he grinned and turned to the window.
"Are we finally ready, Lady Miyoko?"
I nodded, and followed his lead.
This was going to prove to be a very, very interesting day indeed.














We made it off of the palace grounds without incident and soon found ourselves in the midst of all the dizzying activity of Eiyo.
Hotohori was in pure, ecstatic bliss.
It was so contagious.
He insisted I call him Hotohori, because he said it might be a little suspicious if I ran around calling him "your majesty" all day. I agreed somewhat uncomfortably.
We wandered around and gawked at all the sights: the jugglers and acrobats and the dancers;
we applauded the musicians and bought food from the vendors who appreiciativly recieved the coins from Hotohori's purse. He refused to let me pay for anything. I sulked.
I had forgotten my dagger, I noted with discomfort, but I figured a sword was the same basic principal as a dagger and would grab Hotohori's and protect him should the need arise.
Gods, I hoped it wouldn't! It would look so strange, a little girl defending a giant of a man like him! Something would definitly seem odd, and if we were found out....
Hotohori eventually scolded me for biting my nails and gave a joking command that I calm down, we were perfectly safe.
After we had wandered for what seemed like hours and done nothing constructive, I set about compiling a small wardrobe of ordinary clothes for him, for somehow I just knew this outing would repeat itself in the future, and the next time, I did not want to be accompianied by a walking sunflower.
I never met a man who liked to shop for clothes as much as this one did.
There was much enthusiastic notes on color and cut on Hotohori's part, and much head shaking, sighing and eye-rolling on mine.
It was late afternoon by the time we had finished these simple, pointless tasks.
We were strolling through one of the less-busy streets of the town, and I felt my apprehension grow as I realized this was not the best part of town to be in without adequit protection.
I chewed on a thumb nail and Hotohori scolded me again and vowed to break me of that habit if it was the last thing he did.
I was too busy watching for the dangers I knew just had to be lurking somewhere....
It was then that I saw the horse.
We had approached a small stable, and apparently horses were sold here.
I had ridden some in Tir Hoki, but always with Tashi or his friend Kozu nearby. Horses fascinated me, though, and I never passed up an oppurtunity to pet one's velvety soft nose and give it a friendly scratch, or a treat if I had one on me.
This particular horse was slightly smaller than the others. It was dark-ish brown, with a jet black mane and a long tail. The only distinguishing mark on it was a small white star on its forehead that seemed to be in the shape of a child's spread-fingered hand print.
Hotohori grinned as I petted the horse's nose and stroked its mane.
"She's a good little horse," a new voice said from behind us, and we turned to see a man who appeared to be the owner of the stable.
After while we walked on, browsing at the little shops and carts now and then.
I was perusing a display of beaded necklaces when I realized my companion was no longer at my side.
I cursed.
I was in the process of looking around frantically and gnawing off another innocent finger nail when I finally spotted Hotohori.
And I cursed again.
He was coming up the street, looking immensly pleased with himself, strutting like he was all that and a bowl of rice (okay, so maybe he is, but that's not the point!), and holding the reins of my little brown mare, now fitted with an expensive saddle and the few bundles from our earlier shopping excursions.
"Now you wait just a minute! Tell me you did not just buy this horse!" I demanded angerly, stomping up to him. Clothing was one thing, but a horse!?
He grinned innocently down at me.
"And what are you going to do if I tell you I did?"
"I'm going to injure you greiviously!"
He laughed outright.
"You wouldn't dare. I already covered for you once, and I don't think the court will buy another 'the clumsy emperor fell down the stairs' bit!"
I glared at him. I hated it when he was right! And he was always right!
"You know, for someone as powerful as you, you're really dumb!"
He laughed again.
"You bought a horse? A horse! How much did you pay for this silly beast?" I demanded, even as I was hugging her protectivly around the neck.
"Not enough. I got a good deal, for a horse as fine as this,"
He continued on to prattle about obvious lines and this strong point and teeth and hooves until I was sure he had to have even less of an idea what he was talking about than I did.
"I assume you paid outright for her?"
"No, Miyoko, I traded five minutes of gazing on my good looks," he responded sarcastically, even though I wasn't completely sure he was joking. He lifted me easily and swung me onto the little mare, settling me into the saddle.
"Your m--Hotohori! People don't just carry enough money to buy a horse and a saddle like this! It's dangerous! Especially around a part of town like this one! I don't even know what we're doing here!"
"Oh, Miyoko, just relax. It's only a little horse. And nothing's going to happen to us!"
I was about to repond when I was grabbed around the middle and hoisted roughly off the horse and against someone's chest. The wind was knocked out of me and I gasped, dazed for a moment as a dagger was held before me. I thought it best to be quiet...
"Miyoko!" Hotohori yelled. A dozen other men emerged from the shadows.
"Should've listened to her, pretty boy. Your baby sister knows her stuff!"
Baby sister!? I growled low in my throat. I'd have kicked him in the shin if it wasn't for the dagger pressed uncomfortably close to my juggular. I reconized the voice above me as that of the stable man's. He had followed Hotohori. I hated being right! Gods, did I hate being right!
Hotohori's jaw clenched and his hand tightened on the handle of his sword.
I moaned. Grand! All that stood between us and being mugged by a bunch of thugs was an untrained emperor and a decorative sword! We were doomed!
"What do you want?" Hotohori asked in a calm voice that never betrayed the fury in his eyes.
"Your money. The horse. Whatever's in those packages, and the girl," my attacker said, and the others surrounded us, anticipating a struggle, weapons raised.
"Give them what they want, Hotohori," I murmured in a strained voice. I'd rather be sold into some brothel than be responsible to anything happening to the exquisite emperor before me.
"You'd better listen to the little girl. She's a smart one," the man hissed.
"Just do what they say, Hotohori," I gasped again, becoming irritated with the whole "little girl" deal.
He sighed, and looked crushed.
"You're right, Miyoko, I'm defenseless. I have no choice but to give in," he said, sighing tragically and tossing his purse at the feet of my captor, the assumed leader.
"Take everything," he said bitterly, pushing past one of the men and walking down the street in complete dejection.
"Well, he's the smartest we've encountered yet," the leader said, putting me back on the horse and picking up the purse at his feet.
The other men agreed and we set off in a pack outside the city.
I was in shock. One moment, I was living like a queen in a palace, and the next, given up to slavers by my only friend in Konan.
I was in a great, turmulting mixture of sadness and joy.
I was glad Hotohori had the sense to not risk his royal neck over a nobody like me, and had just backed down when he knew he was beaten. But a part of me had wanted him to fight for me, and even though it would've been foolish to risk himself, I couldn't help but be a little dissapointed.
I turned back once to look at the palace as we neared the outskirts of the city.
Tears filled my eyes. How would I ever get home now? I'd have to get ahold of Tashi somehow, I thought, blinking away the tears. He'd come and get me, I knew.
The party stopped temporarily under a tree to rest and light torches. Water was distributed, but none was offered to me. I stared at the mane of the horse I was perched upon.
I was just plotting exactly how to dispatch a correspondance to Tashi when I was lifted swiftly out of the saddle and into the branches of the tree above.
I was about to scream when I reconized the grim, upside-down face regarding me in the dim twilight and shadowy branches.
"Hotohori!" I gasped as he trapped me in a rib-cracking embrace.
"Are you alright, Miyoko? Are you hurt?" He whispered, ashen-faced and nearly frantic.
"No, no, I'm fine. How did you find me?"
Some color creeped back into his cheeks, and I was relieved.
"I started following the second they put you on the mare. I wasn't about to let you go that easily! I followed for hours. I thought they saw me once. I was a little hard to miss. That's when I changed clothes,"
Only then did I realized he was now clad in grey from head to toe. And, as usual, he looked fantastic. Leave it to Hotohori to look fantastic while stalking thieves! I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and sigh again.
I noticed the party was just starting to move on again, and no one had noticed my absence.
Good riddance!
Hotohori set me firmly between two branches and swung silently out of the tree and to the ground.
"And just where are you going?" I called in a whisper after him.
He grinned rather devilishly.
"To get my horse back," he whispered over his shoulder as he swept away in long strides.
I cursed as I tried to slip myself out of the branches and climb out of the tree without murdering myself. Someone had to stop that lunatic before he got himself killed!
"Excuse me, good sirs!" Hotohori called out to the men ahead of me.
I cursed again.
"You again! What have you come back for!" The stable man-leader cried.
"I seem to have lost my little sister. Have you seen her?" Hotohori continued, polite yet condenscending as before.
My dress ripped in my haste as I flailed throught the branches.
"Your sister?" the leader spat in disgust.
"Yes, she's kind of short, has really long dark hair, brown eyes, brown robe---"
There was an interruption as I swung out of the branches of the tree and hung cursing by my belt on a branch. The robbers looked completely confused.
"Looks like her," Hotohori finished, jerking a thumb back at my helpless form.
The leader turned back to the mare and her emtpy saddle, and it was his turn to curse vehemently. He turned back to Hotohori, and let me tell you, he was not a happy man.
I was now struggling to unhook my belt from a branch so I could bail my friend's dumb ass out before he got scewered like a pig roast.
I had just given up and ripped the belt loose as I flopped down and hung from the lowest branch, arms outstretched and hands hurting, and beheld an amazing sight. My jaw dropped.
My pampered imperial friend was mopping the dirt road with those thugs! I had never in my life seen anyone handle a sword like that, except for maybe Tashi. Tashi's strength was in his speed and agility. Hotohori's was in his grace and presicion, even though he was fast, as well. Hothori did not just work with the sword, however, he was equally as impressive hand to hand, and I began to have my suspicions about those seemingly useless wrist-wraps.
Most of the robbers didn't even have time to draw their weapons before they were unconcious on the ground. Finally, Hotohori and the leader were the only ones left standing.
"You rich bastard!" The leader cried in shock, anger, and obvious fear.
"You stupid idiot," was Hotohori's only response as he easily konked the leader upside his head and watched as he sank to the ground. Hotohori arched an eyebrow and sighed lightly.
He then wiped the small amount of blood off his sword from the minor cuts and scratches he'd inflicted and replaced his sword in its sheath. He then bent, took his purse, gathered our scattered packages, and swung up on the patiently waiting mare.
I was still hanging in shock from the tree.
He rode casually under me, reached up, plucked me from the branch, set me in front of him, and together we began riding back into Eiyo.
"You never told me you knew how to fight!" I accused. He grinned.
"You never asked! And besides, I doubt you would've believed me!"
Well, he had me there.
"Where did you learn how to do that?" I asked.
"I've had lessons form the greatest masters since I was very, very young. My parents didn't care, and it gave me something to do. I was the youngest son, and it didn't seem very likely I'd ever get the throne. My mother had other ideas, however....and here I am, an emperor who knows how to use a sword. Go figure."
"Oh," was the only reply I could form. Glimpses into Hotohori's past were few and far between.
We were quiet.
"Did you kill them?" I asked in a tiny whisper.
"You were unharmed, so there was no cause for that. They'll probably only be bruised and sore when they come to. Bruised, sore, and hopefully scarred."
I nodded.
"So, what are you going to name your new horse?" He asked teasingly.
I turned and grinned up at him, and he grinned down at me, and we rode in silence the rest of the way to the palace grounds.






By the time we reached the palace it was nearing midnight. We rode straight up to my bedroom window and Hotohohori lifted me off the mare, whom I had decided to call Hani.
"I had fun today, Miyoko," he said, grinning. "More fun than I've had in a very long time."
"I had fun too. But you have to promise me one thing,"
"What?"
"You have to teach me how to use a sword like that!"
He laughed and swung back up onto Hani.
"I'm going to take her to the stables. We'll see about swordplay tomorrow,"
I climbed swiftly up the vine and into my open window.
"Goodnight, Miyoko," he called softly.
"Goodnight, Horichan," I called back just as softly.
He grinned at his new nickname and rode quietly off.
I went into my room, shut the window behind me, pulled off my torn gown, and sank into a chair. It had been a long, interesting, frightening, fun and fufilling day, I noted as I sighed contentedly, happy for the first time since leaving Tir Hoki. The only thing wrong was that I still missed Mother and Tashi and Mother Suki.
I noted Horichan's ugly little box hat sitting on my dressing table. I refused to sleep in the same room with one of those things. I might get nightmares from looking at it! I was exhausted, but I roused my energy and climbed to my feet, walked over to the table and picked up the horrible little bejeweled thing. Gods, how I hated those hats! And he had hundreds of them, it seemed! I couldn't even remember how many I'd destroyed or hidden since my arrival, but they just seemed to keep coming and coming and coming!
I went to the window, opened it, climbed down, and lifted a good size rock from the garden.
I walked a short ways to a nearby lily pond, put the rock in the awful peice of millnary, dropped it into the water, and watched it sink to the muddy bottom.
Then I went back into my room, let my hair down, and climbed into bed.
It was that day that I knew Hotohori was a true friend, wacky as he got at times.
We had forged a bond of some sort that day, and I knew, I just knew, we were stuck with each other for life. This worried me, though. What was I going to do when I went home? I'd miss him horribly, but it was a small price to pay to be with my family again.
I thought of his box hat at the bottom of the pond, in the mud and muck with the fish, and a little smile spread across my face as I drifted to sleep.