Shiroi no Mikomi strolled stiffly and nervously along the long banquet buffet table. She always dreaded court functions of this sort. Chatting pleasantly was not one of her best or favorite pass-times. Her mother, Shiroi no Shinju, was a beautiful and influential courtier in the Sun court and even had been ever since before the death of her husband. This was her life, often leaving Mikomi to be forgotten.
Mikomi was like her mother: tall and thin, always standing out in crowds with their pale skin, light blue eyes, and glacial white hair hanging in bone-straight locks. Mikomi's was just past her shoulders while her mother's hung past her waist in a silky veil. Making the pair even more striking, each wore pure white satin gowns with long trains. While her mother enjoyed the attention her appearance brought her, Mikomi would much rather to have sunk into the shadows unnoticed.
As she placed a small amount of food onto her plate with little interest in what it actually was, Mikomi caught a glimpse of the royal family and their three guardian senshi through the crowds. Always wanting to stay away from the center of the gathering, she had not seen much of them in the past. All were so regal and striking, they put even Shiroi no Shinju to shame. This intrigued Mikomi, almost making her want to brave the crowds for a better look.
Mikomi pushed a small roll into her mouth and craned her neck for a better look, this time only seeing two of the guardians. The third one seemed to have gone, leaving a tall and wiry girl with messy sea-foam green hair hanging no lower than her shoulders and framing her face and wearing a dark teal dress. The second was shorter and younger with pink hair done in two royal buns and was wearing a matching pink gown. The used of the hairstyle made Mikomi wonder if that girl was somehow related to the queen.
The crowd obscured her view again so Mikomi's interests returned to her small helping of food while she still lingered near the long tables. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a huddled group of boys shove one of their company in her direction. The boy was actually noticeably taller than she was yet was otherwise unremarkable. He stumbled towards her with one hand behind his back.
Mikomi pretended not to notice and to take intense interest in the food on her plate. The boy stopped just near her, confirming her suspicions. This was a common occurrence and yet another reason she dreaded these gatherings.
He cleared his throat and she looked up at him with a practiced gaze of polite curiosity. The boy pulled the hand from behind his back, clasped around a white rose, and thrust it at her. "Please take this flower, oh White Rose of the Sun," he said, trying, and failing, to be impressive.
Mikomi feigned a giggle and temporarily set her plate back down on the buffet table, taking the rose. "Why, thank you," she replied sweetly, struggling to keep up her act.
"It is perfect for you," he announced to her, and, before hurrying off again, he finished, "please remember me, Lady Mikomi, when your mother is looking to match you!"
And he didn't even give me his name. That's a smart one, she thought to herself. Not that I would ever remember someone as unremarkable as him.
She spun the rose idly between her fingers for a moment and noticed that the thorns had been removed. Now seeing that it was safe, she tucked it into her hair and behind her ear for lack of anything else to do with it.
She briskly turned around and moved towards her food again when she heard a female voice begin to ask, "Is this—?"
Not seeing the other girl there, Mikomi collided with her, tripping on the train of her dress, and fell tangled in it to the floor. Her rose fell from her ear and her into her face in the process.
"Oh!" the girl exclaimed, plainly startled, "I am so sorry!" She stuck out a hand to assist the white girl to her feet.
Embarrassed at her own clumsiness, Mikomi clasped the helping hand and pulled herself up. All the while, she kept her eyes low in shame, not looking at the other girl.
After brushing her hair out of her face and smoothing out her dress, blushing with embarrassment, she finally looked at the girl. She was a full head shorter than Mikomi with a simple midnight black gown, a round face, dark eyes, and straight raven black hair that fanned out down to her mid-back. "Thank you," Mikomi said with a small smile, as though she were laughing at herself, "I guess I just had a clumsy spell."
The girl laughed, her round eyes dancing, "Don't we all now and again?" she paused for a moment, her intense eyes taking in all of Mikomi, then added earnestly, "Although, I wouldn't expect someone as strikingly lovely and graceful as you to pull a maneuver like that in such an important imperial gathering like this."
Mikomi only blushed harder, though she was not sure whether it was for shame or for the compliment. She had never heard anything like that from a girl before. Laughing nervously, she replied, "I'd have to disagree with the graceful part." Something about the way that girl was looking at her make her feel very uncomfortable.
The dark-haired girl laughed heartily, "I suggest not trying that again though. Otherwise people will begin to think that the flawless white beauty is imperfect."
Mikomi laughed nervously again and blushed harder still. Was this girl intentionally flattering her? "Well," she stammered, "I am becoming rather tired. I had best depart." With that, Mikomi turned and hurried off into the crowd, leaving her forgotten plate of food behind her.
The dark girl watched her go, slightly crestfallen, then noticed the white rose on the floor. Her eyes lit up and she bent over to pick it up, stowing it in her belt, then pocking up a plate and loading it with food of her own.
Kumori placed the rose ceremoniously in a water-filled crystal vase as soon as she returned to her rooms after the fathering. She sat back in her chair to admire her handiwork and sighed.
That girl in what was undoubtedly the daughter of the high lady of Shiroi, making the girl Shiroi no Mikomi. Mikomi was the one all the young boys were always whispering about. Now Kumori could see why! She could not believe that she had never encountered the beauty before, considering how much she must be at court.
Kumori sighed again just as pink-haired Tsute poked her head in the half-open doorway.
"Oh no," she groaned, running her hands through her now down shoulder-length hair, "Please don't start on something like this again!"
The older and taller sea-foam-haired Kashoku appeared nest to Tsute. She agreed, "Didn't you see her horrified face. Tsute and I certainly did from where we stood."
Kumori shot both of them and accusing glare and opened her mouth to speak, but her pink-haired friend cut her off, "She's one of the most likely candidates for White Sun, and we don't want to frighten her from that position. We need all the senshi."
Kumori nodded but her eyes widened, "How long have you known that?"
She's part of the Shiroi high family, so that puts her near the top," Kashoku explained methodically, "but Tsute and I watched her carefully while you were flirting— and don't you dare argue— with her. It seems that she might be the one."
Kumori opened her mouth to speak again, but before she could, Tsute added, "But we need to run a computer scan on her first before we can assume anything.
The next day, Mikomi's thoughts kept straying back to the girl in black. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure that the girl's comments were not just polite compliments.
Oh mother would have a fit if she knew how that girl was acting around me, she thought as she ran a brush through her hair again and again.
The events of the previous evening left her utterly confused. No boy at court had ever dared to speak to her with that sort of familiarity. And similarly, none had made her feel so uncomfortable either. For that reason, she hoped she would not bump into that girl again.
Then her thoughts traveled back to the two of Astra's soldiers that she had seen. She remembered how regal they looked. They must have many responsibilities. She wondered about the third one that she had not seen. She knew there were three, but not really who they were.
In efforts not to encounter the girl again, or at least not soon, Mikomi declined going to court with her mother the next week, under the guise of being ill.
While Kashoku was elsewhere entertaining the guests that evening, Tsute and Kumori spotted the tall and regal figure of Lady Shiroi no Shinju. Kumori looked like she wanted to plunge into the milling crowd in search of her daughter immediately.
Tsute knew her companion's game and quickly put a firm and warning hand on the shorter girl's shoulder. "I will go speak to Mikomi," Tsute said firmly, "After I work things out with her, then you can have a polite chat with her. At that point, you should avoid scaring her away by flirting too much. As I said, we do not want to frighten her away."
Kumori scowled but Tsute ignored her and left the front steps of the room to search through the crowds for Mikomi. Meanwhile, Kumori stayed where she was and strained her eyes to find the beautiful girl.
It was Kashoku who first encountered the lady of Shiroi. "Excuse me, Lady Moegi no Kashoku. Might you be able to tell me the king and queen's standing on the issue of the level of taxation in the Ai Prefecture?" she asked politely.
"I am afraid I cannot be too specific, but I believe that she does intend to lessen it, given the representatives can defend their proposition well enough," Kashoku responded concisely.
"Thank you, Lady Kashoku," Shinju nodded and turned, intending to retreat.
"Lady Shinju," Kashoku stopped her, "Is your daughter here tonight?"
She paused, "Well, no. My dear Mikomi said that she was not feeling well today, so she declined the trip. In fact, she is on her way back to the Shiroi prefecture at the moment. She left our winter residence this is here in the capital yesterday. Why do you ask?"
"You see," the wiry soldier began, "The other senshi and myself think that she could be a possible candidate for a senshi herself. We wished to speak to her about it."
"Oh dear," Shinju cooed, covering her mouth with one hand, "I do not think Mikomi would like that sort of thing. She prefers to keep to herself when she can. Besides, I have no other children to take over my place as High Lady of Shiroi."
"We must speak to her nonetheless," Kashoku persisted undaunted.
Shinju sighed, "I shall write to her then."
Kashoku shook her head. She did not want a middle person in this interaction. "No," she said firmly, "I shall have to refuse your offer. One of us will go to visit her in person. Thank you for your assistance Lady."
"Oh, of course," the white lady said diplomatically, "Anything for the Crown."
Kashoku slipped back off into the crowd with a nod and towards the thrones where Tsute and Kumori stood waiting.
"So?" Kumori asked.
"Mikomi has left for the Shiroi Prefecture. She was not feeling well and felt disinclined to come to court," Kashoku explained. "Her mother does not seem to like the idea of her becoming one of us but she will acquiesce in the end, not without her own manipulation behind the scenes though."
"I will go to Shiroi," Kumori offered quickly, "I can ride faster than either of you. I could meet her there. Just tell me what I need to do."
"There's no sense in refusing you," Tsute sighed, "Fine, you can. Just be sure to behave. We don't want to give Shinju an excuse to pull her daughter from our grasp."
"We can have you ready to go tomorrow morning, shortly after breakfast," Kashoku added. "Our goal is to bring her back here, so we will send some money with you so that you can commission a carriage when you get there."
"Of course," Kumori nodded solemnly while her eyes danced with eagerness.
Tsute sighed than laughed, "You're hopeless Kumori."
Lady Shiroi no Shinju did in fact send a letter to her daughter, by bird in fact, so that it reached her while she traveled, still a day from home. Welcoming news to ease the boredom of her trip, she quickly tore past the wax seal and read.
My Dearest Mikomi,
I hope your health is recovering and that you will feel well enough to return soon. I shall miss you so. In the mean time, make sure to keep up on your studies. Get plenty of rest as well.
I should tell you of a conversation I recently had with Lady Moegi no Kashoku, one of the queen's three guardian senshi. She wants you to enter the queen's service as a senshi. Now, I told her that you would not be interested at all, but she would not hear of it. In fact, I think she intends to visit you. If you would like, you could turn around right now and I could keep them from you. The servants will not be able too, but I have authority. You do not have the strength or health to take that job. Besides, I know you dislike court functions. You would be required to be at every one as well. Do not agree to them too hastily.
Remember to get better, and you do not have to listen to Kashoku if you do not want to.
Lovingly,
Your mother
Mikomi's heart leapt. Could she be as magnificent as those three? But her mother did have some good points. The responsibilities might be too much for her. She could not avoid court any more. Torn, she sat in silence, glancing over letter again. At last she sighed, "Who am I kidding? They could not possibly want me."