The inevitable is approaching, but is it impossible to stop it? What, with the Doctor and Tegan preparing to make a stop for spare parts at the Palace, perhaps so!
Please be patient with this - there is more Doctor in this part and soon… Soon… (More nervous grin...)
Part 3
Kim had recuperated. One thing the maids at the imperial palace were good at was hiding signs of tears on a face. The tabby hair had been made into a complex hairdo with a few ornaments, the face had been shined up to look her best and the wardrobe changed into something, as Allindra so bluntly had put it, a little more ladylike than those dastardly grey kimonos she usually insisted on wearing.
If Kim's appearance was impeccable, her insides were still in chaos.
How could he? First tempt her with hope of further freedom, suggesting that he actually understood, only to strike when she least expected it.
She caught herself hoping, childishly, that she had caused him sufficient injury to give him a good scar. Preferably in the face, so that he would have to wear the scar in public, as a constant reminder of his daughter.
That would be appropriate.
Kim sat in one of the gardens, in the Lily Garden, strumming her shamisen without producing a specific tune. The quiet hum of the strings soothed her, much like Allindra's hugs of comfort had done hours before.
After she had cried out every tear she had, she had gotten to her feet and asked for her other maidens to help her look her best. When her father decided how to treat the gross misconduct she had performed, she wanted to look her best, not defeated.
"Kitten?"
Kim started. Her acute senses, inherited from her sheerar mother and honed to perfection during intense training had failed to penetrate into the deep caverns inside of her where she had been contemplating her future.
She hated when somebody surprised her; she was proud of her keen senses and her feline heritance.
And it did little to calm her when she turned and found counsellor William standing there, his immaculate kimono reflecting the last rays of the sun and his eyes twinkling like some old man in a chocolate commercial.
Kim loved her feline ancestry, but sometimes it was less practical. Now she almost bristled at the sight of the loathsome old man, and she could not, given the state of her mind, prevent the tip of her tail from twitching angrily.
And yet she rose in one fluid motion, putting down the instrument and folding her arms into the sleeves of her kimono, bowing to the advisor.
"Counsellor William, you honour me with your presence," she said in a voice that could have been produced by a machine as it was quite devoid of emotion or intonation.
"Kitten, I have been sent -"
"That would be Princess Kimoto-sama," Kim interrupted in the same dangerously neutral voice, meeting the old man's eyes in a determined stare.
"Your highness, Princess, as you wish," William conceded with contained anger. "Your father has sent me to declare his orders for the preparations."
Her every fibre yelled at her to ask, but her face revealed nothing. Her tail still twitched in small, almost convulsing movements, but fortunately the older man did not seem to notice. As she did not say anything, he went on:
"The wedding between you and Count Matsudaira Nobunaga is to take place at the beginning of the Autumn Season. The celebrations will be in accordance with your rank and the wishes of the Count." He smiled at her, but she had seen hungry alligators with more warmth in their baring of teeth. "After the wedding, you will be moving from the imperial palace to live with Count Matsudaira Nobunaga at his island estate off the coast of Nagiya."
"He lives on an island?" Kim asked, fighting to keep her voice neutral. The islands off of Nagiya were secluded and had been virtually inaccessible by any means short of small planes or helicopters. It would be the perfect place to hinder any further escape. She would truly be lost, locked up with an old man and his desires, surrounded by unfamiliar but very bushido obedient people on all sides.
"The Matsudaira estate is quite famous. Built in the Classic Style of the Old World, the Edo Period of Japan," William explained, sounding as if he shared in the pride of the place. "The Matsudaira family is very loyal to the Codes, and you will discover that life there will differ very little from life at the imperial palace."
It was as she had feared.
"The wedding will be in a little less than two months' time. Before then, it is the Emperor's will that you should receive training and conditioning so as to be ready to become the wife of a nobleman of high esteem."
"Conditioning?" Kim was unable to stay neutral. She stared at William, trying to read his fake uncle-like face, but to no avail. The man was not as warm as he tried to look, but he hid his true emotions well.
"You will not be hospitalized," the advisor explained in a soothing voice. "You will receive treatments at regular intervals, as well as proper training in the traditions of the house of Matsudaira and their history. You will also be trained to understand what he appreciates in a wife. And," he added almost viciously, "in what he prefers not to find in a wife."
Kim understood.
Once she was tucked away at the Matsudaira castle, she would either submit or be... forced... There would be no escape.
"Until the wedding, there are a few, erh, conditions that will have to be met, I'm afraid," William continued and gestured towards the door. Four guards in the imperial uniform came into the garden, all of them were looking stern and yet with that slightly insecure face that Kim knew so well: The one a guard would wear when he knew that in order to obey one member of the imperial family, he had to go against the will of another.
"You will be confined to the northern parts of the palace at all times, lest you are taken to the hospital wing for treatments or the mandatory health check or summoned to the Emperor's quarters."
This was expected.
"And you are to wear this at all times," William continued, taking from his pocket a bracelet. It looked like a wristwatch, a sturdy model, and Kim immediately knew from her intelligence training what it was. This type of bracelet was more efficient than any chain or handcuff. It was radio monitored and automatic and it would be programmed to know her perimeters.
If she were to cross the invisible boundaries of her incarceration, it would alert the guard and at the same time it would inject her with, she guessed, a tranquilizer. These bracelets had been used for prisoners for decades, and some of them were, if the prisoner was considered especially dangerous, mounted not with a tranquilizer but with a lethal poison.
"Why don't you put a leash on me while you're at it?" she spat angrily, ignoring the guards, who discretely approached.
"Please, kitten -"
"If you call me that once more, I'll report it both to the Emperor and to my fiancé, the honourable Count Matsudaira Nobunaga. I doubt that either of them will appreciate such words used when addressing a princess who has come of age!"
"As you wish your highness." William bowed in acceptance of her order, but his eyes glinted in a fashion betraying his true self to her.
"And no, there will be no scene either," Kim spat, her tail now flailing freely. "I don't know if you had been looking forward to having me held tight, screaming and kicking while your dirty hands fondled all over me in search of a wrist to put that thing upon, but it will not be so. Hand it over."
William handed her the bracelet without another word and she put it on, tightening it under his scrutiny and feeling more than hearing the little lock click.
"I am secured now, Master William. You may leave."
The guards had already retreated, and with a bow, only just meeting requirements, William also left the garden.
Kim sat down again, righted herself and picked up the shamisen with trembling hands. The bracelet was not heavy by any means, but it nonetheless weighed down her hand, and she found that she was unable to even try to strum the instrument.
She was not locked up, in stead she wore her prison in the shape of a bracelet, just as much as she soon would wear it in the shape of a wedding band and the name Matsudaira.
Very quietly she put down the delicate shamisen and just sat there, staring into nothingness.
Waiting.
o o o
Meanwhile, rapidly approaching the present time.
With some satisfaction, Tegan watched as the central column finally came to a halt. There had been a few jumps, even a single serious one where she lost another teacup and received a few bruises, but at least the Doctor seemed satisfied that they were on the right track now.
With an almost imperceptible tremor, the TARDIS seemed to have arrived. The lights remained steady and nothing was lurching. Tegan liked this very much.
"So, where are we?" she inquired as she got up from the chair again.
"Inside…" the Doctor mumbled from his perch in front of the console.
"Yes, but where is the TARDIS?"
"Inside, like I said!" The Doctor straightened up and beamed at her. "It would appear that we have arrived inside a building. In a room of some sort. I knew the old girl would find us some place civilized, somewhere likely to produce the parts that we need. Now it is just a matter of finding and recovering the cables and perhaps a few other spare parts while we're at it."
"And you expect that this will be easy?" Tegan asked, reaching for her coat.
"Who can tell? But yes, I do not foresee any major trouble," he smiled back and pulled at the door lever. "Oh, don't get up, Tegan. I'll only be gone for a few moments."
"But I thought-"
"I'll be back before you know it!"
With that he was out the doors. Tegan scowled after him, briefly resisting an urge to stomp her feet in anger. Then she though again and decided to stomp.
Not that it helped any, not really.
o o o
To be continued…