Chapter 3
It stayed like that until I was 16.
I was in the market getting the ingredients I needed for tea and I heard that Prince Xiao Lang his name meaning little wolf of China was coming to Tokyo to find a wife to bear him an heir to the throne once his mother had died. His father was the great merciless general and king of China; Li Xiao Long his name meaning little wolf. He was a fierce handsome worrier who had died after the great battle against the Huns.
His son Xiao Chen took after him in his looks fierce amber eyes that could turn even the finest milk into sour with one glare. He had long brown hair that he tied behind him. His cold stoic demeanour had won many a heart. I knew that from what I had heard as gossip it would be hard to find him a wife and I sure hoped it wasn't me. Once I had all my ingredients I had hurried home to tell my stepfamily.
A week later there came through the post an invitation to attend tree western style masquerade balls all in succession one night after the other for three nights. These invitations were only given to the wealthy population of Tokyo and all the non-servant women of the house were called to attend. It was in just 2 weeks! I was so excited I had never been to a ball. I had heard all about the balls and tea ceremonies that Ying-Le, Meilin and Summie had gone to but I was never invited. When I asked Summie if I could go she said: 'No, Sakura. Why would you be invited it says all non-servant women of the house and you as I can see are a servant. Unless you can make mine, Ying-Le's, Meilin's dresses, a different one for each night I will let you go. You may be excused from all duties if you make the dresses.' She then smiled and walked off, with my stepsisters tailing her like a dog to its owner.
I didn't stand there gapping at the unfairness of it all I went straight to the town centre to get the materials for twelve western style ball gowns. Luckily I had all their measurements from when I had made clothes for them before, tailoring items of clothing had always been a specialty of mine and I was proud of it. Also I had never made western style ball gowns and I was looking forward to the challenge
It was a hard week but I had finally managed it. I had stayed up until midnight every night just to get them finished and I could tell you I was really happy with them. I had made each dress graduating in beauty.
For Ying-Le on the first night I had made her a simple yet elegant spaghetti strap dress with a square cut front, it was light brown and it reached all the way to the floor. It had no under coats but because the material was loose it flowed around and allowed for leg movement. The second dress was light brown again but it had full- length sleeves and reached to the middle of her calf. It had some embroidery on the main bodice of a chocolate brown stem with sequins sewn into it. The third dress was the one I was really pleased with; it was a rich chocolate brown and flowed outward and reached just past the knees. It had three quarter length sleeves and it had beautiful embroidery with sequins swirls arranged over it.
Meilin's dresses were all different shades of red. The first one was a shimmering material with off the shoulder sleeves and gloves that went up to her elbows. It reached to her mid calf. The second was a rich red it had spaghetti straps and had sequins sewn on the strap. The bottom half puffed out over three different undercoats. It parted in the middle to reveal each one. It had a fan to go with it and looked very pretty. The third was a sleeveless ruby red dress that reached mid calf and it was a corset on the top to keep it up. The corset had white strings on it and on the front it had glitter and lots of sequins sewn on it like perfection.
Summie's dresses were all a different shade of purple. The first was a deep shade of purple with full-length sleeves with a special loop that went over your hand and on your middle finger like a ring. It flowed elegantly all the way to the floor and puddle on the ground. The second was a lighter shade of silken purple and it reached just below her knees and hugged in at the waist too show her curves. It flicked out at the end like a Siamese cats' tail. The last one was probably the most beautiful out of all of theirs. It was a full-length gown wit several undercoats. It was a light shade of purple and had a splash of violet at the bottom. There was sequins and glitter dotted around the dress. It was an off the shoulder dress and had gloves that reached up to her elbows, it truly was a work of art.
My dresses were all different shades of pink. The first one was a pale shade of pink had thick spaghetti straps. It reached mid calf and was shortest in the middle and got longer to the sides. The back was also low cut. The bottom of the dress had a purposefully raggedy cut but was still elegant. The second dress was dark pink halter neck dress. On the back it had crisscross straps. It had embroidery of little cherry blossoms. It reached to the floor and had an elegant rain that railed behind it. The last dress was my favourite it was a sleeveless pale pink dress. It started at my knee and was cut diagonally to my mid calf. The bottom half was made out of netting material. There was a small strip of material that did up at the back into an elegant bow. The top was a corset that did up at the back. On the front there was a crisscross of embroidery and a shimmering pink sequin at each cross. It was truly beautiful; I was really proud of it and looked forward to wearing it.
I had finally finished the dresses on the mourning of the ball. It had been two long weeks but I had done it.
I went outside onto the balcony where Summie spent most of her time when she was at home talking with her friends and maintaining business contacts with men from around Japan. When I found her she was lounging on a deck chair that she had bought only a couple of weeks ago. I asked her if it was ok if I showed her the dresses and she said that was fine. She followed me into my cramped room. It was already the smallest room in the house not counting the servants, but with twelve dresses in there as, well it felt pretty small. "Oh wow Sakura you have really outdone yourself this time," she had exclaimed.
She was looking at each dress in detail trying to find a flaw as she always did. It had always annoyed me at first but then it made me work harder to get every little stitch perfect. After circling the room Summie came to me and said, "the dresses are really good but what about the masks? I'm afraid that because you did not make any masks you cannot attend any of the balls. You knew that you had to make masks and you didn't so you can't go now." With that she turned sharply on her heel and walked out my room. The Meilin came nosing her way in and gave me one of those I'm better then what you will ever be smiles and took the dresses and left but sent a maid to get the rest of them but leaving mine.