The sun still lingered, deepening the shadows as Hiromasa picked his way through the lowly buildings clustered outside the city. Accustomed to straying beyond the safety of the gates to the northeast without coming to any harm, he made the assumption that he'd be just as safe in the west.
A small crowd followed him, their common speech unintelligible and fast when he asked for directions. They seemed to find him amusing, pointing at his black brocades and dark orange silks. There was no malice in their actions, but it made Hiromasa aware that he had no place in this little world.
The crowd turned away as he approached a rough patch of ground filled with wild and cultivated flowers. Amidst the foliage, a tumbledown hovel stood beside a cesspit. The stink was enough to make him gag. He hid his face in his sleeve and felt his way over to the door, his feet squelching through something repulsive. He lifted his free hand to knock, but the door opened before he could touch it.
Hiromasa lowered the sleeve from his face and stared at the door, suspecting trickery. He looked for a pentacle scratched into the wood, then glanced around in case he should see Seimei standing nearby, smiling that fox-smile and with his fingers to his lips.
He saw nothing unusual. When he examined the door again, Hiromasa realised the catch was broken. He smiled. No magic – just a broken door. Much relieved, he stepped inside.
The interior was darker than he'd expected, without even a lamp to guide him. Hiromasa bumped into various items, scattering a pile of seashells and knocking down a bunch of dried flowers hanging from the roof. He edged into a clear part of the room and turned around.
To his astonishment, he could no longer smell the disgusting odour from the cesspit. Instead, a warm, ticklish fragrance set him at ease. Looking for its source, he spotted a long table set beneath a jumble of shelves. Tiny bottles sat in neat rows. A pestle and mortar rested beside flasks and jars.
Unable to check his curiosity, Hiromasa went closer to the table. Here the air hung thick with perfumes, layer upon layer of the most marvellous, intoxicating scents, and yet the combination didn't offend his nose or give him a headache. He looked at the rows of bottles and felt a flicker of surprise that none of them were labelled. He reached out to touch the closest bottle, wondering if its contents were liquid or powder.
"Don't touch that."
The voice was sharp and autocratic, even if the accent suggested a person of low class. Hiromasa jerked back his hand and spun around.
A woman emerged from the darkness, her hair unbound and tangled around her face. She wore grey robes inexpertly fastened, her movements revealing glimpses of pale skin beneath the grimy cloth.
Hiromasa would have looked away decorously, but Nose was young and pretty and did not seem to care about her state of undress. He wondered if she was a whore as well as an incense-blender, but realised it would be offensive to ask. Instead he beamed at her with considerably more warmth than he'd anticipated. He'd thought Nose would be an ugly old hag. Lovely young ladies were much more to his taste.
Only when she drew nearer did Hiromasa realise that his charming smile would have no impact on Nose. Beneath the strands of matted hair, her eyes were milk-white, almost reptilian. They moved continually, but saw nothing.
"Oh!" Hiromasa felt a moment of sorrow that such a pretty girl should be so afflicted. "You're blind."
"And you're a prince removed from succession. How charming."
He started. "How did you know that?"
"I can smell it on you."
Hiromasa patted down his cloak, sniffing it surreptitiously. "I'm surprised you can smell anything but the cesspit."
"Waste has such nuances of scent." Nose walked around him, her chin tilted and her nose high. It was a small nose with fine nostrils that flared delicately as she sniffed the air around him. "Human waste, animal waste. You could learn all you wished to know about a man from his cesspit."
"I don't wish to know anything about cesspits." Hiromasa shuddered at the idea. "But you could tell me how you know my status. What does it smell like?"
Nose laughed. "Are you afraid you may smell of disappointment or bitterness? No, my friend, you smell of contentment. You are satisfied with your position and don't hunger for anything higher. Except… there is, I think, a touch of frustration about one aspect of your life. Which is why you're here."
"You know all that just from my scent?"
He turned and found himself face to face with her. Nose stood much closer than he'd have allowed any other woman of such short acquaintance, but to step away from a blind person would seem cruel. Besides, she really was pretty, Hiromasa decided. Even her strange white eyes had a sort of beauty to them.
She smiled as if she knew he found her attractive. "Not just your scent. People of your class come to me for only one thing. I have had many visitors these last few days, since the announcement of the incense-blending competition. So, what manner of perfume do you require, my lord?"
He felt deflated at her brisk tone. "I… I want something special."
Nose made an amused sound. "That's unusual. Most people feel the need to cling to the familiar." She moved from his side and walked over to her worktable. Her fingers numbered the bottles on the lower shelf, counting from one end and then the other.
"I can blend a thousand different variations on a single note. It's my speciality." Nose selected a bottle. "It makes the wearer feel safe, yet fashionable. See for yourself."
She uncapped the bottle and held it out to him. Hiromasa went closer and took a tentative sniff. The scent was familiar, a gaudy, extravagant fragrance that relied heavily on spikenard and frankincense, but as he took another sniff, he realised something had been added to the blend, something that softened and warmed it.
He straightened. "I thought it was His Excellency's current perfume, but…"
"You have a good nose. This is the blend he will wear for winter." Nose closed the bottle and replaced it on the shelf. "The Chancellor has always worn a variation on that scent. He feels secure with it. I would even suggest that he draws strength from it."
"Because of its familiarity." Hiromasa frowned as he said it, wondering if that was why he liked Seimei's scent so much, why he sought to recreate it. Certainly there were many times at court when he missed his friend and wished he had even an ounce of Seimei's cleverness. Perhaps if he wore Seimei's scent, he'd feel inspired and intelligent.
"What you do is amazing," he said honestly, "but I don't want a variation of a perfume that already exists. I want something else. I wonder… can you recreate the scent of a particular person?"
Nose turned her head sharply, her milk-white eyes gleaming. Her expression registered surprise as well as curiosity. "You want a person's own unique body scent, and not the perfume they wear to disguise it?"
"Yes. Can it be done?"
"Why do you want it?"
Hiromasa hesitated, uncertain of how to reply. "Ah… because this person always smells good. It's impossible to dislike this scent, actually, even if it seems a little strange at first. It – it's one of those scents that captures your attention. It has so many layers, and though you think you're so clever to recognise ten fragrances in it, there's still more that you'll never identify." He paused, letting out a breath. "It's impossible to forget."
"Like the person who owns it?"
Hiromasa was glad she couldn't see him blush. "Perhaps."
Nose busied herself at her worktable, arranging empty saucers in front of a large copper bowl. "It is my experience that a man always remembers the body scent of his lovers. What your nose finds pleasing, others may find disgusting."
"Not in this instance." Hiromasa knew all too well that Seimei received a startling amount of attention at court. Perhaps it wasn't entirely to do with his scent, but Hiromasa was sure it helped.
Nose paused. "This person is so well-loved?" She sounded disbelieving.
"Well… not loved, exactly, but…"
"Desired." She tilted her head and chuckled low in her throat. "You want me to create the scent of desire."
He felt confused. He desired Seimei, of course he did, but he hadn't considered the full erotic possibilities of what wanting Seimei's scent could mean. Hiromasa struggled with it, feeling vulnerable. "I don't want the scent of desire. It would be false. I just want the scent of this person."
Nose still chuckled. "People come to me and ask for a perfume that will win a contest, or to ensnare a lover. They seem to think that false fragrance is preferable to a real scent. They ask me to trade in illusions. But you… ah, my friend, you want the biggest illusion of all."
"I just want a scent!"
She stopped laughing, her face becoming serious. "Then you shall have it. Come, let me show you how we will manage it. You will tell me, if you please, if there is a perfume you recognise."
Nose reached up and took five bottles from the middle shelf. She placed them in front of the copper bowl and removed the stoppers. In a saucer, she mixed the contents of three bottles together until a fragrance, delicate and subtle, stained the air around them.
Hiromasa leaned closer and inhaled. He knew this scent. It had a vague familiarity about it, something that reminded him of a woman he'd known. He frowned, trying to recall her, waiting for the scent to sharpen his memory.
"Smell the perfume through this," Nose suggested. A bottle was pressed into his hand. The scent that emanated from it was strong and dark, almost physical. Hiromasa drew it in, catching the other perfume as if from a distance.
"It's…" he began, the scent-memory closer. "Oh, I almost know it!"
"This will help." Nose added a little of the fifth bottle to the mix.
Hiromasa gasped as all five notes came together to create a body scent he recognised. "My lady of Cloudy Days!"
"Is that what you call her?" Nose sounded amused again. "But yes, this is her personal scent. I'm glad you recognised it."
"So it's possible."
"It is." Nose watched him with her sightless eyes. "It may seem simple, merely a matter of mixing a few scents to create another, but to make a personal scent… it can become complicated. These bottles," and she indicated the five on the table, "are blends of numerous other perfumes. A perfume that will win a court contest may have sixteen ingredients. To make the scent of a person, it could take dozens, even hundreds of ingredients. It's expensive and it takes time."
"I don't mind. I can afford it."
Nose tilted her head. "Are you sure?"
Hiromasa had the impression that she wasn't talking about expense.
"You see, in order to create a person's scent, I need to know them," Nose continued. She smiled, her voice lowering. "I have to get close to them – as close as possible." Her eyes glittered. "Taking someone else's scent… it's a kind of theft."
Hiromasa brushed the comment aside, ignoring the fact that he'd had a similar thought yesterday in Seimei's house. While the morality of stealing someone's personal scent didn't immediately concern him, the idea of Nose going anywhere near Seimei concerned him considerably.
"I'm sorry, but that's impossible. This person is – uh, they're very private."
Nose tidied away the bottles and emptied the saucer onto the ground. "A private person, yet you can reach them."
Hiromasa heard the catch of interest in her voice. She probably thought he was having an affair with the Empress. He winced.
"Tell me," she said, "do you ask for this scent only because of the contest?"
"Yes." Hiromasa paused. "No."
She waited.
"Maybe," he began hesitantly, testing his thoughts as he spoke them aloud, "maybe if I understood the scent, I would understand the person."
"Perhaps." Nose shrugged, looking as if his answer had disappointed her somehow. "Anyway, my lord, if this is truly what you wish, and if this person is truly so private, then you must help me."
"How?"
She smiled. "Bring me a piece of their clothing."
Hiromasa thought of the white glossed under-robe and blushed.
Nose seemed to sense the direction of his thoughts. "Yes," she said, her smile suddenly lascivious, "the more intimate the better. And if they've had sex in it, that would be perfect."
