Nose knelt on the earthen floor of her hut, the copper bowl in front of her, surrounded by an array of jars and vials. The warming, gentle fragrances that had permeated the air on his last visit had faded. Now Hiromasa smelled sharp, acrid scents: burnt flesh, the whiff of rotten vegetables, and the stink of decay.

"You work fast, my lord." Nose looked at him from beneath the matted tangle of her hair. Her blind eyes flickered, and she lifted her head, nostrils flaring. "I can smell sex on you. In fact, you reek of it."

Hiromasa felt his blush reach his ears. Unable to think of anything to say – there seemed little point denying what he'd done – he remained silent. He approached her, taking Seimei's under-robe from beneath his cloak. She rose on her knees and made a crooning sound, her hands reaching out to grasp the garment. Before she touched it, Hiromasa held back.

She sensed his hesitation. "Afraid, my lord? Of me – or of your lover?"

Pride stiffened his resolve. "You will make me this scent." He sounded more confident than he felt.

Nose laughed and snatched the under-robe from him. "I will. But let me smell…" She crumpled the glossed silk in her hands and held it to her face, inhaling deeply. A moment later, she raised her head, a startled expression on her face. "A man."

Hiromasa fidgeted.

She pawed at the robe, turning it inside out and sniffing like a dog on the trail of a rabbit. Hiromasa watched her, his nose wrinkling in distaste as she snuffled at the white silk. She spread the garment wide, tracking the scent as he'd done that first time, from collar to underarms and along its length.

Nose paused over one area and licked at the silk, her croon becoming a moan of deep satisfaction.

Shocked, Hiromasa realised what she must be tasting with such enjoyment. Nausea rose in his throat and he strode forward, ready to tear the robe away from her.

Nose rolled sideways, clutching the robe tight. When Hiromasa tugged at it, she refused to let go. Her sightless eyes rolled back in her head and she cackled, a blaze of mad glory lighting her features. "A fox! You want to trap the essence of a fox!"

She sucked at the silk again, a look of ecstasy on her face. She giggled, her fingers loosening their clasp. "A vixen's child, a powerful half-fox… Abe no Seimei."

Hiromasa snatched at the robe again. "That's just a rumour."

"It's the truth." Nose scrambled to her feet and hugged herself, careless that she dislodged several jars of perfume from their neat rows. "Ah, Seimei. Now I have you…"

"That's enough. Give it back!" Hiromasa seized the silk and pulled it away from her. He was shaking as he folded the garment. The wet patch of Nose's saliva made him grimace. What she'd done seemed obscene. The second-hand tasting of desire, her greed and pleasure in tasting Seimei's essence, roused both disgust and a sense of unease.

Perhaps this hadn't been a good idea after all. What did he know of Nose, except a recommendation from one woman of his acquaintance? He couldn't believe a pretty blind girl could do him harm, but he'd been wrong about people before.

Hiromasa stepped back. As he did so, he heard the clatter of ceramic at his feet, and realised he'd knocked over several of the bottles arranged on the floor.

Nose hissed in dismay and dropped to her knees, scrabbling in the dirt to rescue her tumbled scents.

"I'm sorry, please forgive me. Let me help." Hiromasa stuffed Seimei's robe back inside his cloak and crouched on the ground. He righted the bottles, aware of the perfume rising from one that had lost its lid. Curious, he lifted the small round container and passed it beneath his nose, inhaling the fragrance.

"These are not the same perfumes you were mixing when I last visited," he said. Recognition tickled at his senses. He frowned, trying to focus. "I know this one. It's…"

He hesitated, aware of Nose crouched watching him with her sightless eyes. Her face was pale and her mouth half open, and she leaned forward as if to urge him on.

"It's Lord Ki's scent." Hiromasa glanced at the bottle. "His personal scent."

Nose sat back, clapping her hands. "Exactly! Ah, you do have a good nose. Such a shame you're a nobleman. Here…" She groped for another bottle and held it towards him. "Who is this?"

Hiromasa uncapped it and sniffed. The smell wrapped around him like a heavy cloud, the fragrance overpowering. Then he noticed sharper notes and an aftertaste of cloying sweetness. The scent suggested a personality and conjured an image.

"Lord Mibu." He jammed the stopper in the bottle and cast it aside, then wriggled his nose with the back of his hand. Mibu had a reputation for indolence, cruelty and greed. Hiromasa had never smelled his true body scent before, but had recognised it as the odour that lingered beneath the charming floral perfumes he wore at court.

His aptitude for discerning scents disturbed him, but Nose seemed delighted. She nodded, as if he were a good pupil and she a teacher. "Very good," she murmured in praise, and held out a third bottle. "And this?"

This time he knew it immediately, even though he hadn't been intimate with the woman in question. The scent smelled of sour milk and camphor, damp earth and sadness. "Lady Akane, a confidante of the Empress. She lost a child last autumn and still grieves for it. Her despair is plain to everyone who sees her."

Nose dipped her head in acknowledgement. "Her body scent bears the marks of her sorrow." She pushed the remaining bottles towards him. "Smell them all."

Hiromasa obeyed, identifying the next two scents with ease before stumbling over the sixth. As he puzzled over it, he realised how ridiculous he must seem – that he, a high-ranking nobleman and one of the Guardians of the City, should so easily be beguiled by a commoner's praise as they sat on the dirt floor of a filthy hovel!

Suddenly uncomfortable, Hiromasa named the scent he held and replaced the stopper with a decisive gesture. He placed the bottle in front of Nose and got to his feet. She must have heard the rustle of his silks, for she looked up, her blank gaze flicking over him as if she could see.

After a moment of silence, she said, "It's rare to find a courtier with such sensitivity. Usually they pretend. That's why they come to me. Their scent is part of their pretence. I can smell their duplicity before they enter my home. But you…" She paused as if measuring her words. Her nostrils flared. "You have no deceit in you. Little wonder you caught the biggest liar of all. Innocence is an irresistible snare to one such as he."

Startled by the pronouncement, Hiromasa stared at her. "The biggest liar…? You can't mean Seimei. He's honest. Too honest, sometimes."

Nose folded her hands in her lap. "He is half-fox. Foxes are cunning, false-hearted creatures. Men are almost as bad. The offspring of a man and a fox cannot be trusted."

"I trust him."

"Then you are a fool."

Hiromasa gave a merry laugh. "I've been told that before."

Nose snorted. "Enjoy him while you can."

Her words seemed to cast a chill in the air. Hiromasa shivered. He hadn't given any real thought to the future shape of his relationship with Seimei. He'd simply assumed that Seimei would always be there, that they'd always be together, as inseparable as from the day they'd first met.

Now he realised it might not be the case. The boundaries of their friendship had altered in ways he didn't truly understand. Hiromasa shifted uneasily on his feet and changed the subject. "These personal scents… why do you make them?"

Nose looked at him, a smile curving her mouth. "For the same reason you asked for Abe no Seimei's scent."

"For the contest? You made them for someone else?" Hiromasa felt defeated. His idea hadn't been unique after all.

"I don't care about your silly little court contests." Nose began gathering up the bottles, placing them inside the copper bowl. "My purpose far exceeds a contest."

Hiromasa leaned close to her. "What is your purpose?"

Nose looked coy. He knew that expression. He'd seen it dozens of times on the faces of his ladies when they wished to tease him by withholding information. He also knew how to respond to it. Begging, bribery and threats of tickling didn't work – not that he'd resort to such methods with Nose. Instead, Hiromasa sat back and waited.

A long moment passed. The coy look slipped. She may be a commoner, but she was still a woman, and Hiromasa knew women. He knew Nose was annoyed he hadn't repeated his question. He remained quiet a little longer then prompted, "Well?"

She seemed relieved that he'd broken the silence. "If you wear someone's personal scent, you smell like them," Nose explained. "They will be drawn to you without ever realising why. They will let you close; they will trust you. And when they trust you…"

"Yes?"

"You can do whatever you like with them." Her sightless eyes gleamed with dark amusement. "Perfume seduces."

"Seduces?" Hiromasa echoed. He frowned, not entirely certain he understood her meaning.

Before he could ask for a further explanation, Nose's expression changed. Her posture became alert and she cocked her head as if listening to something. She rose to her feet, clearly agitated. "Someone is coming. You may wish to conceal yourself, unless you want one of your noble friends to know you've been commissioning incense from me for the contest."

Hiromasa didn't want that. He glanced around the untidy hovel and spied a tatter of grey cloth pulled across a shadowy part of the hut. He hid himself behind the curtain just as the door opened. He heard the newcomer step inside and heard an intake of breath – disgust, he thought, and then the visitor sneezed.

The grey cloth had a few holes worn through it. Hiromasa peered through the nearest one and saw a small figure wrapped in a dark cloak, a veil over her face. He wondered if all noblewomen visited Nose in disguise.

"Good day, my lady." Nose had resumed her position on the floor, her hands resting on the sides of the copper bowl. "I didn't expect you so soon."

The visitor came inside briskly. She showed no deference to Nose's blindness, walking past her as if she were an object rather than a person. The veiled woman marched around Nose, a tactic Hiromasa recognised as designed to intimidate.

"And I expected you would have finished it by now." The woman's voice was shrill with annoyance. "I've given you a bolt of the most costly twice-dyed indigo silk as well as enough rice to feed the whole of this miserable settlement for the rest of the year. I'm your most valuable customer and you know it."

The voice, even muffled by the veil, sounded familiar. Hiromasa held his breath as the woman approached his hiding-place. She turned before she reached him, but her perfume brushed through the air. The scent was more familiar than her voice. He recognised her as his mistress, Winter Moon.

Hiromasa jerked back from the hole in the curtain and clamped a hand over his mouth to silence his cry of dismay. He couldn't believe it. The Winter Moon he knew wept if a baby bird fell out of a tree. She was empty-headed and charming, nothing more than a good-natured flirt. But the woman who stood over Nose was cold and demanding, rude and arrogant.

He peeked through the curtain again as he tried to reconcile the two sides of his mistress. Winter Moon was pacing around Nose, her skirts and the ends of her long hair trailing in her wake. Every so often she tugged at her silks, making certain that no part of her dress touched the blind incense-blender.

"I am grateful for your patronage, my lady," Nose said calmly, "but you should know by now that a scent cannot be rushed."

Winter Moon waved a dismissive hand. "Don't lie to me! I've heard you can work miracles, that overnight you can make a perfume so sweet all who smell it will adore the wearer. I want that magic scent, Nose."

"You already ordered a scent for the court contest." Nose remained unmoving.

"I need another." Winter Moon looked down at her. "I need a scent to make a man fall in love with me."

Hiromasa bit his knuckles.

"Surely your charms are more than adequate to catch the man of your choosing," Nose said, a faint tinge of sarcasm colouring her tone.

Hiromasa shoved more of his hand into his mouth, afraid that he'd laugh out loud.

Winter Moon appeared not to notice the sarcasm. Instead, she preened as much as her disguise would allow. "You're right. My charms are considerable; everyone says so. But I need to be certain of my lover. There are rumours about him and his…" She paused, then finished with distaste, "his friend."

Nose chuckled. "Men are such faithless creatures. They seek their pleasure in the strangest places."

She stood and placed the copper bowl on her workbench then turned to the noblewoman. Nose smiled, her attitude as intimate and relaxed as if she'd been on good terms with Winter Moon all her life. Gesturing to the door, she said, "Shall we go out into the garden, my lady? I can make the magic scent for you, but you will need to choose which flowers you wish me to use as the top notes in the fragrance."

"Oh, of course. I think lavender and late autumn roses would be most suitable. They're part of my signature scent, you know."

Winter Moon continued babbling as she walked out of the hut. Nose felt her way to the door, then turned and looked towards his hiding-place.

Hiromasa straightened, realising that Nose was giving him the opportunity to remove himself from her home. He waited until their voices faded before he crept out from behind the curtain.

Hurrying for the door, he kicked something. It struck the wall and rolled back towards him. Hiromasa bent to retrieve it – one of the perfume bottles. He and Nose must have missed it earlier when they'd collected them together. About to drop it into the copper bowl, he felt a tug of curiosity. The stopper was sealed with wax. Whose scent was so precious it had to be sealed?

He flaked off the wax with his thumbnail and withdrew the stopper. Carrying it over to the door, he pressed against it, listening for the women as he lifted the bottle and inhaled the fragrance. He stood there, not quite able to identify it although it seemed very familiar. He took another, thoughtful sniff, certain it would come to him – and then it did.

Hiromasa almost dropped the bottle. The scent was his.