Chapter 2
Against all odds, the asshole traders turned out to be right. The Aka gladiator hall was definitely nicer than Ao's.
Even from the little Kagami saw in passing, their arena was clearly bigger than the Ao one. The stone and wood building and attached residential hall had been scoured so clean they looked like they could be new, with bright red banners fluttering from the roofs. The training yards were spacious and well-equipped, all the gladiators were given their own cells, regardless of ranking, and the sleeping pallets even looked cleaner. It wasn't like the Ao gladiator hall had been a hovel, but this place was definitely showing it up.
Not that this was making Kagami feel much better.
Sure, the place looked nice, but the amenities didn't make up for the fact that he'd basically been dragged here against his will to be stuck for however long it took him to fight his way out this time.
The knight showing the new gladiators around, a tall, well-built man with an easy smile, had introduced himself as Kiysohi Teppei. Tour over, having led them back to the first training yard he'd shown them, he waved vaguely at the tower that they could see in the distance, tall enough to loom over the arena
"The gladiators are very popular with Aka's nobles and visitors, and the royal family is known to be very generous. So I hope you'll find your time here comfortable. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to let me know," he said with an affable smile. Looking at his face, Kagami could almost believe they'd been invited to a leisurely stay at the palace itself, rather than getting shipped here to fight for the entertainment of the bored and wealthy.
If they were this close to the palace, at least that explained why they kept the place looking so good.
One of the new gladiators, a wiry guy around Kagami's age, immediately waved an arm and demanded, "When do we start? What's the schedule?"
"Haha, in a hurry already? I figured I'd give you guys a day to settle in, your first fights start the day after tomorrow. I'll try and put the rosters up by tonight."
When no one else seemed to have any questions, Kiyoshi squinted up at the sky and said, "Looks like it's nearly time for lunch. Why don't you guys head over to the canteen? You must be hungry after the boat ride."
Given that the traders hadn't bothered to feed them at all on the boat, Kagami was starving. He followed the pack to the canteen, still empty for the moment apart from the newcomers. Unfortunately, the food didn't seem to be much better than Ao's, but it was filling and there was more than enough to go around, so Kagami figured he could live with that.
He'd just sat down at one of the long tables at the side when the wiry gladiator parked himself on the opposite side.
"Are you really going to eat all that?" he said, giving Kagami's tray an impressed look, even though the mountain of rice on his own tray was at least two thirds the size of Kagami's.
Kagami didn't bother answering, just eyed him warily while he shoveled a generous helping of rice and meat into his mouth. When the other boy didn't go away or look discouraged at his reception, he finished chewing and finally said, "You're from the Ao hall too? Don't think I saw you around."
He wasn't exactly close to anyone in the Ao halls, but most of the faces here were familiar to him as fighters he'd noticed were pretty good, and he even remembered some of their names, like Papa, the towering, dark-skinned gladiator at the other table who'd hit his head on the door coming in.
The other boy grinned and said, "Yeah, I was new. Only there for a week, and then this happened. Tsugawa Tomoko. Remember the name!"
He nodded. "I'm Kagami Taiga."
"Oh, I already knew that." When Kagami stared at him, Tsugawa's grin widened. "Come on, everyone in Ao knew who you were. You were the guy to beat!"
"Uh. Thanks?" Kagami said.
"Who knows, maybe we'll meet each other in the ring after all," Tsugawa said.
"Maybe," Kagami said. Tsugawa seemed to like a good fight and he was too persistent to be easily intimidated or discouraged. He might be interesting to face in the arena. "Guess we'll see, huh?"
As they ate, other gladiators began to trickle into the canteen, eyeing the new arrivals with interest from the other side of the hall. Kagami was done with his first serving and considering a second when he saw Kiyoshi come in. Standing, he headed across to waylay him before he could get a tray.
"Hey, you the guy in charge of the fight roster?" he called.
Kiyoshi gave him a quizzical look. "Yes, is there a problem?"
"Put me up for tomorrow," Kagami said. "I don't need an extra day just to lie around." He was wasting enough time today.
"The schedule for tomorrow's pretty full," Kiyoshi told him. "But I'll see what I can do, hm?"
That was probably about as much as Kagami could expect. "Sure. Thanks," he said, with a quick nod.
"Finished your lunch already? You eat fast," Kiyoshi said conversationally, and slapped him on the shoulder. "Get more! Plenty to go around, and growing boys need lots of feeding."
Kagami eyed the spread of food, and noticed a pot that the end of the table. Lifting the cover, curious, he gaped at the contents. The pot was still full - no one had touched it yet, and Kagami couldn't blame them because it looked like it might be… blue… and two peaches, whole and unchopped, bobbed ominously on the surface.
"Ah, the palace contribution!" Kiyoshi said from behind him. Kagami turned to stare at him.
"The palace…?"
"Yes, sometimes the palace kitchen sends us some food when they have extra," Kiyoshi said. "I told you they take good care of us in Aka!"
Kagami knew that some of the food in the Nijira islands was a little different from what he was used to, but he wasn't sure this qualified as exotic or just inedible. But if it came from the royal palace, it had to be fine. Right?
"Why don't you give it a try?" Kiyoshi suggested.
Kagami hesitated. Gut instinct told him to put the lid back on the pot and forget that he'd ever looked, but Kiyoshi looked perfectly well meaning and helpful - and palace food couldn't be that bad. Maybe this was just some weird Aka island way of cooking.
He ladled a spoonful of stew into a bowl and slunk back to his table to stare at it. Tsugawa paused in the middle of stuffing his face to lean over and prod the peach sitting in Kagami's bowl with a chopstick.
"What's this supposed to be?" he asked with morbid fascination. Kagami jerked a thumb over his shoulder.
"He says it came from the palace kitchen."
Their eyes met across the table. "So, what are you waiting for?" Tsugawa said.
It was too late to back down now. Kagami took a deep breath, lifted his spoon, and ate his first mouthful of mystery palace stew at the same time that, Tsugawa licked the stew from his own chopstick.
Kagami's first thought was that it didn't actually taste so bad. In fact, it didn't seem to have much taste at- Across the table, Tsugawa's face froze in a rictus of horror. Too late, Kagami tried to blink and realised that he couldn't because his muscles had locked. He couldn't feel his tongue, and the numbness was spreading, too fast.
Shit, Kagami thought to himself, right before everything went black again for the second time in the past day.
The main problem with the Queen of Aka's luncheons was that they inevitably stretched out to encompass afternoon tea as well. Occasionally, they lasted until dinner time.
Today was no exception. Two hours into the ordeal Akashi could feel his veneer of grace and courtesy, already taxed by the morning's court session, beginning to crack.
There were no signs of the party ending anytime soon. Palace maids in their blue-and-white robes continued to serve finger foods and sake from lacquer trays. As was usual, latticed folding screens had been placed in the dining hall as partitions. These served to contain the noise and laughter of some two dozen guests, several of whom were already severely inebriated.
For the last fifteen minutes Akashi had been engaged in politely refusing an invitation to marry the King of Sannoh's eldest and widowed daughter. The envoy from the kingdom of Sannoh was corpulent, tipsy, and about three cups of sake away from roaring drunk. He had been a terrible conversationalist even when sober, and inebriation was not helping him.
Akashi was just wondering whether the King of Sannoh had deliberately sent his least competent diplomat to the Nijira Islands or whether Sannoh politicians were all genuinely that dismal, when he noticed his mother approaching with a familiar smile on her face.
Akashi recognised that smile. It meant that the Queen of Aka Had Plans.
The queen stepped elegantly into the space between her son and the Sannoh envoy. "My dear Lord Kitamura, I'm so sorry to interrupt your conversation. May I borrow Seijuurou for a while?"
She ushered Akashi away and around a folding screen to the westernmost end of the hall. "There's a girl about your age who looks quite lonely. I thought the two of you might spend some time together."
Akashi followed the direction of his mother's gaze. "She doesn't look lonely to me."
The girl in question was standing by the window, surrounded by a group of middle-aged ambassadors who appeared to be enthralled by her presence. Akashi couldn't see her face clearly from where he was standing.
"She's taller than me," said Akashi.
"Is she? I hadn't noticed." His mother's fingers came to rest on his shoulder with light but definite pressure.
Akashi considered his alternatives. There really were none. He stifled a sigh and went over to join the small gathering.
The girl was indeed a good three inches taller than he was. She wore a long high-waisted dress of white silk. A lavender-coloured diaphanous overgown covered her shoulders, but left her collarbones exposed.
She greeted Akashi with a half-smile as he joined the group. "Your Highness. You honour us with your presence."
He bowed politely. "My lady. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"
"My name is Himuro Tatsuko." Lady Himuro's accent, like her gown, identified her as a visitor from the mainland. Her hair was black and sleek, with a long graceful fringe partially concealing her face; the one eye that Seijuurou could see was dark and pretty. "Your reputation precedes you, Lord Seijuurou. I have heard much of the riches of Aka Isle and of the wisdom and ability of its rulers."
He took her hand and raised it to his lips. "You flatter my family, Lady Himuro. I trust that we may not disappoint your expectations too much. Have you sojourned long in the Nijira Islands?"
"A little under a month." She had the clever trick that some girls had, of looking demure despite her height; she almost managed to make Seijuurou forget that she was essentially staring down her nose at him. "I arrived here with some very close friends of mine – almost family, shall we say – but unfortunately our travels were interrupted when our airship ran into engine trouble. While waiting for repairs to be completed we parted ways to explore these isles, and I decided to satisfy a lifelong desire of mine to visit the kingdom of Aka."
"I believe you will find our hospitality adequate. Would you care to go out to the palace gardens and catch some fresh air?" The Queen of Aka might have left her son no choice about socialising with a taller foreign girl, but at least he didn't have to do it while stuck in this dining hall.
He led Lady Himuro through the main palace building and out into the front courtyard. The Aka palace gardens, famed for their horticultural style and restrained aesthetic, were usually too crowded at this time of the day to be a pleasant place to have a conversation.
"You come from Teikou, I presume?" asked Seijuurou, naming the mainland's largest empire. Himuro bore the dress and mannerisms of a girl from Teikou's upper class. "Rakuzan City must seem very provincial to you."
She threw Seijuurou a sidelong glance. "Somehow you don't sound entirely sincere when you say that, Lord Seijuurou, Even on the mainland we know that Aka Isle's culture and riches are second to none anywhere in the known world – even if, perhaps, the continental countries hold the advantage when it comes to military might."
"It's true that the Nijira armies are small."
"But you have other means of defending yourselves, I hear."
They had stopped by the great fountain in the middle of the Aka Palace courtyard. Three-tiered and built in scarlet stones, its fountain bed was lined with pebbles in a thousand shades of color. In the bright sunlight the water, falling down from one tier to the next in a translucent curtain, shimmered with the colors of the rainbow.
"I've heard of this fountain," said Lady Himuro. "They call it the First Bridge, do they not? A magical gateway that transports you to a thousand other places; a transportation system unique to the Nijira Islands."
"They do," said Seijuurou. "Though it has not been used for some time."
The Bridges of Nijira had been down for nearly a decade now. It was so obvious that even foreign visitors knew, these days.
He felt a frown crossing his forehead and pulled it into check. It wouldn't do to show weakness in front of a visitor from Teikou.
Fortunately Lady Himuro seemed to be preoccupied herself. She had sat down by the fountain's edge and was running a hand through the water. Akashi could see her silhouette mirrored imperfectly in the water.
He said: "There are other Bridges on Aka Isle that you should visit, if you have the time. There is one in the town square, in the form of a great statue of the first Nijimura, that remains well-preserved to this day. There are two Bridges deep in the mountains, which can only be found by hiring a local tour guide. Of course, none of them are in use at the moment."
Akashi expected her to question him, as most foreigners usually did. Were the Bridges a myth? Why didn't they work anymore? What did the royal families of Nijira expect to do about it?
But she merely looked up at him and smiled. "I'd like that very much. I'll make sure to visit them while I'm here. Would you recommend that I attend the gladiatorial games while I'm here?"
"Of course I would," said Akashi, not missing a beat. "There will be a list tomorrow. If you care to attend I will certainly procure a seat for you." Akashi was not concerned by the fact that he was fighting in the gladiatorial games tomorrow. He had navigated this particular set of difficulties before.
"Thank you," said Lady Himuro, and her smile grew sharper. It occurred to Akashi that Himuro reminded him a little of his own mother. It was not a reassuring comparison. "I'll look forward to it."
The Queen's lunch-cum-tea-but-not-quite-dinner party was finally, mercifully, over.
The morning's unsuccessful stew aside, there were no culinary disasters; all the other dishes had turned out fine, there was more than enough food to keep up with the Queen's unpredictable requests, no one dropped or spilled anything on anyone important, and one of the guests, an almost imposingly elegant young woman, even came by personally to comment on how much she'd liked the minced chicken skewers.
Riko beamed at the compliment, even as she felt a guilty pang about accepting it in Mitobe's place.
"I'll be sure to pass your kind words on to the assistant cook," she said, as she ushered the guest out of the servant quarters.
"Oh, but I was hoping-"
"The recipe is a royal secret and we would never dream of sharing it!" Riko announced, then politely, but firmly, shut the door behind her.
She leaned in the doorway for a moment and sighed. Fortunately, after her lunch party the Queen wouldn't expect more than a very simple supper, to be served much later. That should give the kitchen staff an hour to catch their breaths and worry about less stressful things like washing the dishes. Riko had known running a royal kitchen was going to be a lot of work, but she hadn't reckoned on the Queen's fondness for parties that never ended. At the rate they were going, they were all going to be too busy cooking to actually find out anything.
Riko was tired enough that she allowed herself a moment of doubt. Maybe this wasn't going to work. Maybe they wouldn't really find anything useful at all. Maybe she'd dragged everyone into this for nothing-
Straightening, she pulled her shoulders back, glared at the opposite wall and slapped both hands to her cheeks, brisk enough to sting. Alright, that was enough worrying. Maybe this would work. Maybe this wouldn't. But Aida Riko hadn't met a challenge she couldn't run into the ground yet and she didn't intend to start now.
Marching back into the kitchen, Riko scanned the room and came to a surprised stop. The palace kitchen had two entrances - the door she had come through, that linked it to the rest of the inner palace, and the back door, that led to the kitchen yard outside. A tall young man Riko had never seen before was standing in said back door now. This was nothing peculiar in itself - the palace was an insatiable beast and a constant stream of nameless deliverymen bearing livestock, foodstuff, crockery and exotic ingredients were needed to keep the palace, staff and royalty alike, fed.
What was unusual was that the stranger wore the white tunic and black trousers that Riko recognised instantly as a knight's uniform. He had left off most of the armour apart from his leather shin guards and he wore no weapons she could see, but the red sash around his waist marked him as a member of the Aka contingent, and the gold tassel hanging from the sash said he had to be a well-ranked one at that.
Hyuuga, who must have noticed all this but seemed to be pretending he hadn't, stood in the knight's way, arms folded. "I said, the head cook isn't here right now. If you really need to see her, you can state your business and we'll pass the message on."
"But-"
"No buts! I don't care who you are, you can't just wander in here because you feel like it."
Riko decided she had better step in before Hyuuga mortally offended someone potentially important. Furihata and the other kitchen hands appeared to be trying to will themselves invisible from behind the big white kitchen stoves. "Is there a problem?" she called out.
Izuki, who had been hovering in the background with a worried expression, gave her a relieved look as she made her way across the kitchen.
The knight looked up. "Oh, are you the head cook?"
"Yes," she said, coming to a stop at the back door. Hyuuga stood by her shouler and she could feel him scowling even without turning her head. "Is anything wrong? I don't believe Aka's knights are usually in the habit of visiting us."
"Ah, is that so? I'm sure I can't see why not! Anyway, my name is Kiyoshi Teppei, I'm the knight in charge of the gladiator hall."
"We are honoured with your presence," Riko said with bland politeness. The gladiator hall? That explained the rank, which was especially impressive considering that he didn't look much older than them. "How may we be of assistance?"
"Oh, I don't really need any help," Kiyoshi said. "But I noticed that the palace kitchens have been especially generous lately, so I thought I should come down and thank all of you personally." He beamed at Riko, then transferred the smile to the rest of the kitchen staff.
Riko, who remembered all too well how this morning's stew had turned out before Furihata had been sent to dispose of the evidence - by sending it to the gladiator hall - felt her smile freeze for the briefest moment. Beside her, Hyuuga made a strangled noise. She jabbed him in the side before he could do something incriminating. More incriminating.
"It's nothing!" she said brightly, when Kiyoshi turned his attention back to them and blinked to see Hyuuga doubled over. "It's the least we can do."
"The gladiators have really appreciated it!" Kiyoshi said to them.
"I'm glad to hear that," Riko said.
Then, having run out of meaningless pleasantries, they kept smiling. The air around them hung and waited and grew tangibly heavier with every passing beat. Out of the corner of her eye, Riko saw Koganei fidget and inch towards the door. Even Mitobe, standing behind him, opened his mouth for a silent breath - then snapped it shut again.
"Actually..." said the knight, and suddenly looked thoughtful. "I was wondering if you might give lessons?"
It took a moment for Riko's mind to process this. "L-lessons? For what?"
"For cooking, of course!"
Caught completely off-guard, Riko gaped blankly at him. "For cooking-" she said, incredulous. Now it was Hyuuga's turn to kick her in the shins before she could say something stupid. She drew herself up, fussed with a sleeve and regained enough control of her face to say, "My apologies, but we're all much too busy with our palace duties to have the time. I'm very flattered by your - request, but it's just not possible. I am sure the gladiator hall's cooks are doing an excellent job already."
"Aha," Kiyoshi said and looked sheepish. "Really no? I suppose it's quite a silly request."
"We appreciate the, uh, appreciation, and we will certainly continue to remember the gladiators in future," she said, and began to herd him back towards the door. He let her, and out in the kitchen yard, gave her one last mild smile, not at all put off by the fact that he was being chased out.
"It was a pleasure to meet everyone," he said. "If any of you are fans of the gladiators, look for me at the hall and I'll be happy to show you around."
"I'll let them know," she agreed and then stood and watched him meander past the chicken coops and into the herb gardens, until he turned the corner that would take him to the western gate of the outer palace.
The moment his tall, broad back vanished from sight, Hyuuga hissed, in tones that suggested he was this close to losing his temper and shouting, "That guy is up to something."
"Yes," Riko said, brooding. "Who could see this morning's stew and still ask for lessons?"
Hyuuga paused. "Um. It wasn't that bad..."
"You don't have to force yourself to make me feel better," she said, still gloomy. "Maybe we shouldn't keep sending them to the gladiators. They must have noticed something."
Why had she agreed to be head cook again? Oh, yes, because all the boys were terrified of the Queen and couldn't be trusted to hold intelligent conversations about the daily menu and kitchen budget with her. How hard could cooking be? she'd thought to herself. Hard enough to be trouble.
"Maybe Mitobe could make something nice and we could send that as an apology," she said.
"I don't think that's the problem here!" Hyuuga said, exasperated. "It's not like he accused us of trying to poison anyone! He must have been looking for an excuse to snoop around. He tried to walk in like he owned the place!"
"But what does he want? Since when do knights care about the palace kitchen?"
They stared at each other, at a loss for answers. "We'll definitely need to keep an eye out for him," Riko mused. Kiyoshi Teppei didn't seem like the kind of guy to give up easily.
And there was Hiraiwa's cargo of from earlier this morning too. She'd been thinking of looking into that anyway, and now she had the perfect excuse. "Maybe some of us should head down to the gladiator hall. He did invite us, after all."
"There's just no way he's as stupid as he looks," Hyuuga muttered.
Riko agreed. "He has to know more than we think."
End Chapter 2
Author's note: Aurgh, the formatting got messed up ;_; Chapter's been re-uploaded with actual formatting now!