Thousand Face

Part III

"You've heard enough of my background, I'm sure." Ai said.

Yuriko shook her head politely. "It is interesting, mistress."

"It's terribly dull. It's another sad story a woman would love to gush out." Ai said. "But, regardless, you want me to continue on to Thousand Face, don't you?"

Ai had been invited to a party by one of her prior patrons. He was hosting a few foreigners and wanted to have them entertained with a geisha. He chose his favorite, Ai, and had her join them. At this time she was reaching her nineteenth year and was blossoming into her fullest feminine glory.

The party went normally. She sang, she recited poetry, and she even found another soon-to-be patron. Ai perhaps went through three or four in her lifetime, depending on if she counted the one who went bankrupt shortly afterwards.

After the party she left and began to stroll. Her mind was cloudy for some reasons she couldn't fathom. She trailed towards the outer reaches of the city, where a thin river cut through the land like a silver ribbon. She approached it and sat on a bench that had been erected there.

For an hour, as the clock struck one, she enjoyed the gentle wind. The clouds were drifting through the stars, their wisps curling around the gem-like entities. Ai smiled up at them, loving how purple and blue cloaked the distant mountains. The landscape became black the further she looked.

As she stared, a white streak cut through the darkness. She thought it was a snake and stood up, clutching at her kimono and preparing to scream.

It drew closer and, she realized, it was no snake.

It was a spirit.

The spirit drew closer to her. She muttered in fear, frozen in shock. The spirit was without any certain shape, drew up before her. It seemed to stand. She looked up its long body like a pillar.

"Who are you?" Ai asked, her voice trembling.

The spirit's chest opened and a head appeared, bobbing in the air. Its body was made of fog. It was connected loosely and the pieces didn't want to remain close. The head was moving constantly, shifting. The nose grew and then shrunk. The eyes changed shape. The lips, mouthing the words, too changed form. The spirit was monstrous, as big as a mountain.

I am Thousand Face it hissed.

"Hello, Thousand Face." Ai said.

Her heart threatened to pound out of her chest. She wrung her hands in fear. Thousand Face crept around her, examining her body.

"Why are you here?" She asked weakly.

I am not here. I am nowhere. I am everywhere. I was always here. I am not just here. It whispered. She felt the voice in her head and not outside of her.

"What do you want?" She tried to sound polite.

I want nothing. I am nothing. I have no mind. I am only a spirit. Spirits do not want.

"Then why do you haunt me?"

Haunt you?

"Yes. Have I done something to displease you?"

No you have not, geisha Ai.

Ai stood still as it finished examining her. It spun around once and then, it vanished.

When she woke next she was in her okiya. It was warm and comfortable. She rose slowly, looking out the window. Daylight was breaking over the mountains. Its radiance was cold. Ai stood and examined her body. Nothing had changed. She hardly recalled the party from last night either.

"I never spoke of it again." Ai said. "You are the first to hear the whole story. I used to tell children that Thousand Face would eat them if they misbehaved."

Yuriko nodded. "Thank you for telling me this."

She stood and bowed to Ai, who remained silent. She left the room. The old woman watched her leave, regret welling inside of her belly like water rising in the tide. The woman was different and strange, but she was not lost of heart.

"Cho," she said suddenly to the geisha who passed. Cho stopped, looking in. Her eyes widened when she noticed the wrinkled face was wet with tears. "Cho, fetch Chi and tell her to bring me tea and Noriko." Cho nodded and obliged.

Ai watched her leave. Like her namesake, Cho moved lightly on her feet, fluttering away like a butterfly. Everything felt so fleeting.