Riyo blinked awake and found herself looking up at an unfamiliar wooden ceiling. She shifted under a soft white sheet and looked to her left, where there was a bedside table, a pitcher with a matching glass, and a short jade vase. A sprig of pink azalea blooms was set in the vase. There was a needle in her left arm and a tube ran up from it to a glass container full of clear liquid. Her right arm was swathed with white cloths. There was another bed in the room, but it was empty. Golden late afternoon sunshine poured through the wide windows.
Tentatively, she sat up, trying to gather her thoughts and remember where she was. Or maybe how she had gotten there.
There were flashes of trees passing by, leaves overhead, underbrush. White hair. Pain as someone bound her side and arm. More trees. A dark-haired woman bending over her and fussing at someone Riyo couldn't see. Butterfly wings.
When she pushed further back in her memory, she found herself back in the clearing. After she and the guards her father had sent with her had set up camp, that thing had slunk out of the shack. It must have been waiting there. With furious speed, it had made terrifyingly short work of the guards.
Rain had forced them off the road early. It had gotten so muddy, it had been hard for them to carry the palanquin. Riyo hadn't been upset. Actually, it had given her a moment to breathe, which she felt like she hadn't done since they had left her home at dawn. They were supposed to arrive at her soon-to-be in-laws' home before sunset. The rain had been a blessing and then a curse. That monster inside the shack had been horrendous.
But had that been real? It felt real. She could still see the blood on its teeth and smell the rotten meat stench of its clothes.
She shivered. Real or not real, it was gone. And she still wasn't sure where she was. She remembered arguing with the aggravating swordsman and then darkness. He had seemed intent on taking her to the village doctor. Maybe that was were she was.
Riyo pushed her hands against the mattress and sat up, grimacing at how her arm and side stung. She plucked the needle out of her arm, looking away as she did so, and carefully set it on the bedside table. Someone had changed her out of her ruined bridal kimono and into a light blue robe. Whoever it was had also woven her hair into one intricate knee-length braid.
Gingerly, she put her feet on the ground and stood up. Her legs were wobbly. She took a hesitant step forward and grabbed the railing at the foot of the bed.
The door to the room was open. If she made it there, maybe she could get a better idea of where she was.
A small girl with shoulder-length black hair and two little pink butterfly clips in her hair peeked around the edge of the door. "Oh, you're awake!"
"Seems that way," Riyo said.
"You shouldn't try to walk just yet," the girl said, darting into the room, "Please sit down. How are you feeling?"
Riyo stayed where she was, hand on the railing for support. "I think I'm all right. Where am I?"
The girl rocked back on her heels and shook her head. "Please sit, at least until Miss Shinobu can examine you."
Miss? A female doctor? This wasn't the next village. Riyo pulled back her shoulders. "I feel like I've been laying down for a very long time. I'd prefer to stand."
The girl sighed. "If you must… At least drink some water."
Riyo glanced over at the girl as she poured water into the glass and held it out to Riyo. For being so young, she seemed very mature and not at all afraid to give orders or suggestions. "Can you tell me where I am without Miss Shinobu?" She took the glass. Her throat did feel very dry. How long had she been asleep?
"This is the Butterfly Mansion," the girl said, a proud note in her voice. "I don't know how much I'm allowed to tell you. But I'm Kiyo!"
She finished off the water and bowed her head a little toward the child. "I'm Riyo Nomura."
The girl beamed. "It's very nice to officially meet you. And we rhyme." She glanced at Riyo's arm and made a face. "You shouldn't have taken out the needle without Miss Shinobu or Aoi."
Maybe she shouldn't have. "I'm sorry."
"It's all right," Kiyo said, taking the glass back from her. "I'll go get Miss Shinobu, if you start to feel lightheaded or weak, please sit down, Miss Nomura."
"Can you—"
"I'll be right back," the girl said before fluttering out the door.
Riyo bit down on her questions. She looked out the window, and her eyebrows rose. There were three boys in the backyard with two other girls that looked remarkably like Kiyo with different hairstyles. Two of the boys, one with reddish brown hair and a second with startling yellow hair, were doing push-ups while a third wearing boar's head was using a fence as a balancing beam.
She stared. Where was she and what was going on?
Waiting for this Miss Shinobu to show up was taking too long. Riyo let go of the bed and shuffled toward the door. Her side and arm hadn't stopped aching, but she had decided to ignore the pain.
Stepping out into the hall, she looked up and down empty hallway and chose to go left. For assistance, she kept one hand on the wall as she walked. She passed by more rooms that looked like the one she had been each, each with varying numbers of beds. Some of them were occupied, others were empty. She passed by one open doorway and a flash of white hair caught her attention.
The swordsman was standing at the bedside of a lanky, mohawk-wearing teenage boy, who was currently asleep. The white-haired man lifted his head. His expression of deep concern immediately morphed into wrath as he noticed her.
Riyo jerked her chin up and moved on, walking faster or trying to. Her side wasn't making things easy. The monster, creature, whatever it was, had dug its claws in rather deep.
"Why are you out of bed and spying on me?"
A hand snatched the back of her robe, but it was more supportive than threatening, no matter how he sounded.
"I don't even know you, why would I spy on you?" Riyo snapped, her shoulder bumping into the wall as he put her off balance.
"You shouldn't pry."
"That was hardly prying. If you wanted privacy, you should try closing the door."
He scowled. "I didn't think—"
"Perhaps start with that next time." She pressed her hand harder against the wall. Arguing with him was taking it out of her, which was infuriating.
He grabbed her upper right arm and held her up. "Are you going to faint again? Are you that weak?"
"I'm sorry for not living up to your expectations of strength, I'm rather certain I've been unconscious for a while." She glared at him, and he narrowed his dark eyes.
"You've been asleep for three days, Miss Nomura," a cheerful voice said. "Shinazugawa, why are you harassing my escaping patient?"
The white-haired man, Shinazugawa, frowned down at a petite dark-haired woman in a black uniform and a butterfly-patterned haori. This is most likely Miss Shinobu. She was a little shorter than Riyo but around the same age. Riyo was eighteen, almost nineteen.
Kiyo was standing at the woman's elbow, giving Riyo a dismayed look. "Miss Nomura, you shouldn't have left your room!"
Shinazugawa glowered at Riyo. "So it's not just me you don't listen to."
Riyo pressed her lips together tight. "You aren't special."
The woman in the butterfly haori smiled. "I have to insist on you returning to your room, Miss Nomura. Shinazugawa can help you, if you require—"
"I can walk," Riyo said. She looked meaningfully at where he was holding her arm. He let go, and she pressed harder against the wall.
He turned to Shinobu. "Now that she's awake, you'll understand what I meant about her being stubborn."
"I'll form my own opinions," Shinobu said. She gestured down the hallway. "Miss Nobura, after you."
Riyo gritted her teeth and started to move forward. Shinobu fell into step beside her, taking her elbow.
She was quiet as she spoke. "Being so stubborn you hurt yourself further wouldn't do…neither would proving Shinazugawa right."
Lightly chastised and amused at the same time, she let Shinobu help her back to her room. Hopefully she would be able to get some answers to her questions.