Chapter 9

Spring days

On the next day, Mai got up earlier and prepared herself to set off for the temple, which she was doing during the whole last week. She hummed happily, eager to meet Rin and play with the child. The girl put on a simple, red kimono and dashed out of the room.

She nearly fell on the floor as she crashed with Aiko in the doorway. The old crone narrowed her eyes and stared her down with a displeased glare.

“Amayami, it is your father’s request that you see him. He’s awaiting you in the gardens.” The old woman said dryly, motioning Mai to follow her.

Mai couldn’t not notice that Aiko showed her disapproval of the girl’s clothing.

“You are dressed like a peasant girl, not like a princess,” snapped Aiko. Mai only shrugged her shoulders at the critics.

“It would be a nuisance to walk to the temple every day in all those layers.” she responded, taking another turn and almost jogging to catch up with Aiko, who had longer legs than her. The older woman frowned.

“I do not understand why you insist on walking. You could ride in a palanquin; you know it well. If the circumstances were different, I would advise also to take a couple of servants.”

“The bodyguard is more than enough.” responded Mai. “And walking is good for my health. Anyway, what does father want?”

“Show some respect!” the older woman scolded the girl. “He will tell you himself. We are almost there.”

Aiko led Mai to the beautifully designed garden. Among the sakura trees, Lord Asakura was walking, furrowing his brows as if he was battling with himself. Mai and the old crone hurried towards the Lord, who lifted his head and smiled, when he saw the girl.

“Amayami, my child, what an unusual attire.” he noticed. Mai inwardly cursed to herself and plastered a fake smile on her face. She was going to end this as quickly as possible and go to the temple.

“It is a pleasure to see you, father. Forgive my attire. I was on my way to the temple to pray for my swift recovery.” she said, trying to imagine how a princess would do it. It seemed she had done well, for the lord smiled with approval.

“Did you start to remember anything?” he asked with concern in the voice.

“Not yet, but vague images began to come back to me.” Mai lied. The lord shook sadly his head.

“I may need more praying,” added Mai. Her “father” nodded in agreement.

“Amayami, I need to discuss a serious matter with you. Lord Gorouza will arrive five days from now.”

Mai felt slightly disturbed by the dead serious look on the lord’s face. Gorouza? She was sure that she heard that name already. Then it dawned on her.

“My fiancé?” she asked. Lord Asakura nodded and bit his lip.

“He is coming to discuss the wedding arrangements. You will need to see him.”

“Wedding?” Mai exclaimed. Suddenly, she got nervous. She forgot that she was at marriageable age according to the standards here in the feudal era, and it was possible that they would just marry her off. No way would she allow it!

“Calm yourself, child.” Her fake father spoke up. “The wedding will be held two months from now. You will have the time to accustom to that thought. The problem is that Lord Gorouza will wish to see you and you have met him before. He might notice that you don’t remember him.”

The lord looked at Mai as she loudly sighed with relief. Mai smiled to herself. The monk, who will know how to get her home, is arriving in a little bit over a week, and then she’ll be back in her world. Therefore, she was in absolutely no danger of getting married to some unknown warlord.

She noticed that Lord Asakura cleared his throat and waited for her to say something.

“Can’t you tell him that I lost memories?” Mai asked.

“If the truth that princess of Asakura family is not in her right mental state is revealed, I will have lost all respect, and the pacts with our allies will be broken. You are my only child, Amayami, and an heiress to the family. The province of Echizen needs Lord Gorouza to protect our lands when I will be no more among the living, and he needs a healthy wife to bear him strong sons.” responded Lord Asakura. Mai flinched at the mere thought of sons.

“Maybe you’ll tell him that I’m sick.” Mai suggested.

“That is out of question, Amayami.” the lord said sternly. “On the day of his arrival you are to greet him in good health. Aiko will tell you how you should behave in the company of Lord Gorouza. Now you may take your leave.”

Mai bowed and turned around, about to leave, when she felt Aiko’s hand gripping her shoulder.

“I must educate you about lord Gorouza,” she insisted. Mai gave her a fake innocent smile.

“I want to go to the temple now. I’m late anyway.” She insisted and freed herself from the old woman’s grip. “See you in the evening!”

Mai ran out of the garden and towards the castle gates, leaving Aiko and Lord Asakura. The woman shook her head in disbelief.

“I cannot believe what has become of this child.” Aiko sighed. “I miss the old Amayami.”

“Yes, she has changed,” agreed the lord, a sorrowful expression on his face. “It feels like I have a son now, not a daughter. I cannot, however, blame her for that.”

Mai lifted the hem of her kimono, not to trip, and ran through the corridors at full speed. The servants were staring at her surprised as she dashed past them. When she reached the gates, she was out of breath. She found her young bodyguard sitting and leaning himself against the castle wall, his eyes shut. Mai was pretty sure that he was snoring as well. She kicked him with her foot.

“Get up, you lazy basta… guy!” she said loudly. Shinji’s eyes snapped open and he stood up.

“Oh, morning, Amayami-hime, we’re going? You were late.”

“Oh really?” Mai answered sarcastically. “Now hurry!” She grabbed his sleeve and dragged him to the temple, where Rin was waiting for her.

As Mai hoped, the little girl in the orange kimono was sitting on the temple stairs, singing a song. Mai felt relieved that the kid survived the night in the forest. When Rin noticed the newcomers, she exclaimed Mai’s name and ran to the older girl.

“You came! I was scared you would not come.” The child chatted happily.

“You’re silly,” Mai laughed. “I made a promise yesterday, didn’t I? So what are we doing today?”

Rin started blabbering about her ideas for the day, happy to have Mai’s attention. The older girl listened carefully to the kid, nodding from time to time.

“All right,” decided Mai, grabbing Rin’s hand. “First we’ll pick some flowers for the priest.”

Rin nodded with excitement. Shinji, on the other hand, didn’t seem pleased with Mai’s actions.

“What about praying? I did not see you do it at least once, hime!” he exclaimed, trying to block Mai’s way. Mai rolled her eyes.

“I’ll do it later.” She said, trying to shove the young samurai aside. Shinji opened his mouth to protest, but then they heard the loud voice of the temple’s priest.

“BOY! THE CELLAR IS WAITING FOR YOU TO CLEAN IT!” the voice of the old priest echoed among the trees. Shinji flinched and shot a scared glance in the direction of the priest. Mai smiled smugly and waved to him. Rin looked at her and copied the older girl.

“Have fun!” Mai said happily, heading for the nearby meadow with the little girl at her side.

Poor Shinji spent yet another day on the chores that were given him by the old priest. The young man rested himself on the broom, taking a break in sweeping the courtyard and glanced worriedly at the trees, wondering if the princess was safe. It was his duty to protect her all the time, but the young noblewoman constantly refused his service, always rushing off to the village or, like now, playing somewhere with that little orphan. He sighed heavily, feeling useless to the princess.

“She’ll be fine.” said a voice beside him. Shinji abruptly turned his head and he noticed the priest, who appeared next to him out of nowhere and was eating a riceball. “A princess like her could use a little freedom from time to time. No need to worry. I’m sure she can take care of herself.”

“I suppose,” answered Shinji with another sigh, unconvinced.

In the meanwhile Mai and Rin were having the time of their lives. At first, they were picking some flowers and Rin insisted on decorating Mai’s head with a flower garland. The older girl also tried to make one, but she failed. Actually, she had never made flower garlands before and it was her first time. She guessed, however, that she can’t put all the blame on her inexperience. She just didn’t have a talent for that sort of thing. Rin tried patiently to explain how it should be done, without success.

Then, they played together a little, mostly hide and seek. Rin was doing her best to teach Mai a song she knew, but the older girl refused constantly. She really didn’t want to scare all the animals in the forest. Instead, she tried to play the flute she brought back from the castle. Unfortunately, Rin was better at playing the instrument too. The little girl managed to talk Mai into dancing while the child played flute. Mai started dancing, a bit stiff at the beginning, but then she let the melody take over and she swirled graciously. Dancing was actually something she was always good at. Her moves were fluent and harmonic. After a while, she noticed that the melody stopped and Rin was now gaping at her with awe. The child clapped her hands enthusiastically and pleaded Mai to teach her to dance someday.

The sun begun to set before Mai knew it. “Damn,” she thought. “I forgot about Aiko.” Mai quickly said goodbye to her little friend and rushed to the temple to collect Shinji and get back to the castle.

The bushes around the meadow rustled as something big moved among them. The little girl in the orange kimono turned her head towards the source of suspicious noise, not showing any fear.

“You can come out now, Ah-Un!”