Born a Monster

Well, I just had to dunk my head under the water and let out a big scream. In retrospect, that may have been uncomfortable for anyone feeding the basement fires, and if so, I truly and deeply apologize.

Also... don’t breathe in after you scream under the surface of boiling water. Abilities like Boil, Boil might protect you from the raw damage, but...

Actually, considering how soothing it is on skin, if you find it soothing to have boiling water inside your lungs, go ahead.

For my part, I nearly leapt out of the tub, expelling water as fast as my poor aching lungs could cough the stuff up. I did catch some servants peeking to see what the noise was, but they rapidly found other directions to look after I recovered.

Well, I wasn’t going to be soothed by more bathing. I toweled myself off and got into my clothes (ignoring wet spots, water had gotten all over the floor between the admiral and myself).

I gave the floor a courtesy wipe, but there wasn’t that much more water my poor towel could hold. As I left, I pretended I couldn’t hear the servants rapidly moving across the wooden deck of the bathing area.

I found myself walking the wall, pretending to admire the triangular crenelations. The machicolations were thinner than I was used to, but they appeared functional, even if they were designed to give archers back problems.

Or maybe Dauria has stronger regulations on who gets to wield a bow. I know I’d have problems shooting a bow through them while standing. So, because they bothered me so much, I tried to ignore them.

.....

For their part, the soldiers on the wall talked to each other and my guards about me, but none attempted to interrupt my walk. For my part, I also tried to stay out of their way. Neither of us being in a great hurry, we successfully got our walks done and nobody stepped on anybody else’s feet or took a plunge into the courtyard below.

Actually, that was a concern. Were there backup baths inside the wall should the castle come under siege from the ocean? It seemed to me there would have to be, though I had no inclination to find them.

I actually found myself lost inside the citadel for a little bit, but I was busy trying to work out a number of puzzling things about my conversation with the admiral.

The nearest that I could figure it, me being an ignorant barbarian was fine; but the instant I understood anything about Daurian protocol, it was assumed that I knew it all. Worse, I was expected to follow it.

I wasn’t sure what a Lily Woman was, or why I shouldn’t talk to them. Nobles from high families were dragons (lung, or water dragons), as were the lower nobles (ryuu, or fire dragons). Farmers were the oxen of the empire, soldiers the hawks, and merchants the grass or flowers. So, a Lily Woman would be some manner of merchant.

In Achean culture, the lily is the flower of the underworld, one of the things the living and the dead could share. It seemed unlikely that a culture from halfway around the world would honor the same flower for the same reasons.

And – the admiral had asked what I thought the least likely request to be granted that I had, and then was all manner of offended when I gave it voice. Perhaps I was expected to pretend that I didn’t want to ask my questions? Would my Truthspeaker Oath permit that?

On the other hand, it wouldn’t be the first time that I’d told the truth and been considered rude for it.

And I discovered that I didn’t care. Oh, I minded; I wasn’t trying to insult the entire Daurian empire. I just didn’t CARE; if they took offense that easily, then they were just going to be offended.

The innermost layer of the citadel, to which I was confined, was laid out in two generally wedge-shaped courtyards. I had come down in the other, more crowded, courtyard, which seemed to house a lot of the craftsfolk of the castle.

There were gateways in the wall between sections, and like a fool I decided to cross at one. My guards had more sense than I did, and literally carried me out of the road just a breath before a careening wagon, loaded with goods, came barreling through.

They looked both ways, and we made a sprint through the gate while it was open. The guards had a laugh about it; I’d talked to drovers back at the Guild; getting run over by a wagon is no small deal.

At least laughter seemed the same in both cultures, even if the measures of what is and is not funny seemed wildly different.

The area we were in had larger houses, or rather small apartments, buildings with a shared inner courtyard that usually hosted a fish pond or garden (of flowers, usually, although I’d seen one of sand and rocks, carefully raked to make it look like water). We were in a wing of a larger, mansion-like building, perhaps to keep us away from other people who might be contaminated by our foreign-ness.

One of the guards gestured. Direction other than we were travelling, mouth, belly. Food? I could do with a snack before heading back home.

Food was a cupful of millet with a filet of cooked fish on top. The fish was properly imbued, at least, infused with some sour faith... wait, was that one of the sins? Had someone sinned just to provide the energy for a bitter snack? It seemed they had.

The size of the cups, I could have swallowed the whole thing in a gulp, but I tried to limit myself to eating at the pace of my guardians. Tried, and failed miserably.

The strains of different languages melded into each other like music. Good for relaxing, terrible for learning what people meant. Apparently, my guards had also needed a snack; they seemed much happier as they guided me home and saw me across the threshold, where I promptly removed my shoes.

It was during the first day that my foot-mittens (kutsu or taoxie, among other names) had arrived. They were inlaid with silk, soled in some reed that looked like narrow papyrus (and turned out to be palm-leaf, from the local trees), and decorated with designs in fine yarn that made it look like a pair of frogs were taking turns hopping whatever direction I was walking.

Kismet had kittens, Madonna had deer, and Gamilla had little lizards haloed in orange flames.

One of the maids helped me out of the outer layers of clothing, and into a silk robe. This one had been tailored to my form. Although it looked too long, the hem coasted just above the floor rather than dragging upon it.

That seemed to be a contest between our maids, to see how close our garments could come to the floor without actually touching. Indoor fashion only, from what I’d seen; outdoor clothing tended to be more practical and functional.

Dang it! I’d walked right past several blacksmiths and not asked a single one to re-forge my Flavian. There was a curved Daurian shortsword called a ruoqi or wakizashi, apparently depending on the degree of curve on the blade. Both were one edged, and had a chip-type point. Better for cutting, but when I needed range, I needed to thrust.

There was also a blade more like a cutlass called a wan dao, which I also didn’t have the local (Daurian) coin to buy.

Maido Imiji greeted my return with a dish of cold chicken slices over warm rice, the whole smothered in steaming gravy. I offered to share with her, but she recoiled as though I had insulted her.

“Your offer is most kind, but no. I dare not accept such generosity, thank you.”

“Maido Imiji, I have a question about Daurian society.”

“We maido exist only to serve you and the mako. Please, ask whatever you wish to be illuminated upon.”

“What exactly is a Lily Woman? Is that a type of merchant?”

“Ah, I see. Yes, they are a lower face form of merchant. A Lily Woman is one who sells that which should be offered freely, or not at all.”

“Oh, a black market merchant.”

“No, I believe your culture uses blue or red to mark the buildings where they work, while ours uses the more sensible shades of pink.”

“Blue... or red... Maido Imiji, does a Lily Woman sell access to her own body?”

Her face lit up. “Ah, good. You understand. Being a child, it had worried me that perhaps you had been hidden away from such realities of the world. Do you desire the services of a Lily Woman?”

“Oh, not at this time, but please, ask again in a decade or so. But please tell me... why should I not talk to Lily Women?”

She covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve, her eyes wide. “You should eat first, this may take some time.”