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[Continuing chapter 2]
The next day Lord Naitō ordered morning rice for the greater hour of the Tiger, the period immediately before dawn. Shiro grumbled as he ate, but then Shiro was never at his best before the sun rose. Tetsuo, who had already cleaned his weapons and stretched himself before dressing, not only refused to sympathize but teased his companion coarsely while the poor boy struggled to finish. In the end Shiro had to pour the last of his tea into the last of his rice when the three warriors were summoned to escort Lords Naitō and Matsukata to the arms master.
This morning Tetsuo and Shiro carried their lances with them. The yari was a warrior’s main battlefield weapon, but the capital of the empire ought not to have been a battlefield, and they ought to have been able to leave the lances, blades in their leather covers, at the mansion when they walked the streets. After yesterday’s incident, though, Hiroki had decided that the claims of etiquette did not supersede their responsibility for their lords’ safety. Hiroki himself carried his bo, the long wooden staff that was his preferred weapon—and that of many warrior monks.
“I do not anticipate my needing you today,” Lord Naitō told Hiroki as they parted in the courtyard of the arms master’s mansion, “but I want you to stay here anyway, “If I do need you it will be immediately. There won’t be time to send for you.”
“I understand.” Hiroki bowed. “Should you need any errands run I will send Shiro. As the youngest of us he is the mostly likely to become bored.” Lord Naitō was still laughing as he was led into the audience chamber: Shiro’s impatience was nearly as much commented on at home as was his enthusiasm.
It was to the women’s quarters that Hiroki, Tetsuo and Shiro were escorted once their lords were safely with the arms master. Hiroki was pleased to feel the tension seep out of him when he realized that neither Lord Hosokawa nor his wakashū friend were visiting Lady Tomiko this morning. No doubt they both sleep as late as an abbot, Hiroki decided. And that is just fine with me.
Lady Tomiko continued to hide herself behind a screen, but Hiroki was well-accustomed to women who did this, and Tetsuo and Shiro seemed to be getting used to the idea. Though Hiroki had to hiss a warning at Shiro when the boy made an awkward attempt to accidentally look behind the screen as they were being led to the cushions set out for them. If Lady Tomiko noticed the rudeness, she was herself too polite to say anything.
This did not mean she was silent. Without the garrulous Lord Hosokawa or his sour wakashū friend to dominate the conversation, the lady was free to give full rein to her curiosity. And she was, it developed, extremely curious about life in the provinces. Her enthusiasm for the stories Tetsuo and Shiro told her was real, and Hiroki found himself feeling a little bit sorry for her as the morning turned into afternoon and tea was served. This, he decided, was a woman who would have made a good wife for a warrior, and would have fully enjoyed the rougher life of a country samurai woman. She seemed to Hiroki a bit wasted playing at aristocratic games on behalf of her brother.
He was wondering if he would be able to ask her directly who her husband had been and how he had come to die, when a maid opened the sliding door and announced the arrival of Lord Hosokawa and Togashi Shokan, the wakashū. And there goes our peace, Hiroki said to himself. “Thank you, Aki,” Lady Tomiko said. “Please show them in.” Was it his imagination, Hiroki wondered, or had the arrival of the others saddened her as well? Certainly some of the life seemed to have gone out of her voice.
And the pleasure went out of the day, for Hiroki, once the wakashū turned on his hostess. The nature of the quarrel was a mystery to Hiroki, apparently long ante-dating his arrival in the capital. But that it had something to do with money the wakashū thought Lady Tomiko was meant to give him seemed obvious—and that it caused considerable embarrassment to his companion, Lord Hosokawa, as well as to his hostess was even more clear. The arms master’s secretary should have removed the offensive guest from the chamber, if not the house, but the secretary was not present—obviously he would be recording the meeting between Lords Naitō and Matsukata and the arms master.
In the end it was Tetsuo who drove the wakashū away, and he was only forced to this by the need to prevent Shiro from coming to blows with the fellow.
The rest of the afternoon passed in uncomfortable silence, punctuated only be even more uncomfortable attempts at conversation, none of which survived.
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