Nana marched over the flagstones that decorated the roads in the neighborhood closest to the governor’s palace. A sprawling cluster of mansions with large gardens, each more ostentatious than the last and all vying to have the front door closest to the governor’s gate, leaving the specific layout of the place confusing to anyone who didn’t regularly visit.

Nana however was on her way to one of the houses that had the front gate placed outright on the other side of the street, as far away from the governor’s palace as possible. The walls had been well maintained by the city, not wanting the shame of having an empty Giya mansion behind it. Nana ran her finger along the white stone, then stopped in front of the wooden gate, a massive structure made of interconnected bamboo poles, once painted red but now recoated in a pitch black that formed a bizarre dark hole in the center of the wall.

She pushed it open and found her way into the familiar overgrown yard. Once a beautifully kept paradise of flowers, it was now a wild palette of colors that grew as they pleased, encroaching on the slowly collapsing mansion that had been hidden from the neighbors.

The only part of the grounds that still worked, albeit weakly, was the fountain, which pushed a pathetic drizzle into the muddied ditches that lay along the path that had once been a beautiful mosaic, but now had been slowly whittled away by neighbors who needed the colorful stone for their own paths.

Meanwhile, the mansion, not having seen any maintenance for years was collapsing under the weight of its own roof shills. The double floored center part of the building was already unapproachable, kept up only by the struggling beams of the west wing. The east wing however was surprisingly intact,as it was, much to Nana’s regret, the only part of the mansion that still saw some occasional repairs.

Nana headed onto the path and a massive moth fluttered away, startled by her sudden presence. Nana followed the white, polka dotted, creature with her eyes until it disappeared in the light of the two moons that were about to cross each other.

The door dropped behind her and she squinted at the east wing. There was a light burning.

She placed her hands against her mouth and let out a soft whistle, waited and nodded in approval when Rei responded with a slightly higher tone.

She sighed in relief that the Spider would cause no trouble and headed for the building, demonstratively stepping through a hole in the wall instead of the door. Rei offered her a nod and a slightly annoyed look with puffed up cheeks.

“Good to see you,” her bondwoman said, gesturing to Kagami, “This one’s no fun.”

Kagami sat with their back to Rei, their clothes stripped off to the waist, caught up in either meditation or prayer

The room could be called a bedroom, especially if the north wall had still been standing, but now was just a sad half hovel with a futon thrown in.

“Not to bother you,” Nana said to Kagami, “But I have your marubu.”

Immediately Kagami sprang into action, pulling up their clothes and hood. They turned around just in time to catch one of the valuable balls, the smaller, from the air.

They retrieved the parchment Nana wanted, unfurled to ascertain Nana it was what she wanted, then discarded it to the rotting tatami. Nana threw the next and Kagami took their leave, concluding the transaction … by dropping a smoke bomb.

Nana felt them swoop past her, through the same hole she had entered, but pretended not to notice the Spider’s sweaty stink.

She fanned herself, waiting for the smoke to disperse, then turned her attention to Rei.

“We’re leaving,” she said shortly, collecting the parchment from the ground and putting it in her own clothes, “We can be back home by dawn.”

“You should sleep,” Rei said softly, a frown of concern dancing on her face.

“We’ll sleep when we have brought our report.”

“Tassi…”

“Rei, honey,” Nana sighed, “I know you want to spend the night here, but, as I have told you a hundred times over. It’s not healthy for you to hang around here.”

Rei pouted and was about to open her mouth, but Nana gave no ground.

“So you can shut up, get up and come with me now or I can drag you to the capital by your hair.”

Rei opened her mouth again, though Nana still kept the initiative.

“Yes I will dangle you from my hornet. Move.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Rei sighed and looked at the rotting painting on the paper of what had once been an inner wall. It displayed a white, blue dotted moth, fluttering over a cluster of red flowers.

“Fine, tassi,” she sighed again, collected the few belongings she had on her and followed Nana into the night.

The two walked in tense silence, Nana feeling Rei’s resentment at her decision. Rei however was the first one to break the silence.

“Where’d you get that dress anyway?”

Nana glanced over her shoulder and smirked, “You’re not going to like the answer.”

“Why?”

“I took it from a clothesline.”

“But the festival…” Rei protested.

Nana shrugged her shoulders, “The owner was screaming at her parents because she wasn’t allowed to go out. Something about her boyfriend. Felt it was a shame not to show off the dress at least.”

“Nana…”

“I’ll have it shipped back when we get home. There’s more that needs to be done in this city anyway.”

While they spoke among themselves, they noticed several guards that had been posting along the road surrounding them, carefully herding them until they couldn’t continue walking, surrounded by the guards.

“Your business?” the sergeant demanded.

“Dragonfly,” Nana sighed, displaying the hidden mark on her hilt.

There was a concerned muttering, each of the guards wondering if they had done something to deserve the dragonflies’ scrutiny.

“Your business at the palace?” the leader demanded, sticking to protocol.

“Brave aren’t you?” she smiled, “Nothing for you to hurt your head over. We’re just here to get our mounts.”

The leader gestured to one of his men, “Pota. Escort them.”

One of the soldiers slammed his left fist against his left chest, then marveled at Nana and Rei.

“You’re not what I expected at all,” he said, leading the way, “I was imagining terrifying giants when I heard of your kind. I wanted to be one you know…”

Nana and Rei shared an amused smirk as they listened to the chattering soldier.

“...and that’s why my grandmother calls me 'Raindrop',” the soldier concluded, opening the door to the stables for his wards.

“Thank you,” Nana said, inclining her head, then added with a soft mocking tone, “Raindrop.”

The soldier jumped to attention, slammed his right fist against his right chest, then hurried to pick up the spear he dropped in the process.

Giggling, Nana and Rei entered the stables, which they found oddly engaged at this time of night.

Three giant snails were being polished. Two, drab brown ones, by the regular stable hands, but the third was what got their attention. It was being tended to by five maidens, beauties each, delicately polishing the pearlescent rainbow shell in the light of a torch. Nana made a mental note of the lack of fireflies, then looked around the stables for more oddities.

The oddest was a cloud of pink smoke in one of the corners. She shrugged, but felt Rei almost becoming palpably angry.

“Excuse me,” she said, squeezing the girl’s shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

“Excuse me,” she repeated, making sure it was clear she wanted to be obeyed, not excused, “Dragonfly business. We’re here to collect our hornets.”

“You’ll have to wait,” a calm voice said from the cloud of pink smoke. Nana squinted at the corner of the stables, then realized she was looking at the smoke clad shape of the governor.

“Lady Gi,” she greeted her icily, “I’m afraid it can’t wait. Only the business of the gods runs before that of the Gunari.”

“My business,” the governor said, exhaling a thick cloud of smoke, “IS the Gunari’s. I’m about to make my yearly visit to him and the Empress.”

“Lady Gi,” Nana started, planning to reason with the woman but was interrupted by Rei, who had been glaring at the smoke as soon as she had noticed it.

“Susume,” she said, dropping the formalities, “The lady is a Dragonfly and if you stand her way, she can cut your head off.”

“My my,” Gi replied, holding the last Y for a time, “Reirei, my little cousin.”

Nana felt Rei’s hand clutch around her sword. With a quick swat of her hand to Rei’s wrist, she freed it and took a step away from her bondwoman.

“It’s nice to see,” the governor said, pausing to take a drag of her pipe, “That you haven’t gone the way of your parents. …yet.”

Nana grabbed Rei’s shoulder before she could charge the woman.

“Not now,” she hissed.

She felt the girl struggle and dug her thumbnail between the bones in her shoulder to remind her where she was.

“Lady Gi, as much as I regret my companion’s temper. I need those hornets and I need them now. I will not hesitate to throw you in your own dungeon if you obstruct me.”

“My my,” Gi sighed, “Such anger, but fine. Interrupt their important work for your mounts. Pretend you matter by threatening your betters.”

“A beautiful shell,” Rei spat, “Doesn’t hide the slime inside.”

The governor brought the pipe to her lips, offering Rei a mocking smile from beyond the veil of smoke.

“Will I be seeing you at the family reunion this year, dear cousin? Oh… I suppose not… because.”

“Rei,” Nana snapped, “Put up your walls.”

Rei responded by placing one palm up, the other over that and then bringing them both to her chest. She closed her eyes and got lost entirely in her own breathing.

“As for you,” Nana continued, locking her eyes on Susume. She approached the woman and took the pipe from her mouth. The governor was too flabbergasted to respond and watch quietly as Nana carefully inspected the hollowing insect leg. When she finished, she twirled the long stick in her fingers,

sending the expensive tobacco flying around the stables.

“Are you aware that toetherm is illegal in all parts of the empire, lady Gi?”

“It’s just sweetened tobacco,” the governor said petulantly, “Perfectly legal.”

“I’m sure it is,” Nana smiled, continuing to twirl it, “But toetherm leaves behind some very specific residue.”

She stopped twirling, then squatted down, never breaking eye contact, “So I’ll be sending a group of the Gunari’s personal listeners to inspect every nook and cranny of your palace while you’re on the road.”

The governor paled and stood up, “If you’d excuse me. … I need to visit the facilities before I leave.”

Nana rose and watched the governor storm out of the stables.

She twirled the pipe again, looked at it and shook her head.

“Could have made a nice flute,” she muttered to herself, then discarded it over her shoulder.

“You, stable boy,” she continued, “There’s two hornets here that I need made ready to leave and I need it now.”

The boy nodded politely, broke from what he was doing, then rushed to get his protective gear.