“What have you done to your hands?” Kiyo asked, affecting concern, though I knew her interest tended toward good gossip.

“I chased a child’s toy into a bramble bush.”

“Oh? I did not know there were brambles on our property.”

“Oh yes, near the river.”

“A child went so far as the river?”

“The child did not, but the ball did.”

“My! It looks terrible. A toy is hardly worth the trouble.”

“I thought it worthwhile.”

Kiyo narrowed her eyes, but it was not time for her to cross-examine me. It was time for me to examine her.

I needed to take in Kiyo’s every angle to manage the finest kitsuke possible, and inspected her body intimately.

A proper kitsuke can be made to disguise a thousand flaws, and this was never truer than in Kiyo’s case. She had always appeared a graceful figure to me, but by the early morning light, I saw a rather different picture.

The most obvious problem was the size of her breasts. They were fuller than was fashionable and an obstacle for what could be called a flawless kitsuke. I pressed my palm against her, but the tissue was stubborn and she winced in pain, “Gentle!”

“You are quite full breasted, and will require a very tight wrapping.”

I turned her around and ran a hand briskly across her neck and back, feeling her shoulder blades and examining their contouring. Her neck and back were graceful enough, but not long, and might benefit from additional cosmetic. A more dramatic result would take time and skill to achieve.

I brought my hands around to her ribs, and brushed them straight over her navel, where they should have fallen swiftly down, but instead, there was a fullness I had not expected, I returned to her middle, then started. My eyes sought hers for confirmation. I found it, smug and laughing, though she ought to have been terrified.

Kiyo seemed to be in a very complicated situation. Though the world may care very little how many different men’s children I should bear, they cared very much about a woman of Kiyo’s noble rank. How she could laugh, I could not guess. It must be a mask. An illusion. She should be terrified and for a moment, my heart ached. “What can you be thinking—?”

Kiyo cut me short. “It is nothing. I know how it looks to you, but believe me, I haven’t your gift for indiscretion. It is a condition I have hidden for years, even from my parents, but I am ready to put it to good use.”

I stiffened.

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“That’s none of my business.”

“Oh, but it is business, and very much yours, so hear me out.”

I never could prevent Kiyo from speaking.

“Do you know how much your mother has demanded for the price of my trousseau?”

“I don’t see the connection. And no. I have no idea.”

“I said hear me out.” Kiyo’s cheeks flushed with anger. “It is an extortive, impoverishing sum. It is utterly ridiculous and we will not pay it!”

It occurred to me then that, perhaps, they could not pay it, as Master Nobu’s brother Ishiro had claimed. The Nobu domain seemed so prosperous, but like many of the warrior class whose domains relied upon agriculture, perhaps they really were suffering. “I cannot help what my mother has asked.”

Kiyo folded her arms across her breast.

“I know you do not care for money, but you care for something and I know what it is.”

My jaw slackened, as I perceived her circling around my weakness.

“What does that mean?”

“I will give him to you for the price.”

“You cannot cast another person around like a bag of coins!”

“Yes. I can.”

I remembered what Ansei had claimed. He was but biding his time and would leave whenever he wanted and took courage. He did not need me to negotiate his freedom, and I didn’t have to accept that risk.

“I will not accept, nor can I. You must know my mother would not accept.”

Kiyo frowned.

“I think you had better think about it some more.”

“Kiyo, if you love him, then you should prove it. He could take care of you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not actually with child.”

“It seems I can do nothing for you, though I wish I could.”

“That’s a shame, because it will be his second offense. And my father will hate to kill him on account of this.” Kiyo swept her open palm across her navel.

“But you said yourself, it’s a lie!”

“My word and my governess’s testimony is strong evidence, and my father is daimyo, after all. And you yourself thought I was carrying a child.”

A single bead of sweat fell across my brow and mingled with the tears now burning in my eye. I cinched a cotton binding around Kiyo’s breasts with a sturdy tug.

“I will speak to my mother.”

“I thought you would reconsider.”

“Excuse me,” I said, walking away. “I need additional materials.”

It was several minutes before I could again compose myself to face her.

I didn’t know whether Kiyo would make an accusation against Ansei so close to her wedding date. Perhaps she would not have to and was relying upon that. Her father was daimyo, after all. And he may have executed servants quietly on less evidence than Kiyo might forge. Her threats were credible. And though Ansei claimed he could leave at any time, I couldn’t risk his life and a probable scandal.

With trembling fingers, and eyes glazed with tears, I robed Kiyo, and tied the heavy silk obi around her kimono. Somehow, my trembling fingers managed to finish the task, and I stood back and observed the results of my labor without pleasure.

Kiyo was an extraordinary bride. She shone more lovely than any I had ever seen or heard report of, results belying the truth beneath folds of silk and layers of cosmetic powder. Though it should have been the most triumphant achievement of my career, it was my greatest shame. Neither I, nor Madame Sato, could take any pleasure in Kiyo’s glory.

We sat close together at the feast, watching the progress of the sun falling on the horizon, bearing with pain every profusion over the bride’s gown,, the flawless kitsuke, and staring with feigned astonishment at every comment on the strange disappearance of the host’s younger brother.

The mysterious Nagaishi samurai never returned to the Nobu castle. As promised, the younger brother was not found until three days following the feast. And then, not until late in the day. There was such a calamity immediately following the wedding, and the Minister required much attention from the family. Many more days passed before Nobu could summon enough men to mount a search for the killer.

You might imagine the shock in the village, that such a brilliant wedding need be followed so closely with a funeral. And both of the dead from the great Nobu family!