I watched Fumei, Omei, and Amei move gracefully with the sound of the floor harp. The vases on their heads barely moved as they bent their knees, nearly touching the floor. I had no idea what sort of dance they performed, but it was common for Nageeya to dance at events for nobles and royalty.

Hotaki finished with the song. The Nageeya finished dancing, taking the vases from their heads.

"Excellent," he said. He looked at me. "You are not expected to dance, Yori," he said.

"I would hope not," I replied. He motioned to the floor harp.

"Can you play music?"

I shook my head. "I can't even sing."

"No matter. Dancing, playing music, and singing are not necessary, though good skills to have. A lord's wife is the hostess and entertainer of the house."

I wondered if that would make me a less appealing choice for Lord Ashiro-han.

Hotaki clapped his hands; the servants came forward and took the vases as the Nageeya knelt back down. Another servant came through the door, setting a tray of tea on the low table in the center of the room. Hotaki lifted the lid off the teapot and dropped a few tea leaves inside.

"You all know the basics of serving tea?" he asked.

Everyone around the table, including me, nodded.

"Good," he said. "Starting today, you shall begin your bridal tests."

"Oh, no," Omei said. "I haven't had enough practice."

"Don't worry," Hotaki said. "You will have a chance to practice. Fumei shall go first at twelve, and you will go two hours later. Then Amei and Yori shall go tomorrow."

Fumei turned her black eyes on me. "She doesn't even know what a bridal test is."

"It is true," I said. "I don't."

"You shall have practice as well. A bridal test is very simple; it is how a woman proves the wife's duties to the nobleman. It is also one of the few times a woman is allowed to interact with her husband before the wedding." Hotaki smiled at me. "Would you like to practice now?"

"I…certainly."

He snapped his fan open and waved to the Nageeya. "Please clear away from the table."

They all stood, backing away. Hotaki stood, offering a hand to help me up. He led me out of the guest house into the garden.

"The bridal test will happen in the tea house of Lord Ashiro-han's garden," he said. He put his hands on my shoulders and I knelt on the cold stone.

"Komo will lead you there before Lord Ashiro-han comes," he said. "And you will not look at him once."

He put his shoes on and went across the garden, then turned and came back towards me. I kept my eyes at his feet, making sure to not look at his face. He approached me and stopped.

"You will now untie the thongs on his shoes, and take them off for him."

I looked up; Hotaki gently slapped the top of my head with his fan.

"And don't look at him!"

"Of course." I looked down at Hotaki's feet. He had simple slip-on shoes, but I pretended to untie imaginary thongs and take them off his feet. I set them on the stone set aside for shoes.

"Now what?" I asked.

"He will hand you a small bowl of tea leaves. You still must not look at him, and he will say, 'In this garden, a flower between us must bloom,' to which you reply, 'A seed must be planted for a flower to grow, and I am your garden, my lord'." There was a pause. "Can you repeat that?"

"'A seed must be planted for a flower to grow, and I am your garden, my lord'," I said.

"Excellent. You have a wonderful memory." He closed his fan. "Now what you do is you stand, bow, and lead him into the tea house backward. You must never look at him, and never turn your back on him."

I stood, bowed, and reached behind me to slide the door open. I backed into the room, and Hotaki made me stop.

"You can now turn and have your side facing him. Set the tea leaves on the table."

I did so, making sure that I didn't turn my back on Hotaki. I faced him, waiting for his next order.

"Now, you will offer him your arm, and take him to his seat, which will face the door."

I offered him my arm, and led him to the seat that faced the door. He stopped me.

"Now," he said, "you will remove his coat, and hang it by the door. There will be a place for that."

He sat cross-legged at the table, motioning for me to kneel at his right side. I didn't look around at the Nageeya, who were standing aside watching me. I knelt, and Hotaki gave me further instruction.

"You will serve his tea like you would any other person, but you must remember to never look at him, and speak only when he speaks to you."

I nodded.

"You will be wearing a mask, however," Hotaki said, "so Lord Ashiro-han will not pick any of you judged on appearance. He also will not know any of your names."

"Why's that?" Amei asked.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"So he doesn't pick favorites with family names. It's an ancient tradition for noble families," he said. "None of you would know; this is your first time with the bridal tests."

He stood, opening his fan to motion for us to continue with our tea. The Nageeya took their places, and as I was the youngest there, I served the tea.

"He will ask you questions," Hotaki said. "Some of them are simple, and some of them will be more complex, and some of them will not even have an honest answer. How you answer them will determine the final score of your tests, and weigh in on Lord Ashiro-han's decision on who will be his bride." He bowed. "I must go now, and help my lord prepare for the test."

He left us alone in the house, and at once, the Nageeya around me began to speak.

"Fumei's going this afternoon!" Amei said. "And so are you."

Omei looked nervous, drumming her fingers on the tabletop. We all looked over at Fumei, who drank her tea in silence.

"Are you nervous?" Omei asked.

"Of course," Fumei replied. "Who wouldn't be? I'm going to look at him so I fail, at least."

"How can you think like that?" Amei cried. "At least try."

Fumei finished her tea and stood. "I'm going to go get ready," she said. "Komo should be here soon to help me—send her up when she comes in."

She left us, heading up the stairs to the room we all shared. I drank my tea without saying anything. Now the butterflies formed in my stomach. I thought of being alone in the garden house with the lord for possibly a whole hour, questioned on trivial things and having to make sure I didn't look at him. It was the closest I would have been to him in seven years—the closest ever. It would also have only been the second time I would be in his presence. I didn't know what he looked like, but I would have to make sure I never let my eyes fall to his face.

I finished my tea and left the Nageeya to go outside. There wasn't much for me to do while waiting around, and I thought a walk in the garden would do me some good.

Rain sprinkled from the sky, the dark clouds an omen to the storms that were to come. I slipped my feet into my shoes and hurried across the stone garden under the shelter of the pavilion. Dried brown vines went up the supports of the structure, and I found myself again wondering if the island was lovely in full season.

The garden door to the rest of the lord's house was open. I could see nothing but a walled walkway; perhaps Hotaki had left the door open on his way to his lord. I went forward, the raindrops feeling like cold kisses on the top of my head, and grabbed the wood door. I stopped as I was about to close it, seeing two black-clad servants cross the pathway, and what looked to be a smaller doorway to the grounds.

Komo had never told me it was forbidden to leave the guest quarters…

I looked over my shoulder at the little house. No one had come outside. Would I surely have been missed?

I slipped into the walkway and shut the door behind me. The rain was coming down heavier, but I ignored it and went to the end of the walkway, where it branched off in two directions opposite the door I was standing in front of. I looked up and could see the towers of the house hanging over me, and servants passing by on balconies. I looked down the left pathway, which curved out of my view. The right-hand one carried on, until the stone wall ended and was lined by barren shrubs.

I took that one, looking over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't being followed. The smell of wood smoke greeted my nose as I went, and the path curved off under the shelter of pines, and from there, I could see a gathering of low single-story houses, and a few masked servants out by an open fire. A basin of water sat near the fire, and I could see the servants washing clothing in the basin.

I ducked behind the shrubs as the servants looked my way. I peered through the tangle of thorny branches at them, and once they had looked away, I straightened and hurried on my way down the path, under the shelter of thick pine branches. It was almost dark underneath the branches, which sheltered my head from the rain. The path sloped down, continuing under the pine trees, until it stopped at a staircase. I paused, standing at the base of the stone stairs, looking up to see where they would go.

I could see only the sky at the top of the stairs. Taking my risk, I trotted up the stairs, the rest of the island coming into view when I reached the top. The stairs ended on another stone walkway, which branched out like the seven-headed dragon of the emperor's house, and from where I stood at the top of the stairs, I could see the distant coastline.

The pathway sloped down, and I could see a walled area with more low, flat buildings, and I could see men practicing with short swords. I guessed those were the barracks for the lord's soldiers. It had never occurred to me that the soldiers might have lived on the island with their lord. I looked about the rooflines of the lord's house. Why, the island was its own city, its citizens the servants and soldiers of Lord Ashiro-han's house.

I didn't know where to go from there. Half of me was screaming to return to the guest house before I was caught, but no one had told me not to leave the guest area, so was I really doing anything wrong? One could not have disobeyed an order that had never taken place.

I turned and went down the stairs, passing the servants, back to where I had debated which path to take. I ducked out of view when I heard voices and footsteps; Komo passed by, leading Fumei—or at least I assumed it was Fumei, from the way the woman walked. She had a mask on, and was wearing a robe of pale blue, similar to the one I wore, but her robe had open sleeves that flowed behind her, and was painted with deep blue birds near the white trim. She had a mask over her face; it was painted to look like a woman's face, with tiny red lips and pale pink circles on the cheeks. They passed by, through the door I had stood before.

I went along the left-hand path, which curved around the building where I had heard Lord Ashiro-han playing on his taka the night before. I wondered if that was where he had his personal chambers, or if he was simply staying there to overlook the guest house, and get a look at the women seeking to be his bride.

"You must not feel it much."

I stopped. I could hear a voice—Hotaki's—through the thin wall. I strained my ears to listen.

"I suppose. It pains me to think of it too much." The other speaker was another man, his voice deeper than Hotaki's. "Do you know what I mean?"

"Do you mean…"

"Yes. I try to think of sadness, I try to focus on sadness, but it makes me heartbroken to think of how I cannot feel sadness."

I strained my ears to hear what this deeper-voiced man spoke of.

"You feel it, don't you?" the deep-voiced man said.

I heard Hotaki sigh. "You speak of my father."

"Forgive me—I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No, no…" Hotaki's voice broke. I drew closer to the house, trying to hear what he was going to say next. He took a deep breath. "I know what it feels like to try and mourn, but only to be filled with this emptiness that eats away at everything." Hotaki's voice broke again, and I burned inside to know what he and this other man spoke of.

"It is my fault."

Hotaki said nothing in reply. There was a silence, before the rustling of clothes and the creak of floorboards told me that someone was standing. "It is almost noon. You should head to the tea house."

I started—Hotaki was speaking to Lord Ashiro-han—though, what of, I didn't know.

"These women," said the lord, "are they, in your opinion, suitable?"

"I would think so. The Nageeya are raised to be noblemen's wives."

"What of this merchant's daughter?"

"Matamura Yori?"

"Yes."

My skin crawled to hear them speak of me.

"She…she lacks the things that would make her seem fitting to be married to a nobleman. She cannot dance, or sing, or play an instrument—"

"A nobleman seeks to marry a woman, not an entertainer, Hotaki," Lord Ashiro-han said. "Though I wish it had not come to this."

"Teku said that the time is right. The stars have aligned in your favor."

"And if he is wrong?"

"A priest is never wrong with his predictions, Ashiro," Hotaki said. I was surprised to hear him refer to the lord by his name. "You must bear a son."

"And see the death of another wife?"

"You must, or we will never be free."

The door slid open. I backed away and hurried down the stone path as Hotaki and Lord Ashiro-han stepped out, and as much as I wanted to get a look at the lord's face, I could not risk exposing my eavesdropping. The two men went the way Fumei and Komo had gone, and I got a full view of Lord Ashiro-han's back as they went through the door. The white dragon stared at me with its fangs bared, and as I backed down the path towards the door to the guest house, the lord began to turn and look over his shoulder. I turned and fled through the door, slamming it behind me before the two men could get a good look at me.