Free The Peony Lantern by Frances Watts

inn clean and ready in case of visitors. I still went gathering in the forest most days.’ I recalled donning my cape made of straw, the dripping trees, the mist.
    â€˜The forest?’ she repeated. She was looking at me curiously now.
    â€˜My grandmother composed a poem about what it was like when the weather rolled into the valley. Would you like to hear it?’ Why couldn’t I stop talking? It was like a dam had burst.
    â€˜All right.’
    â€˜Mist drapes the valley
    Closing its hand on each branch
    Stroking ev’ry leaf,’ I recited. ‘She said it was for me. Because of my name, and because I knew the forest so well.’ I heard the yearning in my voice and was suddenly embarrassed to have revealed so much of myself.
    Misaki had an odd expression on her face. ‘You’re from the Owari domain, I think my husband said? So this valley you’re talking about, is that where you lived before moving to Nagoya?’
    â€˜Nagoya?’ I shook my head. ‘I’m not from Nagoya, my lady. I come from the Kiso Valley. My family has an inn there, in Tsumago — one of the stations on the Nakasendo highway.’
    â€˜But the capital of Owari is Nagoya, isn’t it? That’s where you were a lady-in-waiting?’
    â€˜No, my lady. I’ve never been to Nagoya. And I was never a lady-in-waiting.’ Had her husband really not toldher? ‘I’ve only ever worked in the inn — gathering food in the forest, cooking . . .’
    â€˜And my husband found you at this inn?’ Her tone was incredulous now.
    â€˜Yes, my lady. I was serving the rice.’ I couldn’t believe Shimizu hadn’t told her any of this. I’d been sure that she was annoyed to be thrust into the company of someone so inexperienced and of such a lowly rank, and all along she’d thought I was a real lady-in-waiting! I could only imagine her chagrin now on finding that it was even worse than she’d thought. With a sinking heart, I waited for an exclamation of indignation or outrage, but there was a long silence.
    Finally I dared to raise my head. To my surprise, her eyes were full of sympathy.
    â€˜This must be quite a change for you then.’
    â€˜Yes, my lady.’
    â€˜So that unusual hairstyle on your first morning . . .’
    â€˜I made it up,’ I confessed.
    â€˜You made it up.’ Suddenly she snatched up a fan and began to wave it in front of her vigorously. ‘It’s very hot in here.’
    If I didn’t know better, I’d have said she was trying not to laugh.

Chapter
            Six
    Green ribbons waving
    Become a rippling sea
    Blue fish shimmer through
    Misaki’s manner was distinctly warmer after my revelation. When the rain eased and we went out to the garden, she walked beside me and we chatted. I began to feel optimistic about the year ahead; if only my mistress maintained her friendly demeanour, it wouldn’t be so bad.
    And then there was another change for the better. I didn’t know if Isamu had said something to him, or if he had suddenly sensed the tedium of our days himself, but one night Shimizu returned home in time for dinner — and had news for us.
    â€˜The daimyo invited an ikebana master to hold an exhibition at his mansion last year. Now the master is giving lessons to the ladies of the domain and I’ve askedhim to come here this afternoon to begin instruction with the two of you.’
    The look of gratitude and relief on Misaki’s face as she thanked her husband was revealing: she had been as bored as me.
    I felt a surge of excitement at the thought of learning ikebana , the art of flower arranging. I had spent my life observing flowers. The purple blaze of azaleas around the ruins of the old castle high above Tsumago or the fiery rhododendrons along the road outside the village. The sunny yellow lilies by the side of the path leading to