Rude Awakenings

With a sharp intake of breath, Lily turns, tension evident in her stance; seeing the new woman, she relaxes, smiling a bit and motioning to the sword in her hand. "I was, 'less you intended to to go first." she motions toward the door to the bath. She leans her shoulders into the wall, she digs her hands into her pockets and studies the woman.

I study the woman as she studies me and wonder if she is like me or like the other spirits that live here. "We can bathe together if you are willing. I'll not interrupt or bother you. I simply do not know where the bath house is."

Lily smiles broadly. "Now that's a fine idea," stretching her left hand to the woman, with the key-like markings standing out on her white skin, she continues, "Let us do so, if it please you, and you can tell me more of your home."

I study the offered hand and bow my head. "I look forward to telling you miss. A long warm bath would be a suitable place to tell it as well." I make no move to take her hand, though I do smile lightly waiting for her to lead the way. Why do the people in the place have such odd gestures such as this.

Sighing, Lily stuffs her hand into her robe again and turns to the bath, pulling her hand from her robe only long enough to turn the nob. Forcing it open with her foot as she returns the hand to her pocket she steps into the large open space that now represented the bathroom. Turning once on the ball of her foot, she chooses a long bench and sits down on it, again lounging against the wall.

Following her in, I look over the bath and am surprised. So much of it looks like a bath at home, yet at the same time it isn't. Shutting the door softly behind me, I watch the steam radiate up off the bath water. A deep ache of needing to simply bathe myself clean of all of this spreads through me. before I can even move my hand to the robe sash though, my honor makes me turn and face this new woman. Bowing respectfully, I address her. "I thank you most humbly for allowing me to share a bath with you. May I know the name of the woman I am intended to bathe with?"

Lily opens her mouth, then snaps it shut, appearing to chew a moment, before straightening and tilting her head forward. "I'm Lily," she smiles.

"Lily..." I smile before I am able to stop myself as I stand straight again. "Lily is a wonderful name. My mother had Lily in her name too. I am Kunishi Kiou." With introductions aside, I sweep my gaze over the bath again and get an eyeful of steam. "Shall we?" This was going to feel so good. Mere moments later finds me disrobed and heading, unashamed, towards the warm water of the bath; sword still in hand.

Lily slips her robe, allowing it to fall around her ankles. "Is your sword to bath with us?" she quips as she steps into the waters, relaxing as it rises over her waist.

Her words seem to echo within me as I stop at the bath's edge. She is right of course... I cannot bathe with the blade, it would rust and then I would be left with nothing. "My apologies miss Lily. Would it please you if I set is beside where I bathe?" I'm already dropping into a kneel beside the water, intending to merely place it at the edge.

"Its your weapon to do with as you please, though you treat it as if your soul were bound to it." Lily rolls her eyes and sinks to her neck into the waters. "And that makes it appear to be very valuable indeed, though its working is ordinary enough in its own right."

"I was taught that a samurai's honor, heart, and soul are carried in their blade." With the sword set down, I slide myself into the warm water with a low moan of pleasure. I haven't had a bath this nice and warm in some time. "Though, what you say is correct, a blade cuts regardless of who wields it. But for me, this blade is a special one. It is all I have from where I was before."

"I thought the women of the samurai preferred the lance?" Lily cocks her head to a side and wets her hair. "I never cared so much for weapons myself, but I take it to learn the value of everything."

"In my grandmother's mother's time it was not uncommon for a woman to learn the lance. In that time there were still many wars and even women may be needed to defend the home." I sigh sadly as I think of my grandmother. I pray she is looking after my mother alongside my father. "Though times have changed, and so have men... I was taught with this sword, so it is mine and mine alone. That is, until I have a son to pass it on to."

Lily shakes her head. "Women and marriage," she grumbles, "Honor and duty; I have no intent to soil this body with a child, and I won't let any man make me beholden to him." She mumbles something under her breath and returns to her hair, worrying at a tangle near the nape of her neck.

"I was raised to believe that a men is the provider and protector both in and away from home. He is the figurehead of all that it is to be who you are. Your mother is your provider of affection. She cares for you when you are young, sick, or hurt. If I have a daughter I will teach her all that my mother and grandmother taught me of how a woman is supposed to behave." Reaching up, I finally let my own long hair loose from it's bun.

"Well and good; but what of when the man dies or your family is not to you. You throw yourself on the kindness of other because your world was so small before and you can't rise to be the master of your own life as the borders grow." Lily brings the touch of bitterness in her voice under control before ducking her head beneath the water. Rising, she wipes her eyes and forces a smile.

I watched as Lily so casually seemed to explain my own situation. Perhaps the woman did know of her circumstance, after all this was a place for spirits. When she resurfaced, I continued our conversation. "In that event, the woman is given all of the knowledge for both men and women, so that she can teach her son or daughter if need be." I pause a moment as I run myself through the scenario again. "Though if it were me, my grandfather would have simply adopted a new grandson and had me marry him."

Lily takes a deep breath. "You have a good family, and gods willing, you'll be with them again." Sipping from the water, she grabs her towel and robe and wraps the first around her head.

I stare down at my reflection a moment. "There is little hope of that. The man from before made that clear enough. Besides, I cannot adopt a husband to carry on my name. Whether here, or there, I am the last of the Kunishi. All I can hope is that my future husband is willing to carry on the traditions that I carry within me." I look to her almost wishing she would stay longer.

"Lambkin made an ass of himself," Lily grumbles. "You can buy yourself a ticket to anywhere if you don't mind the cost." Sliding down the wall to sit cross legged, she stares over the steaming waters. "And you can marry as well as you choose, if you don't mind the smell of decay."

So many of the things she was saying made absolutely no sense. "You speak of cost yet I have no money to pay with. And, what do you mean by decay?" My interest in naturally piqued. "Why would there be a smell of decay in a marriage?"

Lily gives her a look of pity. "You can trade in kind; and as for the decay, you know nothing of men save honor."

I blush despite myself and shake my head. "No... My mother refused to teach me such things. She said there was time for that when I got married."

"Then I'll put it in brief. They're monsters, most of them. You don't get the good prince so often as the fairy stories would make it." Lily sighs and motions to the door. "Those here are generally fine enough, though when the veneer wears thin enough, even they behave like the brutes they are. It's best if you learn to use them for their face value and cast them aside before they break you."