Chapter Text
Matsu had always expected that she would be married away to another house. As the third daughter of a middling house nonetheless known for its warriors, it was even possible that she would become a consort to a very important house. Matsu and her older sisters had gone back and forth on which would be better: the wife would of course have greater status, but also a much more constrained life. She would, with her children, most likely live in Edo rather than the provinces, but even in the middle of a bustling city she would most likely be confined to the house with occasional important visits to the Shogun's court. A consort would have more freedom in her daily life, and would live with her husband, but that could be out in the provinces at a castle under constant risk of attack, and if she did not produce sons it would be easy to cast her aside with little risk of offending her own father.
What Matsu had not expected was to be married to a woman. Her sisters had both married well, in return for her family's military aid at important times, but with the Tokugawa Shogun in charge, it seemed that there would be no more turmoil, no more wars. At least, that's what her father lamented. Her brothers were perfectly happy to be patrolling their land to kill bandits and raiders rather than noblemen that they personally knew. The Shogun had sent an edict to several loyal families with many children – Matsu's among them – demanding that they marry their daughters to the daughters of his enemies, and their sons to the sons of his enemies. All previous engagements were cast aside, and could only proceed with the permission of the Shogun. Matsu's prospective husbands had both died in the constant battles leading up to the Shogunate, which troubled her little as she had never met them: her main concern was growing too old to marry, as she was already nineteen.
Matsu had talked this over with her mother. "Surely he cannot mean to extinguish their bloodlines! The sons could still take consorts, the daughters lovers. Or adopt children!" Four of Matsu's siblings were adopted, the result of families sending their particularly talented children to their lord to be educated and, if they were particularly favoured, adopted into his household.
"No, my dear. Your father's advisers went through the edict in great detail. No further marriages are permitted, and noble adoptions need to be approved by the Shogun himself. I think he will find these petitions easy to deny."
"But why? If he wanted them dead, he could simply execute them."
"Violence is no longer politic, daughter. Everyone is tired of war."
"Father isn't."
"Everyone but him and a few other old men."
Matsu covered her mouth and giggled at that. Her father was hardly old, but sometimes he did seem that way, as if he'd been brought up in another time. Her mother had been raised in the port town of Kobe, and was far more wordly.
"You are the next girl in line, and this is to be your fate. I would not have expected it, but at least you will live well and be spared the pain of giving birth."
"But I will have no children!"
"Perhaps the next Shogun will be kinder."
This was verging on treason, to anticipate the Shogun's death, but they were in the women's quarters, and nobody here would tell the men what transpired inside these walls.
So it was that Matsu stepped into the lacquered palanquin for her journey to the sea and her wedding. Although two wagons behind her were filled with the hundreds of items of her trousseau, she took only one maid, O-Toyo, as taking more would seem childish, as if she was clinging to her childhood home. O-Toyo was an odd girl, taken to staring at nothing, but she had grown up with Matsu, and she wouldn't think of taking somebody else. Besides, she was cheerful and had a little round face like a doll, and Matsu was fairly sure she'd need cheering up being married to a woman who knew she was there to end her family line.
The journey took fifteen days, most of which Matsu spent hidden away in the small box of the palanquin with O-Toyo, feeling more and more ill at the rocking. The nights provided the only respite, first at forest camps under the pine trees that gave Matsu her name, and then once they reached the main road at inns.
"Oh, I don't know how I'm going to get back in that horrible box in the morning," Matsu complained as she and O-Toyo soaked in the hot spring at the back of the inn. Her father's men stood outside to guard them, but the constant trickle of water into the spring disguised her complaints well.
"Would you rather walk?" O-Toyo also tended to be very direct, at least with Matsu.
"I would! Give me some sturdy sandals and I'll walk all the way like a begging monk!"
"They wouldn't mind if I walked beside you. Maybe that would give you more breathing space? And then maybe you can write a wedding poem for your bride."
Matsu got out of the hot spring and poured cool water over herself, enjoying the contrast. "I haven't even started it! I told Mother I'd write it along the way, but everything I think about sounds stupid."
"Stupid is better than nothing," O-Toyo told her, holding her hand as she stepped over the rocks at the edge and back into the hot water. "And you said she's going to hate you anyway, so why fuss?"
Matsu laughed at that. "I'm glad I brought you, Toyo. All right, maybe if you walk part of the way tomorrow I will try to compose this stupid poem. I have a list of all the auspicious words I'm supposed to try to include."
O-Toyo giggled too. "Well, I'm glad I don't have to write a poem! Put something in about ducks, everyone loves ducks."
"No, Toyo, I think that's just you. They are on the list, though."
"Ha, look, now your thoughts are on the move!"
Matsu flicked water at O-Toyo to shut her up and thought about her poem. Ducks. What went with ducks?
The next morning, O-Toyo walked beside the palanquin instead of riding in it, and Matsu did feel a little better with more space. The soldiers escorting her, several of whom were O-Toyo's brothers and cousins, teased her about walking like a man, but she laughed it off and told them they wouldn't know hard work if it bit them on the ass.
Later that evening, they had their first glimpse of the sea. Matsu had lived near the sea for a time as a young child, when, along with her mother, she and her siblings had evacuated to her mother's family during the last war, but O-Toyo most of the men escorting them had never seen it.
"It's no bigger than a river!" one of the men scoffed, but as they got closer and the sea loomed larger and larger, he fell silent. Over one last hill, and they could see all the way to the horizon: even Matsu peeping from her lacquered box could see the sun shining on the water. They stayed at a samurai's home that night, as they had now entered the Ishii domain, Matsu's new home.
It was pleasant to stay in a proper home, for maids to clean her road-soiled clothing and everyone to have plenty to eat, but Matsu was desperate to know more about her soon-to-be bride without causing offence. In the women's quarters, she spotted a daughter of the house only slightly younger than Matsu herself.
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Matsu," she said, as maids changed their kimono before dinner.
"Fuji," the girl said, shyly. Her name meant wisteria, which gave Matsu an immediate topic of conversation.
"That's a pretty name. Do you have much wisteria close to the sea?"
"It used to grow all through the castle grounds before the castle was burned," Fuji replied. "That was in the year I was born, so my mother named me Fuji. The castle is rebuilt now, but the wisteria garden is much smaller."
"Oh, you've been to the castle? You must know Nene-hime, then." Matsu smiled at her, encouraging her to speak about the noblewoman Matsu was to marry.
"Yes, of course. Our households lived together for some years during the wars." Fuji seemed reluctant to give further details, so Matsu left it at that.
After dinner, when they had washed and gone to bed, Matsu made sure her futon was by Fuji's. As the highest ranked women there, apart from Fuji's mother, this was not difficult.
Matsu turned her head on her small wooden neck pillow and whispered to Fuji. "Please, tell me a little about Nene-hime. I know nothing of her."
Fuji wriggled uncomfortably, but couldn't deny a direct request. "Oh, Matsu-hime, she is very odd. You know her brothers were all killed fighting against the Shogun. The sisters who hadn't already left to marry also died when the castle was set on fire, but she escaped by jumping from a tower window into the moat."
Matsu winced. If the castle was anything like her own home, that was a long fall. "She must have been very young, if this was the year you were born."
"Yes, just a child. But the Daimyo was impressed by her courage and trained her to warfare."
"That's not strange," Matsu argued. "We're all trained to fight if needed."
"No, Nene-hime's father taught her to fight as a man. Not just the naginata and archery, but horseback fighting and the sword." Fuji lowered her voice. "We all think he went mad with grief, all his household dead but one daughter. He refused to marry again, or even take a consort, and he died last year of illness. Nene-hime was to marry and adopt her husband into the family, but she must have put it off too long, and the Shogun has now ruled she must marry you instead."
"Surely men were lining up to marry such a catch!" Matsu was surprised. Yes, the entire nation had been at war, but establishing her family line should have been imperative to her.
Fuji crept closer to Matsu. "Not with her father opposing the Shogun still. And also…she's very ugly. She was scarred in the fire, and she doesn't cover it or even care. And she dresses like a man and talks like one, too. The few men who wanted to marry her were all opportunists, and even my father, her adviser, told her not to marry them. And now the Shogun will end the Ishii line."
Matsu took Fuji's small hand in hers and repeated her mother's line. "Perhaps the next Shogun will be kinder."
Fuji did not look convinced.
Matsu thought that Fuji wanted her to be afraid, or maybe to pity Nene, but instead she was intrigued. Nene sounded more like a husband than a wife, and not someone who would look down on a nineteen-year-old bride who had already lost two fiancés. That morning, Matsu told O-Toyo everything, and made sure to dress with extra care.
"You hear all this and you want to make a good impression?" O-Toyo asked, incredulous.
"Yes! If she is so ugly, it's even more important that I am beautiful."
"You don't even rank highest of your own sisters!"
"Shut up, I'm at least fourth!" Matsu laughed. "Third if you don't count my eldest brother's wife."
"She is known as a beauty, it's true," O-Toyo said, in mock-commiseration. "And if you make a good impression on what's left of the Ishii family, I suppose things will be easier for you."
"And for you!" Matsu told her, and O-Toyo was especially careful painting Matsu's eyebrows just so.
The final day of the journey was in more populated areas, and people flocked to see the new bride of their princess. They couldn't actually see Matsu, of course, and O-Toyo also had to stay inside the palanquin, but from inside they could hear the shouts of people pointing at her trousseau on the ox carts, and how pretty the lacquer of the palanquin was, pure black with red and gold motifs of her clan crest.
"They seem enthusiastic," O-Toyo commented, keeping her voice down.
"I suppose that's good?" Matsu was not feeling her best with all the window shades drawn and only dim light entering from outside. "They could hate me because of the Shogun's edict."
O-Toyo laughed. "You're probably the first exciting thing that's happened in Ishii lands since the Shogun defeated them! Well, the first good exciting thing."
That cheered Matsu up considerably. Nene might be a hard-bitten warrior preparing for the demise of her father's line, but Matsu was not to blame for that.
"Toyo! You can see the castle now!" one of her brothers hissed to her late in the afternoon. "There's a hill to this side, you can open the window covers a little."
O-Toyo did, sliding one shutter back, so that she and Matsu could peer out and view their new home.
The castle was relatively new, but scarred with bullet holes and the damage from multiple explosions. The outer walls had been mended, but not all of the castle itself yet. It stood on a tall hill overlooking the ocean, with a sheer drop on one side to the sea; a river cut around the hill on both sides to form the moat. The main keep was five stories high, taller than Matsu's home, and she couldn't imagine how a child of eight or nine had summoned the strength to leap from the upper floors over the spiked wall to land in the moat. It would be a difficult feat for an adult.
On a closer look, she could see more signs of day-to-day life here: there were fishermen walking across the top of the outer wall with nets and lines, and it must be market day by the sheer number of farmers and their handcarts of produce going in and out of the castle gates and down into the town proper. An old woman carrying woven bags of live chickens over her shoulders got a ride on an ox cart from a merchant bringing cut firewood to the castle, dogs and children ran in the street, and someone was flying a kite from the wall in the stiff sea breeze. This didn't seem like such a bad place to live, seeing as she had no choice in the matter.
As they turned onto the steep final approach, O-Toyo closed the window screen again, as it would be impolite to show their faces in public before the wedding had occurred, and they were again cast into the dim light of the palanquin. O-Toyo had some ginger sweets for Matsu which helped with the nausea a little, but all in all she was very glad when the palanquin came to a final halt. She could hear voices outside, a man talking to the captain of her guard, and then the side of the palanquin was slid open, a group of women there to greet her, bowing low.
"Oh dear, was it a difficult journey?" the eldest of the women asked, helping Matsu out and escorting her into the main tower.
"No, not at all, but the palanquin itself makes me ill."
"You poor thing, come and rest. You won't have to ride in one of those again for a long time, I hope."
"Won't she have to go to Edo as the daimyo's wife?" O-Toyo asked, behind them.
"Perhaps! But Nene-hime does not hold with hiding women away from the world. She always rides, and I expect you will too."
Ignoring O-Toyo's shocked expression, Matsu managed a genuine smile at that news. "Truthfully, that sounds wonderful."
The old woman looked a little surprised, but not displeased. "My name is Ise, and I attended Nene-hime's mother, too. Come, let us get you clean and refreshed before you meet Nene-hime herself."
"I would like that very much."
There was no hot spring in the castle, unfortunately, but there was a nice hot bath that O-Toyo and Matsu shared.
"What do you think so far?" Matsu asked O-Toyo in a low voice.
"They seem…odd. O-Ise is very protective. I don't think this is a bad place to live, though. The market seemed plentiful and the fishermen were catching a good number of fish. Even if the rice harvest isn't good, there's other sources of food."
O-Toyo and Matsu both remembered their childhood years when the rice crop had failed twice in a row. It had been very hard times, every child from villagers to nobles sent foraging throughout autumn for the nuts and mushrooms to keep everyone alive through the winter. The second year, they'd had to slaughter all their livestock and buy afresh from lowland farmers in spring; expensive, but they had survived. There was greater diversity here on the low plains by the sea, which was probably part of why the Ishii family had prospered up until they had chosen the wrong side in the war against the Shogun.
Once bathed, Matsu was dressed again in her finery, and the women had been unpacking her trousseau, with much commentary on the beautiful items that she had brought, many with the pine tree decoration to match her name.
"Huh, your father didn't skimp on this," O-Ise said as O-Toyo instructed two other maids on tying Matsu's sash. "He might have, considering you're being forced to marry a woman."
"My father is a generous man," Matsu replied gently, not mentioning that much of it had been made for her first engagement, and her father had thought it bad luck to palm it off on another daughter instead, especially as she was the only one named after the pine trees that grew plentifully in their mountain domain.
The maids were unpacking the box of tableware now, beautiful ceramic plates and bowls in lacquer boxes, and placing it all in a clean but rather bare room.
"Is this the wedding room?" O-Toyo asked.
"It is, I'm afraid. Most of the traditional items were destroyed with the castle and never replaced by our late Daimyo; we have brought in new tatami and painted the walls for you, but Nene-hime had to rebuild the castle and had no time for fripperies." The last was said rather defiantly, and Matsu thought that O-Ise would rather have liked some fripperies to decorate the room.
"Well then, why don't we unpack that long box there? It has screens, and that will brighten things up. I believe one even has images of cranes on it."
"Wonderful!" O-Ise cheered up immediately and directed the maids to that box. The room soon looked much more like a wedding room, screens covering the bare walls and breaking up the space, a kimono that had belonged to Matsu's mother in an abstract bamboo patterned fabric on a kimono stand brightening the room and bringing another appropriate motif to the occasion. O-Toyo squeezed Matsu's hand and she understood why – these women were delighted with the pretty things Matsu had brought, and she suspected that meant that Nene-hime had denied them the same. She hoped that her bride didn't think her frivolous, but the room really did look vastly better.
"Is she ready?" came a call from outside. Of course, Nene-hime would have no problem walking into the women's quarters as she too was a woman. Matsu needed to remember that there were two brides on this occasion.
There was a flurry of activity around Matsu, who sat demurely on a wooden chair, her kimono displayed to best effect and her long hair arranged in a great sweep over her shoulder and trailing to the ground. She held a folded fan against her chest, letting the tassels hang just so from the end.
As the princess entered the room, all the servants but O-Ise prostrated themselves on the tatami. O-Ise bowed deeply, but did not kneel.
Matsu didn't dare look directly at her bride, as that would be rude. Instead, she looked out of the corner of her eye.
Nene-hime looked like a tall, well-built man, though her hair was not shaved at the front in the samurai style but tied back in a bun. She wore wide hakama trousers under her outer robes, which were decorated with the Ishii crest, a bellflower. The right side of her face was terribly scarred, her hairline starting well back from her ear, which was barely there itself; her eye on that side seemed normal, although it was sunken in more scar tissue. She carried two swords, one short and one long, and the only hint that she was in fact a woman was that her outer robe was in a woman's style, old-fashioned and beautifully embroidered with wisteria. It sat oddly over the swords.
"Matsu-hime," she said. Her voice was rough, but not as low as Matsu expected. "Welcome to my castle. I hope you can be happy here."
Surprised at the sentiment, Matsu risked a direct look, and found that Nene was still looking at her. Their gazes met, briefly, before both looked away.
"Thank you," Matsu replied, using formal language. "I feel very welcome."
Nene nodded and departed as briskly as she had arrived.
As soon as the door slid closed, the servants were all on their feet, chattering.
"Enough!" O-Ise told them, to instant silence, though O-Toyo moved to Matsu's side. "Finish unpacking everything. O-Toyo, come with me and I will show you your lady's rooms."
O-Toyo bowed, and she and Matsu followed O-Ise further into the women's quarters. A plain but large room had been set aside for Matsu.
"Of course, you may decorate this as you please," O-Ise offered. "There are more rooms adjacent for your maid and for your belongings, once the wedding has been held."
"Thank you," Matsu told her. "You have been very kind. Would it be all right if I slept now?"
"Would you like something to eat first?"
"Yes, please," Matsu said, and held out her arms for O-Toyo to begin removing her formal robes.
O-Ise left to order them some food, and Matsu sighed. "What do you think of my fiancée, Toyo?"
"Well, she's alive, which is more than you've managed so far," O-Toyo muttered.
Matsu batted her with the fan. "O-Toyo! She seemed kind, did she seem kind to you?"
O-Toyo paused, robe draped over her arms. "Yes. Yes, she did. At least, she didn't seem angry at you for what the Shogun has ordered. That's very good."
"Yes, I agree."
Matsu's first night in her new home passed quietly, though she could hear the waves and the cries of sea birds through the night. It was very strange to her, but she did manage to sleep and wake early on her wedding day.
The entire morning was spent bathing and dressing, in the white kimono that she had brought with her, with a white over-robe. Her hair was dressed and decorated by an older woman who softly cried all through the process, until O-Ise took her away and had stern words with her. When she came back, she was no longer crying. The white headdress to cover the mythical horns of jealousy was placed on her head, and her face carefully made up; two attendants helped her stand and balance the heavy jewellery she was wearing in her hair. She soon waved them off, though, and proceeded to the wedding room. Matsu should have been nervous but honestly she was fascinated to see what Nene would be wearing. Would she dress as a groom? Another bride?
She dressed as a groom, it seemed, though her clothes were rather out of fashion, and her outer robe a very dark grey rather than black. It took Matsu a moment to realise that Nene must be wearing her father's wedding clothes, with the family crest prominent. It seemed that she was still determined to defy the spirit of the Shogun's edict to the last: even though they were two brides, she would stand in the place of her father and brothers, killed fighting that very Shogun. Matsu felt nervous, but also great admiration at her courage: anyone could report this disrespect to the Shogun, but, glancing around at the small wedding party, Matsu was entirely sure that not one person would.
They sipped the sake together, said their vows, and Matsu presented Nene with a beautifully constructed lacquer case with the kai-awase shell-matching game, traditional for weddings. Nene in turn presented Matsu with a new over-robe, in deep reds and golds, which the servants helped her change into. And then they were married women. Matsu had hardly expected a party afterwards, considering the circumstances, but she was surprisingly sad that Nene immediately left.
"Come along, Mistress," O-Ise said, and Matsu took a moment to realise that O-Ise meant her. They proceeded out to the castle courtyard, which had been cleaned of yesterday's market, and instead set with long tables of food. Instead of noble guests, poor people lined the tables, dressed in their rough hemp clothing, each with a brand-new padded cotton jacket over the top, dyed indigo with the Ishii crest on it. Our crest, Matsu corrected herself. This was her family now. A few monks and nuns, also humbly dressed, were scattered through the crowd, all of whom were craning their necks to get a first glimpse of Matsu.
Matsu bowed her head modestly, letting her long kimono and robe flow behind her as she walked; she had practiced doing this during both her previous engagements, and she felt gratified that she finally got to use her practice and know she looked elegant, even if the performance was to a crowd rather than her new family. She glanced up, briefly, to see that Nene was there after all, helping an elderly man to a seat at the high table, just below the platform where she and Matsu would sit. Nene wasn't watching her, but Matsu decided that this merely meant that Nene trusted her to present herself properly, not that she didn't care.
"Grandfather," she said politely to the elderly man as she reached his side. She had no idea who he might be, but he was obviously important to Nene, and better dressed than any of the other men here. He smiled, exposing his lack of teeth, and patted her hand.
"Congratulations, and may your lives be long together," he said, and Matsu noticed tears in his eyes. She bowed over his hand and proceeded to the high platform.
Nene was finally there with her, to take her hand and help her up the steps. Her hands were rough but entirely steady, and Matsu clung to her a moment longer than necessary.
"Thank you for acknowledging my sword master Mori," Nene told Matsu as attendants arranged Matsu's robes so she could sit. "He also trained my father, and fought alongside my grandfather. Most of our soldiers died in the great battles, but he was spared due to his great age. And now he and I train the young boys – yes, and a few of the girls – to protect what is left of the Ishii domain. No-one else alive has the skills he has."
"I called him Grandfather," Matsu said, hesitantly. "Is that acceptable?"
"I think he will like that."
While there were no speeches – Nene had no family, and Matsu's had been discouraged from attending what was meant to be a shameful event – Nene welcomed everyone to the wedding and ordered them to eat their fill. The commoners certainly did, laughing and talking as they devoured the food in front of them. Matsu felt a little heady from the sake of the wedding ceremony, but a few pieces of the incredibly fresh and delicious seafood settled her again.
"Do you eat like this all the time?" she asked Nene. "I am glad I married into a domain by the sea!"
"Not all the time," Nene said, looking surprised at Matsu's declaration. Matsu was sitting to her left and found the unscarred side of her face easier to read. "The sea has seasons as the land does, though none of them are entirely barren. But you need not fear starvation here."
Matsu bowed her head in acknowledgement, and quickly ate some more sashimi. If it might be gone soon, it was important to eat more now!
The people at the tables finished their meal and their wine, and shouted cheers for the Daimyo, to Matsu's surprise. Perhaps she shouldn't call her Nene-hime at all but Nene-dono, as a daimyo? It was so complicated, being married to a woman rather than a man!
That evening, after Matsu had napped a little in her quarters, exhausted from the long day, O-Toyo and another maid came to change her clothes for bed.
"Shouldn't we put on the pretty night robe?" O-Toyo asked the other maid at the paulownia wood dresser that was part of Matsu's trousseau.
"Why? The lord is hardly going to consummate the wedding, is she? She's in her own quarters, going through the latest correspondence from Edo."
"The pretty robe, please," Matsu called out, and the two maids bowed in acknowledgement, O-Toyo with a slight grin. They dressed her in a plum blossom patterned cotton yukata, but over that draped a silk robe rather like the one Nene had been wearing when Matsu first met her; though Matsu's had the fashionably long flutter sleeve rather than Nene's plain shorter sleeves that made her look out of date. The robe was woven with gold thread to highlight the cranes on the silk. Cranes had been the symbol of the first house to which Matsu had been promised, but they would also do nicely as a symbol of fidelity and long marital life together.
Matsu sent O-Toyo away and waited. She heard the household settling into sleep, lanterns extinguished and cooking fires reduced to coals, guards walking the castle walls, the call of some night bird with which she was unfamiliar. She opened the sliding screens a crack, and the moon shone in, nearly full. It illuminated a figure standing in the small garden outside her door, and Matsu gasped before she realised it was Nene.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," Nene told her, stepping up onto the veranda and out of her shoes before entering Matsu's chamber.
"I was only surprised," Matsu replied, kneeling by the door and sliding it closed again. "You are always welcome here."
"I came to tell you," Nene started, then cleared her throat, remaining standing. "I came to tell you that you don't need to worry about me. I would never force myself on you. The Shogun may have compelled you into this marriage but I would not have you suffer because of it. Only, beware: I came close to losing our domain entirely, and the Shogun's spies are everywhere. If you took a lover he would take delight in having you executed for infidelity, and I could not protect you."
Matsu stared at Nene in shock. She knew that two women couldn't make children together, but she had hoped that at least Nene would be affectionate towards her, perhaps even more so than a husband.
Nene misunderstood the silence and went on. "I would appreciate it, though, if you would learn the management of the castle itself. Have you been taught skills in that area?"
"Yes," Matsu managed. "My mother bore nineteen children, ten still living, so my sisters and I were involved in running the household from a young age. She didn't want to give any of the consorts the slightest leverage over my father."
"That is a fruitful family indeed."
Matsu immediately felt ashamed. She didn't know how many siblings Nene had had, but she knew they and her mother had all died. "I'm so sorry. I am part of your family now, and I will not forget that again."
Nene knelt down beside her. "It's fine, wife. I would be pleased to hear of your family. I was one of eight children myself. How many are there altogether, with the consorts' children?"
Matsu had to count up. "Thirty-seven, I think. Perhaps more on the way. You can see that my father was not troubled by sending two children away for the Shogun's edict."
"Two?"
"Yes, one of my brothers has travelled south to marry a daimyo's son. With your permission, I would like to write to him."
"Of course." Nene's eyes sparkled in the dim light, and Matsu found herself admiring her strong shoulders. The scarring was not pleasant, and must be a constant reminder of her family's deaths, but Matsu entirely disagreed that Nene was ugly.
"All I heard about this castle was that you used to grow wisteria in the sheltered courtyard. I will need to review all your ledgers and accounts before I can truly manage the household, but if you teach me, I'm sure I can learn quickly." She looked up at Nene from under her eyelashes.
Nene quickly stood and went to the door, to Matsu's disappointment. "Good night, wife. Have the maids bring you to my quarters around noon, and we shall go through the accounts then."
"Good night," Matsu replied, and Nene was gone.
She was awakened in the morning by O-Toyo.
"Good morning! I hear you had a visitor last night."
"Ugh, this place has as much gossip as home," Matsu complained, but sat up ready to gossip more. "I did, yes, but she only wanted to talk about household management."
O-Toyo made an exaggerated face of shock. "Don't tell me that maid Ichi was right!"
"She was!"
"Oh, dear. But you looked so alluring!"
Matsu flopped down on her futon again. "I know! And there was moonlight! It was perfect! But no, she told me I didn't have to worry about her and she would never force herself upon me."
O-Toyo laughed at that. "Maybe you should force yourself on her?"
"No! I don't want to scare her off. I think I'm going to have to court her."
Noon saw Matsu beautifully dressed, perfumed, and escorted to Nene's quarters. She lived in the daimyo's quarters in the main tower, but Matsu could reach it via the covered passageways without stepping out into the strong sunlight. The business of the castle went on around her, many people stopping work to observe her until they realised she was looking back, at which stage they dropped to the ground in obeisance. The little children of the fishermen and women drying fish on racks in the courtyard stared openly, until their parents scolded them.
Matsu walked on, the padded back hem of her kimono just skimming the ground in the effect it was designed for, and left a murmur of admiration and interest in her wake. Good! Let Nene hear that!
In Nene's quarters, disappointingly, were about half a dozen scribes and accountants, all of them either old enough to be Nene's father, or young enough to barely start beards, each flicking at an abacus. There was a distinct lack of adult men in this domain, barring only the fishermen. O-Ise was there, too, poring over a long scroll.
"Wife! Welcome." Nene's face lit up to see her, Matsu thought, and was pleased. "Sit here with O-Ise and I will take you through the basic production of the domain. Things have changed a great deal with so much of our land confiscated by the Shogun and given to his allies, but we still have some rice-growing land and local artisans in the towns, as well as the sea itself."
Matsu knelt on a comfortably worn cushion beside O-Ise, Nene pacing behind them, and learned where every last koku of rice came from; what they were taxed this year and next; major contributions they were expected to make to temples, shrines and gifts for the Shogun's daughter's upcoming wedding.
"You are welcome to take screens from my trousseau, if you need to," Matsu told them. "There are far more than I need for my quarters."
"That's a good idea," O-Ise said. "The northern part of the domain with the best carpenters and painters was redistributed. It will be difficult to find artisans of that skill inside the domain by the time of the wedding."
"Then, thank you," Nene said, her face serious. "The Shogun will continue to make these demands until we are all in penury!"
"I believe that's the point," O-Ise replied dryly, and Matsu could only nod in agreement. The taxes and tributes demanded from her own father's domain, an ally to the Shogun, were proportionally far less.
"It's settled then." Matsu took up a brush and ink and noted it in the accounts in her plain but neat hand. "Five screens for the Shogun's daughter, and perhaps some pearls? Most domains will not be able to send those."
"Excellent, I will have them set in hair combs," Nene agreed.
"Not hair combs. They will be too showy and look like you are calling her a courtesan." Matsu had studied her court fashion, especially in letters from her elder sisters. "Put the pearls in a lacquer box instead, so that she can set them or keep them, as she wishes."
O-Ise nodded. "You are far closer to the Shogun's daughter's age than I! I will take your word on this."
Matsu peered through her eyelashes at Nene. She was reading a ledger newly bound with thread, not looking at Matsu at all.
That night, Matsu had the maids dress her in her plum blossom over-robe again, in case Nene visited. She did not, and O-Toyo was very unimpressed that Matsu had slept on and badly crushed one of the sleeves.
"I will have to wash and re-starch this!" she scolded.
"I just wanted to look pretty!"
"You're very pretty! I don't know how Nene-hime can stand it."
Matsu kept up the gentle assault on Nene's senses the next day, and the next. She dressed carefully to cover the back of her neck and her wrists, then made sure to bend her head studiously over the accounts, or reach out to use an abacus, exposing a sliver of skin to Nene. Finally, on the third night with the moon full, Nene came to her rooms through the little garden.
"Welcome," Matsu said, with some relief. She didn't know what she was going to do next, short of stealing a pearl and making an aphrodisiac.
To her surprise, Nene knelt before her. "Wife, I must apologise deeply. Although I try my best to treat you as a sister, you occupy all my senses. I cannot stand not touching you any longer."
She was about to go on, but Matsu reached out and touched the soft skin on the inside of her wrist. "Truly, that is what I am asking of you. We are married! Should we not lie together?"
Nene looked at her, shocked. Her scarred face was becoming familiar to Matsu: it was not expressionless on the right side at all, merely more subtle.
Matsu took Nene's hand in both of hers. "May I call you husband? At least in private?"
"Yes." Nene sounded choked. "Yes, of course."
"Husband," Matsu said, enjoying the word on her tongue. "Please, come to bed."
Nene let Matsu lead her. "But – I don't know what women do together. I have always slept alone."
Matsu felt a giggle rising in her, but she stifled it in the face of Nene's nervousness. She had not expected such a bold warrior to be inexperienced, but it made sense: who could she have trusted? "Husband, have you never played with your own body? Touched yourself in the silence of the night?"
Nene's face flushed so much that Matsu could see it even by moonlight. "Yes. These days, often."
"Then touch mine in the same way. Let me guide you." Matsu let her robe fall and untied her yukata, knowing that her pale skin would glow enticingly in the moonlight.
Nene made a sound that Matsu could not express in words, and reached out a hand to touch Matsu's breastbone, right by her heart. "You are so beautiful, my wife."
"And you, my husband. Do not leave me lonely."
Matsu sank to her knees on the futon, careful not to break the skin contact with Nene, and Nene followed. Matsu gently undressed her, glad that she was not wearing the complex hakama of the daytime, but a simple yukata like her own. Her body was scarred on the right side as well, particularly around her shoulder, but Matsu swallowed down any pity to admire her strong, muscular body, her breasts small but sitting high on her well-developed chest. Her admiration continued with hands as well as eyes, while Nene kneeled entirely still, her hand still over Matsu's heart.
It took much of the night for Matsu to encourage Nene to touch Matsu like a man would touch a woman, and her strong hands and calloused skin were quite unlike the playful exploration Matsu had undertaken with O-Toyo at various times. Nene was very serious, and constantly careful with Matsu's body as if she had been given the key to a treasure chest, and was afraid that it might be a trick and vanish. Matsu was an eager guide, though, and would not let Nene back away.
Eventually they slept together under the same blanket, Nene making sure that Matsu had the pillow and was comfortable, and Matsu truly felt that she was married at last. As the moon set and dawn crept into the gap between the screens, Matsu woke Nene.
"It is time to go, my husband. Morning is here."
Nene closed her eyes. "Not if I don't look."
Matsu laughed, very gently. "Your warriors will worry if you're not in your bed. Go."
Nene, grumbling, got to her feet and retrieved her robe. "I will return, my wife."
"Of course," Matsu smiled. "We have an entire lifetime."