Interchapter -- Lesson One
"Pay attention, Yumi."
"Yes, Mistress."
"Concentration is the first thing. This bowl of water. Here, on the kotatsu."
"Yes, Mistress?"
"Concentrate on the water."
The bowl was some kind of shiny metal. The brim went outward in four points. The water almost glowed within, as the bowl was just catching a ray of the morning sun. "Is there anything magical about the water, Mistress?"
"Not as such. Ordinary fresh water, as I believe. Drawn from the Kamo River. The same water we wash in and drink, every day."
"I see, Mistress."
"A very simple thing, water. And a very necessary thing. Heian Kyo could not have been built here if not for Kamo-sama. All life hereabouts is connected, and interconnected, through that river."
"Is that magic, Mistress?"
"That is the beginning of magic, Yumi."
"Oh!" Yumi could almost see it, now.
"The elements, yes. The keys to power. But there are different schools of thought as to their attributes and uses. Just for an example, the prevailing wisdom of the other side of the world -- you probably haven't heard of this -- has it that water and soil are cold, heavy, feminine, and wind and fire are hot, light, masculine elements. Curiously, Yin-Yang philosophy says something not too different."
"Really?"
"Really."
Yumi was mystified. Sachiko-sama was using a light, careful tone of voice which might mean amusement... or irritation. "Is it true, Mistress?"
"It may be." Sachiko-sama smiled. "This is something of a mystery to me, Yumi. If it is true, I don't know just what it means. Does it mean that all women are dark and cold and heavy in their attributes? Try looking at Satou-san when you say that. The idea is absurd. And even courtly ladies, who may appear to be cold and dark and heavy -- I always thought so, when I was younger -- are often on fire within. Then is the application narrower? Does it mean that female sorceresses, and witches, and any women who dabble with the keys, are limited to the manipulation of earth and water, and must leave the use of wind and fire to those who best understand it, men?"
Sachiko-sama continued to look Yumi in the eye. As she did so, holding out her left palm, there was a flame dancing in that palm, then, in the other palm, a small mound of earth pushing up, and a vine pushing out of that, creeping dexterously out and climbing Sachiko-sama's arm. A gust of wind blew through the room, blowing some papers about on the floor nearby where Yoshino-san had left them. Then the water in the bowl fountained up, but didn't spatter or spill; it only flowed back down into the bowl. The four metal points of the bowl's brim curled upward.
And Sachiko-sama never once took her eyes off Yumi's.
Yumi let her breath out, long and slowly, looking at this woman she worshipped, and worshipped her more, in silence.
"I seem to be able to turn all these five keys with equal skill," Sachiko-sama went on. "At least so far. Lots of sorceresses can turn one. One is all you need to be able to turn, to be admitted to the Guild." The fire was gone, and so was the soil, but the vine was still there, on Sachiko-sama's arm. She was braiding two branches of it together with one hand, with an idleness Yumi thought must be feigned. "Plenty can turn two. Far fewer can turn three or four, but still more than would fit in this room. And even the ones who can only turn one or two are not limited to water and earth.
"But it is quite rare for one sorceress to be able to turn all keys. Only one other sorceress currently in the Guild can do it."
"Really? Who, Mistress?"
"Fujiwara-dono. That's one reason she takes a particular interest in my career, and why I was given my first lonesome duty before I was even a Dragon."
"What is 'lonesome duty,' Mistress?"
"When you must leave your companions, your Order, temporarily, go away and perform a task on your own. There was an argument about whether I was ready for it, early last winter. Or not so much an argument as a war. Suga-sama was against me, and Fujiwara-dono was for me. They were the opposing generals, and the rift, for nearly two weeks, ran right down the Orders. The whole Guild, it seemed, was divided on the question." Sachiko-sama was looking away, now, toward the open shutters on the east side of the room.
"You didn't like that, did you, Mistress?" Yumi's breath quickened a little at her own boldness.
And Sachiko-sama stared at her, eyes a trifle widened. "What do you mean by that, Yumi?"
"You were the center of attention. Everyone was fighting about you."
Sachiko-sama continued the stare for a long moment, then smiled a gentle blue smile straight into Yumi's eyes.
"It was distasteful to me," she allowed.
Yumi was floating, but pulled herself down so that she was halfway between Earth and Heaven. I must not press too much, she thought. My Mistress is brave and strong and good, but there are things she is shy about.
"But on to your lesson, Yumi."
This brought Yumi all the way back to Earth. "Yes, Mistress! What must I do?"
"The water in the bowl. You must see if you can set it boiling."
"Mistress?"
"Oftentimes it will rain, when we are a-journeying, and in a particularly persevering spring rain such as we sometimes get, it is difficult even for a band of skilled sorceresses to keep a fire lit, especially when it's been a long day and they have had enough, already. Better if you can boil the water without fire. You have seen a pot of boiling water?"
"Yes, Mistress." Yumi did not remember where she had seen this, but the picture came instantly into her mind: old, rounded, hammered-out metal, mostly dulled but still shining copper here and there; water tumbling over itself, steam rising.
"You have held a hand near it, and felt the heat, and the steam, until you moved too close, and the heat pierced too sharply, and you moved your hand away?"
"Yes, Mistress."
"Fire and Water are powers, as are Earth and Wind. The power that binds them all is knowledge, the knowledge of the sorceress born. Hold these sensations in your mind. Try to look them into the water. Not the bowl, or the table. Just the water."
Yumi tried.
"Difficult, Mistress," she said, after a time. Trying to look heat into something seemed to make everything colder, and the cold seemed to settle into her fingertips, resting on the kotatsu.
"I don't expect you to be perfect right away," Sachiko said soothingly. She rose, and moved around the table, and sat by Yumi, and put a vined hand on her shoulder. "Just keep trying."
Yumi seemed to feel some heat, then. She worked with that. For you, Sachiko-sama, she thought. And worked.
After another time, there was a "plurk" from the bowl.
"Mistress? --" Yumi breathed.
"You may be almost there, Yumi." Soft-voiced. "But stay calm. Don't break your concentration."
"No, Mistress!" Yumi renewed her efforts.
There was another "plurk?" from the bowl.
Sachiko-sama gave a little laugh that was almost -- almost -- a giggle. "Rising intonation?"
The water in the bowl heaved itself up. It rested on the lip of the bowl on two translucent paws. It swiveled a translucent, crested head with small pointy ears, and looked at the sorceress and her pupil with three translucent watery eyes.
They stared back at it, unmoving, unspeaking.
Then Yumi gave a little gasp. She had failed her Mistress.
The little water-creature climbed out of its bowl. It shuffled across the kotatsu, put its paws on Yumi's wrist, and looked up at her with a pleading inquiry. "Plurk?" it asked her.
Satou-sama burst into laughter.
They'd almost forgotten her presence. She'd been sitting by the shutters, reading by the morning light a most curious book she'd found in Chang'an.
"Satou-san!" Sachiko-sama was furious, though her fury did not seem to be directed at anything particular.
"Mistress, I beg your forgiveness," Yumi said, her voice breaking.
The water-creature looked away, as if wounded to the heart.
"I don't know what you're angry about, Sachiko," Satou-sama said, rising and limping over to them. She looked at the water-creature in an enquiring, friendly way, to which it responded by putting its paws together and bowing to her slightly. "That's a very difficult thing she just did. I'm not sure I could do that."
"Nonsense, Sei-san," Sachiko-sama snapped, glowering at the creature. It quivered, and dashed back to its bowl and dived in.
"Sorry, Sachiko," Satou-sama said with a smirk. "I'm too frivolous, I know, and incapable of understanding how weighty with high seriousness our profession is. Oh, Yumi, don't cry."
Yumi felt bad already, and felt both worse and better when Sachiko-sama's arm went around her shoulders. The vine tickled the back of Yumi's neck. "It's very strange, what you just did, Yumi, but by no means bad for a first try. Sei-san is right about one thing: animating water certainly isn't beginner magic."
The little crested head just peeked over the lip of the bowl, as if wondering if it was safe to come out.
"You're not ashamed of me, Mistress?"
Sachiko-sama gave Yumi a long look, still holding her around the shoulders, and said at last, "I can't imagine ever being ashamed of you, Yumi."
Satou-sama held out a finger to the bowl. The water creature jumped out, onto her hand, and began to dance from finger to finger, refracting the morning light in constantly shifting patterns through its small body, now a rainbow, now the rainbow gone as if it had never been, now the rainbow returned, brighter than ever. "Well, I give you top marks anyway, Yumi. And a creature like this might be a great hit at court. The lords and ladies are all fond of pretty colors."
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