Vignettes (2)

4.

In the nights between castle matters and conversations with Leo, Koharu invited me over frequently. Each morning after I left, I awoke with a handwritten letter on my forehead. They began rather formally, but they gradually grew more casual and teasing.

One made use of the term "WYSIWYG" to describe one of the employees after an animated discussion regarding the jobs the advisors would have if they weren't in the castle. Another mocked Aaron, who came up in our conversation for his tendency to break into the dining room (in search of the general, of course). Specifically, he was mentioned for the "lack of a filter on his mouth that got him expunged from the castle still being less of a shame than the unfortunate hairstyle his father gave him the day he tried flirting with Asahi"—as she put it. Koharu was blunt in her humor like that.

"Which advisor sucks the most?" she asked me one time as she drank a cherry beverage.

"I feel like I shouldn't answer that…?"

When the cup was empty, the loud noise of a suction punctuated the sentence.

"It's not like I have anyone to tell. What am I going to do? Whine?" She chuckled. "I'll do it to make you answer. It's hard to say no to me."

*You're cool, so yeah. It's very hard to refuse.*

"They're still my colleagues." It wasn't like I directly negated her. I just walked ten feet around saying it.

"That's *exactly* why you should trash them. You're forced to deal with them. Let the rage out."

"Actually, I like them all." Leaning back in the chair, I placed a finger under my chin. "There's a maid who likes to pick fights with me when I run around, but she's not an advisor."

Smiling, she replied, "I think I know who you're talking about."

"The one who's always wearing that loud orange shirt?"

"Yes!" Koharu clapped. "She can't even wear the right dress code. Why does she think she can yell at you for running?"

"You know what?" I hadn't considered that until then. "You're right. An eye for an eye on the rulebreaking."

"Just run away from her next time. I bet she can't catch you."

"Dunno. Some old people can run pretty fast. It makes me think of this one athlete…"

"I don't think a castle worker is that fit regardless of what position they have."

I imagined lifting a fifty-pound weight, frowning at the amount of exertion required. "Yeah… I think like ninety-nine percent of us have noodle arms."

She moved her hand to squeeze my bicep suddenly, and I tensed it.

"Who's the one percent?" she asked, smiling like she wasn't gripping me hard enough to find my blood pressure. "Kidding." She brought her arm back to the plates and nibbled on a sweet potato. "Who's your favorite?"

"Jisoo," I answered without hesitation. They were the only person with whom I conversed so far. "Seiji hardly speaks to me."

"Yeah. I think he likes to butter my dad up too much. Jisoo's kind of blunt, though."

"You're one to talk." Even though I already ate a salad as an entrée, I picked at sliced carrots. "Who's your favorite then?"

"You."

I should have seen that one coming, but I still became a giddy kind of flustered.

"I think I set myself up."

"Mhm."

***

5.

Regarding Jisoo, I was correct when I thought I made a friend. We continued talking in the evenings when I barged into the offices. She was often busy trying to wrangle military documents and miscellaneous soldiers who sometimes also walked in. They stood over us, seeming to brood, but one word from her intimidated each of them. Witnessing that immediate shift from a lion to a kitten, I was always awed.

"Hey, Jisoo," I said to her as bronze tassels dangled from her coat. "How long have you been working here?"

"Seven years," she replied.

"That means…" I snapped my fingers. "You're older than me? I thought you were the same age." I knew Inei didn't hire anyone under sixteen, so she was at least a year older.

"Something like that." She walked to grab a pamphlet from the shelf. I thought she would read it, but she shook it around to get something to fall. "I'm twenty-six. I don't really subscribe to all that bullshit offense people feel over telling someone a number."

"That's fair." There was silence. "What are you trying to find?"

"Key to the archives room. I don't know where I put it. It might not even be in here. I need to find the past budget. King Inei asked me to write it out this month for upkeep, but I need one from before the fighting. The others have too many expenses."

"Do you want me to look anywhere?" I stood from the visitor's chair.

"Nah. I'll find it later. I can't tell anyone where it is." She went back to her seat, propping her legs up on a piece of wood under it.

*Why would you keep something secret in a flimsy book?*

I wasn't sure what to say next. She often left us with awkward silences, regardless of whether they were intended. A burning question resurfaced itself, so I tapped the wooden arm and talked again.

"Why'd you decide to work with King Inei instead of King Hikaru?"

I recalled the blond man's sweet face. He was closed off, but he and his husband seemed equally kind. There had to be something that tipped the advisors in favor of one over the other. Perhaps that would lead me to the reason why they fought, which I could then assess to help mend the kingdoms. I had no better strategy.

"King Hikaru is… He sugarcoats things too much. If King Hikaru says your work is good, you should question him before he spends all night fixing it. King Inei just says it's shit, and he means it. It's not a guessing game," she responded.

*Maybe that's something I can work with.*

From what I gathered, the kings' initial impressions were similar, but they had varying values. I sighed, knowing the reconciliation of ideals was damn near impossible. Why couldn't I just have gotten an answer about Inei whining during dinner or something?

***

6.

"You're just going to sit here and… watch it grow?"

"No," Koharu said, thinking. "Hand me that bucket."

I glanced over my shoulder, seeing a large pail of dirt beside the red brick wall. It was tall enough to extend to my hip and wider than my shoulders.

"I thought we—"

"Just imagine you're that one percent we talked about before. Better than that: Be that one percent for me?"

The soil and metal appeared heavy enough to break my back, but the way she pouted convinced me to give it an ill-advised try as I acted weirdly again.

*I'll kick this bucket over! Well… That doesn't sound quite right.*

Under the heat from the transparent roof of the greenhouse, I made my way towards the side adjacent to the castle. For the sake of the foundation, there were no trees near it, which meant nothing shaded me. The constant warmth and light made drops of sweat collect on my neck under my hair. Its dark color created the perfect storm of suffering.

*Why does she have to be into growing plants? This seems like a tough hobby, and I don't even know what she has planted.*

Without getting far from Koharu's plot, I heard her laugh. "You're actually about to try?"

"…Yes? You're the princess."

*And a lovely friend. (Is that it?)*

I continued, "I should help you."

"Please. I'm not trying to kill you, Lia." She chuckled airily.

*Sure!*

Face red and freckles likely prominent, I stared at my feet. Nobody outside my family ever used that name, but she probably didn't know that. (I excused it while she was drunk, thinking it to be a blunder of the tongue.)

"Sorry. I didn't mean to call you that. It made sense to shorten—"

"I-It's fine." Still facing away, I tried calming down and asked, "What do you want done with this?"

She lifted her hand, and the pot came with it. She clasped it over her chest to bring the cylinder towards her before it gently descended. It tilted over, adding a sufficient amount of dirt and nutrients to a trapezoidal piece of land. The seeds had yet to sprout, so no saplings were crushed.

I giggled in relief. "I should have remembered."

"No worries."

She dropped down to her knees and used her gloved hands to evenly spread the dirt from the conical pile. Her hair was too short to tie back, so it draped to cover and frame parts of her face.

I came back and leaned over on the ground next to her. It was worth the chance since I wore black robes that night. I dug my hands into the soil, shovelling it into place beside Koharu. It was barely moist, sufficiently dried by the sun to not turn into mud, but it caked on my palms and buried itself beneath my fingernails immediately.

With a shocked expression, Koharu peered over at me as she paused her work, silently smiling. She stared, and her gaze felt warmer on me than the environment.

*My hands are already sweaty, but then…*

She went back to patting down another corner several feet away from me. It was my turn to gawk at her as I continued working, albeit at a slower pace. My hands flattened a mound on the opposite side, gripping the dirt in mushy balls. I didn't know why, but I was captivated by seeing her work. It was as if I saw something different in her than before from that angle. The swaying of blonde hair, fluttering of eyelashes—

*Shit!*

Koharu moved her gaze to meet mine, and she raised her eyebrows as if to ask a question she did not verbalize. Embarrassed, I pretended to be focused on the dirt while she then hummed an unfamiliar tune.

"What are you growing?" I asked her as I raised myself half an hour later, rubbing my hands together to clean them.

"Drugs."

*Sorry, what?*

"Uh…?" My eyes bulged at her.

She chuckled again.

*Why do you always laugh so much around me? What do you want me to do?*

"You should know by now not to take the things I say too seriously. Sometimes, what I mean is sitting under the layer of grass."

"Sometimes, it is the grass." I kicked some blades.

She gave me a defeated nod. "That's also true. Also, this is mint."

I glanced over the large brown patch.

"All of this?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "Smells nice."

And suddenly, she shifted back to the same smiling Koharu who always greeted me.