The Twelve Kingdoms: A Thousand Leagues of Wind

doctor and nurse were called to tend to her. She was cared for with the utmost courtesy. In fact, they were just being polite, but being treated politely was a first to her. She had grown up poor, her family having to kowtow to the landlord. She had been forced to crawl under Riyou's heel. Compared to all that, this was almost like a dream.
    I must be dreaming, she thought as she fell asleep. She woke herself up to consider her situation some more. The bed was suffused with a soft light.
    "Are you awake? How are you feeling?" The lady's maid waiting aside the bed noticed that she had opened her eyes. She spoke in a soft voice.
    Suzu said, "I'm doing okay." She sat up. Her joints ached. She grimaced.
    "Please, rest yourself. Do you wish to partake of breakfast?"
    "Um, yes."
    The lady smiled kindly. "We shall make sure of it, then. Thanks be, but none of your wounds was severe. Breakfast is presently being prepared, and a doctor shall see to you shortly. So, please, make yourself at home."
    "Thank you," said Suzu. Watching the lady as she left the room, Suzu hugged her arms around herself. " Please make yourself at home. That gorgeously-dressed lady's maid said that to me. "
    I can hardly believe it. Is this really happening?
    The canopy of the bed had already been raised and folded back. The door into the bedchambers was open. The bed itself was like a small room raised on a platform. Looking around the bedchambers, Suzu hugged herself again.
    "Not even Riyou's bedchambers are this fine."
    The brocaded bedding was warm yet light. It really was a shame she had slept here in her dirty undershirt. The canopy was woven from two layers of fabric, a beautiful embroidery in sheer silk on the one side and a heavier brocade on the other. On either side of the wide bed was an intricately crafted ebony table. There was a shelf also made from ebony, and an ebony footstool for climbing in and out of the bed. The clothes rack for storing kimono was made of silver.
    Suzu gazed absently around the canopy bed and then around the light-filled room beyond the bed. "This is so much nicer than anything Riyou has."
    Suzu didn't know it, but it was the finest room in the guest palace. Because her status at the Grotto was unknown, they had treated her as if she were a viscount, the highest status that the servant of a hisen can achieve.
    She was blankly taking it all in when the doctor came in. He again respectfully examined Suzu's wounds, treated her, and then with a deep bow, exited the room. On his way out, he passed the lady's maid, who came in to ready her meal.
    The utensils were silver. The change of clothes she set out were made of brightly colored silk.
    It truly must be all a dream.
    "Are you in any pain?" the lady's maid asked her.
    Suzu shook her head. "Thank you, but I'm fine."
    "If you are feeling well enough, I wish to take you to meet someone."
    "I think I'll feel up to it. Who wants to see me?"
    The lady's maid bowed her head. "It would seem that the king wishes to meet with you."
    Suzu's eye went wide.

    I don't believe it, Suzu repeated to herself as the lady's maid led her deep into the Imperial Palace. I'm really going to meet the king.
    The king of the Kingdom of Sai was known as the Royal Sai. The king had sat on the throne for not yet twenty years, but was beloved by his subjects because of his righteous rule. Beyond that, Suzu knew nothing about him.
    They went through a gate and walked up a flight of stairs. Each building they passed through grew more and more opulent. Ruby pillars and white walls, vividly painted balustrades, windows glazed with crystal glass. The doorknobs were all gold. The floors finished with engraved stone, inlaid here and there with mosaics of china tile.
    The lady's maid stopped and opened a large, splendidly carved wooden door. She took one step inside the room and then knelt down and bowed her head to the floor. Suzu stared flabbergasted at her surroundings, and then caught herself and hurriedly copied what the lady's maid was doing.
    The lady's maid said, "Forgive my intrusion, but I have brought with me the wizardess of whom we spoke earlier."
    Her head bowed, Suzu couldn't see who she was talking to. She listened carefully, steeling herself for the fearful, commanding sound. Instead, she heard a woman's soft voice.
    "Thank you. She does seems a young thing."
    It was the voice of an older woman. There was no scorn, no bitterness in the voice. Rather, it was an encouraging tone.
    "Come