A Petal Of Memory

“—Oh… oh… there are so many shops~~!!”

Eyes sparkling, Aidoni leaned halfway out the window of the four-seater carriage. Even as her wind-tossed golden hair kept thwacking Noi in the face, Noi just beamed.

“Are you seriously planning to take this little girl to the royal palace as your bride, Master?!”

Right after breakfast, while they were having tea on the terrace overlooking the courtyard, Ornis arrived wearing a look of grim urgency.

He’d clearly wanted to say his piece since yesterday, but there were always crowds around Kardia wherever they went, so he’d held back. The moment the people finally cleared, he charged in.

“I am,” Kardia said.

Called a “little girl,” Noi was sitting like a paperweight on Kardia’s crossed legs—steadfastly fulfilling the role of anchor to keep the ever-arriving ladies from whisking him away.

Perched on Kardia’s lap, pecking at the sweets he held out like a baby bird, Noi fixed her peppermint eyes on Ornis.

“Th-this is…”

Ornis trembled, watching crumbs of sablé fall from Noi’s mouth to Kardia’s knees as fast as she ate.

“If this is who’s going, I’d make a much better showing in women’s clothes!”

—Better! Better! Better! Better!

Ornis’s resolve echoed across the quiet garden.

Kardia and Noi both murmured “Ooh…” in unison, then politely applauded.

“Oh, so you wanted to go, Ornis. Let’s ask Aidoni,” Noi said.

“Ornis is beautiful, after all. A deep indigo overrobe to match your eyes would suit you,” Kardia mused.

“Big earrings would look great. No wig needed—keep the hair ornaments minimal—”

“Why are you two getting excited about this.”

Aidoni said coolly behind them, smiling as she stood by to attend Noi.

“Ornis. Isn’t that rather rude toward Lady Noi, Master Kardia’s bride? Calling her a ‘little girl,’ saying you’d look better in drag… You shame the House of the Weavers.”

Noi no longer minded Ornis’s sharp tongue, but Aidoni—who disliked him—caught on everything.

“It’s just the truth. And you—your change in attitude since yesterday is shocking. Do you always shift your tone when the little bird perches on the biggest branch?” Ornis shot back.

“I have already apologized for my short-sighted behavior. I needn’t be chirped at by you,” Aidoni replied.

Sparks crackled between them. Ornis had clearly regained his bite; the “wait until the storm blows over” stance was gone.

While they bickered, Noi crunched a florentin Kardia held between two fingers.

“I will personally see to it that Lady Noi is made worthy to stand at Master Kardia’s side.”

Aidoni declared. The certainty was reassuring enough that Kardia and Noi broke into another round of applause.

“However, the clothes here won’t suffice.”

Ornis snorted as if to say, Big talk for what you’ve got on hand.

“The children here—including myself—wear garments handed down generation to generation— ahem. Plainly put: hand-me-downs. Not attire fit for the royal palace.”

She had an eye for style and layered cleverly, but a closer look revealed the wear.

“There are formal outfits for adults… but they’re adult sizes. To tailor them exactly to Lady Noi, who isn’t very tall, we’d have to cut into them. And the woman standing beside the most wonderful man in the world shouldn’t wear a mere altered cast-off.”

“And so…?”

Kardia prompted with a smile.

“In other words: the royal capital!”

Aidoni somehow produced a stack of heavy books and thumped them onto the terrace table. Every cover featured inked illustrations of beautiful women.

“Behold. In the capital they’re adorning the décolletage with flowers like this—”

They were fashion magazines—summer issues, judging by the numbering—likely one each season.

“And trimming hems with beads is in. Shoes too: instead of last year’s pin-heels, flatter exotic styles are trending—”

She flipped with practiced speed, always landing on the exact page and pointing out the details in a voice light as birdsong.

Noi and Kardia could do little more than blink and stare.

“This mantle as well—”

“—All right, understood. We’ll go to the capital.”

Kardia cut in, having realized he understood exactly none of it, and offloaded responsibility onto Aidoni and the capital’s dressmakers.

“Eeeeek!!”

Aidoni pressed both hands to her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut. It wasn’t quite a proper smile—more a crackling of joy leaking out.

But it was the happiest expression she had shown yet.

“Thank you so much, Master Kardia!”

Hugging the magazines to her chest, she offered heartfelt thanks.

“I’ll fetch permission to take you out of the estate.”

Kardia said. He eased Noi off his lap and rose with a grandfatherly little “heave-ho,” then bent to murmur by Noi’s ear before leaving.

“I’ll also speak with the next head about… my condition.”

His voice carried a gentle reassurance, and Noi, watching him go—black hair rippling behind—remembered that night.

-“…You finally—finally came to my dream.”

Half-asleep, Kardia had mistaken the Noi before him for the Master from long ago.

When Noi heard those words, she hesitated. Should she tell him she really was his Master?

Kardia had counted the days for a hundred years, wanting to see Noi in his dreams. Knowing that, Noi wondered if declaring herself might bring him joy.

If it would make him happy, a little humiliation was nothing.

But Noi did not say it.

-“The things you told me back then… I’m starting to understand them little by little. Master, please—be happy. Don’t cry. I’m here, living well.”

To him, Noi was already among the dead.

He had suffered the pain of parting from his teacher—and had lived on anyway. He had endured and grown; that is why he lived now.

Even if he still longed for Noi in his dreams, he had already cut the lingering ties and learned to speak words meant to reassure: I’m fine. I’m living well.

—Noi wanted to honor that effort and that growth.

“…Master Kardia is especially kind to you, Lady Noi.”

Aidoni murmured to Noi, who was still gazing at the spot Kardia had vacated.

“Is… is he?”

Just last night she had been chastising herself for not being special to him at all, so she couldn’t nod with confidence. Catching Ornis’s raised eyebrow at her uncertainty, she startled and corrected herself.

“Y-Yes! Of course! I am his bride, after all!”

That had been a poor performance for a “bride.” Noi hastily put the mask back on.

“He always carries you, everywhere—hardly a moment apart.”

Aidoni said, cheeks puffing ever so slightly as she pouted.

Noi, knowing perfectly well that this was Kardia’s way of advertising his bride, averted her eyes right and left and managed a few awkward “ah—um—yes,” nodding along.

“But I’ve never been carried by Master Kardia. Not even once.”

Noi blinked, then felt her cheeks relax into a smile.

“R-really?”

“Really!”

Aidoni stayed primly indignant—while Noi couldn’t stop the silly grin from spreading.

“Goodness! Such a loose expression! One who stands at Master Kardia’s side mustn’t look so slack!”

“All right, all right,” Noi said—

—but the grin wouldn’t quite go away.