three secrets
Dec. 26th, 2009 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nekokoban posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
synchronicalIn the castle are three secrets that will never become rumors, because they are protected from the eyes of the servants more jealously than any other.
First: there is a small shack at the very, very back of the thorn-gardens. It is very well-hidden by the careful planting of bushes and briars; unless you knew what you were looking for, you couldn't find it unless you stumbled upon it directly. Most people don't go this far back: the thorn-gardens are what stand sentinel to the Dragon's Mouth, and it's said that the ghosts of all the previous utahime haunt this place, sad and pale and singing soundlessly for the rest of eternity. It's said that their presence is what keeps the dragon placated and bound when there is not a living girl there to sing.
So: no one goes back there, and no one sees the tiny shack that is hidden by the tall foreboding gates of the Dragon's Mouth. Only the the high priestess ever goes, and then only twice a day: precisely at noon, and precisely at midnight. There are stories about that, too: rumors say she prays to the dragon itself, or that she goes to make sure the shackles that bind the dragon's oracle and its utahime are still securely in place (and they must be bound, the both of them--why would anyone willingly stay in the dark and the cold, in the shadow of the giant dragon, your entire life bartered away?).
The high priestess herself never volunteers information, and no one asks it of her.
Here is another secret that will never make it to rumor: there are precisely four keys to the Dragon's Mouth. One belongs to the Emperor, one to the high priestess, one to the King's Scholar, and these are not the secret:
The fourth key hangs around the neck of the utahime, who lives in the tiny hidden shack.
(If you had been able to ask the King's Scholar, she would have told you: an utahime is chosen by the stars presiding over her birth, the position of the Songstress versus the Dragon, which in turn reflect the position girl has over beast. She would have told you that the important thing is not that the girl sings and calms the beast, but that the girl sings and the beast listens.
She would have told you: once upon a time, the rumors were not so untrue--the utahime did live with the dragon, brought her meals by the high priestess directly, and only with the ascension of the new one--the current one--was the utahime allowed to have her own tiny space separate from her monstrous duty. If she can find more inspiration for her songs in the light of the sun, wasn't it for the better to allow her that freedom?
The King's Scholar would have told you this, but she can tell no one anything, now.)
+++
At precisely midnight Luka goes to the little shack beside the Dragon's Mouth. She does not knock before she pushes the door open. The girl is not asleep, though she is sitting on her small cot, her face turned to the door.
"I was dreaming," she says to Luka. "There was a boy."
"You don't even know what a boy is," Luka says, not unkindly. "You've only read books." She puts the tray she carries down on the chair beside the cot and sits beside the girl. She takes the brush from the windowsill and begins to run it through the girl's soft hair.
"But there was one," the girl says. Her voice is far away and soft. "I know it. He spoke to me, he said ..."
"It doesn't matter what he said, if he wasn't real." Luka readjusts the ribbon in the girl's hair. "Are you hungry?"
The girl shakes her head. Her hand steals to her throat, toying with the key at her throat. Her pretty little face is troubled. "I just ..."
"If you're not tired, go sing," Luka says. "The dragon never sleeps."
The girl lifts her head. "It does so," she says quietly. "And sometimes, it dreams as well."
"It doesn't," Luka says patiently. "The oracle does, from time to time, but the dragon itself--"
The girl gets to her feet. "I will sing," she says. She looks at Luka, her face only slightly less pale than her white dress. "And whether you believe it or not, I hear everything it says to me. If I were you, I'd be more afraid of its dreams."
+++
There is a final secret that never becomes a rumor: only one woman in the world knows this secret at any given time, and it is not hers to share.
She lives deep, deep in the earth, and her only constant companion is the great dragon, shackled by spells that are reinforced by her songs, more ancient than the world itself. To her alone it gives the grace of its acknowledgement; to her alone are its secrets revealed. Neither the oracle nor the high priestess hears of these things, and they would not believe, even if they were told.
There is always a girl and there is always a dragon. And what she knows, the rest of the world must wait to hear.
First: there is a small shack at the very, very back of the thorn-gardens. It is very well-hidden by the careful planting of bushes and briars; unless you knew what you were looking for, you couldn't find it unless you stumbled upon it directly. Most people don't go this far back: the thorn-gardens are what stand sentinel to the Dragon's Mouth, and it's said that the ghosts of all the previous utahime haunt this place, sad and pale and singing soundlessly for the rest of eternity. It's said that their presence is what keeps the dragon placated and bound when there is not a living girl there to sing.
So: no one goes back there, and no one sees the tiny shack that is hidden by the tall foreboding gates of the Dragon's Mouth. Only the the high priestess ever goes, and then only twice a day: precisely at noon, and precisely at midnight. There are stories about that, too: rumors say she prays to the dragon itself, or that she goes to make sure the shackles that bind the dragon's oracle and its utahime are still securely in place (and they must be bound, the both of them--why would anyone willingly stay in the dark and the cold, in the shadow of the giant dragon, your entire life bartered away?).
The high priestess herself never volunteers information, and no one asks it of her.
Here is another secret that will never make it to rumor: there are precisely four keys to the Dragon's Mouth. One belongs to the Emperor, one to the high priestess, one to the King's Scholar, and these are not the secret:
The fourth key hangs around the neck of the utahime, who lives in the tiny hidden shack.
(If you had been able to ask the King's Scholar, she would have told you: an utahime is chosen by the stars presiding over her birth, the position of the Songstress versus the Dragon, which in turn reflect the position girl has over beast. She would have told you that the important thing is not that the girl sings and calms the beast, but that the girl sings and the beast listens.
She would have told you: once upon a time, the rumors were not so untrue--the utahime did live with the dragon, brought her meals by the high priestess directly, and only with the ascension of the new one--the current one--was the utahime allowed to have her own tiny space separate from her monstrous duty. If she can find more inspiration for her songs in the light of the sun, wasn't it for the better to allow her that freedom?
The King's Scholar would have told you this, but she can tell no one anything, now.)
+++
At precisely midnight Luka goes to the little shack beside the Dragon's Mouth. She does not knock before she pushes the door open. The girl is not asleep, though she is sitting on her small cot, her face turned to the door.
"I was dreaming," she says to Luka. "There was a boy."
"You don't even know what a boy is," Luka says, not unkindly. "You've only read books." She puts the tray she carries down on the chair beside the cot and sits beside the girl. She takes the brush from the windowsill and begins to run it through the girl's soft hair.
"But there was one," the girl says. Her voice is far away and soft. "I know it. He spoke to me, he said ..."
"It doesn't matter what he said, if he wasn't real." Luka readjusts the ribbon in the girl's hair. "Are you hungry?"
The girl shakes her head. Her hand steals to her throat, toying with the key at her throat. Her pretty little face is troubled. "I just ..."
"If you're not tired, go sing," Luka says. "The dragon never sleeps."
The girl lifts her head. "It does so," she says quietly. "And sometimes, it dreams as well."
"It doesn't," Luka says patiently. "The oracle does, from time to time, but the dragon itself--"
The girl gets to her feet. "I will sing," she says. She looks at Luka, her face only slightly less pale than her white dress. "And whether you believe it or not, I hear everything it says to me. If I were you, I'd be more afraid of its dreams."
+++
There is a final secret that never becomes a rumor: only one woman in the world knows this secret at any given time, and it is not hers to share.
She lives deep, deep in the earth, and her only constant companion is the great dragon, shackled by spells that are reinforced by her songs, more ancient than the world itself. To her alone it gives the grace of its acknowledgement; to her alone are its secrets revealed. Neither the oracle nor the high priestess hears of these things, and they would not believe, even if they were told.
There is always a girl and there is always a dragon. And what she knows, the rest of the world must wait to hear.