So It Begins...

"IMRIE!!!!"

Unnhhhhhh. I pull my pillow over my head and brace myself. My Father bursts into my room.

"Does the word important mean anything to you!? I made it clear that it was urgent!"

"If it was so urgent why didn't you come and get me?" I shouldn't be talking back, but I don't care too much at the moment.

"You're so disrespectful!! My parents warned me of the teen years, but they didn't mention anything like this! Of all the childr—"

"I'm sorry." I turn around so that I lie on my back. "What did you want to tell me?" He sighs. I stare at the ceiling. I'm wearing my clothes from yesterday, I feel sweaty.

"I wanted to tell you Princess Saoirse is coming to stay for a week here." My hair is in a ponytail from yesterday, and it's half pulled out by now. I groan and sit up straight.

"Alright. For dinner I suppose?"

"Exactly! I have arranged for you to wash, be fitted for new clothes and your Mother will make you an oil blend for you hair." Father is excited, he always is when guests come. I smile at him.

"Is Mother going to make an oil blend for your hair too?"

"I wish, but alas... you've already slept in and you need to start getting ready for the day. You have Kung fu in an hour, please do not be late." He walks out the door, leaving me to get changed.

I walk into the courtyard dressed in full ghi clothing, where Kansai is waiting for me.

"Took you long enough."

"I'm two minutes late, quit whining. Where's Master Amir?"

"Late, I guess." Kansai frowned, and so do I.

"That's weird..." Master Amir is never late.

"BOYS!" The voice belongs to Amir. "Your father asked me to teach you a ceremonial form today. That's also why I was late." Amir is angry. He hasn't been late since I was seven.

"Oh yeah? Which one?" Kansai is curious.

"Ba Katta. FRONT POSITIONS!" Master Amir likes to yell. I groan, and pull myself into a horse stance. I didn't sleep well last night.

"First, bow, inhale and exhale, come to center, double thrust punch, pull back, overhead double thrust punch, left block and right elbow strike then left elbow strike. Do it twenty times on my kiai."

"Twenty? But we've done this stuff since we were 6." I complain, but I know it won't get me anywhere. I'm right, Master Amir just ignores me.

"HAI!" He yells. By the time I start, Kansai has already down the movements twice.

"Not so sluggish, Imrie." I sigh, and quicken my pace.

After 4 straight hours of martial arts, our bodies ache and Kansai and I have mastered the new katta. Sweaty and disgusting we make our way to the kitchens, where a beautiful platter of fruit, cheese, and meat await us for lunch.

"Glorious food!" Kansai yells as he grabs at the platter, only to have his hand slapped away. His face falls as he sees who it is. His little sister towers over him as he slumps his head onto the table knowing exactly what she wants.

"Not yet brother. Remember our deal?" Kaire smiles at her older brother.

"Yes." He mumbles.

"And what was it?" I ask, intrigued, although I know what she is going to say.

"My dear brother promised that I could eat his lunch if I beat him in a Aikido match." She laughs with pride. "And of course I did, he's terrible at applying forms."

"Well, then you only get to eat half that food, because the other half is mine." I say, hoping that Kansai hasn't bet my food as well.

"He wagered your food too." She giggles, and runs away with the platter, and grabs a bottle of rice wine on her way out.

"You idiot." I smack Kansai upside the head, and he groans.

"Well, she's so smug all the time, I thought I could beat her."

"She's a genius at Aikido, are you kidding? You really are the dumbest person alive." I lean against the table. "I swear I've got an idiot for a cousin." Kansai looks up.

"What about Emer and Kaire?"

"They aren't idiots." My stomach rumbles.

"What time is even? I haven't been this hungry in forever."

"It's almost one o'clock." I look through the window at Kaire and Emer eating their food on the grass of the old willow. Emer makes a crown out of the blossoms and places it on his head, just to have it snatched up quickly by his sister. Their laughter falls silent from the space between us, and it makes me feel distant and alone. I wasn't that hungry.

"You haven't been the same for a few months, ya know. You seem down."

"Yeah. I guess I have." I look down at my hand, rubbing a loose piece of wood of the table. I press down harder, move faster, but it won't budge. I leave it be.

"Let's get some apples and bread. It's better than nothing." Kansai seems worried.

"You owe me your lunch tomorrow." I say.

"Not again!" He groans.

"This is the third time in two months you've wagered my food as well as yours in a fight with your siblings, how much more are you going to do it?"

"'Til I win." He has a goofy grin on his face. "You gotta lighten up Rie, you're such a downer. It's unbearable sometimes."

"Yeah, yeah." I grab some apples of the table and chuck on at him. He catches it and holds it in his mouth when he grabs a loaf of brown bread. Kansai looks funny, so I laugh, and he smiles at me. He knows I need it.

Later, when the sun is setting and it's almost time for the welcoming ceremony, I wonder what Saoirse is like. Smart, maybe, with long black hair and spectacles. Or maybe yellow cropped hair with thin arms and a warm smile. But maybe she is cold and won't like me.

I do not want to marry. I do not consider it my duty, and I don't think it is practical. Why should we marry when we could form a pact to rule together? It seems silly, but traditions are traditions. I'm only sixteen! I'm not ready for this! But here I am, hair in a long black ponytail that reaches my waist, wearing ceremonial robes that are hard to walk in and hot.

As my mind wars with itself, Maguro taps my shoulder to relay a message, "It's time to begin the ceremony."

Up until now I hadn't noticed how painfully gorgeous the sunshine was when it set, helping the willow trees grow, and the soft grass flourish. I hadn't noticed how the wind makes the trees grow strong and have resolve, their roots learning to bind them to the earth. Everything in nature works together, except I can't help feel that I am not natural anymore, and nature has somehow dropped me off at a random stop and abandoned me. I have no sunshine to help me grow, and no wind to make me strong, and I don't know if anyone in the world could give me that.

I hop off the edge of the stone wall I sat on, and follow Maguro into the castle where the princess awaits.