Daisy in the Fringe

Dear Diary,

Dusty stopped by Geoffry’s sickbed today and said they was all going out on the town to do some shopping and sightseeing.  I was gonna pass, seeing as Geoffry is still ailing from putting all that energy into the Emperor, but he insisted I go.  Ain’t that nice of him!

We went to the nearby town and the biggest surprise was how much it reminded me of Antioch.  Folks dressed in normal clothes, not in them kimonos, though the cuts and styles was a bit outlandish and some of the girls was dressed awfully revealing, some with their bellies showing.  And there was bright lights everywhere, a kind that they called Nihon lights because they use them here in Nihon.

We went up this mighty tall building in an elevator that felt like it was going faster than a train, and got a look at the city from about a hundred stories high.  The view was spectacular with people on the streets looking like ants they was so far down and the city spreading out in every direction even bigger than Antioch.

And then came the shopping.  We went to one shop that was so exclusive that they don’t even have a sign out front.  If you don’t know where it is, you just don’t belong there.  Dusty and Dorothy and me had a bunch of special kimonos ordered in the prettiest silks with some of the fanciest hand-stitching I ever did see.  I don’t reckon I could do any better even if I spent a year with a needle in my hand.  They even gave us special underclothes to wear under the kimonos.  I got a red silk petticoat that I reckon Geoffry will really like, and some pink frilly things that are even better made than what I got back at Cleopatra’s Closet.

After that we went to another place where we bought what they call contemporary clothes.  That’s what the city girls wear and I got a bunch of nice outfits in the local styles.  One was what the school girls wear here, a short navy blue plaid skirt with a white shirt and a sweater worn with knee-high socks and little black shoes.  Another was what they call a sailor suit, though it don’t look too practical for sailing to me – the wind and the spray would blow right up under that short little skirt and then where would you be?  But it looks pretty.  It’s a white dress, and the hem of the skirt has a blue band around it.  There’s a V-shaped waistline accented by little folds of cloth, then the white bodice comes up to a big red bow over the chest and a blue and yellow striped collar.  There ain’t no sleeves, and it’s worn with dark blue boots that go up to just below the knee and long white gloves that come to the elbow.  It’s an odd style, and I don’t know what kind of sailor would wear such a thing, but I kinda like how it looks on me.

We bought some other things too, some real short shorts and a tiny little halter top that lets my belly button show.  I’m gonna have to find out from Geoffry if he wants me to dress like that – I reckon it is kinda revealing and he may not want his wife going out in public like that.  But if not, maybe I’ll save them outfits for the next time we go to a resort.  They wouldn’t be too out of place if we was off on one of them nature hikes they got there.

And oh, I picked up some clothes for Geoffry too.  His day-to-day wear is starting to look a mite shabby, and I reckon that now I’m his wife it’s my duty to make sure he looks spiffy.  I got him a present too – a special set of tools for doing Nihonese-style healing.  He spent all that time studying on Nihon-style healing, so he really needs the supplies to let him practice it.

The best thing about all that shopping was that we didn’t have to pay for none of it.  Before leaving the palace we stopped by to make sure Lord Nariaki was okay with us going, seeing as we wear his colors and all.  He had Jugotaisama give us a whole bunch of Nihon money to shop with, so we got all that stuff without being out even a sesterci of our own.  Wasn’t that nice of him!

After that we went to watch a bunch of things.  First we went to a place where they was doing a karate demonstration.  That was fun to watch, though they didn’t let any of the women spar.  That didn’t seem fair, so I asked Lord Toda (who was our escort) if they’d let me try sparring with them fellers.  After a lot of talk-talk, they let me change into one of them karate outfits (they call them gis) and get in the ring with some of them fellers.

Before all was done I got in sparring contests with four of them.  One managed to beat me in a real close match, but I got the others.  In fact, I knocked two of them out cold, including the best one of them all.  He was coming at me with a really good punch/snap-kick/roundhouse kick combination, and I thought he was gonna score for sure when I saw a split-second opening as his roundhouse kick went a little too high.  That let me drop below his kick and come inside with a one-two punch to the solar plexus which took him down hard.

Everyone seemed mighty impressed by that move, and the feller running the competition gave me one of them black belts that the best students was wearing.  He said that meant I’d mastered all the karate basics and was ready to work on being a master now.  Even better, he said they might have to start letting their women spar if women could be that good: it made me feel nice to know that I’d opened a door for them girls.

After that we went to something called a kabuki play.  There were lots of people wearing big funny masks and singing weird songs.  It was nice enough, I guess, but I was just as glad when it ended.

We’re on our way back in this special little boat now.  I can’t wait to get back to Geoffry and see how he’s doing.  I been feeling a little bad for leaving him today and I want to go see if there’s anything I can do for him to make it up.  He does deserve my best, and I reckon he ain’t gotten it today.

Dear Diary,

Well, it worked.  Geoffry managed to strengthen up the Emperor’s heart, though he says there’s still plenty to do before the Emperor is back up to snuff.

The healing took a long time, near an hour or two, longer than I ever seen it take before.  All that time Geoffry was concentrating to beat the band.  It sure looked like awfully hard work, and by the end not only was Geoffry exhausted but he had made himself sick too.

It was the first time I didn’t envy Geoffry for his gift, cause it seemed downright painful for him to cure the Emperor.  He’s in bed himself now, recovering.  He says it might take several days before he’s back to normal, and that it’s often this way with real bad cases.  I’m gonna nurse him through it, though – I reckon that’s my job now.

Dear Diary,

We got two guides now.  Lady Michi stays with the girls, while the fellers got some Nihonese guy.  Today they took us to see the Stork Garden.  That’s a real special place – a garden so quiet and peaceful that the emperor himself likes to come there.

Sure enough, we was there for about an hour when the Emperor came in.  We bowed of course and had a nice little talk with him.  He seems like a pleasant feller, didn’t make us feel like dirt or nothing, even though they say he’s descended from the Sun goddess.  And seeing as he’s part divine and all, I had him bless me.

Turns out he’s got some real health problems.  So Geoffry offered to do what he could to help him out.  We went back to the Emperor’s special clinic – a real fancy place with silk wall hangings and lots of jade statues everywhere.  Geoffry checked him out and said that he’s got a bunch of problems, but the worst one is his heart.  The Emperor’s got Congestive Heart Failure, which means that his heart is getting so clogged up that it’s bound to stop beating one of these days.  (I was just reading about that in my nursing book, which I’m studying hard every night.  It ain’t easy, but it’s starting to make sense to me.)  Geoffry thinks he can help, but it ain’t s simple procedure even with his talent.

We’re starting in on some prayers and sacrifices to help Geoffry succeed.  Dusty’s gonna handle praying to Artemis, seeing as she’s so close to Her.  And the Nihonese priests are gonna pray to their gods to help.  Geoffry said he’d usually have some prayers said to Apollo, but Apollo ain’t worshipped in these parts and so don’t have much pull.

Anyway, I gotta go scrub up.  I’m gonna be Geoffry’s nurse through the procedure, so I’m gonna be busy for a while now.  Wish us luck!

Dear Diary,

We’re in Nihon now.  It’s just as exotic as I hoped – a fairy-tale land full of fancy ladies and proud men carrying swords and wearing strange uniforms.  Add in vying princes, huge castles, and beautiful palaces and gardens, and I feel like I stepped right out of a picture book.

We did get to an audience with the Emperor.  He’s an impressive looking feller all surrounded by retainers.  We saw the Daughter of Heaven and Jugotaisama there, though we didn’t get a chance to say hey.  There was a lot of talk-talk at the ceremony, but even though I understand some Nihonese none of it made much sense to me.

After that Geoffry and me went to a Nihon temple.  I wanted to find out who that old god feller was who blessed me.  They did some tests on me (I had to be washed up special first) and found out it’s someone called the August Personage of Jade.  I’m gonna have to make him a sacrifice – turns out he likes having a little food set aside for him, so I reckon I’ll cook him up something special.  I wonder if he likes our food, or if I’m gonna have to cook one of them Nihon dishes.

And oh – turns out they worship Artemis here too, though they call her Artemisu.  (They put vowel sounds on the ends of all their words, so I guess just plain Artemis wouldn’t be good enough for them.)  She’s got a temple and everything – we made a little sacrifice to her just to say hey.

We’re back in our rooms now.  We got separate men and women’s rooms, which is one of Lord Agrippa’s stupid ideas.  But that means I’m back rooming with Dusty again which is actually sorta nice.  It’s like being at home again, though it feels a mite cold in bed at night when I don’t have Geoffry next to me keeping me warm.  I guess one thing they never tell you about being married is just how much heat a man can put out.  It makes for comfortable sleeping and makes up for the snoring, though Geoffry don’t snore much anyway.

Dear Diary,

We’re in for it.

Geoffry and me got back from our honeymoon. We went back up on the Minerva where we saw everyone, which was awful nice.  Tacita and Flanna was curious about the wedding night and the honeymoon.  I told them a little bit, but not too much – just that yes, it hurt the first time, but after that it weren’t so bad.  Aside from that, though, there weren’t nothing new with them, though Dusty’s got some new songs and they’re real corkers.

After that we took the shuttle down to meet with Lord Agrippa.  He’s gonna be the chief ambassador on our trip to Nihon.  And that means trouble.

Remember how surprised we was to be named ambassadors and how we reckoned that if the Empire was depending on Hank to talk to Nihon, we’d be in tons of trouble?  Turns out that the Empire’ll be lucky if Hank’s the one doing our negotiating.  Because Lord Agrippa is not only obnoxious and ignorant, he’s proud of being obnoxious and ignorant.

He gave us a long list of dos and don’ts, and told us a bunch of ways to behave around the Nihonese.  Only thing is, Dusty tells us he’s pretty much wrong about everything.  He says don’t bow to them (WRONG!), don’t try talking in their language (WRONG!), and just act like a Roman and remember that you gotta put on a strong front to keep the little monkeys in line (REALLY REALLY WRONG!).

All that and he says that junior embassy people (meaning us) ain’t gonna be allowed time alone with each other to get personal, not even married folks.  My Geoffry ain’t gonna like that none.

I got a bad feeling about this here embassy.  A really bad feeling.  At this rate the most diplomatic thing we’ll do on the whole trip is kill their emperor.

Dear Diary,

Well, it’s almost time to go.  We sure have had a grand time here at the Evergreen Lodge.

Going over my entries from here, it occurs to me that I ain’t told half of what we did this week.  I didn’t talk about the sulfur pools where the hot water bubbles out of the ground and fills the little rocky tubs or all the dancing in the pretty little hall at night and in classes by the lake during the day (I won the belly-dance contest!).  Plus all the entertainments – one night a magic show, the next a comedian (I laughed plenty at that, but Geoffry didn’t seem to get many of the jokes).  Or the sailing, the swimming pool (a swimming pool indoors!  Just imagine!), the wonderful meals and massages, the pretty little temple to Aphrodite (goddess not girl), all the movies we watched on the video screen, all the nice people who work here, and all the lovely couples we met, both young like us and some older folks who’d been married a while but was here for a second honeymoon of their own.  Or even just the quiet times when Geoffry would read his book while I was writing thank-you notes.  (I’m almost done, which is really something given all the presents we got from all those guests.)

And of course there was all the private time that Geoffry and me had together, the special times in our hot tub, the things we tried from Aphrodite’s book, and the time we played cards with Tacita’s deck.  This was our honeymoon after all, and we made it one to remember.

Anyway, I’m gonna tell Lord Crispin how nice it is here even though I ain’t his daughter.  That should make Mr Andropopolous happy.

Dear Diary,

One of the things we’ve enjoyed doing here is taking classes at the Health Center.  We tried something called Yoga a couple days ago cause Geoffry  heard it’s related to some sort of foreign healing practices.  You’d have to ask him whether it’s got healing power: far as I can tell, it just seemed like a bunch of relaxing stretches with fancy names like “downward dog” and “spider web.”  Or maybe those were out of the book Aphrodite (girl not goddess) gave us – all them poses are getting mixed up in my head now.

Today I was looking over the list of classes when I noticed one on secret Nihonese fighting techniques.  I pointed it out to Geoffry and said I’d like to give it a try.  So we headed over to the Health Center in time for class.

When we got there, everybody taking the class but me was a man.  That was okay.  After all, Geoffry was the only man in the yoga class, so I figured it was only fair that I be in a class full of men.  But the teacher, a short strong-looking dark-haired feller who called himself Master Petrus, seemed put out to have me there.  Before he’d let me in the class Geoffry had to promise that even if I got hit in sparring I wouldn’t go crying or anything.

It turned out that the things he was teaching were just karate moves, and pretty basic moves at that.  It was nice to get the practice, but they weren’t what I’d call challenging.  (Though you wouldn’t know that by the way some of them students was grunting and sweating.)

After a bit Master Petrus said he’d give us a chance to spar.  He had the men put on padded gloves and shoes and wear head and chest protectors.  Then he let them work out against each other.

But when he was handing out padding, Master Petrus skipped past me.  ”What about Daisy,” said Geoffry.

“There’s no other women for her to spar with,” said Master Petrus.  ”And it wouldn’t be fair to set her against one of the men.”

“Not fair to him, you mean,” said Geoffry.

Master Petrus paused.  ”Sir, the fighting skills of the orient is a serious subject.  I’ve indulged your wife this far, but don’t expect me to continue this travesty any further.  She can watch you spar if she wants, but the training circle is no place for women.”

Geoffry just smiled at that.  ”I’ll tell you what, Master.  I’m willing to bet that Daisy here can defeat anyone in this room, including me, even including you.  Just name your stakes.”

I could see Master Petrus was getting riled and I gestured to Geoffry that he shouldn’t continue, but he weren’t looking at me so he couldn’t read my signs.  But the master continued, “Sir, it is not my habit to beat up on ladies no matter how foolish their husbands.  But we’ll have a brief contest of three quick touches if you insist.”  Geoffry nodded.

Master Petrus insisted that I wear head and chest protectors, though the ones he had were a little big on me.  He didn’t bother with any himself, though he put on the padded gloves and slippers.  He stood across the circle from me and gave me a nod.  I bowed deeply like Jugotaisama taught me then flowed into a low stance.

He seemed surprised at that, then dropped into position himself.  We circled each other a couple of times, then he feinted with a left fist.  I just ignored it, then launched a combination front-punch snap-kick roundhouse-kick to the head that tapped him right above his ear.

He stepped back and put a hand to his head, looking surprised that the kick had landed, and his assistant, who was acting as referee, held a hand my way and said, “One point.”  Master Petrus glared at him, then shrugged off the kick and dropped into his low stance again.

This time he launched the first attack, a spinning back kick towards my head.  But I blocked it with no trouble, then stepped towards him meaning to give him a jab to the nose.  He sidestepped that, then slipped right past me, slapping my bottom with his open hand as he stepped past, giving it a squeeze.  I spun around and faced him, red as a beet, while he chuckled and the class guffawed.

The referee held up a hand to halt and said, “One each.”

Geoffry leapt to his feet.  ”That wasn’t a clean blow!”

The referee just looked at him and repeated, “One each.”

“I want a timeout,” Geoffry snapped, and the referee nodded.

Geoffry came up to me, fuming.  ”Are you okay,” he asked, and I nodded.   “I can’t believe those guys,” he continued.  ”That was ridiculous.  How dare… no, wait, tell you what.  This time, I want you to hurt him.  Hard.  Don’t worry about injuring him – I’ll fix him if necessary.  But I want to see you teach him a lesson.”  I looked at him and gulped.  Master Petrus was awful quick, and he must have known this stuff awful well or else he wouldn’t be a master.  But I nodded, I’d do my best.

I gave a quick bow before dropping into fighting stance again.  Then I said a quick prayer in my head to Artemis.  I didn’t know if I still had her gift, now that I ain’t a virgin no more.  But I asked her to please make me fast for my Geoffry.

I’d hardly done thinking that when I felt the speed flow through my limbs.  Just in time too, because right then Master Petrus launched a snap-kick/side-kick combination aiming for my chest, but he was moving so slow that I had no trouble side-stepping him.  Then in the split-second that he over-extended his kick, I knocked his leg aside and stepped in, landing a one-two punch to his ribs and, as he stumbled backwards, finished with a side kick to the chin.  With a loud crack his jaw slammed shut, his head snapped back, and teeth went flying, then he fell to his seat and sat there for a moment with glazed eyes before crumbling onto his back.

There was stunned silence, then the assistant said, “Um, point.   Score’s two-one.  Continue.”  But Master Petrus wasn’t getting up.

Geoffry went over and put his hands on Petrus’s head.  I saw him make his healing concentration for a moment, then he said, “He’ll be all right.”  And sure enough, as Geoffry and me was leaving the room and the other students was murmuring, Master Petrus shook his head and slowly sat up.

“I didn’t heal him entirely,” Geoffry said.  ”I fixed the concussion, but I couldn’t do anything about the teeth.  And I decided to leave him with the broken ribs to remember you by.”  And he smiled and put an arm around me as we left the center.

Dear Dutch,  Thanks so much for them lovely boots.  I never worn a boot that felt so comfortable.  I can hardly wait to get back on the range in them, and Geoffry says the same!…

Dear Hank, Thank you for the his-and-her pistols.  I never would have thought of such a gift in a million years!  But they sure feel good in the hand.  We’re gonna bring them on our honeymoon to see if they got a firing range, or at least…

Dear Dusty, Them glasses are just about the nicest drinking things I ever seen, and that sewing machine you gave me is about the best thing I ever owned.  I can’t wait to get some new cloth and start making…

Dear Aphrodite, Geoffry and me got a hoot out of your gift.  Good thing you made us wait til we was alone to open it!  Anyways, he says to tell you that we’re gonna be sure to pack it along on our honeymoon, cause he’s already thumbed through and picked out a page or two he wants to try…

Dear Dr and Mrs Bentry, Thank you so much for the nursing book.  I want so much to become a good nurse for Geoffry who is about the best doctor I ever met, and I promise I’ll work hard at that book and learn everything I need to know…

Dear Will, Thanks so much for the flannel nightgowns.  They’ll be just the thing to keep us warm on them cold nights on the trail…

Dear Captain Olo, Pete, and Herman, Thanks so much for the flying lessons.  And guess what!  I’ve got my pilot’s license now!  I’m so happy and can’t wait til…

Dear Miz Hawkins and Augustina, Thank you so much for the nice pen set.  I’ve got so many thank you notes to write, and having them pens sure does help.  It was awfully nice to see you at the wedding.  And Augustina, next time you’re in town, look me up.  If I’m here, we can do some shopping together – I got a bunch of shops that I really like here…

Dear Jugotaisama, Thank you so very much for that hair decoration.  It sure does look pretty when I’m wearing it.  And thank you for the puzzle.  I been working on it, and it sure is difficult!  But I ain’t gonna give up, you can be sure of that…

Dear Lord Crispin, Thank you ever so much for everything that you did to help make our wedding so special.  I never would have reckoned that we could have put together a wedding in a week, and we never woulda been able to without all your kind help…

Dear Diary,

I was sitting in our parlor near Geoffry, just writing thank-you notes, when he said, “Well look at that.”  Turns out he was going over news reports on one of them data consoles they got here when he came across something about our wedding.  Imagine, a news report about our wedding!

Anyway, I went over and he pressed a button and pictures of folks going into our wedding started showing across the screen.  Near the end there was a picture of Geoffry and me, and the announcer said this was Dr. Geoffry Bentry, son of Antioch’s newly appointed Administrator of City Hospitals, and his new wife, Mrs Daisy Bentry, thought to be the natural daughter of the Imperial Senator Lord Crispin.  Well, that made my jaw drop.  Natural daughter of Lord C, really!  I ain’t never heard anything so silly.

But if this is what’s been playing on the news, it explains why Mr Andropopolous made that strange comment about my daddy, and how he knew Geoffry was a doctor.  And it also explains why people we’ve met have been looking at us a little funny.

Though I still don’t know who recorded Dusty’s song.

Dear Diary,

There’s so much to do at this resort, I don’t know what we’ll try next.  They got mountain paths for hiking in the woods, a health center where they give all sorts of lessons and do spa stuff, horse riding trails (though I don’t reckon we’ll bother with horse riding: I saw their horses and they’re a bunch of fat placid beasts, just right for citified tourists but not a one that could give a ride like my Buttercup), a lake where they got all sorts of activities, and a big bunch of fields they call a golf course where they play a game with sticks and balls.

Geoffry and me played that golf game yesterday.  Geoffry says all the doctors in Antioch play golf, so he reckons he better learn how.  It was fun, though kind of quiet – you don’t run around, or hit anybody with the sticks, or catch the ball or nothing.  Instead you ride around in a little cart and whack a ball down the field.  Geoffry let me drive, and that was kinda fun, but them carts go kinda slow.  I could hit the ball an awful far distance, though things got trickier when I got close to the hole and had to putt it in.  Anyways, when all was done Geoffry had a higher score than me, so I guess he musta won.

Today we tried the lake instead.  There’s a little beach there and I spent sometime lying out in my bikini.  I had Geoffry put sunscreen on me, though that was only because he seems to like doing it so much: now that I know he can cure sunburn, there don’t seem much point in worrying about it.  After slathering me up, Geoffry sat in a beach chair drinking on something with fruit in it and watching me with a content smile on his face.  It sure do make me feel good to have him looking at me like that.

After a bit of that we got up and went boating.  They got power boats, rowboats, and sailboats, and before the week is out I’m gonna try all three.  Today we tried something called water skiing.  That means standing up on the water on two wooden slats and being pulled by a motor boat.  It was a little tricky the first time, but I managed to get to my feet and ride all around the lake.  Geoffry finally got up too, though it took him a couple extra tries.  Anyway, that was fun.

The boy at the boathouse said the fishing is good in the lake.  Geoffry might try it later in the week, but I don’t reckon I will.  I don’t much care for hunting any kind of animals for sport, not since Artemis showed me such kindness.  Besides, fishing sounds kind of icky.

We’re gonna come back here again to this lake for sure.  The water’s a bit cold, but I don’t mind shivering a bit. And there really is a lot of fun things to do here.