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Scattered snow, long since beginning to dissolve in the sun, filled Kanade’s view as she stepped outside to take in the scenery. It’d been ages since she’d gotten to go outside to feel the warmth of sunlight beating against her skin. She was thankful to finally see winter go, but the season’s passing brought along bitter memories of the previous year.
Spring was a harsh reminder of how much time had passed. It’d been almost a year since her father had collapsed because of her. She’d been left all by herself, scared and alone without the familiar comfort of her father by her side. To fill the gap left by the incapacitated barom, she thrust herself into a position of leadership well before she believed herself to be ready.
And she had done well. Far too well. Well enough that she’d made her father’s condition worse the only time he’d woken up during that long year. She still couldn’t forgive herself for what her success had done to him.
Trying to take her mind away from the thoughts of a year gone by, Kanade picked away at what remained of the carnations she’d been growing before winter had come along and ruined them. Even as the dead mixed with the dormant, the frozen flowers were a beautiful sight to behold. Hopefully, life would still yet be able to bloom again in the coming months.
Though she had tried to use the faded purple plants below her as a distraction, their hibernating state only brought her mind back to her father’s perpetual slumber. As she gently brushed away the snow covering one of the poor flowers, her solemn thoughts were interrupted by the thunderous sound of hoofs clattering against the ground.
The noise came from a frantically charging dark black horse in the distance, it’s reins pulled tightly downwards as the rider slumped unnaturally in their seat. The horse swerved wildly, as the rider was clearly no longer in control, until, eventually, it stumbled over a large rock, launching it’s passenger off. With the tightness no longer inhibiting it, and it’s burden lifted, the horse continued it’s confused charge off toward the southwest, leaving it’s load on the floor.
In a hurry, Kanade rushed over to see if the passenger who’d just taken a dangerous tumble was alright. A fall from that height at full speed could be fatal.
In a pile of snow lay a young woman with long, dark purple hair, wearing a tattered maid outfit with specks of dried blood stained against the whites of it’s apron. A large wound was obvious against the side of her chest, clearly reopened under it’s bandages during the fall as it reddened the snow below her. Her eyes were sealed shut, but her chest still moved up and down rhythmically as cold left her nose. Thankfully, she was still alive, even if she was clearly in a severe condition.
Kanade’s mind raced with all kinds of possibilities. The maid outfit was clearly that of a castle maid, she’d seen the outfit herself during the prince’s visit. There were very few reasons a bloodied maid could have for riding away from the king’s castle alone, none of which were pleasant to consider. But now was not the time to think about that.
Without wasting another moment, Kanade raised her voice as high as she could to call out for her loyal knight or the manor guards. Any of them would hopefully be within shouting distance, as she didn’t want to leave the injured person alone in the snow. This mysterious maid was taller than herself, there was no way she would be able to carry her to the manor alone.
While she waited for help to arrive, she leaned down to provide what little aid she could, using her coat to apply pressure to the bandaged wounds. Her own breath went ragged in the cold without the warmth of the coat, but she didn’t care. She needed to save this poor injured woman.
As soon as the manor’s knight arrived with the guards in tow, the woman was immediately brought inside the Yoisaki Manor. Far more commanding than she usually was, Kanade made sure the guards carried the injured young woman with as much care as they could. After they'd taken her to the manor guest room, she dismissed them to handle the first aid process herself.
With her patient now safely in a warm space, Kanade wasted no time in removing the dirtied clothes from her to clean wounds and replace bandages, but what she found instead was shocking.
Beneath the maid uniform were four concealed daggers of varying sizes strapped along her stomach on a fine looking belt. One of the loops meant for another dagger seemed to be missing entirely. What use could a maid possibly have for these weapons?
The only answer Kanade could arrive at was that this mysterious stranger covered in blood wasn’t a maid at all. As far as she knew, it wasn’t normal for a maid to carry weapons at all, let alone as many as this young woman did. The heavens above could only tell what had happened to her at the castle.
Trying not to hastily reach a conclusion as to what may have happened, Kanade focused on replacing the bandages where she could while she lay unconscious. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any more visible injuries caused by the fall, the snow had cushioned her fall well. The only wounds on her were what had probably caused her to lose control of her horse in the first place.
After completing her task, Kanade double-checked to make sure her mysterious guest was still breathing. It was a miracle that she was still alive with what she had endured. If the wounds she had were freshly bandaged when she left the castle, she would have been struggling through constant movement with them on for well over half a day’s travel, and that was if she were moving at a moderate pace, as she should have with her injuries.
At least the woman was still alive, if battered. After clothing her bandaged body in whatever spare garbs she had available, Kanade set the guest to rest down in the bed. Though she had much to do today, there was much to prepare for the spring ahead, she couldn’t bring herself to do anything but stay at her guest’s bedside for most of the day instead.
For the rest of the day, Kanade stationed herself at the guest room’s table and begun to draft a letter to the castle about this strange coincidence. Over the past few months, she’d grown quite close with the crown prince of the kingdom, by sheer coincidence. He would no doubt want to hear about one of his servants, whether or not her unexpected guest was actually a castle maid.
The letter flew by as day turned to night. Kanade had much on her mind with another year behind her, and it had become a habit to vent her feelings to the prince. Though she recognized it was not normal to write so informally to him, and she was still getting used to that dissonance, the higher ranked royalty had been the one to recommend it. When the two wrote to each other, traditional decorum and stature had no place.
Fitting in the mention of her unexpected guest worked surprisingly well alongside her usual musings. She openly pondered what the maid had done to arrive in such a state, knowing full well the prince probably had the answer to the question. Before she could sign off on her letter, she heard a stir from the bed. Her guest had awoken.
The girl with purple hair turned her head from side to side, droopy eyes still trying to understand what they saw. Her brow furrowed in confusion, until she met eyes with Kanade. Her eyebrows shot up as her eyes went wide at the sight of a stranger in her proximity.
Not wanting her guest to feel unwelcome, Kanade left her letter behind at the desk to sit in the chair next to her.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Kanade said with a warm smile. “If I may ask, what is your na—”
Before she could finish her sentence, the woman in the bed quickly grabbed one of the knives left at her bedside and wordlessly pointed it towards Kanade. Her breath was ragged as she froze the knife at Kanade’s neck, clearly fighting whatever pain she was feeling in her adrenaline fueled action.
Then, as her brain began to slowly register her injuries all at once, she dropped the knife with a painful scream. Involuntarily, her hand grabbed at her chest where her largest wound had been and she slumped back into the bed. Her breath was heavy as her body kicked into recovery mode yet again.
“D-don’t move! You’re hurt!” Kanade yelped out as she subconsciously reached out to help the woman who'd brandished a weapon at her without batting an eye. “You’ll reopen your wounds!”
Noticing how much sweat was on her guests body now, Kanade figured the wound was already reopened. Without hesitating, she grabbed more bandages from her desk and began to move the bedding around her dangerous guest.
Sure enough, the woman was clutching at her chest. The bleeding hadn’t been enough to seep through the bandages yet, but it would be best to put on some fresh bandages if the reopening had caused this much pain.
As the pain slowly subsided, the woman’s breath began to become more shallow and her scowl began to soften. Though her eyes were now open, if tired, she did not meet Kanade’s eyes.
“Here, let’s get you in some new bandages.” Kanade held up the white strips of cloth. “Don’t move.”
As delicately as she could, Kanade sat her hostile guest up and began to unwrapped the soiled bandages. Knowing her patient was awake, and likely scared by her presence still, Kanade took extra care to not make any sudden movements.
This time, the knives remained on the table. The woman remained silent as Kanade gathered the fresh bandages after fresh bandage and slowly wrapped them around her wounds one piece at a time.
As Kanade wrapped up the last bandage, she heard a faint voice she’d never heard before.
“Thank you,” the injured woman said.
Acting as if she had not heard the whisper, Kanade continued tightening the bandage without responding. If the guest did not want to be heard, she would not be.
“There. All done,” Kanade said.
“Mafuyu.”
Kanade looked up at the purple haired woman who still refused to meet her gaze. That was her voice again. This time, the low tone was fully audible.
“What was that?” Kanade asked.
“My name,” she said.
Kanade couldn’t help but smile at the simple way she had answered. It did not matter that she'd asked the question earlier, before the knife had been drawn to her neck. What was important was that she had a name to call her guest by now.
“Well, then, Mafuyu... Make sure you get some rest, okay? Stay as long as you need to.” Kanade got from the bed and motioned for Mafuyu to rest.
Mafuyu did not say any more in response, but she listened to the gesture and sunk into the mattress beneath her. Her wary eyes, clearly tired as they were, remained open and locked on to Kanade. Taking this as a sign that she should leave, Kanade stepped towards the door and opened it.
“I’ll go. Make yourself at home,” Kanade said.
With her parting words, she closed the door behind her, leaving Mafuyu all alone to sleep. It was getting late already and her growling stomach reminded her that she was ready to eat.
Her mind drifted to her guest. No doubt Mafuyu was also hungry, considering all she’d been through today. Her servants should’ve already prepared the soup for the day by now.
When Kanade went to the kitchen for her dinner, she had the servants pour a second bowl of soup for Mafuyu and brought it back up to the guest room. Knowing how anxious her guest was to be here, she knocked and patiently waited at the door before she opened it when there was no answer.
Mafuyu was silently and peacefully already sound asleep. The dangerous woman who’d drawn a knife at her less than an hour ago looked as beautiful as the night sky while she rested. She had an air of nobility about her that was hard to pinpoint, almost as if she could be mistaken as a princess.
Not wanting to disturb the sleeping princess, Kanade left the soup she’d gotten for her guest on the chair at her bedside, careful not to make any noise. Hopefully, she would make a flawless recovery and be up and about within a week.
As Kanade gently closed the door behind her, she couldn't help but think about how little she cared about why Mafuyu had shown up in the battered state that she did. The fact that she carried concealed knives dwarfed in comparison to the fact that she was hurt.
It didn’t matter how Mafuyu had gotten hurt, or who she was, or even what she’d done. Kanade wasn’t going to leave anyone to suffer alone.