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"You wear women's clothing!” Helga exclaimed, horrified. “That is unnatural! No wonder you were able to beat Egil in a fight, you
did
use witchcraft. You are a shaman!"

"Cultural prejudice,” I told Samojirou before he did anything to her because she was insulting the two of us, even if she didn't know it. “And I was lucky that the Northmen were lazy in their training methods."

"That they are idiots is known to me,” Samojirou said with a smile. “That you had been in a fight was not. I am glad that you were victorious.” He turned to Fuse. “Do you think that Helga would learn something useful here this morning, like manners?” he asked. “Or are you hoping that the rumors would name her as your husband's
oiran
and that Sakura-chan is training her?"

"Samojirou-sama, you are a very bad man to even think such a thing!” Fuse exclaimed. But she was laughing too. Helga didn't get the joke, because she was looking back and forth at the two of them in confusion.

"Or do you just need a decent maid?” I asked cattily, falling into the women's dialect easily. “From what I've seen, she'll need a lot of training to be even adequate for that. And I doubt that she would even be able to walk the streets of Yoshiwara, never mind work there as an
oiran
."

"For shame, Sakura-chan,” Fuse scolded me. “A proper person doesn't say such things.” She paused. “Nor should you speak a language that a person doesn't understand in front of them."

"I am sorry, Mother,” I told her in English, bowing to her. It had been petty, but there was something about Helga that made me want to act like I was ten and be a brat around her.

"She is your mother?” Helga asked. To her credit, she tried to sound polite about it.

"In a manner of speaking,” I told her. “Fuse-hime is a very great lady, and her husband Yatsufusa-sama is a great lord."

"That is the name of her dog,” Helga stated, her tone indicating she thought I was a fool for calling a dog a lord.

"He is her husband,” Samojirou said coolly. “And it will be well-advised to keep a civil tongue in your head if you don't want to lose it. Your head, not your tongue."

She looked at him, horrified before she turned to stare at Fuse. “That is—"

"This is the Dreamlands,” Fuse told her flatly, not letting her finish what she wanted to say. “You know that one's appearance here is just an illusion."

"While this is not Valhalla or Asgard, I don't think that such a thing is possible,” Helga protested. “What you talk of seems more to be in the realm of the Trickster than anything good."

"It is part of a curse,” Samojirou said simply, apparently knowing whom she was talking about. “One that I... I was the one that was the cause of it. It is because of my actions that such a thing came about."

"You act as if my father has nothing to do with it,” Fuse said tartly.

Helga looked uneasy, because they were speaking of things she would never understand. There was a knock on the door, and then it slid open. Tamazusa walked in with a couple of the maids carrying clothing and a make-up box trailing behind her.

"I know that you are an excellent maid,” Tamazusa teased, her eyes widening a little at the bruises on my neck and chest. She knew love bites when she saw them, even if she wasn't going to be rude enough to comment on them. It helped that Samojirou's chest had them too. “But I think that you are going to need help dressing this morning, Sakura-chan. I fear that you must go back to acting the part of a proper young lady again."

I nodded, feeling odd that Yukiko wasn't there to dress me. “I know that, Tamazusa-sama,” I said with a laugh. “It could be worse. You might need me as your maid."

"She chose to stay behind,” Samojirou said softly, apparently sensing what I was feeling. “She cannot wander far from her garden in any case."

"She's stuck there?” I asked, trying not to sound too upset. What if something happened to the
shoen
?

"A
kashin
has a difficult time leaving her flower,” Tamazusa said. “It is their nature."

"If something happens to your
shoen
and its gardens, then they will all die?” I asked her softly, not wanting to know that answer but having to ask the question.

A lot of the maids were flower spirits, along with all of the gardeners. The cooks and other servants were different spirits, either
kodama
, tree spirits, or some other type of shape-shifter. I had worried about them, but now I realized they were in a lot more danger than I had assumed. Tamazusa just nodded, and thankfully Samojirou changed the topic of conversation.

"I don't think Sakura-chan would mind if I stayed here,” Samojirou shared with a sly smile. “I usually see the process from the other end, when I am
un
dressing him."

The maids all giggled while I blushed, and Tamazusa just shook her head with a smile. Everyone had figured out by now that he and I were involved. “I knew that you'd say that."

"I don't think that this is going to be as complicated as it usually is either,” Fuse commented. “We aren't going to kabuki or an
ikebana
exhibit."

"Flower arranging,” I told Helga before she could ask.

"Tholf was right. You Southerners are decadent,” Helga muttered. She clearly wasn't comfortable with the concept of cross-dressing. I wondered if that was part of the reason she had given Tamazusa and McGann such a difficult time, since they had been wearing what could be considered men's clothing. Or it could be that she was just a bitch. I was leaning toward the bitch theory myself.

"I think that it was the constant hot water that he enjoyed,” I told her. I wasn't surprised that she was upset about being here. While she hadn't been an important person back on Njalsson's farm, it had been a place she was familiar with. I thought she even missed the backbreaking labor a little. She had wandered around like a lost soul, I had been told, until Fuse took her under her protection. I had been too busy trying not to go insane waiting for Samojirou to show up to pay attention to what Helga had been doing.

"Is it that you think that Hamaji and I aren't good enough daughters for you, Mother?” I teased Fuse in Japanese. “Or is it that you wish to foist Konbungo off on this poor girl? Have you developed a taste for matchmaking? Are you going to marry off Genpachi next?"

Samojirou and Tamazusa laughed, while the maids giggled and shook their heads, adding comments under their breath, mainly about this finally being a woman big enough for my brother. Helga could tell they were saying something about her but didn't know what. She looked like she was going to try and make them tell her what they had said, but then she remembered where she was. I thought Fuse was starting to have a good influence on her. Or it could have been that she realized the odds were against her if she attacked the maids.

Fuse frowned at me, trying to be stern, but involuntarily smiling at my comments. “You need to explain our merriment to the poor child."

"Helga-chan,” I started, causing a new wave of giggling among the maids, “I simply was trying to cheer my mother up. I'm afraid that it was at your expense. I apologize for that."

"What does ‘chan’ mean?” Helga demanded, ignoring my apology. “I only hear it after your name. You're a man who can't decide what he is. I know that I am all woman, so don't call me ‘chan'!"

"It is a term of endearment,” Tamazusa explained. “I doubt that anyone would use such a thing with you."

"And you want Mason to use such a thing with you!” Helga snapped back.

I saw Tamazusa's fingers twitch, but that was about it. Glances darted between Fuse and Samojirou, and I wondered if I was going to have to break up something between Helga and my lord. Tamazusa's method of dealing with Helga usually involved some sort of violence. But she seemed to be calming down, and I wondered how much of that violence had been because of the position we had been in.

Then I thought for a second. Mason seemed to like Tamazusa, even if it wasn't in a romantic way. He had been a friend to her, as odd as that sounded. And I thought she was lonely, a bit, even if she wouldn't admit it. Mason probably had been the only one in centuries to not treat her as “Lord Tamazusa."

"He probably would,” I said, pausing before I added. “Along with adding that honorific to Wolf, McGann, and any of my brothers’ names also."

He might not call Dousetsu or any of the others that, but with Wolf and McGann he would. I didn't know what was going on, but Helga wasn't going to ruin it for Tamazusa, even if it was something as harmless as some inappropriate teasing from Mason. I could tell Samojirou was thinking the same thing, and I knew that as soon as Tamazusa recovered her
kuni
, he was going to have a big-brother-type talk with her about her feelings for Mason.

"I think that you can also teach Helga Japanese, since your English is much more fluent than mine,” Fuse told me. “McGann-san and Mason-chan would also benefit from lessons, but I think that Wolf-chan will be giving them their lessons."

Both Helga and I looked at her in horror. Helga was a troublemaker, and I didn't want to deal with that either. “I want Wolf to teach me!” Helga demanded.

"I don't think that Wolf-san has anything to teach you,” Samojirou drawled. “Nor does he want to."

"At least he knows what a real woman is for!” Helga snapped, getting the dig that he was making.

Samojirou looked at her and then me. I shook my head. I didn't want any trouble. Fuse just looked embarrassed. I could have told her that it wasn't her fault. I knew Helga would say the most insulting thing at the worst time. It seemed the woman had a talent for it.

"A woman,” he told Helga coldly, “is to be respected for her intelligence and her wit. A
real
woman is one who is secure in her power, no matter how little or how much she has. A
real
woman accepts that there are men who have no interest in her, whether because they are not interested in women or just not interested in
her
. From what I've seen and heard, I doubt that you are a real woman."

Fuse nodded and then turned to Samojirou and Tamazusa, bowing low. “I do apologize for this unpleasant incident. I had hoped that Helga would learn something from Sakura-chan's grace and charm. I was mistaken."

"It is that you are such a gracious lady that you expect all to be one,” Tamazusa demurred courteously. “I fear that this one will never learn the lessons that you want to teach her.” She paused. “And it seems that she has not learned the ones that I did endeavor to teach her. The fault is also mine."

"I know that you have a kind and loving heart,” Samojirou told Fuse. “This woman seems to have neither. The fault is not yours for what the
kami
never gave her."

Thankfully, this was all in English, so that Helga understood what was being said. She understood it so well that she launched herself at Tamazusa. She was surprised when I intercepted her, using her momentum against her so that I could throw her in the different direction and away from anyone here. Too bad that move broke the door to the garden and Helga landed in a mess of broken bamboo and paper windows that used to be a sliding door. She went down in a heap on the porch, stunned that I had thrown her.

"I am sorry for the mess I made, Tamazusa-sama,” I said as I bowed humbly.

The maids looked shocked and Fuse disappointed. I thought that she was upset that Helga had behaved so badly. She rose to her feet slowly and bowed to Tamazusa and Samojirou. “I fear that I must tell my daughter by marriage of the mess that has been made in her home."

Helga stood up slowly. “You fight well,” she said, sounding surprised.

"I train every morning with my lord's samurai,” I stated. I didn't do it here, because I didn't want to deal with Shino's samurai, because the fewer people who knew Inuzaka Keno was here, the better. I actually was looking forward to being Sakura again, since I had missed being her in the Northlands. “I know that you are not happy here,” I said. She looked angry but nodded her head slowly. “When this is all taken care of, we can send you back there if you want."

"You will?” she asked, trying not to sound suspicious of the offer.

"Edo is actually a port, and we do trade with your people,” Tamazusa said. “We can send you home when this is all over."

"I'm sorry that you are not happy here,” Fuse said with regret. “But I also think that you should try harder to be so."

"You bathe constantly, the food is strange, and I miss my own clothing,” Helga said in a rush. “I don't know what my place is here!"

"Ah,” Fuse murmured and nodded her head. “That is hard to know, wherever you are,” she acknowledged. “You must make your own place."

"There is nothing for me to
do
,” Helga said, her eyes bright with tears. I felt sorry for her, because I just realized she must have been acting the way she was because she felt so miserable. That didn't make me like her any better. She reminded me of Anya too much to like her. “I try to find things to do, but no one talks to me in a tongue that I understand. They all shoo me away, like I was a goat that was going to get into the wash!"

I couldn't help it. I snickered when I heard her say that. Fuse shook her head and started to leave. Helga scrambled to her feet and followed her out.

Tamazusa and Samojirou watched the maids help me dress and do my makeup. I sensed there was something that Tamazusa wanted to tell me, but I couldn't guess what. I didn't think she was upset about Samojirou's decision to send me to Edo. In fact, I thought he had probably talked it over with her. I couldn't be angry about that, though. They talked about a lot of things like that.

After I was dressed, Tamazusa dismissed the maids with a smile. I had my hair pulled back in a simple bun and I wore a light yellow kimono with a pale orange under-kimono, with very little makeup. I was sad to realize I felt more comfortable dressed up as Sakura than I had wearing the kimono and
hakama
of a man.

"You look delightful,” Tamazusa told me when they were done. She had gone back to wearing a simple black kimono, looking elegant and composed as always.