<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/96B79Ig.jpg)</div>Mistress d'Saari looked at the steward and he nodded, quickly scooping the gold stacked neatly on the corner of the desk into a small coin pouch and handing it to Miyuki.  He bowed at the waist and said,<strong>"Thank you very much for coming to meet with me today Miss d'Konayama.  I look forward to hearing your actual performance.  I'll have a dulcimer in a travel case, along with the music you'll need to memorize, waiting for you with a guard by the gate when you're ready to leave.  I trust that you'll take care of it, there are no suitable craftsmen in Laelith who can make new ones, and it is quite costly to ship them in from Malkin City."</strong><br/><br/>When their business was complete, Mistress d'Saari led Miyuki out into the manse, and while she did not give a tour, Miyuki got a sense of the wealth of the home.  Again it was not especially large, though it was grandiose in the extreme compared to the other apartments and cramped quarters that Miyuki had seen so far in Laelith.  More so what space was present was decorated and furnished with an exacting eye.  Form and function were given to equal measure and it seemed that open space balanced against furniture, art, and belongings.  Nothing stood out as gaudy or tacky, but what was displayed was of either exceptional quality or obvious age, and therefore Miyuki assumed, value.<br/><br/>Mistress d'Saari led Miyuki out a different door then the one she'd come into the manse, into a large open air courtyard.  Above her head she could see nearby Laelith's western wall, though it was far enough off that it did not cast shadows on the garden nor dominate the view.  Strangely enough the air seemed to ripple and the wall vanished into thin air, where Miyuki guessed the illusion took hold.  The garden itself was bordered by a wooden fence about the height of her torso, and beyond that it appeared that rolling hills and forests ran off into the distance.  Again she knew it not possible, for the plot lay inside Laelith, and there could be no more than a hundred feet before the outer wall of the Saari compound lay.<br/><br/>Mistress d'Saari smiled at Miyuki's gaze and explained,<strong>"The wooden fence you see is real, so that people may lean against it.  Just beyond however lies the stone walls of our compound, cloaked in a permanent illusion.  My husband, when he is here and not back in the faded lands, hates feeling cramped by the city's tight spaces.  He paid an obscene amount for the permanent illusion that cloaks the inside of the outer walls of our compound." </strong>She gestured to the entrance to a hedge maze,<strong> "Would you mind? This entire city has ears it seems, and I know only to places I trust to complete privacy, one being the heart of the maze." </strong>She rolled her eyes and flipped her head, crimson hair spilling over her back,<strong>"More magical protections far too expensive I think.  But in this case useful."</strong><br/><br/>Mistress d'Saari began walking to the maze, giving Miyuki little choice but to follow.  As they traveled the maze she spoke of little things, the artisan who had crafted a bit of statuary that hid in a nook of shrubbery, the type of rose growing along a trellace, or the fact that unlike her husband she quite enjoyed the heat and cramped nature of Laelith.  All small talk, and interesting in their own way, but ultimately unimportant.  Miyuki was pleased to realize that the hedge maze was a fairly simple one and only a child or a dullard would ever take more than one or two wrong turns getting out.  The maze itself was more of a bit of privacy then any actuall challenge to deductive skills.  When they arrived in the center, she found a small fountain burbling clean cool water and ringed by stone benches.  It was there that Mistress d'Saari seemed to relax visibly and smile, dropping the very rigid appearance of formality that she had borne since leaving the steward's chambers.<strong>"May I call you Miyuki?"</strong>She asked.<strong>"If so, you must call me by my given name, Daria."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"It is not often Miyuki, that I am surprised by those who I think of as servants.  I was surprised in the tailors shop by how beautiful, how graceful, and how skilled you were at dance.  So too, was I mildly surprised to find you were not a pleasure slave or prostitute that Davindi had hired to model his wares."</strong>She paused and frowned slightly,<strong> "I do not like to be surprised twice, let alone three times.  So imagine my surprise when as many days, you surprised me for a third time.  I had no idea that you were a musician of skill enough to impress Algers.  I certainly hadn't expected to see you again, at lest not until I returned to Davindi's shop."</strong><br/><br/>She held up three fingers,<strong> "Three times surprising me in such a short time means one of two things, either I am getting old and careless or you are a special individual.  I think it is not the former of those two.  At least I hope not.  I must but wonder, other than dance, music, and if my servant speaks true, the art of physical love, what other talents you possess." </strong>She held up one hand and said,<strong>"Speak not of the obvious thing that you have a beautiful voice and pleasing face, that is obvious to anyone who speaks to you." </strong>The soft smile on her face let Miyuki know that was meant as a compliment.<strong>"But speak of the other gifts you possess, the ones that are hidden.  The things that others might think you crazy for voicing.  Tell me of the secrets the stars whisper to you, and the invisible forces that drive you.  I would know why it is that you surprise me so Miyuki.  For there is more to you then meets the eye, and I do so love unraveling a mystery."</strong>