Rosina’s Coming of Age Ceremony
Winter was approaching its midpoint, and I was walking back to my chambers after completing the Dedication Ritual for the day.
“Sister Myne, what will we do for the coming of age ceremony?” Fran suddenly asked. I blinked in surprise, not entirely sure what he was getting at.
“Coming of age ceremony? But I only just recently had my baptism.”
“Not yours, Sister Myne. Rosina’s.” Fran, with a hand over his mouth to hold back a burst of laughter, clarified what he meant. That surprised me too; my jaw dropped and my eyes widened.
“...Rosina’s... coming of age ceremony?”
“Yes. Rosina will come of age toward the end of winter.”
“I-I had no idea...” I couldn’t hide my disappointment in myself for being such a bad master that I didn’t even know such basic facts about my attendants.
“Gray shrine maidens are given clothes to wear by the temple upon coming of age. That is all apprentices within the orphanage get, but it is not uncommon for attendants serving a blue robe to be given a gift by their master.”
Fran explained how the coming of age ceremony worked within the orphanage. Those coming of age would bathe early in the morning, put on their newly given clothes, and then finally offer their prayers and gratitude in the chapel. This would all be before the lower city’s coming of age ceremony began at third bell. In other words, the baptism and coming of age ceremonies for those in the orphanage had been finishing while I was in my room practicing the harspiel.
“I-I haven’t said a single word of celebration to any of the kids in the orphanage...”
Was that really acceptable for the orphanage director? I had been pretty busy since coming to the temple, but I felt like that was a bad excuse. The blood drained from my face, which earned me a chuckle from Fran.
“As an apprentice, you are generally not allowed to participate in temple ceremonies. It is not your fault that you were unaware of this. You were bedridden during summer’s coming of age ceremony and fall’s baptism ceremony, and we were all busy with winter preparations during fall’s coming of age ceremony. Furthermore, it would introduce inequality if you were to begin celebrating for some despite others having received no such celebration.”
Everything in the orphanage was generally kept as equal as possible, so Fran often warned against anything that might introduce inequality. But even if I couldn’t give the orphans gifts, I at least wanted to offer them some words of celebration.
“Sister Myne, please do not think of giving gifts to the orphans,” Fran reiterated. “That will only introduce problems in the long term.”
I could see where he was coming from. I might choose to give gifts during my tenure as orphanage director, but there was no guarantee that my successor would. And now that it was set in stone that I would be going to the Royal Academy when I turned ten, I wouldn’t be staying here as orphanage director for very long. Fran wanted me to think about the long-term implications of my actions.
“I would like to note that I mentioned blue robes giving gifts to their attendants because you are the kind of person who gives her attendants gifts regularly without prompting, Sister Myne. It is not something that one has to do.”
I hadn’t noticed myself, but it seemed that Fran had gone out of his way to inform me of Rosina’s coming of age ceremony because he assumed that I would want to give her a present. And he was right. I didn’t even know which seasons my attendants had been born in. I knew that Rosina was close to coming of age, but I didn’t know when her ceremony was.
“Thank you for telling me, Fran. I will think about what to give Rosina. But first... may I ask what the High Priest gave you after your coming of age ceremony?”
“A pen and ink. I have used that pen to this very day. I recall being quite happy, for I felt that he was accepting me as an adult.” Fran broke into a warm smile as he spoke. I could guess that he had told me about Rosina’s coming of age ceremony specifically because his own was such a happy memory for him.
As her master, I needed to think of a gift that would make Rosina happy. But I was often wrong in my guesses for what people would like, so it was absolutely essential that I investigate what kind of presents were normal for coming of age ceremonies. First, I would ask those close to me what they knew. Lutz was an obvious place to start, but I wouldn’t be able to see him until the blizzard stopped. And the only one close to me in the temple, aside from my attendants, was the High Priest. Which meant...
“High Priest, one of my attendants is about to come of age. What would be a normal gift for me to give her?” I asked once we’d finished our work for the day. He looked at me with slightly wide eyes, murmured the quite rude comment “That is a rare sensible question from you,” then cleared his throat.
“The best gift is one that the recipient will use for a long time, as this is a ceremony to celebrate them coming of age. A standard gift, then, is one they will use at work. I give each of my attendants a pen and ink.”
“Something Rosina will use often and for work... Well, that just leaves an instrument,” I thought aloud, earning me a cold glare from the High Priest.
“Fool. Who would ever give an expensive instrument to their attendant when they do not even own one themselves? Buy one for yourself before thinking of gifting one to your attendant,” he said with a tinge of annoyance. That called for a tactical retreat.
“You’re right. Thank you for your thoughts. I’ll try and think of something else.”
Days after the High Priest had lectured me, the blizzard finally weakened. Tuuli, Lutz, and Benno all came to my chambers together.
“Are you doing okay, Myne?” asked Tuuli.
“Tuuli, Lutz! Oh, and Benno.”
“I’m going to go study in the orphanage, but these two wanted to talk about something.”
Tuuli went off right after saying hello, but Lutz and Benno came into my chambers. Benno straightened the second he noticed Damuel inside.
“Sister Myne, I humbly request that you allow a leherl to be trained as a waiter under your care.”
Benno wanted me to train a leherl named Leon in my chambers. I glanced at Fran, who would be the one potentially training him.
“Fran, do you think it would be acceptable for me to agree to this?”
“As I have recently become able to entrust work to Rosina and Wilma, I do have the time to teach specifically the art of waiting during lunch time,” he replied. I noticed that his expression was just a little more stiff than usual, and kept that in mind as I looked back at Benno.
“Very well. Benno, we will teach him only how to be a waiter, so please be sure to send someone who has been fully trained.”
“Fully trained?” Benno gave me a curious look. His employees were trained thoroughly so that they would be equipped to handle rich customers—Lutz and I had learned that well while visiting his store. We were treated as guests of honor while being taken to his office, and since Benno respected our business, nobody ever treated us with disdain. It made sense that Benno would expect any of his employees to be well-trained enough to learn here.
“Fran will be teaching your employee, but he is a gray priest and an orphan. We firmly refuse to deal with anyone so untrained as to scorn or look down on him.”
I had heard from Fran that while all of Benno’s employees were polite to customers, only about half of them were polite to servants. There were some in the store who gave Fran nasty looks while he waited for me to finish talking to Benno in the back office.
“Oh, so you mean to say that such untrained individuals are in my store. My apologies, it seems that my training has been insufficient after all. If Leon is by chance one such untrained individual, please inform me at once so that I may cancel his leherl contract immediately.”
“Fran, do you have any other requests, or will that be all?”
“Well... I do not mind teaching Leon to be a waiter, but we will not provide food for him. The food here is made for Sister Myne.”
“Worry not, I will cover his food just as I am covering Lutz’s.”
Benno and Fran began discussing the details of the agreement, so I beckoned Lutz over and started whispering.
“Lutz, there’s something I want to talk about.”
“What? You got another crazy plot up your sleeve?” A trace of caution arose on Lutz’s face, and both Fran and Benno stopped their discussion to look our way after hearing him.
“Crazy plot? That’s so mean, Lutz. I’m talking about Rosina’s coming of age ceremony. Do you know what kind of gifts are usually given after those? Zasha must be coming of age soon.”
“My parents’ll probably give him tools for work. The ones they gave him after his baptism were small ones for kids.”
The tools given to children after their baptism were generally lighter so that they could carry them, or just smaller in general. But that made it hard to keep using them as the children grew older. Some bought new ones before growing up and others received larger hand-me-downs, but otherwise they were given brand new work tools when they came of age.
“Tools for craftsmen. Okay... Benno, what gifts do merchants usually give after coming of age ceremonies?”
“I give accessories to my family and clothing to my leherls. Both are necessary for being presentable to nobles.”
“Don’t you give anything to your lehanges?”
“I do not.”
Leherls were essential to the future of the store and would be brought to meetings once they came of age, but most lehanges left once their final contract was up, so there was no need to give them any celebratory gifts.
“Accessories and clothes are fine, but... I don’t feel like Rosina would use either very much.”
“But she’s gonna start pinning her hair up, right? Maybe get her a comb or a ribbon or something,” suggested Lutz.
Maybe a nicely decorated hairpin would be a good present for her. I wrote that down on my diptych.
“If you need a hairpin for a gift, please feel free to order one through Lutz.”
“Thank you for your thoughts.”
Benno returned to his store after finishing his discussion with Fran. I accompanied Lutz to the orphanage, Fran and Damuel in tow, so that I could go see Tuuli.
“Tuuli’s working hard,” Lutz observed. “Myne, you should write her a letter using simple words.”
“Okay, I think I will. Thanks.”
It seemed that Lutz had been occasionally tutoring Tuuli. He said he was just doing what I had done for him last year, but thanks to that she was managing to not fall completely behind the orphanage kids.
“Now, please attempt to complete this problem.”
The temple school was covering math today. I headed over to Wilma, watching Tuuli glare at her calculator out of the corner of my eye. Wilma and Rosina had both served under the same master; perhaps I could learn something from what Wilma was given upon coming of age.
“Oh yes, that reminds me—Rosina is coming of age this winter,” said Wilma.
“That’s right. Though I’m not sure what I should give her. May I ask what Sister Christine gave you when you came of age, Wilma?”
A conflicted smile arose on Wilma’s face.
“I came of age after Sister Christine left the temple, so I was not given anything in particular.”
“...What? In that case, I need to get you a gift as well.”
It never crossed my mind that Wilma might not have been given anything, so I hurriedly suggested that I buy her something as well. But she just giggled, her lips curled into an endearing smile.
“Sister Myne, if you’re concerned about that, you will need to give gifts to almost all of your attendants.” Delia and Gil had not been given anything for their baptism ceremonies either, she explained. “And will it not dampen Rosina’s celebration if you also give presents to me, Gil, and Delia? Not to mention that Fran might feel left out as the only one not getting anything.”
“Mmm...” All I wanted was for everyone to be happy, but it was so hard to make that happen.
Wilma, wearing her usual peaceful smile, leaned forward as I fell into thought. “We servants are happy to be given any gift from our master. Not to mention, anything Rosina wants will ultimately be related to music... Perhaps she would appreciate some new sheet music?”
“New sheet music! That might just be it.”
“...Though it would have to be quite rare music for it to not have been in Sister Christine’s collection.”
Well, let’s just say it’ll be easy for me to find new music for her...
The next day, I visited the High Priest.
“High Priest, I’ve decided to give Rosina new sheet music for her coming of age ceremony. Please teach me how to write sheet music.”
“What songs do you even intend to write down?”
“Ones I remember, of course.”
If it would be unreasonably difficult for me to find music here that the art-loving shrine maiden Sister Christine didn’t have, then all I had to do was write down songs I remembered from Earth. It wouldn’t be too hard as long as I knew how to write sheet music. Surely.
“Ones you remember from your dreams, you mean?”
“Yes. I can’t think of any other songs that Rosina wouldn’t know already.”
“Fran, bring me the harspiel from her room.”
“Understood,” Fran replied.
While Fran was getting my instrument, the High Priest taught me how to write sheet music. Naturally, it was quite different from the sheet music I remembered. The scales I could write using the sheet music I had been given as a reference, but I had no clue about other notations and conventions.
“I have returned.”
“Thank you, Fran.” I plucked the small harspiel Fran brought me while searching my memory for music.
“Oh? That’s not it... Maybe this? Oh, right, right. It goes like this... Hmhmhmmm...” Once I had worked out a measure of the song, I wrote it down on a sheet and asked the High Priest to double check it for me.
“High Priest, have I written this correctly?”
“...Enough of this. Give me the harspiel.”
It was at the fifth measure that the High Priest lost his patience with me and took the instrument from my hands. He readied the small, child-sized harspiel and glared at me.
“You, sing. I shall work out the notes. It will be much faster for me to write the music than for you to learn to do it yourself.”
Prompted on by his sharp look, I began humming the song. I continued until the High Priest raised a hand, signaling for me to stop. I did, and he began strumming out the entire part that I had just hummed. My jaw slowly dropped as he adjusted the notes, arranging the song into one fit to play on a harspiel, then wrote it all out on the sheet.
...Is there anything the High Priest can’t do?
Not only had he grasped the song entirely from my humming, he had even arranged it for the harspiel and put it down on paper in the blink of an eye.
“Myne, do you know any other songs?”
“...There aren’t many songs I could play from memory, but if humming is all you need, then I know a lot more.”
My answer earned me a satisfied nod from the High Priest. “Then hum.”
“Wha?”
“I was just thinking that I would like some new music for myself. Yes, in fact I think I would like three more songs.”
He was going out of his way to arrange the songs and write them out for me, so I didn’t mind humming three more songs for him. I went ahead and even took the opportunity to mix in some anime songs. It was kinda fun to watch the High Priest playing anime music to test the notes and arrange the song.
“You may copy these and give them to her.”
“I thank you ever so much.”
I put the High Priest’s handwritten music sheets into my drawer and stealthily copied them whenever I saw Rosina and Fran busy with paperwork. Once I had finished copying all four songs, I had Lutz poke holes down their side and tie them together with string for convenience.
“All done!”
And so, the coming of age ceremony was held on the last Earthday of winter. Delia and Gil worked hard to draw water first thing in the morning, which Rosina bathed in. Once done, she put on her new gray shrine maiden robes provided to her by the temple. Her skirt used to be short enough to show her calves, but now it went down to her shoes, and on top of that she now had her hair bundled up behind her head.
“I feel like it’s a waste for you to be bundling your pretty hair up, Rosina.” I felt a little sad thinking about how I would no longer get to see Rosina’s luscious, wavy chestnut hair trailing behind her. Delia, on the other hand, was looking at Rosina’s hair with envy.
“It’s not a waste! I wish I could be bundling up my hair right now.”
Wilma always bundled her hair up in a tight, plain ball, but Rosina had decided to leave hers loose and feminine. Rosina already looked mature for her age, so the moment she bundled her hair up she looked like an adult woman; her slender white nape became fully visible, and the strands of glimmering hair that hung out of place somehow made her look so much more sensual.
“You really are pretty, Rosina.” I let out an awed sigh at Rosina’s adult appearance, which made her smile with embarrassment.
“Geez!” yelled Delia. “I’ll be even more beautiful when I’m all grown up.”
“I’m sure. You’ll certainly be beautiful too, Delia.” I gave Delia an amused smile, then congratulated Rosina and saw her off to the chapel where the coming of age ceremony was being held.
“See you soon, Rosina.”
“Indeed. Until then, Sister Myne.”
Since both blue priests and gray priests would be busy with the coming of age ceremony, I didn’t need to help the High Priest with work today. And Rosina wasn’t here to teach me to play the harspiel.
Having nothing else to do, I went to the orphanage with Fran and Damuel to have Wilma make parue cake batter. I had no intention of teaching Ella the recipe, but I knew the children would be attracted to the smell if she cooked them in the girls’ building. That was why I asked her to come to my kitchen once she had made the batter so that we could cook it there instead.
“Wilma, would you care to come to my chambers for Rosina’s sake? There will be men there, but they’re all ones you know. I think Rosina would be happier if you were there to celebrate with her.”
“...I believe I would care to come. I’ve grown more used to men through working with gray priests in the dining hall and workshop, so I believe I can briefly partake in the celebration.”
I started to return to my chambers with Wilma, who was carrying a bowl of parue cake batter. Fran and Damuel met her with wide eyes, choosing to walk at a distance from her so that she would feel comfortable.
“I have returned, Sister Myne.”
“Welcome back, Rosina. We’ve been waiting.”
Rosina returned to my chambers prior to third bell, once the coming of age ceremony had ended. When she came walking up to the second floor, I took her hand and guided her to a seat.
“Sister Myne?”
“Go ahead and sit down, Rosina.”
“But I cannot sit down while my master still stands.” Rosina firmly refused to sit down. I looked up at her, not sure what to do, and Fran pulled back my own seat with a sigh.
“Rosina is correct, Sister Myne. If you want her to sit down, you must first sit down yourself.”
I obediently sat down in my seat, after which Rosina followed suit, a troubled look on her face. At that moment, a sweet, fluffy scent drifted in from the kitchen.
“Wilma?!” squeaked Rosina, her eyes wide with surprise. Wilma had a welcoming smile on her face as she set a plate of parue cakes down in front of her. Delia beside her, on the other hand, looked especially serious as she poured a cup of tea.
“Today we celebrate you, Rosina,” said Wilma. “At Sister Myne’s suggestion, I cooked these for you.”
“...They look quite delicious.” Rosina looked at the parue cakes and the carefully poured tea, then at all of us surrounding the table, tears welling in her blue eyes. I looked up at Fran, who went and retrieved the sheet music from my desk.
“These songs are my gift to you. If you would like, please practice and play them for me.”
“...I know none of these songs. How in the world did you...? Sister Myne, I thank you ever so much. You gathered everyone here for my sake, and... I’m just... I-I just don’t know what to say...” Rosina beamed a sparkling smile while hugging the bundle of sheet music to her chest.
“Congratulations on coming of age, Rosina. May the gods bless you and the future that awaits you.”
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