Trying to decide about Yingtai...
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I'm not sure what I want to do with her story...
Option : Make her a princess of the emperor of Shengui Guo who is super proud of her station, loves her life as a princess, is basically the antithesis of one of those Disney princesses who just wants to leave the 'stuffiness' of the castle and go on an adventure. She loves her duties and her people and would never want to leave. (I already have this story written.)
Option : A noble young lady who was cast out because she refused to wed the man chosen for her by her father, a member of the Emperor's court. She disrespected the man, her father, and the Emperor himself by publicly denouncing the practice of arranged marriage. Her father was so enraged that he cast her out. She was picked up by a geisha house because of her incredible beauty and because the Emperor hated to see her thrown on to the streets. She learns to love her new life, a life where she can be herself and is not under the thumb of her father.
Option : A very poor girl working on her parents' rice farm who admires geisha from afar when she goes in to town to help bring in the harvest. She's the youngest of 5 children and her parents can barely afford to feed them all, so they decide to sell their youngest (and least helpful on the farm) to a geisha house. She's terrified to be away from home - just because she admired the geisha doesn't mean she wanted to be one. She slowly gains skills and confidence, however, and learns to love her life.
new story
"Yingtai! Get that basket of rice over to the cart. Hurry up girl, we haven't got all day!" Yingtai hurried, carrying the heavy basket as fast as her small frame allowed, placing it in the family's kau-pulled cart. Her father was a strict taskmaster, but he was fair. After all, with 5 children to raise on his own, someone had to get the work done. It was a hard life, trying to make a living off the rice fields. More days than she cared to count, she and her siblings went hungry, but it was the only life she knew and she thought herself content, if not happy most of the time.
"Ying! Stop daydreaming and hop in the cart. It's time to head to town and sell this sad little harvest." Her father was already up in the seat, ready to go, and she hurried to hop in the back next to her brothers. Yingtai loved going to town. All the ornate buildings, all the color, and most of all she loved to watch the beautiful, elegant geisha as they walked proudly through the streets. She loved their beautiful clothing, the way they wore their hair with fancy combs, and the serene look on their faces. She thought they were the most beautiful thing in the world.
The cart pulled to a stop outside...wait, this was not the market. Yingtai looked curiously up at the building they had pulled up to. It was very ornate, very colorful, with carved lotus blossoms on the large wooden doors. Those doors opened and a stunning woman stepped out, greeting her father and taking a bag from him, exchanging for it a smaller bag that clinked heavily when it fell into his hands.
"Yingtai, come here." Her father beckoned her over to his side, the woman watching her, expressionless.
Confused, the girl did as she was told, glancing at the woman before looking up at her parent. "Yes, father?"
Her father cleared his throat, looking slightly sad and a little uncomfortable. Now Ying was worried. "Yingtai, my only daughter. You know I love you, right? Your brothers love you and your mother loved you when she was still with us. She would only want the best for you, not this life of poverty we live now. It's too hard for a girl such as yourself. And it's not just that...you know money is tight. It has been for a while. And I don't see any end to it any time soon..."
Yingtai was truly scared now. She had no idea what was going on. "Father...I...I'll work harder, I promise. I'll do whatever I can to help..."
"Silence, girl. This is what you can do to help. With this money, your brothers and I will be able to buy another field and bring in enough money to make sure we have food on the table every night. We won't be rich by any means, but we'll be fed." He gestured to the woman standing elegantly in her kimono. "This is Bright Flower. She will be your teacher here and you will give her the highest respect. She will teach you everything you need to know about your new life."
Yingtai looked at the woman, who was smiling softly now. She looked at her beautiful kimono, her elaborate hairstyle, and she swallowed tightly, tears forming in her eyes. She had always admired the geisha from afar...she never thought she'd become one of them. She never wanted to become one of them! How could her father do this to her? He didn't even ask. But her brothers...she looked back at their solemn faces, the youngest with tears running freely. She ran to them, hugging them all tightly.
"I love you all so much. I don't want to leave you. Father, I..."
"Enough." Her father came over, giving her a quick, seemingly emotionless hug before releasing her and steering her by the shoulder back to the geisha. "This is your home now. You will do your family proud here. And you will be happy. We will not forget you. Goodbye, my daughter."
With that, her father stepped quickly back up into his seat in the cart and with one last look, drove away. Yingtai stood there, tears falling, hugging herself, shaking. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Was this real? This couldn't be real. She watched as the cart, her family, disappeared over the horizon. She wanted to run after them, wanted to beg them to take her back, but she couldn't. She couldn't, knowing that her being here would make sure her brothers were fed. She wouldn't dishonor her family that way. It was a shock, for sure, but...she was tired of being hungry. Tired of sleeping under a leaky roof, most night shivering in the cold, listening to her brothers cry from hunger. She'd miss them, miss her father too, but...maybe this was best.
"Yingtai?" The young girl looked up at the senior geisha. "I know this is hard now, but your father thought long and hard on this. We have been in conversation for months. I know you will be sad for a while, but you will learn to be happy here, I promise. Now come inside, and we will meet the other girls and I will show you our quarters."
So happy with the feel of the new story. I'm not sure whether or not I want to add more to it though. Maybe I'll do chapters with this one. I'll add one about her training, one about her finally becoming a senior geisha...
Personally I'd probably prefer a third version. Maybe something where a young girl really wants to be a Geisha? I'm not sure if you want to make it an "ancient" story or a modern, so the age would vary a lot when it comes to her "training". At least as far as I remember from a documentary I saw a few months ago. :')
If you want to use a story you have already in mind I'd prefer probably , though I don't really understand why the Emperor would not want to see her living on the streets after she disrespected him. If I'd be the Emperor I'd be glad to see someone who made me angry ending up on the streets. But that's maybe only me. :)
I vaguely remember back then girls were trained as Geishas because of money issues (correct me if I'm wrong, my memory of that documentary is really bad and I am not sure how accurate it really was from the beginning :D), so her life on the streets and a noble upbringing would make sense then because as a girl from nobility she should be good in conversation, be witty etc. :)
