---Lean on the Scorpion
In the end the Crane aren't going to stop unless you're willing to give them something. Probably education of your daughter. The Lion had similar conditions although mostly centering around firing Hida Ginchiyo and putting in a Lion for Shogun...and that was something you wouldn't do. The Shogun needed to be different from the Lion in case you had to fight the Lion, the lessons of your grandfather were too well ingrained.
So that left telling the Scorpion to stop being such pests. The minor scandals on all the clans weren't in of themselves something to get worked up about. But the fact that they kept hitting all those who would work for peace was.
Which is why in the Observatory of the castle, you were looking up at the night sky with Bayushi Sunetra. Her once midnight black hair had turned grey over the past few years, but rather than hide it, she had taken advantage of it, the Silver Rose of the Scorpion some called her. Naturally people still feared her thorns.
Around you the careful use of hibachi to keep the room warm as the stars danced across the night sky crackled with ambiance. Four Seppun guardsman and two Shiba waited on the walls, protecting you from all threats, even Sunetra would have had trouble assassinating you in this moment. She could do it naturally, but she wouldn't survive, and that wasn't to the benefit of the Scorpion.
Instead you sip a hot bitter tea that the locals called 'Asako's gift' for its ability to keep one awake through the night. Sunetra does the same, your gaze lifting up to the sky with hers.
"The stars are beautiful tonight my Emperor, I'm glad that I am able to see them with you." She says.
"Hai, to every one of them a place as accorded by the Heavens. They do as they are told. The elegance is quite nice" You say.
"Not all though, the Kappa star wanders where he will, as in accordance with his nature."
"The Kappa wanders slowly and only in a set path" You counter.
"But yet he wanders, and will not stop." She says.
"I am sure he would stop if commanded to"
"Perhaps, but perhaps not, the Heavens are immutable, no matter how many new Fortunes are appointed." Sunetra turns to face you fully.
You turn, meeting her steel blue eyes with your own.
"But that is their harmony, if the Kappa disrupts harmony..."
"Harmony is disrupted by those who seek to change the world. The Kappa does not." Sunetra says.
A veiled rebuke of you, nothing to act on, but a rebuke all the same. The Scorpion had no more wish to have the ancient ways of Rokugan discarded either...but it must change, the Empire could not become what it was. The ancient bonds had been destroyed by the Clan wars. The world had changed, and you couldn't force it back just because it made people outside of their comfort zone.
You hold her gaze all the same.
"So you think there would never be cause for the Kappa to cease his wandering?"
Sunetra turns to look at the stars again, bringing the hot tea to her lips slowly. Making a show of thinking about such weighty matters.
"Not within harmony of the Heavens no...not if it is being rearranged" She says at last.
You don't frown and give away the game so easily. But the blunt for a Scorpion refusal infuriates you. You could in fact order them to do it, and officially they would...but they had never started in the first place so there would be no change.
"Why do you think the Kappa wanders so?" you ask turning back to the sky.
"The old tales say the Kappa wanders forever looking to fill the water on his head again from the river of stars, unknowing that the Weaver takes it all whenever it is full" Sunetra answers.
"And what do you think?" You ask.
"I think the Kappa is unsure of where to go, or what to do, and thus it does what it knows best, if guidance, a place could be given, then it would take that place. But such is not its kharma." Sunetra says wryly.
"A place...hmm no the Kappa is too much a kappa to be given its place easily. What sort of place could it even have?" You wonder out loud.
"It could have a traditional place, are not kappa the guardians of forgotten river beds and others? Could the star not server as such in the River of Stars?" Sunetra replies in turn.
"The River of Stars has few places the Kappa could fulfill itself in its old ways. It would have to change somehow adapt." You reply in turn.
"Adapt, and change how much can it do so before it is no longer a kappa?" Sunetra asks finishing her tea.
"That I don't know, what I do know is that if does not, it may well face wrath for its impudence should the Heavens decree such and it is ignored" You say.
"If the Kappa star is doomed...it's kinder to let him wander until that doom I think" she says.
"Even if he could be saved if he was told he could change?" You ask.
"How does the Little Teacher say? One should not pet a scorpion expecting different results. Can the kappa change? Perhaps, but only its surface, not its nature." Sunetra says.
"And the nature of harmony is change...." you murmur.
"The river does not stop being the river, even if it never sleeps in the same place twice."
"And that is that then, nothing can assuage the river or the kappa?"
"With respect my Emperor. If you were the river or the kappa, what would make you change?" she asks.
You don't wince, but its good point all the same. The Scorpion perhaps more than any clan save the Crane benefited from the traditions of the Empire. You tore out their laws, you tore out their taxes, you've essentially allowed them to self destruct under Paneki while doing the bare minimum to support them. Paneki's loyalty to your aunt is such that along with Ayumi they will not rebel...but its hard to say that you've made a place for them even your Kizoku is an Otomo rather than a Scorpion. But then...what could you give them? Ayumi has by dint of her own talents formed a formidable spy network, and even now is deftly maintaining the Pact while avoiding other troubles.
Their traditional place was to be the underhand of the Empire to do the things that needed to be done but were too dishonourable for anyone else...and to serve as a scapegoat. Yet, you didn't use them for that and stripped much of their cover. Their anger was understandable...but it was also unacceptable, you needed to do something to reassure them...or you could let this play out. Ultimately the Scorpion were targeting everyone more or less equally, so it could even be said they were simply doing their role.
But what if...you told them their place.
The Charters, your grandfather had granted all of the Great Clans and minor ones to establish their place. You could issue them a new to conform to the new laws. To reassure them of their place...it would be hard to do so without angering anyone, but you could do it.
Sunetra kowtows.
"I must apologize my Emperor but even with the hibachi and wonderful tea, this one doesn't quite gaze under the stars as well as she used to, not without a little closer companionship" She says giving just a hint of promise with the quirk of her lips.
You nod. "Hai hai...good night Bayushi-san."
Despite the fact that you could feel three of your guards watching Sunetra sashay out of the observatory, your mind was working hard on the idea of the Charters. It could work...but you had to defuse this whole thing with the Unicorn first.
[] Talk to the Crane
[] Talk to the Lion
[] Talk to the Unicorn
[] Write in
and somehow ended up a nonentity
