Burden of the Emerald Empire (A Legend of the Five Rings Tale)

-Kitsuki Akane

The prim and proper Kitsuki Akane is considered by many to be something of an ice queen. Her face frozen by the icy snows that cover the Dragon's home. You like to call those people filthy liars. As your head pounds, the soft feminine chuckle that comes out from her, puts all of those rumours to lie. She's laughing at your admittedly funny looking hung over state. Still, you hate her a little for that.

"...Kitsuki-san, why are you here?" You growl.

She stops her chuckling although the smile doesn't leave her face.
"Forgive me, Emperor, I never thought you would have such...trouble with your liquor."

"Drink with Hida Kuon then we'll talk. Here why?" You say.

"Well beyond me drawing the short straw, I was actually here to talk to you about our task"

"Short straw?"

"...It was considered...potentially life threatening to wake up the Emperor when he had a hang over. Even if it was necessary"

You swear your glare should have her on fire right now.
"What in all the gods, makes it so necessary that you have to see me?"

"A potential coup in the Crane?"

"...." You hold up one hand.

Slapping your arm, you check to see that yes you are in fact actually awake. A few more slaps of your face, as you try to beat your migraine into submission. It doesn't work. Bereft of any comfort, you call for tea, and lean against the wall.

"Come again, because I could swear you said something completely insane." You say.

"There appears to be a faction within the Crane that wishes to see Doji Domotai's house removed, in its place, House Kaiwan would become the new Champion."

You blink, your heads feeling all too fuzzy as you try to remember who tht is...right House Kaiwan, from Doji Kaiwan, the younger brother of Doji Daiken, Crane Champion and daimyo of Doji , during the reign of Hantei XXXVII...that was over a century ago. Doji Daiken had been the grandfather of the legendary Doji Hoturi who fought in the Clan wars. The Kaiwan would be the natural heirs in the event that the House of Daiken was removed.

"Doji Domotai has brought her Clan through multiple wars and kept the Crane from becoming a puppet either for my father, or anyone else. Why do they seek to remove her?" You ask.

Akane answers.
"It appears that the Daidoji are behind this. While Daidoji Kikaze remains somewhat loyal. Rumors that Doji Domotai was prepared to give the Crab the Yasuki lands outright in exchange for you swearing that your family would take brides from the Crane for at least two generations...was a bridge too far for them."

You've heard stupider things, you aren't quite sure where, but you're sure you have. Land for a mere bit of Crane blood on the throne? Madness.

"That's an insane proposition, Doji-san would never make it." You say.

Akane nods.
"I agree, but that matters less than the perception that she would. The purge that Doji-san under took of the upper ranks of the Daidoji seems to have backfired. Perhaps if she hadn't waited, or had something more recent to her credit..."

"But the long lull in the fighting, and our own connection to the Crab makes the Daidoji uneasy. They fought and died for those lands, to give them up is not something they are going to want to hear." You finish.

"Precisely...in any event Otomo-san and I felt that once we were sure this was legitimate that it should be brought for your consideration." Akane says.

There's a clap at the door that you find yourself groaning at. However, it is blessed tea, an entire jug, you send the servant packing and with a shrug just begin to drink the stuff as fast as you can.

"How do we use this Akane?" You ask.

"That is of course the thousand koku question as Yoritomo-san would say. The obvious answer of course is that in exchange for the Yasuki lands, we give all our support to Doji-san and essentially smother the coup in it's cradle. It is a little heavy handed, and it's unlikely that Doji-san will thank us for it. However, it does get us everything we want."

"Does it? Or does it tie us down to supporting the Crane from then on in order to make sure that the Kaiwan never take power?" You ask.

"There is that. The other option is of course that we work out a deal around the Yasuki lands that gives Domotai a victory, but not one that the Crab hate." She says.

You give a grunt.
"How do we do that. From what Hida-san said, the Crab are not backing down, they need the Yasuki too much."

"The answer to that my Emperor is to make it so that they don't." She says.


Your glare at her again.
"This Yasuki thing needs to be solved. Yes the Crane are correct, Yasuki Hachi was a Crane first and foremost, by every law and tradition, including the ones we just made, the inheritance passes to his nearest relative who happens to be a Crane. However, the Yasuki have been the strong feet supporting the Crab for literally centuries. Neither side is wrong, both are."

"An apt summary, but why tell me?" Akane asks.

You answer.
"Because my head is killing me, and I need to go over it again to make sure I got it right....it looks like the Crane need to be given the land, but then give that land to the Crab"

"That would play into the coup's hands would it not?"

"Maybe...I'm going to recover and wait for my meeting with Doji-san. Can I ask you and Otomo-san to find out what they would need to give up the Yasuki Lands?" You ask.

Akane shakes her head.
"They want something of equal value to the Yasuki lands."

"..." You look at your empty tea.

"I think I might have an idea" You say.

"My Emperor?"

"I know you don't have Yoritomo-san here, but can you find out the general tithe the Crane give to the Crab by law? and how much the Yasuki lands make per year" you ask.

"Hai...reviewing the case. The Yasuki lands produce give or take approximately 40,000 Koku worth of goods a year. This does not include trade or other value added activities. The Crane provide approximately 5,000 koku worth of Jade and other materials a year." Akane rattles off.

Damn. There goes you idea of suspending the tithes, until the Crane received an equal amount to the loss of the Yasuki lands. That was just never going to happen at those rates. This was, frustrating.

"So to be clear, Doji-san needs a win to keep her position. We want her to keep the position so the war doesn't resume, given that there is in fact another war coming. However, the Crab need those lands to do their jobs, and they won't give it up. They also still want to hit the Scorpion once or twice. What a magnificent mess" You say.

"Again, repeating yourself, My Emperor"

"Then give me a solution"

Akane frowns.
She doesn't want to say it, but she doesn't have anything either. There is no web of lies to expose here. No brutal honesty that can force everyone to the table. Maybe...maybe you can't solve this? No that's not acceptable.

"Keep working on it. Kitsuki-san." You order.

"Of course, I'll leave you to recover."

You nod finishing off the last of your tea.
At least you had a day or so to get yourself back together. Then you had to meet Doji Domotai at

[] A quiet snow viewing held with you and a single chaperone
[] A small concert with the best musicians in the land.
[] At the art exhibition in preparation for judgement tomorrow

Will you tell her about the information that Akane and Kotaro uncovered?
[] Yes
[] No

--A quiet Snow Viewing

As fortune would have it, Horiuchi Shem-zhe does in fact know how to cure a hang over. He graciously helps you with that while you spend the rest of the day preparing for your meeting. The Crane are going to take it in the teeth, you don't see a way around it. You cannot, will not accept a war in the south between your vassals. Not if you may well be needing every samurai, every koku in the North soon. Sad fact is that the Crane while important, aren't as important as the Crab to you. Not when you have to make sure they can handle the Southern Foe without any support from the rest of the Empire.

The small open viewing room at the top of the Tower of Stars looks out at a frozen moonlit night. The snows have been falling in a soft gentle blanket all day. Coating the land in a pure cloak of white that glitters with reflected glory of Lady Hitomi.

It's beautiful, all too rarely do you just take the time to do this. Not because you don't appreciate the arts...but because you have so much to do.

Behind you a carefully managed fire roars at your back to keep the cold from your body. Heavy clothes wrap around your skin as a further precaution. Your chaperone a truly ancient monk from the Order of Silence, tends to the flames.

As you sip the slightly sweet jasmine tea, you glance over at Domotai, who for the life her doesn't look like she's uncomfortable where she is. Indeed, she seems prepared to wait essentially as long as you needed before the conversation could begin.

Respectful, but not helpful.

"Doji-san, shall we begin?"

"My Emperor, I am ever your servant." She says calmly.

Snow viewing has two components to it. First obviously is to watch the snow, watch the world as it covers itself in the embrace of the snow goddess Kumaokami. The second part, and why it caught on, was to compose a short poem of how the snow makes you feel.

As with Paneki's banter these haiku serve a dual meaning, they say one things but also carry another conversation. While you have never been terribly interested in poetry, you are able to keep up.

Through careful words, you find yourself expressing the knowledge of Domotai's precarious position. A fact that she acknowledges in full. She herself hints that the War of Silk and Steel ended because of another reason than simple exhaustion, and that it is this reason that sees the Daidoji close to mutiny.

You press lightly, but she refuses to explain. Only saying that the Daidoji have given much to defend the Crane, and they are right to be angry, for they knew not the shame that she purged from them. Idly, you wonder that if perhaps you had focused on courtly matters this year instead of law, you could have stopped this.

The game continues, metaphor and simile dancing around the true subject like a yuki-onna in a blizzard. Domotai cannot return to the Crane without a victory not and keep her position. Something she cares not for herself, but for the young soul that is now growing inside her.

How does one respond to that? How does one tell someone else that you don't care about their child. You know if someone tried to do that to you about your daughter...there would be one less person in the world and it wouldn't be you.

But a victory? How do you give the Crane a victory when the Crab need the Yasuki lands? Domotai is apologetic, but she has no answers for you.

Sacrifices must be made, and you'd already determined that it was the Crane who would sacrifice for you. Not because you had earned their loyalty, their dedication, but because it was simple politic---

You frown, something niggled at the back of your mind. You look at Domotai, who is already throwing off her heavy clothes and whirling around. Following her lead, you spin to see a woman, no not a woman. Someone with no face, standing over the corpse of the monk. Her clothing is fine too fine...they look like...

"What have you done with Utaku-sama" Domotai hisses, drawing her wakizashi.

Utaku Xieng Chi's clothes. You finish lamely in your head.

"Slain" The figure hisses.

"Who are you?" You demand taking your own battle stance.

It stops for a moment before listening to some unseen presence.

"A shadow has no name. The Lord of All, the Shadow Dragon demands your death"

Well that answered one question and raised over a dozen more. For example, how the fuck had one of the Goju gotten in here? Why reveal itself? And why did it need to kill Utaku Xieng Chi?

You know that it won't answer, but for now you have to win this. Domotai is pregnant if not very far along, but how much that affects your planning you aren't sure. According to Itsume-sensei, the only true way to kill a Goju was to stick crystal into it's body until it stopped being a body.

You don't have any crystal, more is the pity. However, you do have the sword of the Righteous Emperor, forged by the greatest mortal Tsi Smith and later reforged by the Fortune of Steel. According to your father there was nothing it could not cut. Indeed some whispered that it had been his decision to leave behind the blade that led to your father eventually perishing at the Tomb of the Seven Thunders.

On the other hand, your better with your fists than your blade in all honesty, and you don't have to win. You just have to get the Goju away from you and get to Shem-Zhe. Dealing with this was literally his job description.

There's only a moment to make your decision

[] Use your fists and try to through the Goju out the window to the snow below and run
[] Take your sword and see if it can cut.

And you need to decide what to do with Domotai

[] Try to protect her.
[] She's fought before, who cares if she's pregnant, she can handle herself.