Burden of the Emerald Empire (A Legend of the Five Rings Tale)
- Thread starter gman391
- Start date
- Fantasy
- Location
- Leeds
Sorry.
[X] I don't have any strong opinions.
- Location
- Virginia
[X] Girl: Kaiya
[X] Boy: Kouya
[X] Boy: Kouya
- Location
- Moon-Station
[X] Let gman decide
Year 15: Marriage Realized
Month of the Rooster, 12th day
There were a lot of emotions that grooms are supposed to feel. Joy at their bride, hope at the prospects of children, concern over their in laws. Yet, you don't feel any of these things. Your eyes absently look over the richly appointed small waiting room in the temple of the Seven Fortune's Temple. The careful smells of sandalwood incense mixing with the cherry paneled wood and fruit perfume on person. It was all very grand in an understated way.
A part of you wonders what that means for the future of your marriage to Kana. Another part of you laments that you let your emotions controlled you so thoroughly, if you had said no to Ayumi, even if breaking her heart you wouldn't be here feeling ambivalent about marrying a woman a decade your junior.
That wasn't a slight on her, she tried, Benten knows that Kana tries to reach in, to be a good wife. By every rational standard you should be absolutely ecstatic about marrying her. An amazing personality, good breeding, strong ability, and only a blind man missed her beauty.
So then why weren't you happy? You remember the feeling of nausea in your stomach as you fought to keep a perfect neutral mask during your marriage to Kaname. The heady feeling of making the right choice at the right time.
Looking back, you admit that there was a large degree of lust there. But it was so much more than that, Kaname was a partner in every sense of the world. Where you could be weak.
"Its almost time isn't it." Kaneka says approaching behind you.
"Uncle, I was unsure you would be able to make it in time, it is good to see you."
Kaneka scratched his graying head and offers a bit of a smile.
"Wife'd never let me hear the end of it if I missed this."
"How is Yasuyo-san?" You ask.
"She's managing, fighting off retirement even still." He says.
"A lot of people talking about that..." you muse.
"Hai, I'm probably not long for a monastery myself, these last years have been nice, but well Kakita-san shows what trying to play a young man's game gets you. This isn't about that though" Kaneka says.
Your uncle moves around to face you fully on, one of the few who ever really looked you in your eyes.
"What is it about then Otomo-san?" You ask.
Kaneka shrugs.
"Your mother thought you would need something, even if she can't make it herself."
Unspoken was that neither of you wanted to see each other.
"I do not need anything Uncle. Just thinking about the marriage."
"And how it doesn't feel like it should."
"And how it doesn't feel like it should" you agree. "Wait what? How did you?"
Kaneka shakes his head.
"Because I felt the same way when I married Yasuyo."
"Eh? I know that your marriage was more politics then love, but I thought you were at least fond of her?"
Kaneka nods as he turns to look out the door into the central hall.
"I loved a geisha first, like father like son eh? Well skipped you for some reason." Kaneka says wryly. "I asked her to marry me, she said no...but we stayed together until I married Yasuyo...we weren't married by anything more than our bonds, but it felt real." His face rueful.
"I wasn't fair to Yasuyo that first year, I kept thinking it wasn't like the geisha, wasn't what I wanted it to be. That it didn't feel right"
"Why are you telling me this?" You ask.
"Matsu Kana deserves better than that...and you know it." Kaneka answers.
"Uncle, I just can't turn off my feelings for Kaname..." you say.
"No one is asking you, I'm telling you that you need to give Kana-san a chance, a real chance, instead of trying to make her fit into your life."
"I'm marrying her aren't I?"
Kaneka gives a low sigh.
"Just...don't make her take the first move tonight." he finally says. "By your leave?"
"Hai"
It was rare that you were scolded, rarer still that you just let it happen, but Kaneka was the only person in the world besides maybe Takeshi who was allowed to talk to you like that.
You push off the things he brought up. Kana was Kana, and you didn't dream of making her take Kaname's place no one could do that. You wouldn't just force someone into a place they didn't belong, you were smarter than that.
The slow sounds of Kana arriving is your cue to move out to the altar to perform the wedding ceremony.
---------------
The wedding was as expected of the Imperial Throne, magnificent, the Lion were certainly happy to see one of their own ascend as the Dai-sojou of the Order of Benten herself performed the ceremony with the support of the Chief Astrologer. Kana had looked radiant in her simple white kimono, her make up artfully done. Familiar steps that every man and woman in the Empire had seen or done at one point or another were undertaken as she approached, the exchange of rice, sake and salt...and you taking off her white cloak to reveal the brilliant red kimono underneath that declared her to no longer be Matsu Kana, but Toturi Kana. Those brown eyes had shimmered with something as you delicately brushed her hair away and caressed her fingers.
What it was eluded you though. (No it didn't, it was fear)
You had pushed that concern out of your mind to go to the Reception at the Imperial palace where you would mingle and do the usual political capital building that had become such a part of your daily life.
Even if that included your worm of an Imperial Chancellor. Happy thoughts Hisao, happy thoughts. Moments turned to hours, one drink turned to five, and before anyone knew it, Lord Moon had risen and the guests gone home.
Which left you alone in the Imperial Bedchamber, the large futon spread out for you and Kana. The Servants had been given a holiday largely because you were pretty sure most of them would be drinking all the shoju and sake that your noble guests hadn't managed to get through, which was a lot come to think of it. You file away asking the Palace Chamberlain exactly why so much had been laid out later.
Slowly you began moving through the careful knots and bindings to remove your kimono, the smooth silk sliding off your form into preset folded patterns, it would be washed and then kept as a gift for your grandson or something. Wedding kimono were only really meant to be worn once.
As your hands continue to move, you hear a small sound from the bed, not quite a squeak and not quite a sob but some of sort of quiet noise of despair.
You look up, shirt half open to see Kana sitting there, face and eyes slightly red. Shimmering tears in them, right, she had been putting away the sake too hadn't she? You recall telling her to pace herself, but hadn't thought much of it, as few cups you had nursed all evening were the result of you wishing to avoid a hang over more than anything.
Yes you could order one of the Miharu to cleanse the pain from you, but Shem-Zhe was fond of reminding you that it meant they had less to work with if something did happen.
"Kana?" You ask.
The redness on her face expands as she looks away.
"Sorry" she mumbles.
"Is something wrong?" You ask.
"No..nothing...nothing is wrong" She says quickly too quickly.
You stop changing into your night clothes to sit beside her. She looks so young here, so vulnerable, her dark brown eyes looking anywhere but you.
"Kana..."
"I guess nerves maybe...I don't....know...I thought I was ready for this, thought I could handle just being a political wife, and I can and I..." she trails off to look at her hands.
Kaneka's words come back to you.
'You need to give her a chance, a real chance, not just trying to make her fit into your life'
"I didn't think I aged that badly" You say trying to break the awkward silence.
Kana looks up
"No..no.no... I just.....it's stupid, and you'll hate me if I tell you, and its okay."
Clumsily she reaches forward towards your hakama and begins to pull down the waist. You reach out and stop her.
'Promise me' Kaname's words float back to your mind. How had you fallen for her...it felt so long, it wasn't that first year, nor even the second...you had worked with her, spent time with her, talked to her.
You had talked to Kana about how to fit into the Imperial bureaucracy, how to be the Empress...but you had spent so much time on other things hunting down the Kolat, trying to keep the clans in line, preparing for no doubt some suitably grand thing at Kyuden Doji this winter.
And....you hadn't take the time you did with Kaname. You had simply picked her because she looked like she was the least difficult and most amenable to fitting in.
The thought leaves you feeling cold. You were the Emperor of the Emerald Empire, ten hundred thousand souls lived and died at your competence. The Empire needed you in every sense of the word, the weight of Burden reminding you every time of that simple fact.
However....you were also a husband, thrice now depending on how you defined a concubine, and what had you done? You had doted on Ayumi bearer of your son and daughter Kaiya and Kouya, but you had just let Kana find her own way.
No wonder she was so nervous.
"H..have I offended...my lord?" she asks her voice whisper soft.
"No..no..." You say gently.
You move your hands into hers and hold them. They're soft, the calluses of her lifestyle carefully smoothed away by the small army of beauticians that had attended to her for the last week.
"Then why?" She asks.
Why indeed.
"Because you deserve better than that" You find yourself saying.
"My lord?" She asks
Something turns in your head.
"Hisao...when we're alone, call me Hisao."
You love Kaname, you love Ayumi...and you never let yourself try to love Kana, because you didn't want to betray either of them...but that wasn't fair to anyone. Even Ayumi had asked that you always love her as well, not for your loyalty. So this young woman, who for months could only assume that you had chosen her because of the symbolic connections and the desire to bind the Lion Clan ever closer to the Throne in preparation for the war with the Yodotai (Which could after all see Takeshi die) had been a victim of your fear.
"My...l--Hisao...what have I done wrong?" Kana asks.
You may not love Kana, but by all the gods, you will do right by her. Just as you will do right by Ayumi, by Kaname, by your children, by your Empire. That's who you are.
With a smooth motion you pull Kana on to your lap and kiss her, wrapping your arms around her.
She squeaks again in surprise at that, her own arms going around you as the kiss breaks. Her eyes look at you in confusion, concern, fear, and distantly lust. Had you just stolen her first kiss? A part of you wants the answer to be yes.
"Nothing, Kana, you've done nothing wrong." You say softly. "I'm your husband, I should show you that you are wanted." A hand gently rubs her back.
"...I thought...they held your heart. I didn't hate them for it." Kana says resting her head against your shoulder.
"They do...but I chose you as my bride, and while I cannot promise love Kana, I can promise this. I will be your husband, and treat you like the treasure you are...I'm sorry it took me so long to see what was in front of me." You say.
A sniffle.
"Its..its okay...I know I'm not---" You cut off Kana's recrimination with another kiss.
"Not tonight Kana" You say breaking the kiss.
She says nothing.
"Tonight, you are the only thing that matters."
"I...can't...Hisao..." she stammers trying to process all of this. "What...what changed?" Kana finally gets out.
"An old mentor gave me some advice." You say.
Kana looks up at you with a confused expression.
"And that made you look at me?" She asks.
"It made me realize what I was doing to you, and how it wasn't fair...we don't have to do anything tonight you don't want to Kana. But, I do want to show you, that you are wanted...and important." You say.
Kana reaches up with one hand to stroke your face.
"...okay Hisao-kun...be gentle please?"
You turn your head and kiss her fingers.
"Hai, Kana-chan" you say.
-------------------------------------------------
AN: Sorry for the long delay, I know I say that a lot but I just sort of burned out for a while there. While no vote here, I hope to have another update with one soon going on in winter court at Kyuden Doji.
I do need a pregnancy roll though
There were a lot of emotions that grooms are supposed to feel. Joy at their bride, hope at the prospects of children, concern over their in laws. Yet, you don't feel any of these things. Your eyes absently look over the richly appointed small waiting room in the temple of the Seven Fortune's Temple. The careful smells of sandalwood incense mixing with the cherry paneled wood and fruit perfume on person. It was all very grand in an understated way.
A part of you wonders what that means for the future of your marriage to Kana. Another part of you laments that you let your emotions controlled you so thoroughly, if you had said no to Ayumi, even if breaking her heart you wouldn't be here feeling ambivalent about marrying a woman a decade your junior.
That wasn't a slight on her, she tried, Benten knows that Kana tries to reach in, to be a good wife. By every rational standard you should be absolutely ecstatic about marrying her. An amazing personality, good breeding, strong ability, and only a blind man missed her beauty.
So then why weren't you happy? You remember the feeling of nausea in your stomach as you fought to keep a perfect neutral mask during your marriage to Kaname. The heady feeling of making the right choice at the right time.
Looking back, you admit that there was a large degree of lust there. But it was so much more than that, Kaname was a partner in every sense of the world. Where you could be weak.
"Its almost time isn't it." Kaneka says approaching behind you.
"Uncle, I was unsure you would be able to make it in time, it is good to see you."
Kaneka scratched his graying head and offers a bit of a smile.
"Wife'd never let me hear the end of it if I missed this."
"How is Yasuyo-san?" You ask.
"She's managing, fighting off retirement even still." He says.
"A lot of people talking about that..." you muse.
"Hai, I'm probably not long for a monastery myself, these last years have been nice, but well Kakita-san shows what trying to play a young man's game gets you. This isn't about that though" Kaneka says.
Your uncle moves around to face you fully on, one of the few who ever really looked you in your eyes.
"What is it about then Otomo-san?" You ask.
Kaneka shrugs.
"Your mother thought you would need something, even if she can't make it herself."
Unspoken was that neither of you wanted to see each other.
"I do not need anything Uncle. Just thinking about the marriage."
"And how it doesn't feel like it should."
"And how it doesn't feel like it should" you agree. "Wait what? How did you?"
Kaneka shakes his head.
"Because I felt the same way when I married Yasuyo."
"Eh? I know that your marriage was more politics then love, but I thought you were at least fond of her?"
Kaneka nods as he turns to look out the door into the central hall.
"I loved a geisha first, like father like son eh? Well skipped you for some reason." Kaneka says wryly. "I asked her to marry me, she said no...but we stayed together until I married Yasuyo...we weren't married by anything more than our bonds, but it felt real." His face rueful.
"I wasn't fair to Yasuyo that first year, I kept thinking it wasn't like the geisha, wasn't what I wanted it to be. That it didn't feel right"
"Why are you telling me this?" You ask.
"Matsu Kana deserves better than that...and you know it." Kaneka answers.
"Uncle, I just can't turn off my feelings for Kaname..." you say.
"No one is asking you, I'm telling you that you need to give Kana-san a chance, a real chance, instead of trying to make her fit into your life."
"I'm marrying her aren't I?"
Kaneka gives a low sigh.
"Just...don't make her take the first move tonight." he finally says. "By your leave?"
"Hai"
It was rare that you were scolded, rarer still that you just let it happen, but Kaneka was the only person in the world besides maybe Takeshi who was allowed to talk to you like that.
You push off the things he brought up. Kana was Kana, and you didn't dream of making her take Kaname's place no one could do that. You wouldn't just force someone into a place they didn't belong, you were smarter than that.
The slow sounds of Kana arriving is your cue to move out to the altar to perform the wedding ceremony.
---------------
The wedding was as expected of the Imperial Throne, magnificent, the Lion were certainly happy to see one of their own ascend as the Dai-sojou of the Order of Benten herself performed the ceremony with the support of the Chief Astrologer. Kana had looked radiant in her simple white kimono, her make up artfully done. Familiar steps that every man and woman in the Empire had seen or done at one point or another were undertaken as she approached, the exchange of rice, sake and salt...and you taking off her white cloak to reveal the brilliant red kimono underneath that declared her to no longer be Matsu Kana, but Toturi Kana. Those brown eyes had shimmered with something as you delicately brushed her hair away and caressed her fingers.
What it was eluded you though. (No it didn't, it was fear)
You had pushed that concern out of your mind to go to the Reception at the Imperial palace where you would mingle and do the usual political capital building that had become such a part of your daily life.
Even if that included your worm of an Imperial Chancellor. Happy thoughts Hisao, happy thoughts. Moments turned to hours, one drink turned to five, and before anyone knew it, Lord Moon had risen and the guests gone home.
Which left you alone in the Imperial Bedchamber, the large futon spread out for you and Kana. The Servants had been given a holiday largely because you were pretty sure most of them would be drinking all the shoju and sake that your noble guests hadn't managed to get through, which was a lot come to think of it. You file away asking the Palace Chamberlain exactly why so much had been laid out later.
Slowly you began moving through the careful knots and bindings to remove your kimono, the smooth silk sliding off your form into preset folded patterns, it would be washed and then kept as a gift for your grandson or something. Wedding kimono were only really meant to be worn once.
As your hands continue to move, you hear a small sound from the bed, not quite a squeak and not quite a sob but some of sort of quiet noise of despair.
You look up, shirt half open to see Kana sitting there, face and eyes slightly red. Shimmering tears in them, right, she had been putting away the sake too hadn't she? You recall telling her to pace herself, but hadn't thought much of it, as few cups you had nursed all evening were the result of you wishing to avoid a hang over more than anything.
Yes you could order one of the Miharu to cleanse the pain from you, but Shem-Zhe was fond of reminding you that it meant they had less to work with if something did happen.
"Kana?" You ask.
The redness on her face expands as she looks away.
"Sorry" she mumbles.
"Is something wrong?" You ask.
"No..nothing...nothing is wrong" She says quickly too quickly.
You stop changing into your night clothes to sit beside her. She looks so young here, so vulnerable, her dark brown eyes looking anywhere but you.
"Kana..."
"I guess nerves maybe...I don't....know...I thought I was ready for this, thought I could handle just being a political wife, and I can and I..." she trails off to look at her hands.
Kaneka's words come back to you.
'You need to give her a chance, a real chance, not just trying to make her fit into your life'
"I didn't think I aged that badly" You say trying to break the awkward silence.
Kana looks up
"No..no.no... I just.....it's stupid, and you'll hate me if I tell you, and its okay."
Clumsily she reaches forward towards your hakama and begins to pull down the waist. You reach out and stop her.
'Promise me' Kaname's words float back to your mind. How had you fallen for her...it felt so long, it wasn't that first year, nor even the second...you had worked with her, spent time with her, talked to her.
You had talked to Kana about how to fit into the Imperial bureaucracy, how to be the Empress...but you had spent so much time on other things hunting down the Kolat, trying to keep the clans in line, preparing for no doubt some suitably grand thing at Kyuden Doji this winter.
And....you hadn't take the time you did with Kaname. You had simply picked her because she looked like she was the least difficult and most amenable to fitting in.
The thought leaves you feeling cold. You were the Emperor of the Emerald Empire, ten hundred thousand souls lived and died at your competence. The Empire needed you in every sense of the word, the weight of Burden reminding you every time of that simple fact.
However....you were also a husband, thrice now depending on how you defined a concubine, and what had you done? You had doted on Ayumi bearer of your son and daughter Kaiya and Kouya, but you had just let Kana find her own way.
No wonder she was so nervous.
"H..have I offended...my lord?" she asks her voice whisper soft.
"No..no..." You say gently.
You move your hands into hers and hold them. They're soft, the calluses of her lifestyle carefully smoothed away by the small army of beauticians that had attended to her for the last week.
"Then why?" She asks.
Why indeed.
"Because you deserve better than that" You find yourself saying.
"My lord?" She asks
Something turns in your head.
"Hisao...when we're alone, call me Hisao."
You love Kaname, you love Ayumi...and you never let yourself try to love Kana, because you didn't want to betray either of them...but that wasn't fair to anyone. Even Ayumi had asked that you always love her as well, not for your loyalty. So this young woman, who for months could only assume that you had chosen her because of the symbolic connections and the desire to bind the Lion Clan ever closer to the Throne in preparation for the war with the Yodotai (Which could after all see Takeshi die) had been a victim of your fear.
"My...l--Hisao...what have I done wrong?" Kana asks.
You may not love Kana, but by all the gods, you will do right by her. Just as you will do right by Ayumi, by Kaname, by your children, by your Empire. That's who you are.
With a smooth motion you pull Kana on to your lap and kiss her, wrapping your arms around her.
She squeaks again in surprise at that, her own arms going around you as the kiss breaks. Her eyes look at you in confusion, concern, fear, and distantly lust. Had you just stolen her first kiss? A part of you wants the answer to be yes.
"Nothing, Kana, you've done nothing wrong." You say softly. "I'm your husband, I should show you that you are wanted." A hand gently rubs her back.
"...I thought...they held your heart. I didn't hate them for it." Kana says resting her head against your shoulder.
"They do...but I chose you as my bride, and while I cannot promise love Kana, I can promise this. I will be your husband, and treat you like the treasure you are...I'm sorry it took me so long to see what was in front of me." You say.
A sniffle.
"Its..its okay...I know I'm not---" You cut off Kana's recrimination with another kiss.
"Not tonight Kana" You say breaking the kiss.
She says nothing.
"Tonight, you are the only thing that matters."
"I...can't...Hisao..." she stammers trying to process all of this. "What...what changed?" Kana finally gets out.
"An old mentor gave me some advice." You say.
Kana looks up at you with a confused expression.
"And that made you look at me?" She asks.
"It made me realize what I was doing to you, and how it wasn't fair...we don't have to do anything tonight you don't want to Kana. But, I do want to show you, that you are wanted...and important." You say.
Kana reaches up with one hand to stroke your face.
"...okay Hisao-kun...be gentle please?"
You turn your head and kiss her fingers.
"Hai, Kana-chan" you say.
-------------------------------------------------
AN: Sorry for the long delay, I know I say that a lot but I just sort of burned out for a while there. While no vote here, I hope to have another update with one soon going on in winter court at Kyuden Doji.
I do need a pregnancy roll though
keenscythe
No longer NEET
- Location
- WA, USA
Need to mlook up the mechanics again.
Edit: no babies this year.
Edit: no babies this year.
Last edited:
Winter Court XV: A Warm Garden
Month of the Rat, 12th Day (Early Winter)
-Kyuden Doji-
There was a deep wish in you to simply stay in Toshi Ranbo. To simply spend the winter giving Kana the attention she deserved instead of treating her as an afterthought. However, what you wanted and what you had to do were often two very different things. For good or ill, your need to keep the Clans from not killing each other meant you couldn't afford to slight any of them either. Such as by cancelling your Winter Court for your Lion born bride.
While the Otomo were smugly pleased that the Alliance of the Two Hands had broken with the end of Doji Domotai. You had no desire to see the Left Hand being beaten silly by the Right Hand either. You needed both your hands damn it! Shame they had minds of their own.
So as Kana is given every courtesy by the Empress' Guard, her all Crane guard, you find yourself instead resting in the fabulous gardens of the Crane. Winter might in theory mean that plants and such things should return to the cold drabness of the endless snows that was common in the North.
The Crane had long since decided that not even the endless grey of Winter would stop them from being pursuing artistic perfection. There was something admirable about that, even if the time when they could dedicate themselves so wholly to such a thing had long passed. The current garden you sat in, was a testament. The empty tree branches arranged so that they all flowed into each other creating intricate flowing stanza of meditative phrases on 'mono no aware' the beautiful transience of life. It was all very subtle, your eyes made the words more than the branches did, but you could appreciate that as well.
It had been not a particularly long day by your standards, but the castle evoked something of a nostalgic feeling within you. You hadn't truly known Ikoma Otemi when he died, Domotai though, Domotai you knew and trusted...and the last time you had been here, she was here as well. Your mind's eye remembers easily the set of her jaw as she had kept her composure even as the foreigners had called out with every step for her to cut them down.
That nostalgic feeling was more common these days. For all that you had ruled for nigh fifteen years, it felt like so much more. So you would rest here on a stone bench and enjoy the warmth. The stone, the walkway was heated by carefully arranged heating pipes laid into it allowing you to enjoy the garden in any time of the year.
A small shift of noise from the down the path causes you to look that way as Kakita Noritoshi approaches. There's a wry look of not quite resignation but no other term fit either. The old Kakita looked wrong missing his arm, even if the Master of Water could in theory regrow it, (Along with some of the Kitsu and perhaps the Asahina master healers) Noritoshi refused to avail himself of it. Why he wouldn't say, although you suspected it was because he didn't want to inadvertently inspire some of his troops to have Kolat sympathies.
To overthrow the Celestial Order, what madness was that? As if anything they could create would be any better? You would not deny that there were on occasion bad Emperor's as the late and unmourned Hantei XVI proved. Yet, those were exceptions not the rule. It was most often the Emperor or the Emerald Champion attempting to reign the excesses of the local petty tyrants.
In the abstract you could disagree with the Imperial decree on anything, but when it was Imperial decree that kept all you loved from simply being destroyed, well then, that was an entirely different matter. It was all you could do to rein in the Clans and they thought the Clans would rein themselves in? Madness surely.
But a seductive madness if what records that remained from the Hidden Temple were true.
You banish the thought from your mind as Noritoshi goes through the ritual of kowtowing and you command him to stand and then to sit.
Noritoshi hesitates for a moment and does so, being granted an honour very few have ever had. To sit with the Emperor instead of kneeling before him. He did lose an arm for you, you could allow him this much in the heart of the Crane.
"My Emperor" He says.
"Noritoshi-san." You say. "Enjoying your homeland?"
"Hai...I have been in talks with Daidoji Kikaze-san, Asahina Beniha-san and Doji Makoto-ue. It has been enlightening." Noritoshi says.
"How so?" You ask.
"They wish for me to retire not only from the Emerald Championship but also the rulership of the Kakita." is said simply.
Too simply for a man being told that he had given his life for the Empire and now would not even be allowed a retirement.
"I was not under the impression that Daidoji-san or Asahina-san were precisely spring flowers themselves." You say noncommittally.
"They are not, Daidoji-san plans to retire when Doji-Ue takes up the rulership of the Crane. Asahina-san intends to stay on only so long as it takes for Doji-san to get things in order." Noritoshi says.
"Why are you telling me this Kakita-san? While I have opinions naturally; in the end this is an internal Clan matter. " You say.
"You intend to retire in four years give or take a few months, hai my Emperor?" he asks.
"Yes." You say.
Your reasons are somewhat selfish but also practical, for three Emperor's the Toturi have not had a single peaceful succession. In addition you would also still be of sound mind enough to advise your daughter without being so beholden to courtly decorum as your uncle had been.
"I did not intend to retire so easily. My son he was...born with the curse of Shiro Kakita. We both know that a war with the Yodotai is inevitable, one which will see all the Legions and all the Clans having to march as one. While it is not a position I have to use often. I am the Rikugunshokan of the Kakita, as all the Family daimyo are for their family armies."
"Asahina excepted" you note.
"Asahina excepted" He agrees. "My son he cannot draw steel, he cannot fight..." Noritoshi trails off.
"As I recall the lad is wed to one of your favoured students, a Kakita Kaori-san. Can she not fight in his stead?" You ask.
"Hai, but it feels...wrong to leave my family in the lurch yet again. The Army of Eight Banners was well lead by Bayushi-san...but it should have been me, would have been if not for my position as Emerald Champion." Noritoshi says.
You elect not to correct him on the matter.
"However, none of that explains to me Kakita-san why you would come to me, unless you want me to intervene in some matter." You say.
"No, I want...this will sound strange given I am your advisor, but how do you prepare yourself to give up being the Emperor? How do you ignore the doubt in the back of your mind of them just not being ready?" Noritoshi asks.
That's a fair question.
"You want my advice then, on how to step down?" You ask carefully.
"Among other things, I cannot as much as I wish, I cannot remain your Champion, that much is not in doubt. However, a general can still lead without an arm. Bishamon-no-kami knows the Lion almost make a fetish of it as much as they do missing an eye."
You raise one eyebrow at that noting Noritoshi's own missing eye.
"It seems at this rate only Horiuchi-san will remain of my original counselors." You say instead.
Noritoshi says nothing, you both know that he too wishes to retire but won't simply because it would leave the Unicorn without a voice on your council.
"So my Emperor, how do you silence that voice that says your heir is not ready?" Noritoshi asks.
[] Write in
-Kyuden Doji-
There was a deep wish in you to simply stay in Toshi Ranbo. To simply spend the winter giving Kana the attention she deserved instead of treating her as an afterthought. However, what you wanted and what you had to do were often two very different things. For good or ill, your need to keep the Clans from not killing each other meant you couldn't afford to slight any of them either. Such as by cancelling your Winter Court for your Lion born bride.
While the Otomo were smugly pleased that the Alliance of the Two Hands had broken with the end of Doji Domotai. You had no desire to see the Left Hand being beaten silly by the Right Hand either. You needed both your hands damn it! Shame they had minds of their own.
So as Kana is given every courtesy by the Empress' Guard, her all Crane guard, you find yourself instead resting in the fabulous gardens of the Crane. Winter might in theory mean that plants and such things should return to the cold drabness of the endless snows that was common in the North.
The Crane had long since decided that not even the endless grey of Winter would stop them from being pursuing artistic perfection. There was something admirable about that, even if the time when they could dedicate themselves so wholly to such a thing had long passed. The current garden you sat in, was a testament. The empty tree branches arranged so that they all flowed into each other creating intricate flowing stanza of meditative phrases on 'mono no aware' the beautiful transience of life. It was all very subtle, your eyes made the words more than the branches did, but you could appreciate that as well.
It had been not a particularly long day by your standards, but the castle evoked something of a nostalgic feeling within you. You hadn't truly known Ikoma Otemi when he died, Domotai though, Domotai you knew and trusted...and the last time you had been here, she was here as well. Your mind's eye remembers easily the set of her jaw as she had kept her composure even as the foreigners had called out with every step for her to cut them down.
That nostalgic feeling was more common these days. For all that you had ruled for nigh fifteen years, it felt like so much more. So you would rest here on a stone bench and enjoy the warmth. The stone, the walkway was heated by carefully arranged heating pipes laid into it allowing you to enjoy the garden in any time of the year.
A small shift of noise from the down the path causes you to look that way as Kakita Noritoshi approaches. There's a wry look of not quite resignation but no other term fit either. The old Kakita looked wrong missing his arm, even if the Master of Water could in theory regrow it, (Along with some of the Kitsu and perhaps the Asahina master healers) Noritoshi refused to avail himself of it. Why he wouldn't say, although you suspected it was because he didn't want to inadvertently inspire some of his troops to have Kolat sympathies.
To overthrow the Celestial Order, what madness was that? As if anything they could create would be any better? You would not deny that there were on occasion bad Emperor's as the late and unmourned Hantei XVI proved. Yet, those were exceptions not the rule. It was most often the Emperor or the Emerald Champion attempting to reign the excesses of the local petty tyrants.
In the abstract you could disagree with the Imperial decree on anything, but when it was Imperial decree that kept all you loved from simply being destroyed, well then, that was an entirely different matter. It was all you could do to rein in the Clans and they thought the Clans would rein themselves in? Madness surely.
But a seductive madness if what records that remained from the Hidden Temple were true.
You banish the thought from your mind as Noritoshi goes through the ritual of kowtowing and you command him to stand and then to sit.
Noritoshi hesitates for a moment and does so, being granted an honour very few have ever had. To sit with the Emperor instead of kneeling before him. He did lose an arm for you, you could allow him this much in the heart of the Crane.
"My Emperor" He says.
"Noritoshi-san." You say. "Enjoying your homeland?"
"Hai...I have been in talks with Daidoji Kikaze-san, Asahina Beniha-san and Doji Makoto-ue. It has been enlightening." Noritoshi says.
"How so?" You ask.
"They wish for me to retire not only from the Emerald Championship but also the rulership of the Kakita." is said simply.
Too simply for a man being told that he had given his life for the Empire and now would not even be allowed a retirement.
"I was not under the impression that Daidoji-san or Asahina-san were precisely spring flowers themselves." You say noncommittally.
"They are not, Daidoji-san plans to retire when Doji-Ue takes up the rulership of the Crane. Asahina-san intends to stay on only so long as it takes for Doji-san to get things in order." Noritoshi says.
"Why are you telling me this Kakita-san? While I have opinions naturally; in the end this is an internal Clan matter. " You say.
"You intend to retire in four years give or take a few months, hai my Emperor?" he asks.
"Yes." You say.
Your reasons are somewhat selfish but also practical, for three Emperor's the Toturi have not had a single peaceful succession. In addition you would also still be of sound mind enough to advise your daughter without being so beholden to courtly decorum as your uncle had been.
"I did not intend to retire so easily. My son he was...born with the curse of Shiro Kakita. We both know that a war with the Yodotai is inevitable, one which will see all the Legions and all the Clans having to march as one. While it is not a position I have to use often. I am the Rikugunshokan of the Kakita, as all the Family daimyo are for their family armies."
"Asahina excepted" you note.
"Asahina excepted" He agrees. "My son he cannot draw steel, he cannot fight..." Noritoshi trails off.
"As I recall the lad is wed to one of your favoured students, a Kakita Kaori-san. Can she not fight in his stead?" You ask.
"Hai, but it feels...wrong to leave my family in the lurch yet again. The Army of Eight Banners was well lead by Bayushi-san...but it should have been me, would have been if not for my position as Emerald Champion." Noritoshi says.
You elect not to correct him on the matter.
"However, none of that explains to me Kakita-san why you would come to me, unless you want me to intervene in some matter." You say.
"No, I want...this will sound strange given I am your advisor, but how do you prepare yourself to give up being the Emperor? How do you ignore the doubt in the back of your mind of them just not being ready?" Noritoshi asks.
That's a fair question.
"You want my advice then, on how to step down?" You ask carefully.
"Among other things, I cannot as much as I wish, I cannot remain your Champion, that much is not in doubt. However, a general can still lead without an arm. Bishamon-no-kami knows the Lion almost make a fetish of it as much as they do missing an eye."
You raise one eyebrow at that noting Noritoshi's own missing eye.
"It seems at this rate only Horiuchi-san will remain of my original counselors." You say instead.
Noritoshi says nothing, you both know that he too wishes to retire but won't simply because it would leave the Unicorn without a voice on your council.
"So my Emperor, how do you silence that voice that says your heir is not ready?" Noritoshi asks.
[] Write in
A combination of things. Without Noritoshi having his whole ronin pilgrimage thing and being Emerald Champion, he both never confronted just how vulnerable his son would be, and also didn't have time to really arrange a fostering, he left that to his wife, who focused more on raising him at home. Ikura is an acknowledged master of Mizu-do however.
But, Mizu-do and other martial arts are not the first weapon of a Samurai. The Togashi can do it because they have magic tattoos. Certain orders of Shinsei also have seeming mystic powers that samurai cannot replicate. Even the Hida Pragmatists are basically high risk high reward Shadowland murdering machines for things that have pesky traits like 'invincible to blades' and so on and don't fight in the main battle line.
Noritoshi is seeing the greatest fight in the Empire since the march to Volturnum, and looking at his son who would be a fantastic peace time daimyo and not seeing someone who can go into that maelstrom and come out the other side. Whether he's right or not isn't entirely important so much as he thinks he is.
(That he's comparing Ikura to Daidoji Akeha who instead of having her father die in 1173 has been mentored by him to be the best fucking Daidoji she could be, and excelled at it and Doji Makoto who is already a prodigy with the blade like his mother is probably part of it though)
- Location
- Leeds
Kakita Noritoshi - Accidental Lion
keenscythe
No longer NEET
- Location
- WA, USA
well might as well start the discussion.
[] I didn't feel I was ready either when I was coroneted (not sure of the correct verb, emperored sounds stupid), however I had excellent advisors and family to help me. That while the war with the Yodatai looms over the horizon, I believe I left the Empire stronger for her than it was at the beginning of my reign.
Thoughts? Likes? Dislikes? Suggestions for improvement?
[] I didn't feel I was ready either when I was coroneted (not sure of the correct verb, emperored sounds stupid), however I had excellent advisors and family to help me. That while the war with the Yodatai looms over the horizon, I believe I left the Empire stronger for her than it was at the beginning of my reign.
Thoughts? Likes? Dislikes? Suggestions for improvement?
- Location
- Leeds
I feel its less about what we've achieved and more about believing in what they'll achieve.
Sirrocco
Pedantic
It would be "crowned", not "coroneted", but "took the throne" might well work better.
VicSage
Not Crazy
- Location
- Czechoslovakia
It's a common mistake among any kind of autocrat. No matter what state they are in, they still think they have a significant amount of knowledge or influence necessary in order to keep things running smoothly, which leads to their abrupt death from age or other factors, and thus no smoothed transition. We are not always going to be at war, and long term a Peacetime daimyo will be more useful for the Crane, and we should consider using that in our statement.
Sirrocco
Pedantic
Well... how about this?
[x] Simply this - that they will never be ready, until they are. No one is ever ready for such things. I know that I was not, when I took the throne. Waiting another year, or two, or five? That will not make them more ready, where it matters. The difference is, if you hand it over while you can, they will have years in which to become ready, where you can offer assistance and advice to their unreadiness. If you wait until you must... then it is not so smooth.
[x] That voice will not be silenced. It is correct... but if you can step down in spite of it, you can turn it from the fruitless task of worrying to the more fruitful one of finding those places where your heir needs the help.
[x] Simply this - that they will never be ready, until they are. No one is ever ready for such things. I know that I was not, when I took the throne. Waiting another year, or two, or five? That will not make them more ready, where it matters. The difference is, if you hand it over while you can, they will have years in which to become ready, where you can offer assistance and advice to their unreadiness. If you wait until you must... then it is not so smooth.
[x] That voice will not be silenced. It is correct... but if you can step down in spite of it, you can turn it from the fruitless task of worrying to the more fruitful one of finding those places where your heir needs the help.
- Location
- Leeds
Love it.
You're not qualified to do a job until you've done that job for years. If thats the standards Starbucks holds its baristas to I don't see why we wouldn't with our daimyo's, and champions.
[x] Simply this - that they will never be ready, until they are. No one is ever ready for such things. I know that I was not, when I took the throne. Waiting another year, or two, or five? That will not make them more ready, where it matters. The difference is, if you hand it over while you can, they will have years in which to become ready, where you can offer assistance and advice to their unreadiness. If you wait until you must... then it is not so smooth.
[x] That voice will not be silenced. It is correct... but if you can step down in spite of it, you can turn it from the fruitless task of worrying to the more fruitful one of finding those places where your heir needs the help.
You're not qualified to do a job until you've done that job for years. If thats the standards Starbucks holds its baristas to I don't see why we wouldn't with our daimyo's, and champions.
[x] Simply this - that they will never be ready, until they are. No one is ever ready for such things. I know that I was not, when I took the throne. Waiting another year, or two, or five? That will not make them more ready, where it matters. The difference is, if you hand it over while you can, they will have years in which to become ready, where you can offer assistance and advice to their unreadiness. If you wait until you must... then it is not so smooth.
[x] That voice will not be silenced. It is correct... but if you can step down in spite of it, you can turn it from the fruitless task of worrying to the more fruitful one of finding those places where your heir needs the help.
VicSage
Not Crazy
- Location
- Czechoslovakia
[x] Simply this - that they will never be ready, until they are. No one is ever ready for such things. I know that I was not, when I took the throne. Waiting another year, or two, or five? That will not make them more ready, where it matters. The difference is, if you hand it over while you can, they will have years in which to become ready, where you can offer assistance and advice to their unreadiness. If you wait until you must... then it is not so smooth.
[x] That voice will not be silenced. It is correct... but if you can step down in spite of it, you can turn it from the fruitless task of worrying to the more fruitful one of finding those places where your heir needs the help.
Nicely done Mr. Squid.
[x] That voice will not be silenced. It is correct... but if you can step down in spite of it, you can turn it from the fruitless task of worrying to the more fruitful one of finding those places where your heir needs the help.
Nicely done Mr. Squid.
- Location
- Germany
[x] Simply this - that they will never be ready, until they are. No one is ever ready for such things. I know that I was not, when I took the throne. Waiting another year, or two, or five? That will not make them more ready, where it matters. The difference is, if you hand it over while you can, they will have years in which to become ready, where you can offer assistance and advice to their unreadiness. If you wait until you must... then it is not so smooth.
- Location
- Leeds
Its probably a Kolat conspiracy.
keenscythe
No longer NEET
- Location
- WA, USA
[x] Simply this - that they will never be ready, until they are. No one is ever ready for such things. I know that I was not, when I took the throne. Waiting another year, or two, or five? That will not make them more ready, where it matters. The difference is, if you hand it over while you can, they will have years in which to become ready, where you can offer assistance and advice to their unreadiness. If you wait until you must... then it is not so smooth.
[x] That voice will not be silenced. It is correct... but if you can step down in spite of it, you can turn it from the fruitless task of worrying to the more fruitful one of finding those places where your heir needs the help.
[x] That voice will not be silenced. It is correct... but if you can step down in spite of it, you can turn it from the fruitless task of worrying to the more fruitful one of finding those places where your heir needs the help.