...oh.
Well then. You have to admit you're not entirely sure what you should be thinking right now, let alone feeling. While you always knew on the intellectual level that there was a chance the duel could go against the Crane, and what precisely it would cost them if it did, you hadn't really given the possibility much thought. It just hadn't seemed very likely.
It was iaijutsu, and he was a fucking Kakita...
No, anger is not productive right now. You can already see Doji Mariko close her eyes on the far side of the parade ground, drawing back within herself as all around her the Lion cheer their comrade's stunning victory over their ancestral foe. Without a word, the Crane turns and heads back towards her quarters, moving at a calm and steady pace. Several of the Lion watch her go, but you cannot read their expressions from this angle and distance.
"Bayushi-sama?" You say quietly, aware that your lord is looking at you out of the corner of her eye. You're not quite sure what you want right now, and taking refuge in your lord's commands seems... well, maybe not ideal, but probably better than many other options.
"Hold, Soshi-san." Kimoko says calmly. "Before you go, what precisely do you intend to do?"
You take a breath to centre yourself, watching as Mariko vanishes inside the tower set aside for guest quarters. "See if I could obtain that letter, Bayushi-sama. Possibly... offer to be her second?"
You don't know if you can do that. As a courtier, Mariko has the right to jigai, allowing her to take her own life via a sharp knife to the throat. It is supposed to be less painful than the three cuts, but even so there is a strong chance that she might lose composure and show pain and distress. As her second, you would need to preserve her from that by taking her head with your katana. Can you truly bring yourself to do such a thing?
"Then go." Kimoko says, not unkindly. "Take a circuitous route, for discretion."
You go.
-/-
When you slide the door to Mariko's chambers open, you aren't entirely sure what you expect to see. The courtier sitting calmly in the centre of the room, surrounded by small cups and a fine ceramic kettle, was not high on the list. Mariko looks up as you enter, and smiles faintly. Her gaze seems... very distant.
"Soshi-san." She says softly. "I was just about to have some tea. I find it helps with attaining a calm state of mind. Join me?"
She seems calm enough to you already, but this would not the first time you have seen powerful emotions held behind a flawless On, so perhaps this is not surprising. Instead, you nod silently and sit down opposite her, accepting the cup as she offers it to you.
It is not the shugo-no-chaji, the full tea ceremony. That would take hours to perform and longer still to properly prepare, and you rather doubt that Mariko trusts her own composure enough to properly attend to all of the ritual's little details. It is, simply, two samurai having tea, snatching a bit of peace and tranquility in the aftermath of turbulent developments. Eventually, Mariko speaks.
"Did you come to try and save me, Soshi-san?" She asks, and there is an odd lilt to her voice. "To spirit me away through some secret tunnel and out across the Pass before the Lion could catch up?"
"Do you want me to?" You respond automatically, without thinking. Mariko seems to consider the idea for a moment, then shakes her head.
"Daidoji-san has already agreed to be my second." She says with deliberate care. "It is... strange, to have to ask someone to do that. To see my body going through the motions of what is required, while I simply drift among my thoughts."
She falls silent there for a time, and you don't know what to say. Eventually she laughs, very faintly, and sets her teacup down in front of her.
"It's funny. I had so many plans." She muses, staring off into the middle distance. "I suppose the Heavens have made their will clear, and I always knew it was a possibility, but I feel strangely incomplete knowing that I must leave before I can attend to them."
"Are there any that you can entrust to another?" You ask cautiously, not wanting to intrude upon her feelings with coarse reality but unwilling to let the chance slip away.
Mariko looks at you for a long moment. Then she rises to her feet and walks over to a small set of shelves by the window. There is a small box there, and within the box is a scroll. She takes it out and weighs it in her hand for a moment, before returning to her original position and sitting back down. She hands the scroll to you, and you take it wordlessly.
"Soshi-san... a request. If it turns out that you are right, and someone has deliberately orchestrated this..." She says slowly, as though not quite able to believe what she is saying. "Please, do something appropriately horrible to them."
You tuck the scroll inside your kimono, doing your best to tightly control your On. This is not the time for excessive displays of emotion. "Well... I am Scorpion."
Mariko laughs faintly. "Yes. Yes, I suppose you are." She says quietly. "I would... like to be alone now."
You leave.
-/-
When you return to your quarters, you note two things. One, you are the first one back. Two, there is a second scroll waiting for you on your pillow. There is a small note attached, marked only with the Torii Arch of the Ikoma family.
What do you do now?
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