Kyuden Bayushi
Scorpion Clan Lands
From the highest balcony on the tallest tower, hidden safely away behind wards and traps and the most fanatically loyal guards, Bayushi Shoju folded his hands behind his back and gazed out over the land that he ruled. Far below, life continued much as it always did for the people of the Scorpion - the courtiers struck their deals, the bushi practised their katas and the peasants laboured to support them both. As Champion, Shoju held the power of life and death over them all, a terrible authority of the kind matched only by a tiny handful of his peers... yet today, with the words of the missive still ringing in his mind, he could not help but find even that much power to be woefully insufficient.
"Prophecies can be such... inconvenient things," he said quietly, the words emerging clear and true even through the ornate mask that adorned his face.
"What will you do?" Bayushi Kachiko replied, stepping out to join her husband on the balcony. She was perhaps the single most beautiful woman in all of Rokugan, but right now he had no eyes for her; only the future, in all its many and varied guises.
"The wording is... vague," Shoju said thoughtfully, turning his gaze north towards the looming bulk of the Spine of the World mountain range. "The Last Hantei... surely the line has come close to dying out before. This can hardly be the only time when the Emperor had only a single child."
Most people thought of Kachiko as a beautiful woman, a seductive terror of the courts, but Shoju had long since come to value her for more than looks alone. She had one of the most incisive minds he had ever encountered, and between that and their long familiarity it took but a moment before she grasped the direction of his thoughts.
"I could contact my kin easily enough," she said calmly, "but the Ikoma would know. To trace a lineage such as that back through the entire history of the Empire is not something undertaken lightly."
"Mm. True enough," Shoju murmured, turning the idea over in his head as he inspected it for potential flaws. Together, the Ikoma and the Shosuro kept the
true history of the Empire, bereft of all the face-saving excuses and outright lies that one could find within the official records. If he wanted to find something that might potentially touch on embarrassments to the Imperial Line - be they bastards or adopted scions - he would likely need the cooperation of both families. It was a pity that the Lion were so hostile by default, but perhaps... "This Toturi is said to be of a level disposition, by the standards of his Clan. Could common cause be woven into something more?"
Kachiko tilted her head, considering that. "Perhaps. At the very least he should hear us out, if approached in the proper manner."
"Then that is what I will do."
-/-
Correspondence -/-
@Mina
- A letter is sent through official diplomatic channels, requesting an audience with someone who can speak for the Champion of the Lion and one of the Ikoma Historians. The Scorpion have uncovered what they believe may be a threat to the Empire as a whole, but one that needs proper historical context to be fully understood. A personal audience would be preferred, given the sensitivity of the matter, but it is understood that the honourable Akodo Toturi may have over commitments upon his time.
