(L5R) Ch 2 – The Betrothal, part 2

The Duty

Synopsis: Daidoji Kikaze meets with the samurai and sends them on a personal quest.

Shosuro Shigeru greets Ryu in the room and tells him that he has a gift for him. He opens a shoji and reveals Bayushi Yori who stands, rushes to him and almost crushes him in a bear hug. Shigeru tells them he will leave them alone. Ryu tries to get to Shigeru and asks if she is the price for the Dragon Helm. Shigeru says “of course not” before closing the shoji behind him. Ryu tries to follow Shigeru, but Yori pulls him back. She has not seen him in months and wants very much to make amends. Ryu does not resist and they spend much of the night pillowing and enjoying each others company.

During the night, Yori explains to Ryu what happened after winter court. She tells him that after Ryu had rebuffed her advances, she was convinced that he no longer had feelings for her, so she ran away. Cold and half-starved, she was found by a kind ronin who helped her out and nursed her back to health. The ronin explained that he was joining his brothers at Ryoko Owari, but she said she did not want to go back there. Yori is surprised when the ronin tells her that there is a war on and explains that she would be safe there. Yori reluctantly agrees to come to Kyuden Ikoma at least – the pass into Scorpion lands is difficult to get through because the Unicorn is blocking it. Yori follows the ronin to Kyuden Ikoma where she spent her days in quiet contemplation before the ronin introduced her to the kind Shigeru. She had no idea Ryu was in the same city.

In the morning, Ryu bolts up and realizes he has spent the whole night with Yori and not with Kita. He rushes out of the Teahouse and forgets his mask.

---

The previous evening, Noriyaki hired Toshio, an artisan, to build him a small shrine to the Kami of the Dragon Helm. He asked him to build it in an area of stone overlooking the city and he paid two koku for the privilege. When he returns, Jin proposes they have a tea ceremony. He needs something to relax his mind for the duel he will have with Hira in the morning.

In the morning, Noriyaki and the rest of the samurai prepare to go up and consecrate the shrine. Jin looks for his charge and does not find him. He asks Hiroko whether Ryu had returned the night before, and she says that he had not. Jin returns to the Teahouse and tells the others to go and consecrate the shrine without him.

When Jin arrives at the teahouse, he is greeted by an elderly matron who remembers Ryu but does not know where he was. She also tells him that discretion is a major part of her business and that she cannot disclose any details about a nightly rendezvous. It would be bad for business. Jin remembers one of the geisha who took Ryu with her – she wore a light green kimono. The matron finds the green robed geisha named Tae. Tae takes Jin to the room where Ryu met Shigeru. They find a futon with blankets which had obviously been occupied the night before, and they find Ryu’s mask hanging on a hook. Tae then explains that Shigeru ordered her and the other geisha out and then shut the shoji behind them. When she returned later at night, she could hear a man and woman behind the shoji pillowing, but Tae did nothing to disturb them. The matron explains that Ryu had left quietly and no one knows where he went. Dejected, Jin leaves the teahouse.

Noriyaki, Kenjiro and Ying-Lien arrive at a small and hastily constructed shrine at the top of an outcropping of rock overlooking Kyuden Ikoma. Noriyaki places the Dragon Helm on the altar and performs a small ceremony consecrating the shrine – nothing fancy, just a simple ceremony (Theology roll just barely made it). The Kami is satisfied.

As they begin climbing down, they see dark smoke in the distance and feel the thunder of hooves approaching Kyuden Ikoma. The Unicorn have arrived and it looked like they were preparing to siege Kyuden Ikoma. The black smoke was the Lion samurai, burning crops and supplies to prevent the Unicorn from capturing anything to feed their army with.

When they returned to the city, the makeshift peasant refugee camp outside the city gates was in disarray as the peasants were busy taking down their ramshackle tents, gathering up their belongings and trying to stay out the way of the advancing Unicorn army.

Jin returns to their home. He gives Ryu’s mask back to Hiroko and delivers it to Ryu. Ryu is getting ready to go to the bathhouse when he runs in Jin. He thanks him for the mask but brushes him off saying he will be right back.

Jin prepares for his duel with Hira. Kenjiro is petitioned to be Jin’s second, and he agrees. When they arrive outside the city gates, Hira is waiting for them with her own second, Matsu Gihei, another Lion samurai as large as a Crab berserker.

Hira and Jin prepare for the duel and begin sizing each other up. Jin examines Hira’s stance and realizes that she has been working on her dueling skills. She has improved and when Hira sees the worried look on Jin’s face, she smiles.

They are about to begin focusing when Daidoji Chisato interrupts the ritual and orders them to stop the duel and attend Kikaze at his guest house in the keep during the hour of the rooster. Hira is incensed and tells Jin that this is not over. She storms off with Gihei who scowls at the samurai as they leave.

Ying-Lien decides that this may be her opportunity to join the Unicorn army. She rides out dressed in her sky blue kimono and is greeted by Unicorn Battle Maidens who take her to the yert of Utaku Yaeko, their commanding officer. When she is escorted in, she finds Yaeko sitting on a small dais. The other Unicorn samurai are busy putting up wall hangings and placing rugs and other appointments that the Unicorn like to have around them. To Ying-Lien, it felt like home.

Ying-Lien gets down to business. She wants to join the Battle Maidens in their glorious march toward Kyuden Ikoma and later to Toshi Ranbo. She also explains that her husband has a plan to try and negotiate an end to hostilities such that the Lion would simply allow the Unicorn army across their lands. Yaeko cannot speak for Moto Chagatai, the Khan, but says that she might be able to see him at a later time. In the meantime, Ying-Lien agrees to ride out with them tomorrow morning. Yaeko is only glad to have Ying-Lien on her side.

Just before the Hour of the Rooster, Jin goes looking for Ryu again. Frustrated, he returns to the teahouse to be told that he met and left with Shigeru. Jin has had enough with pleasantries. The meeting with Daidoji Kikaze, the impending invasion and his own problems are enough without having a recalcitrant charge who refuses to stay with his bodyguard. Jin finds Kita and asks her if she had seen her husband earlier. She tells him no. Jin asks about a woman named Yori and Kita says that she is Ryu’s brother’s wife. She asks if Yori is in town, but Jin does not admit to anything. Jin excuses himself and Kita tells him that if she sees him, she will let him know that Jin is looking for him.

The samurai are escorted into the grounds of the keep at Kyuden Ikoma. They are taken to a small house guarded by Daidoji Chisato and another Crane samurai. Chisato shows them in and then leaves. Kikaze is sitting crosslegged by the table and shares tea with them. Then he asks them if they are truly Crane samurai and if they would die for their Clan and their Emperor. Each respond saying yes before Kikaze asks them “then why did you betray me.”

Kikaze tells them he knows about the deception involving his son’s death. Shosuro Shigeru came to him and told him about it all. Then, he throws the wakazashi and obi that the maho-tsukai had and that Ryu used as proof of his death. Kikaze tells them that Shigeru wants something from them and then asks if they know what he is talking about. Everyone else remains silent, but when asked, Ying-Lien tells him about the Dragon Helm.

When pressed about the accusation Shigeru is making about who was complicit in faking his son’s death, everyone denies knowledge, but Kikaze sees through their lies. He calls their actions treasonous and says he should have their heads, but falls short of asking for them – he sees Shigeru’s hand in everything that happened and is not convinced that Shigeru did not just manipulate everything.

The samurai ask him why he simply does not call Shigeru’s bluff and challenge him to a duel. No one would believe such things of the Daimyo of the Daidoji family. Kikaze explains that any knowledge could compromise his position as a credible negotiator for the Crane in this war. The Lion may be desperate to gain their help, but he wonders whether they would negotiate with someone whose trusted son and samurai betrayed him in such manner. By the time things are sorted out and the truth revealed, the Unicorn could have marched on Toshi Ranbo. He cannot afford a scandal to delay negotiations.

When asked if any of them could challenge Shigeru, Kikaze tells them not to touch him. Instead, he has a different duty for them. Despite what they have done, he is convinced that they are the only ones he can ‘trust.’ Kikaze wants the samurai to find out what Shigeru wants with the Dragon Helm and to find and return his son. Kikaze explains that Kage is not his true son, but that his mother had an affair and died giving birth to Kage before revealing who the father was. Despite this knowledge, he raised Kage as his own and never told him he was a bastard. He dearly loves his son and despite the dishonor that will come with revealing him as a fraud, he wants him back.

Finally, Kikaze tells them this quest must remain a secret. He cannot afford to have knowledge of their quest get out into court. The samurai commit to both tasks and return to their home. Along with this, he cannot give them papers to travel through the disputed territory. Once they get to Dragon lands, he has a friend who will give them travel papers, but they will not have any until then.

The samurai return to their quarters, a lot on their minds.

Next: The Crossing