Fire and Smoke
The trees grew thicker along the border of Phoenix lands. Cassia and cherry and plum began to give way to pine. The well-tamed woodland criss-crossed with pleasant sunlit paths became thick and overgrown tracts of forest, intent on sheltering their own secrets. The road to Northern Hub Village skirted such trees as it traveled north, circling Otosan Uchi but giving it wide berth. The road itself was empty and well-maintained, but thick brambles barred further passage through the forest undergrowth. The green shade beneath the trees was dark and gloomy, and the evening sun cast long shadows upon the magistrates as they walked.
A column of thick, oily smoke rising from those woods first drew the samurais' attention; they picked up their pace. As the road curved they could hear the rattle of metal and the crackle of flames, cut with a cry of pain. The battle was concealed from the road by the dense trees, but one could tell it was nearby.
The samurai looked to Sensei.
"Go," he answered.
The magistrates dove into the dense undergrowth.
Pushing through the brambles, they reached a clearing, scorched and smoking. Kneeling in the clearing was a thin, bookish, middle-aged man, panting heavily. His kimono was scorched black in places, but they could see he wore the robes of an Isawa. He clutched his wounded side and shook with weariness.
On the opposite side of the clearing, masked and armored samurai advanced, swords drawn. But these were not normal samurai. Each suit of armor was identical, armor of the Shiba clan of the Phoenix. Each carried, instead of a blade of steel, a drawn blade wrought of pure flame. And behind each, identical mempo, no eyes, but burning red flames. Thin columns of white smoke rose from between the chinks in the armor. The fire-samurai advanced slowly upon the wounded Isawa.
The Isawa held up his hand, sending a gust of air that was able to stagger one of the fire samurai, but the rest advanced regardless. The shugenja let his hand fall with resignation.
Mirumoto Kenuchio was the first to break through the undergrowth. It took him just a moment to assess the scene. He decided to defend the Isawa against these inhuman enemies, then determine from there the reasons the shugenja was being pursued. He drew both his blades and leapt into battle with one of the metal warriors. At his side, Hiruma Izuko and Moto Koshi also charged into battle, blades swinging, while Asahina Ayame called upon the kami of wind and water to drive back the flames and protect them from harm. Sensei also joined them, driving the fire-samurai back with his staff when they grew too near the wounded shugenja. Matsumoto Eiko devoted herself to guarding their charge specifically.
The battle was fierce, but the magistrates discovered that the suits of armor were hollow, animated only with a kind of living flame. Once the kabuto were forcibly removed, the fire-samurai's bodies could be driven back into a small stream that would quench the flames, and they would not arise again. Only a thick, oily smoke rose from the twisted metal and lacquer.
The magistrates were victorious. But scarcely had their battle been won when they turned to challenge the wounded shugenja.
Moto Koshi voiced the challenge. "You have no taint in you. But who are you and what were these that hunt you?"
The shugenja's voice was thick with pain. "My name is Isawa Natsune. I am...I am just a librarian. I swear. But I have seen...such terrible things. Things that the Empire must know..."
Ayame lay a gentle hand on his brow, unwilling to permit him to suffer under the Moto's interrogation. "Rest now. We will take you to Northern Hub village, where you may recover and tell all that you can. We will help you if we are able." They gathered up the Isawa, a light enough burden, and pushed back through the forest and onto the main road. Only the lingering columns of smoke marked any disturbance behind them.
Northern Hub Village was busy, but Sensei had little trouble identifying an inn that would accommodate them. The Eagle's Rest was comfortable, but plain. The magistrates settled Natsune on a futon in a private room and allowed Ayame to properly attend to his wounds.
She emerged. "He will live. He has barely eaten or drank for a week, barely slept. He has been heavily wounded. But he will live. He is feeling better now, and has eaten. He is eager to speak with you."
The magistrates and Sensei entered the room and knelt around the wounded shugenja's futon. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Sensei spoke. "It is time to tell your story, Natsune-san."
The pale and weary samurai settled back in his futon and began to speak.
"I served as a librarian to the Council of Five. It was my honor to keep the records of the halls, aid them in their research. So many things. The Phoenix are the keepers of the secrets of the realms, of the kami, of lore poorly understood and long forgotten outside our libraries and temples, and the library of the Isawa holds the beating heart of knowledge in the Empire. Our agents across the Empire dance the dance of fan and blade to bring us more.
"We have known for years that there have been those seeking to undermine the Empire. The Asako Inquisitors warned of traitors in the clans. They warned us of treason by the Iuchi, the Kuni, the Kitsu...terrible disgraces in the years before the Scorpion Clan Coup. And then the great treason of the Coup itself...it was obvious a terrible threat was arising in the Empire. Asako Monoro-sama warned us that we were just as vulnerable...maybe moreso. He vowed to hunt down all traitors within the Phoenix...and made good that threat. I watched as he executed twenty men at once. They were weak, disaffected, low-ranked. It seemed excessive...but a small price to pay to not be betrayed from within. But now I am the one hunted, and, maybe a traitor."
Sensei stiffened at the name of the Chief Inquisitor, a thunder-dark expression in his eyes as he gestured for the librarian to continue.
"With the full backing of the Council of Elemental Masters, Monoro saw more and more treason in the shadows. More threats against the Phoenix and the Empire. You must have heard of it! Tadaka's own nephew, Aruka, calling up Oni. Crab allying with the Shadowlands and turning on the Empire? The Champion of the Crane leading an army of demons against his own lands? It could not be coincidence. " The Isawa shugenja struggled to sit up, gesturing broadly with the passion in his words. "They must be connected to the previous treasons...you have to understand. We have looked at the Prophecies of Uikku. I pulled them from the archives myself! The prophecies have revealed that these things foretell the greatest threat our age has ever known....they portend the coming of an evil God!"
Ayame covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide. Izuko glowered, while Kenuchio shifted his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably. Matsumoto Iyeko started to speak, but caught herself and stifled the words in a cough. Only Moto Koshi seemed unmoved.
Sensei simply nodded. "We live in troubled times," he answered. "But that does not explain what happened. Please continue."
Natsune sank back again, his voice growing flat as he stared upwards at the ceiling. " We did not dare turn to other clans...who knows how many traitors remain? But the inquisitors sent our agents everywhere. Some alone, some marching with our forces as we tried to aid our allies...and search their libraries at the same time." He shook his head. "All we had learned, knowledge gleaned from across the Empire. It was never enough. What god was coming? In what form would he come? And, always, always, if he were to come, how would we bind him again?
"It was Asako Monoro who suggested the obvious solution. The original scrolls of Isawa. They had bound the god Fu Leng, in the deep recesses of history. They contain so much knowledge, from the oldest days, knowledge that is ours...knowledge that was lost to us. Surely they had they answers we sought."
"The Black Scrolls," murmered Asahina Ayame. "But they are cursed."
Isawa Natsune shifted his head to gaze at her for a moment or two before returning his focus to the patterns of cracks in the ceiling. "So I told them. I begged the Elemental Masters, before they took this rash step. Was there not the possibility, however small, that we might be misreading the signs, that the prophecies were wrong? But I am just a librarian. And it is not my place to question. And the High Inquisitor, he was so certain. By the time the master of Earth returned with another scroll, there was no doubt in any but Kaede, Master of the Void, but they would not be swayed by even her. Before the end, the Master of Water, Tomo-sama, came to me and told me he knew the scrolls were cursed, but for the good of the Empire, the Phoenix must accept this curse upon themselves. It was the only way to chain a god. I...think...he pitied me.
"The masters....they have opened the Black Scrolls. At least four of them, maybe more. I do not know what they contained. As soon as they opened them, they...changed. Tomo has become a beast. Uona weeps blood and speaks with madness. Tadaka's eyes burn green with taint. And even they, the Elemental Masters, have fear in their eyes when they speak of Tsuke. His darkness is deeper than any I have ever seen.
In the silence that followed the librarian's words, each magistrate could hear his own heart beating. Natsune sounded ashamed. "After I had seen, I could not stay and serve them. What they have done is unspeakable. Surely their actions will speed the return of this god far more than it could ever prevent it. And so...I....laid a trap for them. I tried to kill them, so new, wiser, Masters could be raised. Perhaps it would have seemed as if they died of the curse of the black scrolls. But my trap failed, and I fled. I fled to beg the champions of the other clans, those not allied with the Shadowlands itself, to bring a stop to my own masters. To reveal the prophecies." A single tear slid down the Phoenix's cheek. "So...they are hunting me. Master Tsuke sent the beings of flame. They will not rest until I am dead. I am dead either way."
Sensei laid a compassionate hand on the Isawa's shoulder. "Rest now. We will think on this and do what must be done." He led the others out of the room. In the hall, Sensei told his magistrates. "Any decisions we can make must wait for morning. But you should keep a watch. It should take time for the Elemental Masters to send more servants, but you never know." Kenuchio and Izuko took it upon themselves to set a watch on the wounded man's door, while the rest of the magistrates went to their own chambers to rest.
"I smell something," Hiruma Izuko was immediately on her feet, hand resting on her wakizashi.
Mirumoto Kenuchio stood also, smelling the air cautiously. "Smoke. From last night's battles?"
Izuko turned to face him. "It is smoke. But this is fresh." She immediately threw open the shoji screen that separated the two bushi from the Isawa Shugenja whose sleeping, wounded body they had been protecting. The room was pitch black. Kenuchio stooped to pick up the lantern that they had kept on the floor near them through the night's watch, thrusting it into the darkness.
The darkness only pulled back a little from the lamp's glow. To their horror, the room was filled with black smoke. But the smoke itself moved, as though it were alive, forming the shadowy outlines of what they could only call ninjas. In an instant, Kenuchio's katana was in his hand, while Izuko raised the alarm. The smoke writhed about them for a moment longer, but then fled through the narrow, open shutters just below the eaves.
Kenuchio raced around to the entrance of the inn in pursuit, but the smoke was lost in the night air. Matsumoto Eiko quickly joined him, but she had no way of tracking the smoke...there was no taint of the shadowlands about it, despite its fearsome appearance. Izuko approached Isawa Natsune's side and knelt beside him. The man did not stir. Asahina Ayame came in within seconds and confirmed what she had seen. The shugenja was dead...stifled in his sleep before he was ever able to utter another word.
The magistrates gathered again after all hope of pursuit towards the magic smoke had been lost. Shock, mystification,and helpless horror fell upon them, and they looked at each other in silence. Finally, Sensei entered himself, taking in the scene with a look of great sorrow in his eyes.
"Sensei....what do we do now?" Hiruma Izuko asked. "This man carried vital news, and surely was killed by the Elemental Council for it. The Isawa are opening the Black Scrolls. The Elemental Masters have become corrupted. Surely we must tell..." she paused, uncertain how to go on.
Sensei leaned on his staff tiredly. "I do not know." He turned to Moto Koshi. "At dawn, you will go meet the riders from the capital and the front who are passing through, Koshi-san. Kenuchio-san and Eiko-san?"
"Hai?"
"You will ask in the marketplace for news from the Empire. We will decide then. Ayame-san, Izuko-san...stay with me. We will ensure that this brave shugenja is at the very least given proper rites fitting to his courage and sacrifice. Until morning...we may as well rest. "
The next morning, Koshi, Kenuchio, and Eiko went out to the marketplace to gather news, while Sensei, Ayame, and Izuko arranged the funeral for Isawa Natsune. But the three were not out long before they came running back through the inn gate. The news was on every Rokugani's lips, from the burakumin to samurai. The Lion commander at Otosan Uchi, Ikoma Tsanuri, recalled Matsu Agetoki from Kuyden Doji, and the Lion had withdrawn. The move forced Hida Kisada's hand. In a daring raid, Kisada had breached the walls of Otosan Uchi and fought his way right through the inner walls of the city, to the very throne room of the Hantei himself.
And...amazingly...the scrawny young man that had claimed the throne not that many years before had defeated the Great Bear and his son, Yakamo, in mortal combat. He had laughed as the Crab fled with the sword of the Hantei plunged into Kisada's guts. The Crab fleets were retreating south. No one knew what would happen next or what these strange signs meant.
Ayame, Izuko, and Sensei listened silently to the outpouring of news.
Kenuchio tried to wait for Sensei's response, but his impatience got the better of him. "Sensei! You realize that the Sword of the Hantei is the soul and the symbol of Imperial power...holding it was the ground for Toturi's claim, and almost Shoju's. How could Hantei do what they say? And, even if he did, he would never throw away the symbol of his power."
Moto Koshi folded his arms. "The answer is simple. The story being spread must be false."
Sensei held up his hand, and they fell silent. "The story is not false. I am sure of it. I know now what we must do regarding the matter of Isawa Natsune and the Council of Elemental Masters."
Ayame looked both worried and relieved. "What, Sensei?
"
"Nothing. We do nothing."
The group of magistrates stirred uneasily, and finally Izuko's bluntness took hold. "Why is that, Sensei?"
Sensei granted them the kindness of an explanation, his eyes cast over the pile of wood being prepared for the body of Natsune with a tender and sad expression. "There is no one that can help them. There is no one we can tell. Shiba Tsukune will learn soon enough, and every day that delays her knowledge gives the Daidoji more chance to build their defenses in Crane lands against Doji Hoturi and protects the Crane from the Shadowlands incursions we saw threre. Shiba Ujimitsu undoubtably already knows...and has done nothing. He cannot move against the will of the Council. Who else can they turn to? The Crane? The Lion? The Crab? None are possible at this time. And the Emperor? No other armies can come, or save them. We must go on and trust the heavens will spread the word when the time is right."
The magistrates thought it over, but realized there was no other choice. They were still not happy with it. "This isn't right," Kenuchio declared, still angry at himself for failing his charge.
Asahina Ayame laid her hand gently on his arm. "No...it's not. But it is what must be. But I have an idea." She turned to Sensei. "May I please withdraw until Natsune's spirit is returned to the heavens?"
Sensei nodded.
After the funeral, Ayame returned with a thick scroll, curled up with the rest of her papers. She showed them all before she put it away. "I have written every word he told us. His sacrifice may not be shared now, but I can take it to the Libraries of the Asahina and copies can be sent to all the libraries of Rokugan, so what Isawa Natsune had witnessed and gave his life to share will not be forgotten."
As soon as the last smoke had ascended from Natsune's pyre, the magistrates were on their way once more, headed for the harbor and the journey Sensei had in store for them.
The trees grew thicker along the border of Phoenix lands. Cassia and cherry and plum began to give way to pine. The well-tamed woodland criss-crossed with pleasant sunlit paths became thick and overgrown tracts of forest, intent on sheltering their own secrets. The road to Northern Hub Village skirted such trees as it traveled north, circling Otosan Uchi but giving it wide berth. The road itself was empty and well-maintained, but thick brambles barred further passage through the forest undergrowth. The green shade beneath the trees was dark and gloomy, and the evening sun cast long shadows upon the magistrates as they walked.
A column of thick, oily smoke rising from those woods first drew the samurais' attention; they picked up their pace. As the road curved they could hear the rattle of metal and the crackle of flames, cut with a cry of pain. The battle was concealed from the road by the dense trees, but one could tell it was nearby.
The samurai looked to Sensei.
"Go," he answered.
The magistrates dove into the dense undergrowth.
Pushing through the brambles, they reached a clearing, scorched and smoking. Kneeling in the clearing was a thin, bookish, middle-aged man, panting heavily. His kimono was scorched black in places, but they could see he wore the robes of an Isawa. He clutched his wounded side and shook with weariness.
On the opposite side of the clearing, masked and armored samurai advanced, swords drawn. But these were not normal samurai. Each suit of armor was identical, armor of the Shiba clan of the Phoenix. Each carried, instead of a blade of steel, a drawn blade wrought of pure flame. And behind each, identical mempo, no eyes, but burning red flames. Thin columns of white smoke rose from between the chinks in the armor. The fire-samurai advanced slowly upon the wounded Isawa.
The Isawa held up his hand, sending a gust of air that was able to stagger one of the fire samurai, but the rest advanced regardless. The shugenja let his hand fall with resignation.
Mirumoto Kenuchio was the first to break through the undergrowth. It took him just a moment to assess the scene. He decided to defend the Isawa against these inhuman enemies, then determine from there the reasons the shugenja was being pursued. He drew both his blades and leapt into battle with one of the metal warriors. At his side, Hiruma Izuko and Moto Koshi also charged into battle, blades swinging, while Asahina Ayame called upon the kami of wind and water to drive back the flames and protect them from harm. Sensei also joined them, driving the fire-samurai back with his staff when they grew too near the wounded shugenja. Matsumoto Eiko devoted herself to guarding their charge specifically.
The battle was fierce, but the magistrates discovered that the suits of armor were hollow, animated only with a kind of living flame. Once the kabuto were forcibly removed, the fire-samurai's bodies could be driven back into a small stream that would quench the flames, and they would not arise again. Only a thick, oily smoke rose from the twisted metal and lacquer.
The magistrates were victorious. But scarcely had their battle been won when they turned to challenge the wounded shugenja.
Moto Koshi voiced the challenge. "You have no taint in you. But who are you and what were these that hunt you?"
The shugenja's voice was thick with pain. "My name is Isawa Natsune. I am...I am just a librarian. I swear. But I have seen...such terrible things. Things that the Empire must know..."
Ayame lay a gentle hand on his brow, unwilling to permit him to suffer under the Moto's interrogation. "Rest now. We will take you to Northern Hub village, where you may recover and tell all that you can. We will help you if we are able." They gathered up the Isawa, a light enough burden, and pushed back through the forest and onto the main road. Only the lingering columns of smoke marked any disturbance behind them.
Northern Hub Village was busy, but Sensei had little trouble identifying an inn that would accommodate them. The Eagle's Rest was comfortable, but plain. The magistrates settled Natsune on a futon in a private room and allowed Ayame to properly attend to his wounds.
She emerged. "He will live. He has barely eaten or drank for a week, barely slept. He has been heavily wounded. But he will live. He is feeling better now, and has eaten. He is eager to speak with you."
The magistrates and Sensei entered the room and knelt around the wounded shugenja's futon. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Sensei spoke. "It is time to tell your story, Natsune-san."
The pale and weary samurai settled back in his futon and began to speak.
"I served as a librarian to the Council of Five. It was my honor to keep the records of the halls, aid them in their research. So many things. The Phoenix are the keepers of the secrets of the realms, of the kami, of lore poorly understood and long forgotten outside our libraries and temples, and the library of the Isawa holds the beating heart of knowledge in the Empire. Our agents across the Empire dance the dance of fan and blade to bring us more.
"We have known for years that there have been those seeking to undermine the Empire. The Asako Inquisitors warned of traitors in the clans. They warned us of treason by the Iuchi, the Kuni, the Kitsu...terrible disgraces in the years before the Scorpion Clan Coup. And then the great treason of the Coup itself...it was obvious a terrible threat was arising in the Empire. Asako Monoro-sama warned us that we were just as vulnerable...maybe moreso. He vowed to hunt down all traitors within the Phoenix...and made good that threat. I watched as he executed twenty men at once. They were weak, disaffected, low-ranked. It seemed excessive...but a small price to pay to not be betrayed from within. But now I am the one hunted, and, maybe a traitor."
Sensei stiffened at the name of the Chief Inquisitor, a thunder-dark expression in his eyes as he gestured for the librarian to continue.
"With the full backing of the Council of Elemental Masters, Monoro saw more and more treason in the shadows. More threats against the Phoenix and the Empire. You must have heard of it! Tadaka's own nephew, Aruka, calling up Oni. Crab allying with the Shadowlands and turning on the Empire? The Champion of the Crane leading an army of demons against his own lands? It could not be coincidence. " The Isawa shugenja struggled to sit up, gesturing broadly with the passion in his words. "They must be connected to the previous treasons...you have to understand. We have looked at the Prophecies of Uikku. I pulled them from the archives myself! The prophecies have revealed that these things foretell the greatest threat our age has ever known....they portend the coming of an evil God!"
Ayame covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide. Izuko glowered, while Kenuchio shifted his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably. Matsumoto Iyeko started to speak, but caught herself and stifled the words in a cough. Only Moto Koshi seemed unmoved.
Sensei simply nodded. "We live in troubled times," he answered. "But that does not explain what happened. Please continue."
Natsune sank back again, his voice growing flat as he stared upwards at the ceiling. " We did not dare turn to other clans...who knows how many traitors remain? But the inquisitors sent our agents everywhere. Some alone, some marching with our forces as we tried to aid our allies...and search their libraries at the same time." He shook his head. "All we had learned, knowledge gleaned from across the Empire. It was never enough. What god was coming? In what form would he come? And, always, always, if he were to come, how would we bind him again?
"It was Asako Monoro who suggested the obvious solution. The original scrolls of Isawa. They had bound the god Fu Leng, in the deep recesses of history. They contain so much knowledge, from the oldest days, knowledge that is ours...knowledge that was lost to us. Surely they had they answers we sought."
"The Black Scrolls," murmered Asahina Ayame. "But they are cursed."
Isawa Natsune shifted his head to gaze at her for a moment or two before returning his focus to the patterns of cracks in the ceiling. "So I told them. I begged the Elemental Masters, before they took this rash step. Was there not the possibility, however small, that we might be misreading the signs, that the prophecies were wrong? But I am just a librarian. And it is not my place to question. And the High Inquisitor, he was so certain. By the time the master of Earth returned with another scroll, there was no doubt in any but Kaede, Master of the Void, but they would not be swayed by even her. Before the end, the Master of Water, Tomo-sama, came to me and told me he knew the scrolls were cursed, but for the good of the Empire, the Phoenix must accept this curse upon themselves. It was the only way to chain a god. I...think...he pitied me.
"The masters....they have opened the Black Scrolls. At least four of them, maybe more. I do not know what they contained. As soon as they opened them, they...changed. Tomo has become a beast. Uona weeps blood and speaks with madness. Tadaka's eyes burn green with taint. And even they, the Elemental Masters, have fear in their eyes when they speak of Tsuke. His darkness is deeper than any I have ever seen.
In the silence that followed the librarian's words, each magistrate could hear his own heart beating. Natsune sounded ashamed. "After I had seen, I could not stay and serve them. What they have done is unspeakable. Surely their actions will speed the return of this god far more than it could ever prevent it. And so...I....laid a trap for them. I tried to kill them, so new, wiser, Masters could be raised. Perhaps it would have seemed as if they died of the curse of the black scrolls. But my trap failed, and I fled. I fled to beg the champions of the other clans, those not allied with the Shadowlands itself, to bring a stop to my own masters. To reveal the prophecies." A single tear slid down the Phoenix's cheek. "So...they are hunting me. Master Tsuke sent the beings of flame. They will not rest until I am dead. I am dead either way."
Sensei laid a compassionate hand on the Isawa's shoulder. "Rest now. We will think on this and do what must be done." He led the others out of the room. In the hall, Sensei told his magistrates. "Any decisions we can make must wait for morning. But you should keep a watch. It should take time for the Elemental Masters to send more servants, but you never know." Kenuchio and Izuko took it upon themselves to set a watch on the wounded man's door, while the rest of the magistrates went to their own chambers to rest.
"I smell something," Hiruma Izuko was immediately on her feet, hand resting on her wakizashi.
Mirumoto Kenuchio stood also, smelling the air cautiously. "Smoke. From last night's battles?"
Izuko turned to face him. "It is smoke. But this is fresh." She immediately threw open the shoji screen that separated the two bushi from the Isawa Shugenja whose sleeping, wounded body they had been protecting. The room was pitch black. Kenuchio stooped to pick up the lantern that they had kept on the floor near them through the night's watch, thrusting it into the darkness.
The darkness only pulled back a little from the lamp's glow. To their horror, the room was filled with black smoke. But the smoke itself moved, as though it were alive, forming the shadowy outlines of what they could only call ninjas. In an instant, Kenuchio's katana was in his hand, while Izuko raised the alarm. The smoke writhed about them for a moment longer, but then fled through the narrow, open shutters just below the eaves.
Kenuchio raced around to the entrance of the inn in pursuit, but the smoke was lost in the night air. Matsumoto Eiko quickly joined him, but she had no way of tracking the smoke...there was no taint of the shadowlands about it, despite its fearsome appearance. Izuko approached Isawa Natsune's side and knelt beside him. The man did not stir. Asahina Ayame came in within seconds and confirmed what she had seen. The shugenja was dead...stifled in his sleep before he was ever able to utter another word.
The magistrates gathered again after all hope of pursuit towards the magic smoke had been lost. Shock, mystification,and helpless horror fell upon them, and they looked at each other in silence. Finally, Sensei entered himself, taking in the scene with a look of great sorrow in his eyes.
"Sensei....what do we do now?" Hiruma Izuko asked. "This man carried vital news, and surely was killed by the Elemental Council for it. The Isawa are opening the Black Scrolls. The Elemental Masters have become corrupted. Surely we must tell..." she paused, uncertain how to go on.
Sensei leaned on his staff tiredly. "I do not know." He turned to Moto Koshi. "At dawn, you will go meet the riders from the capital and the front who are passing through, Koshi-san. Kenuchio-san and Eiko-san?"
"Hai?"
"You will ask in the marketplace for news from the Empire. We will decide then. Ayame-san, Izuko-san...stay with me. We will ensure that this brave shugenja is at the very least given proper rites fitting to his courage and sacrifice. Until morning...we may as well rest. "
The next morning, Koshi, Kenuchio, and Eiko went out to the marketplace to gather news, while Sensei, Ayame, and Izuko arranged the funeral for Isawa Natsune. But the three were not out long before they came running back through the inn gate. The news was on every Rokugani's lips, from the burakumin to samurai. The Lion commander at Otosan Uchi, Ikoma Tsanuri, recalled Matsu Agetoki from Kuyden Doji, and the Lion had withdrawn. The move forced Hida Kisada's hand. In a daring raid, Kisada had breached the walls of Otosan Uchi and fought his way right through the inner walls of the city, to the very throne room of the Hantei himself.
And...amazingly...the scrawny young man that had claimed the throne not that many years before had defeated the Great Bear and his son, Yakamo, in mortal combat. He had laughed as the Crab fled with the sword of the Hantei plunged into Kisada's guts. The Crab fleets were retreating south. No one knew what would happen next or what these strange signs meant.
Ayame, Izuko, and Sensei listened silently to the outpouring of news.
Kenuchio tried to wait for Sensei's response, but his impatience got the better of him. "Sensei! You realize that the Sword of the Hantei is the soul and the symbol of Imperial power...holding it was the ground for Toturi's claim, and almost Shoju's. How could Hantei do what they say? And, even if he did, he would never throw away the symbol of his power."
Moto Koshi folded his arms. "The answer is simple. The story being spread must be false."
Sensei held up his hand, and they fell silent. "The story is not false. I am sure of it. I know now what we must do regarding the matter of Isawa Natsune and the Council of Elemental Masters."
Ayame looked both worried and relieved. "What, Sensei?
"
"Nothing. We do nothing."
The group of magistrates stirred uneasily, and finally Izuko's bluntness took hold. "Why is that, Sensei?"
Sensei granted them the kindness of an explanation, his eyes cast over the pile of wood being prepared for the body of Natsune with a tender and sad expression. "There is no one that can help them. There is no one we can tell. Shiba Tsukune will learn soon enough, and every day that delays her knowledge gives the Daidoji more chance to build their defenses in Crane lands against Doji Hoturi and protects the Crane from the Shadowlands incursions we saw threre. Shiba Ujimitsu undoubtably already knows...and has done nothing. He cannot move against the will of the Council. Who else can they turn to? The Crane? The Lion? The Crab? None are possible at this time. And the Emperor? No other armies can come, or save them. We must go on and trust the heavens will spread the word when the time is right."
The magistrates thought it over, but realized there was no other choice. They were still not happy with it. "This isn't right," Kenuchio declared, still angry at himself for failing his charge.
Asahina Ayame laid her hand gently on his arm. "No...it's not. But it is what must be. But I have an idea." She turned to Sensei. "May I please withdraw until Natsune's spirit is returned to the heavens?"
Sensei nodded.
After the funeral, Ayame returned with a thick scroll, curled up with the rest of her papers. She showed them all before she put it away. "I have written every word he told us. His sacrifice may not be shared now, but I can take it to the Libraries of the Asahina and copies can be sent to all the libraries of Rokugan, so what Isawa Natsune had witnessed and gave his life to share will not be forgotten."
As soon as the last smoke had ascended from Natsune's pyre, the magistrates were on their way once more, headed for the harbor and the journey Sensei had in store for them.
