My thanks to all the reviewers. Before we start, I wish to answer a question first.
The question comes from SychoBabbleX, who really flatters me too much—not that I mind. "Inter Nos" is Latin for "Between Ourselves". Incidentally, I have been playing with the names a little. Take the main civilisation our protagonists shall be fighting against—namely, the Kingdom of the "Mentulae". It means a certain unsavoury thing in Latin.
Vocabulaire:
1. Caligae – Roman soldiers' boots; lace-up sandals made of leather with hobnails on the soles for absorbing the shock of walking.
2. Chief/senior legate - The general's topmost military officers are called legates. Of these legates, there is at least one tasked to be superior in rank to the others. In Shizuru's case, it is Chie Harada.
3. Client-state – A term for a state allied to Rome/Hime in such a way that it seeks the latter's protection in exchange for its allegiance or tribute.
4. Consuls – Chief magistrates of Rome. They preside over the Senate's discussions too. There is one chief or senior consul (here, Haruka Armitage) and one junior consul. The consular term lasts for one year, at the end of which they will step down and new consuls will be voted in from among the other senators.
5. Military Man (or Woman) – Military man in Latin is "vir militaris"; it refers to a person whose fame is primarily for his achievements in the military and who tends to move forward in his career using those achievements.
6. Princeps – A shorthand term for Princeps Senatus or Leader of the House. In the Roman Senate, once someone is chosen to be Princeps, he retains that title for life, and thus has a very important (and sometimes, deciding) say in discussions. To be Princeps often means one is a very remarkable speaker. Here, it is Reito Kanzaki.
7. Pteryges – The skirt you often see worn by Roman soldiers; a sort of apron made up of leather/metal strips that protect the groin, worn with an actual cloth skirt and often breeches or trousers beneath.
8. The Cursus Honorum – The Himean political track, from lowest to highest: quaestor – praetor – consul. One does not go straight from one office to the other in consecutive years, however. Future chapters shall show why.
9. Tribunate of the Plebs – The tribunate of the plebs has ten members per year, all called tribunes of the plebs. As there are many other "tribunes" in Roman government, we shall henceforth refer to this office almost always in full. Plebs here is shorthand for plebeian, as only plebeians could be members of this council or could elect members of this council. It was originally created to protect the rights of the plebeians against the patrician aristocracy. Their office's greatest power is the veto. They may veto any motion from any magistrate, presumably (though not always) with good reasons for doing so, which makes them significant forces in politics.
10. NOTE on Oratory: The tale follows the Ancient Roman style of speaking in the Senate, which is a very rhetorical, stylised way of presenting arguments. Speeches were expected to be more dramatic than reasonable—which means that logic was often less important than presentation. The best orators combined both aspects in equal parts. There are also several sub-styles of rhetoric, naturally, from the Attic or Athenian to the Asiatic.
Inter Nos
par ethnewinter
"I am sure I will be comfortable here, King Kruger," Shizuru was saying to reassure the king of her satisfaction. He had personally seen her to her quarters, along with the horde of servants who had lit the lamps and the fireplace with silent efficiency before quietly backing away. Shizuru's own servants were mostly still with the baggage train, in the middle of unpacking and fetching her effects. The last member of the party at present was the Himean general's new bodyguard: true to form, she had sought the darkest corner of the room.
"I am very glad that our humble lodgings are enough," the king said. "I have had a bath drawn for you as well, Fujino-san. There is a bathing room beyond this one, through that passageway. I hope you find it to your liking, as it is one of the most finely-designed private washrooms in my palace."
"I would appreciate any washroom at this moment, I should say," Shizuru said honestly, rather liking the king's easy manners and subtle way of drawing attention to his palace's richness: he had given her one of the grandest rooms in the entire edifice, it was obvious. "It is one of the greatest disadvantages of going on a campaign that if one is able to take one's time bathing once in a fortnight, that is already terribly lucky. I imagine I am quite foul already."
"On the contrary," the elderly man replied smoothly. "Your beauty is such that it shows purely whatever the situation, General Fujino."
"You would make a fine senator, Your Majesty," she said to the flattery.
Two more women entered the room, these ones younger and noticeably better-looking than the other slaves. The king introduced them as her attendants for the bath and then excused himself, pausing to give final instructions to the young woman skulking in the corner. Shizuru smiled as she heard the words: "Do not let her out of your sight or let even a thorn prick her, Natsuki—she is important to us!"
That makes me sound like a stray child, no matter how important, she thought with amusement.
And then the king was gone, the doors to her enormous chambers shut by her Otomeian bodyguard, who strode over to the archway leading to the washroom and went through it. While this was going on, Shizuru dismissed the rest of the Otomeian slaves, saying she would be happy with only the two bathing attendants to assist her. The one Himean servant present—one of hers—she sent to ensure her other slaves knew where to find her.
The Otomeians left laid out fresh clothes on her behalf. They bowed to Shizuru afterwards and stood, waiting as she inspected the Otomeian-style robes they had laid out on the bed. The cloth was the finest linen, and—unsurprisingly—white.
"Do you understand Himean speech?" she asked her attendants. One nodded and the other replied in the language, with a slight accent:
"Yes, General. We speak it as well."
"Good," Shizuru replied. "Then shall we go on to the washing room? I am anxious for a bath."
They bowed again and followed her to the other room, where steam had misted drops of condensation on the walls. Lamps had been lit there as well, showing her a steaming pool of water that could have easily fit five bathers. It was tessellated in an elaborate pattern and had been built into the floor, the clear water showing the whorls of colour at the bottom. Shizuru sighed as she gazed at the inviting sight, then looked up to meet her bodyguard's eyes. The young woman was standing on the other side of the pool, and appeared to have been inspecting the room as well as—Shizuru guessed—the water.
"Well... Natsuki," Shizuru said, testing the name and finding it pleasant on her tongue. "I trust everything is safe?"
The woman nodded, then moved into a corner where an oaken bench was set. She perched herself on it, folding her arms and shutting her eyes.
Shizuru felt intrigue quirk her lips. So her shy, dark little bodyguard was going to stay in the room? She had honestly not expected that, but she chould see potential for entertainment in it.
She divested herself of her armour and clothes, setting each piece aside with the reverence due to objects that protected her life. Once she had come to slipping off the padded undershirt beneath her cuirass, her attendants took over the task. It had been a while since she had let someone do that for her—even back home, in Hime, she usually declined the help of her slaves when she bathed, because she had become so used to the self-service expected of a soldier. But the Otomeian slaves were tender and unobtrusive, and she felt herself relaxing under their attentions. Soon, they had stripped her to her skin. She lowered herself into the water with a drawn-out sigh just as several of her own servants entered the bedroom. She called to them.
"Did you find your way easily?" she asked, telling them to set aside the clothes they had brought. "Good, then please put my gear in the other room. The Otomeians were just about to bathe me, but perhaps two of you can take over instead."
"As you wish, Domina," said the head servant, who conferred quickly with the Otomeians and dismissed them. Shizuru herself merely leaned back in the pool and let the slaves do their jobs. Eventually there were only two left in the washroom, and they bathed her where she sat, their fingers rubbing her taut muscles into the beginnings of comfort.
She was silent at first, her eyes watching only the play of light on the water. After a while, however, she brought them to the figure seated in the corner. She thought the name before she said it, and it sounded sweet if strange even in her thoughts.
"Natsuki," she said.
The young woman opened her eyes and promptly averted them at the sight of Shizuru's naked form. Shizuru fancied that if the Otomeian would step into the circles of light created by the lamps, her face would have those spots of colour once again.
"Why do you always lurk in the dark, Natsuki?" she asked, letting her voice seep in a slow drawl from her throat. "You do not need to, you know."
She waited a few seconds for the other to answer, but waited in vain. The only response was a slow shake of the head, eyes still averted.
"Really now," she said, deciding to try to bait the woman. "I thought that Kruger-han told you not to let me out of your sight? I am not in your sight if you keep your eyes looking away like that, am I?"
There was no response save for a sharp exhalation from her bodyguard. Shizuru resigned herself to the silence, tempted to roll her eyes. It was not that she disliked the quiet, but she was a naturally companionable creature—and one who, after finding someone as interesting as her new bodyguard, would prefer to talk to this new discovery instead of just regarding her like a goggling mute. Which she had to admit was very tempting: the foreigner had such a face!
Still, she supposed she could get her new attendant to talk to her later. So she closed her own eyes now and leaned her head back, inhaling deeply the fragrance of the oils they were using to clean her dirty hair. She enjoyed the gentle rubbing and scraping away of old skin and dust from her arms, luxuriating in one of the best feelings in the world as far as she was concerned, which was that of being clean.
After the bath was over, her slaves helped her dry and dressed her in the native clothes that had been provided for her use. She found herself in a long, robe-like garment similar to the night-robes some wore back in Hime and found it surprisingly comfortable.
She thanked her slaves and sent them away, with instructions to return in the morning with fresh clothing. This left her new bodyguard as her only companion, as it was obvious the young woman would not leave absent her dismissal. Shizuru had no intention of giving that to the Otomeian, or not just yet, when she could have fun with her first. She looked the girl over with a slight smile that would have signalled danger to those who knew her well.
This is going to be interesting.
Shizuru settled herself on the bed, which was a large mattress spread on an enormous fur rug on the floor. The fur was soft, obviously not made of mere wolf's pelt. As for the bed, it was filled with cushions covered in various textures and fabrics that brought Nao's comment on the Otomeian 'decadence' to her mind. The linens were all superb—they could even be imported from as far away as Egypt, she guessed—and gold thread had been used to work borders and geometric patterns into the pillows as well as the heaviest blanket. She thought of the king's words earlier and grinned.
Humble lodgings, nothing!
She sat back against the pillows but did not lie down. At the moment, she preferred to look at her stoic companion—who resolutely avoided the curious gaze by fixing her own eyes on the floor.
"Natsuki, would you come closer?" she said, after a while.
Somehow managing to radiate apprehension as she did, the other came forward.
"Into the light."
A few more steps. This time she was close enough for Shizuru to see every line of her visage. It did not disappoint, and even caused the older woman to inhale reflexively.
She had been right earlier, she realised: the girl had a face. The countenance Shizuru was looking at was remarkably good-looking, sculpted atop fine bones that determined a beauty that would persist even beyond the sag of either age or death. It was a lovely shape, elegant and possessed of a small, pointed nose and sensuous lips, the lower one slightly fuller than the upper. The eyes too were beautiful enough to be unearthly.
The demure way in which they are downcast right now, however, hardly makes her look a fearsome warrior—not to mention head of an elite division, Shizuru thought, still inspecting the young woman. More like a pretty girl at what those back in Hime call "the lethal stage" of unknowing coquetry.
Shizuru suddenly wondered how young she was. The Otomeian's bearing was noticeably regal; that could throw off an observer as it imitated the poise of a mature woman, and yet the girl's looks argued that she was far younger than her comportment and position might indicate.
"How old are you?" she asked, barely able to restrain her curiosity. Somehow, this girl brought out the most feline interest in her. "You look so young."
When no answer came, she mentally slapped herself.
Perhaps she is one of those the king was talking about, she thought. One of those who could understand their language but not speak it. If so, she had been acting very rude towards the Otomeian. Here she had been asking questions all night, without even knowing if there was actually a way for the other woman to answer. Indeed, for all she knew, the girl might be mute!
She decided to reframe the question.
"I myself am twenty-four. Which they say is quite young. Or my detractors in the Senate say, is very green," she added with a smirk. "I suppose you are close to my age. Are you the same age, Natsuki?"
When there was no reply, she tried again, consumed by her odd interest.
"Younger, then. Twenty-three?"
Again no reply.
"Twenty-two? Twenty-one? Twenty? Nineteen?"
At "nineteen", the other made a small gesture of her head.
"Nineteen?" repeated Shizuru, provoking a small nod. The general's eyes widened in both surprise and delight.
"Heavens! Young indeed," she mused aloud, turning over the information in her head. "Why, you are still a girl! How long have you been a warrior? Perhaps you have been doing so as early as I? And to be captain at this age..." She paused and smiled cheerfully at the young woman. "We are both early starters, I suppose."
As usual, only a sullen silence met her friendly speech. She sighed, having been hoping to hear the girl speak—or even just make a sound—at least once. What mattered it if the girl spoke not a whit of Himean? She just wanted her to respond!
"I wish you would speak to me, even if only in your native tongue," she said with disappointment. "Even if I cannot understand it. Or Greek?" She switched to the language of the Hellenes. "If you speak Greek we may speak in that language."
There was no response and she shrugged, close to giving up, but more than a little vexed by her failure. It might be be an odd fancy, but she had wanted to see if the girl's voice matched her face. What kind of voice would be produced by that mouth?
Her own mouth twisted as she returned to Himean with a wry observation: "I suppose it is all very well for a bodyguard to keep her counsel, but it is surely another thing when my own bodyguard will not even meet my eyes."
At that, the younger woman's gaze lifted. She looked straight at Shizuru, who was surprised by the sudden and searchlight glare but looked back. The general marvelled again at the Otomeian's ability to stare straight at her without flinching in the way many others did. The young woman had nerve, even if she did not appear to have a tongue. But she did seem to lack a bit of humour too, which Shizuru thought a great pity: one of the things Shizuru loved best was to laugh.
A notion came to her then, a notion born of the rogue inside her heart. Why not tease this damnably surly girl a little? She was so serious! Surely she needed to loosen up a little, be taken down just a peg from her standoffish and silent high horse.
Shizuru moved her gaze to the young woman's lips, intensifying her stare. The other unconsciously mirrored the gesture, acting on instinct. At this, Shizuru smiled to bring the younger woman's eyes back to her own, which she knew were shining with mischief.
Just as I thought.
Realizing what she had just done, the Otomeian woman pinked with mortification and looked away. Shizuru smiled at her again, entertained by the reaction.
"You really are quite attractive for a cavalry captain," she said to provoke her further, her eyes still on the green ones. "And you have such beautiful lips."
The colour on Natsuki's face had now deepened to a furious red, even as she snapped her gaze back at her tormentor defiantly.
"One wonders... what you think of my lips," Shizuru continued, unable to resist—the Otomeian was simply too amusing. She nearly burst into laughter as she saw the girl's eyebrow begin to twitch.
The poor child, she thought after managing to swallow the hilarity. I really am hopeless, baiting her this way when she is supposed to be looking after me. Instead of letting the girl do her task in peace, here she was, teasing her relentlessly. True, she had a bit of a reputation for teasing, but she herself knew that she hardly teased people as much as this back in Hime. Perhaps it was a little cruel for her to be doing so now, especially to someone seeing to her safety.
She lifted her eyebrows when the younger woman suddenly broke her glare to turn away, heading for the corner she had been occupying a while ago. Shizuru watched as her bodyguard stooped and retrieved something from a pack she had apparently left on the floor, returning to stand before the Himean woman. The girl held it out in one hand.
"What?" said the older woman, wondering what the object being extended to her was. "What is this, Natsuki?"
Natsuki, whose head had been turned away, merely looked at her. Wordlessly, she pulled back her hand to handle the object. Shizuru watched as she pulled at a clasp to reveal that the thing in her hands was a small container made of wood. The Otomeian opened it and dipped a finger inside. When she pulled back her digit, it was glistening. She brought the finger to her mouth and started rubbing it there, slicking her lips with whatever the gleaming substance from the container was.
The Himean watched this exercise with quiet fascination. When Natsuki began rubbing her lips, Shizuru had felt herself go into a sort of stupor, her eyes fixed on her companion's mouth. She was jolted out of this trance only when Natsuki thrust the container towards her again, still looking away.
"I see," Shizuru said, aware that her voice was uncomfortably thicker than usual. "So this is how you deal with the cold. A kind of balm, I take it?"
At a nod from the younger woman, she took the container and proceeded to do as the other had done. It stung a little upon initial contact, as her lips had cracked and chapped on the march, but she felt a soothing sensation gradually spread over the area.
"Oh, that does feel better." She marvelled at the relief. "This balm is superb. Thank you."
She smiled and handed back the container to her bodyguard. As she did, their fingers slipped over each other in the exchange.
Rough, she thought. But very warm.
"I am glad that your concern for me is so great that it extends even to protecting my lips," she said suggestively, still unable to rein in the rogue inside her that seemed obsessed with teasing Natsuki. Why did it feel like that? "How nice to have such a devoted protector."
She grinned unrepentantly at the Otomeian's discomfiture, watching the fine twitch of the fine dark brows: they seemed to want to slant downwards even more than they already were. Suddenly, the younger woman turned again and retreated to her corner. She did this soundlessly, her movement much like the shadows of which she seemed so fond.
Should I let her stay here? pondered Shizuru, watching the young woman stoop to return the container to the pack. I should make her stay outside, really, if she is supposed to be my watch for the night. That would be usual, but…
But what? she asked herself. But the girl might be uncomfortable standing guard all evening outside? Still, she supposed that was par for the course with a bodyguard. Yet it seemed churlish to situate the girl uncomfortably somehow. And besides, it was not even certain if she was supposed to be staying outside. Was that how Otomeians treated their bodyguards? Shizuru could only guess, could only recall the oriental and southern potentates she had heard brought their bodyguards into every room. It did not matter if they were only sleeping or even about less innocent business in the bedroom: royals seemed to believe it safer to have their guards present at every second, without even a door between them.
She supposed that might be what Otomeians did as well. And some part of her whispered that it was understandable, with a bodyguard like hers: would one not want that face nearby and visible at all times?
That was another of her strange whims talking, she supposed: they seemed to be turning up more and more. How eccentric she really was becoming! Well, and did not her fellow senators constantly remark on it?
She looked at the girl in her room once again, narrowing her eyes in the dim light. Again she found her eyes gravitating to the Otomeian's countenance, that splendid young face.
She shrugged her shoulders privately and threw caution to the wind. Oh, why not let the girl stay in? Eccentricity should be indulged once in a while, she decided. She was a light sleeper anyway, and she doubted the girl posed any danger. The Otomeians would gain nothing at all by harming her person, and she had detected no malice earlier from the king. Why else had she refused her centurion's earlier proposition to put a guard at the doors of her chambers? Her only hesitations had been in the fact that she was unused to sleeping in a room with someone else in it, for she made even her slaves stay out of her bedroom back in Hime. Sociable she might be, but she was also very private about certain things and certain places.
Still, she doubted someone as unobtrusive and quiet as her new bodyguard would trouble her privacy greatly in sleeping.
"Shall you stay here?" she asked.
She perceived a nod. So it was how the Otomeians' bodyguards worked!
"Where shall you sleep?"
She lifted her eyebrows as the figure in the corner sat down and put her back against the wall.
"I could not countenance that: it is so uncomfortable," she said. A grin: "Do you not want to join me in bed?"
She felt the glare even before the flickering light let her see it.
"I suppose that is a no," she said with a low chuckle. "Pity."
She got up, taking two very heavy blankets from the covers piled on the mattress and three cushions among what had to be a dozen. When she reached Natsuki, she saw the confusion patent on the girl's face—for it was still very much a girl's face, she decided.
"It would be a waste to have so many of these without you using them," she announced while handing the pile to the Otomeian. The younger woman took them abashedly, then ducked her head to contemplate them where they lay on her lap.
"Is that all right? I am not at all unwilling to share more of the pillows or covers with you if you need them."
A nod to show they were enough. Shizuru smiled and returned to the bed. Moving some of the pillows aside, she stretched out upon the sheets and looked up at the ceiling.
"Put out the lamps when you are done, please," she said, closing her eyes. "Have a good sleep, Natsuki."
The only answer was a shuffling sound that indicated the other was arranging the items Shizuru had given her.
I've never slept with anyone else in the room, before, now that I think about it, she thought idly. It was strange to know that there was another person, not even just a mere slave, inside the room. She wondered if she could make her peace with it enough to actually fall into slumber, or if she would end up regretting this little game she had taken on for amusement.
Her concerns turned out to be in vain. She fell asleep so quickly that she did not even hear the Otomeian girl crouching beside her, studying her face with silent interest before blowing out the last of the lamps.
"It's a crock, is what it is!"
The general and the other officers turned to look at the senior legate, who had made the exclamation.
"Well, we all know it, don't we?" Chie growled, directing her gaze to her commander. "Those asses in the Senate would give anything to see you come back crushed and bawling for someone else to do it."
"I fancy they would rather I did not come back at all," Shizuru said dryly. "If only to be able to say that I cannot even handle this 'small affair'," she finished, quoting the words of the senior consul in describing the Mentulaean situation.
"'Small affair' my eye," returned her chief legate. "Armitage is crazy if she thinks of this as small in any way. Here we are, posted in some foreign country with barely five legions—maybe four, if we actually redistributed the soldiers so the legions weren't understrength—and all to cover the entire North against what could be an army of a hundred thousand imperials, if you believe the reports!"
"Well, this was a bit of a suicide mission—or my enemies meant it to be one, as Reito-han put it," Shizuru said, referring to one of her allies in the Senate, the famous orator and current Princeps. "It merely shows how determined they are to see me fail an enterprise, even at the expense of Hime, when even the Princeps is unable to sway a vote as he wishes."
Chie shook her head as she recalled that ill-omened senatorial meeting. The junior consul had been the one to convene it, subsequent to receiving a report from the governor administrating one of the Himean provinces in the North. The report, written a little over two months earlier, was read to the House by the junior consul, Utada Asou.
"In sum," Utada had said, after finishing it, "the Mentulaeans are moving in force upon the Northern Territories, it seems. We already have multiple reports that one of their armies crossed their empire's border far north of one of our provinces and sacked several local villages. They have not yet set foot on any of our client-states' territories, to be sure, nor indeed any of ours. But they are very close and they come as an army."
"Is the Mentulaean king expanding his territory, Junior Consul?" someone asked.
"It appears so to me, and our sources concur with that impression. We would do well to be wary of this, Members of the House. Such an expansion might threaten even our own provinces there, from Sosia to Argus, both of which are significant—Sosia, for its mines, and Argus for its function as the prime port in those lands. Senators, we must take action."
There was a brief moment of buzzing along the rows, until one senator stood and belched out a proposition.
"I propose that we send an investigative party to determine what action is proper! Until then we cannot engage in any hostile action, for we have treaties with the Mentulae. Armies are not what this calls for. We should avoid leaping into military action before we are certain it is needed. Send only an investigative party!"
"An investigative party?" burst out a voice, from the centre rows. The speaker, bright hair seeming to bespeak her indignation, rose to her feet.
"Members of the House, let me speak," she cried, patently exasperated. "To send a purely investigative party is to send a lamb to the wolves! I know how much you hate the idea of paying out more legions, but wouldn't it cost more to lose our provinces in the North? To lose our many people there?"
"But we don't know yet that that's even a possibility, Tokiha-san!" came the retort.
"Of course it's a possibility! It's not a certainty even now, but it's a possibility. We all know how these particular northern barbarians act—haven't we had several treaties with them, all of which they broke, sooner or later? No, this is no longer a matter of investigation but of military caution. To that end, an investigative party would be a huge underreaction!"
The junior consul followed this with a question, addressing the one who had spoken.
"What do you suggest, then, Tokiha-san? You seem to have an alternative in mind."
The red-haired senator nodded.
"Send a party to investigate, by all means," she declared. "I agree with that much, Asou-san. But do not make it a mere investigative party! Send an actual army to garrison our territories as well as the client-states in the North, for—investigation or not—I don't see any party surviving an encounter with the Mentulaean king without an army behind it! Why else would he march at the head of a column of several thousand soldiers into the Northern Territories? Do we really think he would content himself with just having a late autumn walk to sample the riches of our provinces? Send him senators, yes. But also send an army!"
A furore exploded at this suggestion as senators and consuls alike tried to get a word in, shouting and gesticulating to draw attention to themselves. The senior consul, by dint of having by far the strongest voice in the House, managed to scream them all to silence.
"Esteemed consuls Armitage-san, Asou-san, may I speak?" asked a clear voice, easily distinguishable as that of Princeps Senatus Reito Kanzaki. Given an affirmative, he got up and strode forward, stopping at the centre of the floor. He took a moment there to arrange his toga: the long and draped garment that was standard attire for Himean senators during formal functions. His friends watched him fuss over his dress with amusement, for they knew it was one of his tactics to get attention—by primping his attractive, broad-shouldered figure in a sort of flirtation with the audience.
"Honoured Members of the House," he began. "I agree with the words of Tokiha-san, that we cannot simply allow the Mentulaean king, Obsidian, to run amuck as he pleases. It is a significant threat to us if he is somehow able to consolidate the Mentulaean Empire into such a force as would pose danger to the lands bordering Our Sea. We cannot condone such a peril, nor can we condone letting it pass unmitigated while we waste valuable time sending out an investigative party under care of some meek diplomat. Yet neither can we act hastily, too, for there is still a possibility—a very small possibility—that the Mentulaean advances can be stopped before they reach our own northern lands."
He held up his hand to stay the murmurs and proceeded with what he had to say.
"Yes, it's possible," he said to them. "How can anyone doubt it? Reflect, Members of the House, upon the fear that our armies are able to instil in savage hearts, no matter how barbarian these hearts may be. The prudent option, therefore, is to send an army to garrison, as Tokiha-san said, but with an initial view to intimidation that may forestall any actual warfare. It may be unnecessary to incur casualties or losses at this point… although I do feel that we shall have to, later on, against this particular king. So yes, send an army. Our armies are the backbone of our strength and pride as a nation, and all other nations cower at the sight of them. So let the Mentulaeans have sight of them! Let King Obsidian see what he may face if he does not heed good sense and turn tail! It is for this reason that we absolutely have to send an army and not just a soldierless investigative party. And, if all else fails, at least we shall have forces immediately at hand for any possible engagements."
"Prudent words, Princeps," said the junior consul. "And fair to the mind. I for one support the proposal. Members of the House, is anyone opposed or does anyone else have a better plan? I address the question first of all to my fellow consul, Armitage-san."
The senior consul shook her blonde head and thundered: "A good plan, Kanzaki-san, My Good Felon!"
Rustling titters and chuckles filled the floor as another senator on dais leaned towards the consuls and whispered a correction behind the hapless Haruka Armitage, who had a horrid knack for malapropisms. Meanwhile, the Princeps returned to his seat and turned his head to smile at the person to his left.
"Well now," this person was saying to him. "As far as your exploits with women go, she got the word right, did she not?"
He laughed and leaned towards her, actually angling his chin slightly upwards because she was extremely tall.
"I'm a better fellow than I am a felon, I assure you," he whispered. "You will most likely be given the commission, Shizuru-san, to lead this expedition. You do know that, right?"
Red eyes danced: "Why should it not go to another of the military men and women we have in the House?"
"Because none of them is as famous as you are right now. Furthermore, none of them has a ready army the way you do at the moment. Your veterans from Africa have not been discharged from last year's campaign and are still parked in the Campus Martius, just outside the city. Fortuitous that the Senate was considering sending them back to Africa Province to stiffen up the garrison there temporarily, no? Now you have them ready to go at a moment's notice... Only it looks like they shall be heading northwards, instead of southwards to Africa as we had thought before this."
"The House might well choose another senator to lead them there."
"That would be silly indeed, when their old general is already here. Come now, and tell me. Shall you take it if they offer the commission?"
"You make it sound as though I have a choice, Reito-han," Shizuru finally sighed. "As the commission of the Senate is the command of Hime, I cannot but do as they see fit."
"True, but there are ways of getting out of commissions, such as a good group of senatorial allies—or I daresay even a Princeps Senatus—might put into speech."
She flashed him a demure smile.
"If you are asking whether I would like the commission or not so that you could put your persuasive powers to work for which one I want, then allow me to say this: I would like it, insofar as I have always wanted to see the North, and I would not like it, insofar as I had hoped to stand for praetor this year, or possibly even the next."
He nodded in understanding.
"A difficult choice indeed," he said. "Personally, I would prefer that you take it, as I am in doubt that anyone else could manage such a potentially dangerous campaign as effectively. Furthermore, I believe it would be to your advantage to postpone your candidacy for one more term."
"Oh?"
"The conservatives are still strong in the Senate, and to top it all off, they've managed to overrun this year's Tribunate of the Plebs as well." He made a shrugging gesture. "No, Shizuru-san, it would be no loss at all to delay running for praetor. Besides, I hear that the northern provinces are very rich—and that the allied state of Otomeia, though remote and extremely difficult to reach, is also very wealthy. It might be to your advantage to visit that region for the moment."
At this moment, the senior consul's voice boomed out once more.
"As the House has no objections, we adopt the measure," she proclaimed. "Who will be commander? I offer myself, for one. This needs the touch of the senior consul," she declared, drawing herself up pompously.
"I would protest," said one of the more aged senators, rising. "The senior consul must stay in Hime to oversee things, particularly as we are not yet assured that several other threats we have in the south are finished. I would propose that the commission be given to one of the other senators."
"I second the motion," announced Tate Yuichi. "Let it be handed over to someone else. To send both the senior consul and our forces to handle the Mentulaean situation—just plain silly, especially if it drags out into the elections!"
The Princeps chuckled at this.
"Tate never did get the finer points of rhetoric," he mumbled to his seatmate.
"Indeed," Shizuru said, trying to suppress a laugh. "But he is a decent officer, as well as a good man to trust things to, I have heard."
"I know," Reito replied. "And that's the reason I endorsed him when he said he wanted to enter the Senate."
"But."
"But he'll never make it to the consulship. Too weak in the tongue and not enough of a politician."
"Armitage-han never really understood the finer points of oration either," Shizuru whispered back, smiling. "And she is the senior consul."
"Yes, but she definitely does not have a weak tongue!" he hissed to her.
"Members of the House," intoned another senator. "I move that the commission be given to one who can handle such a task and has veterans of her own already at hand—let it be Shizuru Fujino."
Fresh mumbling broke out at this, and Shizuru and Reito halted their dialogue with each other, as most of the senators were looking their way. It was no surprise, of course, and Shizuru did not even bother making it look as though it was.
"I protest," said someone, just as the senior consul appeared to be on the verge of another explosive outburst. "Fujino-san has just finished one campaign, and now we are to send her out again? To such a taxing situation, no less? We are grateful for what she has done in Africa, of course, but that does not give her priority in our selection of generals for the legions. No, fellow senators, it is time to send someone else into the fray. Let others have their chance! I suggest Yukino Kikukawa, who deserves the commission better, especially as she is currently a praetor."
"I endorse that suggestion!" cried the senior consul, eager to get her friend and subordinate to head the enterprise. Indeed, it was exactly what their faction needed to consolidate their influence: the promise of a successful campaign, both in terms of victory as well as spoils. As if on cue, her senatorial allies began to rally their voices in agreement. However, there was an opposing wave that clamoured for the other choice. Loud words began to turn into shouts and madness threatened to overtake the meeting.
"Silence!" cried the junior consul, addressing both the senators on the floor as well as his screaming consular colleague. "Silence, I say, for the Princeps wishes to speak! Members of the House, you are acting like rabble—control yourselves, if you please!"
Eventually, they calmed enough to allow Reito to begin his speech. He put on his most formidable air as he addressed them, making sure to stare each one in the eye to press his point.
"Honourable Members of the House," he started, sparing no time for primping and sporting a disapproving scowl from the beginning. "I said before that the situation has the potential for extreme gravity. Yet what I've heard just now seems to be ignoring this. Have you not heard my warnings? We may be facing a Vesuvius on the verge of eruption! Have we any desire to be eradicated that way—melted off the face of the Earth after taking all warning signs lightly? Do we wish to be so blind, so stopper up our ears to all rumblings?"
He paused, took a deep breath, and drew himself up to his full height.
"Fellow Senators, this is a force of nature we face!" he boomed out. "And if we take it lightly, if we do not heed the rumblings in the distance, that force will overflow and reach even our shores! Yes, even across Our Sea! I adjure you, be prudent in your decisions, for this is not merely a question of the Northern Territories. Recall the doings of these Mentulaean kings, even the ones before this Obsidian. Do you not see their arrogance? Do you not see how savage, how primal these people can be? They are as unchecked in their ambitions as a volcano is unchecked when it explodes—they have no sense of where to stop! And if we take them lightly, they will not stop!"
He turned and faced the consular platform, bowing slightly.
"I have no intent," he continued. "Of deprecating the esteemed senator Kikukawa-san, fellow Members of the House. Truly she promises great things in the future, that much may be seen from her past achievements and conduct. Yet I am wary of sending one who has not yet headed a military campaign, even if only as a legate, to the situation we are speaking of. For that, Fellow Senators, is to taunt Fate. It is to taunt Nature, by saying that we take it—in the guise of these primal barbarians we face—so lightly that we make it a mere training ground for our unblooded. And one does not taunt Nature. Such an act only leads to the worst catastrophes, and you know it. So I say we must give Nature and this threat its due! Present it with our best, our most blooded."
He wheeled to face the rest of the senators instead of the consuls on the dais.
"There," he said, turning to hold out his hand to the direction where Shizuru sat, "is our best this very moment. Shizuru Fujino has just wrapped up the Numidian Campaign in Africa to Hime's benefit... and has made every battle she has thus far generalled an unqualified victory! She has won battles that are already legendary and on which many of our current military experts have written treatises of analysis and praise! She has seized fortresses so apparently impregnable that my heart stills in my breast to think of the feats! And she has won something no other in this present House has, which is the greatest of all our military decorations! Can anyone possibly have a record here that can compare to that list? Can anyone else show me a corona obsidionalis?"
No one could, of course, so he rushed on with the rest before they started protesting again.
"Now, you may not all like her, Fellow Senators," he continued. "But by god, you do not need to! You can even hate her if you wish! But you need to acknowledge that we have a threat spilling over the northern boundaries and that she is the person with the best chance of pushing that threat right back into the pits from where it originates! All the other generals with a comparable level of experience are away and cannot be recalled from their own posts for this. Those who are here are either too aged already—esteemed though they may be—or tied down by posts of their own. They also do not have veteran soldiers readily available, ones who have fought for and would willingly fight for them again even in the wastes of the North. Do you really think soldiers would be happy to sign up for such a campaign if just any commander were heading it? Even levying recruits would become a challenge! But it would not be if we had someone of Shizuru Fujino's repute heading the commission."
"So it's Shizuru Fujino we have to send," he concluded, "if we are to take this threat seriously and repel it effectively. And before you begin to think this possible threat is a small thing, reflect on how close the Mentulaean Empire is to Upper Fuuka, with only our neighbour Caledonia and the Alps to separate them. Therefore, we must send someone who can do the job as well as possible, and not take any chances with this matter! Again, who cares if you hate the person we send? What is important is that the Mentulaeans shall fear her! Senators, see sense: it is Fujino-san who must be sent!"
After such a speech, there was little for the House and the consuls to do but give the commission to the woman many of them did not want leading another military expedition—not least because she had a knack of being so successful (and thus, enviable) on them. Shizuru accepted the campaign with a short and gracious speech. The other faction had another ace up their sleeves that even the Princeps failed to foresee, however. It was enunciated by none other than the patrician senator Sergay Wang, another of the House's eminent orators.
Given, he said, that this was indeed a potential disaster, the House must indeed send its best, and its very bravest. But as it was a potential disaster and still not an actual one yet, then surely it would be unwise to expend unnecessary resources for the sake of what could well be averted. There were other threats to Hime to consider. Hence, he concluded, the Senate should send Fujino-san with her best legions—but not too many of them. The clincher came with the prescribed limit: five legions, at most.
"Five? Heavens above, that is suicide," the stunned Princeps had pronounced to Shizuru, upon hearing of the recommendation. He along with several other senators had argued strongly against it, but the other senators, ever mindful of costs, had adopted the "moderate" option and passed it, to the satisfaction of the senior consul and her allies. It had been disheartening to Shizuru's supporters, yet she herself had shown no visible discomfort at the time. Only later did she speak of it scathingly to her friend and long-time senatorial ally, Chie Harada.
And now we're facing a situation that isn't just a potential disaster but a probable one, Chie thought. The minimum number of legions was usually two for an army, and the standard number was six. Anything above six means that the campaign's going to be an awful one, and this promises to be an awful one. And here we are, with an impressively understrength five!
"The bastards," she hissed, finishing her reminiscences. "Sergay! How I wanted to shove my toga down his throat and stop that evil tongue!"
Shizuru laughed, again the portrait of inhuman calm.
"Come now," she said. "There is nothing to be done—at least, not until we actually are provoked somewhere into a battle with them, Chie-han. Then we can send off a request to the Senate for a few more legions up here and tell them the potential has turned into the actual. Otherwise, I fear all we can do is prepare and use what we do have wisely."
"My cousin told me that he overheard Armitage's people talking about what would've happened if Senator Kikukawa had been the one sent here," another legate noted, entering the conversation. "They say the senior consul would have requested your legions from the Numidian Campaign anyway, Fujino-san."
Everyone at the table burst into laughter.
"Of course—it would have been a friendly request, certainly," Shizuru said, with light sarcasm. "Just as I am sure my veterans would have gone along willingly with that."
"Can you imagine Nao's reaction?" Chie stuttered out, still shaking with mirth at the idea of the fanatically loyal Fujino legions being commanded by someone who was notorious for being a Fujino opponent. "She'd terrorise Yukino-san so much that the senator would be begging to go back home only a day into the bargain."
"True, Fujino-san," said another legate. "You're the only commander who can manage that one."
The general tilted her head thoughtfully.
"Nao-han can be a little complex to deal with," she allowed. "But she is a brilliant soldier and the best primipilus one can have."
"I'll second that," said Chie. "She's a terror—especially that tongue of hers!—but there's no one else you'd want to be behind you in a tight spot."
"Except for the general herself, naturally," supplied a voice from the doorway.
They looked up to find the centurion in question walking towards them. She saluted Shizuru first, then was told to sit at the table and break her fast with them.
"I'll say this much about this place," she said. "They've got that nice sense of comfort down—nothing beats sprawling around like this."
"But this just seems like such a savage way of reclining," one of the legates remarked. "Resting on a couch for meals is normal. But on cushions and rugs on the floor? Barbarian!"
"I would think," Shizuru said suddenly. "That it is improper for us to call them barbarians. We Himeans tend to think of ourselves too much as the only civilised people in the world, with little appreciation for how others must think us the opposite. Indeed, were we to ask the Otomeians or any other people, for that matter, they would say that we seem barbaric to them."
The others looked at their general, unsure of what to make of her statement. She had such radical ideas sometimes that they were never really certain of how to react to her remarks.
"Anyway," said the centurion. "I like this place. Good food. Too much meat, though."
"Here's some bread," said the senior legate, handing her a hunk of it from one of the plates. Nao tore it apart with her hands.
"Scouts came back, General," she said, referring to Shizuru's order that she send the scouts out in the morning to double back on their tracks up and around the Otomeian mountain and see if anyone had been following them. "All's clear."
"Good. Thank you for your work."
Nao nodded, chewing through some bread. She smiled at the commander after she had swallowed it and said, "Say, General, where's that ghost of yours, by the way? Or should it be your sphinx? Has she said anything yet?"
The others laughed. "The General's Sphinx" had become a familiar sight as well as joke to them, as she simply seemed to follow Shizuru everywhere, obviously taking the king's injunction to 'never let her out of sight' to heart. It had been several days, and still the young woman had said nary a word to any of the Himeans, which led some to conclude that she was mute—something Shizuru was beginning to think herself, although for some reason she doubted it. She had been meaning to ask the king, but kept forgetting due to the sheer number of things that needed doing.
"She is right there," Shizuru said to her primipilus, flicking her eyes to the "ghost" standing in a distant corner of the dining room. "You really should not call her that. She has a name. Natsuki."
"What exotic names they have!" said another legate. "And they do not even have last names—how do they tell them apart if two people have the same name?"
"Their names have meanings," said another officer, who was also an interpreter. "So each one is made to be unique. Otherwise, they add 'the second' or 'the third', such as in the king's case. Usually, names are only repeated in families."
"What does 'Natsuki' mean?" Chie asked, before Shizuru could ask the question.
"I think it means 'summer child' or 'summer girl'. Something like that."
There was a pause followed by uproarious laughter. Even the general had to struggle to mask her giggles.
"Summer child?" Nao guffawed. "That's the coldest 'summer' I've ever seen!"
"It doesn't really… suit her, does it?" Chie managed, in between laughs. "The 'summer', particularly."
"Ah, now," Shizuru said, reprimanding them even as her face showed her own amusement. "You should not say such things. Natsuki has superb hearing, from what I have noticed, and she can understand us."
Indeed, when they turned to look, the general's bodyguard was glaring at them so horribly that their laughter dried out. Only the primipilus was unfazed, and she hooted and snorted away, aggravating the intensity of the offended girl's glare.
"Oh, perfect—just perfect!" she said, as she laughed.
"Yuuki-han, really," said Shizuru in a reprimanding tone.
"Sorry, General," the redhead grinned, shoulders still shaking. She flicked a glance to the figure in the corner who was still glaring at her, and narrowed her eyes.
She dropped her voice.
"I don't trust her one bit," she muttered. "You shouldn't keep her in your room, General. Who knows if she's an assassin."
"Then she would have killed me long before," Shizuru replied smoothly. "Or tried to, at least. But she has not once ever threatened me or given me cause to distrust her. Besides which, she is quite expressive of face in some ways: I daresay I would know if this girl were planning something nasty from a single look at her. No, trust me, I have no suspicions towards Natsuki."
"Still. I don't like the look of these Otomeians." Nao scowled. "And what's with their eyes? All that black stuff like them Egyptian ponces—creepy!"
"I like it," said one of the legates, making his way through another cup of watered wine. "It sort of makes their eyes pop out, you know, the colour. It looks especially good on Natsuki-san, actually, because of the colour of her eyes. Quite a ravishing green! Like a cat. Or broken glass."
"I think," Chie put in, grinning, "that everything looks 'especially good' on Natsuki-san. Wouldn't you say so, Shizuru-san? She's actually… oh, terrifically good-looking!"
Shizuru smiled, nodding in quiet agreement. One of the legates laughed and they turned to look at him.
"You see," he said, speaking in a low voice. "Half of the soldiers are already eyeing her like animals in heat. Just eyeing, mind you. She's too intimidating to be approached. But that sort of adds to it, that she doesn't say anything at all, and they all think she's the—how did Tenjou put it, Nao-san? I know you were there when we were talking about it."
Nao rolled her eyes.
"The sexy, silent type," she said. "Anyway, they can't miss her since she's always trailing after you, General. But you're right—she's drawing a lot of attention. Some of my boys and girls have their eyes on her too."
"Well," Shizuru said, eyebrows shaking a little at the ends as though they wanted to draw together. "Well, now."
Chie noted the displeasure in her friend's eyes and wondered what it meant. Did Shizuru perhaps disapprove strongly of the soldiers getting together with auxiliaries? Well, that was understandable, certainly. She decided to change the subject.
"So, what's on the schedule for today, Shizuru-san?" she asked.
Shizuru, broken from her thoughts, looked up at her.
"Inventory, I think," she said. "It is time for preparations."
She signalled to one of the Otomeian slaves serving them that she wanted to wash her hands, and was provided with a basin of water. After drying her hands on the supplied cloth, she reached for and began to pull on her caligae, lacing the cords tightly.
"Please prepare the legions for inspection," she instructed, walking towards the doorway with her red cloak flapping behind her. "I shall meet you all at the square. I need to see Hyodo-han, first."
They went their separate ways and Shizuru found herself striding through the hallways of the Otomeian palace with her bodyguard. She slowed her steps and asked the other woman to walk by her side, telling herself that she was doing it as a precaution.
How silly I am, she thought as Natsuki complied wordlessly. I certainly do not suspect her of being a spy, much less an assassin who would stab me in the back. So why do I keep asking her to walk in step with me? She is supposed to be simply my bodyguard, after all, or at least my Otomeian attendant. Now it looks more as though she is either a high officer in my army or a friend—which would be fine if not for the fact that having her by my side this way only makes her refusal to speak with me even more noticeable. I really should ask them if she is mute.
She looked at the woman from the corner of her eye, seeing the proud rise of the nose in profile. Letting her gaze fall lower, she noted the dark uniform that no doubt added to the "eyeing in heat" that her legate had spoken of. It was an extremely form-fitting affair, unlike those of the regular Otomeian robes or even the Himean issue for soldiers—which was composed of pteryges with loose trousers underneath, and the standard cuirass covered by cloaks and tunics in winter.
In contrast, her bodyguard's uniform seemed to be made up of a dark, fitted shirt that shut by means of tucks in a front flap, and similarly-coloured trousers that appeared much slimmer compared to the Himean ones, as they were overlaid by wide leaves of leather that wrapped around the thigh. These leather pieces were strapped together to prevent them from slipping down the leg, and Shizuru guessed they were to prevent chafing when the troopers were on their horses. The shirt, too, was fitted even closer to the outline of the body due to a complex sort of torso-protection made of leather strips or belts, each belt about three fingers wide. There were sheaths and pockets worked into the belts for an array of darts that Shizuru guessed to be thrown weapons. There was no cuirass as far as she had seen.
All in all, a complex outfit, Shizuru thought. It was made for lightness and manoeuvrability, which explained the lack of metal and chainmail on it. She initially thought that it was the standard uniform for the Otomeian military—but attendance of a demonstration from the Otomeian ranks disproved that. Upon asking about it, she had been informed that it was the uniform exclusive to the Lupine cavalry unit. Afterwards, being presented with some of the other members of that unit, she had made a mental note that none of them looked as good in the uniform as Natsuki did. Her senior legate had been right earlier in saying things tended to look especially good on the girl: she really did have remarkable looks. Even Shizuru, who was possessed of spectacular ones herself, had to admit to the power of the girl's exotic appeal.
Turning a corner, they met some servants carrying packages. The Otomeians stopped and bowed to them. Shizuru smiled and inclined her head, not pausing her steps. Natsuki for her part ignored them and made no motion to show acknowledgement of their presence.
After a moment, Shizuru spoke.
"So aloof and so silent," she said nonchalantly, still walking. "It is no wonder they call you a Sphinx, on occasion."
She sensed an almost tangible drop of temperature from the younger woman.
"Did I forget to mention so cold?" she quipped. "Ah, Natsuki. It means 'summer child', eh?"
This time, the glare was impossible to miss, even if only from the corner of her eye. She turned her head to face the dark-haired girl, meeting the glare without fear.
"Do not mind them. For my part, I honestly think it is a beautiful name, Natsuki."
She fancied that she felt the heat coming from her bodyguard's reddening cheeks even before she saw it. The glare melted away, replaced by a completely bewildered look.
Shizuru had to smile.
