Crescit Cum Commercio Civitas (Civilization prospers with commerce)

Throughout the night and next morning, Gyousou came to a better understanding of the state of matters in his kingdom. He came to see that it was not quite as bad as everyone assumed. It was bad, no mistake, but Yuka and Taiki (mostly Yuka by the look of things) had been setting things up for his eventual return. She had decided to tear a page from his book and had slowly but surely been picking out promising and capable people that she thought would make fine ministers, but instead of using the army, Yuka pulled all of hers from the schools, businesses and other various places in the private sector. She hadn't been able to install any of them into administrative positions directly, but she had given a certain amount of patronage and seen to it that her chosen people received assignments that would allow them to gain skills that would be useful.

For example, one fellow graduated from the examinations but was denied even a small position in court, however Yuka had him moved to the trade-city of Sen and placed him in charge of managing the books for the Gyoujou Merchant Consortium, from there she had put him under the secretary of eastern docks in charge of all trade in and out on that side of the river, and from that point moved him over to a secretarial position on the Lower City guardhouse docket, after that he became head secretary of the granaries in the city of Youki in charge of keeping the granary adequately stocked to supply each citizen throughout the winters) then on to the census house in Nanting. It was a very well-rounded education, and based on his performance the man was going to make a brilliant minister with an excellent understanding of the economics of trade Tai depended on, and an appreciation for the difficulties of dealing with Tai's winters. She had a list of such young women and men of potential and integrity about as long as his arm, all of them carefully trained, even nurtured, as a gardener nurtured promising young shoots to grow into mighty oaks.

:It must really irritate her, having all of these capable people she's been grooming to help take some of the burden, and not able to put them into place to make things easier for her,: Gyousou thought pityingly.

He signed off on several forms, recommending that certain people be placed here and there to shore up the various places within the bureaucracies of the various ministries that had been listing badly. She knew where most of the problems were, which was a mercy. Yuka called it "mapping out the rot" where she had several of her own personal spies ferreting out the officials who took bribes and created troubles. Sometimes she was able to reassign them (even if she couldn't demote them or rid herself of them entirely) to harmless busywork or put them in places where they would not be able to do as much damage.

"Your majesty, eighty percent of Tai's forces are assembled and await your command," Risai said, entering with a bow. "All supply trains have been assembled and are ready to move out."

Gyousou looked over at her, a little taken aback.

"Supply trains are difficult to move, especially in winter, General," he felt obliged to point out. "Moving goods and weapons overland is-"

"Not anymore, your majesty," she corrected. "I used the Royal Seal to annex the use of all available skyways and ordered them to move the goods and troops double time. It was not a problem. The last of the troops in Sui Province and in southern Ki Province are being moved as we speak."

"And their supplies?"

"Personal gear has been strapped to the underside of the conveyance," Risai replied. "Food and medical supplies, as well as personnel in charge of such, has been placed in the conveyances behind the troops. A single day more and all of your forces will be assembled. The kuukoshi (air forces) are assembled with spare mounts and supplies."

"Very good, general," he said approvingly. "And the ships along the coast?"

"Making their way north sir, though the ice is still giving them some trouble, they will be able to make it into position. Shall I order the kuukoshi to land on decks and await orders?"

"Have them stand by for now," Gyousou said decisively. "Out of curiosity general, how is it that you knew that you would be able to move this many troops this quickly? It's unheard of, especially in winter."

Risai flashed a quick, fierce grin.

"Lady Yuka was quick to appreciate the civilian application for the skyways, getting the goods she needed sold to their ports and markets quickly while not being impeded overland by the untraversible winter terrain. Master Taiki saw the use of the skyways for humanitarian aid, sending needed food and medical supplies to outlying towns and villages that would ordinarily need them but not be able to receive then due to weather conditions."

Gyousou nodded, appreciating the charicteristic truths.

"I, however was quick to appreciate their strategic uses in readying the field of combat quickly," Risai said. "I have ordered several covert dry runs disguised as deploying emergency troops to handle youma problems and supply drops for humanitarian aid to test out the system's ability to handle quick and massive troop and supply movement preparatory to just such maneuvers, your majesty."

"Well done, thank you general, as you were."

"Sir!" Risai quickly bowed her exit and went back to handling the army.

Taiki poked his nose in and said

"Yuka wants to know if you want to meet with the king of Han privately before he leaves, now that he's not going to cause any trouble, or if you just want her to handle everything."

Gyousou gave it a moment's consideration.

"I will meet with him, ask her if she will attend."

"Yes Your Majesty," he said, disappearing back to the palace he shared with the girl.

:After the masterful recovery she pulled off last night, and everything she's written down that I've read, I should probably stop thinking of her as a girl,: he thought with a small headshake as he pulled on the black imperial hanfuu.

He stepped out into the royal garden that separated his own Seiden Palace from Meiden Palace (though officially, both of them were actually Seiden palace, Meiden was more casually known as the place where Taiki slept) to find the consorts maids trickling out into the garden (and scanning the area for threats). Shortly afterward the Royal Consort stepped out.

:Woah...: he thought, surprised and taken aback.

He'd seen her dressed for court and for receiving royal envoys, and her clothes had been lovely enough and tasteful enough to cover the occasion if a bit on the plain side. Her make-up and jewelry had been enough to pass without comment, but nothing that even a less-favored lady of the former king's retinue would have worn. Gyousou was caught literally tongue tied by how lovely she could make herself when she clearly chose to exert great effort.

The ensemble she had chosen was flawless in the coordination of its colors of pale blue, dark blue and silver and beautifully exotic but tasteful in its design. Her feet were encased in soft boots folded over at the tops with tooling in the leather and she wore a pale ice-blue full skirt that was pleated and embroidered up along one side with stylized climbing roses in the knotworks well known in the north of Tai . There was a matching shirt of pale blue that was cut close to her arms with embroidered cuffs that pointed down over the knuckle of her middle finger. The shirt and underskirt were covered by an over-dress cut to reveal both layers. The overcoat was divided down the middle and held in closed by a wide sash with knotwork embroidery in a stripe across the middle, and the bottom hem of the over-robe was covered in three inches of incredibly intricate knotworks in silver thread. The top was partly opened to display the shirt under it, and the sleeves were slashed at the top, then cut back at the elbows to hang down like two long furosode, encrusted with intricate knotwork embroidery. In front of the scoop neckline of the overrobe was an incredibly intricate necklace, clearly made with gems found in Tai. Intricate earrings to match dangled beside her ears, and bangles and two rings glinted on her hands. Her long black hair was braided and fashioned in an intricate pattern, with a set of jeweled combs and hairsticks with gem-beads hanging down from them, glinting in the morning sun. Her make-up was subtle, it almost seemed she wasn't wearing any, but there was a slight darkness to her eyes and lips. She bowed politely, her face its usual diplomatic mask.

"That is... you look... slightly different from your usual," he managed at last.

It had been a long time since he'd ever stammered in the presence of a woman. He had never seen such an unusual ruqun, the sleeves on the shenyi were strange, and the bottom hems were unusually shortened, more like a khuze and it divided down the middle instead of being wrapped left over right or even fastened down the side, the neck line too more resembled the horizontal neckline favored by the court in the days of Queen Lintao, but the undergarment was very different. The sleeves of the undershirt were cut close to the wrist and the pants were made with crisp folds that radiated outward. Very peculiar, but not unattractive.

"Thank-you, your majesty," Yuka replied politely, there was a certain sort of glitter in her eyes that he wasn't quite certain what to make of. He found out what it was a moment later.

"Hopefully, this will make do."

"Do?" he questioned.

"Yes, I must redeem my honor today," Yuka replied, looking strangely intent. Her teeth were gritted, as if she wanted revenge for something.

"Your admirer meant you no harm, Lady Yuka," he said, feeling a little sorry for the erstwhile suitor.

"That Go Ranjou dared to imply that he was more fashionable than me!" Yuka said in a very feminine outrage.

"Huh?" Gyousou said, completely caught off-guard.

"He called me plain and dull! And said that my clothes were fit for an old woman! I'll show him!"

Yuka turned around full circle, clearly intending that he should admire her.

"I had this dress made on my own orders a while ago. I've been saving it for a special occasion. I can't think of anything better than using it to shut him up. I mean, he probably thinks orange is the new pink or something! Prepare yourself Han-idiot, we'll see who's tastes are boring!"

:Is this really happening?: Gyousou wondered. :He comes to court her, completely inappropriately, but instead winds up putting her in a snit over her clothes. Worse yet, she responds by dressing up nicely to put him in his place? What kind of crazy politics does this woman operate with? And that Han emperor, he's as crazy as she is!:

Gyousou felt a headache coming on. He sighed as he escorted the crazed little fashionista to the private reception room in Seiden Palace, a place that probably hadn't been opened up in years. He was sure that Taiki didn't see much in the way of guests, besides the occassional visit from his friend Keiki, and Yuka would be too wary of cries of impropriety to meet with a strange man alone in a private place.

:I have to admit that she can put herself together,: Gyousou thought as the walked side by side through his rooms.

Yuka had once written in her notes, which sometimes read almost more like a private journal, that she never once underestimated the power of appearances. She always looked her best because clothes were a sort of armor. It was hard enough to maintain her shaky authority, and oftentimes maintaining that rested on her ability to make her opponents underestimate her.

Gyousou politely seated his acting-consort and then himself in the inner courtyard garden then waited for the other emperor to show up. He wondered what in the world he was supposed to say to the man as an ice-breaker. "So, you dropped by to steal my wife" didn't seem like it would go over well. It was weird thinking of the girl in terms of a relationship with him, and he got the feeling that despite the fact that she did so much on behalf of "her husband" Yuka was just as uncomfortable with it as he was.

"Don't make such a scary face, you're going to make him think you intend to kill him," Yuka said, looking over at him from the corner of her eye. He wondered how it was that women always managed to look at things so obliquely that you could never be quite sure what it was they were looking at or how much they had seen.

"What scary face?" he asked, genuinely confused. "This is how I always look."

"You always look like you're going to pounce on something and eat it?" she questioned. "Smile!"

Gyousou looked back at her blankly. There was nothing funny to smile about.

Yuka sighed.

"Han-ou is never going to believe you want to make friends if you don't look a little friendlier."

"We are trading partners, not friends," The king replied. "And he attacked my pride last night. In fact, if I think about it, the resolution was good but still slightly insulting. He's decided that you're not good enough for him and rejected Tai's Royal Consort."

"So what if he dropped me like a hot rock?" Yuka replied. "All that matters is that we get those trade agreements I want... and that he acknowledges my fashion-superiority to him. That's important too."

"It's not important at all," he argued, seriously wondering about her priorities.

"Blasphemy and sacrilege!" Yuka said in mild offense. "That was real silk I was wearing last night! It's expensive, and the color suited me, even if the cut was a little dowdy. He could at least have acknowledged my ability to accessorize; those jade beads were personally picked out and designed by me!"

"I think you're missing the point here," he said.

They were both spared from further useless argument over what was indeed the point of the meeting by the announcement of the entrance of Han-ou. Yuka and Gyousou both rose simultaneously and Yuka gave a polite bow while Gyousou, as the king of the country, remained in place. On seeing the man dressed in the black imperial hanfuu of the Royal Tai, Go Ranjou's eyes widened in dismay.

"Please have a seat," the Tai-ou invited gesturing to a chair nearby.

Despite his "pretty" appearance, the emperor of Han did look a little bit like a mouse that knows the cat is watching it and is hoping it might decide to find its meal elsewhere. To put him more at ease (hopefully) Gyousou signaled a servant to bring them something to drink.

A servant brought in wine and glasses for the Royal Han, quite possibly from his own stock, and another brought in tea on a service. Yuka looked a question at both of them as she reached for the pot and received a nod from Gyousou and a negation from Go. The wine was poured by its attendant. As Yuka poured the tea, the king of Han's eyes lit on her and took in every detail with lingering appreciation.

"It seems I was mistaken," he said, nodding at her clothes.

Yuka smiled, carefully hiding the smugness she was no doubt feeling about it.

"How is that my dear Royal Han?" she inquired politely.

"I had thought I was coming to rescue you from a life of toil in which you were forced to wear such terrible plain and unfashionable clothes that were far from elegant," he replied. "But it seems your king at least has some small ability to dress you well."

"I designed it myself," Yuka preened.

"You must be more firm in that case, your ladyship," Go Ranjou said, seriously, leaning forward. "I know he may complain, but you must ignore him."

"Ignore who?" she asked over her tea.

"Your husband, when he says he does not need to change the qun (outer wrap) he is wearing. It's at lest ten years out of date, and those colors! No, you must take him in hand on the matter of accessories."

"My husband is a warrior my dear Han," Yuka said with a bright, beaming political smile. "I am advised by him to pick my battles."

Go Ranjou laughed and Gyousou sensed all of the tension drain from the room. It was more than mere affront about his comments on her clothes that had prompted her to wear what was clearly one of the best ensembles she possessed, Yuka had to have been aware of Han-ou's love of fashion and acted to both break the ice and smooth the way to better relations.

They discussed the merits of parasols for a short while and then moved on to a brief debate over those who wore gloves in the summertime. Ranjou told her of a particularly lovely bolt of maroon satin he had come across, and they discussed what colors and patterns it should be embroidered with.

:They sound more like debutantes or gossipy housewives rather than a head of state and an acting Consort,: Gyousou thought, doing his best to stay well out of the conversation. He disliked matters of fashion.

"My! And what is this?!" Go Ranjou said, suddenly seizing her hand and bringing it up into the light.

Gyousou attention was brought to a piece of jewelry that he'd only partly noticed before. A panja, it went over the back of the hand, with a ring for the middle finger to slip through that widened in a triangular shape over the back of the hand and gently hooked around the meat of the thumb and the wrist. The panja was a knotwork-peice that supported a single large cabochon jewel that was multifaceted on the underside. This jewel was like nothing he had ever seen before, and as the king of a nation known for its gems, he had seen a lot of them. This jewel was not one color, but somehow managed to be several different colors depending on how the light hit it. One minute it looked blue, then the shadow would turn to green, then purple, the colors chasing themselves back and forth inside the jewel in such a way that it was obviously not the result of painting the underside of a clear gem.

"It's so beautiful!" the king of Han exclaimed in delight. "I have never seen its like anywhere before, ever!"

"Oh? This old thing?" Yuka said with a feigned careless flick of her wrists. "Well it's not surprising really. I had it grown especially for me. The technique took a little trial and error, but a lady must have her hobbies you know. They're really difficult to produce. In fact I've only made a few of them, I've been so busy with other things that it just didn't seem worth the time and bother."

"How can you say that?" the king of Han said, still admiring her jewel. "Beauty, especially rare beauty is always worth cultivating. And there are only a few others, you say?"

"No point in having a rare gem if everyone knows how to make them," Yuka nodded.

"It's exquisite," Go Ranjou said. "I can already see my beautiful kirin wearing this gem. The shade even matches her eyes, and with matching silk..."

Yuka exchanged a quick, amused glance with Gyousou and he comprehended the entirety of it. She'd planned it from the very start. She'd had it waiting on hand and was clearly looking for a way to make a big entrance onto the market for the gem, and one couldn't get a much bigger entrance than the fashion crazed, eccentric king of Han. Yuka's dark eyes glittered in carefully concealed anticipation.

"It seems you've hit on my weakness Your Majesty," Yuka said. "You see, I have a soft spot for kirin, as I'm sure you've heard. I could hardly deny your sweet Hanrin the delight of having something new and pretty. I will send a set of them as a gesture of goodwill. You may have to wait a few weeks however, they are very difficult to grow, which is why until now these have been the only ones."

:One would think that a king would be able to see through such an obvious ploy, but he's eating it up whole cloth!: Gyousou thought incredulously.

Then again, he had never seen such a jewel either to be honest, so it could be that she was speaking the truth. Gyousou only half-believed that however, Yuka was taking entirely too much care to stress their rarity. While they might be rare, he was betting that it was more along the lines of her controlling the knowledge to produce the things, which she planned to conceal in the interests of inflating the prices.

:But that's the secret to selling luxury goods,: Gyousou thought as he sat back and left her to it. :A scarce commodity, even one that is only perceived to be scarce, is always far more expensive than something just as lovely but far more common.:

He had seen it so with gem springs certainly. Agate springs could grow their particular gem in wide varieties of the clearest, most beautifully colored stones, but those stones were not worth as much as the ones that emerged from emerald springs or ruby springs simply because the latter were far more rare in number and took longer to grow. It was a fact that the economy of Tai relied upon. One could not eat rocks, so in order to bring the money in trade that the kingdom needed to augment expenses, it relied upon other kingdoms being stable enough to spend their wealth on perceived value.

"Of course," Yuka went on smoothly. "While I can offer you a few of these from my own private collection, you will have to speak with my dear husband if you wish to discuss opening a trade."

:And here I was beginning to wonder why I'd even bothered to show up,: Gyousou thought with some small irony. :The girl has become sadly accustomed to handling matters on her own. I'm almost surprised she handed it over to me and didn't try to open negotiations.:

"I have a small scroll with an estimate of their value per carat drawn up, but since relations between Han and Tai are so strong, its goes without saying that the price is somewhat negotiable. If I have your leave, gentlemen?"

Yuka rose and bowed gracefully. Gyousou nodded, allowing her dismissal. The direct look she gave him communicated silently a demand; 'don't screw this up' Gyousou gave her a sharp look in reply, 'I don't need you to tell me that.'

"Ah Tai-ou, I am envious of you," Han-ou said as soon as Yuka has departed with elegant grace. "You are a very lucky man to have such a treasure adorning your palace."

"Thank-you," he said simply, trying not to feel awkward about accepting compliments from a man who admired a wife that Gyousou possessed in name only. "She's something else, that is for certain."

"A pity that she is a kaikyaku and has brought such misfortune to your land, but I can't blame you for keeping her despite her unfortunate curse. Are you certain that is wise however?"

"The Royal Consort has never done anything with the intention of harming this land," Gyousou replied with careful honesty. "If unfortunate events befall around her, that's hardly her fault and I would not punish her for it."

"You are a generous man too, I see. I suppose that is why she chose to stay with you," Go Ranjou said a bit wistfully. "In that case, we should turn matters to business."

The King of Han and the Royal Tai spent the next hour ironing out a renewal of the usual trade agreements, plus a tentative agreement on those new gems that Yuka had dangled before him. The price she was asking was so shocking that Gyousou had nearly choked on his tea when he saw them, but Han-ou seemed to take it in stride and haggled only a little, and at that mostly over the amount that he might be able to procure.

:He's going to bankrupt his kingdom!: Gyousou thought, aghast and a little pityingly for the other land.

Tai was cash-poor right then and Risai had reported that many of the southern gem-springs were still slightly depleted, or at least not growing to optimum efficiency, but Han hadn't even blinked at the outrageous price Yuka had named for her opening bid. All he'd said was, "my, that's a bit high" but Han's counter-offer had been ridiculously high as well, not even cutting off a full fifteen percent!

:Still I suppose I can't complain about it,: Gyousou thought.

He was going to need the extra money to fund the end of Tai's civil wars after all. Even Yuka had grasped that fielding an army didn't come cheaply, and fielding one during the winter-time could be even more difficult. He was pleased to be able to defray the expenses.

:But since the Emperor of Han is here right now, it would be sensible of me to kill to birds with one stone,: Gyousou thought to himself.

On closer investigation into matters with the northern provinces he had a few strategies that were coming together but would have to wait for the next few days to pass first before he could commit definitely to a particular plan of action.

"Han-ou," he said as the business side of negotiations closed and it was simply himself and the other emperor sipping their respective drinks. "My Kouri has mentioned on several occasions how very much he enjoyed his visit to your kingdom. As you know it has been impossible for him to make another such journey so far away from Tai for the last few decades, I hope it would not be too much an imposition on your gracious hospitality if I requested your leave to offer him another such visit as a reward for all of his hard work."

"I don't suppose he would come accompanied by your lovely Royal Consort," Han-ou said with bold cheer, flicking his fan open and tittering a bit behind it.

"I fear that the Royal Consort will be needed in Tai for some small time yet," Gyousou said drolly.

"Ah, a pity," he said not bothering to hide his disappointment.

:One would have thought that, as one of kings involved with my situation, he would be aware of the nature of the Royal Consorts marriage to me,: Gyousou thought.

Perhaps the Royal Hou was aware of the fact that theirs was not a love match, and that was why he was pursuing Tai's Royal Consort without any regard to the legalities of the situation. On one hand it was quite possible that Han-ou was ignorant of how things really stood between Gyousou and his surprise consort; the details of any particular kingdom's family situation was not widely publicized when a ruler took the throne, In general all that any given kingdom's rulers knew about any other when a new ruler was enthroned was that a ruler had been enthroned. It wasn't like the hakuchi gave out news about another kingdom's personal details when it sang out the news that a ruler had been chosen. "Enthroned!" was about the extent of its message with regards to the ascension of another kingdom's ruler, so it wasn't as though there would have been extensive knowledge given about his proxy marriage to Lady Yuka. On the other hand, Hou-ou was widely rumored to be quite willful and unaccommodating when the mood struck; his pickiness in matters of aesthetics was legendary… his pursuit of Lady Yuka might simply be another sign of his willfulness.

"Naturally, Hou would be pleased to host Tai's Kirin," he said graciously. "His sense of aesthetic in matters of art has always highly recommended him in my eyes, and I believe we would have quite the grand time together."

"My thanks," Gyousou said.

The sound of laughter and the gentle strum of instruments tickled at the edge of their hearing, coming from the direction of Meiden Palace and the Royal Han perked up in interest.

"Perhaps we should indulge in a stroll about your gardens," he suggested, rising and heading over to the door. "I'm sure the fresh air will do wonders."

Gyousou barely refrained from shaking his head in amusement at the man's obvious ploy and also rose to accompany him. Not that Lady Yuka, surrounded by a dozen battle-train handmaids, couldn't hold off one man if he chose to make a move on her but it would be best to keep an eye on things in case Han-ou got any more adventurous. She was too diplomatic for her own good.

Huge shout-out to Kshadeslady who reminded me that I really should stop dithering over minor things and just post the next chapter already! And to my other reveiwers the ever wonderful war90 and nichiwanna (always nice to see a newcomer!). So sorry for the delay in posting this but sometimes my perfectionist nature just takes over.