Yun-Men Khan's two closest generals - the old man Batu and a woman in her thirties, Dilanna - arranged the Khan's body on the top of a pyre. In the pyre was her slaughtered steed in the finest saddle, and the Khan's exquisite weapons. A few chests containing horseshoes and nails and different articles of food were carried there, as well as items made of bronze and gold.
Two younger officers carried a fine ornamental breastplate to the older generals. The breastplate was gilded and jeweled, glittering in the setting sunlight. The young officers said something in that brusque tongue of Yun-Men's clansmen, but Batu and Dilanna replied in an angry tone, and the gilded plate was hurriedly carried away.
- "I understand," Sarevok said. "They wanted to dress her into the finest piece of loot, but the generals said that she despised that kind of gaudy armament. She always rode in that chain mail, and that is what she will ride in in the hereafter, too."
- "Yeah..." Peri said. She was carrying Umikaze in her lap. The child was watching the scene with large eyes.
- "It is a pyre, kiddo," Peri explained in the gentle voice she only used when speaking to her child, or to Sarevok when he was especially distressed.
- "Pppp... pphyre?" Umikaze asked.
- "Yeah... the woman there, the Khan, is dead. And now they burn her body."
- "Burn?" Umikaze looked scared.
- "She is dead, she won't feel it. She rides elsewhere now," Peri continued.
- "K...khan... sleep?" Umikaze indicated the woman's body resting on the pyre, but her eyes conveyed that she understood. She was shaking her head at the same time.
- "No, kiddo. She does not sleep. When you are dead, you go someplace else."
- "Ewww. Is it necessary to talk to a kid like that?" Imoen said.
- "Let it be, little sister," Sarevok said. "Umikaze is soon enough going to learn the realities of life. Something tells me she is a child who will always live in interesting times."
- "And besides, Im," Peri said irritably, "if I DON'T explain to her and she thinks that they are setting a live woman on fire, how do you think she is going to feel then?"
Imoen bit her lip and didn't answer. In her opinion Umikaze should have been left out of the whole funeral, but Peri would not hear of it.
- "A great sorrow is now ours," Dilanna spoke, her common much better than Batu's. "The Khan will now ride free forever, let her bounty be plentiful and let her blade be as true as in life. She was born a T'aghur, firing arrows and riding before she spoke her first words. She led us all to glory, and for her shall we never again be scattered and fearful fools. Honor her, and bid her goodbye."
The emperor of Kozakura stepped forward, a warm kimono on his old sunken shoulders even though the night was mild and gentle.
- "I am the leader of the Empire of samurai. Our Empire's very foundation lies on the tenets of warrior's honor. That honor was shown by Yun-Men Khan as she slew the beast that would have destroyed the very lands we live on. For our entire nation, I shall pay our respects."
He bowed slightly and retreated, the generals nodding stiffly.
A woman general from the Shou side of the funeral audience stepped now forward.
- "Chen!" Imoen whispered.
- "The Khan was an adversary. Many a warrior of mine has been slain by her, may their souls rest in peace of the Celestial Halls. Yet, the beast lies now dead, and that also makes her an ally, and a hero to remember. Such is the way of things - never is anything pure darkness or pure light. Respect I will always have for her - as an adversary, or as an ally."
Chen made a warrior's salute and retreated.
- "Ride free as the wind, and may your blade be true, my Khan," Dilanna said, and lit the pyre.
Peri put Umikaze down and drew her sword, as did Sarevok. They held the swords against their chests, their faces grim. Peri was crying, but her face remained stony. The tears just ran down her cheeks.
The pyre blazed for a long time, and no-one uttered a word. Later the tales and songs mentioned that the strangers from Western lands had greeted the Shou general, who would become one of the greatest military leaders the country had known. Even though she had paid her respects to the deceased Khan, it was a stroke of luck to the empire of Shou that the Khan was dead. The old general Batu had tried to take over after the Khan, but after the loss of their fierce leader the hearts of the horsemen of the Plains just wasn't in the conquest any more, and so Tuang Chen was able to lead her armies to drive them back to the Plains they had come from.
However, the united empire of the Plain of the Horses remained a power to be wary of. And even though the victory was celebrated throughout Shou Lung, a romantic song of obscure origin states that a young lieutenant of Tuang Chen's army was one of the very few who wept for the Khan in the mighty Empire.
