Tetsuwan Tsuru
The journey was a quiet one, everyone sensing Sarevok's edgy mood and not wanting to aggravate him. The rain hammered the carriage, and it was really hot and suffocating inside. Finally the road deviated from the Imperial Post Road when the outskirts of a big city were in sight. A spectacular red tile pagoda roof of a dozen story building dominated the horizon. The old Imperial Palace.
- "That's Fukama," Mei said. "I have been there twice before. Once with my father and once... on my own." She had waylaid a mark on the roadside - arranging it to look like an attack of the bandits.
- "And this road leads to the Crane lands," Yukemori said. "Fortunately for us the Daidoji lands are the first line of defence and so we will reach them in a short time. The Daidoji are called Tetsuwan Tsuru - the Iron Arm of the Crane. The other families also have some fine swordsmen, but almost all of the Crane military consists of Daidoji."
- "So Tamoko told me," Sarevok nodded. He remembered her also describing an underground secret garrison of sabotage troops that could be called to isolate the enemy from their supply lines should the Crane lands be attacked. That was a military secret, however, so probably Yukemori and Mei didn't know about it.
A well-fortified castle loomed uphill, the road snaking its way upwards to it.
- "Shiro Daidoji - the Daidoji Castle," Mei said. "The garrison is situated there, and the mansion of the daimyo, as well as the ones of the minor lords, are nearby. I still remember, faintly, how beautiful their burial ground is - next to the family shrine and the moss garden. My father was once hired to the daimyo's convoy... and he took me with him. The convoy was assembled here."
- "You could have seen Tamoko," Sarevok said.
- "It is possible - but if I did, she was just a little girl," Mei said.
At the castle gates the sight of an assemblage of stony-faced guards greeted them. Sarevok's heart jolted in his chest - the clan crest, the full battle gear in sky blue colors. That was what Tamoko wore too when she was in heavy battle duty. A female guard looked a lot like her, but without the everpresent melancholy of Tamoko's eyes.
If the sight of a giant of a man with glowing eyes, a pink-haired grinning girl with an imp perched on her shoulder, a redhead carrying a baby and a young man with yakuza tattoos descending from imperial carriage shocked the Daidoji guards, they didn't show it in any way. They just neutrally waited for the remainder of the group to exit the wagon. Mei decided to be the spokeswoman and explained something in Kozakuran, presenting a signeted scroll.
After a brief conversation the leader of the guard spoke to Sarevok.
- "Good tidings from the emperor, Perorate Sarevok. Grand is the honor of the slayers of Kusatte Iru. What is it that you wish of the Daidoji?"
Sarevok stood in his full height. His eyes burned with purpose and pain, and he rested his hands on the hilt of his sword.
- "I have come across the known world to bury Daidoji Tamoko to the ground of her ancestors. I also wish to return her ancestral daisho to her father Akita."
There was some silence. Nothing changed on the face of the samurai guards.
- "We know no-one by the name Tamoko," the leader then said.
Sarevok drew breath, and murder worthy of his Bhaal days flickered in his eyes.
- "She was my only love, my soul - and also my lieutenant, the most trusted one. I promised to her in the name of my mother's bitter ashes and the bitter bile of my blood that was the dead god of my father that I will bury her in her ancestral grounds. I will fight anything..."
Peri tugged his sleeve mid-rant and stepped forward, seeing how the leader's eyes were narrowing, his hand reaching for the hilt of the katana.
- "Hey, I think the reason you disowned Tamoko is that she lost honor or somesuch, right?" she ventured.
The others didn't reply immediately, but at least Sarevok fell silent.
- "But - she could have regained it by honorable death, right?" Peri went on.
- "My cousin... Tamoko was my cousin," blurted the woman who looked like Tamoko.
- "Chisato!" snapped the leader, and the young woman flinched. Peri directed her gaze straight at Chisato now.
- "Your cousin was a remarkable woman, Chisato. My brother, Sarevok, was his lord as well as his lover. And as her last deed Tamoko defended him in battle, alone against six. I was there when she cut into her own abdomen. I cut her head off, and set her remains on fire. If that was not an honorable death of a brave warrior, I don't know what is."
Some seconds went by. The group, relentless, stared at the Daidoji.
Finally it was Chisato who spoke.
- "Forgive me, Hitomaro-san, but I think we will need to bring Akita-sama here."
The leader thought about it for a moment.
- "Yoroshii. I will present the matter to him. Chisato, lead the gaijin into the tea garden."
With that he left, and Chisato smiled a tentative smile.
- "Please, follow me," she said, and the other guards started to open the gate. As they stepped into the castle yards, a magnificent scenery opened before their eyes. Rolling plains reaching the seashore where a few military vessels were moored. A mansion several stories high uphill from there, a path disappearing in dense pine forests on the mountainside.
- "I... used to play with Tamoko when we were girls," Chisato said. There was barely hidden pain in her voice.
- "I thought you might have," Jelena said. "Did you miss her?"
The girl didn't answer, but her lip quivered just a little.
Yoroshii = wery well
