And here we go again!

Gossamer Dreams

Part 24

The Palace was in a flurry of gossip, servants being sent back and forth amongst all the courtiers trying to gain some bit of intelligence. The women speculated that they could tell precisely when it would happen, to the minute. The men spoke of who would be formerly invited once all was said and done, and who could possibly already be attending the most important event that had happened within the stone walls in a number of years.

The Empress Kagura was in travail. That much was certain. The news had leaked some time in the wee hours of the morning, just as breakfasts were being served and casually primped nobles were helping themselves to the morning's news as well as a nice bowl of fruit. Then, around lunch time, a few of the Empress' Maidens had scattered through the Palace, carrying elite summons to the highly privileged individuals not already in attendance that would be amongst the first few to view the newborn, and to know whether this was the day that a new Heir could be named. Now that the Prince Inuyasha was gone, of course the baby would be able to skip right past its unpopular uncle in the short path to the throne of Fukumaden. Speculation, as well as spirits, ran high. If the child was a girl, then it would be a very privileged Princess, but what all around hoped for was a boy. An heir who could continue this line for them. Although it was whispered by a very nervous few that perhaps…if there was no male heir, a daughter would be able to cast her inheritance in with a husband that could be chosen from any of their great families. And whose son might be chosen?

But it was far too early to count one's tidings in their entirety. The child could just as easily be a boy as it could be a girl. No point in planning for the impossible. Or was there? With no news beyond the fact that Kagura was still, in fact, in her travail, for hours on end, every end of the situation had been dissected and supposed and thought of and planned for.

Of course, no one planned for the intent of two of the privileged handful seated in the Imperial sitting room, waiting for news of the child, which would reach their ears before any others. Kijo, Empress Mother of Fukumaden, and her brother, the great Lord Naraku, were so pleased that their day had finally come that they could hardly contain their glee. Twin smiles lifted their normally wicked lips, and their happiness did not go as unnoticed as they might have thought it could have in this entirely celebratory situation. The Emperor of Fukumaden was nervous as to the outcome of the day, as well as the health and strength of his wife and that of her child. He felt horrid that the true father had no way of being with them in the sitting room without rousing suspicion, and so he had to satisfy himself with the knowledge that his markedly clever concubine had opened a servile line of communication with him as soon as she had cried out in the cold, dark hours of the early morning. But all of this emotion did not keep him from noting that the two people he least trusted seemed most pleased with this truly happiest of days. Why were they so happy?

The answer, he was sure, would make him a very unhappy Emperor, which was all the more reason to divine what it might be. What possible advantage did the birth of an heir serve them? For surely, they would not be so utterly smug if something were not occurring to better their lot in the world. Very little could better their lot, save for Kagura and him to take a sudden plunge from the tallest tower.

And suddenly, Sesshoumaru thought that idea did not seem so very funny.

-

"There is still no news, my Lord." Jaken bowed low, annoyed that he was being ordered about by the Emperor's concubine, but only because he was just as anxious for news as anyone else in the Palace. Usually, he was almost fond of the girl who had captured his Lord's heart so completely. Now that she was also pregnant, Jaken tended to be gentler with her than he had been before, when he had wrongly assumed that she was a fleeting interest of Sesshoumaru's. He should have known that a man so noble would carry his high ideals into all realms of his life. "Though the Empress has been abed for nearly twenty hours, the midwife's assistant assures us that all is going as normally as one could hope, and that she is doing splendidly."

"Does she cry out? Can you hear nothing of what goes on beyond her doors?" he pleaded, and Jaken pursed his thin lips, wondering yet again what the connection was between the young Lord ka'Ookami and the Emperor and Empress. Perhaps they had been childhood friends? He knew that the young man had visited more often than many nobles of his standing could expect, but more than that he was not sure he wanted to know. He was simply doing as his mistress had bid him.

"I hear her cries, yes." He confirmed, and the look of tragic pain on the young noble's face was almost as though he imagined himself in the midst of Kagura's trial. "But then again, I have been in the vicinity of many births, and this seems no worse than the rest. I am sure she is faring as well as the young woman keeps assuring us."

"Are you positive? Perhaps she shows the truth in a more favorable light to avoid the wrath of the Emperor, who is surely most concerned for the welfare of both the child and mother." Lord ka'Ookami was sitting at a table that was full of breakfast items, as he had been since an hour after Jaken had been sent to alert him of the beginning of labor, and yet he doubted that he had eaten more than a mouthful of anything set before him. However, he had been consuming mulled wine in quantities that Jaken frankly felt were going to lead to some trouble for the young noble. He still seemed rather sober, but it did not appear that the wine had calmed him down one whit.

"I am sure she is more fearful of facing the wrath of an Emperor she has been lying to than one that is merely upset with the truth of her message." Jaken gave a deep bow to take the challenge out of his statement. "With all due respect, Lord ka'Ookami, I shall return to my post. I will come back as soon as there is news, or failing that, in half an hour's time."

"Yes, very well, thank you again, Jaken. I appreciate your attention on this day." Kouga waved him off, his words sounding like more of an embedded bit of training than a sincere show of gratitude. Of course, the young lord was rather anxious. Perhaps he had some special stock in today's happenings? Maybe the Emperor and him had privately agreed to wed the child to a member of his family. That would explain his anxiety. Kouga ka'Ookami had risen in the ranks of nobility quite a bit in the past year or so, but he was still below many others. To make the leap into the royal bloodlines would be rather life changing for him. Suddenly, he would be above all others, save the actual Emperor and Empress as well as their immediate relations. Still, being so high up in the scheme of everything would be an amazing feat for a lord so young. Yes, that would surely explain everything.

Kouga sighed deeply and shook the empty jug of mulled wine. How was it that he had finished the entire thing off already? Of course, he had been up for nearly twenty hours now, waiting with decreasing patience and increasing worry. Realizing that Kagura would probably not appreciate him drinking himself stupid, he shoved the jug to one side and picked up the cold teakettle. Sighing, he clapped imperiously, drawing a young boy into the room with his summons. "Could you heat this? I have the sudden urge for tea." He handed the boy the kettle, trying to remember his name, but finally giving up and returning his thoughts to Kagura.

Should it really take all of a day for one child to make its way into the world? It seemed like a great torture to all those concerned and involved. He suddenly wished his mother were still alive to tell him that all was well. It was a childish wish, to be sure, but as the woman had mothered no less than eight children, she had to know for sure whether such a lengthy birth was normal. Perhaps his father, who had attended each birth, would know the answer, but the man was removed to his country estate for the winter, which was rather cruel to his aging bones. The draftiness of a castle did not help him in this respect at all, and as Kouga had already surpassed his rank, the older noble had felt that leaving the family's lot in his hands was rather wise for the time being. Of course, with Kagura to keep him busy, Kouga was far from lonely. He also had his two closest supporters, cousins within the extensive ka'Ookami family whom he had selected to accompany him to the Palace when he first was installed there what seemed countless years ago. His cousin Ayame was one of the Empress' Maidens as well, and so he still had family around him most of the time.

Then it struck him. Did the Empress' Maidens not have the unique privilege of standing in the very chambers in which birthing would take place? He was not positive about this, but he was certain that the Maidens must have some further information to share besides Jaken's repeated assurances that all would end well. Of course, Ayame was not the most observant of young ladies, but she certainly seemed to go to any lengths to please Kouga, as he could note in past exchanges with her. Certainly she would not begrudge her dear cousin whatever details she might have gleaned over the long hours of this most fateful day? And no one could question his right to summon his own cousin to speak with him. After all, every noble in the Palace was aching for news of the new child, and he was sure that anyone else would take advantage of this opportunity had it occurred to them to do so.

"Yes, thank you." Kouga accepted the newly heated teapot quite eagerly now that he had a new plan of attack. "Now then, could you do me the favor of summoning young Ginta and Hakkaku to my chambers? I wish to speak with them." This was only slightly true. There was no sort of propriety in sending such a young and common servant into the Imperial Chambers, especially not today. However, sending his cousins, who were ranked rather high due to his own rise through nobility, would be a compliment to the importance of the errand, as well as making it all seem rather unsuspicious. Also, he was positive that if any complaint were raised, Sesshoumaru or Rin would certainly agree to release the girl for a short time, as she was not so indispensable that she would need to stand at the Empress' side for every moment of the birth.

It was a very short time before Ginta and Hakkaku returned, nearly trembling with excitement. Whether this was from being summoned by their liege, or simply the anticipation of the heir's birth that permeated the hearts of every noble in the Palace, Kouga did not know. He smiled at them in what he hoped was a very friendly manner. "It is good to see both of you on such a fortuitous day as this." He began. "I summoned you here so that you would be able to help us find out a bit more about what is happening in the Imperial Chambers today. Are you both up to the task?"

"Yes, of course!" Hakkaku was so excited at the prospect of finding something out that he suddenly hopped as he cried out his willingness to help. Ginta nodded vehemently and gave a jerky bow.

"We are sworn to serve you in all things, Lord Kouga." They were quite within their rights, referring to his first name instead of his surname as a servant would do, though Kouga knew of some nobles who would insist that even their lesser family members refer to them much more formally. However, Kouga had grown up with these two at his side, and he would feel rather odd insisting on any sort of formality as great as all that. He might be the current leader of the family, now that his father had stepped down, but he was no tyrant.

"That is very good for all of us." He smiled again. "I am sure you two are just as curious as I to know how close the child is, among other things. And thus I have concocted a plan, as is my responsibility as your family head."

"I told you he would think of something, Ginta!" Hakkaku piped up triumphantly before turning back to Kouga. "You see, we thought to summon our cousin from within the inner chambers a few hours ago, as you might recall that Ayame is a Maiden. However, when we went, we were turned away and could not so much as leave a message for her to meet us. It was rather disappointing, but I told Ginta that you were sure to come up with a plan twice as clever if the baby was not born soon enough."

"Aha…yes, well." Kouga tried to hide his shock at learning that his scheme had already been tried out and had failed disastrously. "My plan is something like that, but with more detailed planning so that it might succeed."

"Intriguing, cousin. Do go on." Ginta leaned forward, his brow furrowed in concentration as he set his full attention on Kouga's words.

"Well, as you know by now, the failing of your scheme was that you could not possibly reach Ayame to summon her in the first place." Kouga wracked his brain for some way past this obstacle, some admittance into the Imperial Chambers. How would he get past the unmoving guard to speak with Ayame? "The rest of it is much like a rather unsophisticated version of my own scheme, and for that I must applaud you two for thinking of such a clever answer without my aid. However, what we need is access to the Imperial Chambers."

"How do you hope to gain such access?" Hakkaku wanted to know. "Even the servant's traffic to and from the Chambers today has been rather restricted. If only we had personal contact with one of the personal Imperial servants, we might have a chance."

"That is it exactly!" Kouga had to restrain the sudden excitement he felt at seeing a new solution present itself. "You see, I happen to know the Empress rather well for a man of my rank, and so I am familiar with one of her servants, a man by the name of Jaken. He should be able to get any message to Ayame and retrieve her for us so that we might learn what secrets she has to divulge. Your job shall be to request that Jaken report to me with her in attendance. Though your rank will not gain you admittance to the Imperial Chambers on this most private occasion, you should be able to reach a lowly servant and exchange a few words with him. If you tell him Lord Kouga ka'Ookami sent you, he will surely do whatever you say, as he would hate to displease his Mistress."

"I am not sure it is so different from our own—" Ginta was cut off in the midst of his mumbling protest by the hand Hakkaku clapped firmly over his mouth.

"It is an excellent plan, Lord Kouga." Hakkaku managed to bow awkwardly before nearly dragging a bulge-eyed Ginta from the room. Kouga froze, snorting slightly at their antics. No matter the gravity of the situation, those two could still make him forget his troubles for a precious moment or two. That was the chief reason he kept them so near to him. Sighing deeply he turned to the cup of tea he had poured just before their arrival. It should be cool enough to drink by now, he decided, and lifted it to his lips.

"Lord Kouga!" he nearly spilled the tea down his front at the shock of his chamber door slamming open and admitting three rather excited looking men into his presence. Ginta and Hakkaku looked even more jumpy than before, and Jaken, who stood between them, hardly managed to carry himself with a tenth of the dignity and gravity he usually aimed for.

"That was fast." He recovered himself, trying his best to set an example of behavior for the three lower-ranking men to follow. "Where is Ayame?"

"No idea, Lord." Ginta burst out, unable to contain his news a moment longer. "We crashed into Jaken in the hall."

"Crashed is an understatement." Hakkaku laughed nervously. "We were not paying attention, and he came flying toward us as though borne on wings to reach you…"

"The point of all this, if it pleases you." Kouga set his cup down and winced at the hot liquid sloshing over his fingers.

"The point, my Lord, is that there is no longer any reason to summon this cousin of yours." Jaken seemed dangerously close to actually smiling, a sight that Kouga was having a hard time imagining without it being immediately followed by the weathered, solid face cracking to bits and crumpling to the floor. "The Empress has delivered a healthy child only moments ago."

"She…she has?" Kouga almost lost his balance and ended up knocking the teacup over completely this time, spilling the dark liquid all over his breakfast. Not that he noticed any of this, of course. "How is she? How is the child? Is it a boy? A girl? What color are the eyes? How does it look? How does Kagura look?"

"Lord…" Ginta was apparently so shocked at Kouga's improper address of the Empress that he could find no words, and this time he clapped his own hand to his mouth. Jaken, however, let it go past him, but filed it away carefully with all his other observations of the mysterious young Lord and his dealings with Jaken's Master and Mistress.

"She is tired, the child is crying loudly, though the midwife assures us that this is quite normal. It is a boy, and no one could say what color the eyes are, as they are still closed. It looked rather angry and red, but otherwise quite perfect, with all of its tiny bits attached in the right spots, and once it was given to its mother, they both looked rather pleased with themselves, I must say." Jaken answered each question in a slow, deliberate tone, as though reporting the state of larders or the chill in the air. "The midwife was shocked speechless when she attempted to hand the child off to a wet nurse to be fed, and the Empress refused, bellowing out orders even in her weakened state. A true Empress, is our Lady Kagura."

"What did she say?" Kouga asked, imagining the look of indignance on his lover's face when she demanded a breach of custom to suit her own fancy.

"She said, 'I care not for the foolish ways of old. I have two breasts, and they are full to bursting with milk for my child. Who better to give him sustenance than I, who brought him into this world! I will feed him, and none of your superstitions will stop me.' Of course, after that, the midwife handed him over without further protest, and no one dared to say a word of how irregular it was for a noble woman, an Empress no less, to feed her child from her own body." Jaken told him, the barest hint of satisfaction in his tone. "The Emperor had the doors shut then, to afford the pair of them a bit of privacy. I daresay the nobles feel put out by it all, but the Emperor's Lady Rin swept me off to tell you the news before I could see anything more."

"A new heir, Lord Kouga. It is exciting, is it not?" Hakkaku burst out in another fit of nervous laughter, and this seemed to cause Ginta to forget his shock. His hand dropped, and his expression eased slightly. "The Emperor has announced that his name shall be Jinkoumaru. It is a great name, a strong name, and surely he will grow into a strong Emperor!"

"Of that, I am sure." Kouga sat down into the chair behind him without checking to see that it was still there. "Jinkoumaru…a great name."

"Divine steel." Jaken elaborated, as he had seen the characters used to form the child's name. "An interesting choice, is it not? As though the Emperor is foretelling a great battle for us all."

"Perhaps he is." Ginta seemed to be puzzling over something, and the look on his face was twisted in concentration, as though he were visualizing a puzzle in his mind. "Or perhaps there is more to it than that."

"Whatever the reason, this is a time to celebrate!" Hakkaku's excitement could not be quelled. "Call for wine, and we shall all of us drink toasts to our new Prince!"

The End (Of Part 24, That Is)