Gyousou Saku looked back at his trusted general in aghast shock.
"An assassination attempt in the royal palace?!" he said in disbelief.
Not even in the worst of the civil wars under the old king had anyone ever managed to breach the defenses of the imperial palace. Such things were more a matter of historical record than attempted within living memory (and some of the court officials had living memories that went back for hundreds of years).
"Your majesty," Risai said, a little apologetically. "With the current turbulent state of affairs in the kingdom such attempts have become... quite frequent. The Taiho still makes a good target to strike at, for it is well known that kirin are pacifists. The Royal Consort has made a great many enemies, or rather inherited them from Asen, and made their enmity toward Her Grace in particular quite violent."
Gyousou frowned, not certain he'd heard right. He was not married, he had no Royal Consort.
"General Risai," the voice of the girl who had been attacked said from the sliding doorway as she entered the room.
He and Taiki and Risai were currently in a sitting room in his own rooms in Seiden Palace. A servant had brought tea and several things to eat while Gyousou, feeling much improved from his nap earlier which had gone a long ways toward restoring his strength, sat down to hear to whole of the messy business before him.
"Have any of the four shuukou made any particular moves?" the girl asked as she came in and sat down.
"They have been quiet Your Grace," the general replied.
"Figures," she muttered, helping herself to some tea and steamed buns. "They know we're bound to suspect them, if they weren't already, they'll be on their best behavior. Still, we might get lucky and one of them might slip up, have your people look sharp."
The way that the girl who was Taiki's friend had asked and Risai had answered spoke louder than words of a long association. It was nearly exactly the same way that he and Risai would speak to each other as king and general. Also, the way she came in and sat down comfortably said she was accustomed to moving around freely. As the king, he knew everyone of rank within the palace, or he had, but he didn't know her. Which begged the question once again...
"Who are you?" he demanded of the wounded girl.
Yuka looked over at Taiki with an incredulous look on her face.
"You didn't tell him?!" she demanded, sounding dismayed.
"I didn't have time," Taiki protested, raising his hands.
"Oh..." Yuka looked back over at Gyousou, and her expression changed to one that he couldn't quite read. She looked embarrassed and said
"Awk-ward."
The three other denizens of the room all looked at each other, clearly waiting for someone else to speak, and just as clearly not wanting to be the one to address the subject.
"Well?" he demanded, a little irritated.
The girl decided to grasp the bull by the horns and straightened with a small wince to say
"As I hope you've gathered by now, Asen's coup of Tai left the government, the military and the countryside in shambles. Taiki was transported back to hourai in order to escape the violence in the palace. Six years later, after I had crossed over to this world with Keiki and Youko, which is a whole other story, and was sent back home, I found him there and we became friends."
"I didn't really remember who I really was or where I'd come from, I only felt like I missed something important," Taiki added in.
"Enki, Youko and I managed to get him back to this world where he belongs but there was still a usurper in power over Tai and the king was still missing at that time."
Taiki and Yuka took turns telling him of how they had found him, and the different things that had been tried to remove the Chyoukoku from his body, and how at last even the Oracle of the Jasper Mist Gyoukuyou could only promise an end to the sleep… but at such a far time away that it was not useful. Fifty years would be too long for the throne to sit vacant with Asen at the helm, and Taiki would certainly die by shitsudo by then. Then they covered how En and Kei volunteered their help to oust Ansen from power with their armies if someone could be found to lead them on the sleeping king's behalf.
"I physically could not do it Gyousou-sama," Taiki said apologetically. "I tried, but the violence and bloodshed were too much for me."
"It is alright," Gyousou comforted his friend, feeling terrible all over again that his kirin should have known such suffering, when Gyousou had sworn to himself that he would always protect him and Taiki would never undergo shitsudo.
"It was the king of En who found a loophole," Risai said, smiling a little as if very amused by something.
The fact that the girl, Yuka's, cheeks were bright red and she looked like she rather wished the floor would swallow her whole was not lost on Gyousou. He quickly put two and two together and came up with the right answer.
"Ah, the Lady Orihime solution," he surmised with a nod.
He was not unfamiliar with history, naturally, any good general studied the movements of generals past as well as creating his own way around difficulties. He knew of the story about the Royal Consort who had saved her husband's life by fleeing with the Taiho to beg the aid of a neighboring kingdom. She had been able to lead the troops in his name while the king was pinned down in the palace by the rebels.
"But we are not married," he pointed out next.
"The Taiho, in the incapacitation of his or her ruler, has the authority to manage the Royal Household, even including adding or deleting names from the family registry," Risai said, looking amused by the young lady's obvious discomfort.
"My name was added on to your registry during a ceremony presided over by Taiki," was Yuka's murmured reply, as she colored even more deeply in apparent profound mortification.
"A proxy marriage," Gyousou nodded, appreciating the neat wrap up of all the loose ends.
They got what they needed (a person to head the army and retake the kingdom) as well as a way to access and utilize some royal authority without breeching Heaven's Law. It was clever, and the girl was very brave to have made herself a target in order to help her friend.
When he looked over at her, she sort of looked her physical age right then, which would have been the same as his kirin's, about sixteen or so. She looked embarrassed by the situation and understandably nervous of him, and abruptly he felt a bit sorry for her.
:I imagine it's one thing to agree to be "married" when one does not ever have to worry about seeing the spouse, but it probably feels entirely different now that I'm awake and alive. Add to that the fact that she and Taiki have been doing Heaven knows what in the meantime with my royal authority based on the fact of that proxy marriage and she'd probably be understandably concerned about my reaction.:
Even with the nice court-robe, Gyousou didn't think that the girl had spent all of her time as queen pro-tem enjoying herself by living in luxury. The bandages around her chest and the fact that Risai acknowledged she'd made enemies were an obvious corroboration to the story that she'd joined up to stabilize the kingdom and preserve her friend's life.
The bandages wrapped around her from the recent fight were peeking out from under her more simple robes and they were dotted red in some places where the blood tried to leak through. Kouri was clearly trying not to be ill and Yuka covered them up with a solicitous look at her kirin friend.
:In order to spare her further worry or embarrassment, perhaps it is best that I let the matter of our apparent nuptials drop for now, at least until I am more aware of the situation.:
"Sorry Kaname," she said to him. "You and Risai and your king can get caught up, I'll retire for the night so you don't get uncomfortable."
"No, it's alright," he said bravely, though he was looking a bit green.
"Don't be silly," Yuka insisted. "I know the sight of blood bothers you. I'll catch up with you in the morning, this should be mostly healed by then."
The girl, well actually if she had been around as long as Risai and Taiki had told him he'd been out of commission she wouldn't actually be a girl by now, bowed gracefully and exited the room with a pace that was swift but somehow managed to look unhurried. Gyuousou looked after her in nonplussed amusement. Taiki tried to suppress a smile but a soft titter escaped. It was joined by Risai's quiet chuckle as the two of them exchanged a speaking glance.
"You wouldn't think of it to know her would you?" Risai said to Taiki sharing some private joke.
"I know, right?" taiki replied with a small laugh. "Everyone else thinks she's this cool, aloof ice-queen. It's so funny to see her blush like a schoolgirl."
"It doesn't happen often," Risai agreed.
Taiki turned to him.
"I hope you're not mad. Yuka only did it because she was worried I'd get sick if I stayed in exile, and she stuck around to make sure I didn't get sick because Tai is-" the kirin cut himself off, aware as ever of a possible sensitive subject.
"A mess," Gyousou said for him, putting the issue right out where everyone could see it.
An uncomfortable silence fell across the room. Gyousou silently signaled that Risai should leave and attend to what needed attending to, and he would meet with her later.
The king of Tai silently ran over in his mind how best to handle the situation of reassuring his kirin that all was well. Right from the very beginning Taiki had always required special handling. Despite the fact that he was a rare and wonderful kirin, and that Tai was blessed to have him, he'd always lacked confidence.
:Come to that, I wonder how he has been able to handle the pressures of ruling a kingdom without a king,: Gyousou thought idly while he chose his next words carefully. :By nature kirin's are too soft-hearted for the kinds of decisions required for rule, that is why kings are chosen, so it's clear he could not have done it on his own. It must be the girl. I'll inquire more deeply about the situation from Risai later on. For now, I suppose it's best to simply address his fears directly and reassure him they are groundless. I know he will trust in me at least that much.:
"So, you and your friend have been trying to rule the kingdom while I was under the spell of the Chyoukoku," he said gently, making certain his tone was soft and in no way threatening or chiding.
Taiki looked over at him with tears in his eyes, clearly upset at the thought that his king might admonish him for trying to do the job that only Gyousou was meant to do.
"I am sorry, Kouri," he said softly, gently brushing his kirins black hair back with a large hand.
Taiki peered up at him out of the corner of his eye, hopeful.
"I wanted to be a good king for you. I wanted to give to you a stable rule so you would never worry about... getting sick. I never wanted you to have to suffer as you have, or to have to face the things you've had to face. I am sorry. So sorry."
"Gyousou-sama!" his kirin reached over to comfort his king, who was ashamed that he who was supposed to be the pillar of his kingdom had been defeated and all of his wishes for the future utterly destroyed. They took comfort in the fact that, after all was said and done, there was still just enough to work with.