calamii cum nomenes (arrows with names)

Yuka had held onto her temper through the meeting only by dint of long practice. Even if she had manipulated the situation into the outcome she wanted, it did not mean that the comments directed at her had not pissed her off.

:Some things truly are universal,: Yuka growled to herself as she tried hard not to storm back to her quarters.

As the Royal Consort, Yuka had to look at all times like the elegant and poised lady, even when she was pissed to the highest level of pissivity.

"There are bullies, no matter where you go."

Even when it had happened, Yuka Sugimoto had never been quite certain what had tipped the other kids at school into making her the outcast. She'd liked books and she wasn't much for small talk, but she still didn't see how that had given people cause to make her a social pariah. Yuka had found quickly that the situation only escalated if she opened her mouth to put the girls doing the bullying in their place, so she'd reluctantly learned to keep quiet. Even if it was on a larger scale, bullying was still bullying, and played by essentially the same rules. Bullies were not cowards, bullies were people who had power, liked abusing their power because it made them feel even more powerful, and wanted to go on doing it for as long as they could possibly get away with it.

:Dealing with essential helplessness day in and day out sure isn't doing anything to lower my stress levels!:

Meiden Palace was the place where Yuka had been assigned (or maybe it was simply that she and Taiki and Risai between the three of them had annexed it) to live in for her duration as Royal Consort. Instead of being on the eastern side of the inner palace where the old king had kept his harem of concubines, Risai had ordered space cleared on the other side of Seiden Palace, which was where the emperor's rooms were and the place that Taiki lived in. Yuka and Taiki were like roommates or close neighbors. Taiki's suite of rooms was connected with the rooms that Yuka had taken over, which might have been his but he generously moved over and made space for her.

:Though the first thing I did was have my own bathing chamber put in,: Yuka thought with a little humor.

Taiki and the emperor shared the imperial garden, which separated Taiki's chambers from the rooms where the king was kept. Taiki could just run across the garden and slip in through the back door into his master's chamber to visit with him. Yuka got the "front rooms" which were the ones facing out and adjoining a small side courtyard, and that was more than fine with her.

:Even though he was asleep, I was not exactly comfortable with the idea of sharing such an open place with a strange man.:

Seiden Palace and its mirror Meiden Palace had undergone some changes by Risai and her guards to make them more easily defensible. They were still very lovely. Without at least one safe place to retreat to from prying eyes and incessant demands, Yuka may well have gone crazy.

"Ladies!" Yuka snapped out as she reached the sanctuary of her rooms and quickly stripped out of the elaborate multiple layers of the beautiful robes she had worn to court and passed them off into the hands of her room maids while she changed into a quipao and the shortened pants she wore for training. In the small garden she had taken over for herself a bevy of her "attendant ladies maids" that were in actuality, her bodyguards that followed her everywhere, assembled.

"I've had a difficult evening," she said as she exited into the garden cum training yard. "And I need to relieve some stress."

Each according to their natures, the bodyguard-maids looked either resigned or anticipatory. When Yuka was stressed, she worked out her distemper by a good, long fight. It both relieved her stress and kept her skills sharp.

"We had heard about the unendurable insults you have had to tolerate heaped upon your name, Your Grace," the head battle-maid and the closest thing to a girlfriend Yuka had in the palace report with her customary solemnity. She was a serious woman and took her duties to protect her lady seriously.

"Wow, news travels fast," Yuka muttered, not surprised. The servants heard everything in that place.

"We have prepared the touki," another girl said, smiling and bringing forth the weapon.

"Thank-you, and I apologize in advance," Yuka said as she took up her customary fan bowed to signify that she was ready to begin.

Inspired by the kill-strike she had once made on Youko that did not kill her because Yuka had been wielding Suiguutou at the time (which could not be used against its master), Yuka had gotten the Ministry of Winter to create a very special sort of touki for her, for training purposes. There was a spell on the weapon that would make it so that it would not actually hurt anyone. If a strike was made that would, in real life have cut off an arm, the weapon passed harmlessly through the appendage leaving behind only a glowing line. The severed portion would glow either blue or red depending on the color of the weapon and that color would seep up signifying loss of blood. Furthermore, with wounds that had bloodloss, the victims sight would color slightly from one side to the other, and when the color covered their vision completely that signified that they had bled out. The training touki were intensely useful. Yuka could learn how to both make and counter kill-strikes using weapons that felt like the real thing but were not. Though being on the receiving end of a kill strike stung.

Yuka darted in, taking on her ladies in her customary aggressive manner, working off the stress of her earlier humiliation with a good long fight. At her request, her battle-maids were former assassins and spies rather than the usual rank-and-file military guards. Yuka had once been trained as an assassin by the king of Kou, though up until she joined the battle to liberate Tai she'd never actually killed anyone. She figured that the best way to stop an assassination was to surround herself by those who knew the business. As an added plus, over the years the ladies had rounded out her training. Now, they all sparred with each other for fun, or in Yuka's case, stress relief.

The way these ladies (and Yuka by extension) fought often looked more like a beautiful acrobatic dance than actual combat, but it was a deadly business to them, and they kept their skills razor sharp. Yuka managed to take out five of them before she was killed by a hind strike. Among the ranks of sages, it seemed that there were immortals and immortals, rarely were there ones like the kings, who were invulnerable to nearly anything. Yuka was actually fairly delicate for an immortal; she was only immune to many poisons, not all of them, and her ability to regenerate from serious wounds was not as strong as many. That was why Risai and her ladies trained her so hard in how to defend herself. If she were not highly trained then a good assassin would still be able to kill her almost as easily as if she'd been mortal. After that round they separated and deconstructed the move, then the head guard went over counter-tactics to that move and ways to watch out for it. By that time Yuka had cooled down, and was feeling more mellow. And it would have been rude for her to ignore her uninvited guest while she was on break.

Leaned against a doorjamb, apparently admiring the show, was the king who had just woken up. Yuka had to restrain a surprised reaction nearly every time she saw him move or make a facial expression. It was just so weird seeing him move around after all this time of him lying perfectly still.

:I've never seen him standing up before, he looks very different,: she realized with a small shock.

He was taller than she had thought he would be. And broader in the shoulder. It seemed a bit off that a man who had been in stasis sleep for decades should emerge from it looking so physically well. Even in ordinary clothes with no armor, she would have been wary of engaging him as an opponent due to his size and physical superiority.

The king stepped down into her courtyard and Yuka's battle maids bowed and exited quietly, apparently intent on giving them some time alone. Yuka glared at their retreating backs from the corner of her eye.

:Traitors,: she thought.

To their credit, they all thought that the two of them were an adoring husband and wife separated for many long decades, rather than the awkward situation that was the reality.

"Good evening your majesty," Yuka said with a polite bow as she wiped the sweat off her face with a towel. "I apologize for my appearance, you have caught me in dishabille."

"No apology is necessary," he replied. "I am the one who has intruded on you."

:He has... a very nice voice,: Yuka thought.

It was deep without being basso, with a very pleasant rough quality to it that appealed to her the same way she liked many of the signing voices of certain rock groups (at least back when she'd lived in Japan). It was a very masculine voice.

Yuka waited, looking steadily back at him, to see if there was any particular reason that he had intruded on her fight and all but dismissed her sparring partners with his presence. After a long moment, he looked a bit discomfited.

:He probably has no idea what to say to me, any more than I know what to say to him,: Yuka realized.

As she had imagined it would be, the situation was awkward. There was not one white elephant, but rather and entire herd of them, tap dancing in the dining room. Yuka had never been one for small talk, and apparently neither was he. So they just sort of looked at each other for a long moment. Then his eye fell on the weapons neatly placed on the rack nearby. Interested, or maybe just looking for something to say to break the ice with, he picked one up.

"A touki," he said with mild surprise. "But I have never sensed a spell like this before. What does it do?"

Yuka explained her need for a true weapon that would let her practice with a real blade without having to fear hurting anyone, and then went on to explain the intricate detailed workings of the spell and its applications. She even gave him a short demonstration of how it worked. Gyousou made admiring noises that sounded genuinely appreciative and eyed one of them speculatively.

"I wouldn't recommend it right away," Yuka cautioned him, reading the look. He wanted to try one out. Yuka knew that Taiki would be concerned if he did, after having just gotten his king back, Taiki would fret about every little thing possibly hurting him until he was assured that Gyousou was well. He would probably be a while in the reassurance stage.

"You just woke up last night, and started moving around today," she added. "You need to be more cautious than that because if you rush yourself too fast you'll get hurt."

"You sound like Taiki," he said with a sigh, giving in and placing the sword back on the rack.

"He cares about you," was Yuka's reply.

"And you care about him," Gyousou said with a nod, as though confirming something.

Yuka looked back at him, that went without saying. She wouldn't be here were it otherwise.

"I must tha-"

"Don't thank me," she cut him off. "I'm here for a friend. I'm here for Taiki and that's all that matters, so I don't need any thanks from you. Just rule well from this point forward."

Gyousou stared at her, nonplussed for a minute.

"You would deny me even an expression of gratitude, you are a harsh person."

"Yes," Yuka acknowledged. "If you must be grateful, express it by paying attention to your kingly duties. And take care that Taiki will never... fall ill. That will be the thanks I need."

"I feel rebuked," he replied.

Yuka sighed a little bit, that had not really been her intent. She was a fine politician, but sometimes she was just fail at interpersonal relationships, namely her own.

"That was not my intent," she replied, then smiled a little ruefully at herself and shook her head "Well, maybe not entirely anyway. I don't know you. I only have what Taiki and those people who knew you have to say about you to go on. I'm uncomfortable not having been able to form my own opinion of you."

"I do not believe we've even been formally introduced, though I heard that we have been married."

His smile was surprisingly charming, and showed some of the kindness that Taiki had told her about.

"I am Gyousou Saku, previously General of the Right of the Forbidden Army now anointed King of Tai."

"Yuka Sugimoto," she replied in the same spirit. "Previously an honor student at Jindai High School, currently acting as an advisor to the Taiho and Royal Consort to the King of Tai for the interim."

"You have not had time to form an opinion of me, and I have the feeling you're more of a wait and watch sort of person anyway, but if you would like you may ask me any question you wish o know and I'll try to answer it."

Yuka regarded him for a long moment, then shrugged, turning back to the moon shining on the small koi pond in her courtyard.

"General Risai has told me about how you had set up the court to run during an interregnum to help defray the mismanagement of the old king," she said at last, without preamble. "And also how you conducted a winter hunt for corrupt officials while Taiki was away acting as a diplomat to Ren."

The sharp look in her eyes told him that Yuka had her own guesses as to the convenient timing of the diplomatic mission.

"You seem like a capable enough leader, how is it that Asen got the drop on you?"

Gyousou smiled a little ruefully.

"As adept a politician as you have proven yourself, you certainly can be direct when it suits you," he commented.

Yuka waited.

"Part of the matter was... impatience," Gyousou said with what for him must have been painful honesty. "Since I had taken the throne, matters in the Royal Court had been quickly put into order as I had wished them to, however the countryside was still in a state of civil war due to the excesses of the late king. I am certain that you of all people are aware of the usual problems here in Tai."

"Intimately," Yuka replied with a nod that said go on.

"I am, or was, a general of some note. The problem in Bun Province seemed made for me to handle, plus I have a good connection with the people there. I felt that this would be a good opportunity to show myself and reassure my people that I would be the king they were hoping for. You see, they had put up with a great deal from the previous king, who was well known for his excesses. I knew I could calm the fears of the people, and if they knew they no longer need fear a crown who abused their faith then matters would settle down that much more quickly."

Yuka's usual cool mask warmed a bit in approval.

"However, Asen knew of my wish to stabilize the civilians and created the revolt simply as a way to draw me out. Mingled in with the normal rabble were highly trained mercenary agents assigned to neutralize my guard and to take me down. I recall thinking at the time that the fighters were unusually efficient for civilians with no training and then everything went black. I woke up in a cave somewhere, chained hand and foot and then Asen entered, revealing himself and his intentions. Before he set the Choukoku on me, he detailed exactly how he was going to ruin the kingdom I had worked to stabilize. By keeping me alive but incapacitated, he would see that the land I love would forever know only darkness."

Yuka felt a surprisingly deep pang for him. Though Gyousou's voice was very carefully even, there was a roughness to his tone that spoke of careful control. She also noticed that when he was distressed he had a very faint accent that she could not quite place.

"I fought against Asen," she replied. "Not directly, but when I led the armies of Kei and En to reconquer Tai in your and Taiki's name. I'm probably not as familiar with him as you are seeing as I have only met him face to face on the day that I exiled him."

Gyousou looked at her incredulously.

"He's still alive?!" the king snapped in dismay.

"Taiki did not wish to have him executed," Yuka replied, though her tone gave away the fact that Yuka didn't really share his quality of mercy. "And since I'm only the Royal Consort and not the actual ruler, I was unable to revoke his status as an immortal. He is currently being kept on the Isle of Nen, in the Sea of Emptiness south of Tai. But anyway, as I was saying, Asen is a military man much like yourself, but he's also cunning as a snake."

"And yet, you kept him alive," Gyousou felt obliged to point out.

"And imprisoned," Yuka replied, slightly defensively. "On the day I exiled him, he said something to me that I've never been quite certain what to make of. He said that he acted out of the interests of his kingdom. That a ravaged land was better than what you would have made it had you sat upon the throne. Considering everything I've gone through to keep this land from getting any more ravaged, you'll have to forgive me if I request an explanation. After all, Taiki is still in your care, I need to be certain of you, and that he will be safe there."

"You don't trust me."

"I don't know you. You have many supporters, but I cannot afford to ignore your detractors as well."

Gyousou sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly, clearly discomfited but at last cleared his throat a little and said

"I do not know if he told you this or not, but Asen and I essentially grew up together. We were cadets of the same year at the military academy, and close as brothers. As I'm sure you can imagine there was the usual boyhood competition between us, some of them he won and some of them I won."

"Oh dear, I think I see where this is going. There's a girl involved in this somewhere, isn't there?"

"Indeed," Gyousou replied with a grave nod. "She was a nobleman's daughter, a noblewoman of high rank. Neither I nor Asen were of a background high enough to approach her, but if we climbed ranks in the military... Well, that's how it began. We reached the rank of Captain in our respective units at the same time and courted her at the same time."

"Sounds like a fiasco," Yuka commented.

"Neither of the two of us doubted our capability to win her," Gyousou said.

"I hope she threw you both over," Yuka said dryly.

"She did not," Gyousou replied with dignity. "But neither did she favor us. Her father however, interceded. He did not wish for his daughter to enter a military House on the basis that such careers easily rose and fell. If Asen or I could prove that we could attain a truly high and stable position then he would hear our cases for courtship. And so we worked to become generals. I outshone General Asen however, and was awarded the county seat of Saku."

"So you got the girl and he was jealous?!" Yuka said incredulously. "That's what all of this nonsense is about?"

"Not entirely," Gyousou cleared his throat and looked extremely embarrassed. "Before I had managed to attain my rank as the count of Saku, her father had already promised her hand to another, a man she did not love. Patience has never been a virtue of mine, it is sad to say. When she asked me to help her out of the situation, I saw a favorable opportunity. I stole her away from her house and we were married in secret."

Yuka looked at him in surprise.

"Really? You completely don't seem the sort. I mean, you seem so virtuous and upright. Hey, do I need to worry about any ex-wives popping up out of the woodwork?"

"If that were so, they would have shown up by now," he replied. "As you can imagine, Asen was enraged by our duplicity, he felt that he should have been the one she turned to, but she loved me. Her father disowned her, but by this point I had secured a high enough position that I could support her comfortably."

"Didn't she work?" Yuka asked curiously.

In her own world it was becoming more common, though it was by far not universal, that a woman would have a career and produce income to augment the husband's salary. In the world of the twelve kingdoms, due to the fact that the women here did not give birth and thus were not automatically locked into the role of stay at home wife and mother by the "biology" argument, it was far more common that both genders had careers of their own. Yuka's question was a valid one, all things considered.

"She was a delicate woman," Gyousou said, a little defensively.

"Not judging," Yuka said raising her arms placating. "So you married a delicate flower and then what?"

"At this point I had become not just a general in the Palace Guard of the Right, but the count of Saku County and had begun my work to shore up the imperial court, which had begun to fray around the edges. My work kept me away from home, visiting the imperial court, as well as quelling civil revolts in various places around the country. During this time Isana became ill. I was busy in Bun province at the time and could not get away to see her. I wrote often, but the conflict there was a delicate matter and I could not get away to see her."

"Was that that "Tetsui sheild" business I've heard about?" Yuka asked.

"The very same," he nodded. "So as you can imagine it required careful monitoring. During the months I was away, my wife, though she was seen by the best healers, and given every treatment, became sicker and sicker. I could do little more than write to her. She died while I was away, still dealing with the civil conflict."

"Oh..." Yuka said, suddenly aware of how now the situation they were in currently was even more awkward. Not only had she all but demanded an explanation from him that had brought up something that was undoubtedly quite painful, but she found that he had already been married, and that the one he loved had died. A simple 'I'm sorry' seemed completely inadequate. Still…

"I'm sorry," Yuka said. Then her mind turned sharp and the obvious conclusion came unbidden from her mouth, much her mortification.

"So that's what he meant. He must have seen everything that happened, and believed you were the sort of person that wants something and impatiently goes to grab it, but then when he has it, loses interest and neglects it."

She winced.

"So he must have feared you'd neglect the kingdom or something." She paused for a beat, thinking about it. "But that doesn't actually make sense to me. He had to have seen for himself how you worked to straighten matters out. And if he was so concerned with Tai's future, why go to all the trouble to lay waste to everything?"

"Revenge," Gyyousou said simply. "He wanted to punish me for destroying the woman he loved. In his eyes, I chose Tai over Isana, so he felt that the kingdom deserved to be destroyed because it was because of Tai that she had died, at least in his eyes."

"Crazy," was Yuka's flat opinion.

"You've never been in love have you?" Gyousou replied, looking over at her. "Forgive me for saying so, but you look quite young."

"If I had never stepped in to help Taiki manage things, I would be over sixty years old right now," Yuka ppointed out, a bit defensively. "I'd be an old granny, happily married with ten kids and a hundred grandkids. Instead I chose this."

She made a vague gesture to encompass everything around her, meaning the palace and a life as the Royal Consort of a divided court and kingdom wothou an active king.

"It is a rare person who would risk so much to help out a friend," Gyousou commented.

"You shouldn't think that I'm the epitome of a virtuous person," Yuka cautioned him.

Even if it had been many years ago, there had been a time when Yuka had been so ruthless and ambitious that she had thrown away friendship and loyalty in order to seize a destiny she felt was hers by right of strength. She had been utterly ruthless in her drive to hunt down and kill a person who had never once done her any harm, all because she wanted something. That core of ruthlessness was part of her still, and she relied on Taiki's advice to keep her morals in check.

"From where I stand you seem almost dauntingly virtuous," Gyousou replied. "You've stepped in to hold together an untenable situation, and against all odds succeeded in a most surprising manner. All for the sake of helping a friend, how is this not virtuous?"

"I haven't always been like this," Yuka replied. "And even if it seems peaceful, it requires a different kind of ruthlessness to move people around to your will."

"Yes I suppose it does," he agreed. "On an entirely different note. Do you wish for me to kill that shuukou who insulted you today?"

Yuka smiled and said

"I have a better idea..."

She walked into her chamber, fished through her wardrobe for a minute and removed a long, thin wooden box then placed it before Gyousou and gestured he should open it. With a curious look at her, the king did so. The inside of the felt-lined box held four perfect arrows. He looked a question at her, mystified as to their significance. Yuka pointed to the shaft of each where a single set of kanji had been carved into the sides and inlaid with silver. Four names; the names of the Shuukou of Ie, Ba, Bun and Jou provinces respectively.

"May I have your permission to send these gifts, your majesty," Yuka said with a smile that was all teeth.

Gyousou blinked for a moment then threw his head back and laughed a deep, rich laugh. If nothing else, it seemed the ice had been broken.