Obliti Privatorum, Publica Curate (Forget private affairs, take care of public ones)
Gyousou felt a bit miffed that the Royal Consort had stolen Taiki for the evening. He knew he had no cause for such a feeling, he was the one who had decided that they should keep his awakening a secret until the time that he was ready to act , in order for those he wished to act against to not have time to escape him. But still, he missed his kirin. In order that he should miss Taiki less, and hopefully be back on his throne that much sooner, Gyousou steadily worked his way through reports and counter-reports, gaining a better picture of the state of affairs as they were to that day. It was late in the evening when he paused again, stepping out onto the walkway that led to the emperors garden for some fresh night air when Kouri came hurriedly before him, still dressed in his ceremonial court zhishen.
"Ah! Thaere you are Kou—"
The king immediately turned to smile at his kirin but the smile faded at the agitation on Taiki's face.
"What is the matter Kouri?" he inquired, concerned.
"Gyousou-sama, I'm not sure what to do, and for once neither is Yuka!" Taiki said. "And she almost always thinks of something."
"What happened?" he asked, his concern growing into alarm at the state his kirin was in, nervously pacing in front of him.
"We went down to the dinner we set up for the foreign envoys and everything was going as well as they usually do. They were all nice to me and Yuka was shmoozing, everyone was laughing and having a good time... when all of a sudden the envoy from Han stands up and throws off her over-robe to reveal that under it he's wearing imperial robes with the seal of Han on them."
Gyousou's jaw nearly dropped as he quickly put together the implications of what Taiki had just said.
"The Royal Han has showed up in a completely unannounced State Visit, disguised as an ordinary envoy?" he said.
"Not only that, but right in front of everybody, he gave Yuka a golden lily!"
A golden lily was a royal request for marriage.
The Royal Tai stared at his kirin for a long moment, completely surprised. He had heard from En-ou that the emperor of Han was an eccentric fellow, but this went waaay beyond eccentricity. The king of Han had come to a foreign nation unannounced and essentially uninvited, (though Han and Tai shared a close trade-relationship) while the King of Tai was known to be unable to receive him, for the express purpose of propositioning said king's lawful wife! It was a diplomatic nightmare no matter which way one looked at it. At best it could be interpreted as an inappropriate gesture of goodwill, but more likely people were going to call it like they saw it; the man had insulted the Royal Tai (and by extension his kingdom) by walking into the Royal Palace, behind the kings back, and attempting to abscond with his wife. If Heaven's Law did not forbid one kingdoms army from invading another, the insult would have been an act of war!
:Damage control,: he thought quickly.
"Did she accept?" he inquired urgently.
"Of course not," Taiki said with a note of scorn at the very idea in his voice. "Yuka wouldn't leave me or Tai, and certainly not like this! Even with you on the throne this would be a major debacle. No, she faked a faint and her maids carried her away before Han-ou could offer to examine her or something."
They were about to continue to discuss the situation when the king and his kirin were distracted by the sound of a guitern being strummed nearby. A masculine voice sang out into the night-still gardens, coming from the direction of Meiden Palace where the kirin and the Royal Consort resided.
"Most beautiful lady of the frozen snows, your eyes are like crystals, your lips like a roooooose. Your hair is as dark as the clearest night skies, come let me near to drown in your eyyyyyyes."
"You gotta be kidding me," Taiki said in dismay.
"I hope so, his singing is terrible," was all Gyousou could manage.
:If she were actually my real wife, like Isana was, I would have him at sword point right now,: Gyousou thought with wry amusement, as the foreign king went on to describe her raven hair and her willowy form in loving, off-key verse.
:I think this must be worth putting off paperwork for a little while!: Gyousou thought as he snuck round the side of his garden Gyousou hopped over the short wall that separated the gardens of Seiden Palace (where the Royal Quarters were) and into Meiden Palace through the back way, where he was intercepted by one of Yuka's female bodyguards. The guard, recognizing him, bowed and let him pass through.
Finally, apparently unable to take anymore, a small bevy of Yuka's room maids came out, bowed down low to the visiting king and informed him quite firmly that Meiden Palace was off limits to men, and that he was to vacate the premises immediately unless invited in by Her Grace. It was a rule of the Imperial Palace.
"Really?" Gyousou questioned softly of his kirin, who had shadowed his footsteps with the ease of long practice. Kouri nodded, confirming it.
"Meiden Palace is my jurisdiction as given over to me before you left," he said. "As such I was able to make that decree banning all men from Meiden Palace. It was the best way to keep Yuka safer from accusations of infidelity. Many regard her battlemaids as those who keep men away from Yuka than bodyguards hired to protect her. It's kinda funny that way."
There had been some reconstruction on Meiden Palace since he had ordered it remade for his kirin to live in nearby. It was more defensible now, with guards-walks along the upper floor on the outside all around it, and archers nests at convenient vantage points. The military man in him appreciated the defenses even as he felt in his heart that they should be unnecessary in the Imperial Palace. The interior as well had been remodeled as well; divided into two distinct living quarters, more like two houses sandwiched together, with the Royal Consorts quarters in the more vulnerable position at the outside where attackers might enter. The image of a loyal guardian sleeping across a threshold came to mind.
When he arrived in what looked to be her office, the only condition that Yuka looked to be in was purely and simply fit to be tied.
"That idiot! Has he lost his mind! Is he trying to make my life difficult?" He could hear her cursing the poor king of Han. When he entered the room he caught her in mid-pace and when she looked up at him her eyes snapped dark fire and there was an angry scowl was out on her face.
"So I hope you plan to let him down gently," Gyousou said in amusement, leaning against the doorframe. Yes, the situation was a diplomatic nightmare, but Yuka looked as mad as a wet hen which leant a certain amount of humor to the situation. Or rather, there was something about her that prompted him to tease her about it.
"The only thing I plan to let down right now is this vase on the top of his head!" Yuka snapped.
"Don't make an already difficult mess even worse than it is by adding bodily harm into the mix," Gyousou cautioned her.
"Can I at least pour the water on him?"
He laughed a little and shook his head.
"Oh sure, you can laugh," Yuka muttered. "You're not stuck inadvertently neck-deep in trouble."
"In this case, I'm right here with you," Gyousou corrected. "Han-ou's actions affect me as much as they do you, perhaps more for I will be the one expected to respond to them. After all, the man is trying to steal my lawful wife."
"You think we could pass it all off as a joke?" Yuka suggested hopefully. "One harmless prank between one ruler to another."
"Do you know of anyone stupid enough to believe such a contention?" Gyousou replied.
"Well we'd better think of something quick, before everyone somehow blames me for this whole mess. That's the way it always goes after all; a popular guy likes a girl, and whether she's interested or not, it's all her fault if he pursues her."
Yuka's voice contained an edge of bitterness that sounded like the ring of experience.
"Maybe you could have him come in and sit down to explain why this is all a bad idea," Taiki suggested hopefully.
"Sweetie. That would be a great idea, except for the part where a strange man is allowed to enter the Royal Consorts chambers alone and unattended. Somehow I don't think that one will pass without comment. Especially in the imperial court. Half of those guys have been trying for years to bust me on an indiscretion charge. They're going to have a field day with this unless we spin it right."
"He's starting on another verse," Taiki warned.
"I think he wrote it himself," Gyousou commented.
"He just compared my skin to the moon, I think you're right," Yuka said. "There's got to be a way out of this mess!"
"I don't think this is something that can be swept under the rug," Gyousou said reluctantly.
"There's a way to handle any situation," Yuka replied absently as she resumed her pacing, clearly thinking at a furious rate.
"You have had to handle enough over the time I've been gone," Gyousou said chivalrously as he rose to walk out onto the balcony to discuss the matter with the King of Han. "I will handle this matter."
"You mustn't!" Yuka protested, grabbing his sleeve. "If you walk out there, then this automatically goes from a less than ideal situation into a full-blown fiasco. If you confront him directly, then the King of Han has officially attacked the pride of the King of Tai."
Gyousou found himself suddenly feeling irritated.
:I know that she's grown accustomed to handling everything on her own, or with Kouri, and I know that I just woke up a day or two ago and she's trying to be considerate of the larger picture by keeping my presence top secret... but still, it's irritating that she doesn't even think to ask me for help!:
Realistically there was no reason why she would, and every reason why she would try to keep this from becoming a major diplomatic incident by keeping a king's pride from being attacked, but it was still irritating. His pride as a man was certainly taking a beating.
"Whether it is official or not, he has attacked my pride," Gyousou replied. "The only difference is that he planned to get away with all of this while there was nothing I personally would be able to do about it."
"If you reveal yourself now, then your enemies will know you are awake and they'll get away before you are ready to move on them," Yuka insisted. "They'll all bolt back to thier holes and raise thier defenses and your plan to spring a trap on them will be blown. In my mind, keeping the element of surprise is worth more than popping this idiot's romance-bubble."
"Have you another suggestion?" he replied, hiding his rising irritation behind a steely look.
"I have one or two thoughts but none of them seem very good. I could go along with it, pretend to be flattered but shy, and stall him that way. Sadly that would only encourage him, make you look bad and get me kicked out of th court on an indescretion charge."
"Why not just tell him where to stuff his mandolin?" taiki asked. "You've never had any problems driving off unwanted attention before, sometimes with a baseball bat."
"The unwanted attentions have never come from foreign heads of state before," Yuka replied dryly.
"What about that one kimono that Shouryuu sent you?" Taiki argued. "It doesn't get much more inappropriate than that, even if he did send it under the claim of nostalgia for the costume of our people."
Yuka paused and brightened.
"A-ha! Taiki you're a genius! You've just solved the problem!"
"What?" taiki asked. Yuka was already turning to one of her maids.
"Lin!" she commanded. "Go get the kimono, that present from the King of En. Shae! Tell the Royal Han that his song has won my heart over completely and that I will eagerly await him in the blue gazebo, the one off the lotus pond."
"What are you planning?" Gyousou asked, trying not to look alarmed.
"Out you," she shoved him out of her chambers. "I need to change clothes!"
The king found himself abruptly on the other side of the door and it all but shut in his face. He and Taiki looked at each other, both of them clearly mystified. There was rustling and soft thumps and the soft twitterings of a bevy of exited maids but a few minutes later Yuka emerged from her chambers, transformed.
"What is that?" he inquired of the unusual looking costume she wore.
It wasn't entirely unlike the hanfu he was accustomed to seeing, but there were numerous differences; the belt was wider and tied very, very strangely around the back, the robe was all one piece instead of composed of a top and bottom, the sleeves were so long they almost touched the floor and were embroidered with a pattern of flower petals, and the bottom was one long tube-like piece that fell to her ankles and clearly restricted movement. Her long hair was loose and flowing, her face was painted entirely white with deep red lipstick, making her dark eyes seem wider and larger. Earrings glittered next to her neck making it seem like stars winked out from her hair. She looked so foreign. Exotic.
"Oh! Yuka, what a lovely kimono! You look so pretty in it," Taiki said.
Yuka smiled a glowing genuine smile, complete with dimples.
"Why thank-you Kaname," her look turned sharp and cunning. "Let's just hope it serves its purpose well."
With that, she glided off with careful steps measured so that she would not accidentally trip in her strange costume. Gyousou turned to his kirin.
"Do you have any idea how she intends to solve this?"
"No idea, but I think the kimono probaly has something to do with it. What that is, I can't imagine."
"Well," The king was forced to reluctantly decide. "I suppose we shall have to leave her to it, and hope it works out the way she clearly plans it to."
"Yuka's pretty good with getting the results she wants most times, I guess we'll have to wait and see."
Seeing as they were leaving it up to her, Gyousou went back to his own task, catching up on decades worth of reports and trying to get a complete handle on the situation before he waded in and tried to fix things. He conscientiously did not allow himself to be distracted by thoughts on how the girl might be handling the debacle. What did she think a costume change was going to do? She couldn't honestly think that stalling him was going to help any, if she didn't refuse him things would only get worse for everyone. He didn't want to loose his trade contacts with Han just because of something stupid like this.
It seemed like forever but was only maybe an hour later when the sound of ladies laughter entering the garden announced the return of the girl and her entourage of handmaidens. The easy way they moved, and the fact that they were all smiling was a promising sign. Yuka paused at the edge of the garden and Taiki and Gyousou both stepped out, drawn by curiosity.
"What news?" he asked.
"Taken care of," Yuka said smugly, looking proud of herself.
"Well?" Taiki asked eagerly. "What happened?"
"Han is on the very western edge of this world, and thus they are the farthest from the east, which is where all the meishoku happen. I remembered that, to Han, kaikyaku are considered bad luck, real harbingers of doom and destruction just as they are in Kou. I suppose it's because they don't get many of them as on the east of this world so they only have rumors to go on. Anyway, that Han-ou fell in love with a picture of me. That's not real love, it's being in love with love. I figured that such a weak attachment would be easy to break if he was the one who broke it. I had to gamble that suddenly discovering that I'm a cursed creature from another world would probably do the trick. Should have seen it, I really played up my status as a harbinger of doom, I even thanked him for being willing to bring that bad luck of mine down on his kingdom. He couldn't get out of there fast enough!"
Taiki laughed, albeit a little nervously. His situation was similar in a way.
"I generously agreed to spread the story that his proposal was nothing more than a New Years mix-up with the flowers. He has agreed to generously increase our trade agreements."
Gyousou caught the contented smugness she was radiating and stared in dumbfounded disbelief. A mischievous smile transformed her face into one that looked closer to her physical appearance instead of the cool dignified mask she wore all the time.
:This woman...: he thought, shaking his head.
Not only had she managed to avoid a major diplomatic incident, but she had blackmailed a king now eagre to make reparations and save face for better trading agreements while she was at it. Scary.
"I'm tired, good luck on your plans for national domination," Yuka said, covering a yawn. She bowed politely and took herself and her bevy of maids off to her own quarters to sleep. Gyousou turned back to his reports. It was fortuitous how it had ended, but he really didn't think that that would be the last he would have to do with the matter.