Igitur Qui Desiderat Pacem, Praeparet Bellum (Therefore whoever desires peace, let him prepare for war)
Yuka had had to try very hard not to feel flustered when Gyousou Saku had taken down her hair for her in order that she would not become tangled in the branches of the bower where Taiki had hidden himself away. She was unaccustomed to men being allowed close enough to touch her person, for the last fifty years the only ones allowed within an arms length of her were her trusted maids and Taiki (who didn't quite count since he was, in fact, a kirin). Her servants had carefully disassembled the elaborate, multi-layered daixishuan that she'd worn to court and tipped her into the hot bath they'd had waiting for her so they could scrub off all the makeup. She emerged an hour later clean and dressed in her most comfortable old ruqun with her hair back in a simple braid, ready for a nice quiet evening in her own quarters for a change. Gyousou could see to the running of his own government so far as she was concerned, she could finally get back to that book she coveted.
:I've been looking forward to reading the next bit for days!: she thought triumphantly to herself as she turned eagerly to her favorite reading couch.
She knew that she would be expected to take up her duties as the Royal Thronewarmer on the morrow, so she was going to be very busy for quite some time, thus she wouldn't get another opportunity to read her book until the king returned. Considering all she had done up until that point, Yuka felt that she had earned the respite.
She had been about to flip back to the place where she had left off when there came a firm knock at her door.
"His majesty requests the presence of the Royal Consort to discuss affairs of State," a voice of one of the room servants that served Seiden Palace announced after one of Yuka's security maids answered the knock.
She was very tempted to tell him to go tell his king to bugger off, but didn't quite dare.
:Damn, so much for my book,: she thought with resignation.
She sighed and got up, reluctantly putting the book she so badly wanted to read back on the table, with equal reluctance she had a maid help her to exchange the comfortable clothes she'd picked for an evening in for a slightly more formal shenyi that would not be out of place for a visit to Seiden Palace. Seiden Palace was abuzz with activity. Men and women wearing the armor that officers of the Forbidden Army wore to battle were rushing to and fro calling out orders. Officials in the black imperial robes of court were settled in knots with scrolls, discussing matters of government and logistics. In the center of the chaos, bent over a strategy table, was the king of the country, dressed in his black imperial armor with a very fine sword strapped to his side. He looked well suited to being in armor, Yuka had to admit privately, very well-suited indeed.
"Ah, good to see you made it," he said upon sighting her. He gestured to the two men beside him, whom she was already familiar with. "I know you've met General Banlai and General Kousou."
"Gentlemen," she said with a small bow and a smile to them.
"Lady Yuka," they replied with a respectful bow to her.
These men were two soldiers who had joined her along the way during her campaighn against Asen many years ago. They were a study in opposites, Banlai, the General of the Left, was a tall dark swarthy man, built like a bear, from the very north of Tai with a large beard and a barrel chest. Kousou, the General of the Center, by contrast, was a tall reedy man who looked like he should be holding a pen rather than a sword, but his intelligence when it came to strategy and logistics was paralleled by very, very few. At one point they'd both been part of her personal guard, she had fought alongside them both, which was how she knew better than anyone that aside of fighting against their enemies those two enjoyed little more than arguing with each other.
"Now don' ya worrit yehrself, Missus," General Banlai reassured her, his strong northern accent coloring his speech. "Ya ken His Majesty has already told us the plahn, and we're ooulready after handin' down the orders tae our oown people. After so long dancin' aboot the bush, we're all good an' ready tae have it oout finalleh!"
Indeed," Kousou agreed in his erudite tones. "This city will be readied to last out the seige in no time at all. Our fortifications are currently being prepared and we have already augmented our stores within the walls with the reserves from the under-keeps. Our soldiers are being distributed to their assigned fortifications to ready the city to last this out."
"The hardest part about a seige," Yuka replied in a reminding tone. "Is not the seige itself. Seiges take a great mental toll on those who are trapped within the walls. When the time comes, I will be more than prepared to boost the people's morale and I hope you will cooperate with me."
"It depends on the plan you have," Kousou said cautiously. "We are both charged with your safety milady, we would do nothing that would risk you."
"I'll keep that in mind," Yuka agreed with a small smile.
"Cahm oof it mon," Banlai said with a staggering buffet on his fellow general's shoulder. "The Missus here is nae one tae hide hersel' when the war-drums sound. Yeh ken as well as I do that when the walls are manned, she'll be after manning them right along wi' us."
Banlai sounded like he was actually thrilled with the idea. When Yuka had marched on the campaign against Asen's forces when they'd first retaken the kingdom, it was General Banlai who had encouraged Yuka's more odd and unconventional strategies. However, General Kousou had developed a rapport with Yuka as well based around his firm grasp of logistics.
"His Majesty has made it clear that her safety is our responsibility," Kousou replied in a cautionary tone. "If you sneak her out to those walls again Banlai, it'll be the king you answer to and not General Risai."
"Not awake for a week yet and he's already ruining my fun," Yuka said softly with amusement.
"You have said yourself that you are no military strategist, I hope in this case you will be advised by your generals," Gyousou Saku said firmly. "And don't do anything rash. You know how Kouri worries, and he will fret himself into a state if he hears any reports of you getting injured. Please try to restrain yourself."
She turned to Gyousou.
"Are there any instructions you wish to leave with me?" she changed the subject.
Gyousou gave her a long look, noticing perfectly well that she had not answered his cautions.
"I have them here," he said, handing her a rolled up scroll. "I intend to move quickly, but all the same I hope that you will remain diligent in keeping me appraised of matters here in the palace."
"I'll send you a weekly report," Yuka said. "I hope you'll entrust me with smaller on-going affairs, but the larger matters I'll send on to you immediately by seichou and you can have them handled as you see fit."
Gyousou nodded, only partly paying attention, for a new messenger had just arrived from his air corps with an updated map of enemy troop movements taken by night-time air-scouts crossing the border into "enemy" territory.
In Ba Province it looked like they had all but abandoned the coastline and the lowlands that made up most of the middle of the province in favor of concentrating almost the entirety of their forces on the more easily defensible fortifications of the mountain range that stretched north-south down along their eastmost border, between Ba and Zui. The bulk of the range actually spread out over the broken terrain of Bun Province but stabbed downward along the northern border between Ba and Zui, the tallest mountain in the range was the one that Hakkei Palace rested on.
"It seems they've taken the bait sir," Risai noted, sounding pleased. "The western shores are only defended by blue units, and there are only a few fortified military bases in the lowlands of Ba Province, and those too are only manned by blue units."
"But they have yellow, white and black units all stationed in defensible garrisons along the border to Zui Province," Yuka pointed out, mystified as to how precisely he intended to win a war in which an enemy was stationed in strength just on the other side of two borders. "Zui Province isn't very big, and it's not a long march from the Ba border to the capitol city. It's even less a march for all of those black units assembled along the south-west border of Jou Province to the northeast of Kouki. If the two of them decide to meet up, the capitol and Whitejewel Palace are going to be caught right in the middle and attacked on both sides. We couldn't hold them off for very long."
"A good point," Gyousou acknowldged to her with an approving nod. "And with a provincial army stationed along the western border and the massed troops of two provincial armies stationed to the northwest, normally it would be a strategic nightmare to try to hold off an attack on both fronts."
"I hope this means you have a plan," Yuka said.
"I can guarantee that Kouki will only be attacked on one front. Granted, the forces attacking you will be the numerically stronger of the two possibilities. By that I mean that the ones that come from the combined strength of the Jou and Bun Provincials will sweep out of the north, intent on looting and pillaging no doubt. But the ones from the north will be the only ones you will have to worry about."
"Why would Ba Province hold back when they could combine their strength with Jou and Bun and take down the walls for certain? I already know that that province has no quarrel with the other two so its not like it will hold back out of spite."
"The soldiers garrisoned at the forts in the mountain ranges on the border of Ba will remain in place because they will not have any other choice," Gyousou said firmly.
The spot on the map that noted where Hakkei Palace and the capitol city of Kouki were located had six black markers on it, denoting that there were a full six black units stationed at that location. Yuka knew that the forbidden army, which was the army that guarded the palace made up three of those black units, and the capitol province army for Zui province made up the other three black units. At the northern border of the province of Ran, to the south of them, there were five white markers assembled. Located in the usual forts, cities and garrisons in the rest of the southern provinces there were all blue markers signifying that there was limited guard stationed there, enough to see to Youma and most small emergencies that might happen in the provinces.
"I am taking the Palace Guard of the Right of the Forbidden Army with me and leaving the Left and Center to defend Hakkei Palace and the Imperial City," Gyousou informed her, removing a black marker from the six assembled in the spot for Hakkei Palace. "In addition to the troops of the Forbidden Army, I will be borrowing a white unit from the capitol province army. To augment these troops, each of the other four provinces already under my banner has sent a white unit for the campaign."
He gestured to the four white units stationed at the northern border of Ran Province. Then he pointed out the blue and few white markers still stationed all over the five south provinces of Zui, Sui, Ran Chou and Ki.
"The rest of the forces for the provincial armies I've ordered stationed at strategic points to help maintain the peace and act as auxiliary support should the need arise."
"That only gives you a little under sixty-three thousand soldiers for your campaign," Yuka pointed out. "The staging area along the border between Jou and Bun would suggest that Bun Jou and Ie have each donated two of their three Black Units to the cause, leaving only one behind to guard their home grounds. That gives them about seventy-five thousand troops to attack with. I know they can't move quickly in all the snow, but neither can you."
"Their homeguard wouldn't need great strength in numbers during the winter," Risai explained to her. "When there is snow on the ground and the weather is unpredictable, it makes it difficult to wage war even for a skilled general. It is almost logical to say that they feel that they can safely spend the risk, troop deployment in three to four feet of snow has many challenges and doesn't happen quickly. They probably feel that they can safely leave a minimal guard behind and employ their main forces attacking Kouki and Hakkei Palace without great fear of reprisals."
"Okay, I understand all of that," Yuka said a little impatiently. "What I want to know is how they are wrong. They know that deployment in the snow is a logistical nighmare, so I'd feel confident about leaving behind a minimal guard to defend the home base too if I were them."
"His majesty has ordered the fifty-thousand troops supplied by Zui, Ran, Sui, Chou and Ki provinces to assemble in Ran Province under the pretext of some kind of formal event being held there. Meanwhile he will take the black unit of the forbidden army and split it into a blue unit and a white unit. The lesser half of the troops I will take over the border west of here and engage the garrisons of Ba Province at Tenjou pass and the rest of the mountain garrisons. We'll pretend to lay seige to them and keep them busy."
Risai took removed the single black marker from the board and replaced it with a blue one and a white one, the blue one she moved to the western border where the garrison at tengjou pass was marked the white one she moved south to the harbor in Ran Province.
"His Majesty will take the greater half of the Forbidden Army's black unit and load them up onto the ships in the harbor in Ran and sail them north to take the western shoreline of Ba Province at Kaitou Fortress, then march through the lightly defended heartland, taking the provincial capitol, and then continue his march west after seeing that his chosen Provincial Governor is safely in place."
"Meanwhile, we predict that the enemy troops gathered on the northeast border of the Capitol Province, the coalition of Jou, Bun and Ie provinces will move on what they perceive to be my opening bid to reconquer the four northern provinces starting with Ba."
"Won't they call their troops back to defend their territory if they think you're going to attack them?" Yuka asked.
"No," Gyousou said with firm conviction. "The northern armies are not provincial armies any more, they are in fact under Asen's command."
"Ah, I see. So since you're back in the saddle so to speak, and the four northern shuukou have already served their purpose and are no longer useful as puppet rulers, Asen sees no need to keep up the ruse that his army are Provincial Guards rather than troops under his banner. I guess the gloves are coming off."
Gyousou shot her a perplexed look for her outworldish turn of phrase and Yuka clarified that it meant that he would no longer be lenient or attempt to hide his true purposes.
"Since there is no longer any point in pretending, Asen will move openly now," Gyousou continued. "He believes that it is my intent to retake the northern provinces one by one in my opening manuever, thus he will decide that now is the time to strike at a relatively undefended capital. He will perceive that my campaign in the to bring the Northern Provinces to heel will strip the capital and Palace of the majority of its defenses and he will order his massed troops moved southward to overtake the capital."
Gyousou moved six enemy black units, two from each of the three provinces participating in the future seige, down south to surround the northern half of the city of Kouki.
"You will be able to defend the capital easily with five black units and a white unit," he assured her. "They will only outnumber you by a few hundred, perhaps a thousand at most. A near-even match in an open battle, the city's defenses should make it relatively easy to hold them off."
"I think you should take more than just a white unit of the Zui provincials," Yuka replied. "Asen won't attack if he doesn't think you're serious about moving in on northern territory. He has to feel you've committed your forces or he won't commit his. If he holds back and splits his forces to shore the defenses in the north, then you'll have to beard the dragon in his den, and fight them where he has the advantage. Take a full black unit from the Capitol Province Guard, that will bring your numbers up to sixty five thousand for the northern campaign. I can still easily defend Kouki with four black units to Asens six, they'll only outnumber us by a third and the city's fortifications will account for at least that much. Frankly, that's less people that I will have to feed in case your fight takes longer than you anticipate."
Gyousou smiled at her a little.
"It is generous of you Lady Yuka, and if you feel confident that you can manage without them, I will not argue," he said warmly as he made adjustments on the board. "It's not likely that we can count on taking the zui-Ba border garrison's surprise at the edge of Ba so I've decided that I'm just going to avoid engaging them altogether. Once I've taken the heartland and the provincial capitol, I'll leave behind a small peacekeeping force, probaly a blue unit to secure the capitol-"
"Have you chosen the next shuukou of Ba Province?" Yuka asked interestedly.
"I have," Gyousou replied readily as he slid a paper with the credentials of his choice over an unoccupied surface of the strategy table to her. Yuka picked it up and scanned the neat, masculine lettering.
"This one?" she questioned after a moment, looking at him in surprise.
She was familiar with Rou Hokudai. He was actually the leader of a conservative faction within the court, one that had on occassion given her some small difficulties. His faction was not quite an ally, but not an enemy either. They hated the continuous rebellion by the shuukou of the north, seeing it as a revolt against the natural law of heaven, however, likewise did they not particularly care for the court led by a co-leadership of Taiho and Royal Consort. They felt her authority was only slightly above board so they gave in grudgingly and only when they had to. Yuka had been forced by necessity on several occasions to play politics with them to gain concessions for the things that she wanted done. Hokudai's conservative faction hated a number of the changes in the southern economy that her bloodless war brought about and they fought her tooth and nail on many of the programs she tried to push through the royal court, she could understand their dislike of change but at the same time she couldn't help but be frustrated at the man for thwarting her.
"No offense your majesty but would you care to explain your choice of appointment because I don't see how appointing him will help anyone."
"You've proven an astute politician Lady Yuka," Gyousou said, sounding almost surprised. "Surely you see the benefits to my choice on a political level. Hokudai has several things to recommend him as a choice, his very conservativeness will make him fit in well with the prevailing attitude in that part of the kingdom. He's more likely to be hailed as a liberator than met with resistance."
"I suppose there is that," Yuka agreed reluctantly. "And even if he dislikes change, one thing I can say about him is that he always has the best interests of his kingdom at heart. I could wish, however, that he would be more sensible about allowing foreign trade and embassies within this nations borders."
Youko had approached her about the possibility of a permanent embassy with its own ambassador and Yuka had been delighted with the idea, but the conservatives, headed by Rou Hokudai, had shot it down before it even left the ground.
"Tai is an island nation," Gyousou reminded her, sounding almost amused by the fact she was put out about it to this day.
"So is Japan," she replied absently as she continued to read over the rest of Gyousou's picks for Hokudai's understaff. "But that didn't stop it from becoming one of the world leaders in exports. Like it or not, there are other kingdoms in this world besides our little corner, I think we should have more to do with each other."
"You say that because you seem to be personal friends with another kingdom's ruler," he said, sounding like he was teasing her.
"I say that because Tai relies on trade," Yuka argued. "We've a long winter, a harsh climate, thin soil and a short growing season. If we don't want to starve, we need income. An embassy with a permanent ambassador would make trade agreements much easier and more frequent, plus it would increase the kingdoms ties with the nations it trades with."
"I do see the benefits, but I'm pretty sure you lost your support when you said something about ceding a little piece of foreign soil on Tai's surface."
"It's only large enough for the embassy building," Yuka grumbled.
She looked back over the royal appointment a sighed a little bit. This was the sort of thing she had wanted to do for many decades and had been limited by the mandate of heaven from doing. Only the rightful king could appoint new members to his administration. She'd been wanting to get rid of those northern shuukou for years!
"Who else have you chosen?" she asked curiously.
Gyousou handed her the other scrolls. Yuka nodded in approval at most of the rest of his choices (three of whom she had been quietly grooming for the purpose) but the choice for Bun Province was surprising.
"Ryuurien Sendai?" she asked, surprised. "Isn't he a little..." she didn't want to say crazy, but... "Eccentric?" she at last settled on.
He was the black sheep of a noble family that was noted for their military brilliance. In a family of five straight top-ranked officers, Ryuurien was the only wandering minstrel. He had taken the imperial exam at the age of fifteen and came in first, then promptly wandered off to perform in a tavern in Kouki instead of showing up to accept his new post. He was strange by all reports, and had a decidedly odd way of looking at the world. Not long on common sense, but somehow, Yuka wasn't sure if it was fate, accident or mad intuition, he always seemed to wind up in the middle of many of the situations she'd moved to improve. He wandered wherever he wanted to but always seemed to be doing things that wound up helping Tai in its own weird way.
"Eccentric, but brilliant," he replied.
"Brilliant, but unpredictable," she added.
"Unpredictable, but not unreliable," he argued back.
Yuka had to grant him that, however
"He'll probably get bored and wander off the side of the mountain, and when he rolls down he'll play some sort of strange off-tune song about spring and the glory of cheese. He's an odd one."
"Nonetheless, you look pleased by the choice," Gyousou noted.
"He's an odd one, but I do like him," yuka agreed. "He doesn't seem to have a malignant bone in his body and if he's ever noticed when people insult him, he never pays it back with spite. How in the world is he going to run Bun Province? I worry they'll eat him alive."
"Since he's so young relatively, I'll send him with a co-governor for his first few years," Gyousou reassured her. "After all, he's passed the imperial exams but not the higher level exams for a seat as the provincial governor."
"That's good, and you've picked out Nori Ritsukai as his partner, she'll be a good balance for him. She's very down to earth."
"I'm glad you approve," Gyousou said.
Suddenly Yuka became aware of the impropriety of what she was doing. She was standing there discussing his choices with him, and questioning his judgement in some cases, as though she were still in her customary place as acting co-regent and would still have a large say in the final decision. She had fogotten for a moment that Gyousou was the king, and did have the final authority in the matter. After the seige was broken, Yuka planned on going her own way, it wasn't supposed to be her concern anymore, and it certainly wasn't her place to question his choices.
"Ah, I'm sorry," she apologized. "I had forgotten... Of course it's your decision to make."
"You don't need to be uncomfortable around me," Gyousous said gently. "I welcome your opinions. You've served this kingdom to the best of your abilities for a long while and you certainly have a right to say what you feel if anyone does."
"Well," Yuka said carefully. "It's nice to hear you say so. I hope that attitude continues in the future. It's good to be active, but it's also good to be able to listen openly as well. I wouldn't know half the things I do about Tai or how the people feel about my make-shift governing if I didn't take the time out to listen."
But she smiled and saw the other side of it and quickly amended.
"Then again, if I listened to half of the things that people said about me I suppose I'd never get out of bed in the morning."
"Are you hurt by what people say about you?" he asked curiously.
"Well, it's irritating," she allowed with a wry look. "But I look at it this way; it's not really what they're saying about me, they don't actually know me. Part of it is that they're being manipulated by their superiors and the other part is that they're mad at the situation and they need someone to blame. Since I'm the one who's sitting next to the throne curbing their leaders enthusiasm, I'm a very good target."
"You're certainly more reasonable than most would be about it," Gyousou replied. "I've met a lot of people who would have used the personal commentary as a reason to go after the commentors."
"I've got bigger fish to fry," Yuka replied.
There was a long pause, then Gyousou, with some apparent reluctance said
"I am sorry."
:He even looks stern while he apologizes,: Yuka noted with what was quickly becoming fond amusement.
"Geeze, keep this up and you're going to start to sound like your kirin," Yuka said in mock annoyance.
"It is not fair," Gyousou insisted. "You should never have had to endure perfect strangers slandering your name or assassination attempts or... any of this."
"Even though your Tentei clearly works hard to make it so, the universe still isn't a fair place even with his intervention," Yuka replied with a shrug. "Sometimes, you just play the hand you're dealt and try to make the best of it. Besides... just imagine if the universe were fair, then all of the terrible things that happen to us would be because we actually dserved it."
"Now there's a thought," Gyousou said dryly.
"Always look on the bright side of life," Yuka agreed with equal dryness.
There was another small pause as Yuka looked for something to say next. She'd already overstepped herself inadvertently by discussing politics with him, and she'd simply die before she ever told him what she'd thought about him earlier that evening. She'd found herself thinking that he looked very cool and kingly sitting on the throne and handling matters. She'd even found herself feeling reassured that Kaname would live a long and happy life with Gyousou as his king.
:But it's early days yet,: she reminded herself. :There's still plenty of time for some other fatal flaw to show itself. But, I suppose, at least he's not lazy!:
And as far as she could see his decisions seemed to be good ones so far. He seemed like a clear-sighted and sensible man, but one who knew enough that a rule had to have teeth or no-one would respect it. However he was also merciful and that was reassuring. He had let the other Shuukou live when he didn't really have to, in fact, Yuka rather thought that there were many who questioned why he would have stayed his hand when they had all clearly flouted his rule and the Laws of Heaven, but personally she felt even more reassured by his mercy. His punishment was just as harsh as it needed to be and no harsher.
:I guess in this case I'll just have to let Kaname say 'I told you so': Yuka thought.
"We've covered the war strategy and upcoming politics," Yuka said. "Was there anything else you needed me for?"
"I am concerned that you may be unaware of the risk you take upon yourself by agreeing to act as bait. Asen is scheming, vengeful and petty. I have removed Kouri from his reach, and if he is unable to take his vengeance out on me, then he will choose you as a more available target. As long as you guard the throne, you will be in danger."
"I have never not been in danger, your majesty," Yuka replied. "Placing myself as the main obstruction to power keeps those same powers from targeting Kaname. This is merely an extension of that, and at least in this case he will be acting openly. It is harder to dodge knives in the dark than armies ascending the mountain."
"A point," he allowed. "But even if you do this willingly, it bothers me still to put you in this position. My pride as a man, a king, and a general is taking a beating."
"Well good, at least you're not in danger of succumbing to hubris then."
"Promise me that you will be careful," he said. "Kaname clearly loves you as dearly as family, and I would feel terrible were my ploy to fail and I had to present your body to him."
"He's a kirin, at least show him my ashes, you know that kirin are sensitive to blood," Yuka said, switching the topic a little because she wasn't sure how to take his expression of concern for her, even if it was on behalf of his kirin. Yuka had lived for decades never letting anyone but the kirin close to her, she was so out of practice with matters like that that she was uncertain how to respond to his concern.
"I hope you will have a care for your own life," he said seriously. "I have not known you long, but I too would be saddened if anything were to happen to you. I would hate to loose any future opportunities of redressing the debt between us."
Somehow the usual response Yuka had developed over time of bowing politely and thanking someone for their concern seemed overly formal and somehow false. However, now lacking a default mode, she wasn't quite certain how to respond.
"I'll try to take care," she managed after a moments consideration. "You be careful too, Gyousou Saku, Kaname would be heartbroken to loose you after waiting for you for so long. I... I too am looking forward to seeing the kingdom you two will create. That, and I have a bet on with Youko about whether or not you'll live up to people's memories of you."
Gyousou was clearly brought up short by that.
"For or against?" he demanded, frowing in offence.
Yuka just smiled and said
"That's for me to know and you to guess about."
"Cheeky," he muttered, but didn't sound angry about it.
"I can't deny that," Yuka nodded with a smile.
"I was curious," he said hesitantly, after a moments internal debate. "What are you planning to do after I've finished my campaign?"
"Well, due to circumstances, I haven't been able to leave Whitejewel Palace in about fifty years. The most of what I know about Tai has been political dealing, economic mapping based on what each region produces, and some scattered conversations with the people that live there."
"Ah yes, General Risai has mentioned your Cultural Days," Gyousou said, sounding amused.
"I didn't grow up here and neither did Taiki so we had to have some way of keeping our finger on the pulse of the people. You can't lead a people you can't connect with, at least that's how we see things. Anyway, I basically only know the facts and figures, I want to tour about and actually see the places so they become real to me and not just points on a map or data on a scroll. I want to stroll down a street in Gyuten, and visit the marketplaces in Sen, I want to bathe at the onsen in Bun and take a trip on the skyways, and hunt in the Dragon's Maw for coldwarg and-."
"I was with you right up until the last one," Gyousou said. "You may wish to rethink that particular venture. I'm not sure you've heard this, but coldwarg are mean, nasty creatures possessed of more claws, teeth and bulk than any three ordinary youma put together."
"Sounds about right," Yuka said with an anticipatory smile.
Gyousou loked over at her with surprise apparent on his face.
"You hunt youma?"
"Back when I worked for the former king of Kou he had me sharpen my skills as a fighter by basically putting me in a pit to fight youma gladatorial style."
"I've never heard that last phrase, but I'm getting a sense of a paid fighting match."
"In my case it was closer to a melee battle, sometimes there was more than one youma to deal with. I had a hinma inhabiting me, and the battles were to train my reflexes so that when it was time to strike my body would move the way it was supposed to."
"Your past victories aside, I think you will find that dealing with youma in a contained environment is vastly different than dealing with them in the wild. I've tracked and captured suuguu in the Yellow Sea before and believe you me, it's different. Not only do they have superior strength and speed but the advantage of terrain."
Yuka took a long moment to consider his words.
"That's good advice," she said with a firm nod, bowing to him in thanks for his caution and advice. "I will take a guide to accompany me on my hunt the first few times."
Gyousou burst out laughing. Yuka's brow furrowed in puzzlement.
"What is so funny?" she demanded.
"Simply," he said, getting his amusement under control. "That you look so small and delicate, and you say things like 'dealing with the military is inelegant' and yet at the first opportunity, you want to go hunt youma for sport."
"You realize of course that this whole elegant lady business is partly an act," she reminded him. "I want my enemies to underestimate me so that I can get their measure but they won't know mine."
"You are a surprising young woman," he said honestly.
"Pift, I'm an old granny, I should be whacking people with my cane," Yuka said humorously, then her look turned a bit serious.
"I'm hesitant to bring this up but..."
"Please speak your mind," Gyousou said firmly.
"Since you're going to Ren Province anyway, perhaps you would keep your eyes open for something, or I should say better that forewarned is forearmed in this case."
Yuka was fidgeting a bit trying to think of a way to put things politely.
"You may as well come to the point," Gyousou said with dry humor. "I know you can be direct when it suits you."
Yuka nodded and stated it firmly.
"The ruler of Ryuu, Jo Rohou, has been in a long, slow decline these many decades. I believe that the case in Ryuu is similar to the situation here in Tai only... Well, nevermind. I'll just put it out there. I think the king has gone to the bad, but he is fortunate in that he has a son, Prince Enga, who is the Prime Minister of the Ministry of Fall. His son handles the law in that kingdom. Though the officials and court has become corrupt, I believe the Prince sees to it that his ministry and the people uphold the Laws of Heaven. In short, his son is propping up the throne. I don't know this officially, of course, and I've never once exchanged correspondence with either of them... it's just a hunch. Anyway, I thought you should know about it because you're headed along that coastline and there's been a lot of youma flooding over from the destabilized region."
"Thank you for the warning," he said courteously. "It is a shame about the Blade-king, he's been ruling for over a century."
"Well, closer to two now," Yuka pointed out. "You're missing fifty years."
"I had forgotten, it will take some adjustment," Gyousou said ruefully. "It's strange, it is unusual for a decline to last so long once it starts."
"I think that the king is one of those types who tends to backslide or fall into bad habits. What I've observed of his rule from rumors and trade reports is that when he's good he's really good. I've heard that his ability to handle a natural disaster or deal with youma is all but unparalleled, but he seems prone to resting on his laurels. He's good at putting systems into place, and those systems really work well, but the thing about systems is that they can't respond to everything; situations change. He's good at getting things into place, but disinterested in monitoring things to make sure that they don't break down. I think that's why it's taking Heaven so long to decide one way or another about whether he gets fired. That and I'm sure his son is running along behind him trying to keep things going under for his fathers sake."
"I see. It is a pity about the youma, and about Ryuu. And by the by, when did we start trading with them?"
"About the same time Youko, I mean Kei-ou, started trading with the new ruler of Kou. Maybe, thirty or so years ago? We trade sap-glass and water-silk in exchange for their knowledge of structural engineering. It was a team of geologists from Ryuu that told us which rock-beds it was safest to put the towers for the skyways on."
"I've heard that many of thier cities are built either partly or entirely underground," Gyousou replied, nodding to himself.
"I've heard that too, it's one of the things on my long list of things I'd like to see."
"With any luck you will be free to see them all before too much longer."
"I know you're eager to get started and have everything settled, but don't push too hard," Yuka cautioned as she bowed and prepared to depart to her own chambers. "It's good to be decisive and I appreciate that you're as worried for Kaname's sake as I am, but try to look after yourself too, otherwise he'll only worry more about you while you're out there in the field."
"Thank you for your care," Gyousou said with obvious perfunctory politeness. It was clear to Yuka that being cautious was the last thing on his mind.
As a celebration of my birthday on the fifth, I thought Id post this chapter for all of you to enjoy!