Touke had ridden kijuu a handful of times, not really enough for her to consider herself used to it. So it was with some trepidation that she looked upon the kijuu she would now be riding. It was smaller than Nansou, of course, but still of intimidating size. It had the saddle and bags holding spears all military kijuu did. There wasn't really room on the saddle for a second person, so this was going to be awkward. There was some risk the people on the back would fall off and crush themselves on the ground, a risk the fifteen had considered and were now taking. Touke tried to still the thumping of her heart.

That was not the only reason her heart was pounding. She was about to fly into battle. She had no idea what was going to happen, but she could put together vague imaginings. In her chest was a surging fear of death, and a curious concern if she would be capable of taking a man's life, even to defend herself. She tried to shake it off.

"Nervous?" said her cavalryman, Kouyou. He was a small man, though muscle was clearly defined on all his limbs. Most people in the air cavalry, she had quickly learned, were rather small in stature. She wasn't sure if that was a rule, or it just worked out that way.

Touke nodded slowly. "First battle."

"Oh, yeah, that'll do it," he said with his own nod. "I'll make sure to get you to the battlements in one piece. After that, can't help you."

After that, there would really be no one she knew she could lean on. She was going to the left tower with seven men, while Kokumei was going to the right with the remaining six. Kokumei had argued that Touke needed them more than her, so took less. The men had made jokes asking why she just didn't do it all on her own, which she had just laughed off. In fact, much more than having no one to lean on, she would actually be in charge of seven soldiers. Technically, she was in charge of the whole army, but this was the first direct command she would have. She took a breath, trying to calm the thundering in her chest.

Soon, all her and Kokumei's soldiers were balanced precariously on the back of the kijuu, their arms around their cavalrymen. When they had properly gathered, Kokumei gave what counted as a pre-battle speech. "When we get the gates open," she shouted at the army in general, "rush in like you mean business. Let's make these traitors regret get in our way!" That was all. But even with something so simple, the soldiers near enough to hear raised a hand, in imitation of Kokumei, and let out a shout. It almost hurt Touke's ears. "Go."

In a rush of movement, all the kijuu burst into the air. They climbed high, soaring over the city to the east. They spiraled higher into the air. Touke felt her grip against Kouyou tighten. She felt like she would fall off any moment, so fragile was her hold on the kijuu. The surrounding area spread out below them, fallow fields and villages abandoned to feed the defending force. She could see long into the distance, the great rolling hills of the province stretching off in long directions. With a breath, she tried to absorb the peace of their surroundings.

She let it out in a shout of surprise as all the kijuu at once turned into a dive. She clutched at Kouyou harder to keep herself in place. The bottom fell out of her stomach as they dropped precipitously through the air, like a rock falling from a great height. As they sped up, the barrier around the kijuu failed some, and a light breeze blew through her clothes. They neared, and Kouyou, gripping one of his spears, pulled a few degrees out of the dive. The castle whipped past them in a blur, and in a smooth motion Kouyou reached over and cast his spear at the ground. On the other side of the castle they again rose high into the air.

She was a bit more prepared the second time, so as they approached the castle again, she could see what had been wrought by their first pass. The archers had scattered, a fair number of them frozen in place by spears stabbing through them. Just as the kijuu neared again, they started poking out of their hiding places, like mice checking to see if the threat had gone. They passed again, and this time, instead of going back up, the kijuu bled off speed and came about. Soon, as she looked down, she could see stone rising up toward her feet, the walkspace at the top of the wall.

When the wall neared, she let go of Kouyou and dropped to the ground. It was a little higher than she had thought, and the impact was almost enough to take her to the ground, but she managed to keep to her feet. She took a look around, taking inventory of the situation. There were a few dead or dying archers around, spears piercing their bodies. Blood and flesh slowly spread from them, staining the stone. They were out of the picture, so Touke ignored them. More importantly, she could see a group of uninjured archers, starting to turn their sights on her and her approaching men.

She started running toward them an instant before Koubochi pushed her into quicker motion. Along the way she drew her sword. In their eyes she could see fear, fear of her army, fear for their lives. She didn't care. In passing, she slashed across the first archer's neck; she felt a thin spray of blood hit her. She let her momentum carry her into the midst of the group. Her arms moved in constant motion, bringing deadly blows on the archers all around her. In only a couple seconds the half dozen or so were all on the ground, dead or dying. She consciously took a breath to center herself, only realizing then that she had been breathing heavily.

She turned toward her men to see a couple of them had been running forward to help her, and were caught partway around. With another glance around, she saw there were no more archers in the immediate vicinity. Touke gave her men a nod and a wave, urging them to follow her to the tower. There was no door in the archway, so Touke merely sprinted under the eaves. There were a few archers huddled inside, turned toward the notches in the wall in preparation for more airborne attackers. Her and her men made short work of the surprised archers. One of her men got an arrow in the shoulder during the skirmish. She gestured him to get out of the way and wait, but he shook his head and stood up, gripping his sword. With a shrug, she lead the way down the curving staircase at the center of the tower.

They plunged into deeper darkness for a while before coming into a room lit by lamps. There was a group of swordsmen inside, and a large wheel with notches around it, a thick rope wound around. This would be the mechanism they were searching for. The swordsmen started at her appearance, and moved to intercept her. They wavered a little when her men followed her. Their numbers were pretty even.

A sword came down at her. She did the same glancing block she had used against Pinkon, then pivoted to cut off the man's hand. Her sword easily cut through flesh and bone—she understood it had some magical properties, but she wasn't sure exactly what. His scream joined those echoing around the room. She pivoted again, slashing her blade across the now-defenseless man's throat, turning his scream to a few final gurgles before he fell to the ground dead. She went around the room, ending longer duels by cutting down her men's opponents from behind. When the skirmish was over, she counted the men still standing. She had lost one. Not bad. The man with the arrow in his shoulder had even survived.

Her men moved to the wheel, and, most of them working in concert, started turning it. The man with the arrow in his shoulder, who couldn't push because he could only use one arm, and herself stood at each entrance, to ward off any trying to stop the gates from opening. A couple soldiers tried to come through the door she was guarding, but the door itself narrowed the path so only one could come at a time, so it was pretty easy to cut them down as they walked in. Almost too easy.

About the time the stream of soldiers coming in ceased, her men let out a cheer. The gate was open. They trailed over to her, looking at her for new orders. She saw a strange amount of respect in their eyes. "You, arrow-in-the-shoulder." The pile of bodies by the staircase showed the man must be competent indeed.

"Yes, Your Highness?"

"What's your name?"

"Yuuko," the man said with a pain-tempered smile.

"When we get into the courtyard, run out to the camp to get treated for that."

"I think I can take a few more traitors on the way. That okay?"

A few of the men chuckled, and Touke joined them. "Right, sure. Just don't be a hero." She realized she was telling this man the same thing Kokumei had told her. The man's smile widened, and he nodded. "Now," she said to everyone in general. "This is when the fun begins." She started off toward the courtyard, the dark laughs of her men on her heels.


She felt a little gross. She was weighed down by something wet. At first she had thought she was just sweating that much, but a glance downward revealed her clothes were soaked in big patches with blood. Her shoes were a little soggy too. Even her face hadn't gotten out of it; she could feel dried blood tugging at her skin whenever she made an expression. But somehow, her sword was still clean, beautiful, without a mark on it. She was partially deafened from the sounds of combat, the clanging of metal, the screams and shouts of men and women.

But still she charged down the hall of the castle. Kokumei, similarly stained with blood, was running at her side, with a few of their men, also colored, behind them. They were heading for the governor's personal quarters; a servant that had surrendered herself to them said that's where he was. They finally came to an adjoining hall. She shared a look with Kokumei before darting inside.

They found him in his bedroom. A few guards were inside, but it didn't take too much work to be rid of them. She was a little impressed with him. Here were a group of warriors, covered in blood, who had just taken out all his defenses, and would likely kill him. It was clear he was afraid, but he wasn't cowering. He met them with his back straight, his face blank. Kokumei, with the same smile she had had since the battle started, waved her forward. Taking another steadying breath, she stepped in front of him. "You are Governor Fun?" she said, addressing him by his uji. She couldn't remember his azana offhand.

He lifted his chin a little. "I am. Are you their leader?"

"I'm Kyou-Ou."

At that, his eyes widened a little, but he didn't otherwise move. He did, though, glance at the sword in her hand, and, with a slight frown, apparently recognized it. "I see. I suppose then I am to be executed for sedition."

Touke resisted the impulse to glance at Kokumei. "That depends."

"On what?"

"Kokumei—" The man's eyes again widened at the name. "—what do we know of the governor of Ouhan Prefecture?"

Kokumei seemed to consider for a moment. "A little bit. New to the position. He's not particularly liked nor disliked by his people. Mild taxes. He's held the prefecture together pretty well, considering."

That didn't sound too bad. Touke nodded to herself. "Where do your loyalties lie?"

"To Kyou-Ou, of course."

"So why do you support the Chousai?"

A somewhat pained expression came to his face. "Geimei claims to be King. Who am I to say he isn't, when he has all of the Rikkan supporting him? I'm just a humble governor." There was a point to that. "Of course, I heard the rumors he had attacked Kyourin with the true Queen, but I don't usually lend credence to rumors." A short pause. "Apparently, I should have."

Touke considered another moment. And sheathed her sword. "There are some men I'd like you to order to surrender."

"Of course," he said with a bow of his head.

It would later occur to her that he should have prostrated himself.


"Taiho?"

Aku snapped out of her fugue. She looked away from the distance, and turned to Zekkin, the prime minister of Teki. They were having tea, or at least had been, before Aku had gotten distracted. "I'm sorry, what?"

The prime minister smiled. She was an old woman, both in apparent and actual age. She had been a functionary in the Chikan back in the days of Ken-Ou. When Mei had moved to Teki, she had taken Zekkin with her. "I'm sure Her Highness is perfectly fine," Zekkin said, seeing through Aku the way she was purported to be capable of.

Aku let out a long sigh. "I just hate being this far away from her." She reached out and took a sip of her tea. It was starting to get cold.

"She'll be fine," Zekkin said with confidence. "Kokumei is with her."

"Yeah, I suppose. So where were we?"

"You were asking me about land use rights, and how I handle them."

"Yes, that." Zekkin was one of the people Aku was getting to know—interviewing would probably be a better word—in preparation for forming the government. She was on her list as a possible Daishito. "Continue, please."

Zekkin started talking. It didn't take long before Aku spaced out again. "Taiho?"

Jolting in place, Aku turned to look at her again. She let an apologetic expression fall on her face. "I'm sorry. I'm just really out of it today."

"You don't need to apologize, Taiho. I'm sure there's a lot on your mind."

"Yeah…" Aku turned to stare into space again. After a few moments, she said, "I smell blood."

Zekkin frowned. "Here in the palace?"

"Yes and no." She let out a long sigh, trying to force out her worry and annoyance. "You know you get this phantom smell one second and it's gone the next, so short you weren't convinced you really smelled it? That keeps happening. I think the battle started."

Zekkin just kept on frowning. "You can smell that all the way from here?"

"No, of course not. I think it's because Touke can smell it."

"I didn't know that was possible."

"There's so much we don't understand about the connection between a Kirin and her queen. Even for us Kirin. Who's to say what's possible and what isn't?" She let out another long sigh. It wasn't helping.

There was silence for a short while. Then Zekkin said, "It's probably not too different from what the families of our soldiers are feeling, having a loved one sent away."

"I suppose it probably isn't. Save that I will certainly see Touke again, and many of those families won't be so lucky."

"You don't fear for her life?"

"Honestly?" Aku shrugged. "Not really. She's learned much with the sword. And my shirei will protect her. I'm more concerned she'll come back different."

"Different?"

"You know. Changed. By killing people." Even as she said it, that fear sprung to life in her, the fear that killing would corrupt Touke. The taking of a life was the most terrible thing she could imagine—the pain, the oblivion, the loss of all that potential, and the loss of the killer's innocence—and Touke was probably doing it right now. Following that was powerful grief for the people dying, for their families, and she suddenly felt she was near tears.

Zekkin must have noticed, for she reached out a hand to touch her shoulder, then hesitated, clearly unsure if she should be touching the Taiho. "War does change people. But that's not necessarily a bad thing."

"How could it not be a bad thing?"

"Just look at Mei. She was just an ordinary soldier, unremarkable, like any other. Then she fought her first battle. She changed. Her personality was tempered, turned from something dull and weak into something shining and powerful. And with that came a desire to make the best of Kyou she could, so the people who died wouldn't in vain. Is that so bad?"

"I suppose not," she grumbled. "Still, I don't like it. I don't think character development that requires death can really come from a place of moral purity."

Zekkin let out a smile. "Aside from the Kirin, there is no such thing as moral purity in this world."

"I suppose not."

"Just you wait. Kyou-Ou will return to you. And she will be the stronger for it."

That's what Mei had said. Aku, in one more attempt, let out a long sigh.


Kouyou: 航葉

Yuuko: 勇乕

Fun: 盼

Geimei: 芸迷

Zekkin: 舌訢