In orbit of New Tokyo
New Tokyo system
After the short and surprisingly gentle debriefing by the Kusari police, Aela had quickly found herself being escorted into a particularly luxurious shuttle; sleek, yet clearly having enough to say 'important'. Rather much like mother's really. She was never much for subtlety, though that tended to get her in… trouble.
It was the interior of the shuttle, though, that really caught her eye. Beautifully lacquered wood paneling covered the door sides, which were themselves gilded with a beautiful green tone that reminded her of emeralds. The lush black leather seats simply seemed to take her in, as she sat down to try them out. "The Kusari really pulled out all the stops when they feel they want to apologize," she said aloud.
"Indeed we do Miss D'Avo," said a voice behind her, which caused her to jump out of the chair in surprise.
She quickly turned around to see a Kusari man, wearing a scarlet black silk robe of sorts. He had his hair tied up into a little know on his back, but other than that, he seemed to look like a pretty average Kusari guy to her. Yellowish pale skin, slightly slanted eyes, and black hair. She wasn't nearly familiar enough with humans to tell them apart beyond the most obvious features yet.
The man bowed deeply, bringing his head below her own chest, while keeping his palms touching each other. "Apologies once again D'Avo-san," he said, his voice deep and comforting. "This time for startling you. I am Ozu Takera, and I shall be your guide here in New Tokyo, as we approach New Edo to meet our most honorable Shogun."
"Guide?" she asked loudly. "What about Perkins? I thought he was supposed to guide me?"
"I'm afraid that in light of what happened aboard Roppongi, our most Honorable Shogun has decided that you must be guided by Kusari hands to prevent any more… incidents." he said, clearly trying to calm her. "It was felt that his presence may have inadvertently provoked the attack."
"How?
"Many of the Hogosha see themselves as… protectors of Kusari. Their name literally translates to guardian. They see the Shogun as one who has the divine guidance of the Sun God Amaterasu, and as such, are willing to protect him at all costs. The fact that you are visiting him, possibly influencing him to something… un-Kusari, and that you were being guided by not one of our own, but a Bretonian, only led to further… aggravate the normally placid Hogosha."
"Placid? Those thugs are normally placid?"
"Why yes. They are very often legitimate businessmen, helping Kusari interests everywhere. Unfortunately, the young ones with all the wisdom of youth. They think they know everything. Thus the attack. The elder members however, I'm sure, know the true wisdom in first watching then reacting."
That… did not comfort her. At all.
The Kusari were exhibiting more and more signs of being like the Batarians, insular policies, a desire to control as much as possible, to keep things as 'Kusari' as possible while retaining control.
Hopefully, meeting the Shogun would help clarify things, get a better feel for how the situation really is, though honestly. 'Legitimate businessmen.' she mentally scoffed at that notion. Sure, just like the Batarians are practicing their 'Cultural heritage' with slavery.
"D'Avo-san" said Ozu, breaking her out of her line of thought. "We are now approaching Edo palace. If you would look to your left outside the window, I'm sure you would be most interested in the view."
After seeing the Westminster palace and the Reichstag, Aela decided to take a look. It would be a good sense of how different the Kusari would be compared to the Rhinelanders and Bretonnians. The architecture would help out there.
So when she turned around and looked out the window, as the clouds gradually gave way, her jaw dropped
Her vision was dominated by a single enormous, island that thrust out of the turquoise blue sea into a large hill, atop which sat what must have been Edo Palace. It seemed as if it had come out of ancient history itself, forgoing much of what she expected, the Palace itself seemed to have been crafted with stone and wood it's stark white walls and blue roofs contrasting heavily with the emerald greenery of the island. Surrounding the largest and tallest structure, likely the Keep and Shogun's tower, a series of slanted walls that seemed to only accentuate the many gardens that she could make out within the complex. Curiously enough there seemed to also be a few areas where there were naught but stone and sand, another form of gardening perhaps. Here, she saw no trace of the Roman or Greek architecture, instead seeing something completely different from what she has come to expect. The buildings themselves seemed to build on top of the other, resembling a great cake of sorts. The roofs were slanted yes, but they always seemed to end with some sort of tip, comepletely unlike what examples of Greek and Roman architecture she saw in the Bretonnian museum. She couldn't help but feel a sense of harmony and peace as they slowly approached the landing pad, perhaps the most modern thing she had clearly seen on the island itself, as if the Palace had been sculpted not only to protect, but to calm the mind a spirit, much like a temple. To create a place of both safety, and projected power.
When the Kusari meant traditional, they really meant it, Aela thought as the shuttle doors opened.
"Please follow me, and listen to any instructions I give you." said Ozu. "Though you are a most honorable guest of the Shogun, protocol must be followed."
"I see." Aela said, remembering to keep her tone neutral. Frankly, the Kusari government was starting to sound more and more fishy by the minute. Still though she carefully followed Ozu through the winding paths of the palace complex deeper towards what she assumed was the Keep.
When they arrived at the Keep, or the Tenchu as Ozu had called it, Aela really got a feel of just how this entire complex was built.
She noted very carefully, that the closer they approached the Tenchu, the higher it got. A sensible approach, but she also noticed something else. Whereas she would expect the Bretonians or Rhinelanders to just keep the wall flowing in a straight line till they hit a designated point, these Kusari walls seemed to just… flow with the landscape, not against it.
Another sign of the difference in philosophy between the Houses, though she sorely wished it would apply to the people here, even as they entered.
Instead of something incredibly ornate and luxurious, she was treated to a surprisingly spartan interior. Paper thin walls surrounded her, and a mat of sorts covered the floor.
"Please remove your shoes D'Avo-san," Ozu said carefully. "It is customary to do so to keep the sanctity and cleanliness of the Palace."
"Understood." she said. It was a fair enough request, so she promptly removed her shoes and continued to follow Ozu deeper and higher into the Tenchu.
Overall, the theme of simplicity seemed to dominate the lace, as room after room, she was treated to sight of the same walls and floors. Occasionally she'd see a tapestry showing stylized creatures, plants and people, and simple but expensive looking furniture, but nothing resembling the splendor she saw at Westminster.
Finally, they came to a simple room, this time with two tapestries hanging on both her left and right, showing a golden flower of sorts on a scarlet background.
"This is the final room before we meet the Shogun," Ozu explained. "We must now wait for an attendant to signal that we may now enter. Do you have any questions before we enter?"
Though she had many, really there was only one question that really stuck in her head.
"Why are you so different?" she asked, her voice just brimming with curiosity, because really these Humans were an Anthropologist's dream. "The Bretonnians and Rhinelanders I met were culturally different yes, but nothing on the scale that I've seen here. From what I've seen so far… it's simply breathtaking and nearly unbelievable to think you are of the same species."
Ozu chuckled lightly at the end, likely at her last remark. "I am no anthropologist D'Avo-san, but I'll try and answer what I can. I think it is mainly that, on the Homeworld, Earth, we were quite literally on opposite sides of the planet. We did not meet for many millennia, and even then, we kept our culture and traditions strong. We were hardly influenced by them and their cultures, taking in only what we saw to be good and beneficial, much like what we do here now in our new worlds of Kusari."
That didn't quite answer her question, but she let it slide as a great ringing sound, like a cymbal was hit was made.
"That was our signal D'Avo-san." Ozu said. "Follow me, and repeat whatever motions I make. Do not make eye contact with the Shogun unless he allows you too."
Aela simply nodded in understanding and followed Ozu to meet the Shogun.
The Dragon Room, Edo Palace
New Tokyo system
Carefully following Ozu's lead, Aela slowly walked forward into the throne room of the Shogun of Kusari. While the room shared many characteristics of the previous rooms, such as simple paper-thin walls, a mat of sorts on the floor, and relatively simple looking furniture, she could immediately see the difference at the far end of the of room.
Seated on an elevated dais was the Shogun, sitting cross-legged, and dressed in an elaborate crimson robe. Behind him, she could make out an enormous stylized tapestry of some sort of four legged predator, likely a creature of great symbolism here, On his side were two attendants, or advisors, Aela wasn't sure which, in yellow robes, standing and waiting for… something.
"Welcome honored D'Avo-san," said the Shogun. "Everyone, leave us. Except you Ozu. I would like to dispense with much of our… protocol for this, especially in light of what happened at Roppongi."
"Hai." the attendants said as they bowed out and left the room.
"Now cousin," said the Shogun as he stood up and walked toward Aela. "I think it important that she understand our honor."
'D'Avo-san," said Ozu, his voice calm " You must understand, that what the Hogosha did to you while on Roppongi, under our care as our guests… That has not only discredited us, but has thoroughly stained our honor. We have lost face, and all Kusari know it."
"Face?" Aela asked.
"It is… a difficult concept to explain, even to our fellow Humans." Ozu said. "The closest approximation would be that of… shame. We have lost our respectability, our dignity. This is very important in our culture, you see."
"How? I mean, humiliation is nothing new. I know of people who have humiliated themselves and have simply learned to live with it." Aela responded curiously.
"Like I said, it is more complicated than that." Ozu said. "Understand that it goes deeper than the mere loss of respectability and to illustrate, well…"
"Let her see the poems, Ozu." The Shogun said.
"Hai." Ozu said as he moved towards one table which held a few pieces of paper. He gently took one and slowly walked back to her with it.
The paper had writing on it, but it was completely incomprehensible to her. It was so totally unlike the letters she had seen in Rhineland and Bretonnia that she simply couldn't understand them. Oh it was quite beautiful and the characters seemed to flow gently, and she suspected that closer inspection would show each character to be unique and stylistic, representing a concept or item, but she would need weeks to come up with a basic translation suite.
"I'm so sorry, but I cannot read this." she said apologetically.
"We know. But know now you hold the death poem of the leader of that group of Hogosha who attempted to kill you."
"Death Poem?"
"An… epitaph of sorts." Ozu explained. "The man has committed seppuku, ritual suicide, upon realizing what his men had done."
Aela's eye widened in shock in realization of how seriously these people took their… honor. The man killed himself over the shame he had brought upon the nation.
"A translation for you D'Avo-san."
As the sound of drum calls for my life,
I turn my head where sun is about to set.
There is no inn on the way to underworld.
At whose house shall I sleep tonight?
"He knew that by the shame he had caused, he would not be welcome as he goes down to the realm of the dead. He even denied himself a second as he committed his suicide."
"A second?"
"A man to cut off his head. He instead opted to simply take his Wakizashi, a short sword of sorts, and gut himself with it."
Aela could only open her mouth in horror upon hearing that. Ritual suicide? A likely very painful and drawn out death, all over their concept of shame? Goddess, this was something that was far too complicated for her to deal with in a day.
"Yes you understand now. " The Shogun said. "Here in Kusari we take our Honor seriously. Not all foreigners really grasp this. I feel that in this upcoming new world, your people must understand this. That the Kusari people need to be treated with the proper respect. We do not take to… change well, I think. The Hogosha you encountered are proof of this I think, and there are certainly others who would act as violently."
Goddess, any dealings with the Kusari would only lead to trouble. If anyone was to make inroads here, working with the local companies would be essential.
"Now that we have… educated you on one of the more important aspects of our culture. Please,do tell us about your own people, the Asari."