Fifteenth Day of the First Month, Year One Thousand Ten of the Reign of the Ichiya Dynasty

Himari

As always, Himari woke before dawn, though she started a bit more groggy than usual. The excitement of having potentially made a friend was almost overwhelmingly exciting, and for the first time in a while, she had trouble falling asleep. She wanted to meet Sakura and Maiko again, and was sad when she realized that she might not be able to make it to the garden today. Her new kimono, bearing the regal gold and silver highlighting the members of the Emperor’s Chosen, was impeccably equipped. She let out a confident breath. Today was going to be a good day.

Her father had asked her to meet early for breakfast, so she slipped out of her room quietly, stepping through the area with the usual stealth that she had become accustomed to. If not for her father, she likely need not have bothered. Her brother hadn’t even awoken, the servants had not even started their morning duties. But the desire to not spend another morning with a tanto at her throat encouraged caution and alacrity both. A difficult combination, to be sure.

Still, the combination of a slightly longer route and particularly light feet helped her find her way into the dining hall without incident. She sat in her spot and waited calmly. Thoughts kept only on how she expected the day to go. Today was likely to be a day of boring guarding, standing in the Emperor’s court room and making sure that no Samurai got too ambitious. It was not exciting work, but the prestige it brought to her family was unparalleled outside of being the Emperor himself. And certainly she’d no thoughts in that direction.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the far door that led to the kitchens. Servants stepped inside and set tea and rice in front of her. But no sign of her father yet. She seemed surprised, but for lack of other instruction she ate her breakfast without thought or complaint. It was only after she finished her rice that she saw a simple kanji at the bottom of the bowl.

‘The Garden. Hour after dawn.`

`Change to something less conspicuous`

She couldn’t disguise the disgust on her face as she stared at the bottom of the cup. Did he anticipate that she was going to dress in her new finery? Was he watching her from the kitchens? She called over the servant and spoke tersely. “When did my father write this?”

“I’m sorry, Himari-sama. Kosuke-sama gave us very specific instructions not to divulge information about his morning.”

“Of course he did.” She shook her head and handed the cup and bowl back to the servant.

“Would you like seconds, Himari-sama?”

“No, I think my appetite is spoiled for the day.” And at this point she couldn’t put it past him to have poisoned a second bowl.

Still, there was no fighting with her Father. Especially not in these matters. So she returned quietly to her chambers and changed into a simpler brown kimono and hakama - basically training attire. She had a few minutes, so she took a moment to check and make sure she wasn’t too made up. If he was going to call her out for her clothes, no doubt he would be upset if she was made up like a Courtier this morning.

Fifteen minutes before the appointed time, she slipped out of her room and slipped into the garden.She operated under a veneer of caution as she skulked around. Quietly, she was hoping against hope that perhaps she could catch her father off guard for once. This bore fruit as she found her way to the same little island that she and her father talked at just the other night. Kosuke was praying at the shrine. There was no way that he had noticed her.

Carefully, she creeped across the bridge. Cautious not to so much as make a sound as she reached into her sleeve and pulled her tanto out of its Saya. All she had to do was place it against her neck and-

Suddenly, Himari realized that her arm had been grabbed. In the next instant, she was on the ground in front of the shrine, slightly dazed. A small tisk could be heard above her. Her father was holding her arm trapped in one arm, and his other hand held her knife. “What gave me away?” She snapped quickly.

He let out a chuckle, which most certainly surprised her. “You disturb the grass too much when you walk. And I thought you might be annoyed at my missing breakfast this morning. So I was paying a bit more attention than normal.”

He let go of her and offered back her knife. She grasped it carefully, moving to a sitting position as she continued to eye him warily. “You are in a surprisingly good mood.”

“You have given me reason to be. Instead of glowering when I am teaching, you took to understanding that today was a lesson and attempted to apply your skills. I admit, I was worried when I saw you fight the other day that you might still carry a child’s notion that we are supposed to fight fair.”

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She blinked in surprise. “I… thought that for that trial, a fair fight was what was appropriate.”

“And if you had failed the trial because of it?” He questioned quickly. “The combat portion of the trial is intended to test one’s ability to achieve victory. The word fairly does not appear in that explanation. You were fortunate that your opponents were under the same notion you were, save maybe Roban. What honor is there in failing fairly? The enemies of the Emperor will not fight fair, and you would be a fool to think that you can afford to.”

Himari closed her eyes. She had done everything she had set out to do, met every expectation, and still she was being chastised for not doing it well enough? She wanted to rage against his eternal disappointment, to demand that he acknowledge the good she had done. And yet, when she opened her mouth, she hated herself for the words that came out. “I apologize, Father. At every turn when I think I have met your expectations, I only find new ways to disappoint you.”

His eyebrow raised. She heard him sigh. “Himari-chan, you are missing the point. I am not disappointed. In fact, I am over the moon that you made it this far this young. And you did so without utilizing Shugojin, without resorting to cheap tricks or deception to win. You handled that tournament better than I ever could have.”

Himari’s head tilted. “I… am confused. If you were impressed, then why chastise me?”

“Because I am worried, Himari-chan. Because as impressive as what you have done is, you cannot expect to live the rest of your life that way. If you do, you will fail your Emperor, you will fail Seifu, and most importantly you will fail yourself. There is a reason that few Samurai who cling to foolish notions of Honor live long lives. And there is a reason it is the first thing I train out of the Chosen.” He rises, waving his hand. “But that is not why we are here. These are all things you know. Come on.”

Her head tilts. “Do I not have guard detail with the Emperor today?”

“Oh, of course not,” he laughed. “I taught you that being a Chosen is not near so simple as being a bodyguard, didn’t I?”

“Well, yes, but-”

“No buts. The Emperor has guards for Court. And the Fourth and Fifth Chosen are on personal detail for the remainder of the month. No, today I am going to show you how we really protect the Emperor.”

She looked him up and down. It was only now she realized that she looked like a Ronin. “Is that why you are dressed like you are sitting on a dock corner begging for work?”

“You jest, but yes,” he grins. “Your attire is appropriate, if a little too fine for the work we will be doing today. I will need to arrange to get you something made of cotton.”

“Cotton makes my skin itch,” she complains.

“We will find well treated cotton then. But your current look could give you away. Come on.” He led her out the servant’s entrance to the family compound. Instead of turning north towards the Castle proper, the pair turned south and East towards the docks.

The city of Kyūsoku Toshi was the largest city in Seifu, located on the southern edge of the peninsula. Despite this, merchant docks had only popped up on the southeast corners of the district. The capital was carefully curated for aesthetics, and in the last hundred years the coastline had become a popular choice for rich Samurai to build houses. This had the effect of pushing a great deal of the Peasant population into the Eastern districts, but the abundance of fishing and trade available made it a viable place for most enterprising peasants to ply a good living.

To Himari’s surprise, their path took them deep into the docks district. The place they stopped at had a sign that looked like a fish shoved into a sake cup. She looked incredulously at her father, but he waved her off and silently walked inside. She steeled herself to what she was doubtless to see, then followed him in.

The building led to a tavern, with several low tables and many fewer Ronin in various states of drunkenness sitting at them. The smell of fish and alcohol struck Himari like a bokken to the face. But after the initial shock, she set her face in a firm, intimidating mask, and followed just behind her father.

Kosuke, for his part, had taken on a swagger she had never seen from him. He strode with a loud confidence, almost bordering on arrogance. As he moved to sit at the bar, she sat next to him, painfully straight sitting up. The bartender, a woman in her mid 40s whose grin revealed a missing tooth, set a cup down for him upside down. “Kanjin-san! It’s good to see ya. Got another mute here with ya, huh?”

Himari had to work overtime for her mouth to not fall agape at how informally she spoke to him! Did she not know who this was? But before she could say anything, Kosuke spoke. “Mimi-chan, it is always good to see you. Yes, this is my new mute friend, Nomen. Nomen here is learning the trade, you see, and I thought I’d introduce her to the best damned provider of work in the city.”

“Ah, ya always flatter. Maybe one of these years you’ll actually buy a drink!” The two laugh together. Himari almost missed the motion of her father subtly slipping a note out from under the cup and replacing it with a single Koku. “Well, we better get moving. Thanks for meeting my girl.”

As the two moved to leave, Mimi’s words damn near pierced Himari’s ears. “Don’t be a stranger, Nomen-chan!”

Once the two were outside, it was quiet for several long minutes. Away from the alley, Himari damn near hissed. “Why did you take such disrespect from that woman? Does she not know who you are?”

Kosuke chuckled, holding up the piece of paper. “Oh, she does. This is what you need to understand, Himari-chan. You need to adjust your worldview to fit the people you are dealing with. Before, I taught you how to skulk, how to listen for threats within the castle and find those within who might have designs against the Emperor. Now, I teach you how to find those same threats here in the city itself. The only place that you can truly find them; among its people.”

He handed over the paper to Himari. As she opened it to read, it said a small, simple phrase.

‘Danger lies on the Ningyo’s Breath’