Although the day of reprieve went by quickly, most of the soldiers looked a little more pleased than they had before. More soldiers came in to make up for those lost—among them being Ujuro, to Seiko’s aggravation. Her stepfather only explained that he was there to help keep an eye on her, but the only thing he said about Mikka was that she agreed with his choice and she was in the care of a shrine maiden.

Ujuro joined Seiko, Asahi, and Masaaki in the morning while his exact station was being determined. He got along well with Masaaki, at least, and Asahi maintained polite conversation when they could. Barring a few instances where Ujuro would speak with Lord Ozuru or a general, he stayed fairly close. It would be more reassuring if Seiko was completely convinced that Mikka was fine without him; as much as she didn’t trust Ujuro to watch her, she trusted the miko in the area even less.

A whole month after the royal wives and the youngest of late King Tsunkei’s children died, Seiko, Asahi, Masaaki, and Ujuro were in the training area after breakfast. Asahi and Masaaki trained together, while Ujuro entertained them with a story of the most recent war with Kuro—which Ujuro himself took part in. The man liked fighting and growing stronger; in Seiko’s childhood, he was either at home or in Hiroki territory, ready to fight whenever he had a chance.

As Masaaki stepped out of training in order to be replaced by Seiko, Lord Ozuru came into view. The dozen soldiers that were in the training area stopped what they were doing as soon as they noticed, all waiting until the man was a bit closer before bowing.

Lord Ozuru spoke once most of them were standing. “Listen well; I’m not saying this again, and it’s your jobs to repeat it to any soldier you see.” A majority of the group nodded, and the regent continued. “There’s a lead on the rebel forces. A third of you will head out to stamp them out, while the rest of you will stay here. Exact positioning will be announced tomorrow, with a few exceptions.”

There was a group of “yes, sir”s in response and a few of the soldiers bowed again. “Go ahead and spread the word, then,” Lord Ozuru said. There was an echo of the soldiers’ earlier words and they started putting away their weapons. As the soldiers filtered out, Lord Ozuru stayed close to the exit.

He spoke up again once Seiko passed him. “Tsujihara. I need to have a word with you.”

Seiko nodded, and stepped aside for a moment so she wasn’t stopping anyone from leaving. She winced when the voices returned, seeming to have a better idea of what he wanted to talk about than she did.

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It’s a shame Mikka isn’t here. Oh, but fight well in this coming battle, little Seiko… You’re one of them, after all. You’ll be the last one.

The voices distracted her enough that she almost didn’t realize Lord Ozuru started walking, and Seiko followed a few steps behind him. He led her inside the palace, to the room where he typically did the king’s work.

Prince Jukazu was already there, noticing Lord Ozuru and greeting him with a frown. “How long does it take you to give one order?” The prince asked.

“I had to speak with Maenomi and Kyuru as well,” Lord Ozuru replied coldly. “Now take whatever you’re working on somewhere else. It should just be us four.”

The prince stood up, took a few papers, and sighed. “Yes, Uncle.”

He didn’t give any glance or comment towards Seiko, leaving without any other words. Lord Ozuru muttered something that vaguely sounded like “good riddance”—the sentiment of which was shared with Seiko’s voices—and went inside the room. He didn’t move any of the papers that were already on the table, and gestured to one of the chairs.

“Feel free to take a seat, Tsujihara,” he said. His tone was remarkably…warmer than usual—at the very least, he didn’t sound completely disdainful. It felt a bit strange to her.

Seiko nodded, although she only stepped into the room and stood near the one side of the door. Lord Ozuru sighed, sitting down behind the desk. “I suppose that’s fine,” he said. He still didn’t look directly at her. “Maenomi and Kyuru will be here shortly, but I wanted to speak with you privately first. How much…did Mikka tell you, about your father?”

The question caught her off guard for a second; a few of her voices laughed, teasing her. “Only that he left her,” Seiko replied after a moment.

“Not a name? Description?” Lord Ozuru asked.

Seiko shook her head. “I don’t believe it justifies what he did, but…she likes to believe he left so his reputation stayed intact. She doesn’t speak much of my father in order to ‘preserve’ that, I suppose.”

“I thought as much,” Lord Ozuru mused. “It didn’t seem like you knew anything, but that would save some trouble if you did.” He sighed. “This will be the first any of you hear of it, then. I’ll have to make due with that.”

Neither one of them spoke for another few minutes until Lord Ozuru’s children came. Prince Kyuru was the first to notice Seiko, smiling. “Miss Tsujihara! Are you going to play with me again? The guards aren’t any fun! I mean, Mr. Masaaki is a bit funny, but otherwise they’re boring.”

“Oh! Will you be my guard again?” Princess Maenomi asked. After a moment, she turned towards her father with pleading eyes. “Will she?”

“Tsujihara Seiko will no longer be fighting alongside the army,” Lord Ozuru replied. “Nor will she be Kyuru’s playmate, nor Maenomi’s guard.”

Seiko wasn’t expecting such a comment to come so casually. She tried to seem respectful when she asked, “Am I being dismissed, sir?”

“In a sense,” Lord Ozuru said. He looked at Seiko. “I’ve said before that you are last resort—the final card we have to play if all else fails. To honor your mother…I might as well tell you the technical reasons why.”