The Story: Lord Kyugoro's Hospitality

The Castle

The servant bows deeply again and explains that everyone's personal effects have brought in as well and placed in the cupboards.  "May this unworthy one be of any further assistance, honoured guests and defenders?" he asks.

"Yeah!" says Rik enthusiastically.  The other heros turn to see that he has pulled one of the plum branches out of its vase and is gnawing on it with gusto.  "Got any more of these?" the ratling says cheerily, spewing a few stray petals from around his chisel-like incisors as he speaks.

There is a moment's pause as the others stare at the ruined arrangement of plum blossoms, and the small pile of bark at Rik's feet.  Rik's chewing slows and finally stops as his ratty eyes dart from one samurai to another as his features display growing unease.

"What?  What?" he says after a moment.

"Those plum branches are not meant to be food," Ishi informs.  Rik opens his mouth to ask the obvious follow-up question.  A few plum petals fall out.  And anticipating the obvious follow-up question, Ishi continues, "they are there to smell good and look good."

Rik's mouth forms a silent "Oh!"  The ratling appears to be increasingly mortified, and quickly stuffs the half gnawed branch back into the vase from whence it came, managing in the process to disrupt what little harmony might be left in the remains of the arrangement.

"But you're right.  They could probably bring more of them, just to give you something other than the ornaments to chew on."

"Uh, no no, honored samurai," says Rik (sounding a bit like he is reciting from a prearranged script), "please forgive me.  I am not...."

"You heard him, he wants more plum branches to chew on," Ishi orders the servant.

"...familiarwiththecustomsofyourlandIamsorryifIhavecaused...  hey, wait, stop!" he finishes, gesticulating at the retreating form of the servant.  "You don't need...  I don't want... I...  wait!"

Once Rik settles down, Ishi feels that it's safe for him to do so as well.

Tokkan, feeling greatly refreshed and relaxed following the bathing, looks over the spartan room.  He is still very hungry, and very tired.  He nods.  "I would appreciate it if you would wake me half an hour before dinner is served."  He goes into his chamber, and seems to sag from exhaustion.  He pours himself some tea.  Afterwards he lays down, and meditates until his weariness overwhelms him, and sleep claims him.

Kentou waves off the servant's courtesy.  He knows that if the lord commanded it, this servant would be scrupulously polite to a frog.  He also knows that the servant would be about as unhappy being polite to a heinin as to a frog.  "I'll be fine.  My needs are simple; I'm not used to such...majestic accomodations."  It's hard to tell how serious he's being.  The rooms are spartan, but the quality of the place is far, far beyond the hovels he could be expected to spend his time in.
 

Kentou's Tour

His examination reveals little enough as his eyes sweep the room.  Sparse, yes, in the expected Dragon fashion; of good quality, that is equally obvious; but showing little individual personal touch, except for the arrangements of plum branches and a calligraphed poem, hanging on a wall.  The mats are made of fresh reeds, everything has been aired recently; there is very little of the mustiness that often fills stone castles after the long winter of the Rokugani northern peaks.  Fresh clothes of good quality have been laid out, and a small assortment of crackers waits near the kettle and the tea pot.

Kentou frowns.  Something tugs at his attention, nagging him.  Slowly, he glances around again.  His gaze stops on the poem, a well calligraphed but rather bland little haiku.
 

The sound of a waterfall
Falling down into the sea
The winter night is cold.

The handwriting is familiar.  Togashi's Shadow?

Togashi Kaneka had been a skilled magistrate, and Kentou's patron.  After he had been ambushed and killed, another patron had written to the young gambler to announce his interest in continuing Kaneka's work.  However, he had only signed "Togashi's Shadow."  He had promised to manifest himself at Kaneka's funeral, and asked Kentou to attend.

Kentou's frown deepened.  If this was from the Shadow, was its placement here a message?  Reminding him of why he had come?  It would be more interesting, perhaps if it was not a message to him, if it was here simply for its own sake.  Whose poetry would be posted in the guest's rooms?  The lord's, perhaps.  Or the heir's.  Or even the lady's?

Finally, he gives a little shrug.  Secrets lie waiting to be puzzled out.  He studies the brush-strokes carefully; perhaps he'll see further examples.

Slipping away unnoticed is not very difficult, especially if he puts on some of his own, more ordinary clothes to blend in with the servants.  Fortunately, the place is crawling with servants accompanying the numerous guests, who naturally don't know one another by sight.  On the other hand, Kentou hardly made himself inconspicuous during the funeral.

This, at least, was more familiar ground to him.  He had lurked in the underworld on both his own business and Kaneka's, and sometimes this had required being an unfamiliar face.  A lot of it was clothing, and hair, and carriage. Kentou sloughs off the gambler's cockiness he usually wears and puts on a servant's deference.  Drab but neat clothing, rumpling the hair...little things, that wouldn't have folled Kaneka's eye -- but who looks that closely at a servant?

Kentou tries to figure out where the kitchen or stables would be.  Both are places where the visitor's servants could be expected to linger, seeing after their masters' steeds or keeping an inconspicuous eye on the preparation of the food.

With luck--and his business was luck, wasn't it? -- there would be talk of the attack, and he could hear if any aspect of the attackers was recognized by anyone.  Perhaps more importantly, he could find out who was benefiting by Kaneka's death, which would give him a direction to look in the future.

It is not too difficult for Kentou to find his way to and around the servants' quarters, nor pass himself off as one more of the attendants, porters, squires, maids, horse handlers, and other servants who have accompanied guests to the funeral.

The main kitchen is bustling with activity while the ceremonial meal is being prepared.  In fact, the place is a disaster area because the attack on the procession has caused the meal t be delayed by hours to alllow the guests time to recover.  A meal like that can't wait without losing much of its aesthetic and culinary qualities, so whatever could not be salvaged was given to the servants, what few villagers live near the castle, and even the animals in the pen in some cases.  All the castle's dogs and cats look blissful.  But the cooks are going mad trying to find the supplies and time to redo the wasted dishes. The servants' kitchen, or rather the portion of the kitchen where the servants generally prepare and eat their own meals, has been largely taken over.

The stables are in a more normal state, save for the fact that even the lowest stable-boy has just eaten princely food.  Conversations are very animated, centering of course around the events of the day.  And lo and behold, there's a bit of good-natured gambling going too, the players comfortably propped against bales of clean straw.  No one seems to be surprised at yet one more servant wandering in, and  the light is rather poor anyway.  Somewhere upstairs in the loft, Kentou can hear giggling that sounds decidedly female.

The kitchen's too busy... the stable should do nicely, thinks Kentou.  But not up in the loft... while it sounds like there may be some fun going on, butting in probably won't get me much.  Instead, he sidles up to one of the gambling groups.  This is his element, after all.  He can lose when that's what it takes to keep someone talking, but win enough in little chunks that they don't suspect him of having a bottomless pocket.  We'll see if I even need to lead the conversation...gossip and speculation is all this is good for, but that's what I'm after.

As it turns out, the current conversation among gamblers and onlookers is partly monopolized by those who witnessed a few bits more of the action, albeit somewhat late or second-hand: a young off-duty man-at-arms whose nikutai was very humiliated the attack happened on his beat, the maid of one of the guests who were injured, the stable-boys who took charge of the horse captured by the ratling, etc.  Anyone who has scraps of information is eager to get some of the attention by retelling the juicy bits.

Many, if not most, of the folks here are from out-of-town, the castle's personnel being busier with preparing the meal and attending the guests.  Several people talk about the uncertainties of their trip here, and how certain sections of road are plagued with bandits; there is much speculation on whether the attackers were the same bandits or not and for that matter, whether there is only one large bandit group or several smaller ones.  Those whose masters were in closest contact with the late Togashi Kaneka all agree that he had made many enemies as a magistrate, particularly among the bandits.

The gossip was not incredibly useful, but you never knew what might come of it.  Kentou files it away in his head.  Now he'd like to know more about the household.  He tries a couple of conversational gambits, asking how the injured woman is doing, and how the current lord compares with the departed Kaneka.

The maid who was telling the story is a plain woman in her late thirties, a bit simple-minded, with a slight limp.  She is dressed in a cotton kimono in a checkered pattern of green, yellow and brown, partly covered by a brown apron.  Her speech patterns mark her as coming from a more rural area, probably from the low lands at the southwest of the Kyodai na Josho Shuru foothills.  She is clearly delighted to receive attention today, and responds readily to Kentou's carefully probing questions.

"My mistress is doing fine, thanks to the healers," she says, with a quickly dipping bow.  Kentou wonders for a fleeting instant if she has recognized him, but soon realizes that she bows to everyone, regardless of rank and circumstances. She looks a bit like one of those toys that so amuse toddlers, bobbing back and forth on a rounded base.

"But, oooh," she continues breathlessly, "she had this most terrible wound in her left shoulder, the healers said it had just grazed the top of her lung!"  Then she shakes her head, suddenly sad.  "She told the healers she was sorry it had missed.  My mistress has been so deeply hurt by the death of her honoured brother...  They were twins and although they did not live close to one another anymore, she says she knew the very moment of his death."

She gives a big sniffle and pulls a kerchief from her sleeve.  "Togashi Kaneko-sama was such a good man!" she proclaims.  "If he had not believed me..."  She dabs her eyes but the tears start pouring.  "It was he found me this spot with my mistress, so I wouldn't have to go back to the village..."  The rest of her words become increasingly incoherent, but it appears she had been married very early, then badly beaten and abused by her husband.  Togashi Kaneka had met her in one of his customary tours of the district, and had dealt harshly with the husband.

This is a fine opportunity for Kentou to ask how lord Kyugoro compares to the late Kaneka.  The local servants all talk warmly of their master who, it turns out, had been a pupil of Kaneka when he joined the Togashi "family".   He seems to be about ten years younger than his mentor, and has strived to follow the example set by Kaneka.  While his does not seem to have the keen powers of observation and decisiveness Kentou remembers his sponsor for, he shares his sense of justice, and is a slow, deliberate, but powerful thinker.

Kentou takes in the information he's learned and considers it.  Well, he's gotten a feel for the family and confirmed that no one really knows much about the attack, though the high level of bandit activity was interesting.  It's time I got back to my room...wouldn't do for them to call us to dinner, and me not even there.

With that thought, he heads back, trying to be as inconspicuous as he can.
 

Dinner

By then, other guests are also flocking to the hall.  The conversations are held in hushed tomes; the sad occasion and the earlier attack have left everyone uneasy.  Whispers of curiosity and admiration follow the four defenders, and several young women slide sidelong looks to the more marrigeable.  Sadly, this doesn't include the Nezumi, although everyone is unusually deferrent to him.

The four are escorted to cuhions in a position of honour, fairly close to Kyugoro's place at the head of the table.  Two more seats next to them are left unoccupied for the moment.  They take place, and soon everyone is seated.  Servants are moving around, pouring tea, plum wine, and sake, bringing trays of food, serving bowls of soup.  The guests wait however, for Togashi Kyugoro to begin the meal.

The hosts bows his head for a moment.  Everyone falls silent.  The Lord Kyugoro straightens and says quietly: "We share this meal to honour Togashi Kaneka-san.  I mourn his passing, and miss him as my best friend.  May his path be made straight and his way be lit.  May his fallen sword be picked up and his words remembered."

He bows his head again, then lifts a cup to his lips.  After an instant of quiet, the soft buzz of conversation grows again around the table, and guests begin to eat.

Feeling way out of his natural environment, Ishi decides against being the one to bring up the questions about the ambush that ended Togashi's life. Instead he eats in silence, with an occasional "good food" comment, followed by more consumption of the same.

Tokkan gazes over the crowd as he dines.  His thoughts drift to Togashi Kaneka-san, but they continue to drift to the castings that led him to this place.  He tries once more to break through the vagueness of the casting, to relate the words with the events of the afternoon, but is unsuccessful.  He eyes his host, and his fellow defenders cooly.  Perhaps the meeting with Lord Kyugoro after the meal will provide the key that will unlock the mystery, as well as the mystery of who that was that had attacked and why.

Kentou feels distinctly uncomfortable.  It has been long years since he has been in such surroundings.  He is sure he could reach back, put on the appropriate manners... but that would look unusual in someone as low class as a gambler.  But simply cutting loose with a gambler's lack of concern for etiquette wouldn't do either.  No, he has to make an obvious attempt at proper etiquette, but awkwardly...

Ah, if only he could just ask what was going on here, but his place wouldn't allow that.

After the guests have had enough time to blunt the hunger, a woman sitting next to Tokkan up the table, towards Kyugoro's spot at the head of the U-shaped table, turns to look at each of the defenders in turn and bows.  She is dressed in a rich but sober kimono of green silk, embroidered with a dragon claw motif, over an underrobe of extremely fine white silk. Her obi is bronze and green, patterned in autumn leaves despite the season, an unusual choice.  Her face bears slight lines of age and her black hair shows a tracery of silver, she may be in her late forties or early fifties, but she is still a striking looking woman.  Not pretty, but handsome.

"I offer you my heartfelt personal thanks," she says.  Her voice is low and musical.  "You probably saved my life, as well as the honour of my  family and the sanctity of the funeral.  I am Togashi Kamiko, Kaneka's sister, and it is I who was struck by the archer's first arrow. I am in your debt."

Ishi, knowing fully well that he completely ignored both the assassins and their intended victims, gives Kamiko the attention her position demands, but doesn't say anything.  After all, if he would be the one to answer, it could very well be interpreted as him taking the least bit of credit for defending the innocents, which wouldn't be proper at all.  Not with all the witnesses that could testify to the contrary.

"Wow!" Rik thinks to himself, "Debt!"  He opens his mouth with the intent of mentioning that this debt could easily be repaid through the simple expedient of removing the Fu Leng-thing and its minions from Nezumi territory where the humans had so inconsiderately dumped them, but then notices that nobody else is opening their mouths at the moment, and so closes his.  His whiskers twitch at the effort of restraining himself in such an unaccustomed manner, and the tip of his pink tail flicks back and forth a bit.  He attempts to bow his head like everyone else is doing, mainly to hide his agitation and impatience, and wishes that he had something to gnaw on.

Kentou finds himself remaining silent as well, though for rather different reasons than Ishi.  While he has done what he could to protect the woman... no, Togashi Kamiko, he corrects himself...  it isn't his place to speak up first.  Let the bushi or the shugenja say something.

Unless... well, he'd just been thinking that he shouldn't quite get his efforts at etiquette correct.  He holds his breath for a moment, straining to give his face the beginnings of a flush, then looks around awkwardly at the others he had fought beside.  "Ah... it was my, ah, honor to have been of whatever service I could be of, Togashi-sama.  Ah... hime!  Togashi-hime!"  Again, he looks around at the others, then quickly returns his attention to his food.

Sensing the moment is right, Rik blurts out, "Me too!  Honored to..  honored to be..."  He notices that something seems to be wrong and looks around in confusion.  "What?  What???  I'm not chewing on anything!" he says finally.

Togashi Kamiko shows unfailing courtesy and grace in accepting both Kentou and Rik's outbursts, showing nothing but grave attentiveness.  There is a barely perceptible pause, then she shows a small smile, lightening the sadness of her face.

"Please allow me to refill your bowls," she says gently.  "Without waiting for an answer, she gracefully uses her left hand to hold back her sleeave, and her right to dip a laddle in the hot pot nearby.  She draws a good measure of soup and pours it into Tokkan's bowl (he is closest), then does the same for Ishi, Kentou, and Rik.  Then she picks up the teapot and refills everyone's cup.

Kentou carefully keeps his face down, towards his bowl, but can't keep his eyes from flickering towards Kamiko.  Could she be the one who wrote the poem in his room?  He watches her hands as she poured, looking for something, though he isn't sure what.

Tokkan suddenly stirs from where he has been letting his mind drift to family meals like this, and memories of his sister. The gathering brought back feelings he had been keeping bottled up, and renewed the ever-burning fire burning in his heart to rescue her... wherever she may be.  The movement to fill his soup bowl causes him to focus upon the Lady Togashi Kamiko. At least part of his mind had been at hand, and not missed her words.

He bows as best as on can while seated at the table.  "I am sure I speak for the others, Lady Togashi, when I say that your hospitality is more than enough thanks for our meagre efforts on the behalf of you and your family.  Would that we could have done something to prevent this...evilness."  As he speaks, he notes the unusual pattern of her obi: The dead leaves of Fall.  Perhaps it is meant to signify the mourning she must be feeling.  He slurps the soup noisily, as is the fashion in his clan lands, and nods approval at its quality.

Rik finds that his bowl now contains a good measure of ginger, lemongrass, and galanga.  Kamiko's eyes sparkle briefly at him, then looks away demurely.  Rik looks at his bowl in confusion.  Its obvious that he is not supposed to gnaw on stuff in public, but there is all this gnawable material in his bowl now.  Is this some sort of test?  Are the humans taunting him?  What's the deal here?

He glances around furtively (and if there is one thing ratlings do well, its furtive), trying to ascertain whether others got gnawable materials in their bowls, whether they are frowning at him (a likely occurance - humans always seem to be frowning at something.  No wonder the Fu Leng thing is so bad tempered, having to put up with humans all the time!), or laughing at him, or whether perhaps he might be able to take a cue from one of them about whatever is going on here.  For now, he decides that he will just leave everything alone, and sets down his bowl, giving a small, ratty, wistful sigh.

"Domo," Ishi says with a curt nod as he receives his soup.  Then he resumes his eating, only to pause when he notices Rik's behaviour.  "Anything wrong with your food --"

Rik notes the sarcastic tone, and tries to figure a witty way to respond...

"-- hero?"

... until he hears the magic word, which completely blots out any innuendo from the previous portion of the sentence.  Rik raises his head, juts out his ratty chin, and throws out his rodential chest with pride.  His whiskers quiver with the very thought.  HERO!  Rik'EEE'k'chik Thukkathukka the HERO!  Slayer of assassins!  Defender of the humans!  When he returns to his people, what stories he will tell!  The humans hold ratlings in low regard, but he will show them.  He is a HERO!  Who was first to react to the attack?  Rik the HERO!  Who did battle with the assassin leader?  Rik the HERO!   Who was the only one who dared pursue when the assassins fled?  Rik the HERO!

Rik throws back his narrow and bony shoulders, and looks around the room, a glint of pride in his beady little eyes.  Out of the corner of his eye, Ishi notices with satisfaction that while he might have failed to get the ratling to eat his food, he managed to feed his ego just fine.

The meal runs its course.  Every dish served is simple and austere, in that unique Dragon fashion, yet absolutely delicious.  Even the most uncaring ruffian -- or ratling -- cannot help but notice how every bite melts in the mouth.  And yet this looks nothing like the elegant Crane dinners, the brilliant confections of the Phoenix, or the lavish Scorpion banquets, but far more like the simplest Crab meal-break.

The guests partake with the required reverence, then as the bowls are removed, and more tea and sake are brought along with small biscuits and plates of fruit, they start taking turns toasting Togashi Kaneka.  Guests who are not of the Dragon clan might have expected Togashi Kyugoro, as host to go first, but he remains seated.  Instead, an ancient, withered, crinkled, wrinkled, bent little man in dark grey silk bearing the mon of the Kitsuki stands up, bows in Lord Kyugoro's direction, and raises a small sake cup with a quaking hand.  In a voice as thin as the finest rice paper, he recites:

"In the withering blast
A single moon
Rolls through the sky"

With this, he quaffs his sake and sits (almost falls) back on his cushion.  A murmur of approval ripples through the crowd.  Next, Togashi Kamiko stands, daintily lifting her sake cup, and declares in her beautiful voice:

"The bloom falls early
Leaves will wither with frost's touch
The plum tree left bare"

This elicits sympathetic glances and nods from the guests as she swallows her drink and sits down again, eyes downcast.  One after the other, various guests stand up and say a few words, drinking to Kaneka.  Some are more straightforward toasts:

"To Togashi Kaneka-san, may he walk his path in the light, and send us the blessing of his wisdom when he takes his place with the kami," says the representative of the Emerald Champion, a quiet Lion named Ikoma Muneshige.

Others are delicate expressions of grief, like Kamiko's.  A great many are less easily understood.  For example, a Mirumoto monk seems to receive a lot of approval with:

"The leaning tree
Bends across the river
Almost a bridge"

And many are so obscure as to be incomprehensible.

Kentou sits uneasily as the toasts go on.  His role suggests he should just stay quiet, but the debt he owed Kaneka...  Finally, when everyone else seems to be done, he stands and lifts his cup awkwardly.  "To Togashi-sama.  He sought the truth.  Now he has found it, and we are left to seek it in his memory."  Then, he sits down, hard, drains his cup quickly, and keeps his face down.

As he is his daimyo's representative at this table, Ishi feels that it is his duty to make a toast. He isn't much of a poet though, so he settles for a more straight forward one: "It is a sad day when a great man dies prematurely, and even more so when his family is not allowed to grieve in peace. May his death not have been in vain!"

Both Kentou and Ishi's straightforward but earnest toasts are received with nods of quiet approval.  More guests speak up, and when it finally appears that no one else is ready to speak, Togashi Kyugoro finally stands up.  The soft murmurs die down.  Kyugoro looks down in his cup of tea, perhaps examining the pattern of the leaves.  Finally, he raise his gaze and looks at the assembled mourners.  His expression seems one of light puzzlement.

"The sound of the little waterfall
for a while I am surprised
I continue to hear it"

He says the words quietly, then swallows the tea with reverence.  Instead of sitting back down, he turns to his right, murmurs a few words to an attendant, and walks out of the room in measured steps.

Just as the "brave defenders" are wondering if perhaps they should return to their quarters, a young man in the dress of a Togashi apprentice approaches them, bowing courteously.  "Honoured guests, Togashi Kyugoro-sama respectfully requests that you do him the honour of a visit in his private working quarters."

"That we most certainly will," Ishi says as he quickly gets up on his feet.

Kentou glances at his "co-defenders" then makes a mental shrug.  Bowing deeper than the apprentice, he says, "I am honoured beyond words.  P-please, lead the way."
 

To Be Continued...