[Day 11, EM] A head in the polls (Open)

Daidoji Tetsuko · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 1:41 am **Posts:** 391

The previous day felt like it had taken place years ago and had happened to someone else. To reassure herself that she was in fact in a city under siege, Tetsuko rose early and found her way to walls of the city.

Occasionally an arrow flew in either direction, but the main points from her perspective were that 1. there was definitely an army outside of the city, and 2. some of their heroes were very, very dead.

Her fingers drilled on the grip of her sword as she looked out at the three heads on spears opposite the city gate. Her grandfather's last words rang loudly through her head.

It is always better to die as a hero than live as a coward. Contemplate this little one.

Akodo Ren · **Joined:** Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:10 am **Posts:** 380

Another woman stood a short distance away, wind blowing her robes softly as she looked out over the battlefield. When arrows flew past she didn't seem to mind... none seemed to hit her as she looked out towards the heads on pikes.

Daidoji Tetsuko · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 1:41 am **Posts:** 391

Her attention was drawn the lone figure. For a moment it seemed as if she was standing in her own reality, separate from the one Tetsuko was experiencing. She looked closer and the odd sense faded.

"Akodo-sama?" Approaching closer Tetsuko bowed to the other woman.

Akodo Ren · **Joined:** Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:10 am **Posts:** 380

Ren heard the footsteps along a parallel path before she heard the voice. She turned her head to the Crane woman and bowed it gently. She then turned her gaze back out over the field of war.

"Daidoji-san." She said as a greeting.

"I'm glad you've made it through the ugliness of the past few days. Your strength is needed in times like these."

Daidoji Tetsuko · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 1:41 am **Posts:** 391

"Thank you. I am pleased to see you again." She too looked out over the partially flooded fields of battle. "If only the circumstances were better."

Her thoughts turned to the previous day. "War is always ugly. That is the part the Ikoma tend to leave out in their tales."

Akodo Ren · **Joined:** Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:10 am **Posts:** 380

“'All things are necessary - war, peace, the edge of the sword, and the sound of a poem. With understanding, all things are one'.” Ren quoted not knowing if Tetsuko would realize the source or not.

"There's blood in the stories... the poems... the tales. You just need to see it in person before you understand its there."

Daidoji Tetsuko · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 1:41 am **Posts:** 391

She simply nodded firmly. "Eloquently put Akodo-sama." A slow breath out followed. Not a sigh exactly, but close.

"To hear some of the samurai in court one would think many of our contemporaries have been deluding themselves their whole lives. Now they are faced with reality, they choose to pretend it is something novel. It is tiresome, but perhaps not unexpected."

Akodo Ren · **Joined:** Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:10 am **Posts:** 380

She nodded and began quoting again... though it may seem hard to detect unless Tetsuko was well versed in philosophy.

"What is now has been before and will be again. It is the short sighted and foolish who believe that life has no patterns, no purposes. All that is now is part of what has been and what will come to be." She said as her eyes seemed to focus on something out in the field.

"The wisdom you long for is not easy to come by in most people... but 'it often comes in finding opportunities that dilemmas provide'. One would hope that the dilemma presented by Toshigoku and its champion will foster the kind of wisdom we will need in the days ahead."

Daidoji Tetsuko · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 1:41 am **Posts:** 391

...

Over the space of a few breaths Tetsuko blinked, turned to look at the Akodo, remembered that she was born an Asako, then returned her gaze to the horizon. Softly she replied:

"Yes. This one would. Do you believe that such wisdom will be found in sufficient time, Akodo-sama?"

Recent history was replete with "courtier generals" possessing prodigious hindsight and exactly no wisdom or self awareness. Her Lord had drilled such observations into them at the dojo and in the field.

Akodo Ren · **Joined:** Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:10 am **Posts:** 380

Ren motioned out beyond the walls with her head, "It's not to be found out there."

She paused for a few moments and then turned halfway towards Tetsuko. She reached out a finger and plunked it down on the Daidoji's chest. "It's already in here."

Daidoji Tetsuko · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 1:41 am **Posts:** 391

For a moment she thought to remove the hand. But there was no threat there. If anything the gesture was supportive, gave her strength. Coming from a Lion, albeit a distinctly Phoenix Lion, leant it deeper layers of meaning.

"Thank you. In these trying times it would be easy to forget this." Her head bowed a little out of respect.

Akodo Ren · **Joined:** Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:10 am **Posts:** 380

She nodded and looked back out at the heads on the pikes in the distance.

Under her breath she softly replies to no one in particular, "A courageous man has no need to be cruel..."

Daidoji Tetsuko · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 1:41 am **Posts:** 391

Tetsuko followed her gaze and nodded, gritting her teeth. "My grandfather told me of seeing the Lion do this to our people at Toshi Ranbo." She sighed. "Tell me Akodo-sama. In your time amongst the members of your new clan, have you gained any insight into their need for such displays?"

Akodo Ren · **Joined:** Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:10 am **Posts:** 380

She tilted her head ever so slightly, "The need for such displays isn't unique to any one group. All people struggle to contain their own fear... their own insecurities. Those who are most fearful tend to think that things like this will have the greatest effect."

She looked up to the sky and let out a sigh, "I was there when the fear of failure drove the Kitsu Daimyo to rip a hole in the sky and destroy the home of my ancestors by calling in this army from Toshigoku... I was there as they ran through the streets killing all in their path. I lost a brother that day."

She paused and looked out towards the heads again, "And I lost a cousin I have known from infancy to that same army yesterday... They want us to be afraid as they are... they want us to be filled with vengeance as they are... they wish to provoke us, to make us worse than we would ever choose to be otherwise."

She tilted her chin up to the battlefield, "Do you know all I feel when I see this?"

She paused for a moment... but the question was obviously rhetorical.

Then the Tao flowed from her lips again, "Desperate men employ desperate measures."

Daidoji Tetsuko · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 1:41 am **Posts:** 391

Tetsuko's eyes widened slightly, partly in surprise at the news and partly from the knowledge that Ren had been so profoundly affected. Mentioning that the Crane did not do these things immediately came to mind, but it seemed unnecessary. There was personal grief mixed in with all this.

"I... I am sorry for your losses. You have had so much taken from you." And now she was a part of the Clan who had done this. There had been rumours but it was hard to know what was truth and what was propaganda. "Forgive me Akodo-sama, but are you saying the Kitsu daimyo set these events in motion?"

Akodo Ren · **Joined:** Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:10 am **Posts:** 380

“She destroyed Kyuden Asako... she did not kill the Emperor nor start this campaign. She may to be blame for the sacking of one city... and the Asako are responsible for destroying the Lion home before... and the Lion for craving for bloodshed... and the Empire for encouraging violence as the means of conflict resolution...” She said with a sigh.

“The causes are beyond count for the dilemmas we face. What caused the problem however, has little relation on how we react to it. Things happen that we have no control over... events transpire which we cannot reasonably judge for all its merits and demerits. You are your judge... No one else’s.” She paused and glanced at Tetsuko.

“If you ask in some quest for vengeance or momentary gain... I feel you may be on a path that leads toward further dilemmas...”

Daidoji Tetsuko · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 1:41 am **Posts:** 391

Tetsuko was about to spit back an answer. She really wanted to, felt it come up from her gut. But she held it inside. Pushed it down. Took a few breaths and really thought about it first.

She gazed out over the army as she gathered her thoughts. Eventually her eyes returned to meet Ren's.

"Context. It is what I have been missing in all of this." A hand gestured toward the encampments, the spears. "This is what my people train to fight against: war as waged by the Lion Clan. Yet every time a court session is held I hear about how this enemy is different, unnaturally vicious, willing to do things no samurai would condone."

She clicked her tongue. "Nonsense. Spoken by those who have never seen what war is. Now it is at their door and they think the answer is a Matsu-trained Empress?"

The knot of anger in her stomach unclenched and she was left feeling deflated. "Not that I believe the alternatives are any better. So here we are. All I can do is serve my Lord with the information I have available. Perhaps that is enough."

Akodo Ren · **Joined:** Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:10 am **Posts:** 380

She nodded unphased by the woman’s apparent frustration, “Context is good... ‘In order to choose the correct path, you must know the pitfalls that await you’. The question that awaits you is... what are you willing to condone? Find yourself... and you will find your answer.”

[Day 11, EM] A head in the polls (Open)

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