Imperial Palace Guest Quarters

The chamber's opulence reflects the Empire in its heydey. Light streaming from high windows set into inclined walls warms dense rugs splayed across gleaming marble. Small motes of dust drift through sunbeams that are caught on richly carved coiling bowls, their lips decorated in rounded glass and arrayed under timbers and columns spaced around the room at varied angles for serpentine guests to drape themselves from. Zolk screens drawn open or closed with cords allow for more or less shade as the occupant pleases, and the bed is sheltered with thick curtains.

Near a writing desk, an austere Kirigai man in formal kimono, montsuki and hakama stands, his face heavily lined as if pulling his white hair back had stretched it. There's a certain restlessness about the way he lingers, not willing to sit or otherwise relax.

Umeko has been dreading this moment above all else since she arrived. Monsters and evil men are easy to face … but family, they have a way to cut the soul with but a word. Gone is the warrior who faced countless foes in the desert. In its place is a small golden Kiriga, clad in fine robes, head bowed, and long mane neatly pulls up and pinned. She enters without a word, her eyes looking over the portraitesque stance of her father by the writing desk. "He had always appeared so … sure. In control," she thinks … for the first time seeing him as if there is a weakness or a worry lurking beneath the surface of the fiery scales. She draws in a breath to steady her nerves, then says in formal, and well practiced, Imperial, "I received your summons, My Lord. Please accept my apologies if I have kept you waiting long." The irony of those words strikes the Kiriga hard; it now doesn't seem so long ago she left her father a letter and disappeared into the world … and here she now is apologizing for taking time to come to this meeting.

Lord Tsuguri just stands there for a few moments, as if he didn't hear his daughter arrive. When he finally moves, it's just a little… a look over his shoulder. "Umeko," he says, his voice uncharacteristically soft. A little pause, as if in thought, and he draws a deep breath, arriving at the same conclusion. Seldom has Umeko's father been at a loss for words, but these long silences seem to be all he can come up with. Finally, he says, "Umeko, you apologize for making me wait… after having disobeyed me and left our home in the dead of night to disappear for weeks. No, do not."

Umeko slides her hands into her sleeves to conceal the uncomfortable fidgeting of her fingers. "I cannot apologize for leaving," she admits, wishing for the moment she could disappear into her robes. She looks away, to make it easier to speak, as she continues, "What I have seen; what he … wished to do to me … what he did do to me … I could not surrender to that. If you had known what he wished to do, I believe in my heart you would not have sent me to him, either." There she pauses, her tongue tracing over the memories of what had happened; the fangs she was left with. "He did not wish for a wife; he wished for a monster."

The scarlet Kiriga finally turns, his hands folded behind his back. "Yes, Umeko. It became more than that. Flight from a wedding, to becoming a hero of the Empire. You must not apologize to me out of deference, because it was your choice, and you have shown yourself to be your own Kiriga. I have acted as a lord, guided our house, and your mother and I raised you to be a lady of Jadai… but did not see the warrior you became." He lets his breath out in a long sigh, rumbling a little in his broad chest. "I am your father, Umeko, not your lord. I see that now. You have honored the name of Tsuguri, and it was Hakuu who would return in shame."

Of all things Umeko imagined; this was not one of them … and it makes it all the harder to respond to. "My strength came from you. My belief in honor came from you," she says as he now looks back to him and takes a few tentative steps towards her father. "Before I left, I had learned some of what Hakuu was planning and who he allied with. He was betraying our lands to outsiders, all to gain him more power. And yet, with the power he wielded, I knew that our family could not accuse him. Even if I had told you all … there would have been little that could be done and put you and Mother in danger. The only choice I had … in a hope to save Jadai and our family, was to sacrifice myself and try to halt it. If I failed, it could be blamed on a disobedient daughter with little lasting repercussion, or so I hoped. In truth, I expected to die, and went willingly on that road for our homeland; for you and for Mother. And yes, for part of me as well; I know I have often locked claws with you on matters … perhaps because I always wished to be as strong as you were."

Lord Tsuguri is quiet for a moment, seeming to consider this. After a moment, he extends his hand. "Return to me the Autumn Harvest. A Jadai warrior does not wear stolen blades," he says, his tone gruff.

This Umeko expected and she had brought them, tucked behind her in her obi. She draws each of then forth; the katana carried in her right and the wakazahi in her left. With deliberate steps, she approaches her father and kneels before him. Without a word; without contest, she lifts them towards her father and presents the hilts to him. Her head bows at last. "They served Jadai well," she says, voice soft.

"Enough babbling." The taller Kiriga takes each weapon, and sets them aside on the desk with a gentleness at odds with his chiseled countenance. He turns back to Umeko, and sweeps his montsuki aside to reveal a pair of zolk-wrapped hilts. He tugs the shorter of the sheathed swords free, and holds it up, the scabbard resting on his upraised palms. It is a lustrous black, crackled in silver from the tip and up to where it meets stylized mists curling under the guard. The guard itself appears to be styled in the same way, mist curling into spirals crafted out of steel. "Grey Cloud," he says, and proffers the weapon.

Umeko's carefully held expression breaks for a moment when she sees the new weapon. For a moment, it's as if she doesn't believe what she's seeing. And then with slow movement, she reaches out and reverently lifts 'Grey Cloud' from her father's hand. She cradles it in hers as if it were the most delicate piece of art in the world. Her thumb traces gently along the tsuba, feeling the material, then pushes, breaking the seal between blade and scabbard and easing it out just enough to see the blade contained within.

Brilliant steel reflects the soft light filling the room, dazzling for a moment until it's angled away… then Umeko can see her own eye mirrored in the blade. The Kirigai lord tugs the longer sword from his sash, holding it up over his palms like before. The scabbard is black and crackled, silvery metal between scales of black. The patterning ends where etching depicts roiling clouds over sheets of rain, parted to allow several long beams through. "Sunlight Through Storm." he says, proffering the weapon. "They are Summer Tempest."

Umeko had heard of steel bladed swords … but has never dreamed of holding one. Gently, her thumb draws back and the steel slides home with a soft click. With reverence she lowers the shorter of the two to the floor just before her knees. Her hands once again come up and cup lightly under the scabbard as she lifts it from his hands. Her thumbs glide lightly over the scabbard, feeling the smoothness of it, the inlay so fine as it cannot be felt. "I am … honored beyond belief," the golden Kiriga admits quietly. "If I may ask, when were these made? They must have been crafted by a master."

"Years and years ago," says Umeko's father. He turns to the desk to pick up the Autumn Harvest carefully, almost gently wrap the paired swords in zolk. Summer Tempest feels heavier than Harvest did, but its balance makes it a commanding and responsive weight rather than a dead one. "They were forged for me by your great-uncle, a masterful smith, when I came to lead our house amidst the feuding clans and interlopers from the mainland. The families still clash, but Jadai is peaceful now. A summer storm flies overland, swift, sure, unstoppable. Summer Tempest is not meant to stay there."

The meaning of that last phrase hits harder than she expected; her father does not expect … or possibly wish, her to return home. "I will protect them with my life as they protect mine," Umeko promises firmly, "Those that sought to harm our home will not escape the oncoming storm." 'Sunlight Through Storm' is gently slid into her obi, followed by its brother, 'Grey Cloud'.

The man nods. He hesitates, Lord Tsuguri's empty hands stopping as if unwilling to be folded behind his back again. Maybe he sees something in the young woman's face. "Umeko, Jadai will always be your home. But I know it is too small for you. Your cousins will attend courts and watch peasants and snare sons-in-law. I was not fated to raise one like them. I was fated to raise a warrior. Use the Summer Tempest well. Bring honor to our family," He reaches out then, laying heavy, calloused hands on Umeko's shoulders. His voice tenses to a fierce, hoarse whisper, then finally cracks. "My… my daughter."

Umeko's eyes flick closed several times, forcing back that which wishes to flow. She reaches up and places her hands lightly on the backs of his, then stands. "Right now, the warrior wishes to simply be your daughter and do something foolish," she manages out in a cracking voice. And then with her customary way of not asking permission before doing something … Umeko draws forward and hugs the fiery Kiriga. The hug is is brief, but it is still a hug. "A bad habit I picked up from the mammals," she tries to claim afterward. "It is good to see you again. I never stopped thinking of you and Mother. How did she take my … absence?"

Lord Tsurugi wraps powerful arms around his daughter and hugs her to his chest. Here, just for a moment, it's alright for the invincible Kirigai lord to let his guard down for a bit. His tone is stern. "She was worried near to illness, of course," he says. "And you should visit her if you can, she had to remain and see to the household while I came here. She told me that she was sure you would be alright, that you were strong. She must have known before I did."

"I will visit when I can," Umeko promises, "We have the scent of the outsiders that infiltrated our lands and it leads to Sylvania. I do not know if I will have time to visit before we just trace that scent, lest it grow cold. But … if there is a way to visit, I will." She folds her hands together as she looks up at the much larger Kiriga, then asks, "I know you will have read the official reports and the battles … but would you wish to hear the whole story? Everything endured and discovered? Even the moments where it seemed impossible?"

Lord Tsuguri seems to relax a little when he lets go of his daughter. His face is still hard, but there's a weight off his shoulders, a sense of finality. He taps a stick against a small gong that occupies an opening in one of the inner walls, then goes to one of the coiling bowls, finally deigning to sit in it. "I will send for tea. Then you will tell me everything that has happened, and I can relate it to your mother. Your cousins will be curious as well."

Umeko walks quietly over to one of the smaller bowls and eases herself into it tail coiling about herself. Her hands come to rest upon it as she begins, "It is a story with moments when it seemed to be impossible; when the weight of it all felt more than anyone could bear. Of battles and creatures that defy explanation. But ultimately it is a tale of unexpected alliances and close friends. Of being willing to listen to people and forget the aspects which divide us; it is a tale of unity… "