Eiji had spent the previous day running from delegation house to delegation house so that his champion would not be surprised by the court today. He'd gathered all he could into his report. It did...not paint a particularly rosy vision of what was to come, but if that had been the case, he could've...

Kaguya's dead eyes meet Hoshiko's. "Burn it," she says. She reaches down and takes his sword and scroll satchel in her hands, turns, and begins to walk back to the castle without another word.

"I think that it is anyone's game who is not named Gorobei."

Bayushi Kaguya was not the most savvy political operative in the history of the Scorpion clan, but even she could see that it would be hard for Gorobei to become Emperor all by himself.

"I don't want the Lion make calculations based on our marching anywhere. They will be sorely disappointed. But to the extent that this treaty means precisely what it says and no more, it has my approval."

"It is always interesting to see what clans share with one freely, to compare it to what we learn by other means. That has my approval. My only concern is whether these clauses bind us to any military commitments to either of these clans."

Eiji is shown into the Champion's study. No corpses today(!), but a pensive Kaguya sitting at her desk.

"Soshi Eiji," she says quietly.

"This has my approval."

Bayushi Kaguya rushed onto the pitch ahead even of the Otomo and Miya from the Department of Sport. She crouched low by her stricken samurai, checking his injuries. Stories would be told of her generosity as she set and bound his broken legs (to the sound of his anguished grunts), with the torn hems...

"No, let's turn to that."

"Well, if the others are asking their Champions to...I presume, stand ready with their swords...then small it will not be. Still, putting down a lying spirit is most likely the thing to do, and I am feeling my skills rusting with every second I spend here, so I will assist."

"Right. So, they want to borrow Itsuwari to bind the ghost of an Emperor? Does Seppun Sadako know about this?"

"A spirit?" Bayushi Kaguya's full attention is on Kiuchi, now. The dead eyes stare emptily from beneath the mask. "Do tell."

The door slid open to reveal Bayushi Kaguya leaning back in her chair, idly twiddling her fingers. "Yogo-san," she intoned, not quite looking at him. "What brings you to my study?"

"Then it is time for you to go, Soshi Eiji."

"A very good year for us. Much better than expected."

"The pottery being almost more valuable than the peace agreement. Excellent work, Soshi-san."

"Hmm...that is somewhat reassuring, but not completely. With treaties of peace with us and the Crane and Hiruma troops at Shiro Heichi, Gendo will have a quiet northern border, unless the Fox and the Sparrow rise up, of course. I wonder what he intends to do with it." She looks back down at her desk...

Kaguya snapped into focus. "Have the Crab made a similar deal for peace with the Crane? Specifying one year?"

"Excellent, Soshi-san. Very commendable." Her tone was even. Her mind...elsewhere.

The room was thankfully corpse-less today. Bayushi Kaguya looked ever-so-slightly less tense around the shoulders as she looked up at Eiji without saying a word.