The karo was sweating as he opened the door to Lord Ikoma's office.

"Lady Matsu is here to see you, sir."

Ryota looked up from his morning tea, his eyes red-rimmed from lack of sleep.

"What? Why?"

"Because she finally did it!" Matsu Tsuruyo burst into the chamber behind the karo, her face a vision of pure triumph. "She sanctioned a half-assed little op right in your courtyard." She pounded her fist on Ryota's desk. "That's a slight on your hospitality, Ryota-san. And you know what that means!"

Ryota sighed. "We haven't the foggiest who it was, Matsu-san. It was a ploy of some kind..."

"Says you! My guys tell me that there was a piece of paper there with her name right on it! Everyone knows she's useless at this, it could have been an honest mistake. That means I can call her out, fair and square!"

"Are you listening to yourself?" Ryota shakes his head. "Look, I've already given the order to draw a line under this. If it wasn't you," he paused, letting her interject. When nothing was forthcoming, he raised an eyebrow. Still nothing. "Huh. Well, if it wasn't you, and it certainly wasn't her, then I don't know who it was, so you get to cool your heels. It's over. I'm pretty sure that's the only way to stop whoever this is from getting what they want."

"But I don't care what they want, Ryota-san; I care about what I want. And I want my kami-damned respect! And if I have to..."

"Have to what, Matsu-san?" Her arrival had been muffled by the Matsu's rage, but Lady Akodo's voice had the quality of iron. It could not be missed.

"Fabricate a casus belli even Lord Kitsune could see through? You would be laughed out of court. Where would your respect be then? This incident has all the hallmarks of a fiasco in the making. Far better to let the Crane fall into it if they are foolish enough, or for Bayushi Kaguya to trip over it herself, than for us to waste our resources again for a few more meters of Beiden pass and the pleasure of burning Ryoko Owari."

Sanae strode over to the desk. "That will be all on this mat--"

That was when the first tremor hit, sending both Lady Akodo and Lady Matsu to the floor. In the pandemonium that followed, this conversation faded to the deep background, but neither woman would forget the look in the other's eye when they faced each other across Ikoma Ryota's desk.

/scene.