[D14, EA, Court] The Floor

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru goes up for an offering. He has the poem from the presentation from the Garden of Earthly delights only this time carefully written out in the finest fashion he can manage, eloquent script with a satisfactory reading.

On the days tea spills
Meet the odds with head held high
Truth will show victor

This time it lands better

_____

Present a gift
Court Action - Present a gift - Artisan: Poetry/Awareness - VP spent | 5k4 ⇒ 23 (TN: 22)
Pass
10 Points to Doji Noriko

[Yasuki Ryoichi]

Yasuki Ryoichi also rose to support Hiruma Daichi's proposal.

"Establishing an Emerald Magistrate station on the River of Gold would help protect one of the Empire's major trade arteries, ensuring that commerce along the river is lawful and safe," Ryoichi declared. "I urge this Court to support Hiruma-gunso's proposal."

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14EA Concur with Hiruma Daichi's magistrate manor proposal with 1 raise, Etiquette/Awareness +Benten's TN27 | 9k5 ⇒ 41 (TN: 27) +15 Court points

[Yasuki Ryoichi]

After Hikaru's offering, Ryoichi also presented a gift to the Court: a tall ikebana arrangement somewhat suggestive of an archer with a bent bow, in honor of the finals of the Bowman's Wager.

Day 14 ikebana.jpeg (32.16 KiB) Viewed 942 times

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14EA Gift for court, Artisan: Ikebana/Awareness +Void Point TN22 | 7k5 ⇒ 42 (TN: 22) succeeds for 25 Court Points

[Otomo Tooru]

"The court accepts the proposal for the manor."

[Cearnach]

Jihen approached the dias and bowed deeply to the presiding official.

"If I may share another simple story..." He offered and waited until he was acknowledged.

He began...

"The village of Twin Pines lay nestled in the shadow of the great mountains, its rice fields stretching along the banks of a slow-moving river. For generations, its people had lived simply—planting in spring, harvesting in autumn, enduring the winters as they came. But now, war had arrived, and with it, the burden of survival.

Before the winter would end the villagers of Twin Pines would face four deathly trials...

The First Trial they called 'The Tithe'. The tithe was paid as the first army came in late summer, banners snapping in the wind. Their commander, a hard-faced man in worn armor, declared that the village: "Must provide food for his soldiers to serve the empire." He did not ask—he commanded.

The village elder, a man named Gen, bowed low and led the soldiers to the storehouse. The people had already hidden what they could, burying sacks of rice beneath the temple floor and sealing jars of pickled vegetables inside hollowed-out logs. The soldiers took what remained and left, promising to return once the next harvest was ready.

The Second Trial second trial they called 'The Enemy’s Hunger'. Autumn came, but the fields had been trampled by passing troops, and the village's crops ruined before they could be gathered. Then, the second army arrived, draped in banners of a different color. Their leader was not like the first. He did not take by force. Instead, he gathered the villagers and made an offer: "Serve the empire! Give freely, and you will be spared. Hide from us, and we will burn your homes."

The villagers had no choice. They gave what little remained, though it was not enough to satisfy the soldiers. The army stayed for a week, eating what the villagers might have used to last the winter. When they finally moved on, they left behind only empty granaries and a cold wind blowing from the mountains.

The Third Trial they called 'The Cold Hunger.' Winter came early, sweeping down from the peaks with bitter winds and heavy snow. The villagers, already weak from months of hunger, faced a cruel season of starvation. They rationed what remained, stretching handfuls of rice into thin porridge. The children grew quiet, their laughter replaced by shivering.

Gen and the hunters searched the frozen forest for whatever they could find—birds, roots, even bark to boil into a bitter broth. The fishermen broke the ice along the river, hoping to catch whatever swam beneath. Each day was a struggle, and each night, the village grew quieter as more fires went unlit.

The Final Trial... the one that never ended... they called 'The Price of Survival.' By the time the snow began to melt, the village was a shadow of what it had been. Many had not survived the winter. The people no longer spoke of war, of the armies that had stolen their food. They did not curse the soldiers or the banners they had carried. War did not care for their suffering.

But those who remained—thin, tired, but alive—knew they had endured. They rebuilt their fields, mended their homes, and buried their dead... people who would no longer fill the village with their songs and laughter... Twin Pines had been brought to the edge of ruin, but it had not fallen. And in the years to come, as war passed and peace returned, those who lived would tell their children not of victories, nor of great warriors, but of the winter they had survived and others had not..."

He bowed in respect to the presiding official and offered one final line...

"I hope in these coming days we all may remember that though Winds blow, nations change, fortunes rise and fall... but the simple folk will always be asked to shoulder the weight."

He bowed again politely and receded back into the crowd.

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D14 Court Offering, Storytelling, VP | 10k8 ⇒ 37 (TN: 21)

An offering. Points to Tomaru again.

[Cearnach]

"Alright, that ends court for today."

Daidoji Sae: 60 (House Miyahara)
Agasha Yuna: 75 (Seppun Tomaru)
Hiruma Daichi: 75
Kitsu Sayomi: 55
Kakita Hajime: 30 (Doji Noriko)
Jihen: 25 (Seppun Tomaru)
Soshi Eiji: 25 (Doji Noriko)
Doji Hikaru: 25 (Doji Noriko)
Yasuki Ryoichi: 25 (Tatsuya)
Doji Shinnosuke: 20