[D6, EA, Court] In Memoriam

[Cearnach]

[This thread to be transferred one post at a time, leaving time for people to make entrances and opportunities to make speeches between each post].

The court chambers are much changed, today, with the entire room draped in white silk. The word is that dozens of Ikoma spent much of yesterday huddled in meeting rooms and supply closets carefully unpicking the Lion mons from Ikoma Ryota's father's funeral drapery and then hurriedly stitching on Imperial Chrysanthemums. The throne sits empty in full view of the floor, the screens having been packed up and put away. Just in front of the dais, the Empress' coffin lies on a white-draped catafalque. Her body lies wrapped in a white shroud. The smell of incense suffuses the chamber.

The members of the Imperial Families are in attendance en masse, even those who are merely functionaries and seldom, if ever, attend court. Dressed in their finest, they fill the area around the coffin at the foot of the dais, leaving a narrow aisle for people to approach. Atop the dais, the Imperial Officers sit, looking suitably mournful. Indeed, everyone looks exactly as they should for the occasion as the doors open to admit the people of the Empire.

[Otomo Keihime]

Players may understand their characters to have arrived prior to this post.

There is a moment of confusion on the dais as Kakita Hajime begins to rise only to be pre-empted by Otomo Keihime smoothly gliding down the steps to the floor. Standing at the head of the coffin, she rests her hands in her obi and allows her grief to mold her posture, seeming to slump gracefully (if such a thing were possible).

[Shiba Rumiko]

Shiba Rumiko's eyes narrowed dangerously at Keihime's brazen little maneuver. Everyone knows that the Imperial Heir is meant to give the first speech of farewell at an Imperial funeral. She shot a significant glance to Shiba Higashime, whose on remained, perhaps fortunately, entirely unreadable.

[Otomo Keihime]

"Beloved subjects of the Empress, I raise my voice with yours in mourning for our Lady, our Liege, and my dearest friend, Hantei Retsuhime. For thirty-one years, she led her kinsmen and her servants in the governance in the greatest empire this world has ever known. Free from the troubles of ages past, she demonstrated what an empire united in concert with a benevolent will could achieve. It was the honor of my lifetime to assist her in her reign, and the most precious of gifts that she gave to me her friendship."

"Though she was called to join her illustrious forebears in the golden light of Yomi before her servants were prepared for her departure, yet must we not give in to despair. She would not begrudge us, I think, a time to mourn, but just as she was the first to rise to greet each day of her magnificent rule, so should we rise to breathe new life into the Empire she has left to us."

"For my part, I pledge my tireless effort to live according to her example, but I want you to use this day to pour out your sorrow that you may begin to heal. I will need every bit of your strength in the coming weeks to help me carry this Empire into the sunlit future she ordained."

Keihime bowed deeply to the casket, and again, more shallowly, to the crowd before returning to her seat. A stunned silence followed.

[Matsu Tsuruyo]

Tsuruyo drank in Keihime's speech and found her spirit buoyed. Here was a woman promising strength and fortitude, who demanded the strength of an empire so that she could channel it to her ends. That was a vision Tsuruyo could get behind. She could not contain her smile.

[Bayushi Kaguya]

The hell was that? Bayushi Kaguya's eyes narrowed. Stepping over our friend's corpse, are we, Kei-chan?

She pinched the fingers of her left hand together by her hip as though she were holding a pen just long enough for the Tsukiyama girl to catch sight of it and commit it to memory.

[Hida Kozume]

Seeing that his peers had been rendered helpless and stupefied by Keihime's power play, Hida Kozume decided that something would need to be done. He let out a grumbling "oof" as he levered himself to his feet.

"Well," he began, resting his hands on either side of his gut, "a great lady has died. She ran this empire pretty well, according to her lights. She had goals. She pursued them. She was more successful than not. You can do a lot worse than that. As the man in the room most likely to be next on Emma-O's list, if someone were to be able to say that about me, and not be putting a brave face on bad news, I'd be pleased."

He paused, thinking things over for a moment. "So I guess we'd all better live by that example. Say what you mean; do what you ought. Try your best."

He took a deep breath, then bowed once to the coffin and once to the crowd. "Ganbatte, Tenno-heika. Ganbatte, Rokugan."

[Shiba Rumiko]

Shiba Rumiko was the next to approach the coffin.

"Now that the first speeches have been made, the Imperial Government would like to invite members of the clans wishing to speak to do so." She bowed once and returned to her seat.

[Cearnach]

[This thread is now open]

[Shiba Ryusei]

Ryusei waited until it was appropriate for a samurai of his modest rank to speak.

"What can I say about the Empress that has not been said? Many of us here have never lived under the reign of another. It is... a tragedy rendered the more dreadful because now we enter into uncertainty. But she certainly left an example to all of us. And if we mind it, we'll come through all right."

[Agasha Yuna]

Yuna knew in this formal moment how essential following the order of precedence was.

She only spoke when it was the time for samurai of her rank and influence to speak, after so many luminaries had already done so.

She first bowed deeply. Head to the floor.

And then she offered a poem. A tanka.

"She was. And she is.
What we call "I" is a door.
Inhale, exhale, breathe.
A door in constant motion
Until the day of stillness.

No door once shuttered
Is mourned like the brightest one.
It is our loss, here.
For you, the door re-opened
To fair Yomi’s blessed realm."

[Agasha Sanjuro]

Sanjuro stepped forward after Agasha Yuna finished speaking.

Bowing deeply at the dais, he lingers for a brief moment, then rises to speak. "Our esteemed Empress is an inspiration to us all. Her strength of heart and mind will long be remembered. Though she is now in Yomi, we feel her warmth surround us and her presence near. We hear her voice and remember grace and divinity."