Letter - To Kakita Hajime from Daidoji Sae

[Daidoji Sae]

An expensive looking scroll marked with careful, neat handwriting , the sort that makes you wonder if they used a ruler to write that straight.

To Kakita Hajime, Emerald Champion by the will of heaven, Champion of the Tournament, Protector of the Empress


Kakita-sama, I pray this message finds you well. As per your command I am concluding matters in the Imperial City in preparation for this year's Court. Although petty crime continues it feels as though the city and indeed the Empire is holding its breath given the recent news concerning the succession.

It will be my great honour to perform my duties and to assist you and Mirumoto Ayano-sama to the fullest of my abilities in the presence of the Daughter of Heaven, blessed be her reign. I will strive to prove myself worthy of your trust, and would welcome your guidance should you wish to impart it.

I have been advised that I will be meeting my new yoriki in Kyuden Ikoma. She seems a promising young samurai and is I am sure a credit to her Clan. I shall ensure she understands what is expected of her so that she may grow into a fine magistrate one day.

Should you wish to seek a sparring partner over the winter, I humbly offer myself. Although I cannot compete with the empire's fastest blade I may at least function as a hardy target for my partner's strikes.


Fortunes blessings be upon you.

Sae of the Daidoji, Emerald Magistrate, Lady of House Miyahara.

[Chop]

[Kakita Hajime]

A reply in an elegant hand, but nowhere near as regimented as its antecedent.

From the desk of the Emerald Champion

Miyahara-san,

It is always a delight in these weeks preceding the Imperial Winter Court to receive the barrage of letters from my more enterprising subordinates. I am pleased to hear that matters in the City have been resolving positively. Or, rather, that it is suspending its tendency toward negative resolution in the interim.

You are most kind to offer a sparring partner, and though the sparring may have to be metaphorical given the demands on our time court will represent, I have no doubt that you, Mirumoto-san, and I shall be tossed together by circumstance more often than any of us might wish for. One might have thought that the cooler temperatures would lower the degree of tension in the hearts of the Empress' servants, or at least induce some lethargy, but it never seems to do so.

I was somewhat surprised to hear about a yoriki for you at Winter Court. As you are not attending in your official capacity, I am afraid no arrangements were made in that regard. Rather, as a delegate of the Crane clan, you will be expected to carry out the duties our clan requires of you, exercising your magisterial function should I require it (and rest assured, I will at some point). As it happens, I haven't the slightest notion who your yoriki is to be, so I cannot confirm the generous words you have chosen to give her, though I am informed that the matter is well in hand. By which, of course, I mean the hands of my chief of staff.

In the meantime, I am certain that you will comport yourself will all of the honor befitting a Lady of the Crane, bringing laurels to your house and our clan. At the same time, I hope that you will exercise a little discretion during your time here. It can mean all the difference between a successful delegation and a disaster.

Sincerely,
Kakita Hajime.