Palace of the Emperor

The majority of the troop would be asked to remain outside the gates of the palace - and not a single wolf would be allowed inside. Protocol, and all that. It was encouraged that the ones remaining outside to find a more homely, quaint inn and stables in the heart of the city - if they so wished. Or they could remain out in the cold and on the pavement if they so choose. The intense level of guard presence on the grounds remained on place, and a little more vigilant with side glances cast to the odd... foreigners. What on earth were they doing here at the Emperor's palace?

The escort would allow Sir Finch to follow along, in addition to two personal guard from his troop to flank the guy and allow him to hold a bit of presence - especially since this was group of men at arms making their plea rather than a single man. They would be led further inside and along a straight hall that opened into the spacious throne room - immensely decorated and lavish in design, all the way up to the bamboo curtains that were drawn down to hide the platform situated at the very end of the room. The escort would bring them to a very respectable distance from the steps leading up to the platform with a soft, sharp word to Finch to remain there as he scurried off into a nook or cranny somewhere and disappeared.

For now, the place was quiet... perhaps a touch awkwardly so.

It would be a small matter of time before there was movement behind the bamboo shades - someone moved and took a seat. That much could be seen from the distance that the general stood. And within a few moments of stillness after that, the shades were slowly drawn up to reveal the Emperor himself seated upon a grand and lavish cushion, his robes carefully splayed out around him and the silk shining in the light. Much of the hairs visible upon the man were easily greying, giving him a much older and wise air. His eyes were a thin leer, but his expression was calm and easy as he looked upon the visitors to his palace.

As expected, from behind a towering support post within the room did his war general appear - the Shogun. The armored man remained standing in view, well off to the side but between Sir Eli Finch and the lord himself, and keeping an unwavering eye upon the visitors. His usual placement when meetings of importance were held in the palace.

"Greetings, strangers. I welcome you to my home, and welcome you to Tawakoshi. I am Emperor Kanai, the third son of House Yoichibei."

The emperor dips his head in a polite gesture that he accepted the introduction - it was refreshing to see that foreigners held a certain respect for custom and station.

"So, what brings you here seeking an audience with me, Sir Eli Finch?" he asks, bringing his hands to an easy fold within his lap.

Services. There were little other services that might be offered by a man looking like a soldier or a mercenary than that of his fighting ability. Maybe even perhaps a guard. But this brought the stationary man in armor from his near perfectly stationary state to take a step forward - looking at the man called Finch even harder through the narrow opening in his helm, his stare almost cold and certainly calculating.

"That is quite a gamble that you offer - complete foreigners with likely little concept of our ways of this land, our people and our culture. Yet you come before the Emperor with an offer to... what, fight for him? To raise your weapons in his name and his honor, to fight for and defend a land you do not know?" His armored arms come up to a fold over his chest. "Or perhaps just to gain a closeness to His Majesty?"

Sir Finch smiled at what could have arguably been called accusations, though of what he was not yet sure.

"If I desired to get close to someone in power, I would have stayed in Isra, where my daughter is one of the senior military commanders and a close confidante of the High Lady herself."

He coughed, genuinely, for a moment, before regaining composure and speaking again.

"A man does not come before the ruler of nation, armed and armored, riding on wolves of war, with the intent to not fight for him. While I am certain that his Emperorship has plenty of willing warriors, I doubt few are as experienced or as....how shall I put this... underhanded as mine. We do not fight with any sort of honor code, save that which governs are duties and loyalties to one another and those that pay us. There is little place for my men and I on the main land, with the Isran military patrolling and protecting, nobody is willing to pay us for our work, so we came here, seeking new opportunities.

He paused again, this time for effect.

"I could lie and say that we truly wish for nothing more than to fight for the Emperor and his glory, but that would be a lie, and all three of us know it. So rather than waste your time, I have told the truth, we fight for coin, whether are cause or reason is right, wrong, honorable or insidious does not matter to us."

So the Shogun was the man in charge of the military then? That was new information, and something he wished he would have known prior to coming here.

"My apologies Shogun, I was...misinformed." By a man who had better hope he did not cross paths with the Knight again, lest he not walk again.

"But yes, I offer my services and my allegiance, provided you offer the right price, in whatever form you deem appropriate." By which he meant that the payment need not be entirely in the form of money, land and valuable artifacts worked just as well as money.

"Fight better than a samurai? I dare say I would, and my men would be their equal, as they appear to be the equivalent of knights where we are from. Do I stand higher then them and their duty? Probably not, though in my homeland my social rank equivalency is above theirs, as I had many knights at my command. I will not claim to be more honorable then they, or even follow the same sort of code."

He said this all without breaking a sweat, having no doubt as to his own abilities. Of course, in his mind he stood higher than the lot of them, but it would not do to say that out loud.

They had very strange definitions of boastful if his statement is considered boastful. He answered the question truthfully, and what use would he and his men have been if they had not been equals at the very least to the samurai? Very little. Evidently, they considered themselves above the rest, a rather odd thing to think given their isolation.

"I would prefer to negotiate with the Daimyo's on my own terms, and as such we shall make our way back to the coast."

That Daimyo was likely to be more receptive to hiring foreigners, given the existing nature of his relationships with the the outside world.