Hizashi Ambassador Mansion Jeoncho

Standing all the way to the back Sakuma sipped the cup of sake while wearing her fine green and yellow patterned kimono she had 'borrowed' from a nearby silk shop and quickly hid her grey shaded cloak after having climbed the wall of the Hizashi Mansion. Her hair was done in five minutes with the aid of two chop sticks to a level where she would look the part of noble daughter almost better than some of the actual noble daughters present here today. Today Sakumo Naora was a Tansho-daughter, the clan that resided in Sarisu and who's father had many daughters and hardly ever bothered coming to the mainland much less involving himself in these matters - but she had spied on him as Dragon Head Ninja and knew exactly how to act like one of his family.

It was only a few days ago that she had encountered defeat at a foe so terrible strong that she had had no chance of winning as even her seniors and instructors had fallen to him like flies to a cow's tail. Squinting she was discretely looking around trying to see if he was there today - but it seemed like neither him nor his pathetic looking accomplice were anywhere to be found. Finding out who this guy was was however not the only reason she was here today, because should she have found him she might not even be able to enact her revenge anyway. No, she wished also to take a look inside the brass of the ones who had won over Ogino Shingen, a guy she had considered to be of absolute power. What did these people want and who were they thinking they were better to rule?

The knives she had hid beneath her kimono and her martial skills she did not think she would need today, rather it was the cunning words and observant gaze that would bring her the furthest.

Akagi wore his best dress uniform, having shortsightedly not expected to attend any official functions. He should have known better than that, he thought to himself. His entourage, for lack of a better term, was rather large. Numerous ship captains attended alongside him, as well as several lower born soldiers who had acquitted themselves with great honor on the field of battle. The Six attended behind him at all times, silent and ever-ready to defend their Daimyo.

"Lord Hizashi! An excellent party if I have ever seen one. It is nice to come through the front gate this time, and I trust our business shall be much more pleasurable!" He exclaimed, clapping Homura on the shoulder when he found him.

Kiri had dressed in only the finest fabrics that Yakumo's silk shop had to offer. Her robes layered satin turquoise with deep purple, the skirts hand painted with an image of wisteria flowers that spoke of her Imperial bloodline, and a gauzy wrap worn over her shoulders was embroidered with pale dragons and cherry blossoms. Her hair had been coiffed into a remarkable concoction, and a kanzashi in the form of a dragonfly – symbolising victory sat as the centrepiece, its wings – cleverly set on springs – would dance and glint subtly as she moved.

“Of course,” she replied, her smile echoing Homura's own. “Do you think I would let a sub-standard party be thrown in this house?” She took a breath of the evening air. “This is everything I imagined it would be,” she said so very quietly just for her husband's ears, a sigh of satisfaction escaping her lips. “The ogre shows Lord Kojuro's strength, although he is ... remarkably different to our normal calibre of guests, taming a demon is not something an ordinary lord could do. There is nothing wrong with being a little feared.” As for the Shisou Yasuke, Kiri expected he could at least have a shave, but as Kojuro was their liege lord it wouldn't do to nitpick too much on his chosen men.

Kiri's eyes roved the crowd, and giving Homura a slight pat on the arm, she detached to mingle with the guests, accompanied by two servants – both san'in. She spotted someone she distinctly did not recognise, who appeared to have no one to speak to. Making her way over, she stopped to pass pleasantaries with one or two guests but kept half an eye on the green and yellow clad woman. It wasn't too long until the slippery Kiri had managed to approach. “Excuse me, my dear. No one should be alone too long at a party like this. I know they can be difficult if you are shy or do not know too many people.” Kiri smiled sweetly. “Or have you lost your companions?”

Yes why not? As Homura had finished his speech Sakuma thought perhaps she should just approach him right then and there - it was that guy she wanted to speak with anyway. Traitor or not, he was the new shogun and Sakuma being always direct towards her goal saw no reason to postpone figuring out what kind he was - well until it seemed like two others joined him.

"The daimyo of Quying and the daimyo of Kiyonai..." Sakuma whispered to herself trying to stretch her neck to catch them. It was too late now, she couldn't interrupt the three most powerful men going for a stroll to converse and her lips tightened as she reluctantly accepted that her moment had passed for now.

Walking around in the crowd, not approaching anyone else, she wished to stay alone for now, but that seemed difficult to make happen. Sakuma noticed that Homura's wife had laid her eyes on her - she knew her of course as it was her job to do so - but from the masks the shogun had had them wear, Kiri of course wouldn't know who Sakuma was, or had been. She tried to weasel away knowing the Kiri was the prying type but in this crowd Kiri's navigation skills were clearly the best and she caught hold of Sakuma.

"Oh, lady Kiri I presume, what a pleasant surprise!" Sakuma lied, her normal voice deeper than a normal girl's, but this distinctly high pitched and girly and she tried to smile with her teeth showing. It was hard, those muscles weren't used very much - weren't necessary in battle. "Oh don't mind me, I've come alone to this party since my father never travels much. I'm Jun Tansho from the Tansho-clan in Sarisu." she answered and bowed slightly. Should she try to excuse herself immediately? No, she couldn't help it.

"Lady Kiri I must say it is a remarkable victory and the strategy seemed to have played out excellently in your favor." if Sakuma could have discretely committed seppuku, she would have. Why was she claiming to be a noble daughter and then talk about war and strategy - and with that voice even! Her eyes dotted around briefly, if she didn't up her game a lot, she'd have to scram very quickly. Now where would the easiest escape route be?

“Jun-san, then.” Kiri studied the face of Jun Tansho for a moment while smiling. “It's understandable. It must be very disruptive over there with all the building work going on, and of course, you must have lost many relatives in the destruction of Isho City. How fortunate your liege lord pledged fealty to the Hizashi to save the rest,” Kiri said sympathetically. “Which Lord Tansho is your father?”

Kiri stopped a passing serving girl, and with a mere glance, communicated her wish for drinks to be bought for herself and Jun. The girl drifted off as Kiri directed Jun to a small stone bench and invited her to sit. “It is a very dutiful daughter that learns strategy as a son does, and I thank you for your compliment – thought it was more my husband's work as well as our dear departed Lord Genji, Lord Kojuro and great ally Lord Akagi. But, I'm sure you meant a victory for our allied forces as a whole.” Kiri glanced at her, studying her face. The serving girl returned with drinks. Served in transparent glass vessels rather than cups or bowls, the liquid within was several colours; pink, orange and yellow in soft stripes. “Quying brings us some foreign notions. Some we can discard as barbarism, others we can marvel at.” She took a glass from the tray and handed it to “Jun”.

“Tell me, Jun-san, how old are you? You must be interested in finding a suitable marriage match before it's too late,” she suggested, gesturing her hand at all the available young men who were enjoying the party before them as she held her cocktail in the opposite hand.

Kojuro laughed quietly as Homura greeted him with such effusive spirits. Clearly he was in a buoyant mood tonight and for excellent reasons. “Indeed, cousin. And thanks to all who played their parts, not even as much loss as one might expect.” In terms of casualties in the war Kojuro's wish for it to be as bloodless as possible had been granted, much against the expectations of his father.

“Then thank you for doing your duty, Lord Akagi,” he replied. To Homura he added, “We were both there when the Shogun's Palace fell, but Lord Akagi was commanding his water mages, is that the correct word? While Yasuke, Wuppo and I were dealing with Ogino and that ronin that claimed to have killed him. I hope that this is the first of many occasions we'll have to meet outside of the battlefield.”

Kojuro was happy to walk with Homura and Akagi to somewhere away from the crowds, though it seemed the conversation was going to be all about politics rather than celebrating.

“The Iron Crane? I suppose she is the only one of us damiyo missing from this gathering,” he said to the others. “With Kiyonai City so close to the border, we had a fair amount of news coming through. Nobles under the Omaharu who sought to escape were intercepted at the border and held in Reisui Prison, and our onmitsu sent to gather intelligence also sent back information: She comes from a minor clan called the Yukimoto, and employs a large number of women warriors. She executed Nobuhide and claimed right of conquest.

“One of the first things she did was to fill in the fighting pits – that's a good sign as to where her heart lies. Omaharu was a Shogun loyalist – if the Iron Crane hadn't ousted him we would be heading to Tokhung right now to do it ourselves.

“Her enemies are afraid of her, but do we need to be? If her motives are justice and revenge on the Shogunate then we have good grounds to work with her. My opinion is we should approach her with an offer to help her rebuild Tokhung and a message letting her know that the Shogunate has fallen and the Imperial Court is now the power in the capital. Invite her to join us. At the moment, she's likely occupied, but her eyes will turn this way eventually. Don't forget, cousin: 'blasting in the gate and mercilessly slaughtering our former lord and his allies' describes pretty well what we just did, too,” he laughed. Extending the hand of friendship to Mutsunobe would truly unite the Empire. As it was, Tokhung was a hanging thread.

Apparently Lady Kiri Hizashi did not stop talking to her and Sakuma had to calm herself - either way escaping in a kimono was not going to happen. 'Easy now, Saku, breathe and release, breathe and release - just like the meditation classes you slept through...' her words oddly enough working relatively well. She needed her brain to breathe so she could make the right choices, this was a fight of the mind where one wrong move might create a deadly opening - and Kiri was dangerous opponent, for she remembered every little bit.

"Yes indeed, you're very knowledgeable about Sarisu! We are trying to rebuild the best we can and we employ many craftsmen to do so." her answer yet to reveal anything about her. "I... I did lose a few when Isho fell, but I feel lucky that it was no one very close!" Sakuma said, starting to feel annoyed by the quite girly voice she had chosen. "Kenjiro Tansho, Lady Kiri. And he's definitely considering himself a close Hizashi ally!" 'which was why I was spying on the treasonous bastard to begin with...' Sakuma remembered as she couldn't help but frown a bit as the thought passed.

'She bought the it, nice.' Sakuma smiled and followed Kiri over to the bench with very small steps as to not fall over the kimono she was not at all used to wear - and besides her large stride was often mistaken by that of a man's so she had to be careful.

"Well thank you! I am a little at odds with some of my uncles who thought it was unbecoming of me to learn such things - but I believe that a woman can do everything she sets her goals on. Like you." Sakuma said, remembering that Kiri was a strong woman who seemed to like other strong women too. "Yes, the victory must have been very impressive - I hear some who call it the Sake Victory because there was spilled more sake than blood." she said and strained her smiled yet again. "I would certainly looove to see the strategy plans that lead to such a victory, because luck would not take you that far." Sakuma said trying to remain her composure and stay in character.

Receiving the drink she took a quick glance at the thing and sipped it before returning to the conversation.
"We don't have these things in Sarisu although Quying is so close, but they do bring many other oddities to us." she simply said, as normally she preferred not to drink at all. Alcohol dulled her senses more than she would like to admit, but being undercover she had to. "If I may ask, which barbaric things is it, that you believe the folk of Quying bring with them?" an innocent question, but a bold one also considering the situation. Still Sakuma wanted to know, if there was something they didn't see eye to eye about.

The question about age took her by surprise, and she was just about spitting her next sip of the surprisingly tasty drink out again when Kiri asked about potential marriage partners.
"Oh... ohhh sorry about my reaction. I am twenty one and I already have several suitors in Quying..." she said and whispered to Kiri. "I was secretly hoping not to gain anymore over here, they are plenty trouble always trying to woo me back in Sarisu." she 'admitted'.

“We have had spies in Mutsunobe since the moment we heard of the disturbances, in addition to the usual ones we have there to hear about the disturbances in the first place. By now, there may be more information waiting in Kiyonai.” For a moment he thought back to all he had left behind in his homeland and felt a pang of homesickness. Onmitsu reports were not the only thing waiting back there, another one was Nakatani. He wasn't especially missing Ryuzo though, and Homura's compliment returned him to the present day. “Thanks,” he said.

He listened to Akagi's thoughts on the matter seriously. “Nobuhide was quite the Shogunate loyalist, so there must be some value in Tokhung province that made him feel it was a worthy domain to hold,” he suggested. But Akagi was right, they didn't know enough about what was inside Tokhung and what the Iron Crane wanted to truly make them a significant offer at this time. “I'll be sure to share any intelligence that comes to me with both of you.”

"I have no objection to this. Though I prefer to negotiate the help in-person, but I'm sure you already know that." He said, chuckling.

"Feel free to set-up a meeting between all of us if she desires it. I would be happy to host a trade meeting in Quying, as a symbol of our new unity."