Naoki's Table 2

The Empress of Isra was certainly busy tonight, which was understandable, given that she was both hostess and reigning monarch, but Lord Akagi had kept an eagle eye on the Empress and found a moment in time for the Tawakoshi party to meet with their host. “Your majesty,” Kojuro gave a respectful bow to Naoki much in the same manner as Lord Akagi. When he straightened up, he met her gaze with smile. “It is an honour to make your acquaintance. Thank you for your invitation. My cousin, Lady Kiri, was rather disappointed not to have had the chance to speak with you and sends her regards, but you can consider me here on behalf of the Lord Regent of Tawakoshi.” He remained standing in front of the table as he turned slightly and ushered Nakatani to come forward also. “This is my lady consort, Nakatani.”

Akagu gestures subtly that it is appropriate to sit, and then points to the small flag he wore.

"Things are well, a brief Civil War flared up, during which the combined mights of Hizashi and Quying were able to overthrow the corrupt Shogun from his pedestal. A new balance of power has been struck, and it is my hope that our visit here will start to pave the path for Isran goods to flow from Quying, to everyone's benefit."

“Ahh, I see. Congratulations, I’m pleased to hear it.” The Empress nods. Ever since she heard about the precarious situation in Tawakoshi months ago, its unresolved mystery has been something to wonder about. She had intended to inquire when she heard Tawakoshi was represented at The Audrian Feast, but that didn’t quite pan out. It’s good now to have closure on the issue.

“Please do have your man share the details; Isra should know that Tawakoshi overcame its oppressor. Perhaps, in time, a book could be written, translated, and sold here in Isra. … There’s something to export,” Naoki continues, gesturing to Daimyo Akagi Zuikaku in reference to his earlier mention of trade.

“The legends, myths, and historical tales of your culture — things Isra lacks. I can’t speak for the nation in saying this, but I enjoy reading such things; I think it helps broaden one’s perspective. A clever merchant could do well in the business of translating and selling the written word intercontinentally.”

“Thank you, your majesty. Of course, there is still much to do back at home, but we could not let the opportunity to visit Isra for the international summit slip by.” He nodded. “Yamazaki is somewhere in the city. Actually,” he laughed, “I asked him to scour the bookshops of the city for interesting works about your culture. He will report anywhere you require him tomorrow.” He was strangely pleased by Naoki expressing an interest in Tawakoshi’s myths and legends. It hinted that there might be a slight whimsical side to her. “Lady Kiri has sent a quite copious quantity of gifts for your majesty along with our party, but I doubt that storybooks were among her selection… I’d be happy to make sure to send you some on our return home.”

As for trade articles, he was happy to leave those kinds of decisions to Lord Akagi. However, the mention of unearthing artefacts under the sea with the help of the Enclave was new to him. The Enclave were Isra’s magicians, if he remembered correctly. At the moment, Kojuro said nothing, not wanting to contradict or question Lord Akagi as it would cause both of them to lose face in front of the Empress, but he certainly meant to bring it up with him later.

"Perhaps on another visit, where my own experts can be apart of the discussion. I am not as well-versed in magic." He sat back, allowing Kojuro to take the lead for a bit in the discussions. He had already established a diplomatic relationship with the Empress, it would be good for Kojuro to do the same prior to the Summit.

“Thank you, your majesty.” He was impressed with the invitation to Isra’s library. “I’m sure Yamazaki would enjoy that a great deal.” As much as he would enjoy anything, it sounded almost like Yamazaki’s idea of paradise, the only thing that could be improved would be if he got to copy the texts out himself. “Of course, I hope we can establish a line of official communications, quite aside from the issue of trade. Perhaps an exchange of envoys in time.” He did not want to start getting ahead of himself, Tawakoshi after all needed time for the new power structure to establish fully, and this trip to Isra was only the first step in their emergence in the world stage.

It seemed that Akagi was not going to be much of a conversationalist, and Nakatani had remained entirely silent through shyness, or perhaps not feeling as though she should speak to the Empress. “I was just saying to Lord Akagi, it seems as though Isra is so different to Tawakoshi, maybe even opposite in many ways. Maybe our different nations balance each other out from either side of the Overworld? Lord Akagi tells me that your majesty was chosen as Empress by the people of the nation. It must be reassuring to know that they trust you to rule well on their behalf?”

"We are perhaps the polar opposite. Existing for much longer, to the point that our origin is closer kin to legend than history. Lord Kojuro, as your clan has always been closer to the Emperor than my own, may know more details than I, so perhaps you should give a full explanation?" He inquired of his fellow Lord.

"I know more about our isolation of course, as for a long time it was my clan tasked with enforcing it, which of course meant we were the most frequent violators."

Although Naoki hadn't opened up about her personal feelings about being chosen as Empress by her people, Kojuro was fascinated by the story of the rise of Isra's empire. It certainly didn't sound like anything that could be traditionally called an empire in the East. He smiled, on hearing her words about building her nation on a foundation of peace and cooperation. That, again, was far from the way things were done in Tawakoshi but, knowing that it was possible was quite eye opening. “I would definitely like to learn more about how that was accomplished. We have always been a nation of warriors, but bloodshed should never be a first resort. In my opinion,” he added, as if to take back some of the absolute certainty from the statement, not wanting to seem as if he was arrogantly stating the purely subjective as a fact.

Kojuro was pleased to have the opportunity to speak about his country's government and Empire, and it was with a definite sense of patriotism and a gleam in his eye that he recounted the history of Tawakoshi to Naoki. “Our Emperor's lineage reaches back to the Gods themselves, in an unbroken line of descent. Our written history records the last thousand years, but the legends go back much longer. Our Imperial line is shared with that of Katashima, though the lineage split some hundreds of years ago, when a different Emperor was chosen by each new nation. The Emperor has always been our spiritual figurehead, in a sense, the kami of our land, but the actual affairs of government are usually done by others. Our warrior houses govern the provinces, with varying degrees of independence from the capital.

“The Shogunate that you may remember, came from the greatest daimyo of the warrior clans conquering and uniting all of the houses under his control and becoming the supreme general – Shogun - of Tawakoshi. Because mankind's use of magic caused the cataclysm around this time, the first Shogun decided on complete isolation from the outside, and a complete ban of all magical practice. I know little of magic, but received wisdom is that Tawakoshi was spared the cataclysm because magic was only practised in harmony with the spirits. The first Shogun did not wish to risk influence from outside bringing disaster. But over time the Shogunate became weak and corrupt. Once the third Shogun could no longer hold the country united together, it was time for the warrior houses to once again change the regime. The Lord Regent, at the head of the Imperial Court, governs in the Capital with the Emperor's blessing, and the daimyo continue to rule the provinces, though with somewhat more freedom to run their own affairs than under the Shogunate. Most likely, the Hizashi clan will remain as Regents, until we get corrupt and weak and someone else needs to overthrow us. Hopefully that will be very long in coming,” he laughed, relaxing a little as his story returned to the modern day.

“I hope you won’t mind, but may I ask you something? Your people chose you as the Lady of the Free City when Isra was but a small city-state. Surely there will come a time for the people of the Empire to choose a new leader, which of course, I hope will be a long time in the future,” his eyes narrowed a little as he thought about how to put his question. “Now there is such a large empire, with so many different peoples, and so many different lands, won’t it be difficult for them to decide on a new Emperor or Empress? Surely they will all have different interests and different ideas for candidates? And if there are so many people, it will be hard for all of them to know the candidates well enough to pick which one they think is best.”

He laughed, “Sorry if I am being overly curious. I may have made too many presumptions. I am just interested in finding out more about how you do things.”

Wuppo approached the Empress Naoki's table as one would expect an ogre to - without much poise or grace, his bare feet heavily plodding along as he approached. He held in his right hand a rather large silver serving spoon, obviously taken from the buffet, and in his left he held a rather normal looking notebook.

"Wize Otta!" he said loudly, barging into the conversation in much the same way he had walked up to the table. It was quite clear Wuppo was entirely unaware that this was a potentially important one-on-one meeting between the heads of two countries. "Wuppo have dis! Come from him dat smoll an' not talk." The giant's 10-foot-tall frame loomed over Kojuro slightly as he put the book down in front of his friend. Kojuro would find the notebook slightly ruffled from transport across the dining hall, and turned to a page with the words:

"Calm down. Keph is trying to eat and he doesn't want to be yelled at incoherently while he tries to fill his belly."

"I'z make da nice eat! Not use hands! I'z use dis!" Wuppo promptly presented and retained possession of the large silver serving spoon in his right hand. "Jus' like nice lady tell Wuppo. She say, 'Wuppo not eat wiff him hands', so Wuppo not eat wiff him hands. Make da nice eat. I'z make da nice talk - tell Not Talk 'Wuppo come from big whatta', show Not Talk boat, but him not make da nice talk wiff Wuppo. Not Talk hit table! Him smash! Him gets up from sit! Gives dis! Dis papers! Not Talk puts da marks wiff da stick, an' Wuppo say 'Wuppo not read dem marks wiff da stick, but sees dem a'fore. Wize Otta! Him reads da marks to Wuppo', an' den I'z bring dem marks on dem papers. Give to you, da Wize Otta. You'z help Wuppo wiff dem marks an' read dem to Wuppo?"

Wuppo scarcely paused with his story to take a breath, seeing fit to include all of the relevant details that had brought Wuppo to interrupt the conversation between the Empress and the Tawakoshi delegation. The ogre looked back at where Keph was presumably standing if he had followed - obviously wanting his notebook back. Wuppo spoke a bit more quietly to Kojuro as if he were telling his friend a secret, but still talked plenty loud enough to be heard by the table.

"Not Talk no good at smash. Wuppo betta at smash, but not show Not Talk smash. You'z tell Wuppo a'fore, not need da smash, so I'z not make da smash." The ogre obviously sought to preserve Keph's feelings by concealing his rather harsh critique of the man's ability to smash the table the pair were sitting at previously.