Kyuden Shika

Raizo didn't know art, and he was also pretty sure he didn't know what he liked.

But he ambled down the halls, peering at the paintings with a kind of owlish intensity.

Who the hell is this lady and why do we care?

After slipping away from her cumbersome ceremonial clothes into her usual white dress, and eaten an invigorating meal, Mtisuki returned to the castle... Because she had no idea what else to do. The planning was light as of now, and while she could have trained, or read, or something similar, she supposed there were some social activities she implicitly had to partake into as part of this miai, even if there were not on schedule. And if anything important was to happen, it was likely to happen in the castle.

So here she was, strolling through the hallways, looking for any kind of animation.

As of now, all she had found was a lone Shiba. For lack of a better target, she approached him and bowed:

"Good day to you Shiba-sama. This one is Moto Mitsuki of the ten thousand blades of the Khan.

May I ask if you would happen to know if any kind of activity is planned this afternoon in the context of the ongoing miai?"

Oh thank fuck, I'm not the only one wondering what the hell to do with myself.

"Moto-san, a pleasure to meet you."

He seemed to mean it.

"I'm Shiba Raizo, of the twenty thousand worn-out sandals of the Phoenix Clan Champion. So far as I know, the only planned event is the play later in the evening..."

"Is that all? I was kind of expecting we would have had to go through a non-stop series of interviews with nakodos and prospective spouses for at least the first few days.

Maybe we're still missing some important guests and they're keeping the schedule light on purpose until their arrival? That happens sometimes."

Unpleasant memories of an emissary of the Caliphate making her wait for three days as a power play filled Mitsuki's mind and her lips twitched. To finally turn into a smirk:

"While the name ten thousand blades of the Khan is a bit on the nose, I have a suspicion you will still prefer it to the word we use to refer to that particular army within the Unicorn. Because it's ᠣᠷᠳᠤ."

The word was only two syllables long. None of them was a sound existing in standard Rokugani language.

"Well, I imagine I'd find it a bit hard to get right the first time, but it seems like a real time-saver."

He smiled.

"Wherever it came from, they know how to fit a lot into a word."

"The word is ancient. Ancient words tend to be short... And to have acquired a myriad of different meanings through history. The one relevant there could be translated as something like the horde.

So, while the poet who reworked it to make it more presentable in court went a bit too far with the flourish, they at least got the general idea right.

Actually, thinking of it, doesn't the Phoenix have their own military unit whose name flirts with the limit of excess? The Raging Inferno Flamebearers or something like that?"

"Ah, the Firestorm Legion, as supplemented by the Inferno Guard. And so on for Earth, Air, and Water, because we've never found a complexity we didn't try to embrace into our way of doing things."

He chuckled.

"Far above my station, in any event."

"Now I'm left wondering how, once a warrior has proven themselves, is decided what particular unit they should join. Are astrologists consulted to determine under which element was that person born and their saying final? Or is the element mostly symbolic, with each unit simply having its own specialty, and people classically assigned depending on what they're good at?"

"Well, shugenja are assigned based on elemental proficiency. For bushi, I believe it's more to do with aptitude in certain styles of warfare."

"That seems... so mundane for a clan like the Phoenix. I had heard legends of your champion being chosen by a magical sword, so I was expecting magical artifacts to generally be involved in your internal mobility system.

Not even a step where you have to swear you'll serve the Phoenix with utter loyalty while touching a magical stone that turns red if you lie?"