The embassy meeting room was as before: Sober, cold, clinical. A place to work, not to idle. It being that strip down also reduced the number of places a microphone could be hidden, helping guarantee everything said here remains private.

And if Kanna had interpreted the signs right, her guest wouldn't want to talk of anything that mattered in any location her words could be caught up by the wind.

Akodo Reki entered from the direction of the dormitories. She was wearing her uniform, as had been her way while at the embassy. Punctual as expected, the Akodo immediately spots the Kitsu and makes her way over.

"Kitsu-san...you wished to speak with me." Reki's tone naturally fell into the cadence for speaking to the press. It had been a natural response, and she dismissed it with a smile. Her next words being more genuine. "How has your work gone? This world is full of stories I imagine."

"Akodo-sama."

Bow and all.

"Full of stories? Oh so very much. Full of honorable stories. Not so much.

It's a complex affair to present our allies in a favorable light when they make so much efforts to badmouth bushido. But the press will manage. Honor always finds a way.

How about you? Have you found what you were looking for on this world? The local lord magistrate pretends there isn't a single thing this planet cannot provide but I would say his sight is locked on the lowest level of the pyramid of needs, disdaining all the things the soul requires to thrive."

"A few distractions, but there is much others find entertaining that I do not." Reki replied, taking a seat.

"I would not worry so much about allies behaving inappropriately here. As you say, it's a planet given to base desire. Such is bound to draw out the worst of men." Her smile was weary.

"And yet, out of the places of the universe, it's the one you chose for your holidays. I can understand the desire to see the world outside of the Lion systems, but I wonder why here and not a more blessed location like any of the beautiful worlds of the Unicorn."

"It wasn't my choice." Reki replied flatly, "I made the error of leaving the choice to some personnel officer back home. Perhaps it was funny to them. It wasn't funny to me."

Her eyes shift from the Kitsu to one of the simple decorations on the wall. She crossed her arms, "But I would not have gone to my wife's mother clan if the choice had been available."

"Sorry, I didn't know who you were married with nor that you had issues with your family-in-law. To be fair, you weren't very talkative about your situation.

I guess it just didn't come up in the conversation though? I don't remember talking about to you about my child raised by my parents on Kitsu Prime or my Akodo spouse in active military duty either."

"My in-laws were not the problem." Reki sighed, "My wife is dead, Kitsu-san. Killed in action in the Crossroads system."

She rubbed her chin, the sadness was real...as was the effort to conceal it.

"First, sorry for your loss."

There was a... professional sincerity to Kanna's tone. The voice expected of a priest in such circumstances. Not void of reassurance, on the contrary, with the force of habit of someone who has seen more than a few people struggling with grief.

"Second... I don't actually understand. It is tradition for the surviving spouse to spend some time with the family of the deceased. Mourning is best spent in the company of the people who understand your loss. For all the compassion I, any Lion, anyone on this world, could offer, none will come close to the true, wordless, understanding between two persons sharing the same pain."

"The situation leading to her death was..." Reki frowned, "No you are correct on that, but the events are complicated."

She waved her hand in front of her face. "I myself also served in the Crossroads with a Legion's command staff. The war is still going on as you know."

"It is. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of courtiers in various mons were intriguing to have it last for as long as possible, with the bad take that by keeping both us and the Mantis busy they are removing two thorns for their side at once. When in real life all they are achieving is granting more time for the Spider and their sullied puppets to grow stronger.

Hopefully for the Empire's sake the Lion will triumph soon in spite of all these idiots thinking of themselves as a mix of Sun Tao and Otomo Madoko when they're closer to Doji Mizobu and Bayushi Tangen.

But that wasn't the most subtle shift in subject Akodo-sama."

"It wasn't entirely meant to be. My wife died in the Crossroads during the height of an offensive...I am a planner in a Legion's command staff. There was no immediate time to mourn her passing." Reki pressed her lips together and took a breath, the memories was clearly affecting her.

"And of course, I had been close by when she died. Very close."

She falls silent again and her next words are colder and more analytical, falling back on habits mayhaps, "It is the nature of politics and war that advantage must be leveraged where one can find it, and one sometimes takes the short term gain in the hope of improving the situation before longer term consequences arise. Our own war with the Mantis takes advantage of their allies distraction, a calculated decision on our leadership's part and a chance to reclaim what was ours from the pirates."

"Over 3,000 years of history. Over 3,000 years of people making deals with the dark, thinking themselves smarter that the power several Kami died to keep at bay. Over 3,000 years of good people having to sacrifice their lives to defeat the horrors unleashed by these absolute morons.

Often, I wonder if samurai of the other clans have ever attended a single history lesson. This is not a conflict between two minor rural lords, each with their flaws and good points, where whoever wins is of little importance. This is a fight with on the line everything a samurai should stand for. What's the point having a shrine to Shosuro if you cannot even remember what Shosuro died for?

I guess it's a sort of compliment to the Lion's strength these imbeciles think they can help the dark for coins and not suffer the consequences because the Lion will still win in the end.

But I have no idea how these poor excuses of a samurai even manage to look at themselves in the mirror, or to sleep at night knowing they would have to explain their actions to their ancestors one day."

Breath.

"But I've already wasted too much time complaining about people that aren't worth it.

In all honesty Akodo-sama, do you think you have found or may find on this planet the closure you need? If not, I'll advise to go on that break to the Unicorn system afterward. It'll do no good to anyone if you go back to your unit with your mind still clouded."

Reki's eyes narrowed, "Clarification on your meaning is requested. If I understand you correctly, I worry you are treading close to blasphemy against the Imperial line itself. Remember whom sanctioned the Spider and whose descendants have not revoked said sanction."

She sighs and rubs her temple, uncomfortable with the shift in topics after the old wound had been opened, "Or perhaps you have just let anger paint too broad a stroke, and you mean only that others have failed to do their due diligence before entering alliances?"

"...As for your suggestion, yes I had originally tried to remain at my post but weakness overtook me. My superior displayed Compassion in sending me back to rest. I should seek out Naomi's family. I suppose I could begin the process here, see if the Unicorn embassy can provide the travel papers."

"The Lion obeys. The Lion forgives when ordered to forgive.

But the Lion does not forget."

Totally not ominous silence.

"As for the Unicorn, possibly. I have found the children of the wind I've met here to be quite accommodating. They shine with honor when so many people on this planet jest with it."

"The Emperor can not fail, only be failed by his servants." She added into the silence.

"The Unicorn have ever been more prone to errors of misunderstanding then failures of honor. Naomi-chan had little problem adjusting to our clan." A small smile plays at her lips.

"Is there perhaps a specific clan you mean? I feel there is an aggressiveness that motivates this anger? Something affecting our clan?"

"A lot of them have been irksome but I would say the root of the problem is, to little surprise, the Scorpion. As always, they play, or affect to play, all sides at once, shrouded in their usual arrogance they're smarter than anyone else. And a lot of persons apparently feel like they have to imitate that dance if they are for the Scorpion to take them seriously on their world. Hence a competition of who will manage to bend their honor the most without breaking it past the point of non-return.

I hope the high rank Lion courtiers at Court proper have it better than me, but I'm not really optimistic here. At the moment, and within the limited scope of my own experience, I can't imagine the Lion getting any better political gain from this wretched planet than an enforcement of the current status quo."

She massaged her temples.

"No, this is the fatigue talking. There are still possibilities. Normalizing our relation with the Unicorn is one of them."

"Ever has it been in the court of the Scorpion." Reki added, "I imagine our cousins are well prepared for the courts, and better able to assess what might be gained from the political situation here."

"Remember Kitsu-san...we are both not here as diplomats so are view is limited. Personally one can but hope to not have been used, or are being drawn, in a plot to gain some advantage against the Lion."

Reki leaned back, this was not the conversation she had expected.

"That's... a suspiciously specific statement isn't it? Were you approached by someone asking you to take part in a weird endeavor or something?"

She furrowed an eyebrow.

"Actually, thinking of it, I have been. Some goose chase in the Desolation, in Spider company. Needless to say I did decline."

"Only in the little games the Scorpion have played at their fetes." Rieko shook her head, "But who knows what one could get drawn into if unwary."

"The Desolution? That is the area zoned off after an explosion of some sort, no?"