Matsu Tsuko, Lady of Lions, stared into the black winds that blew about her keep, and cursed at what they implied, both for her and for the Empire that she served. A tall woman, with fire-bright brown eyes and a thick plait of black hair beneath her maned helm, Tsuko could only be called pretty through an act of generosity. Her mouth was too firm, her jawline too harsh, and her eyes held none of the softness that men desire in their wives each evening. Her thoughts were far more suited to the fury of battle, and her hands were callused and sword-worn. She was proud of her warrior's life, and often lead her troops to victory, but now only felt captive to the future she could not control.
The storm's black clouds descended over the plain as Matsu Tsuko's thoughts settled the battles that would soon be fought by her armies. The wind seemed to her to stink of the acrid clash of swords, and the plains glowed a bloody red from the faint light of the sun. The armies of the ronin Toturi, once the honored Champion of her clan but now honorless and outcast, were massing near those plains, and gathered among their number were strange snake men. She allowed her thoughts to linger unhappily on the Naga, who had once been spoken of only in legend and story, knowing that they would be a crucial, unexpected factor in her future plans of victory.
Tsuko clenched her fists on the dull stone of the rampart. The Naga had no business stepping out of those myths, not now, not when the Empire's fate was in her hands! The people of the Empire knew only rumors of the Naga, rumors telling of a warlike people, ancient and secretive. To think that these beast-men would attempt to invade the Empire, and even worse, to know that a man who had once been her clan's honored Champion would lead them, made Tsuko's eyes narrow in anger and betrayal.
Suddenly, a sharp, tuneless voice broke her dark thoughts. "Lady Matsu-san?" She looked over her shoulder at the tower door, and saw Ujiaki, her half- brother, shoving a thin blue-robed figure to the floor a few paces away. "This . . . Crane woman," he said scornfully, "was found by our scouts, near the ronin army. The men who captured her think she's a spy, carrying messages from Doji Palace to Toturi's honorless horde." He sneered down at the bundle of tattered blue rags, his thumb making angry circles about the hilt of his katana. Tsuko set her helmet on the barbican wall, and turned to look at the creature. Pale, colorless hair, typical of the weak Doji clan, streamed out over the collar of a blue kimono. Tsuko eyed her scornfully, but the woman kept her face turned to the floor.
As Tsuko prodded the stranger with one heavily booted foot, she said mockingly, "Rise, Crane, and tell me your clan's messages to the Ronin and his army." The woman looked up, and her gentle gray eyes met Tsuko's blazing dark ones. "Rise!" Tsuko commanded, grasping the woman's arm and dragging her to her feet. As the woman's limp form awkwardly straightened under Tsuko's gauntleted hand, Tsuko noticed the woman's right leg was twisted strangely. "You're a cripple." Tsuko said insultingly, and stepped away from the Doji.
The woman flinched, then stood alone and carefully executed a graceful bow. "My father said that I was born with my foot twisted in the mouth of Fu Leng. It is not my place to question such things." Tsuko studied the woman for a moment, her narrowed dark eyes reflecting the hatred and contempt she felt for all members of the accursed Doji clan. "What's your name, girl?" she spat.
"My name is Doji Shizue, Lady Matsu," the pale haired stranger said softly, "and your brother was correct. I was carrying letters to Kakita Yoshi-san from the army of the ronin Toturi."
Surprised by the girl's forthrightness, Tsuko said, "What did the letters say? Tell me now, and my samurai will allow you an honorable death."
The Crane girl smiled sardonically and bowed again, "You are too kind, Lady Matsu." Behind Shizue, Ujiaki scowled at the subtle insult and reached for his katana, only to be stopped by his Champion's sudden sharp glance.
Matsu Tsuko studied the girl for a moment, then said derisively, "I have heard of you, cripple girl. They say you're a teller of stories. You spend your time inventing amusements in the gardens of your clan, to entertain their delicate minds. Acrobats, dancing, stories, such gentle diversions so the honorable Doji won't be disturbed by the harsh reality of war." Her voice was venomous in its loathing, "Now look at you, with all your petty whimpering. Look at your clan. It has fallen, your champion has been dishonored, and your mission is a failure. Your only obligation now is to give your death meaning. Tell me what was in those letters!"
Shizue stood silently against the onslaught of Tsuko's words, and Tsuko continued, eyes blazing, "You tell your clan stories of honor, history and wars...would you be the only one of your clan left alive, dishonored, to tell the story of its destruction?"
Shizue looked paler then, and said, "Lady Tsuko, I will tell you what you ask, but it is not what you would wish it to be. I carried no battle-plans, no strategies of war to the army of Toturi. I was not looking for these things, which you consider so important. I sought instead only a story, given to me by one of the serpent-men in Toturi's army." Tsuko looked skeptical, but Shizue proceeded, sitting delicately on the barbican wall, folding her crippled foot beneath the remnants of her silken kimono.
"It has been said that history is only the recording of time between wars. The Naga have come to the empire prepared for war, and yet we know nothing of their history. I went to the armies of Toturi to find the history, the stories, of the Naga. I sought to know the reasons the Naga have returned, and why they have entered the wars of our Empire."
"They are honorless," Tsuko interrupted, growling, "Bushi . . . ronin . . . they care nothing for the Empire, or the preservation of the Emerald Throne."
Shizue cleared her throat politely and said, "They have a legend about the origin of their kind, that they say comes from long before the Seven Clans walked the ground of Rokugan." Ujiaki snorted disbelievingly from his corner, but she ignored him. "The Naga I spoke to told this story of his people . . ." Shizue's eyes half-closed as she spoke and her voice cut through the dusky twilight.
"Once, say the Naga, there were no men on the ground of this world. The Sun goddess and her companion, the Moon, circled the heavens together in a dance of pleasure, creating all the life of the land and sea, and brightening the sky with their twin presence. All was peace and harmony, and the beasts roamed the land in chaos and without wisdom.
"The Naga say that the Goddess, who loved all things of beauty, asked the God to give her a necklace made of the finest stars from the night sky. Fearing that if he left her side she would attract a new lover, he refused to venture alone into the night. She asked him many times, and always he denied her. But the Goddess so wanted the necklace that she contrived a plan to trick the God into getting it for her.
"One day, the Goddess took a stone from the ground, and hid it in her obi. She invited the God into her great palace in the clouds and made a feast in his honor. During the splendid repast, she gave the God great quantities of wine and bread to lull him into sleep and drunkenness. As he lay unaware, she fed to him the stone she had plucked from the earth, and it settled into his thick belly.
"The next morning, the two Great Ones began to cross the sky as they had many times before. But the stone in the belly of the God weighed him down and made him slow. He cried out to the Goddess, "Help me, for I am falling behind you!" But the Goddess only laughed, and sailed across the sky away from him. Soon, the night came, and he was alone with the stars. From far away he heard the voice of the Goddess, promising to return to him if he would grant her wish. So he took from the sky many bright stars, and he strung them together into a chain of jewels. Then he called to the Goddess to return to him. When she saw that he had granted her wish, she did come, and he said, "I still cannot follow you out of the night, for I am weighted as if my shoulders bore a load of lead and stone!"
"The Goddess, caring only for her jewels, told him that she could cure him of the strange weight. As he offered the jewels to her, she pulled out his own wakizashi, slit him across the gullet, and the stone fell free. In his pain, the God let go the necklace of jewels and they scattered across the sky, forming the great Sky Road which hangs above Rokugan. The God never recovered from his wicked wound, and to this day he chases her across the sky, he slowly and at night and she swift as the day, beaming her bright joy upon the lands."
"Yes, but what has this child's tale to do with the Naga people who are about to invade Rokugan?" Ujiaki interrupted, muttering sourly from his post behind them, "This talk wastes time, Lady Matsu, and the Ronin still marches to the plains of Osari!" He scowled blackly, and Shizue quickly continued.
"The stone which was in the body of the God, you see, had been under the mud of the earth, and inside that piece of obsidian lay a small greensnake, sleeping in the hardened rock. Within the body of the God, the greensnake grew. The power of the God changed the snake, and it began to think beyond the chaos of animals. When the stone was freed from the God's belly, it fell upon the earth and shattered into a thousand pieces; each piece became a Naga, each part of the other, each broken from the same block. The snake trapped inside the stone became their first Champion, and he named himself 'Qatol.' It is said that he taught his people to build cities and libraries, and that he taught them the way of the shugenja. And because they came from one stone, they remained one people. Unified. And that is the way they come to us now."
Matsu Tsuko had turned to look out over the ramparts while this story was being told, staring distantly at the storm that burdened the night above the keep. She closed her eyes wearily, and turned away from the cloud-blackened sky.
"Your story is curious, Doji." said Tsuko. "And because you've amused me, I'll let you live this night. But war won't wait for children's tales, and I will not have patience with you for very long. Ujiaki will take you to a room where you will be well-guarded, and tomorrow you will tell no stories. You will tell me only of the letters you carried for the Ronin." She waved a hand at Ujiaki, and he summoned one of the house guard, who grabbed Shizue and dragged her roughly through the door toward the sleeping quarters.
"You can't let her live, Lady. She is ... she's ...a Doji." He spoke the word with such fervor that she turned her dark stare on him.
"Don't let your hatred blind your honor, brother," she said quietly. "If this girl can tell us more about these serpent-people, I am willing to listen. The Way of the Warrior teaches us that in order to defeat an enemy, you must first understand him." Tsuko turned toward the black night sky, bereft of stars due to the thick, thunderous clouds, and said, "Go now. I want to be alone."
Ujiaki bowed curtly, and spun on his heel, leaving the Lady of Lions alone with the storm.