This Alliance

Chapter 6: What must I do?

The red Torri.

He would tell his stories in the most interesting of ways. Either with shadows from the lamp's light onto the wall or specific martial art movements. He loved telling them with great detail.

All except one.

One where the War of Wolves had begun. One where he would never use extravagant dances or pretty shadows. It was always a brief talk, a passing comment even. Where the emperor's champion disappeared and was never seen again.

That was until now. In fact, he had always been there, right under the very noses of those around them, even his own family. Yet, being exposed by someone outside of their control was the way to find out? Now her father has to listen to every order of the man whose dishonor wears him like a dark cloak. If it wasn't for that Aramusha none of this would have happened.

If it wasn't for her killing Mobura none of this would have happened.

Shame hit Naomi like a sharp arrow through the chest. She covered her mouth in shame, taking many steps backward until she hit the wall. What had she done? A fool she was to think that killing someone like him would not bring any consequences. Now another Daimyo was hot on her tail for the scroll that she had stolen. Not only a Daimyo, but her own father.

Would it be best just to lie low for a while? To avoid a confrontation with her own flesh and blood? But what if Lord Satake gets suspicious? Naomi didn't know anymore and it pained her to think about the man's intent. Yet it wouldn't do her any good to stand around and do nothing.

Sighing, she shifted her balance back onto her feet and made her way to her room. Light poured in from a sliver as she slid open the door. The first thing Naomi set her sights on was her closet door. She rushed to it to yank it open, somewhat in fear that the thing she was looking for would be gone, but no. At the bottom of her closet was the box of the golden snakes, very similar to that of the snake on her father's hilt, stiff as any object could make of themselves.

Naomi reached down to touch the box, her hands shaking relentlessly as she did so. In one movement, she lifted the lid away. What was inside was no jewelry, or strings, or even some nice cloth, only the rolled up paper that contained strange symbols. Reaching down to rub her hands against its soft skin, she picked it up and carefully unrolled it. The paper itself was nothing special, it was just like any washi piece, but what it contained was what caught her interest.

Symbols made from the darkest of ink that would forever stain the piece. Lines and swirls formed into strange pictures that placed themselves neatly into a column. It was as if each sentence was disguising itself to fit into the Myre's ways. Everything about this piece was foreign to her, but she knew one thing was certain.

These were not just symbols but a language.

It was not of the vikings for their patterns consisted of straight, thin lines. It was not of the knights for the language would be deemed unintelligible for them. The longer that Naomi looked at it the better she came to understand it without knowing their true meaning. This was no language of Heathmore, not of knights, vikings or samurai. So who was it from? And if Mobura had acquired this piece of paper outside of Heathmore, then what was his plan with it? What was Lord Satake's plan with it?

Time passed as Naomi's eyes strained to stare upon the scroll any further. For who could decipher a language as this without some suspicion?

"Naomi?"

Startled at the sound of her own name, she quickly turned around and hid the scroll behind her back.

"Naoki? Don't sneak up on me like that!" she whispered harshly to her sister, before realizing her mistake. She took a slow breath before calming herself down, "go back to bed."