The Day of Thunder

[Shiba Kumori]

-Imperial City: Offices of the Emerald Champion-

Year 29

Jiyo sat near a table with her head in her left hand as she pressed on her temples with her thumb and medicine fingers. The tea Shikibu had made for her had grown cold as it sat next to a series of piles of communications and maps from throughout the empire. None of this was as it was supposed to be...

The Emerald Champion stretched her neck to try and release some of the gathering tension in her shoulders. Things didn't work the same as they used to... She found herself sitting at this confounded desk too much. The lingering pain and tightness reminded her of those first days and weeks after her malady had been discovered as a young woman. The burn scars had stayed with her, but through sheer force of will she had made herself into a capable warrior regardless.

Much of the things she experienced in her life had been thrust upon her in a similar fashion. She had been a simple bodyguard for trade caravans until Isawa sent her to the tournament. Shiba's victory and her support of him had thrust her into the center of this new empire. Her surrogacy for the imperial couple also came suddenly out of necessity. There was no better option than she; to her only she could be trusted with such an important role. In short order a child came... and two more... and two more again. She was no affectionate motherly woman. Although she had been orphaned as a child she was now a mother of five children. She relinquished one of those children to the Yuzuru family and another to the Emperor's private tutoring without ever batting an eye... at least not outwardly.

She was no unifier, yet she stepped in to bring her former chief into the new empire. She was no deep thinker, yet she helped write the empire's first legal code. She was no peacemaker, yet she solved the conflict with the Nezumi following Hisomu's rescue. She was nothing that she was supposed to be when necessity had always come knocking, but by the end of it she had always risen to the task.

But the thing that always bothered her... that incessantly nagged at her like her aching joints... was when the greatest threats to the empire had come... she hadn't been there. When the evil that threatened the empire's very existence reared its maw towards all that they had created... she simply hadn't been there to confront it.

Others had closed the pit. Others had stepped in to protect the emperor at the wedding. Others across the empire were fighting the evil that lurks within the minds and dreams of Shiba's people. She had piles and piles of letters over the past few years... Whispers first. Then strange reports. Now more and more episodes of violence and insanity from every corner of the empire. She could not be there... She could not stop it. She could not prevent people from falling. She had not risen to this great task...

There was a scratch at the door which disturbed her from her personal criticisms. She straightened up and hailed the person to enter. Her fourth daughter, Tae, slid open the door and entered the room with a seriousness that the child had acquired from watching her mother.

"Report." Jiyo said in a practiced and cool tone.

"Ha-." Tae replied with no fanfare or needless introduction. "The Elemental Council meetings concluded for the day. They have provided no variations for the daily rituals on the morrow. The Crane caravan has arrived as expected. They were provided accommodation befitting to each member's rank as you requested."

She pulled a scroll case from her sleeve. "Another handful of missives from the provinces have arrived to Sora-sama's desk which he feels are of some importance. He asked I pass them along to you."

Jiyo extended a hand and took the missive from her daughter. She unraveled the binding and began inspecting what the old evil-eye had found. She paused when she noticed that Tae remained in place as if she had more to say.

"Hai? If there is nothing else you are dismissed." Jiyo replied.

Tae paused for a pensive moment, obviously trying to mask some sort of emotional outburst.

"Kumori has gone missing again. Osakabe and her administrators have been unable to find her for over two weeks. She has not checked in with any of her touchpoints either..." Tae paused.

"Yes?" Jiyo replied.

"We are concerned... Many people have gone missing in recent months. What if Kumori has been exposed to whatever these other missing persons have been exposed to... What if she is now part of the problem? We must find her moth-... Jiyo-sama."

Jiyo noticed Tae's verbal slip... she rarely made such errors ever since she was a little girl. Jiyo still gave her a disapproving look all the same... She could not spare her own daughter even in a moment of worry. Tae must be stronger than her circumstances whatever they may be...

"Two weeks you say?" Jiyo asked as she turned her gaze away. "When did Jin's letter about those 'Thunders' he's looking for arrive?"

"Three weeks ago?" Tae replied.

"It came through Sora's desk, correct?" Jiyo asked.

"Yes."

"Highly confidential?"

"Yes."

"Then she most assuredly got her hands on it." Jiyo replied.

Tae paused, waiting for further explanation.

"Your sister is an idiot, Tae. Sora has filled her head all her life with non-conformist drivel... She looks up to anything and anyone that is 'cool' in her opinion. She has concocted her own infantile code of honor. She does not understand the value of Duty. The value of doing what you are tasked to do... not what your selfish whims tell you you should do. An inconsiderate hedonist with no ability to stay in one lane."

Tae's brow furrowed as her mother spoke. Jiyo had always been a stern mother... and Tae had always yearned for her approval. But insulting her sister like this pressed even her patience for her mother's dour attitude.

"That being said..." Jiyo said with a pause. "You need not worry that she will be a problem. She simply cannot sit still... She needs to be where the action is."

Tae's features softened as her mother continued.

"She cannot trust others to succeed. Her one trait from me that stuck... And not a great one to have stuck..."

She paused.

"That missive... the one about the Thunders... Does not sit well with me. I know it will not sit well with her. The damn fool has been told she cannot be one... so undoubtedly she's out there trying to prove that wrong. She can't stand the thought of not being there... Can't bear to think what would happen should the others fail..."

Jiyo looked up, her eyes gazing as if able to see beyond the wall.

"She will fight. Throw all her spirit against destiny... And destiny will thrust on her what it will. But she will fight... With everything she's got... she'll fight."

Jiyo took in a breath from her nostrils and then looked towards Tae.

"Maybe all of us should fight a bit more like your sister..."

Jiyo stood, leaving the piles of documents on her desk.

"Ready half the guard." She ordered.

"Uhh... Ha-!" Tae replied with apprehension. "Where are we going?"

"Out." Jiyo replied. "Out to the task at hand... Whether we're ready or not."

Tae nodded and exited the room.

Jiyo didn't feel the pain in her joints... or in her heart... for the first time in a long while.