The Day of Thunder

[Haka Soju]

Soju listened, arms crossed, as Sora told his understandably lengthy story. "So you met all of the fallen sky gods - or nearly all of them - and the vast majority of them were self-absorbed, stubborn, and petty, and only one of them seemed at all interested in listening to the mortals around them, instead of telling them what to do."

There had always been a part of Soju's mind that had cautioned her against her dislike for the Kami. After all, she had been wrong about other things, and she had been around long enough that the idea that she might be wrong was simply a possibility, rather than some ego-shattering tragedy. But here was one of the servants of the Kami - one of the servants of the Emperor, one trusted to watch his children, who had been there from the start - and even he had little good to say about most of them.

"In the Shoji," she said after a few moments of thought, "if a family had five utter assholes, two people who couldn't be bothered to reign in their siblings, and one mostly alright person, you didn't suffer the rest of the family for the sake of the one good person. You kept the good person around and drove the others away, and if that good person chose to leave with their family, then so be it."

Soju wrinkles her nose, as if she smelled something bad. "You do not, under any circumstances, put the assholes in charge of the rest of the tribe. Leadership matters. If someone is shitting in the river, they ruin it for everyone downstream, and it seems to me that gods take even larger shits than the rest of us. And worse yet, they have gathered others who think like them to their sides, and now everyone is shitting in the river thinking it is the best way to live. People did not get sick right away, but now? We are starting to feel our stomachs rumble, and we look to the people who are river-shitting for a solution."

She glances at Ai. "I am not certain what you heard from Ai, but the short version is the Shoji were bad people who were tasked with guarding a gateway to the underworld, or so said our priests. Sacrifices were required to keep the gateway closed, and we did this, because it was what the Shoji did. We sacrificed ourselves for the sake of the world." She closes her eye for a moment, then opens it and continues. "Then, the sky gods fell into the world, looked around, and decided that they were in charge, because they could not fathom an existence where they did not sit on thrones and rule over everyone else. The tribes were forced to either fall in line and choose which flavor of god-tyrant they wanted to follow, or leave their ancestral lands and go... where, exactly? Into the ruinous desert to the north? Nobody cared, so long as those who did not agree were gone and out of sight. They did not fit the picture the sky gods wanted, so they were painted over."

"Many of the Shoji went to the Scorpion, because one of our own had started a family among them. Given the choice between following a Shoji and someone else, it was not much of a choice." Anger was starting to creep into her voice. "But when we arrive, the Shoji in charge is an exile, one we banished for the tribe for being a crazy fucking psychopath who feeds her blood to hungry ghosts that she keeps as pets. A woman who, if given the chance, would have been right there with priests, patting you on your shoulder as you watch one of your daughters strangle the other."

"But oh, now you are split into two groups. Those of you with useful skills, the murderers and thieves who know how to murder and steal and lie from both sides of their faces, they are now samurai, the chosen servants of our god. The quieter ones, the ones who could trust to watch your children when you needed to rest, they were all pushed aside and told they aren't samurai, they need to be working the fields to grow rice for everyone. And this is fine, because they would not want to kill anyone even if asked."

She motions to Ai. "And these samurai are being taught that they have a fragile honor within themselves that must be defended at every turn. If one of these so-called peasants says the wrong thing to them, or worse, does not say the specific words that the samurai thinks they should say at the right time, then it is offensive and the only way for the samurai to redeem their precious honor is to kill the peasant. And even worse, they don't even consider that this affects the dead person's family and home, that they have ended someone's life, it is seen as having deprived a lord of their property."

Soju's releases a sigh of frustration and tries to calm herself down. "I do not like much of this "new, better" system that has been set up. If this is a mirror of what the heavens look like, then the heavens can take a long walk into the forest. Bushido is a wedge that your lord is using to divide his people, and there are a lot more people getting shit on than there are doing the shitting. They're docile for now, because the upper class is filled with killers with sharp swords, but in my mind, if things do not change, one day the peasants are going to look around and realize they outnumber you."

There was a pause as Soju takes a deep breath. "And you should not tell people that your lord is killing people for having bad dreams. Read the fucking room and never talk about that in public again."

[Jiyo Sora]

Sora snorted.

"Forgive me if I think you've let your opinions cloud your perceptions, because your story strays from fact in a few key areas. But let that pass for now, I'm a stubborn old goat myself, and I know that confrontation is what we thrive upon. The Libraries are always open if you ever want to do a little light reading on the last twenty-five years."

He leaned closer, staring at her with his oracular eye.

"And you must have been dropped on your head if you think I'm the one who can't read the fucking room here. You think these people don't know? You think they haven't seen it happening? You think they haven't seen those bad dreams turn their friends and family into literal monsters who attack all around them? Are you truly so wrapped up in your own grievances and regrets that you think so little of them, when you make so much of their superiority to a caste of warriors?"

A pause.

"By the by, I agree with you on that point. A farmer can, in a pinch, be handed a spear and defend himself, more or less. A warrior from birth has a hard time feeding himself without someone else's efforts. They are more than intelligent enough to know what is going on whether I say it out loud or not."

He glanced at Ai, then back at Soju.

"And if you think these utterances of yours won't make it back to people who care a hell of a lot more about the Celestial Order than I do, you are most likely genuinely insane. But lucky for you, I'm in an expansive mood. So. Let me ask you the same question the people at that meeting all those years ago couldn't answer. What do you propose to do about it?"

[Haka Soju]

"And you must have been dropped on your head if you think I'm the one who can't read the fucking room here. You think these people don't know? You think they haven't seen it happening? You think they haven't seen those bad dreams turn their friends and family into literal monsters who attack all around them? Are you truly so wrapped up in your own grievances and regrets that you think so little of them, when you make so much of their superiority to a caste of warriors?"

"If you are such a well-read scholar, then you know the difference between rumors and confirmations." She motions to a distant group of peasants. "People whispering about samurai killing dreamers is one thing. Rumors on the wind, dismissed by those who have faith that their 'betters' are trying to solve things. People argue over whether they are true while they drink. But hearing a high-ranking samurai who is close with the Emperor say that his boss is killing dreamers left and right? That is a much different thing, and it is literally the first thing they tell new Scorpion."

She points at Ai. "She is the child of a god. You are a high-ranking Imperial. I am a singer. That idiot over there is a peasant. If you think all four of us saying the same thing have the same effect upon the world and the people in it, then you are delusional."

"By the by, I agree with you on that point. A farmer can, in a pinch, be handed a spear and defend himself, more or less. A warrior from birth has a hard time feeding himself without someone else's efforts. They are more than intelligent enough to know what is going on whether I say it out loud or not."

"That's good, at least. But what you say, matters, even if everyone else in the room is saying the same thing." She scrunches up her nose in frustration. "Even here, lots of samurai are looking around, being nervous and paranoid, but the headmistress is happy and cheerful, so her people are being happy and cheerful. How long do you think it would take for this village to collapse if she said even half the things that the samurai have been saying? The speaker matters just as much as the message."

"And if you think these utterances of yours won't make it back to people who care a hell of a lot more about the Celestial Order than I do, you are most likely genuinely insane. But lucky for you, I'm in an expansive mood. So. Let me ask you the same question the people at that meeting all those years ago couldn't answer. What do you propose to do about it?"

Soju snorts softly. "It is better to speak the truth and question authority and be killed for it than to quietly go along with whatever terrible things you are told to do by those in power. I did that once, and it cost me everything. If your superiors and peers punish dissenting opinions with violence, it will do far more to prove my words true than anything I could say in a dozen lifetimes. Because they have created a system where what they do and say - and what you do and say - are more important than what I do and say."

"As for what I propose to fix things?" She raises her hand and starts to count off points on her fingers. "Eliminate the samurai caste. Having warriors to defend your family and lands is good and noble. Sometimes, enemies must be attacked, for there are many monsters in the world. These things make sense. But I see little good in elevating the status of warriors so far above the common people. There should be no difference in status between those who sew clothing and those who sow the fields and those who write poetry and those who defend our villages. An idiot born to a samurai should not command more power and respect than a wise and skilled man born to a peasant."

A second finger is ticked. "Following on that point, the wealth of a Clan should be distributed evenly among its people. Among the Shoji and many other tribes, food was shared evenly among its people. In this new empire, I see the samurai gathering wealth while the peasants live in wooden huts. Samurai wear kimono of fine silk, while peasants are wearing simple cloth. An inequality of wealth leads to theft, smuggling, and prostitution, and these are vices that poison a village. Seeing the gods sitting in the largest palaces and castles, clothed in the finest silks and eating the best foods, this will only lead to greater vices."

She ticks off another finger. "Remove the fallen gods from leadership positions. As you said in your own words, they are very skilled, very intelligent, but still people. They also do not seem to age like mortals, yes? So you have these foreigners - and I do not use the word as an insult here - who have come to our land and declared themselves rulers. They place themselves at the heads of Clans, where they will sit for... how many decades? How many lifetimes? How many centuries will Bayushi sit at the head of the Scorpion, ensuring that things run just as he likes it, even as the world changes around him? Will Doji allow new forms of art to flourish, or will she dismiss them as blights upon the things that she enjoys, smothering them before they have a chance to begin?"

Soju shakes her head. "I think it would be better for the fallen gods to place mortals in charge of their Clans, and then take advisory roles, helping to teach and guide mortals, rather than rule over them. All siblings squabble, and it is only a matter of time before one of these siblings - each of which commands great numbers of armed killers - decides to start a fight with another. With humans, a leader will perish and a new one will step up, able to mend the wounds of the past because they were not their predecessor. With a god who rules for lifetimes, there is no turnover, no chance at a new beginning, just a slow spiral of grudges and old feuds that will suck in everything around it. Placing the gods in advisory roles allows the new Empire your gods have built to heal from old wounds, wounds that will not close while the people in power remain a constant."

A fourth, final finger is ticked off. "It has become clear that there needs to be a better way to disseminate information across the Empire. As I said, it matters what important people say, and the Empire is filled with darkness and rumors. What does the Emperor have to say on this? His people do not know his thoughts, do not know what to do. The Emperor could be calming people, telling them how to protect against spirits and attacks, or at the very least how to protect themselves against ghosts and spirits. We are treating this new world like we are members of one tribe, but a tribe that never knows what the headmaster is thinking is a confused tribe at best. Even if the Emperor has no answers, he should be using his words to give his people hope."

Soju crosses her arms and looks up at Soju. "I am just a singer. I have only been in the Empire for a few years, so perhaps I have not grown used to the bad smell that nobody else is noticing any longer, because they have been with it for too long. Maybe I am wrong, as I have been on other things. But, you asked me what I would do to fix things, and now you know. There are other things that can be done - more healers are needed in villages everywhere, and your library books should be made available to everyone, instead of those who can just drop their lives and spend weeks traveling to the capital - but those are the largest of points."

[Jiyo Sora]

She points at Ai. "She is the child of a god. You are a high-ranking Imperial. I am a singer. That idiot over there is a peasant. If you think all four of us saying the same thing have the same effect upon the world and the people in it, then you are delusional.

"Bold of you to assume he's an idiot. Perhaps you were pointing in the wrong direction? I'm the one standing right here."

He seemed more... amused than angry.

The Soju-ist Manifesto

Sora... nodded.

"Well. An honest question honestly answered. I think the practicality of some of your proposed solutions is somewhat open to question, but it's plain you can use that thing between your ears for more than just complaining. But you are aware that we have a mechanism for anyone who puts in the effort to achieve samurai social standing, I trust? Not as warriors, either- my daughter Phi can barely throw a punch. And we do disseminate information, that's what the libraries are for, and why we make sure that anyone who wishes learns to read what is in them. Anyone. Including that fellow you called an idiot just now."

He shook his head.

"I have no idea what you've been doing with your time since joining the Scorpion, but it seems Bayushi has been keeping you in a cave somewhere if you're unaware of these things. If you want to talk about it, well, none of us appears to be going anywhere for the next week, and as a famously irritable and difficult person, I feel like I owe you any consideration I can offer."

[Nanzi Ai]

Ai did not agree with well... a lot of that, but she had the good sense to see how Sora would address her 'concerns'. From her perceptive she could see nothing wrong with the way things currently were.

She said kindly, "I am glad I could bring two like minded samurai... ahem, individuals together."

[Haka Soju]

"Bold of you to assume he's an idiot. Perhaps you were pointing in the wrong direction? I'm the one standing right here."

"If he disagrees, then he can say something about it," she shrugged. "I'm a reasonable person and won't murder him for voicing his opinion."

"Well. An honest question honestly answered. I think the practicality of some of your proposed solutions is somewhat open to question, but it's plain you can use that thing between your ears for more than just complaining. But you are aware that we have a mechanism for anyone who puts in the effort to achieve samurai social standing, I trust? Not as warriors, either- my daughter Phi can barely throw a punch. And we do disseminate information, that's what the libraries are for, and why we make sure that anyone who wishes learns to read what is in them. Anyone. Including that fellow you called an idiot just now."

Sujo shook her head. "I was not aware, which is, again, a failure of proper information dissemination. The Scorpion haven't been eagerly putting up flyers to inform the peasantry of such things, and even if they did, literacy takes a back seat to farming for many. Do samurai have to qualify for their position, and if so, how many years of training do they have to prepare for the test, in contrast to a peasant?"

She motions toward Ai. "Is there a world where one of Doji's children is told 'good try' and given a crate of beets to go live in a farming village? I am thinking not."

"I have no idea what you've been doing with your time since joining the Scorpion, but it seems Bayushi has been keeping you in a cave somewhere if you're unaware of these things. If you want to talk about it, well, none of us appears to be going anywhere for the next week, and as a famously irritable and difficult person, I feel like I owe you any consideration I can offer."

"I can sing, so I go around and sing. If I couldn't sing, I would be planting rice somewhere, most likely." Still, she nods in understanding. "Thank you for the conversation and your time. My husband often told me I was similarly irritable and difficult, though it has yet to make me famous. Maybe someday."

She said kindly, "I am glad I could bring two like minded samurai... ahem, individuals together."

Soju smirks. "Thank you for not cutting me down once I started talking. Your hair looks nice today."

[Jiyo Sora]

"I can sing, so I go around and sing. If I couldn't sing, I would be planting rice somewhere, most likely." Still, she nods in understanding. "Thank you for the conversation and your time. My husband often told me I was similarly irritable and difficult, though it has yet to make me famous. Maybe someday."

"Yes, well. Be careful, you might end up marching into Jigoku to rescue a Kami and wondering how the hell any of that happened..."

He tapped the side of his nose.

"Complicates the hell out of your life if you survive. Causes all sorts of unreasonable expectations."

Husband in the past tense. Noted.

Possible head trauma.

Need to send Bayushi a letter asking what the hell he's teaching his samurai...

No. Need to ask Yuzuru to dictate a letter asking Bayushi what the hell he's teaching his samurai but keeping her name out of it.

[Nanzi Ai]

"Thank you for the kind words, Haka-sama, we are having a discussion, it is good to listen," she said warmly.

“Why would we be forced to grow these… beets? We are the children of Lady Doji and Lord Nanzi; both have proven themselves as heroes and champions of the Empire, servants of Shiba, first of his name and Emperor of the realm.”

“If a beet farming village needs my protection, I would be honored to serve in their defense. This is how we honor the peasantry,” she responded.

The manifesto had maybe gone over her head.

[Jiyo Sora]

"You might want to ask your father about a spirited discussion we had on the subject of farmers twenty-five years ago..."

[Haka Soju]

"Yes, well. Be careful, you might end up marching into Jigoku to rescue a Kami and wondering how the hell any of that happened..."

He tapped the side of his nose.

"Complicates the hell out of your life if you survive. Causes all sorts of unreasonable expectations."

"Not least of which seems to be the urge to mention it whenever possible," she teased, her lips curling in a faint smile. "I'm curious, in that sort of situation, do you write the story for the Imperial library yourself, or is there someone who listens to your story and then writes it down? Or do you just sort of notice one day that someone you didn't know has written that story for you?"

"Thank you for the kind words, Haka-sama, we are having a discussion, it is good to listen," she said warmly.

“Why would be forced to grow these… beets? We are the children of Lady Doji and Lord Nanzi; both have proven themselves as heroes and champions of the Empire, servants of Shiba, first of his name and Emperor of the realm.”

“If a beet farming village needs my protection, I would be honored to serve in their defense. This is how we honor the peasantry,” she responded.

Soju's smile and eye both widen slightly as she gives Sora her best 'do you see what I mean?' look. He was a parent, and thus surely recognized it at a glance.

[Jiyo Sora]

"Not least of which seems to be the urge to mention it whenever possible," she teased, her lips curling in a faint smile. "I'm curious, in that sort of situation, do you write the story for the Imperial library yourself, or is there someone who listens to your story and then writes it down? Or do you just sort of notice one day that someone you didn't know has written that story for you?"

"Oh, I don't write a damn thing."

He laughed.

"I didn't learn to read or write until I was over twenty winters and my calligraphy is still trash. That particular story has been written down by a few who were there, but not me. My wife Kinyoubi wrote one account before our marriage, Lord Nanzi wrote one, Lady Saruko of the Dragon has a version, the Nezumi had a version that I managed to get transcribed into our script by judicious begging, the Xia of the Crab have their version..."

A shake of the head.

"I think we spill too much ink on too many variations on the big events, if I'm being honest, but at least the scribes keep busy with harvest totals and birth records and instruction manuals too."

[Haka Soju]

"There are multiple versions? As in, there isn't a single official account of what happened?" She seemed genuinely surprised by that. "Is there a... someone who decides what the 'most official' version is?"

Something else occurred to her. "Does that happen a lot? Multiple versions of the same account for an event?"

[Nanzi Ai]

“Many different ways of seeing how a thing happened, this seems a greater good to give more perspectives… at least as far as I understand Shiba-ojisan,” she responded warmly.

“I admit I had not read the Nezumi version of events, but I am familiar with the others and my Honored Father loves to speak of it. My earliest memories are his stories of the Rescue… the Day of Thunder… our role as defenders and champions.”

“Normal stuff,” she said warmly.

[Jiyo Sora]

“Many different ways of seeing how a thing happened, this seems a greater good to give more perspectives… at least as far as I understand Shiba-ojisan,” she responded warmly.

Sora nodded and smiled. "Just so, the Boss likes perspectives."

"There are multiple versions? As in, there isn't a single official account of what happened?" She seemed genuinely surprised by that. "Is there a... someone who decides what the 'most official' version is?"

"I imagine most Clans give primacy to whichever version their own scribes got down, but no, not formally. Now, I'll betray my own deep-seated and unshakeable bias and say that I think my wife writes the most factual accounts of events, but I don't get to have that written over the section where the scrolls are housed..."

Something else occurred to her. "Does that happen a lot? Multiple versions of the same account for an event?"

"Only when there are multiple witnesses who write it down, so it's mostly the big happenings. Any of us make it out of this village we'll probably have a few versions of the tale."

[Haka Soju]

"Interesting." She glances at Ai, then looks back to Sora. "In time, though, someone will have to choose which records to keep, right? There is only so much space that can be set aside to records, and as the years march onward, and each event and proclamation gets its own scroll which takes up space, some of them will inevitably need to be pruned due to redundancies."

She gives them an apologetic smile. "Among the Shoji, only the priests kept written records, and even then, only pertaining to rituals and their dates. I haven't given much thought to the... variances in official recorded history before."

[Nanzi Ai]

"Build bigger libraries?" she asked.

[Haka Soju]

"Build bigger libraries?" she asked.

"Ai, you beautiful sunfish." Soju motions with her hands. "Imagine you are your great-granddaughter or some such. You wish to learn about legendary irritable person, Jiyo Sora, so you go to the libraries to find a book about his exploits. But, as it turns out, there are nine such books. You are a busy samurai, so you ask the person running the library which one you should read, and they say 'oh, this one is the one written by his wife, it is the most factual.' So that is the book you read. Do you take the time to read the other eight books? I am thinking, you are busy, maybe not."

"Now, imagine that a hundred people all come looking for that book, all are told the same thing, everyone wants to read it... but nobody wants to read the one written by the rat-thing. Do you keep the book nobody reads in an easily accessible part of the twelve libraries that there now are, or do you move it to the worst library, that nobody ever visits, because you need room for other, more popular books in the better spot? In this way, the story written by Sora's wife becomes the actual version of what happened, regardless of whether it is actually the truth or not."

[Nanzi Ai]

"I suppose that could be an issue, but scholars may want to have leave to have access to many sources to compare and contrast? Find different insights? I am no librarian or scholar," she said honestly.

"I admit I don't visit the Libraries as much as I probably should."

[Haka Soju]

"Neither am I," Soju admits. "I am probably just riled up from our earlier discussion. Not everything is a disaster waiting to happen ."

[Jiyo Sora]

"We've only been building these places for maybe twenty years so far, and only making so many copies. I would say the job of later librarians might well be to produce scrolls summarizing the various accounts as a place to begin."

He shrugged.

"Something Kinyoubi suggested. She's always been the brains of our marriage."