Of Riddles
by Ree Soesbee
"Your word, my lord."
The lightning crossed the sky in huge, violent arcs, and the wind flung the branches of the trees like the ars of wailing women. Ten men, one tall and lithe, moving with infinite grace and ease, stood beside a woman. Their voices were soft above the roar of the raging river, its waters swollen by the rush of melted ice from the mountain peaks. Soon, the storm would flood those banks, and wash the soft red clay away.
Wash the blood away...
"Your will, my lord."
The strange vision faded, and Hoshi looked up from his studies. A young monk, no more than 20, wearing the muted robes of the Brotherhood, stood in the doorway of his tent. "Yes?" The son of Togashi said, hand touching his weary eyes.
"The Naga wish to speak to you about the battle at dawn." The Naga. Once, thought Hoshi, he would have appreciated their strength at his back. Once, he would have struggled to bring the emissaries to his father's mountain, so that they could share knowledge and learn from each other. Now, he only wanted them to leave.
The Qamar rested - you can't really say 'sat' when you're talking about the massive Naga Champion - upon a hillock, watching the thunder play in the sky as Hoshi approached. "Greetings, Son of Kami," Qamar hissed in their ancient language. Hoshi replied politely, touching his forehead with one hand in greeting.
"Father," thought Hoshi, "Togashi. I know that you were born a Kami of the heavens, and yet your foresight continues to amaze me. How did you know? And how did you know to teach me?"
"We discuss the storming of Mirumoto Castle," The Qamar smiled through his words, "And wish to speak to you of your people." "I thought young Daini had been teaching you of Rokugan history..." Hoshi began, but the Naga's elaborate facial ripple showed his annoyance. "The Daini speaks with a human tongue, and there are things we do not understand."
"I see." Hoshi paused. "Yet I cannot tell you more than you already know." "What does that mean?" The Qamar was quick to ask. "Only that you seek something which we cannot give you. Something which you should not be allowed to find.
"Then are you against us, Hoshi-sama?"
Hoshi looked once into the Qamar's eyes as he turned away. "I cannot change history. I am only a small part of the Riddle, not the Riddle itself. I can only play my part. Nothing more."
...dark winds rising, storm on the horizon, nine men and a woman, standing on a hillside above a flooding pass. Her hair, long and fine, falls beneath her blade in long silken locks. Torn by the wind, they blow to the river's mercies, no longer a part of who the woman was. Who she will become. The men gather at their Lord's command, painting elaborate symbols upon her naked flesh...
"Are you all right, Sama?" Daini's voice was strained. Hoshi looked at the young man, his emerald battle-armor shining in the faint sunlight. "You were speaking, and then you suddenly broke off..." Worry showed plainly in Daini's face. Mirumoto though he might be, his face would never be the unreadable tapestry of thought that had been his father's. Or his grandfather's, or their ancestors... so many years past. "Fine, Daini-san. Fine." Hoshi stood on the bluff, looking out at the chasms between the armies of the Naga and the twisted path to Shiro Mirumoto. "I know that this union with our Naga brothers will bring back the strength of the Dragon, Hoshi-sama. I know that it will bring glory to our clan, and peace to our people." Daini smiled in anticipation, his mustache moving with a practiced, courtier's grace.
"Glory and peace, Daini."
A pause.
"And what of your sister?"
"My sister must be destroyed," was Daini's quick reply, "before she can slaughter more innocents."
Hoshi looked down at Daini, pity in his dark eyes. So young, he thought. "You would kill Hitomi if you could?"
"If it would save the Dragon Clan, I would." Daini replied proudly. "Togashi told me that I was to play a part in history - and I have not forgotten." With a swift movement, Hoshi drew his katana and tossed it, hilt-first the hilt to the youth. "Then kill me."
Daini nearly dropped the katana in shock. "What?" "If you wish to destroy your family, then begin with me, Daini." Hoshi moved closer. "You pause. Are you too weak to act? KILL ME." Hoshi stepped toward him menacingly, "Still, you do not strike. Words, Daini. Words are the weapons of petty men and criminals.
"Strike, Daini! Or would you refuse to save your family because you are too weak? Killing me will end the slaughter. You can take my life, and Hitomi will be powerless - you will rule the Dragon, Daini. Make your place in history." Hoshi continued, his words flying effortlessly, hypnotically. "Destroy me, Daini. I have asked you to. I have commanded you, and I am the son of a Kami."
"No, Hoshi..." Daini struggled, stepping back, the katana loose in his shaken grasp. "You don't know what you are saying..." "Hitomi was willing to kill those who served her," Hoshi snarled, "those she loved, because she thought it was best for her family. Yet you do not even have that strength." A blow to Daini's finely-boned chin flung the samurai back against the rocky shale. Thrown to his knees, Daini could do nothing but gasp, holding the ancient katana in his hand. "Kill me, Daini!" Hoshi roared, and his voice shook the ground. Legs writhing into a serpent's tail, Hoshi loomed above the smaller man.
Daini struck. From the wound, blood poured over the blade, obscuring the finely crafted steel. From his betraying throat, a howl shook the stars. His eyes opened, and he sat on the ground, arms outstretched, holding nothing.
Hoshi sat near him, silent, an infinite sadness in his eyes. "You are no better than your sister."
... and nine of the ten men rose, arms entwined, their souls and spirits becoming as blood on the ground. The last, his hands outstretched to the sky, drew in their knowledge and bequeathed it to the woman, passing to her all that was good and dear to them all. The nine fell at last, bodies torn and wasted. She stood, drawing the wind around her as the last of her old form washed away with the rising waves. Now she was nothing, something more than mortal, and less than infinite...or so the voice upon the wind whispered.
Hoshi spun, certain now of the origin of the strange visions. At the edge of the sleeping campfire, a woman he had never seen before rested, her fingers trailing through the burning coals. Hoshi stepped from his tent and watched as her silent form crouched idly in the shadowy light. As he approached, she looked up with a soft smile.
Her hair had been shorn, and her skin shone with trailing light, as if tendrils of the fire still brushed against her arms. Her worn kimono hung in tatters about her shoulders, but her eyes shone with devotion and dedication, and she showed no fear of his approach. No guards had called to him, no sentry had noted her approach. Around them, the Naga and the monks slept peacefully, certain that the Fortunes held them in a safe grasp. Hoshi knelt beside her, reaching out his had to hers. She lifted it from the coals, and smiled, her fingers cool and soft. "Who are you?" Hoshi asked, and realized that he had never - in his ancient life - asked that question of another.
The woman gave no response, and he suddenly realized that she could not. Her voice was absent - perhaps it had never been. Her silence was not born of modesty or patience, but of necessity. As he had never before asked the question, he knew that she would never be able to answer. Ten men gather on a hill, but one kami and one woman return... "You are the Riddle." Hoshi whispered, but the woman could give him no answer at all. When the armies marched the next day, Eisai strode at Hoshi's side, her shorn head covered in an elaborate tattoo of feathers. The crow, ancient symbol of Shinsei and the riddles of the Tao, rested upon her forehead. An enigma at best, she stood apart from the overbearing Naga, the defiant Dragon, even from the wisdom of the Brotherhood. Eisai... Hoshi thought., looking down at her, perhaps there is hope left for us in this world after all.
When he looked, he found her watching him, knowing somehow that his eyes would turn to her. The secret heart - the riddle. Eisai. Father sent you.