Scorpion Clan Letter - #16
Most people in this world are never satisfied, always aspiring to something greater than they deserve. Give them what they wish for, and they merely wish for more, demand more, feel that anything less than that which they have been given is an insult to their existence.
The ability to grant a favor is thus a power of limited worth, for it only increases the recipient's greed. But the power to take away that which another desires? The ability to snuff the aspirations of another? Ah... that is the way of the Scorpion, and that is why we rule the courts while the Crane struggle with the Crab over Yasuki scraps.
Never has our purpose been more clear than with our friends in the Mantis Clan. Yoritomo Aramasu defied us once, long ago. The outcome of his defiance was long since resolved and, in though Aramasu never offered apology for his crimes his actions at Volturnum redeemed him for his crimes.
Did we forgive him? No.
Why? Did we harbor any true venom toward him? Some of us did, but none that mattered. We did not forgive Aramasu because it is not the way of the Scorpion to forgive. We had more to gain, far much more, by denouncing him as an enemy. Each move he made, he feared manipulation by our hand. Each day he awoke, he wondered when a Bayushi blade come to reap our vengeance. Each new face he encountered, he wondered whether he was looking into a Shosuro's eyes. He was ours, though we never made a move against him. Why did it take so long for us to gain our revenge upon Yoritomo Aramasu? Because it served our purposes.
He dies now because his death serves a greater purpose still. There is another among the Mantis, one whose desires we have sculpted, whose ambitions we have encouraged. This one believes that the Mantis deserve nothing less than everything.
What does a person such as this have to lose?
Everything.
Yoritomo Aramasu was a worthy enemy, but Yoritomo Kitao is a perfect pawn.
That is the way of the Scorpion.
-Bayushi Paneki