The New Winds

Matsu Qiang waited patiently outside Akodo Eiko's chambers after the weaponry matches, hoping to gain a few moments' audience with the Lion general.

After some time, Eiko still has not shown.

((Investigation (Notice) / Perception please!))

It seemed the Akodo commander had not arrived yet. Patience wasn't easy for the young Matsu, but this was important, so he continued to wait. He glanced around the area while he waited, to keep himself occupied.

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Day 4 LA, do I notice the thing outside Eiko's room? PER/Investigation unknown TN: 9d10o10k4 31
If this is a contested roll, please add +5 for mastery.

There was a note poking out the bottom of the door

((Joining in, I asked Qiang for his approval first and got it.))

Eichiro arrives after Qiang, having missed Eiko in the main training hall. "Has he arrived yet, Matsu-san?"

"I haven't seen Akodo-sensei since we had to leave for the Arts competition," Qiang admitted. "It looks like he hasn't been back yet. I had hoped to have everything sorted out by now."

"I did find this on the floor, though," the Matsu said, picking up the piece of paper from the floor and showing it to the Ikoma. "Maybe he dropped it, or someone was trying to get a message to him but left it carelessly on the ground."

Eichiro looks at the note, "We would, of course, not wish to eavesdrop on private correspondence. That would be a failure of Courtesy." He stands there looking at this piece of paper, "So... shall I check it or do you wish to risk that failure instead?"

"Akodo-sensei seemed troubled this morning, which is very unlike him," Qiang said thoughtfully. "Anxious, I might even say."

"Perhaps looking at this message might give us some insight into how we could help him," he rationalized. "Surely, our duty to our clanmate must outweigh any breach of courtesy involved. I... I'll bring the subject up at our next Lion study group, to see if others agree."

"In the meantime..." Qiang opened the note and look a quick look.

"Eiko,

Consider the matter settled now. No harm will come to them since you upheld your end of the deal. A bit too obvious for my taste, but the outcome is what I desired. He will likely not be able to pass now, which will bring shame to the crane once I let loose the information I have. Who knows, maybe it will shock them so bad they will be too stunned to handle a push form the Lion this summer? Webs within webs....

Matsu Qiang shared the contents of the note with Ikoma Eichiro, then folded it up again.

"This... doesn't look good," Qiang commented understatedly.

Eichiro reads the note twice when it was shared, committing it to memory. "If the 'they' it refers to isn't us or someone we can get to immediately, there will be little we can do about the threat."

"Webs within webs it says, and the threat is coming from outside the Crane at least."

"I don't much like this sort of skulduggery, but I think we cannot reveal this information without bringing shame to Akodo-sensei," Qiang said in a low tone. "Perhaps we can find some other way to make sure our - ah - mutual acquaintance still passes."

"Indeed, may I see it again?" Eichiro opens the page again and studies the handwriting as best as he can. He wonders if he had seen this before, it was a long shot but they had received some fliers and other written notices while they had been here.

"Perhaps one of our shugenja friends might have better luck divining the origin of the paper?" Qiang suggested, once he saw what Eichiro was doing.

"Wouldn't it be important that Akodo-sama gets this?" Eichiro asks, closing it up again, "I don't recognize the script, but going forward I may be able to."

"I have an idea though, it'll take some doing though." Eichiro held a few characters from the letter in his mind. "We'll see if it works though, we can talk about it somewhere else."

"Yes, you're right, best to make sure Akodo-sensei still receives this message," Qiang agreed. Taking the folded slip of paper back, he pushed it under the old general's door.

"From what we've learned, I suspect we would only be wasting the sensei's time if we tried to talk any further with him about the, ahh, scoring irregularity," the Matsu decided. "I'd be interested in hearing your idea. Though, talking about it somewhere else does seem sensible." He nodded to the Ikoma and prepared to leave.