The New Winds

Bayushi Jiro sat patiently in private room he had arranged for today's interviews, letting the smell of tea waft pleasantly through the room. It was time that the Underhand addressed itself fully to the deeper issues that had arisen here in Tsuma. With Toshimoko revealed not to be a conspirator due to Kaidan's excellent work of the night before, it fell to Jiro to begin to figure out exactly who the conspirator truly is. He had an idea how to do just that. A classic idea. And if it didn't work? Well, Kaidan's skills are still very sharp, indeed.

Doji Murashige arrives after a short time and scratches at the door.

“You requested me, Bayushi-San?”

Jiro smiled brilliantly as he rose to offer a bow to Murashige. "I did, Doji-sama," he said, dropping the sensei to emphasize that he was not speaking as a student. Indeed, the wakizashi resting to his right in the traditional manner drove home the point. "Please, come and sit with me a while. Would you care for some tea to accompany our conversation?" He asked, gesturing to the teapot. "I have chosen an Asahina blend. I find the lighter blends infinitely more pleasant, don't you?"

"Tea does sound nice, yes. It has been quite the day."

She gives a shallow bow in return and takes a seat.

"Oh?" Bayushi JIro raised an eyebrow as he poured for each of them. "That is unfortunate, Doji-sama. One would rather have thought that the Topaz Championship would be as tranquil as could be. But now it is all talk of fires and ronin." He sighed, frowning slightly in sympathy. "It would put a damper on the strongest of us, I think. I don't suppose there is any way that I could help to alleviate your distress?"

"Use the abilities your clan is so well known for to find out who is spreading the rumors going around?"

She shakes her head and sighs, placing her hands around her teacup.

"I would be willing to do that, Doji-sama. Indeed, I will make a start this evening." He smiled reassuringly. "I have already made a start on your other problem. Perhaps they are linked." He frowned in the appropriate manner for suggesting that one is giving deep thought to a matter.

She shifts back a bit and pulls out a fan to cover her face.

"My...other problem? Whatever do you speak of?"

"The problem you share with Akodo Eiko, Doji-sama. The problem that I am required by my sacred duty to eliminate," he responded matter-of-factly. "The problem that has already done much harm to your reputation, and to the reputation of this tournament."

"And what makes you think I require your help, Bayushi-san?"

"Is the blackmailer dead? Do you find it comfortable that the town is blaming you for so many of the things that this person has arranged while using you and Akodo-sama as his cat's paws?"

Bayushi Jiro canted his head to the side, his tone sympathetic without being condescending.

"I would think you would wish to have this all over and done with, Doji-sama. And sooner rather than later, with your name left out of the official reports. Does that situation not sound somewhat better than the one to which you woke up this morning?"

"These all sound like lovely promises, Bayushi-san. What do you need in turn? What do you gain form this?"

"This blackmailer is clever, but his mind is not devoted to serving the Son of Heaven. Therefore, he must be eliminated."

Jiro's voice remains calm, dispassionate.

"I may gain recognition among my people; I do not deny this. But ultimately it is my duty to see this done, and I would do it even if it led to my name being spat upon by all of society."

SHe does not say anything for a few minutes, silence filling the room.

Then, the fan snaps closed and she leans in a bit, showing a more casual side instead of the normal guarded, poised, and perfect Doji.

"What information do you need from me, then?"

"I recognize that had you been able to discover the whole identity of the person, you would have resolved all of your problems long ago, but have you been able to divine any clues as to this individual's identity?"

“Only a phrase from their letter, something quite ridiculous too if I might ass. Webs within webs. They sign all their correspondence that way. Chop chop. Their calligraphy needs much improvement as well”

"How dramatic." Jiro was unsurprised at the consistency. "Was the reason for Hitoshi being the target mentioned?"

“No. I imagine it has something to do with the Mantis Daimyō, Yoritomo. He has been maneuvering to get the clan into greater power for some time now, and perhaps this Hitoshi is connected to him somehow.”

"That is possible," Jiro acknowledged, though privately he felt it was far more revelatory of Murashige's anxieties than anything else. He filed that away for his report to Lord Shoju. "When and how were you first approached?"

“I at Kyuden Doji, a note found me in my quarters”