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The Shogun's Chief Envoy had never ventured to the Geishu lands before. He never realised it was so far away from the capital. But it was the interminable long distances that kept him from travelling to any of the provinces. Let those country bumpkins come to us, was his view on the matter. But Noriyuki was not about to do that. In fact he had abandoned all communication with the capital ever since the crisis with the Hikiji began. And the situation was becoming worse and worse with each passing day. So much so that finally the Shogun had to take matters into his own hand and dispatch his Envoy to the area to remind everyone just who ruled the country. But upon entering the Geishu territory he noticed that perhaps the Shogun was being a bit presumptuous as to how much influence he truly had in the area.
Lining each side of the road from as far as he could see were crucified men. Their arms and legs were tied to two horizontal poles and then speared on either side of their bodies. Thereafter they were left to rot. Some of the spear points had broken off and were left behind. The smell was indescribable. And the Envoy immediately regretted his choice to travel by palanquin. His retinue was equally unsettled and picked up the pace of their march to little effect, as the dead were like weeds dotting the sides of the road. Then ahead of them one of the Envoy's guards, who was on horseback noticed a cloud of dust on the horizon. As it grew, he heard rumblings getting closer to the procession. He turned his mount and rushed to his master. Quickly the Envoy stuck his head out the small window to see and noticed riders approaching. It wasn't obvious whose allegiance they held, so the guards readied themselves for battle. The Envoy retreated back into this palanquin, though he was fully aware that it would afford him little protection. At last the riders came into view and the guards could see they wore the markings of Geishu. Their sashimono fluttered above their heads. The guards also noticed that the samurai looked as if they had just finished a bloody battle before arriving. The Geishu were covered in mud and their hands were bloody. Before anyone could speak, another Geishu rider rushed through the samurai host and up the Shogun procession. It was a woman. The wiser men knew her to be Lady Tomoe and treated her accordingly. The others simply followed the actions of their masters.
"We expected you lot four days ago." She bellowed.
The Captain came forward, "Well..."
"We can't be wasting time waiting like this. As you can see we're in the middle of a war."
"Lady Tomoe, we are..."
She spurred passed the Captain and rushed to the palanquin, "Whoever's within the palanquin come out," The retinue were aghast at such behaviour; Tomoe was unconcerned, "Come out, or by heaven we'll leave you here."
The Envoy burst out, "What is the meaning..."
He lost all his anger upon seeing the martial bearing of Lady Tomoe. Her face had been blackened by smoke and her hair matted down by mud and filth. But what was more menacing was her countenance; the woman was livid.
