Queenfisher

Just wanted to notify everyone about the book's cover changing! Don't worry about it! It's temporary and is a holiday card-cover, I guess, to make use of the fact that I have the "tree" in the title and also the fact that my MC is not just any tree. But a conifer .

So the cover will be of a very festive conifer! 

Holiday mood!! ^^ Enjoy.

Oh, and this chapter is heavy on the world-building due to the book ignoring that part of the story for a while in favor of BL goodness. So it just kind of put all world-building in one spot to get back to BL goodness straight afterward!

Chapter Seventy-Nine

The Lord of Nothing

Part 2 of 3

At last, not having to see even the glimpses of Abihiko every other day!

The journey through the south-east of the Empire went by pleasantly which surprised Nekohiko. No, not the views or the premise of journeying and seeing for himself the small beautiful towns and castles. Only the idea of traveling with Suminoe, and in such a concealed way.

Suminoe and he didn't buy dummy steeds, or live horses, or any kind of vehicles. They went on foot as most Wayfarers did, and the only escort they took with them was Ashflake who would occasionally swoosh past them when it ran up and down the roads they took, sniffing the merchants and farmers and other travelers they met.

How odd, this was. To see Ashflake no longer prim and stately as it usually was back in Izumo, but instead frolicking and losing its head in the wilds. And Suminoe himself...

Well, Suminoe didn't frolic and certainly didn't lose his head. But he didn't look as distant and unlikable as usual, either. With his uniform black-and-white robes exchanged for the light traveling cloak in pearly grays, he most resembled just another itinerant Spiritway priest. Only one with a much more impressive face and impeccable manners.

So Nekohiko did his best to copy him. He also hid his orange uniform under a traveling cloak and also let go of his usual detached attitude when he regarded the people around them on the trade country roads. If before, he would ignore everyone and try to shun them with his coldness, now he did whatever Suminoe did when poor people in the villages or inns, having noted their Wayfarer look, would ask them for favors in pacifying or exorcising misbehaving Spirits.

Suminoe would listen to them all methodically, patiently. He would never refuse them. He would never take payment for the small tasks the people usually did.

Which was different from how Kazuragi and Yakabe, or Asazuma and Okinaga had taught Nekohiko to go on Wayfaring missions.

They would demand money from the rich even though they helped the poor for free. And they might even refuse the pleas to help if they suspected the payers of abusing the Wayfarer trade or of lying about a certain Spirit issue.

Suminoe, on the opposite, did not distinguish between rich and poor, fake or genuine, idle or in dire need. Everyone received the same treatment from him, and Nekohiko even admired that.

Though, Suminoe also didn't dispose of the Spirits. In his way of addressing the issues between the Spirits and the humans, he more often than not took the side of the Spirits. He would fix the immediate concern of a human, but Nekohiko knew that their troubles would soon return. The bad luck that plagued certain households, the curses lingering over some people, the diseases and bad moods and squabbles across the entire villages.

He guessed, Suminoe did not care what happened to the humans in the long run.

That, he could not admire. He hardly even understood the reasoning behind it. Spirits were the backbone of his Empire, but so were the people. Suminoe choosing ones over the others... did not make much sense to him.

It was an important discovery. While the Head Priest of Izumo and the Emperor had the same duties before the Land -- to provide the connection between the Spirits and the people, the Head Priest was more of an indifferent arbiter who watched from the sides, only sometimes working as an interpreter and a diplomat between the Spiritside and the mortal realm.

The Emperor had to unite all. Had to Bind them together, into one cohesive family. Had to care and try to understand both sides even if that tore his soul in half.

***

"The lovely Prince seems forlorn," the melodious female voice said, and Nekohiko finally resurfaced from his reveries to pay attention to his surroundings.

The famed Vast Island¹Erm, this would be around the place of Hiroshima, actually. 広島 ("Vast, or Wide Island"). castle, the capital of Hisome Lordship. Nekohiko had arrived here only a few hours ago, but was already welcomed in the private gardens of the Great Hisome Lady of the Mists.

Suminoe being her younger brother helped, of course, but Nekohiko had little doubt that as soon as she found out he was the true Emperor, she would have let him in regardless of Suminoe's presence. Or maybe even in spite of it.

Nekohiko picked up no warmth or even friendliness between the two Hisomes. Rather -- Suminoe treated his regal sister as he did everyone else, and Great Lady Takarashi responded to him with marked coolness as well.

She was much nicer to Nekohiko, though.

"Or maybe just thoughtful?" she asked again, her luminous eyes studying Nekohiko with genuine intrigue. Her gaze shifted from him to the sea of mists outside their pavilion at the top of one of the castle's many tiers that cascaded in gorgeous gardens over the hill the castle stood on. "It's understandable, though. The view truly promotes contemplative mood."

"Yes," Nekohiko replied, polite.

And that was it. The conversation wasn't the most flowing one.

This tiered garden they sat in was so high above the town of the Vast Island beneath -- that Nekohiko couldn't help but feel like the castle was the island from the title. He could not see the town. He could not see the other gardens of the castle or any of the people. Everything beneath the pavilion in which he sat with Suminoe and Takarashi was drowning in a radiant, pearly sea of mists, only the tops of pines peeking in through the haze before the tidal fogs washed over them again.

Around the pavilion, a few orchard plums and cherry trees swayed with the breeze, and the filigree pavilion itself felt very real, solid to the touch. But the rest of the world might just be an illusion for all Nekohiko knew.

Lady Takarashi served him and Suminoe tea by herself. No maids, no dummies. Her feminine grace and old-time traditionalism astounded Nekohiko. He rarely saw women of such refined culture in Izumo. Young maidens and girls who were only getting their education were rather brash and lively, in a hopeful, excited way.

Takarashi almost appeared as though she had walked out of an idyllic legend or a fairytale about what a perfect lady should be.

Except for her face.

Her clothes and hairdo were also traditional and lovely, as was the upper half of her face. From the little that Nekohiko saw of her, he knew she was a person of extraordinary beauty. Just like her son, Morokata. In fact, her eyes reminded him of Morokata's uncannily.

But right under the bridge of her nose began a veil she wore permanently. A diaphanous, breezy piece of cloth that hid the rest of her exquisite features from sight. Rumors said -- she had put it on more than a decade ago, to keep the sanity of those who looked at her, because, apparently, one glance at Great Lady Takarashi could drive men and women mad with desire.

Nekohiko did not doubt that could be the case. And yet, when he stared too long at her, he noted small flaws and imperfections in her skin that made him wonder what truly hid under that veil.

"Thank you for the tea," Nekohiko told her. By now, he realized that Takarashi's conversation, while very courteous, always maintained the same level of... vague. Or maybe even meaningless.

He reciprocated as best he could.

"Your tea is very delicious," he added.

"Why, thank you, lovely Prince."

The woman watched him with a smily expression but never committed to anything. In fact, her politeness soon began feeling quite menacing.

Nekohiko didn't let that dissuade him. He was only here to get acquainted, not to actually make allies, no?

"I wonder if the lovely Prince requires the removal of the Hisome seal?" Takarashi asked suddenly as though noting Nekohiko's lack of interest in talking.

She extended her slender, youthful hand toward him, and for a moment, Nekohiko wanted to accept it. Not because he wanted her to lift his seal but because it was so easy to agree to anything Takarashi suggested. It all seemed ephemeral and transient. Nothing was truly that serious, was it?

Suminoe's fingers lay on Nekohiko's shoulder, pressing down. Hard.

"Thank you, not required. We only came to introduce ourselves so that once the actual military campaign begins, you know the side you will be on," Suminoe told her frigidly.

"I do?" Takarashi cocked an eyebrow, demure. "His Supreme Divine Majesty Isaseri-hiko treats me very kindly and very personally, Your Holiness."

The Usurper. Nekohiko's uncle, lord Isaseri-hiko.

So Takarashi and the House Hisome were on the Usurper's side?

Nekohiko frowned, fixed on Takarashi's lowered eyelashes and timid gaze. "As you know, His Majesty always had," she went on with what sounded like a bitter chuckle. "His favors to the Hisome family are hard to ignore."

"Yes, and the late Emperor Kunikuru was also very kind to you once," Suminoe said, a tint of menace in his voice. "We all know how that ended."

Takarashi's eyes flashed with an unreadable yet powerful emotion as she regarded Suminoe for a moment. But she quickly turned aside, once again assuming her calm, ladylike exterior.

Nekohiko stilled, uncomfortable.

Kunikuru was the name of Nekohiko's blood father. What did Suminoe imply about this reference to him?

Yet Nekohiko couldn't know, so he figured it didn't matter. The intimidation tactics were solely between Suminoe and Takarashi. They had nothing to do with him.

"Duly noted, Your Holiness. Thank you for your visit, too. It will be much easier for me to remember the Lovely Prince now that I've seen his sweet face," Lady Takarashi crooned, watching the mists roam beneath the pavilion. "That said, what a face he has, ah. I cannot say whom it reminds me more of. The late Emperor Kunikuru, his father -- or..."

And here, Lady Takarashi's voice revealed a tighter, icier edge.

"Or the Lovely Prince's splendid mother," she ended, eyes pinning into Nekohiko's. "As His Holiness said -- I was very personally acquainted with them as well as with the current Emperor. Your image is like a bizarre mirror of them both. I wonder if their personalities are also reflected in you in the same capacity."

Perturbed, Nekohiko cocked his head to the side.

His father? His mother?

What was that about? And why did Takarashi seem so displeased about something in regards to them?

It almost sounded like she had some... personal grudges against Nekohiko's parents. He did not know how to react to it at all.

But all he could glean from her was one of the odder flaws Nekohiko noticed on her face when they looked straight at each other for so long.

Down her nose bridge, near the inner corner of her right eye, ran a very strange, faded scar. A clearly devastating one, and healed with Binding magic. Yet healed imperfectly. The barbed edges of the scar were still noticeable, however small the scar was. It disappeared down within her veil, making Nekohiko wonder for how long it actually went.

He kept thinking about that scar days after he and Suminoe had left the Vast Island castle and went up north on their route.

It looked familiar, that scar. Or at least the placing was. And the shape of its jagged, rough lines.

Once, a year ago, he had seen Morokata get slapped in the face with a barbed whip when he and Morokata had gone to that underground Binding hub in search for kidnapped Abihiko. Morokata had been struck with the wire exactly to the same spot, leaving behind a gash in the skin that looked oddly like Takarashi's current scar. Only not fresh and raw, of course.

Many things fascinated him about Morokata, but the way he'd healed that terrible facial wound almost instantaneously and without any visible mark -- had lodged in Nekohiko's memory. Thus, he found Takarashi's scar extremely amusing now.

Such a peculiar coincidence, huh.

However, it wasn't the only thing that took his mind hostage after the visit to the Lady of the Mists.

"Are you still wondering about what my sister said in regards to your parents?" Suminoe asked him one of the following days as the two of them trudged on through the slick-mud roads under the steamy summer drizzle. "Or about her refusal to ally the Hisomes with your cause?"

Suminoe saw right through him, didn't he?

"Lady Takarashi seemed very upset -- betrayed by the mention of either of my parents," Nekohiko said, thoughtful. "And I do know that people who had dethroned my father and murdered him and my mother did it for... reasons. You told me as much already. But I just wonder if these reasons were the right ones or not. Or if my parents, perhaps, weren't very nice people and deserved their end."

He dithered, mincing the greasy mud with his boots Bound to be waterproof. "And maybe that it's time for me to learn about them and what happened when the Usurper killed them?"

He turned to Suminoe because Suminoe did not answer for a while.

But all he saw on the Head Priest's face was vast disinterest. "No," Suminoe said after another moment of thought. "There's nothing for you to know, Nekohiko."

Nekohiko exhaled, dejected. "I understand that it's going to be complicated. Most people's hidden stories are. And that probably they paint my parents not in a good way. But I still think I need to know--"

Suminoe stopped. He looked genuinely baffled at Nekohiko. "Need to know why? Are you going to fix your parents' mistakes? Or maybe your Uncle's, the Usurper's?"

...

Nekohiko struggled to speak. "N-no. But--"

"But what? The past is in the past. Only the present matters, Nekohiko." Steady, Suminoe sloshed on through the puddles, only casting his serene gaze at the landscape in the fine mist of unending rain. "People who dig in the past too much, especially when it's not their own, only risk drowning in the marsh of uncertainty. You do not need that. And neither do I. To the Spiritside, the majority of human history is nothing but fuss. I agree."

Stunned, Nekohiko gaped after him. It took him a sweet time to snap out of it and rush after Suminoe over the slippery road. "Wait, are you serious? You won't tell me anything about my own parents' murder or what the Usurper did wrong or right? Or about who of the Great Lords had betrayed my parents and sided with the Usurper? Or--"

"No." Suminoe didn't even bother to soften the utter indifference of his tone. "It is of no matter to your ascension to the Emerald Throne, Nekohiko."

"I beg to differ!" Nekohiko cried. "I don't want to be unfair to the Usurper when I dethrone him. I don't want to be cruel, even by accident. I don't want to misunderstand or misjudge the past or to repeat the mistakes of those who came before me."

At last, Suminoe slowed down his pace. He watched Nekohiko with his side-eye as though pleased, and unexpectedly so. "You won't," he told Nekohiko gently. "As long as you don't betray who you are, you won't. And you, Nekohiko, might just be the most perfect Emperor in the history of our land, I believe."

"..." Nekohiko gulped, out of breath. "Me?!"

"Yes, you. The thing about the past, your parents, or the Great Lords, and why I don't want to talk about them to you -- is that there are no right or wrong people among them. Everyone is unjust from a certain point of view, everyone is cruel at some moment, but above all -- everyone is petty. Selfish. The hidden stories of everyone who came before you and me are the stores of squabbles, petty, hysterical drama, narrow-minded revenges, avarice, jealousy, lust, passivity, violence... It is not interesting, Nekohiko. It is not educational. It is not enlightening. It's just... human. Much too human," Suminoe said quietly, watching the rivers of clay and sand wash beneath his feet, "and therefore much too unavoidable. Almost all Great Empires in history fail because of how flawed the humans reigning them are.

"Trust me, there is no real need to learn how exactly they failed or why. Many tried to educate themselves, but failed nonetheless."

...

"So... I will never learn about how my parents died or what kind of person my uncle the Usurper is?" Nekohiko asked, hushed.

Suminoe nodded. "Better that you do not. Otherwise, why not learn about what your grandparents did wrong, too? Or their own grandparents? Or the grandparents of Lord Sakai? Or the second cousin of Lady Hinokuma? Or the rival factions inside the Nagare family? At some point, Nekohiko, you realize it's all just... this."

With a graceful wave of his hand, Suminoe enfolded the dreary rainy landscape before them -- but mainly -- the roily waters in the puddles, the squelchy mess of the mud, the nearly indistinguishable colors of the blurry, miserable sky.

"It's a mess," Suminoe sighed. "An unjust and probably cruel mess. Even the mud we walk on right now is made of bones and blood of thousands of people -- some of them innocents, some villains -- who had helped build our beautiful Empire. Whether because they had been raped, pillaged, murdered, turned into slaves, or bought by our valiant ancestors who had conquered them. Or whether they were those who raped, pillaged, murdered, enslaved, and sold the people who lived here before we came. Is there a big difference to you now -- about which was which? Do we need to know? Would we benefit if we did?"

Nekohiko's heart skipped a painful beat.

"...what?"

Rape, murder, pillage, slavery...

"All Empires, all Kingdoms, all countries are built on bones, Nekohiko. Including our beloved Empire. Do not tell me you had no idea. Bones of myriads of faceless people, gone forever into the depths of history. But also on the bones of your parents. And on the bones of the Usurper, too, once you ascend to your throne."

A horrible chill clutched Nekohiko's throat as he sipped air through his gaping lips, panting. "...no. I don't want to. I can't believe that--"

"It does not matter what you want or what you believe. And neither about what you're entitled to and what you care about," Suminoe said, much harsher than before. "Wants, opinions, cares, and entitlements are the cores of human selfishness. All these concepts drive the magics of Nagares, or Hiras, or Towas, or Hisomes, but they also breed strife, injustice, misunderstandings. That's the primary reason why all the Great Houses and Lords constantly scheme and fight each other. They draw their powers from their selfishness. There is no outcome from that other than the collapse of our Empire! The Lords and their powers have to be kept in check by a strong leader, even if they resist. Especially if they resist."

"But if they resist, then... I don't want to force anyone--"

"Want, again? Nekohiko, nobody asks you what you want. You are a leader, and if you're a good one -- you have to forget what your wants are. Only about what you have to do to save the Empire!" Suminoe huffed, aggravated.

...

Empty.

That was how Nekohiko felt as he listened.

Empty, and numb.

Was Suminoe... right? It sounded like he was right, but some parts of Nekohiko still wanted to... argue. To resist...

To disagree.

"If you indulge in your selfishness, you will end up like your parents, or like the Usurper, or like all the Great Lords and those who preceded them. You'll end up petty, cruel, unjust, narrow-minded, and useless to your Empire. Nekohiko," Suminoe cut, shooting him am astringent, cold look, "do not go down such path. Please, do not. The Empire needs you to be stronger than that. Better."

Better...?

But Suminoe had just said that all these qualities were the most natural qualities of... humans?

Did he mean that Nekohiko had to be-- what?

Not a human anymore?

For some reason, a strange glee rose inside Nekohiko at the thought. How many times had he heard someone tell him his emotions or his behaviors or his expressions seemed inhuman to them?

Well, wasn't that ironic now?

Suminoe must have guessed Nekohiko's thoughts. Softening, he added, "The opposite of selfishness is selflessness. Not inhumanity. Though to many others, it might seem similar. But it is not. If that's the only thing I could choose to teach you, it'd be this."

They trudged on through silence of the rustling droplets, Nekohiko studying the hazy pall of rain, the tree groves in the distance, Suminoe's somber face in profile.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Suminoe asked, many, many heavy, quiet minutes later. "Our Empire? Your Empire..."

Nekohiko lifted his eyes at the endless waver of drizzle and the cloudy skies and the muddy, broken road. He tilted his face so that the rain could caress and kiss the sides of his cheeks, almost like a lover or a missing parent would.

This Empire... Nekohiko's Empire...

It was beloved. It was most special to him. And, regardless of all the bones and blood it may have been built on, of course it was beautiful.

...

How could it not be?

***

His opinion only deepened when they visited the Towa Lordship. Another thought-provoking place that Nekohiko couldn't help but admire.

The Towa capital -- an enormous city called Estuary Gate²Lol, it's actually Tokyo, or better to say the original Edo -- 江戸 ("Estuary Gate"). -- sat inside the cove, and by "inside" it meant -- under the water surface. Deep inside.

The coral mountains, the seaweed forests, the deep-shore glowing flora and fauna made the city so gorgeous to be in. But the Towa magic that kept the seawater at bay without it crushing the city and drowning the humans who lived in it -- that was the true backbone of what made Towa cities so magnificent.

Like a lucid window screen, the ocean water rose beyond the city's edge, limning out the marine landscape with the stingrays, jellyfish, and thousands of colorful, bright fish and other sea creatures swooping to and fro in the powerful tides. One could reach a hand out and touch the water and even dip their fingers in, catching a fish swooping just outside the water's edge. But the water screen held its form even when broken, protecting the city and its inhabitants from being flattened with the whole mass of the ocean above them.

Inside this water dome, the buildings made of coral and multicolored ice and sometimes even Bound water spread in radial channel streets.

Some streets made of ice, others -- gushing streams and even waterfalls, below or above the city like arches and bridges that connected the buildings instead of regular streets. The Towa Binders could skate the ice and water both, so it wasn't a big issue for them to have almost no real ground to walk on. But other than that -- the insides of the houses were just as any normal buildings would be on the shore. Only filled with fish and seaweed within their Bound watery walls -- but even that was easy to get used to after some time.

Nekohiko marveled at the city and admired the ingenuity and creativity of Towa Binders who made this possible.

But also... he felt bored. And depressed to be here.

Like most cities mainly made for Binders and by Binders -- the Estuary Gate was a tourist attraction. It was meant to be enjoyed with one's friends and loved ones. Thus, apart from the locals in the taverns and inns and public markets Nekohiko strolled through -- everyone else was an agitated, starry-eyed tourist gorging themselves on Towa delicacies and yelling here and there about how amazing the place was.

Their merriment was like a stab to Nekohiko's heart.

The young romantic couples were the absolute worst. Their cooing, silly banter, playful teasing, constant displays of affection however inappropriate those could be -- it grated on Nekohiko the longer the stay in Towa capital went.

By the end of the first day, he was already fed up. But also... wistful. And filled with strange regrets he had never even considered before.

For instance, today -- this young couple of lovers who stood before him in the queue to get the sweetened Towa ice desserts. A man and a woman, murmuring at each other one moment and giggling stupidly -- the next one. Nekohiko tried to keep his gaze away but he couldn't help it.

His attention came back to them as though magnetized. As though wanting to learn something. Or to understand.

"Do you know how bunnies sniff?" the girl asked the boy, leaning to his ear with her lips stretched out as though to smooch him. "Like this!"

And she made a funny noise through her lips, mimicking the sniffing noise of small animals. Her breath must have tickled the boy's ear, and he began wriggling, trying to shift so he could avoid breaking out in laughter. Both of them became so flushed and excited, Nekohiko felt miserable just by mere comparison of how happy they were together and how alone -- he was.

"You are the older one! You're supposed to be responsible and mature!" the boy told her, teasing.

"Ha-ha-ha! No, I'm supposed to harass you and show my dominance over you, cute little one!" the girl blared, trying to catch the boy again in her arms to further molest him in front of everyone's displeased stares.

Nekohiko agreed. These two were making an incredible ruckus.

"Little one? Actually, you're only half a year older than me. It's not that much!"

...

Hours later, Suminoe took him to actually meet the Great Lady of the Seas, Hinokuma -- the elder sister of Iokirihime whom Nekohiko had already met. The conversation immediately went to talking about the Towa capital and its sights. But alas -- however splendid and shimmering and glittery the watery capital was, Nekohiko hardly had anything to talk about.

He had always wanted to be here with Abihiko. Not alone. Logically, he was astounded by everything he saw at the Towa paradise.

But in his heart... he was only left cold and apathetic.

Which, judging by the Towa philosophy, was in line with their own lifestyle, so wasn't even that offensive on his part.

Now, Suminoe and Hinokuma spoke to each other about something no doubt important. But Nekohiko kept returning his thoughts to that annoying couple he'd seen earlier and how simply yet blissfully they were with one another.

Had his and Abihiko's times together been like that?

That romantic boy from today had seemed to enjoy the girl's teasing a lot. Her jokes and her jabs at him. How she taunted him by being slightly older than him. How she called him some ridiculous name Nekohiko didn't doubt was a pet name, not the boy's real one.

Well... Nekohiko was two months older than Abihiko.

Maybe... he should have teased him about that sometime? Would Abihiko have enjoyed that? Would he blush and try to deny that? Would he find it... cute?

And about a pet name... Nekohiko could have done that, too, yes?

"Abiko," Nekohiko whispered under his nose, expectedly unnoticed by Hinokuma -- hopefully ignored by Suminoe.

Because saying such silly things was embarrassing, and Nekohiko would die if anyone ever heard him say something as immature as this. But at the same time...

That would be the point. That he would die from shame to say this, and would still say it -- just to tease Abihiko with it. Abihiko would know how much dignity it cost Nekohiko, so he would be able to appreciate it all the more.

Yes?

"Abi," Nekohiko murmured, only trying all the unfamiliar ways to say his name. He still preferred the original, though. "Abihiko."

The swirling, ethereal beauty of the aquamarine seawater was like translucent glass before him -- but it held no power over him. He looked at what Hinokuma was showing to him and Suminoe -- the vast expanses of the ocean, the brimming life of the sea creatures, the achievements of the Towa Binders in the city -- but all of it passed him by. He tried to listen or to muster care, but it was so hard, he gave up on it.

Which did not escape Suminoe's notice, in the end.

"Nekohiko, do not dishonor the Towa glory with your inattention, please," he told him quietly as they strolled after Lady Hinokuma through the glowing-blue tunnels of water amidst the grove of kelp trees.

"I am not," Nekohiko lied. "I am listening."

"That is not a great offense to us, Your Holiness," Hinokuma answered with a peaceful sigh. As a person, she was very laidback and very... ho-hum about everything that went around her. Yet she was a menacing woman, appearance-wise. Tall, and dressed in crystalline ice clothes, she looked much more like a snow sculpture of some glorious warrior of old than a real person of nowadays. The Legendary Towa glaive³Actually, it's a naginata, but I use the word "glaive" to not break the immersion of translating all Japanese-flavor words into English. Naginata is a polearm weapon that looks kinda like this -- -- a weapon made of dark, salt ice -- that she carried in her hand really didn't help. She offset her menacing look with a carefree personality, though. "Towas understand that the Emperors of our blessed Land do not find the sea quite as ravishing."

With a tint of playful mischief so widely contrasting with her stately face, Hinokuma winked at Nekohiko.

"After all, we are almost outside our beloved Empire's Spiritual border, are we not?"

"That is a debatable point," Suminoe said dryly. "The water of the Empire can stretch as far as the sea and ocean Spirits go, and they can go very, very far."

"Indeed, they do," Hinokuma purred. "Which is why we're here, today. To pay our respects to all those who served out Empire while far away from its Land."

Far away from the Empire...

Nekohiko gulped.

They were here visiting one of the most popular Spiritway Shrines in Towa, one devoted to honoring the Towa Binders who served to protect the Empire's borders from the invaders. Nekohiko had no choice but to come here. As the Emperor, he had to visit such sacred places and pay his respects to those dying for his Empire's greatness.

But he also felt a bit queasy because...

Ah, well. Because the Imperial Towas did a bit more than defend his Empire from the potential attackers. Sometimes, they made preemptive strikes at the enemy forces instead.

And those preemptive strikes looked and felt quite a bit more like... aggression. An invasion of foreign lands. Or sometimes, even the conquest.

The beautiful Spiritway garden around the Shrine was all sway and tidal swirling of water amidst the tall intricately-Bound coral trellises and canopies of seashells and hanging pearl branches. Towa Binders allowed some fish and jellyfish to enter the dome of breathable air inside the city and float here, swimming through the air like birds would out on the surface.

It was a bizarre experience, to have a fish drift past one's face like some sort of a magnificent butterfly. Nekohiko absently waved another flock of small glowing jellyfish away from him as he passed the seashell tree orchard, focused solely on what Lady Hinokuma was telling him about the Shrine.

It wasn't much that he hadn't already known.

Since the Spiritway magic only worked on the Empire's land where the Spirits were, that restricted the Imperial army's desires to conquer foreign territories.

But that didn't mean that the land of the Spiritway could not be expanded first. As long as there were the believers and the Spirits who could settle down on another island or on another stretch of land far away from the Empire's borders -- that could count.

The Spirits would be able to root down and give magic to Binders even when they were abroad. And the more Spirits of the Empire there were in the foreign lands, the more powerful the Binders' magic would be to aid in the invasion.

And who were the only people in the Empire who could get large swaths of Binders and Spirits to overseas territory?

Towas.

Their ships of ice and Bound water.

Thus, Towas were the main force of offense in the Imperial army. The only force, really. If the first line of defense against the foreign invasion had always been the Nagare and their destructive typhoons against anyone who came close to the Empire's borders, and the second line of defense had always been the Hisome concealing mists -- then the third line of defense of Nekohiko's Empire was also the attacking line.

Towas protected the Empire from any of the foreign armies by attacking them first. And by keeping them on edge by the possibility of Towa attack wherever and whenever. Over the seas or under the water as Towa ships tended to do when they entered the battle mode.

Lady Hinokuma led Nekohiko and Suminoe into the Shrine itself, telling them all about the first Legendary Towas who served Nekohiko's ancestral Emperor during their campaign to conquer the overseas lands.

The splendid heroic twins, Yutakana and Musashi, led the Towa armies of ice ships over the vast spans of the ocean. They brought the tsunamis upon the unfortunate foes with a single wave of the Legendary Glaive, Amakiwa⁴Means "horizon" in Japanese.. This was revenge, Hinokuma said. A payback -- a retaliation for the previous attacks done by those people on Nekohiko's own Empire. It had to be done. 

The thousands upon thousands of ice ships crashed onto the foreign land, carrying settlers and soldiers and Spirits to gain hold of the land.

Nekohiko listened, distraught.

He did not like the stories of invasions, even as a retaliation. He didn't know why. Perhaps even the idea of being so far away from his Empire's land made him queasy?

Or maybe it was the fact that some other country's people were being invaded for the sake of his Empire?

In any case, he couldn't quite shake the feeling of dismay he felt as Hinokuma told him and Suminoe the grand stories of the olden times. Suminoe nodded on, as passive as usual. Hinokuma spoke on and on, proud of her ancestors and their sacrifices for the sake of their Emperor.

Nekohiko kept quiet and he kept respectful. Towa tactics and war history wasn't his personal interest anyway. First of all, Nekohiko didn't care about expansion overseas, and second of all, his Empire currently had too many inner problems to worry about the outside world. If anything, they needed all their Towas here, to aid with the campaign against the Usurper.

"Is our Empire cruel?" he asked Suminoe later that day, after they'd left the war Shrine and went down to their inn in the turquoise lagoons of the high levels of the city.

"Cruel in which way?" Suminoe parted the overhanging strings of water bubbles that hung over the galleries they went through like curtains. He held the bubbles for Nekohiko to pass, too, but a few fish slipped in as well, using the chance. "Our Empire merely defends itself against the outside threats. I do not see how that is cruel."

"Defending ourselves by attacking preemptively seems... not very defensive, really," Nekohiko said, smacking a couple of nosy fish away when they tried to squiggle and get tangled in his hair because most fish around here did, thinking it was seaweed. "I mean, aren't there ways to do exactly the same things as guarding against enemies but... peacefully? Without besieging them, without murdering anyone, or taking their things from them?"

Suminoe cast a knowing look at him. "Are you worried about what you will have to do to the Usurper?"

Well.

Yes. Was it so strange of him, to worry about that?

The Usurper was taking the throne without any right, of course. He did not belong there. He was not the true Emperor. Nekohiko was.

But at the same time... the Usurper was his uncle, too. Nekohiko found the idea of fighting against him abhorrent, even when he forced himself to remember that the Usurper had assassinated both Nekohiko's parents to get the crown fifteen years ago.

"I do not want to kill him. Or anyone," Nekohiko said, grave. "I know that if I want to ensure that the Throne is forever mine, I'll have to dispose of him somehow so he cannot threaten me anymore. But... is there not a more peaceful solution? Anything--"

"The only way to peacefully become an Emperor is to marry an Emperor," Suminoe replied without much thought. "But that is off-limits to you, of course. The Usurping Emperor Isaseri-hiko already has several wives, and you would not have priority to rule even if you marry him."

Marry... one's uncle?!

Nekohiko shuddered at the idea itself, but Suminoe barely paused.

"Even so, to make sure you are the reigning Emperor out of the two of you, you would have to dispose of him anyway."

"Then that's not a peaceful solution," Nekohiko said.

"Of course it is. No armies involved, no sieges, no countless deaths on all sides. It is the most peaceful solution, Nekohiko. It involves stealing and tricking, so I see you also don't consider it acceptable for yourself. But that's just how it is. Your wishes -- do not matter when your Empire, its future, its good is involved." Suminoe stopped, harsh and menacing. "What is the only thing that matters, Nekohiko?"

Nekohiko knew the answer all too well.

"The Empire."

"Do you matter? Does your self matter? Do your wants or desires or beliefs matter?"

No.

No, they do not.

"I am not allowed to worry about my self," Nekohiko replied, defeated. "The true Emperor... the good Emperor is... selfless."

A few heartbeats of a heavy pause went by and Suminoe did and said nothing, only watching Nekohiko with some sort of a grim pride only slightly tempered by pity.

Nekohiko went on, inspiration rooted deeply and solemnly inside him. "If I have to trample others to save my Empire, I will. If I have to dispose of my enemies, I will. If I have to force people to keep united under my reign... even when they resist... I will."

Even if that destroys my self.

Not that I am allowed to have any, to begin with.

Was that what he was meant to say?

Judging by Suminoe's commiserating gaze, yes.

"Good. But you won't have to," Suminoe promised him, gently putting his hand on Nekohiko's shoulder. "I and others who care about you -- will shoulder most of that for you. But that you're choosing to sacrifice yourself for the Empire, that, Nekohiko, is the true Imperial Spirit. Your willingness to give up everything for your people and your land and your Spirits. Most people wouldn't be able to. That's why they're not fit to rule like you are. Do you understand?"

...

Mute, Nekohiko nodded.

Give up everything.

Not that hard to do when he had nothing to give, was it?