Inigo arrives in Naisho Province

After spending the last few years traveling back and forth from Rokugan to Merenae, Kasuga Inigo had finally completed his mission to establish and solidify a trade route and various agreements, resulting in quite a bit of profit for the Empire, and for him as well.
 
Upon returning the Imperial Capital to present his reports to Miya Ansho, Inigo instead received a new assignment: meet with Miya Ansho in the Naisho Province. Inigo, and his trusted if surly companion Tsuruchi Tametomo, arranged transport to Toshi no Naishou where he was to meet with Miya Ansho. With the gold from the trade agreements safely stored in the Miya's residence in the Imperial Capital, Inigo and Tametomo headed to the Naishou Province to meet with Miya Ansho, review the mission reports, and receive his new assignment.
 
Inigo arrived late in the night as a celebration in Toshi no Naishou was winding down. He and Tametomo, arrived at the Miya's residence without fanfare or incident. After so many weeks travel, they were content to clean up and turn in right away in preparation for an early morning.
 
An early morning meeting with Miya Ansho covered the exciting and profitable mission results, as well as Inigo's new assignment: Imperial Magistrate. Inigo, not used to such a status, hid his concern and accepted the mission humbly before being whisked off to breakfast with the rest of Miya Ansho's magistrates.
 
During breakfast, the magistrates reported the success of the nights events...with one small catch. An item of importance had been...misplaced. This item belonged to Doji Shimpei and was of some value and importance to him. Isawa Kazue and Kitsune Sou had communed with the kami to determine how the valuable pendant had gone missing. The kami indicated that the pendant had fallen off of Doji Shimpei during the celebration, and may have been recovered by a shugenja with a half mask. Shosuro Genjiro suspected this to be one of the Soshi sisters who were shugenja and in attendance at the celebration. Genjiro went to the Scorpion estates to discuss the matter with the sisters. Upon returning, he reported that he was unsuccessful in determining the location of the pendant. The magistrates discussed the possible implications to the Scorpion possibly having the pendant, as well as what they could act upon with only the insights from the kami. They determined that without a confession or non-divine evidence, they could take no immediate action. Inigo put forth the option that perhaps it was less important to immediately recover the pendant, since Doji Shimpei had not reported it missing despite being in obvious distress over its loss. What the magistrates could do now is mitigate possible future damage of the pendant turning up in an inopportune situation for the Crane. Inigo suggested that since the magistrates were to have meetings today with various prospective candidates for village magistrate positions, they could also use this opportunity to gently bring to attention the fact that Doji Shimpei was not currently wearing the pendant. The tact would be to have Inigo present himself as a jewelry aficionado, and compliment Doji Shimpei on the pendant and inquire about its quality, its history, etc without focusing on the fact that he wasn't currently wearing the pendant. Inigo attempted to further lessen the Doji's embarrassment by playing up Inigo's flamboyant act. While Doji Shimpei was surprised by the sudden attention and still a concerned for the loss of the pendant, any embarrassment he may have shown was outshone by the audacious boasting and fawning of Inigo.
 
With that matter attended to for the time being, the magistrates went about interviewing their candidates for village magistrate positions. Inigo offered some suggestions as to how to gently prod the interviewees to gather more personal information without overtly asking. "What is a moment/deed you are most proud of?" "Describe your assignments from the last 5 years." This gave the candidates the opportunity to state their accomplishments, the choice of which would give an impression of what parts of the bushido code were most important to them. Genjiro and Hida Haundo focused their questioning on how the candidates weighed enforcing imperial law versus how they viewed 'justice'.
 
Inigo was quite surprised and taken with Genjiro's commitment to honesty and forthrightness. Internally, Inigo committed to ensuring that the magistrates, Genjiro in particular, could use his 'unique' skills to accomplish their goals without endangering themselves or Miya Ansho.