A Meeting Metallurgical

Gathering / Conference

After a moment to take in The Tanuki's Secret's curious proprietress, Ryūzaki Sanosuke politely informed her that he and Shigeaki Fujino were here to meet someone. She stared at him for a moment, then another, and finally asked for his name. While Uemura Ayasa referenced that with her ledger, Sanosuke turned to Fujino and quietly asked if they'd even had a reservation here. Apparently they did, because before the other could answer, Ayasa placed them and invited them to enter.   The party they were looking for would be through the door on their right, then into the fifth room on the left. Ayasa took a moment longer to caution them not to open on listen in on any other rooms on the way there. At that moment, trusty Fujino received a request from Maxim elsewhere, so she popped out, leaving Sanosuke to brave the indicated door on his own.

Upon passing into the hall beyond, Sanosuke shut the door behind him and took in his surroundings. This was a long hall, flanked by shut doors on each side before turning off in a sharp corner to the left at the end. Most of these chambers were unlit and, presumably, unoccupied. His destination, the fifth room on the left, was easy to spot, but there was another light burning just off his right as well. Sanosuke took his time sallying down the dim-lit hall until a voice pricked his ears from the closed door on his right. Ignoring the proprietress' request, he sidled nearer and attempted to make out what was being said.   The first voice he heard was louder, speaking in an androgynous monotone that was hard to place. Its owner didn't seem to be making much effort to hide their presence. Now that he was this close, Sanosuke could also make out another speaker. This one was deeper, a bass voice that put him in mind of a hearty, vital man of older years. Although the walls here appeared to be little more than paper, something about them dampened the sound quite well, leaving Sanosuke unable to place any specific words.   Fortunately, Ryūzaki Sanosuke was a haunted man. The quiet spirit that usually loitered in his vicinity was happy to help. Kanashibari slipped through the door invisibly and returned with a brief, vague report on what was happening inside. The first speaker was a slender youth who looked to be from the Lunar Empire. Sanosuke's enchained informant was unwilling to elaborate much more on this point, however. In her own words, she didn't like people from the moon, didn't want to think about them or look at them. Considering Lunar emissaries had, up to this point, been holding the keys that locked Kanashibari's chains, Sanosuke could understand that. She went on to describe the second individual as a short, fat, bearded old man. Certainly there were many of those in Japan, but considering their proximity to Odawara Castle, the resemblance to Hōjō Ujiyasu might be too much of a coincidence.   Taking a confusing moment to confer with Umbriel, Sanosuke confirmed that the first speaker in the room might very well be among the Children of Avatea. Without a physical description, Umbriel could not place her, however. What's more, she didn't seem interested, stating that the Children had separated themselves across clans for a reason, and rarely, if ever, got along.   Moments later, Sanosuke's mental conversation was interrupted by a door sliding quietly open further down in the hall. Nanakuma poked her head out, calling Sanosuke over to their prescribed meeting place. Surprised, but playing it cool, Sanosuke thanked her and began to make his way over without delay. Before he could take more than a few steps, however, the other door opened to reveal Hōjō Ujiyasu's waist-high figure looking up at him. Now, Sanosuke played it really cool, looking absurdly nonchalant as he greeting the stout Daimyō. Far from being surprised to find him there, Ujiyasu seemed to take in the whole scene, then placed the lounging man as Ryūzaki Sanosuke. He wished them a productive meeting, then began to take his leave.   A third door, this one at the entrance to the hall, slid open with force. Proprietress Ayasa was there, both her and her assistant looking quite cross at all the noise. Ujiyasu took the lead this time, sweeping over to the tanuki girl and kissing her hand with a charming apology. He swaggered out the door, off on his own business, and Ayasa was apparently persuaded enough to leave the issue and close the door. Finally, Sanosuke was free to proceed down the hall to his original meeting. As he left, however, he caught sight of a slight, slender figure sitting despondently in the room that Hōjō Ujiyasu had just left. Her striking black-and-white hair was hung low over her eyes, and she showed little sign of activity.   Arriving then in the fifth room on the left, Sanosuke found a cramped, but well-appointed room with a few cushions around a low table. There was little luxury here, no tea kettles nor pipes. It seemed the Secret really was a place specifically for meetings and little else. As he entered, the Silver General was greeted by Nanakuma and her sister, Ozaki. After a moment of consideration, he was able to place the second as whom Nanakuma had referenced as the clan's metallurgical expert. If anyone were to know about absodium, it would be her.   Ozaki turned out to be a small, excitable woman who dressed in the curiously militaristic garb common to the Hōjō. She was happy to talk about their stores of the accursed metal, mistaking Sanosuke for an interested buyer. The Silver General cannily did not disabuse her of this notion. From their dealings, he was able to learn that the Hōjō had a "significant" store of what they called tamahagane from their dealings with the now-fallen Tokugawa Clan. A smaller portion of it was set aside for trading, while they had reserved the majority for experimentation. Ozaki revealed that the Hōjō did not yet know the "secret ingredient" of the metal, and thus were unable to produce more of their own. According to her, they were close, and Ozaki expected to stumble upon the secret any day.   Since Ryūzaki Sanosuke knew the secret ingredient to be human souls, this information came as quite a relief to him. He promised to pass the information on to his Daimyō before agreeing to any trades. This seemed to satisfy Ozaki, but Nanakuma broke in with a question of her own. Since Sanosuke had just been furnished with some quite sensitive intel, she felt it was only fair to ask a probing question of her own. What, she wanted to know, were the Hashinara's plans in regards to the upcoming war between Takeda and Uesugi?   The Silver General was able to confidently answer that the Hashinara and their allies would not be participating in the war, but would instead watch the outcome with great interest. He failed to mention, just as Hashinara Yoshitakatomo had designed, that The Wolfpack would be granting their aid to the Takeda side. Officially, they would remain neutral, and Sanosuke saw no reason to say anything beyond that.   This answer seemed to please Nanakuma. She went on to explain that she expected the Takeda to set any allies toward guarding their southern borders. The Hōjō and Uesugi had an alliance, and Nanakuma's clan would honor their treaties. With Hōjō forces able to raid with impunity so long as Odawara Castle stands, Takeda Shingen would be unable to commit all of his forces to the battle in the north. They were counting on that to grant their allies a winning advantage in the coming war. Displaying a grasp of strategy and diplomacy beyond her duties as an architect, Nanakuma suggested that they could continue friendly relations with the Hashinara, so long as they didn't have to fight them at the Takeda's southern borders. Sanosuke understood her meaning, and promised to deliver that information, too, to his lady.   With that all said, and a bit more metallurgy from the near-bursting Ozaki, Sanosuke took his leave. Shigeaki Fujino hailed him as he entered the outside hall once again. She had been unable to teleport back inside after leaving to collect Maxim, and the proprietress wouldn't let her in through the front door. So, she had been waiting outside for him to finish. Wondering at the security of this place, Sanosuke began to make his way toward the exit. Before he could leave the hall, however, he was accosted by the same youth he'd seen in Ujiyasu's room earlier. She was still there, apparently waiting for him to pass by.   Introducing herself as Bemolle, the girl explained that she had been stunned by Sanosuke's cool attitude just earlier, and hadn't been able to get him out of her mind. While her voice was still without inflection, Bemolle's words expressed an earnestness that her tone did not. She was a Daughter of Avatea, as Sanosuke had suspected, and apparently among the last of them to find a home clan in this realm. Hōjō Ujiyasu had just rejected her, stating that she was not up to his standards for adoption, and now Bemolle wasn't sure what to do. Sanosuke didn't seem too enthused about this flat, unemotional monochrome of a girl, but he said that if she followed him around and took lessons from his stylish ways, that would be fine. Gratefully gathering up her belongings, which comprised only a pair of monochrome rapiers, Bemolle joined Sanosuke as he continued outside.