Rob Hobart

Campaign Fiction: Brothers and Sisters

The final campaign fiction (I planned one more, but was unable to make time to write it) was posted a couple of weeks after WiR, and was intended to show some of the Interactive results, make clear the status of the remaining Imperial heirs, and "set up" the final events of the campaign: Hizatoru's suicidally bad final decision, Chisa and Gendo's tragic fates, and Kobe's imminent emergence as the leader of what remained of Rokugan's honorable samurai. I think this was my single best fiction in the campaign, and the reactions to it were certainly very strong indeed, with many players instantly declaring their loyalty to Kobe.

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The Imperial City, end of 1503

Five children approach a door within the Imperial Palace. A functionary waits there, a stooping middle-aged man in the colors of the Seppun, regarding them with trepidation. The eldest girl speaks first. "How is our brother?"

"He is... as well as can be expected," the clerk says cautiously, hands clutched together in a gesture of subdued anxiety. The youngest girl speaks next. "Then we can see him? I want to see Gen-oniichan!"

The Seppun looks pained. "Ah, of course, young mistress. I am sure you would wish to speak with your own blood..."

The middle girl frowns slightly, her almond eyes narrowed distrustfully. "Then there is there a problem?"

"No, no, of course not. It is simply that the healer has advised he should not be disturbed. The fever, you see, and his health has never been good..."

The older boy steps forward with a snarl. "I am the son of Toturi, heir to the throne, and you will let us pass!"

The younger boy says nothing. But it is under his relentless gaze that the Seppun finally falters and stands aside, allowing them to enter the room.

***

Toturi Gendo lies on a sweat-soaked futon, tossing and muttering softly. Shutters are pulled against the late-winter sunlight, and the room is gloomy and close, the air stuffy despite the cool temperature. A maidservant kneels at his side, blotting the perspiration from his face with a soft cloth.

Toturi Maihime steps forward quietly and kneels by her eldest brother. "You may leave us now," she says softly, and the maid retreats with repeated bows. Maihime takes the cloth and gently swabs the shaven-headed young man, whose thrashing seems to subside.

Chisa stares at the man on the futon, a frown knitting her round face. "He looks hurt. Is he really my brother? Is he going to be okay?"

"It’s just the visions," Maihime answers. She finishes wiping and sits back, watching Gendo with sad eyes. "And yes, he is your brother, though he left here before you were old enough to know."

Hizatoru walks to the side of the futon and stares down at the twitching body, the twisted right arm and blind staring right eye. His lip curls in distaste. "He looks no different than I remember."

"You saw him leave?" Hisako, silent until now, leans against the wall, watching them all from a distance that is more than physical. "You never told us."

"What was there to tell? The palace was in an uproar, and I was old enough to be more curious than scared. I sneaked into his room and saw him while the healers held him down and the shugenja prayed. All for nothing." Hizatoru shakes his head and turns away, walking back and forth across the room. "What does it matter now?"

Chisa still frowns, hugging herself as though chilled. "Why isn't Yukihime-neechan here?" she asks plaintively.

"Yukihime is in the Crane lands, Chisa-chan." Maihime rises and walks over to the little girl, kneels to straighten her obi. "She will come here when she can."

"If they don't make her Empress first," Hizatoru growls.

Maihime nods quietly. "She is the eldest."

"There is more to it than that," Hisako says, her voice almost a whisper.

"Ah, so you've heard as well?" Hizatoru's voice is heavy with unvoiced emotions. "I should have expected as much. Once a Scorpion, always a Scorpion."

Hisako's eyes are flat. She makes no answer, no motion, yet the distance between her and the Rogue seems to somehow grow.

Maihime looks back and forth between them. "What are you talking about?"

"You haven't heard, of course. Too busy with your books." Hizatoru almost sneers. "No surprise there either."

"You're being mean," Chisa says, her tone scolding. She shakes a finger at Hizatoru. "When I'm Empress, I'll make everything right again, and we can all be happy, just like--" her voice falters and turns wobbly, dropping to a whisper. "Just like before."

"You, Empress?" Hizatoru laughs, a short angry sound. "Well, why not? They won't give it to me, even though I'm the eldest son. Why not give it to a brat with a pet monkey?"

"Stop being mean!" Chisa cries, stamping her foot. "You didn't used to be mean, Hiza-kun! Why are you mean now?"

"I'll not be scolded by a child," Hizatoru snarls, taking a step forward. Chisa glares at him, fists balled.

"Enough," Maihime murmurs, stepping between them. Her eyebrows pinch together, an expression as fierce as a thunderclap on her mild face. "What is this thing you and Hisako speak of? Has something happened in the courts?"

It is Hisako who answers, her words slipping through the dim light of the room. "The Seppun claim to have found a boy, a son of Kobashi. Illegitimate, but they claim precedent from Emperor Toturi IV."

"A bastard," Hizatoru says bitterly. "Some by-blow from one of Kobashi's women. Who knows which one, he had so many. But he's dead now, so he's a hero, and his get is offered as heir while I am passed over."

"Stop it!" Chisa shrills. Tears stream down her cheeks, and she waves her small fists at the young man. "You're horrible! Why aren't you nice anymore? Why?"

"Hush, Chisa-chan." Maihime catches the sobbing girl and pulls her into an embrace. Her eyebrows narrow slightly more as she looks at Hizatoru past the girl's shaking form. "Why are you being so cruel, Hiza-kun? You were not this way before. You were always cheerful, happy."

"I was betrayed." Hizatoru folds his arms and turns away. "Betrayed by the Mantis, by the Thrane. Betrayed by Father, with his stupid confession. The Otomo are my only friends now, they tell me to live like a Toturi but they won't support me for the throne. I'm the eldest son, but I'm too... contaminated." He makes the word sound like an obscenity. "Well, so be it. I'll take the throne anyway. Its mine by right, no matter what they may say about some bastard of Kobashi."

"None of us will take the throne," Hisako murmurs.

"What?" Hizatoru glares at her. "What now? Some new Scorpion secret?"

"No." Hisako looks at Maihime for a moment, then continues even more softly. "Mother told us, Maihime and I, the day after she announced her pregnancy with Chisa. Told us she had been the Mirumoto's lover for years. Told us she didn't know whether our Father was truly our Father." For the first time she looks straight into Hizatoru's face, and her own is calm, set. "Why do you think I ran away to the Scorpion, and Maihime to her books and scrolls? Neither of us knew if we even belonged here, if this was even our home."

Hizatoru stares at her a moment, his mouth working soundlessly, and when he finally speaks his voice is high and tight. "Lies. Scorpion lies. You've lived with them longer than you ever did with Father..."

The fifth boy, Kobe, has been silent and still, unmoving by the door. But now he suddenly takes two steps forward, his gaze intent on the futon. A moment later the body lying there convulses, shuddering and arching like a bow. Maihime utters a soft cry in the instant before Gendo abruptly sits up, clawing at the air with a malformed hand.

"Lies, blood and lies, the sky will break and we have no power to stop it. The Hunter rides forth and his feet will trample all into dust..."

"This again," Hizatoru mutters. He glares at the writhing older boy as though at an enemy.

"The sins of the mother are passed to the children, and the snow maiden will never reach her throne..."

"Enough!" Hizatoru roars suddenly. "I've heard enough of this in the courts, I'll not take it from you too!" He grabs Gendo by the front of his ragged yukata. "Be silent! Stop prattling about this!"

"Stop it!" Chisa cries. "Leave Gen-chan alone!"

"Enough, Hizatoru," Maihime calls, but her words are drowned in the shouting.

"Blood is fate, blood is doom," Gendo wails, his eyes rolling in his head, reaching out as though for help. "Our line is tainted by sin, and the Hunter will stalk us like helpless rabbits..."

"SHUT UP!" Hizatoru roars, shaking the prophet like a rag doll. "Be SILENT!"

"Make him stop, make him stop, make him STOP!" Chisa shrieks.

CRACK Hizatoru staggers back, leaking blood from a mouth like a squashed plum.

Kobe, expressionless, lowers his fist.

Hisako shrinks instantly into the darkest corner of the room.

Hizatoru touches his mouth and pulls away fingertips dabbled in blood. "You struck me," he says in an uncomprehending voice.

Kobe turns away and kneels by Gendo's thrashing form. He catches the older boy's flailing limbs in the firm grip of one Crab-trained.

"You _struck_ me," Hizatoru snarls, shock igniting into rage. He looks around the room.

Maihime has turned to place herself between him and Chisa, holding the now-silent girl closely against her.

"Don't any of you _care_?" Hizatoru demands, his voice shrill.

"No more, no more," Gendo whimpers through deadened lips. "The heavens will bleed tears of jade. I don't want to see any more. It hurts, it hurts."

Kobe leans forward, catching Gendo's wandering one-eyed gaze and holding it. The prophet shudders and then begins to whisper, words blurring. Kobe leans close, catching the murmur. Hisako emerges, slowly, from the shadows. "You should leave, brother," she tells Hizatoru.

The Rogue stares wildly back and forth -- at his sisters, at the tableau on the futon, at nothing. "You all abandon me," he rasps, voice blurry with blood and pain. "So be it. I'll remember this."

The shoji slams behind him, rattling in its frame.

Gendo stops whispering and shuts his eyes. His tears leak across sunken cheeks. "No more, no more. Please, brother of my blood. Help me. Please."

Maihime looks back at Hisako, then at Kobe and Gendo. "Chisa should not be here," she says simply, and leads the smaller girl to the door. Chisa goes unresisting, weeping silently. Hisako remains behind, watching.

"Please," Gendo whispers. "I don't want to see any more. Please."

Kobe touches one finger gently to his brother's lips, stilling them. His other hand reaches for his wakizashi.

***

On the eighteenth day of the Month of the Tiger, 1503, Toturi Gendo died.