Like The Flowing River, Like the Bowing Tree (maintenance)

[Roania]

Huanxin — The Huanxin Daily Record has confirmed early reports that the Sovereign (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years!) has appointed Meng Ailian as Grand Secretary of the Secretariat. The process of assembling a cabinet has officially begun, though there are rumors that the positions of Great Secretary for Foreign Affairs will continue to be held by Srinta.

Her Excellency, according to the publicly available records, was born in the Jianli era in Dong Prefecture-Shen of DaDaShan Province, the daughter of local businessman Meng Gaozhu and his lovely wife Ji Caiwu, daughter herself of a minor military family. She blossomed into the beauty of maidenhood at Dong Prefectural School #2, where she gained high marks in Language and Decorum. From there she was tutored by the sage Heitzi in the first class he opened to girls, which led to her attaining a blue feather in the examinations.

From there she went on to a proud record of service to the Sovereign (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years!). She began her career in the Department of Internal Harmony as a Watch Officer, where she early on distinguished herself to the point that she was extended an invitation to join the Sovereign's (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years!) Censorate. While most Censorate activities are sealed, this writer has received confirmation that Her Excellency was involved in the Liberation of Yenzei, where the criminal clique that dominated the planet was removed from office and good governance was restored.

Her Excellency first came to the public eye when she foiled an attempt by the Golden Rat, a banned Triad Organization, to assassinate the Judge responsible for them being outlawed. She successfully assembled the case and arranged the Procurator team that led to the execution of the outlawed Triad Organization's leadership and the dispersal of its assets among various legal Triad Organizations. She was publicly recognized for her bravery and skill by her father being given the funds necessary to purchase the rank of Baron, while she was promoted to a red feather classification. When Lady Yeying retired after decades of service at the head of the Censorate, Her Excellency was nominated to the Throne (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years!) for the position and confirmed.

Her Excellency Meng Ailian, since being relocated to Huanxin Province, has been a prominent member of the circle surrounding His Eminence Prince Paul McClintock of the North, and an advocate of what has become known as 'Paul McClintock Thought'. Several years ago she published an article in the Secretariat Standard advocating for the development of closer links between the Secretariat of Internal Harmony and the law enforcement agencies of friendly foreign nations. This article was counter-signed by Watch Commanders Inugog, Li Zen, and Takashi Inouye among others; the ensuing debate in the Secretariat Standard lasted for six months before petering out following an intervention by the Editors (for our full back articles on this discussion, send a request to The Editors of the Huanxin Daily Record at 4150 E Hongmu Road, Huangjin Zhengyi Prefecture, Huanxin Province and enclose an order for 300 wen).

The retiring Grand Secretary, Anh Chi Minh (now His Grace the Duke Thu Hai Anh), is said to have recommended Her Excellency to the incoming Emperor personally, though this has not been confirmed by the Daily Record as of yet. Her appointment may be viewed as a victory by the Open Party within the Secretariat, especially if it is true that Miss Srinta has been retained as Great Secretary of Foreign Affairs. A public broadcast by the newly appointed Grand Secretary, where she will announce her cabinet and her initial policies, is expected on Rudan Channel 8 tomorrow at Second Watch and will then be broadcast on other worlds. The Daily Record has been unable to obtain any comment from Secretariat or military sources as yet, but we will bring you this news when we do.

[Roania]

"Everyth'n de light teruches is us kingdom." Hargog was not, by the standards of his people (and what low standards they were, but that's besides the point), a bad person. He tried to be a good father to his six calves. He had never gored someone who had not deserved it, and he had only once eaten someone, and that only because he was really, really hungry.

"Cor, really?"

"A chief's time as ruler rises and falls like de crant bun. One dee, god-forbids, de crant bun wul set ed me time e'yer, and wul rise wi' one o' yous as de nicked chief." Hargog was a gog. Or, to be more precise, Hargog was the Gog. Chief of the Gog tribe of the Vr'ak, the fat walrus people that ruled the icy planet of Hwandoncao, in the Lleofnawdy sector of the Purple Dragon Enclosure. And today, he was introducing his children to their future responsibilities.

"And this wul all be mine?" His eldest son, Maigog, looked around in awe. "Dat is, if Am de chief?"

"Everyth'n." Hargog rumbled, approvingly. That was what he wanted to see. Greed. Greed was, second to weight, the most important virtue the Gogs taught their children; children needed to know to take what was theirs, or else they'd never make it in the winter.

"Everyth'n de light teruches... wa' about dat shadowy place?" His firstborn, his daughter, Liagog pointed down across the way. Her siblings looked the same way. There was a shadowy place, where the distant light of Hwandoncao's red sun barely touched.

"Yeah, wa' about it?"

"Is dat os tew?"

"Dat is beyond us borders. Yous must na bowl thuz." Hargog considered this sentence, then added to it, "Else I'll belt yous one." He idly reached out and in a paternal fashion clouted the nearest child around the ear hole. Since Vr'ak have absurdly thick heads, this was registered as little more than a friendly pat. "Ay 'ope yer listen'n."

"Yis, da." The calves all said in unison.

"'ey, a basil belly la'! Yer brother's e'yer!" Came the call from down below, in the igloo town where the gogs lived. Hargog's chief wife, who weighed nearly 400 stone, stood there, her flabby hands on her hips. "Didn't yous wanna meet 'im? Bright, stop play'n around and get down e'yer!"

"Or'rite, ay wul be rite down, love." Hargog looked around his children, chose one at random, and clipped him around the ears. "Wa' ay you's lot stand'n around fe? Yer uncle's e'yer. Let's bowl!"


Very few of the vr'ak made their way from their icy worlds. There had been their first licensed colony on the planet Chìmim’anail, and since then other tribes had migrated to other worlds, but most of the vra'k lived much as their grandfathers did. And then there was... "Inugog!"

"Big kidda!"

The two bulls ran at each other at top speed, and collided with a slap that resounded off the nearby cliffs and caused small avalanches. As was traditional, Hargog gave his little brother a face punching that didn't even leave a bruise, and Inugog slapped his big brother across the belly a few times, before they locked tusks and wrestled. When the ceremonial obligations were met, Hargog helped Inugog to his feet. "Yous 'uv gottun soft." The chief said approvingly.

"Nah, nah, not as much as yous." Inugog patted his brother's massive belly approvingly. "Whuz ay de god-forbids?" His niece and nephew waved from behind their observing mothers. Inugog gasped. "Gerron yous lot, you're all so 'eavy!"

"Ta, unkill!" They chorused. "Wa' did yous br'n us?"

"And dee ay so greedy! Kidda, yous did a sound as a pound job rais'n dem." Inugog felt in his travel bag for a few minutes, then produced his bounty. There were buckets, spinning tops, and a pile of Reixanxi sweet candies. The younglings immediately squealed in approval and jumped upon the presents, and promptly began fighting eachother for the best bucket ( a shiny red one).

"Nah, nah, me wives deserve all de credit. Dee raised de liddle ones rite." Hargog slapped his brother on the shoulder, then waited for the pounds of fat to stop rolling. "Come inside and tell us about yer big job as a scuffer, why dun yous?"


"Bright, as ay said in me ledder, ay made commissioner." Inugog said later, over a massive mound of fish and a roaring fire. "De pointies, dey say dat ay am a credit ter me uniform and tree times as effective as a brick wall, because ay tinnie grab dem dat needs grabb'n."

"Da' always said yous would be sound as a pound at anyth'n yous set yer mind ter." Hargog said, approvingly. "Ay 'ope you're show'n de fairies 'ow a proper fella deals wi' 'ewks."

"Thuz wuz some up ther shute around me knock'n a 'ole in wall, but dee said it doesn't matti because 'de prisoner confessed once 'e woke up'." The Gog tribe nodded approvingly. That was how you were meant to deal with lawbreakers. Find the nearest wall and throw them into it. It was good to see the fairies understood how it worked as well as proper people, even if they were disappointingly skinny. "De commissioner said dat so long as dee wake up eventually, ay should be allowed ter do things de way ay think."

"'ow is dat feller o' yos? gain'n weight, ay 'ope."

"Oh, yis, eez nearly as big as one o' us now. 'e wanted ter come, but 'e needed ter blimp afti Corporal Fozzington. 'e sends 'is best, 'e does."

[Roania]

"Muqin! Little brother is drooling again!" Xiong Wang called from the back of the cart to her mother, who was busy with choosing vegetables for that night's dinner. Xiong Yuan was, indeed, quite happily outputting a quantity of drool that would put the Great Red Dam to shame. Aware that he was being spoken about, or at least aware that he had been called, the infant shook his rattle and drooled harder.

"Leave him alone, eldest daughter," was their mother's tolerant reply. "Everything will be washed before we eat it, anyway." She barely looked back over her shoulder from her argument with the stall's dealer. "I'll pay 60 wen for this broccoli." She indicated the stalks with the broad leaves she'd placed in the basket. The vendor shook his head and held up two fingers for two belts, or 120 wen. "90, then." The vendor shrugged and nodded. "Great." The mother went through her purse and found a rope with three thirty-wen coins tied on, then paid the vendor and moved on. "What do you think Fuqin will like tonight?"

"Duck!" Xiong Wang sang happily.

"Duck? We had duck a month ago. How about we pick up some catfish?" With the broccoli and the rice they'd purchased, some fish would do for the household without costing too much. Much less than duck, which could go for 300 wen for a portion. For the entire family, that would be well over a cash, which was an awful expenditure when there was no special occasion for celebration.

"I want duck!" Xiong Wang shouted, drawing eyes from all over the marketplace.

"Eldest daughter, you are embarrassing me in public." The mother hissed. "Do not be so loud, or the people will think I am incapable of raising my children." She would have given her daughter a smack, but the length of the cart interposed between them. Still, Xiong Wang went quiet. "Now, while I get the catfish, why do you not go to the music stall and spend the money your grandmother shouldn't have given you? I will be at the fish stall."

"Yes, Muqin!" The girl gave her mother a hurried bow and rushed off down the market's halls to find the music stand. It wasn't particularly difficult to find, since it was loud enough to be heard over the market's own classically piped music. The crowd wasn't so bad as to prevent Xiong Wang from making progress, though she hesitated when she saw she would be the youngest customer at the table.

Ahead of her were two other girls. Though they'd object to the term. They, doubtless, would have preferred the term 'young women'. They wore their young miss robes tight about their hips and chest to show off the development that separated them from mere 'girls', though in reality there was little enough of that. Still, Xiang Wang felt awkward in her tunic and leggings. "We want the latest from Ten Thousand Musical Musings Sending The Heart Soaring Upon The Strains Of Five Guitars. On crystal." Xiang Wang actually recognized them. They were two years ahead of her at the prefectural school.

The vendor at this stall didn't seem impressed with the adolescents in front of him, however Xiang Wang felt. "750 wen." He held out his hand for the amount.

"600 wen." The leading young woman said, holding her purse back.

"Alright, 780 wen."

"What?!" The girl said, taken aback. "630 wen."

"Are you going to waste my time? There are other customers waiting." Xiang Wang very much wanted to hide at this point

"She's just some kid from school." The other young woman said. They both leaned forward, trying out moves from a video they must have seen. "How about 660 wen?"

"You aren't old enough to get my attention." The vendor spat on the ground. "Play grown-up somewhere else." The response was two shrieks of mutual frustration. "I'll go down to 720 wen, and that's my floor. Now, hurry up. Are you buying or are you playing games?" There was nothing they could do but pay his price. XIang Wang stepped forward next, nervous. The cash coin that weighed in her purse suddenly felt very heavy. "What do you want?"

"She probably wants some little girl music." One of the young women said. "Like Teshu de Yang." They both laughed.

Xiang Wang's cheeks went red. That was what she had been intending to purchase, but now she felt like she had to be mature. "I'll get the latest from Ten Thousand Musical Musings Sending The Heart Soaring Upon The Strains Of Five Guitars, too." She produced the cash coin from her purse, running her fingers over the gold and silver and holding it out. That shut them up. "For 720 wen."

"For you, little miss, I'll do 690." The vendor said, running up the purchase on his register. He held out his hand for the coin. Suddenly, though, Xiang Wang felt very diffident about giving up her treasure. She withdrew her hand and looked around nervously. One cash was a lot of money. More money than she had ever seen in her life. It had been exciting when her grandmother had given it to her as a special mid-spring gift. "Well?" Eventually she handed the coin over. "On crystal or disc?"

Her parents didn't have an expensive crystal player, so that was an easy decision. "Disc!"

"Then that's cheaper still." The vendor said, as if he was explaining things to a slow person. "Only 600 wen." She didn't say anything as he gave her her change of 600 wen, which was still more money than she had ever had before. "You shouldn't be so quick to accept prices given to you. Didn't your mother teach you to haggle?" He indicated the young women still hanging around. "Their mothers didn't teach them anything, obviously." This was too much for the older girls. They stuck up their noses and walked away. "Do you really want this album?"

"Ummm..." Xiang Wang didn't know how to answer him, and shifted from leg to leg uncertainly.

"How about this, little miss. If you don't like it, come back this week and trade it in with me." He handed over the flat case. "Off with you, now."

Xiang Wang nodded and ran off, hoping to find the fishmonger. It wasn't that hard, since it was by far the smelliest stall at the market. Rows and rows of fish lay there in ice, along with shellfish. Her mother was busy turning pieces of fish over and letting her fingers be sucked on by her little brother. "I'm back!"

"That's nice, darling. Did you get what you wanted?"

"Um... yes." And she still had 600 wen left! That was the incredible part. "Did you find any catfish?"

"I think so. Will you do 300 wen for these?"

"450." The vendor said, disdainfully.

"330?" Her mother asked, hopefully.

"420."

"360?" The vendor's eyes flickered momentarily, but he shook his head. "390?"

"Alright. 390 wen."

Her mother sighed and went into her purse, but Xiang Wang was faster with her strings of wen coins. "I'll pay!"

"Eldest daughter, that isn't necessary." Her mother put her hand down. "That's very nice of you, though."

"But I want to pay!" She offered the strings of coin to the vendor, who happily took them and gave her her 210 wen in change.

"Such a charming child." The vendor said. "You must be proud."

"At times." Her mother said. "Come along, eldest daughter. We'll tell Fuqin that you helped pay for dinner."

[Roania]

The Huanxin Daily Record
All News Under Heaven

FRONT PAGE NEWS

Military Expedition to Arkasia Announced
Chen Gai-Gai reporting from Wú Shàny'ài Bànyōngshì, Huanxin

The Office of Accessibility has confirmed earlier reports that the Sovereign, Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years, has approved Her Excellency the Grand Secretary's plans for a partial mobilization of the reserves. These plans were only rumors until a month ago, when the Secretariat Record (ed. 1587-32b, p891, l66) contained a reference to Miss Jia Jinwan being named 'Great Secretary for Expansion and Consolidation', the new Secretariat being currently based at Hen Sen Palace in southwestern Huanxin. At her first press conference, the newly appointed Great Secretary confirmed to this paper's reporter that her position was intended to coordinate between the civilian and military services of the Dragon Throne (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years) during this time.

What we learned at this morning's announcement is that elements of the Second Fleet and Second Banner have indeed been activated, apparently for long-range expeditionary deployment. As of yet we do not have confirmation about where these units will be sent, sources within the Military have informed the Record that the situation in Arkasia has been weighing on the Joint Staff for quite some time.

Apparently Henrik Ironhand, a regular star in the city's society pages, is serving as an emissary from the Eridani Imperium on the matter. He was recently seen leaving the Palace of the Secretariat and later that day arriving for a meeting with the Joint Staff with the Great Secretary of Expansion and Consolidation on his arm, but refused to comment on his activities except to say that his interactions with Miss Jia were perfectly satisfactory for both parties.

The Situation in Arkasia

Unconfirmed reports from Arkasia have painted a grim picture of events in that Star State. According to sources on background, an unidentified Yogwey has been active in systems there, and is apparently capable of stealing the will of individuals.

The major Western states have all reportedly intervened in the crisis, according to sources on the ground. That this has played a role in the ongoing debate within the Cabinet was, then, a natural expectation by the public (In this very paper, see our articles here, and the editorial here [subscribers only]), an expectation confirmed by the release of the summaries of the last month of Cabinet Meetings in last week’s Secretariat Record (ed. 1587-33a, p151, l22), where it was learned that Her Eminence Great Secretary of Foreign Affairs Srinta had held consultations with unnamed emissaries from those nations. Reports that certain parties had been ordered to the palace to inform the Sovereign (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years) of recent events remain unconfirmed, but it would be likely that the Dragon Throne (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years) has been kept informed of the situation.

That the Westerners are concerned by events in Arkasia would give credence to the idea that matters are coming to a pass there. This Yogwey has apparently assembled a significant army already and reports from the foreign press that have access to the site are disquieting.

Events at Home

At present, the partial mobilization applies to all reserve members of the Second Banner, who are being moved to active duty, and to reserves of armies Jade Falcon, White Dragon, and Grey Stork of the Third Banner, who are being temporarily deployed to the depleted garrison sites normally controlled by the Second Banner. Recall orders began going out at third watch last night and should begin arriving in the coming week.

As reports of a mobilization grew more certain, talk on the street naturally turned to the impact of several biywan men being removed from the civilian economy. The Secretariat of the Treasury’s spokesman at this morning’s press conference has confirmed that the possibility of severe hardship has been discussed, but that at present there are no plans by the Secretariat or the Military to tap into the Strategic Reserves. Prices for staple goods are expected to remain stable.

All men currently being mustered are now subject to military orders and protected by military regulations, meaning that it is unlawful for their civilian employers to discharge them or for moneylenders to demand payment or seize property for debts. Families who are financially impacted by the husband, father or son being recalled and who believe they may be unable to maintain themselves during this period are asked to inform the Secretariat of the Treasury as soon as possible so that action may be taken.

However, it is not certain that… continued here

For on-demand access to our complete, ongoing coverage of the Arkasia Crisis, including translations of the foreign press, become a CLine Subscriber+ here; current subscribers may access this through the Special Event section on their Accounts page

New Guild Mistress Seeks to Travel with Fleet to Arkasia
Shi Yulin reporting from Gōnwuì Dàitīng, Huanxin

Following the shocking events at the Guild Hall two months ago, it was thought that nothing more could surprise the public about the sudden ascension of Naval Lieutenant Lian Jin to the position of Guild Mistress. But if the latest reports are true, then Her Serenity has petitioned the Dragon Throne (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years) for permission to travel with the Expeditionary Fleet to Arkasia. We will bring you more on this story as it develops.

Celestial Master Confirmed
Setia reporting from Jiaji Paoda, Huanxin; Qen Jeia reporting from Neydin, Zijindow

No one could have predicted that last year’s election of Ta Yong (Ta Leilan) to the post of Celestial Master would have been so contested or that its aftermath would drag on for so long. After the death of Ta Go, the heads of the Ta Clan went into conclave. Apparently, about halfway through the vote there was a change of support from the initial favorite, Ta Baiyue, to Ta Yong, leaving her with a bare majority. Since then, Her Grace has held the title and been acting as Celestial Master as far as the majority of the people are concerned.

However, Ta Baiyue’s supporters would go on to petition to the Dragon Throne (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years), alleging publicly that there were irregularities both in the voting process and in the candidate selection process. We have covered his party’s claims in more detail elsewhere (subscribers only), but essentially the claim was that not only had foreign parties (left unnamed in the transcripts) interfered with the voting, but because Ta Yong was a descendant of Ta Wu on her mother’s side, as was Celestial Master Ta Min, then it had not yet been the full course of generations before she could hold the title. They requested that Ta Yong be removed from office. The Prince of Abiding Prosperity wrote an editorial in this paper (here) that recommended that instead she be married to Ta Baiyue and the title be held by them both, though with the husband as the senior partner.

Ta Yong did not respond herself, but her advocates before the Dragon Throne (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years) stated that the descent from previous Celestial Masters had always been calculated patrilineally and that on that level her ancestry should be calculated from Ta Weian. They also appear to have made the statement that even if descent was to be matrilineal, it should be taken from the date of Ta Min’s resignation and not from her departure to the ancestors. They disdained the claims of foreign interference and threatened suit for libel and slander.

The Sovereign (Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years) after consideration returned the case to Her Excellency the Grand Secretary, who proceeded to order a full investigation by the Auditors of the matter, but decided that Ta Yong would hold the position until the end of the inquiry. The inquiry ended on last sixth day, but only now has a statement been issued by the Office of Accessibility that the original election results were confirmed.

According to sources, an arrest warrant has been issued for Ta Baiyue to stand charges of…continued here

[Roania]

Live on tape: The Real News with Leili Weilian

musical sting

Leili: Caution, you are about to enter the Land of Truth. The Real News will be told, now.

opening

Leili: It's a beautiful night, a beautiful night indeed. I'm Leili Weilian and I'm the voice you trust with the news you need.

Leili: As usual, the Progressives are out of control in the Secretariat and in Civilization, and this is the subject of tonight's Commentary.

Commentary Chiron

Leili: Whether it be asking us to believe that the equality of women means they should be forced to join men in fields they are obviously not intended for, or allowing barbarians to dictate terms for Tianxia to acknowledge them, the so-called Open Party has never met a tenet passed down by our ancestors that they do not despise.

speed scan of assorted videos in grayscale, ending with Grand Secretary Meng Ailian raising her hand, holding the Five Claw Dragon Seal

Leili: Back in the good old days, our schools understood the needs of our people and produced girls ready to serve their husbands, and who understood that whatever they may do before they married, it was only a temporary role.

Leili: When the Secretariat promulgated the regulations on equal education, they assured Tianxia that there would still be time given for the older girls, at least, to learn the traditional virtues. Remember them? Humility, resignation, subservience, obedience, cleanliness and industriousness. These were the bedrock of female education for centuries, and our schools used to take the time to have women learn them, and they turned out just fine.

video of women in traditional clothes, performing work around the house, fixing their makeup, kneeling before men

Leili: But then, of course, they released the Improved Educational Curriculum, and not only did they reduce the time given for virtuous conduct lessons to half an hour a week for girls and boys in their fifteenth year, they also dramatically reduced the time for conduct classes, and made much of that curriculum optional.

Stock footage of weeping parents

Leili: Now, when I went to school, it was just a fact of life that the boys would go to learn martial conduct. How to be men. Nothing better inculcated that in me than shouldering a rifle stock and marching on the field. Taught me how to properly respect authority, and how to properly treat women, too.

stock footage of boys marching with wooden fake rifles, lining up targets, manhandling obviously female mannequins

Leili: Meanwhile, of course, young women would go learn dance and cooking and the graces.

video of demure girls performing intricate dances, carrying parasols, cooking, and kneeling before their husbands

Leili: Of course, the so-called ‘Progressives’ would have you believe, like your children, that that is old-fashioned and irrelevant. And some of them even claim that making women learn the graces is demeaning! Demeaning, I ask you. Mothers of Rudanese womanhood, did you feel demeaned when you learned the proper way to behave?

Leili:It’s bad enough that our schools are now turning out students with only a poor grasp of what we used to call the fundamentals. Now they’re replacing even that with so-called ‘foundational knowledge’.

Quick scan of various cardboard cutouts of textbooks, all of them with insane sounding nonsense syllables and characters

Leili: When I was growing up, school was about more than just 'education', as if there's anything educational for most kids about learning how to find 735 out of 1225. It was about learning how to be a better person. Learning to serve the Sovereign Upon the Dragon Throne...

National Anthem, ‘Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years’ scrolls across the screen

Leili: Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years… as best as you can. And we all know that the best way for a man to serve is by bearing arms, and the best way for a woman to serve, the highest goal a woman should aspire to, is to bear sons.

Leili: Now, of course, not every man is able to serve in the military. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. So maybe it makes sense for them to learn something else. Except we already teach everything anyone actually should learn in school. The real foundations for a good life.

Pictures of the Rudanese Examination canon: the Jiaoxun, the Wanzi, Great Learning (DaiZuihui), the Records of Ancient Times (YuangJi), the Book of the Pious Man (RenQian), the Book of the Way of Heaven and Earth (TiandizhiDao), the Classic of Songs (ShiGe), the Classic of War (ShiBing), and even the Classic for Women (Shi Ti Niang), which is not a classic at all or even in the canon

Leili: Like I said, perhaps there’s an argument for teaching boys a bit more of such things, though the old system where we taught only the basics and let a man’s employers finish their training worked just fine.

Leili: But every woman is able to bear children. Why are we wasting their time with this so-called foundational knowledge? Who decided that this was ‘foundational’, anyway?

Video, and scary music, of the C’tani, Hypatian, Taraskovyan and Phoenixi flags. No context, just the flags, viewed from below and shadowed so as to appear more ominous

Image of Yut logo, above and in shadow

Leili: Why are we acting like we lost a war?

Flags of the Republic of Sunset hanging from a building, the obvious inference being that the building has been taken over when anyone with knowledge of the capital would recognize it as the Nimatojin cultural office in Huanxin

Shot of Menelmacari Embassy entrance with guards posted, grainy and shaky

Leili: I’ll tell you why. Because we did lose a war, the most important war we’ve ever fought. We lost the war to keep our women properly in their place, where they’re protected, and we all know where it went wrong, and where this problem got started.

Grainy footage of His Grace the Duke of Banyue, Captain Elyas of the Imperial Guard, laughing and crushing the Princess Meili against himself with one powerful arm, as if he’s forcing her to embrace him while she tries to push him away

Footage of Kadrians at their embassy, the footage deliberately staggered to make them look drunk and brutal, intercut with grainy images of women shrieking in horror

But for those of you who haven’t had the time to keep up with the collapse of our cherished traditions, or who are just now navigating the challenge of sending their children to school, or even if you’ve just now graduated and are looking for some context for the misinformation you’ve been fed, I’ve arranged some interviews tonight.

Box appears with Fan Haoyin, ‘hao’ Jia Zhen.

Leili: We’ll be having my close friend Jia Zhen, leader of the Campaign for Proper Historical Education. He’ll be here to promote his new book Sagacious Fools and Foolish Sages: How the Secretariat of Guidance went from supporting civilization to destroying it.

Jia Zhen: It is good for this poor and disreputable soul to be on the air with you, honorable host.

Leili: The honor is mine, good and wise sir. Of course, you’re currently in Huanxin for your appeal on your case, are you not?

Jia: That is correct.

Leili: If you missed last week’s Real News, the Secretariat of Guidance refused to honor Jia Zhen’s petition to become a sage because they continue to call the Shi Ti Niang unworthy of being a recognized classic and claim that an essay written on it is unfit for promotion. Anything you want to quickly share with my viewers?

Jia: I am confident that the appeals court here in Huanxin will hear my case and approve, now that I have marshaled the support of numerous other Sages that I was introduced to by His Grace the Duke of Fangrong Changseng.

Leili: Very good news, very good news. And that would only be the start, would it not?

Jia: Indeed, indeed. Once my essay is approved for promotion, our campaign to have the Classic for Women recognized as an acceptable examination subject will have hit an important milestone, and we can begin to fight back against the tide of falsehood the Female Emancipationists and the McClintock Clique have been pushing in our schools and our once proud institutions.

Image of Prince Paul cut with previous footage of crying families, as well as McClintock-branded meat sellers intercut with pictures of the Huanxin Ranch Futures building being demolished, an event that took place decades ago because it was being replaced with a new construction

Leili: A battle you and the Campaign have been fighting for some time, of course.

Jia: Indeed. But to hear more about my struggle to have our real history taught in the schools, and the sacrifices I have made, you’ll have to wait for our interview later. Or better yet, buy my book!

Leili: Hahaha! That’s right. We need to cut to commercial, but when we get back I’ll be sitting down with the newly appointed Lord Captain Commander of the Arkasian Expeditionary Fleet, His Serene Highness the Prince of the South.

[Roania]

Two anchors sitting at desk. The woman on the left is pretty and perky, with dark purple hair and golden eyes. She is dressed on the more liberal side of traditional, showing a few inches worth of cleavage and with short sleeves on her dress. She wears her hair down as an unmarried woman, with a few long needles pinned into it over her left ear along with a crystal tablet stylus. Her face is only lightly made-up, but she is naturally pale. The man on the right is dressed in what is now called ‘progressive formal’: a loose dark robe belted about the waist over a lighter tunic. His only ornamentation is a thick watch on his left wrist

Cai Xu Hello, and welcome to Rudan TyanYan. I’m Cai Xu.

Weilian Biyein: And I’m Weilian Buyein.

Cai: Our main stories from Rudan: Ta Baiyue has surrendered to the Watch following a weeklong standoff with the Watch at Jushishan Shrine. The standoff was resolved peacefully through the efforts of the Ta Family foundation. Zhang Ai is our woman on the scene, and she’ll have full details.

Footage of Ta Baiyue being led from the shrine by a chain attached to the shackles on his chain. He refuses to look at the camera or answer shouted questions from the press

Weilian: Construction has begun on the first official church in Tianxia since the ban on the open practice of Christianity was lifted last year. Construction of the Cathedral of the Trinity is being funded by an association of interfaith leaders as well as local businessmen. We’ll have more on this in our continuing story: “What does it mean to be Christian?”

Cornerstone being laid to loud cheers from the crowd

Cai: The famous Holly Valdez has only just been appointed Ambassador of the Galactic Republic of Arkasia, but she’s already making a splash before even arriving. Reportedly, the Arkasian government has begun talks with landowners in Huanxin Province over a large embassy complex. We have interviews with some of the potential neighbors.

Old, undated photo of Holly Valdez

Weilian: All that, plus ongoing tensions between management and workers at Daoyue Harbor, predictions for this year’s southern monsoon season with Roku Ailin, and more.

Cai: And later we’ll have our main stories from Tianxia as tensions continue to mount between Daiyanese and Tonhi colonists on Dijia, the Secretariat is weighing a response to a breach of the armistice on Pathaar, and the deadlock over the appointment of a new Grand Lama on Tufan continues into its fourth week.

Quick show of related footage

Cai: But first!

Weilian: It’s been called the fist that shook earth and heaven and everything last year’s Daoxia tournament should have been, but wasn’t.

Cai: By now, the original video on Zayjin has been watched fifteen billion times, and copies of the video have spread throughout Tianxia. Here’s a brief highlight of the video:

Leili is sitting across the table from the Prince of the South, Azin Fenqin. Leili is dressed in full formal wear, the Prince is wearing his uniform. The argument is heated, but there’s no audio The Prince stands up, and Leili stands up too. Leili appears to be shouting, but then he holds up his hand and seems to back away. The Prince, taller and broader than the pundit, follows. Leili holds up his other hand. The Prince punches him in the face, and as the pundit grabs for his nose Azin Fenqin punches him again in the stomach. The camera shakes and a hand covers the lens for a moment, but it then turns off

Weilian: Can we see that again? Towards the end, I mean, before the camera shut off. What happened there?

Cai: I don’t see why not. Nmmr?

Leili holds up his other hand. The Prince punches him in the face, and as the pundit grabs for his nose Azin Fenqin punches him again in the stomach. The camera shakes and a hand covers the lens for a moment, but it then turns off

Weilian: No, I’m not sure what happened. Was that the cameraman, or one of His Serene Highness’s men?

Cai: Maybe one more time will help. In slow motion, if you please, Nmmr.

Leili holds up his other hand. The Prince punches him in the face and as the pundit grabs for his nose Azin Fenqin punches him again in the stomach. The camera shakes and a hand covers the lens for a moment, but it then turns off

Cai: No, unfortunately we just can’t make it out.

Weilian: Unfortunate. Anyway, our initial reporting focused on Channel Lim’s efforts to have the video taken down through copyright and trademark claims. While Konto Video was willing to accede without legal action being taken, Zayjin Video refused to do so without a court order.

Across bottom of screen: Zayjin Online Video Hosting is owned by Zhao Holdings, the parent company of Rudan TyanTyan and Channel R Broadcasting

Cai: Reports emerged as early as the first hour local time this morning that Channel Lim has abandoned its legal threats against Zayjin following a late night meeting between Channel Lim’s advocates and officers of the Secretariats of Internal Harmony and Communications. These were confirmed seven hours ago at a press conference…

Lim Kaoyun, son of Lim Channel founder Lim Baoyang, dressed in full formal robes on stage, flanked by advocates, all of whom are men.

Lim Kaoyun: While we regret Zayjin Video’s refusal to respect the privacy of our employees and our own private information, which they wrongfully obtained, we have agreed to withhold legal action against the company following the advice of the Secretariat, to instead pursue legal action against the initial thief. The Watch and our own security teams are taking the time to examine every possible lead.

Subtitles below, as Lim Kaoyun is speaking High Rudanese

Shouted questions, loud and indistinct

Lim Kaoyun: I have time for two questions… Yes, we believe we know who made off with the digital footage to provide to an unauthorized uploader, and we will be pursuing them to the full extent of the law.

More shouting

Lim Kaoyun: I am happy to report that Mister Leili is expected to recover, and that he and His Serene Highness have spoken. Apologies have been exchanged, and His Serene Highness has agreed to make a donation to Mister Leili’s charitable foundation. No charges will be pressed.

More shouting

Lim Kaoyun: No, the audio has not been leaked, and we will not be releasing it. Thank you, and good day.

Back to the studio

Cai: While at the time the audio had not been released, we are pleased to report that shortly afterwards a copy of the audio was provided to Channel R.

Weilian: We have confirmed the file’s authenticity, and our legal department has approved the presentation of the full and unexpurgated segment.

[Roania]

Leili: And that's why you're approving of this nonsense? Allowing a girl who hasn't had even the first minute of proper training and education to...

Azin Fenqin, Prince of the South: Her Serenity does not need training to perform a largely ceremonial role, and what she does need to do the Crystal will guide her. In addition, before her... ascension, Lian Jin would have been called up to serve in the men heading out under my command anyway. I see...

Leili: That's not what I'm talking about and you know it! There are certain things we should expect from Rudanese women, especially those of high position! She knows none of them, and according to my sources has refused to take the time to learn!

Azin: Perhaps she feels that under the circumstances there are matters more important than knowing the right way to dance the flower dance and how to properly prepare tea for her master. I rather believe it is her previous training as a lieutenant that will...

Leili: She isn't a lieutenant. She is a woman, chosen by the Gods to be such, and should therefore act like it! To even suggest that a woman could serve the Dragon Throne...

National Anthem, ‘Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years’ scrolls across the screen

Leili: Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years...

Azin: Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years...

Leili: Even the suggestion is an offense!

Azin: Our friends and allies all seem to disagree, and I have known many women who...

Leili Friends and allies? Savages and dogs!

Azin: Easy, Honorable Mister Leili...

Leili: All the opinions of all the savages in the galaxy mean nothing compared to the words of the sages! Lian Jin is now a woman, and should be made to act like one. Eventually, as is her duty, she will need a husband to give her children, and how will she find a good one if...

Azin: That is rather up to the young lady in question, as will be her definition of what her duty is, and who she should consider to be a good husband if she does take one.

Leili: Simply outrageous! The Honored Unnamed Sage…

Azin: Deserves neither honor nor to be called a sage, and the utter claptrap he wrote in his ‘Classic for Women’ was wrong and judged immoral then, and has only become more wrong since. Or will you call for bringing back concubinage again?

Leili: Every book has something to offer, especially when they are old and wise! And if you have such a high regard for women, why haven’t you wed one yet?

Azin: Excuse me?

Leili: You think women are so strong and capable and that they shouldn’t have to follow our old traditions and rules, but you haven’t married one yet. Maybe you’re actually looking for a traditional woman to stay home and have your babies, Honorable Prince?

Azin: Now, hold on…

Leili: Or maybe you’re so eager to see our women playing at soldiers because you think they’re nothing but tools for lust, not even honorable wedlock…

Azin: Now, see here! I won’t have…

Leili: Or maybe your mother’s death actually showed you how weak women actually… now, wait…no, hold on, I lost my…but we can…

The Prince punches him in the face, and as the pundit grabs for his nose Azin Fenqin punches him again in the stomach. The camera shakes and a hand covers the lens for a moment, but it then turns off

[Roania]

Cai: Wow, that certainly was something, wasn't it, Weilian?

Weilian: Oh yes. Quite, quite shocking, both the argument and its conclusion.

Cai: As stated by Mister Lim, no charges have been requested by Mister Leili in response to the incident. However, Prince Azin was reported going into the local Watch station after departing Lim studios by a person

Video footage of the Prince of the South at a watch precinct

Weilian: With complete context now established for this action, we have asked the Procurate to comment on these events and will inform you when we hear something or a note appears in the Secretariat Record.

Cai: What charges could he face, and will this have any impact on his departure for the Arkasian front later this week? We're joined by our legal expert, Aian Fuhe, who is again taking time from her practice to answer a few questions.

Splitscreen to Aian's office, a tastefully decorated parlor with a low table, some bookshelves, and a teacup. Aian is sitting behind the table. An attractive and young-seeming woman, meaning she could be anywhere from in her early twenties to three or four hundred years old, she wears her hair down like Cai though unlike the other maiden she has no artifacts in her hair. She's in a light blue robe squared with red, the top open to reveal that underneath she's wearing a simple blouse that rises almost to her neck. On her left breast she's pinned the badge of a red feather. She also has a thin pair of glasses that are presently at the bottom of her nose.

Weilian: Looking lovely as always, Young Miss Aian. Have you eaten today?

Aian: I have, thank you! And you?

Cai: We have eaten as well, thank you. So, what charges could the Prince of the South face if Mister Leili and Channel Lim have decided against bringing their own?

Aian: The most likely charge would be Committing a Breach of the Peace, which at His Serene Highness's calculated income would work out to around seven and a half cash. However, Internal Harmony and Communications could refer charges against him for inappropriate behavior on a closed set.

Weilian: Could he be charged for breaching conduct permitted on a listed program?

Aian pushes her glasses up her nose so they catch the light

Aian: As the video was not broadcast and it was leaked, there are no potential offenses under the regulations for media presentation. In fact, I would argue that Mister Leili and Lim broadcasting are both at more risk.

Unfortunately, the glasses seem loose, so a moment later they slide down her nose again. She makes a cute little frustrated face for a moment before regaining her calm demeanor, or trying to. A large masculine arm reaches across from under the camera of the table and fixes her glasses, then momentarily brushes down her cheek and neck. She reaches up to swat at it before he gets anywhere else. The camera shakes a little, but the hand withdraws and she manages to regain her calm a moment later, even if a smile haunts her lips

Cai: How so?

Aian: Well, although it would be difficult to establish defamation at a criminal level, the fact remains that the section of the episode that was broadcast seemed determined to establish connections within the observer's mind that could be considered defamatory in a strictly civil sense. For instance, the Kadrian men in the clip referring to their embassy would seem entitled to present themselves to court and request damages for the direct claim that they are drunken sots, as well as the claim that they are engaged in conduct that would make a woman scream.

Weilian: I'm sure at least a couple of them have made women scream, hm?

Cai and Aian both turn pink. Aian is significantly pinker, however.

Cai: Every Kadrian man I've met has always been a perfect gentleman, at least unless someone wanted otherwise.

Cai gives an exaggerated wink to the camera

Aian: Besides that, um... well, that's a direct imputation against them, and they could claim on that ground. In fact, my practice... I mean, some practices have already said they've been contacted by persons looking for advice on filing a case.

Weilian: I imagine His Glorious Highness the Prince of the North could also make a claim.

File photo of Prince Paul McClintock, Prince of the North, with his wife Dai Maein. He looks far less menacing and aggressive then he does in Leili's image

Aian: Of course, though obviously he would have his own personal lawyer to arrange such things. Of rather more note is a detail that I believe eluded Mister Leili's video editors. Can we see that clip he used in standard speed again?

Cai: Of course. For those who don't know, the image Mister Leili's editors used is from a promotion film released last year by the Kadrian embassy last year, released under a limited publishing license. Nmmr, roll 212.

Kadrians walking around the embassy, talking and gesturing, with Roanians. In the color footage, which has not been artificially degraded or shaken, the air of drunken molestation has vanished

Aian: Stop there. Can we focus on that man in the upper right corner, holding the tavern and talking to the man?

Cai: Over to you, Nmmr.

The man in question is highlighted and zoomed in

Weilian: He seems familiar, but I can't quite place him...

Aian: When I reached out to the Kadrian embassy through my usual contacts, they said they believe that that man was, in fact, Erik Goldpeak of Northpoint. Obviously, they were unwilling or unable to confirm this, but I have been told that the Palace has been making inquiries.

Cai: Goodness, that is interesting. Do you mean to say they may have slandered the Consort's father?

Weilian: Breaking news. You heard it here first.

[Roania]

There are seven forms of victory, ranked by the sages from the greatest to the lowest:

1) To win a war without raising your armies.

It is best if they will bend the knee.

Therefore, it is best not to fight, but to show the grace and mercy of Heaven and thus secure their allegiance.

"The Sea is all the Rivers that Flow to it and the Rivers, all the Water from the Sea."

2) To win a war after raising your armies, but before any action has taken place.

It is better if those who have disdained to bend the knee before now realize the error of their ways.

If one cannot secure peace without the threat of force, then inform your enemy of your strength and his weakness and pray that they will see wisdom.

"The tree that bows to the wind is stronger than the one that stands upright."

3) To win a war by stratagem or cunning, preventing the need for a battle

It is good if those who stand in the way of a just peace under heaven are removed or replaced by those who will see reason.

If those who would seek peace are prevented from giving council to their King, then it serves Heaven if those who stand in their way are removed.

"Those who prevent their King from hearing wisdom are criminals before Heaven."

4) To win a war after one battle demonstrates supremacy and the error of fighting.

It is average if, after one battle, you are able to show them what they would not see otherwise.

If one is left with no choice but to wage war, the best battle is the one that destroys the enemy's will to fight.

"There is no shame in bowing to a superior opponent, only in persisting in a hopeless fight."

5) To win a war by destroying the enemy's army, but leaving the state and people unharmed.

It is mediocre if you must render them as harmless as a child.

If one is forced to wage a campaign, then leave the laws and people unharmed, so the enemy's magistrates will say to their king that the enemy serves a master who serves Heaven.

"A hundred thousand men died at the Red Pass, but from their deaths came peace under Heaven."

6) To win a war by destroying the enemy's army and state, but leaving the people unharmed.

It is poor if you must destroy the army and the King to gain peace under Heaven.

If a King will not accept peace when defeated, but despoils his own land to fight on, then he is no King.

"When the Five Hundred Nobles were defeated by Shen Yu all the feudal lords but the the King of Wei bent the knee. To end the War of Heaven and Earth, He decreed that the line of the King of Wei would be eliminated, but that should their people come to him he would not harm them. When his armies came to Wei, the gates were opened for them and the people of Wei bought their king and princes before him, bound in chains. By keeping his oath to punish only the guilty, Shen Yu demonstrated that he was worthy of Heaven, and so became the XiangQian Huangdi. But he would often say that it would have been better had the King of Wei done as the other Feudal Lords."

7) To win a war by the total destruction of the enemy.

This is shameful, but sometimes necessary.

If the people themselves will not accept peace, then you fight not an army of men but of beasts.

"When Marshal the Nanwang An Yuan arrived at the city of the Qo-Qo, he was prepared to face an army of men. When he learned the manner of his enemy, he did not hesitate to order the city bombarded and fired, and when the work was done the river diverted to flow over the ruined walls forever. In his report he simply said that it was beneath the dignity of a soldier to act as a butcher."

[Roania]

"And it's another beautiful first watch at Huanxin Docklands Stadium... Beautiful for some of us, at least! Behind me, Huanxin Taifeng are on the defensive against Jianximixi Tidao's powerful fielding line-up. Despite the best efforts of the batting team, Jianximixi are demonstrating the effectiveness of honorable coach Sei Lia's 'Hold the Inner Wall’ strategy, and Huanxin just can't keep up even in their own stadium!"

"It's looking desperate for Huanxin, and honorable coach Mei Aien's hope for a league pennant before she retires are in jeopardy. Even with Huanxin holding their own on fielding, wins are made by running, and they haven’t scored more than three runs this game. Last First Day Jianximixi won the first game in the series, and if they win today then Huanxin's easiest path for advancement in the season relies on the Nanyu Huixing falling short in their game on Tenth Day."

"That seems unlikely, Hu Jin."

"It does indeed, Liu Bao. For those of you just tuning in, the score is Home three and Away Ten. It’s the top of the fourth, and Huanxin’s leading batter, Lan Ying, has just been caught out. It’s not looking good for the home team… oh? What's this? Mei Aien is calling for a timeout! Is the umpire going to agree?"

"We've got the signal. We're going to timeout."

***

Mei Aien's sigurrós, her fifth of the game, came out of her mouth to reveal that it had been chewed into oblivion. "What is happening out there?" She examined the sigurrós and threw it over her shoulder into the bin with a growl. Her husband was an importer of the smoky lichen from Kadria, anyway. She didn’t need to worry about the cost, even if she was retiring.

“The spirits have truly blessed them. They seem to know exactly where our balls will be landing, and they are prepared to receive it.” Nia Laou took a length of the beads hanging from her skirt up and began to roll them between her fingers. “And even should they not catch it, the very wind itself aids them in sending the ball to where it is needed. We fight not women, but Heaven!” She bent her head and began to mutter prayers.

Mei pulled another sigurrós from her pocket and lit it with a flick of her thumb. She didn’t put it in her mouth just yet, though. Instead she scowled. “If the spirit of our stadium is on their side, then we need a new one. Gods must fulfill their ends of our bargains as we uphold ours. And I don’t believe the wind is taking sides.” Now she did stick the wrapped leaves in her mouth, and alternated between chewing on it and puffing smoke from it. Nia was a good pitcher, but only a lukewarm batter to begin with, and far too inclined to seek supernormal explanations for things.Her being rattled wasn’t a problem so long as it didn’t spread. She glanced around the team. “Anyone else have an opinion they want to share?”

“It’s simply a matter of calculation.” Tjan Yo turned her bat over and over in her hand. “They’re taking the data they’ve gathered about our statistics, and doing calculations from that. They probably worked out the most likely paths the ball will go for each of us, and from there if they’re good at numbers they can do the rest in their heads.”

“Damned number crunchers.” Mei turned her back on the huddle and pulled the cigarillo out of her mouth for a moment at the dugout where her opposite number was talking with her team. “We’re doing okay on the ground ourselves, but they’re still scoring and we’re not. It’s top of the fourth and they struck you out immediately, Lan, so we’re one down going in.” Lan Ying looked at her feet and muttered apologies. If we have one more half like last inning, then we may as well pack it in now.”

“If I may, Coach Mei, I think I have an idea. Assuming that Tjan Yo is correct and they examined our records and recordings to work out a strategy for each of us, then it is too late to turn the tables and perform the same work on them.” Sunye Jiyin turned her own personal bat over in her hand. “I propose we go on the offense… and that we take advantage of something I noticed.”

“I’ll take any proposals I can get, Sunye.”

Sunye nodded, and then lifted the bat she was holding up. Then they finally noticed that it wasn’t her bat, but one of the practice bats. “Our statistics are composed of our readouts with our own bats and our standard hitting style. If we adjust those inputs, we adjust their outputs, and I don’t believe they’re going to be able to do that on the fly. We can all work on that, of course, but at practice… well, perhaps it would be better if I showed you all. May I be up for the next appearance?”

“Well… I suppose we have little else to lose.” Mei chomped on the cigarillo and nodded.

***

Sunye Jiyin took a few breaths and centered herself.

At that moment she was aware of everything. The feeling of the gentle seaside wind through her hair. The sand under her feet. The sound of the crowd. The heat of the sun. Docklands Stadium, after two seasons, had become as familiar to her as her own home.
She turned her attention inwards to focus on her body. Her toes seemed to grip the sand through her shoes as her legs instinctively took her into her preferred stance. She tightened her waist and let her hips sway into the timeless rhythm of the game. Beneath the tight-fitting Runnerwear Sports Bra (the Dornalian company had seen a market in the developing female sports industry in Tianxia, and taken it) the rise and fall of her chest began to match the slow, steady beating of her heart. And beneath that soft flesh she felt her muscles tense. In her mind she visualised the energy of her body flowing from inside her up and out through her slender shoulders, down her arms and into her hands, where they met the bat and transformed it into an extension of herself.

Her eyes narrowed on the pitcher as she felt, rather than heard, the catcher move behind her. Jianximixi’s pitcher, Wan Yu, tossed the ball into the air and caught it. Once. Twice. Three times… and behind her, the catcher was no doubt sending his own messages back.

For all her talk of statistics in the huddle, she hadn’t much to hand of her own. She knew, or at least believed she recalled, Wan’s pitching numbers, but that wasn’t much help. Instead, what the situation seemed to call for was manipulation of the probabilities. She nodded her readiness.

Wan Yu threw the ball. Sunye missed.

“Strike one!”

She adjusted her position, and nodded a second time.

Again, Wan threw the ball, and again Sunye missed.

The ball was returned to Wan. The other woman was beginning to look confident.

Sunye changed her position entirely, moving around the base and adjusting her grip to match. She tapped the bat on the ground and again centered herself, visualising where she expected Wan to send the ball and where she wanted it to hit her bat. There was now a hush settling over the field. In her mind it seemed as if even the crowd’s cheers were muted. She nodded to the pitcher.

Wan did not disappoint. A thorough-going professional and one of the best pitchers in the game, she was too skilled to be thrown simply by the batter changing positions and grip, and she wasn’t. As soon as the ball left Wan’s hand, Sunye knew that she’d bet correctly on that, and now it was simply a question of whether she could do what she wanted to do.

The ball hit the bat. Or the bat hit the ball. Momentum was converted and diverted and it arced high, even higher than she would have expected had she thought about it. But she didn’t think about it. Instead, as soon as she knew she’d hit it, she took off running.

She hit first base. All around her there was yelling, but she didn’t listen. Ahead of her, she saw her teammates moving forward and she followed.

At second, she slowed for a moment. But there was no activity at third, and the shortstop seemed as lost as the rest of the fielders. She moved on, and when she hit third she didn’t even stop; it seemed cowardly to stop. No, it seemed absurd. She took off running again, despite the ache in her legs and chest, and she pushed herself to run even faster.

It wasn’t until she reached home that she learned what she had done, that she had sent the ball flying up and into the stands.

***

It would be nice to say that Huanxin won that game because of Sunye Jiyin. That she rallied them to victory and preserved the pennant hopes of her coach. Unfortunately, life isn’t often that neat. The Inner Wall may have been broken, but the Taifeng couldn’t quite overcome the early lead in the remaining innings even with their morale regained. The game ended, with the Away team at twenty-five and Home sitting on twenty.

But no one was talking about the defeat, or about the winners. Everyone was talking about Sunye Jiyin... or as she was called from that moment, Sunye Qiqao, the Beautiful Striker.

[Roania]

While the Secretariat was a universal organization, not every part of it was equally universal. Some places were just more important than others.

Huanxin was one such place. As the capital of Tianxia, the shimmering city by the bay was probably the most important place in the civilized worlds. This was unfortunate, as it had not been chosen to be capital for any particular virtues beyond that of the great imperial island that split the Yah river some few kilometers from where it went to the sea, where Shen Yu, the XiangQian Sovereign, had decided to build the fortress that would someday become the Closed City.

If the oppressive heat and humidity were not enough, and many visitors agreed that they were, then there was the fact that that heat and humidity were only broken by sudden storms that could gather from out of a clear sky, pour water from the sky, and then dissipate as quickly as they gathered. Of course, all of this was something along the lines of ‘normal’.

What wasn’t normal, to most people, were the typhoons. For more than a quarter of the year, the Imperial Capital lived under the threat of cyclones. In ancient times, the northeastern coast of the continent had been called the Coast of Storms. The Rudanese tradewinds largely blew from east to west, following the large equatorial ocean. But there was also a strong southward wind from the north, blowing from the frozen gulf across an empty ocean. When these two winds met during the right conditions, a typhoon wasn’t only likely. It was a certainty.

While the XiangQian Sovereign didn’t live long enough to face the typhoon, his grandson and successor Shen Wu, the Huren Sovereign, lived through one horrible night and decided his first step would be to build a temple of Heaven and Earth to propitiate the angry deities.

This did not work.

His next step was to try to dam the mouth of the river Yah.

This didn’t work either, even more dramatically.

After his third plan, flogging the ocean with chains, also failed to have the desired results, it was determined that it might be of more value to attempt to predict the arrival of typhoons.

The first attempt at this, sacrificing four children and then demanding their souls provide information of the future, was not a success. And after the Sovereign mysteriously vanished during the unpredicted hurricane, his successor (and uncle) Shen Yong, the QiShouhou Sovereign, decided to put weather forecasting on a professional standing.

This was the foundation of the Bureau of Wind and Weather, the forerunner of the modern Secretariat of Wilderness and thus the modern Meteorological Office.

The Bureau’s initial role was providing bounties for the ‘invention and improvement of tools that could be used for ‘measuring, predicting and dispelling adverse weather, and their subsequent deployment.’ There were notable successes, such as the perfection of the barometer and thermometer, several noticeable spinoffs in the development of rocketry and balloons, and a few amazing failures, such as the initial attempt at building levees in Wūyāshé (now the Wūyāshé Underwater Archaeology Site and Rehabilitation Project).

The modern Met Office is the sum of those successes and those failures, and is moving forward into the seventh century of the Great Ruan dynasty…

***

“And that concludes the video welcoming you to our offices here at 76 Docklands,” The woman standing at the podium smiled at her audience as the crystal screen faded out of existence behind her. “As you can see, the Met Office has a long and proud history, and we are building our way to the future. Techniques and technologies pioneered here will in time find their way across the ten thousand worlds, and perhaps even beyond. And you have been selected to be a part of this history, bringing it forward” She cupped her hands and bowed slightly at her shoulders.

Perhaps she was slightly darker than traditional, and lean in her slenderness, rather than soft. But Yuwen Fair-Sky was lovely, in face and form… to the evident appreciation of many of the men in the audience. She offered them, and the women, a gentle smile before rising and continuing. “Now, let us set our house in order, shall we? If you have only just passed your first examination, I will ask you to proceed to the first door to the left, where Honorable Doctor Jun will complete your orientation. For those of you who have obtained your certification, please proceed to the second door on the left where Venerable Director Li will provide you with your initial access and first assignments. If you are one of our transfer officers from the ten thousand worlds, you should return to the door at the back and provide your credentials to reception for verification and direction.” She clapped her hands together. “Let us be swift as the wind, but as sure as the lightning!”

After a few minutes of filling into the required groups, this left her with a much smaller audience in the auditorium, and most of them were visibly uncomfortable with sitting on their knees for as long as they had been. Yuwen tapped a button on her podium and the scroll moved upwards to the next section. “Now, it would seem we also have some guests from afar.” She adjusted her thin glasses and looked over at them. “If you are here with the University of Northpoint Work Credit program, please proceed to the first door at the right. If you are here with the Greater Ostia College of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science’s External Studies program, please proceed to the second door. If you are from Resdayn, Ellanore, or another Eridani world, your contact will be meeting you at the main gate tomorrow morning at the third hour, and you are dismissed for the remainder of the day.”

That left just one man sitting in the audience. A tall, well-built Kadrian male was sitting towards the front of the auditorium, a handsome smile on his face. He seemed to find sitting where he was perfectly pleasant, though when she looked in his direction he nodded and rose to his feet. Yuwen checked her notes, and then cupped her hands and bowed slightly. “Nihao, xianshing...”

The Kadrian smiled again and approached her. “Saell. Finn Cloud-Seeker. And I apologize. You did not specify where the doctorate students from Northpoint should go.” He stopped a few feet from her and crossed his arms over his chest. His smile flashed a third time as he now looked down at her.

Yuwen tapped her podium. The screen reappeared, and she began to swipe through it. Finally, she bit her lip. “I would suppose you are liaising with me…”

“Then my ancestors have truly smiled on me.” His eyes met hers, warm and bright.

She shivered, and coughed. “May I ask what it is you are here to study?”

“I’m here to study you, of course.” He said this so perfectly sincerely that it took her a moment to realize what he had said.

“M-me?” Yuwen squeaked. In an imitation of the man, she crossed her own arms over her own much softer chest. “W-what do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m supposed to be studying with you.” He cleared some more of the space between them and reached into his jacket, then produced some papers. “Professor Tonna said she had sent you a letter telling you to expect me? My thesis is on typhoon formation, and you had told her that…”

Yuwen took the papers and flipped through them quickly. They all looked to be in order. And, yes, there was a copy of the letter she’d sent to the Professor. “Of course. Yes. I… I remember now. We’re tracking a developing tropical storm system and she’d said she was sending one of her students to… but I wasn’t expecting…”

“A strong, handsome and brilliant man?” This time, Finn’s smile was a cocky grin. “I hope it will not be too much trouble to work with me, Yuwen Fair-Sky.”

Yuwen’s face turned crimson, and she swatted him with the folder. “Watch yourself, Finn Cloud-Seeker.”

“It will be difficult when my eyes would rather be watching you, Yuwen Fair-Sky, but I’m sure I can find the time to keep myself safe.” He chuckled, in a deep throaty laugh that sent a shiver down the young Roanian woman’s spine.

“You are very confident, Finn.” She murmured, rolling his papers up. “Do you think you can live up to it?” She moved to swat him with the bundle again.

He caught it easily enough. “Why don’t you put it to the test, Yuwen?”

***

Finn gave her another smile as she came out of her office’s bathroom. “What do you think of my confidence now?” He leaned against the empty surface of the woman’s desk. He’d gotten his pants back on, at least, but he hadn’t bothered to button up his shirt.

Yuwen shyly smiled back this time. “I’ll admit it seems warranted.” She stopped a few feet away from him. An errant breath revealed that while she’d belted her robe about herself, she’d not bothered to put her shirt back on. The gentle mark he'd left on her upper shoulder flashed at him as bright as a neon sign, and when the young woman folded her robe back to highlight it he saw it as the invitation it was.

It only took him a minute to rejoin her, his arms going around her waist. "Do you require more evidence?" He leaned down to kiss her cheek.

She leaned her head back against his chest. "We'll have plenty of time to perform further experiments in this field, but let's focus on the heavens for a time."

"I thought I was focusing on the heavens..." He nipped at the point of her ear as a hand wandered.

"Finn!" She giggled. "Behave. And not like a schoolboy whose girlfriend has just told him she’s gone on the shot.”

"Gods bless those shots and their makers,” Finn said, fervently. But he nodded. “Alright. I'll be good, for now." He didn't let go of her, but he did focus. "So, besides the obvious, what else are you hiding up here?" He focused at least a little.

She reached up with one hand, touching his cheek and neck, gently tracing his chin and its prickly stubble. Her other hand lazily lifted up and she pointed. The ring on her index finger flashed, and a globe of Rudan appeared in the air. She moved her finger from side to side, and the globe unrolled itself into a map. “Now, obviously, this is Rudan. We are here.” A glowing red dot appeared on the spot where he would have guessed Huanxin was.

“How good is the resolution on this map? If it zoomed in, would it catch us?” Finn grinned and squeezed.

She giggled, but pulled away. “Thankfully, it can’t see through the roof. That’s not what’s important.” She tapped his cheek. “Come on, be a little serious. This is about your doctorate, too.”
“Alright, alright, you have my attention.” He released her, and they walked over to the map. He had to admit to being a little impressed. “Where’s this cyclone expected to form?”

She crooked her index finger again, and the map went through a number of filters until it settled on what he recognized as a streamline map. Then she reached up and pointed at an area where the pressure readings were beginning to become unsettled. She zoomed in on a series of rocky outposts. “Normally we’d expect to see formation over here, near the Hanya Reef. And it doesn’t look like we’re going to be disappointed this year. But that’s not where we’re going.”

“Oh no?”

“No, a full monitoring team will be going to Hanya; the air currents could take that storm to Huanxin and it will need to be observed.” She zoomed out, then moved the map north. “Our predictive models are telling us that this season we’ll be seeing a Qiannian storm, a thousand year storm, to form here and then travel southwest, making landfall on Neydian.” As she spoke, the path of the hypothetical storm appeared. It crossed the ocean quickly, gathering speed until it blew onto the subcontinent. “Fortunately, no one lives there. Though there will be a risk of intense rain in Shengcheng, it’s nothing they aren’t prepared for. I received permission to…”

The Kadrian had begun to frown a little at the first name, and then at the second he shook his head. “Wait, that’s that place full of ruins and graves. Foreigners aren’t allowed there. That won’t work

“Celestial Master Ta Yong made an exception for your lot shortly after one of your priests decided that the best way to present Kadrian religious views was to bed her.” Yuwen rolled her eyes. “I understand Egill Stonehand was very persuasive on the essential unity of our beliefs.” He chuckled and squeezed a part of her that came immediately to hand. She gently smacked that hand away. “But we won’t be landing, anyway. For the most part we’ll be monitoring the storm from above. As I was saying, I received permission to deploy a Fudao. We’ll be perfectly safe and comfortable. And I rather suspect you won’t let us get bored.”

“A… Fudao?”

Yuwen turned and leaned up, pressing her chest against him as her arms looped loosely around his neck. He couldn’t help but put his own arms around her as the woman took charge. “You’ll see tomorrow. This afternoon, I think you can focus on some other matters.”

That sounded rather promising to him, and so he did just that.

[Roania]

Working in the smithies of Dai-Yan was normally fairly easy. The smiths worked on the crystals which grew from the grotto, turning them into all the equipment that the Empire needed. However, this was not an ordinary day. This was a training day, where junior smiths would take on their first challenges. "STUDENTS! RAISE YOUR HAMMERS! HIYAH!" The aproned blacksmith raised his own hammer and brought it down upon a piece of metal, that rang around the room. The students had trained for years to be allowed this far. They took up positions at anvils around the room and waited.

There was a sound at the back of the room, and several black lumpy creatures emerged from a hole. They were shaped like pieces of coal, with one orange eye and a wheel at their base. The lead smith hit his piece of metal several more times. "YOU ARE HONORED. THE FATHER HAS SEEN FIT TO SEND HIS CHILDREN TO WATCH YOU WHILE YOU WORK!" The wheeled pieces of coal fanned out around the room, keeping an eye on the junior smiths.

An attendant walked around the room, handing out shimmering rainbow crystals to each student smith. At a nod from the overseer, the students began to carefully work on the crystal, shaping them into the simplest of crystal creations, batteries. The head smith joined the tandons on their patrol around the room, shouting as he went. "LOOK INTO THE CRYSTAL. SEE ITS DESIRE TO MATCH THE SHAPE!"

One of the students was less confident than the others. He banged his hammer into the crystal, knocking off part of its polish. The crystal immediately began to vibrate and let out a soft, keening note. Immediately the tandons rushed over and began to run into the student's ankles and shins with their hard, coal-black bodies. When the student fell over, they began to roll over him in tight circles. When other students attempted to interfere, the little black creatures knocked them over too. Soon, half the class was under the wheels of tandons. One of the tandons, though, picked up speed. Using a student as a ramp, ending up on the table. It began to nudge and press the injured crystal, which changed the crystal's tone slightly.

Eventually the teacher made his way through the mob of tandons and fallen students and picked up the injured crystal, which he placed on the floor. The tandons stopped running over the students and moved to look after the crystal, rolling around it and pressing against it. Eventually they picked it up and wheeled it off back into the hole at the back of the room. "AND THAT IS WHY YOU SHOULD BE CAREFUL WITH THE CRYSTAL! THE FATHER CRYSTAL IS ALWAYS WATCHING WHILE WE WORK."

"But honorable teacher, do we not lose the crystal when they take them away?"

"A CRYSTAL, EVERY CRYSTAL, IS A GIFT! ONE THAT IS GIVEN, AND ALSO ONE THAT MAY BE TAKEN AWAY! DO NOT THINK THAT OUR NEEDS ARE THE SAME AS THEIRS! THAT THEIR THOUGHTS ARE THE SAME AS OURS! SIMPLY WORK HARDER! THAT IS WHAT SEPARATES A TRUE SMITH AND SHAPER FROM A JOURNEYMAN!"

[Roania]

The fort's Commandant leaned down from his window and called to the sergeant on duty. "We've got the new recruits on their way, Sergeant. Remember, they bring nothing in with them besides their pants and tunic. I've called down to the tailors and the bootmakers and they've told me everything is ready."

Sergeant Cao stood and made the formal salute, then sat back down at the table. "Alright, boys. Fresh meat coming in, word from on high.You know the drill. Now, whose hand is it? Mine? Alright. Ye... Ur... San... Si... Wu!" An hour or so later, one of the Bannermen realized it may make sense to open the gate and start receiving the arriving soldiers into their new lives. By this point,a crowd of roughly five hundred young men had arrived, all of them standing there awkwardly and staring around in confusion. Well, good training for their futures as soldiers in the Dragon Throne's armies.

***

"Welcome, future servants of the Dragon Throne! You have chosen to be both a guardian of the realm and a rescuer of others from barbarism! You do your fathers proud! But first, let me say this." Cao stood on the wooden podium by the gate, reading from the prepared marks handed down from drill sergeant to drill sergeant for generations. "If your hair has not grown to regulation length, then you have dishonored your family! If you have not practiced to proficiency the salute, then you have dishonored your ancestors! If you have any second thoughts about your place here, then it is good! But far too late! If you withdraw, you will dishonor The Dragon Throne! You are in the Banners now, recruits! On my mark, proclaim! Ten Thousand Years!"

The assembled youths mumbled the words back, all in different rhythms and tempos, none of them in time with him. Cao sighed and shook his head theatrically. "Well, at least you may speak a civilized tongue! But soon you will learn to speak it with one voice! Now, all of you! Parade order! On the double!" There was some confusion, a few boys moving towards the front and others moving every which way. "That means line up! Are you dogs or are you men?!"

Soon, the line was in order. Cao and his veterans then began to call people forward. "Name! Spirit of the Year of Birth! Good! Step out of your shoes and drop your robes in the bin! They will be given to the temple! Go and stand at the green pole!" Or the red pole, or the blue pole, or the yellow pole... Some of the boys protested being stripped to their underclothing so publicly. A cuff around the ears from one of the veterans set that right. "None of you have anything to hide, and no one's going to say a word about any of it! Or they'll answer to me! Now strip out of your civilian clothing or I will give you something to cry about! Next!!"

And then it happened. A robe dropped on his desk, and he looked up to find himself staring right into a gorgeous pair of… that is to say, he was looking at a bosom, wrapped in one of those tiny 'bras' that had been entering the Empire from the west. "Pin Xinya! Year of the Hawk! Heard you shouting way back there and thought I had better get out of my robes lickety-split. Ain't no one paid me any mind." Cao glanced back down the line of staring men, and then slowly rose to his feet. And wished he'd worn higher boots, because he was only a few centimeters taller than Pin. A moment's appraisal told him the basic facts. This was a very pretty young woman who had cut her hair to regulation length (albeit for men) and was now standing 4/5ths naked in front of his fort, carrying herself like a soldier. "Well, until now, I reckon." She smiled at him. "Go to the blue pole, right? That's the next one on your list. Thanks, sergeant!"

Finally regaining his equilibrium as he watched her curvaceous form walk into the fort, Cao rose to his feet and called to his veterans, "Grab that... wait... stop that girl!" When she was very carefully taken by the lower arm and pulled back to the gate, the Drill Sergeant took a quick look around. All eyes were on him. This could destroy his authority. His reputation. His hopes for transfer back to active service and promotion! "Now, listen here, Young Miss."

"Miss Pin, thank you. I've got just as much right to respect as any of these boys, and I ain't no little girl anymore." She took her arms out of the grasp of the veterans.

One of them muttered, "Yeah, we can see that." Very helpful. Cao shot him a glare and he shut right up.

"Very well, Miss Pin. As you insist. I shall give you all the respect you are due.” He coughed, and raised his eyebrows. “You know what I think is happening here?" The Drill Sergeant found his voice and began to raise it until it echoed through the yard. "I think we've got a girl playing at soldiers. Maybe we should..."

"Maybe you should think again. I ain't playin’ at anything. And if you're thinking to try that old game on me, then you've got another thing coming, because I can take any three of these boys,” Cao rather suspected she could, and opened his mouth to give a different order before she countermanded him, “and if one of you touches me I'll have him up afore the Military Magistrates easier than making peach pie.” That got his men to rethink any initiative, because it was unlikely that would go well. She crossed her arms under her bust. “Now, if you ain't going to let me in, then say so and I reckon I'll know how we're going to do this. Otherwise, I'm thinking I should go to my pole and you should get back to work, sugar."

"Miss Pin." Cao Rae, 70 year veteran of the Banners, chosen out of a shallow pool of applicants for this post, had never backed down from a challenge. This was a challenge. And he drew his chen about him. "The only way you will be entering this fort is under armed guard as a prisoner. Now. Go. Home." And he lashed out with his will as a whip.

She barely blinked. "Well, if you say so. I'll see you tomorrow, Sergeant." And as if she was the affronted party, she walked back to the road. He had to have one of his men run after her to give her robe back.

***

She kept her word. That day he simply had her marched back to the road and had anyone who commented flogged.

***

The next day, she was met by Drill Sergeant Cao before she even reached the gates. This time, she’d found a small book of the Banner’s code. And, worse, an audience He had her sent home before she could start reading from it. As for the audience, he had them cleared.

***

No recruits were expected the third day, and the drill sergeants had taken the current intake to the field for their first weapons drill. Cao was not among them. He was at the gate, pacing and muttering to himself, with all the veterans on high alert despite the pounding rain. As the hours went on he grew more and more relaxed, until at the 6th Hour of the day he finally allowed himself to smoke in the shadow of the wooden doors.

"Guess she's given up, Sergeant!" The team's corporal leaned onto the wooden fence, cheer in his voice. "Shame, ain't it? I'd love to have that sweet thing in a bunk next to me. Bet she looks even better with her hair grown."

"Ai! did you see that ass? Those tits? Perfect! Better than the Imperial Consort, I bet!"

"You never seen the Lady's ass or her tits, so don't say anything about it, Qin. Besides, the Lord takes that kind of talk real serious. And I ain't going to let you die like that. I may need you to soak up a bullet."

"All respect intended of course to the most beautiful Lady Upon the Phoenix Throne, and to the Lord, who's got excellent taste and is the luckiest son of a..."

"None of that!" Cao glanced up from his cigarette. "Hate to have to bring you in, Qin, but if you're going down I'm not going down with you. Don't press me." He leaned back against the wood of the gate and dropped the cigarette to the ground, then smudged it out with his boot. "Stick to girls the Dragon won't eat you over. I'm going to take a walk to the road and back, make sure she's not waiting out there with a grappling hook to scale the walls when our backs are turned. Besides, you know who's really got it? The Grand Secretary. You know that’s why they made her Grand Secretary, right?"

In harmony, the other men launched right into the popular ballad about how grand the Grand Secretary was.

Slowly, Cao left them behind, pulling the hood of his cloak over him. He was halfway to the road when he stopped and sighed. "Alright, Pin, come out with your hands up."


She shuffled out onto the road from behind a tree. Her hands were, he was relieved to note, empty. She was dressed normally, as well, simply in a robe over what appeared to be a regular dress. And she didn’t seem to have a grappling hook about her person. She grudgingly raised her hands over her head. “Is this where you arrest me, sergeant?”

“I’m considering it, certainly. You seem to be very insistent on coming inside the fort. At the very least, having you in the cells would keep you from causing any more trouble.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and put it to his lips. Then he cupped his hands around it as a flame sparked and the tip glowed even in the rain. He took a few calming drags on it. “Honestly, Pin, you are proving to be something of a nuisance. Were you going to wait out here for the gates to open, then sneak in with the crowd? Fortunately, we didn’t have any recruits today.”

“I’m a-fixin’ to be a soldier, and I don’t reckon you’re going to stop me.” She squared herself in what he would admit, if he was in a generous mood, was a fair approximation of the ready stance.

“You can’t be a soldier. You’re a woman. Go and be a Seer.” He took another drag on the cigarette, feeling its hot smoke curl up inside his lungs.

“Don’t want to be a Seer. Gonna be a soldier.”

He blew a ring of smoke up into the grey sky. It was torn to pieces by the falling rain, which felt rather apt. “The closest you’re going to get to being a soldier is when you find a man and have a son, and that’s the honest truth. We all got our place in the worlds, and that’s yours.”

“I read the book.”

“They’re doing wonderful things in the schools these days, teaching females to read.” He shook his head. “If there’s nothing else, Miss Pin, I can’t be responsible for you catching a cold. Go home.”

“I read the book, Sergeant.” She put her hands on her hips. “Have you?”

This seemed to be something in the way of a trick, but he didn’t see any reason not to answer honestly. “Of course I have. That’s my job, young lady.”

“Of course. Then maybe you can tell me, Sergeant, just where in the Banner Code it says that women can’t join?”

“Why, that’s obvious. It’s…” Drill Sergeant Cao paused. Then he went into his pocket for the well-thumbed copy of the book he used to make the lives of his recruits hell. “It says right here that a Bannerman must be clean shaven…”

“Does it say anything about them needing to be able to grow a beard first? Anyway, if that’s all you want, here.“ She pulled her dress up to her upper thigh, revealing her legs to be smooth as stone. “Clean shaven, Sergeant. Would you like to test them?”

“That will not be necessary, Miss Pin.” He began to turn through pages. “Look, it’s… hang on. Hang on, I know it’s in here somewhere… here. A bannerman must be able to… no. Upper body strength… fit the uniform… perform… I… hm.” He turned this fact around in his head. It was a very large and inconvenient fact, but it did seem to be a fact, and it was one that needed to be fit. “...everyone knows women can’t join the Banners.”

“No, everyone knows that women don’t join the Banners, sugar.” She smiled brightly. “But I’ll be joinin’, if you don’t mind. Ain’t nothing in the rules against it. I checked, see. I’m eighteen, I’m healthy as a dragon, and I reckon I can see straight, shoot straight, and salute the Throne as good as any of the boys you let in.”

No, the fact still didn’t seem to fit. “What would your father say, Miss Pin?”

“I don’t got to get his permission now I’m an adult. Everyone knows that.” She put her hands on her hips again. “But I reckon he’ll be fine with it, since he drove me here.”

Cao swore a couple of times. It helped, a little, so he did it a few more times. “Look, we can’t just… you aren’t… I can’t…”

“It’s a simple matter, sugar. Way I see it, like I said, there ain’t nothing in the rules to say I can’t join. You tell me where it is, and I’ll head home. Otherwise, I reckon you should be letting me into the fort.” Pin crossed her arms now and met his gaze.

“...Gods above, below and around. Look, the Banners are no place for a lady…”

“I ain’t no lady. Besides, can’t be worse than growing up on a farm with seven brothers, can it? And all their friends?”

The Drill Sergeant helplessly opened his book and flipped through it a couple of times. He swallowed a few times and closed the book. Then he opened it again and closed it again. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was standing on a precipice that was crumbling under his feet. And then he realized. He was a Drill Sergeant. That meant he was a Sergeant. This was a matter for an officer to work out. She said she was a recruit. Well, then. He brought his feet together. “IS THIS HOW YOU SHOW UP FOR DUTY, RECRUIT? YOU ARE THREE DAYS LATE! THAT IS NOT AN OFFICIALLY AUTHORIZED GARMENT, AND YOU WERE NOT GIVEN PERMISSION TO BE ABSENT! QUICK MARCH TO THE FORT. I WILL LET THE COMMANDANT FIGURE OUT HOW HE WANTS ME TO HANDLE YOUR SLACKNESS! ON THE DOUBLE, RECRUIT!”

After all, that was what officers were for.

[Roania]

Pin Luoyang’s act of… call it creative rebellion... spread surprisingly quickly, despite it taking place in the Middle Sphere. Despite the best efforts of the Banners to suppress the news, the media from world to world continued to carry the story, inspiring more and more girls to take the same dramatic step. And with the story growing, so too did the scrutiny of the Banner Handbook, written ages ago in a time where the ‘unspoken truths’ of society were far more readily respected. In vain did the military authorities put out press releases and try to order people away.

Then it hit the Inner Sphere, and things went downhill. While many of the Feudatories were even more conservative than the Rudanese, not all of them were. Some of them, in fact, were happy to take this opportunity.

***

Srinishingh, putri of Jakawang and ratu of Nusantara, curled her feet up on the large settee that sat by her swimming pool and contemplated. She hadn't expected to be elected Ratu of the world, having come to her own throne relatively recently, following the passing of her grandmother. But the sudden illness and death of the previous Ratu had meant that it was Jakawang’s turn to lead Nusantara several years ahead of time, and so she had taken possession of the Merlion Crown.

Being ratu of Nusantara did not require a tremendous amount of work. The myriad cities mostly governed themselves, and the far islands took care of what business they needed without the involvement of outsiders, from either the ocean world or the Empire beyond. Much of the job was simply to… exist. To represent the islands to their diaspora in the Ten Thousand Worlds, and {more importantly to some} to be available for the Dragon Throne’s representative to pass along orders from the Secretariat.

But for the woman, it was just part of her life now. And she took it with the equanimity the Mothers taught. She was, of course, lovely. Among a whole race of beautiful women, the women of Nusantara’s upper class were famous even among the proud people of the Ten Thousand Worlds. Of course, her beauty had that subtle quality of agelessness that meant her age could have been anywhere from her late teens to her early 400s, but for the man watching her that was only a benefit.

"It is a lovely night." She murmured, reaching up to the sky in an arcing stretch. Though her city was perhaps even more humid than Huanxin, the wind came more steadily, and so the people spent more of their time out of doors. Especially at night, when the heat of the tropical sun off the ocean

“It is. You can see the Galaxy’s core from here.” Torbjorn Ironspear took his eyes off the stars and looked over at his Queen, with a slight smile. The Kadrian mercenary was far more weathered than his employer, having pursued a career in the Imperium’s armed forces before he and his men had entered the robust mercenary market. Where the benefits certainly could be more attractive.

She gave him a little glance and smiled shyly. Having just come out of the pool, she was dressed in little more than a band and a short skirt, and she had a feeling her chief bodyguard was smiling more at that than any beauty of the stars. Kadrian Bodyguards had become de rigueur for the Roanian monarchs who could afford or interest them ever since Elyas, Princess Meili's husband, had been named Captain of the Imperial Guard; the recent announcement by the mysterious Masked King of Myaar that he had become the Masked Queen (Insofar as anyone had successfully assigned the reclusive entity a gender, it had been male) following her taking a Kadrian bodyguard had made it even more fashionable.

"The weather here is not too much for your soldiers, I hope?"

“It is not.” Torbjorn nodded. “You chose well when you sent your request to Ostia instead of Kadria.”

"I wish I could take credit, but it was Ratu Srivasti who had sent that letter." Srinishingh giggled throatily and covered her lips. "I merely get to enjoy the benefits."

He rumbled at that sound. “Benefits, you say?” A grin appeared on his face. “Most people don’t hire us for looks, so I hope it isn’t just that benefit.”

"I rather think you chose your employer based on looks." She sat up and gave him an arch look, but before she could say anything else there was a soft chime in the air. "...hm?" She looked around for her crystal communicator, and then began to pat her rather sparse outfit for it.

“On your right side - it’s on the armrest.”

She turned and looked at it. "Ah, thank you." She picked it up. "It's probably the Rudanese viceroy, demanding I let him know about sending men for the Banners this year." She grumbled.
It wasn't. But it was about the Banners. She let out a curious hum, and then seemed to grow more and more surprised as she read down.

"Women joining the Banners!" She said in shock.

Torbjorn blinked, before leaning over and reading over her shoulder.

Reports of the 'rebellion' were all over the news from the Middle Sphere, and even on Huanxin. The young Queen leaned her head back against Torbjorn's chest as he did, closing her eyes again. "Interesting."

He looked down in slight surprise at this, but kept reading. “Hm.”

"Mm." She didn't say anything else for a few minutes. "...women in the Banners. I wonder..."

And then she sat up. "...I'm going to send them women."

“Oh?” He returned to his standing position, looking at her. “So you’re going to let women join?” Torbjorn grinned. “Sounds fair to me - women should be allowed to serve their civilization however they wish. And that’s not to mention that they usually look good in uniform…”

"Well, if there's not a rule about women joining or not joining, I'm sure there are plenty of girls on Nusantara who'd like to join the Banners and look good in a uniform." She said this teasingly, but her smile faded.

“And I’m sure my kinsmen would agree.” Torbjorn met her eyes. “It will not interfere with my work, though.”

"Mm..." She opened and closed her hands. "...and what if I decided to go wear a uniform?"

“You might find that I happen to become a bit more… diligent with my work.” He rumbled.

The Ratu smiled a little shyly at him, and then jumped to her feet quickly, a movement that had never failed previously to attract attention from her men. "Then perhaps I will have the seamstress make me a uniform."

“Mmm.” Torbjorn stepped forward. “Perhaps you would like me to keep you company in the meantime?” His dark eyes glimmered.

She glanced back at her captain, and bit her lip. Her cheeks reddened ever so slightly. "I had another idea... Perhaps I should take some responsibility for my own defense. If the Dragon Throne is bringing women into the Banners, then surely I should set some example for my people."

He let out another low rumble. “I can certainly help with that too.”

Shrinishingh shivered, despite the heat of the night. "I would be obliged, Torbjorn." And then she smiled. "Why don't we go someplace a little more private, and you can demonstrate some techniques?“


(with help and patience from The Eridani Imperium )

[Roania]

In the Empire, the official depiction of the Watch of the Cities and the Towns made them out to be stalwart defenders of the peace and order of the realm, protecting the subjects of the Throne from themselves as the banners defended them from barbarians. In their turquoise uniforms, they were a visible local reminder of the benevolence and awesome power of the distant Emperor, and it was thus appropriate to show them all due respect as they formed the powerful wall between civilization and brigandage.

Constables stood by the everyman in his struggle with life's problems, ready with a kind word and a stiff arm if he seemed to be wavering. And if they seemed to fall, then their Sergeant was behind them, ready to redirect his men in the neverending battle for the commonweal. All while their Captains marshaled the resources of prefecture and city to their precinct, and the Commissioner stood by to call down the wrath of on high. Arm-in-arm with the Watch Procurators, the men and women of the watch were heroes, as if they had fought and died on the battlefield.

The popular opinion is… somewhat different.

The popular depiction of the Watch of the Cities and Towns can best be summed up with a popular children's character from the last century: Constable Jun, eponymous hero of ’Constable Jun.’ (Jingguan Jun). Constable Jun (Jun Po, to his oft frustrated superiors) meant well, he really did. With his solid wooden trudgeon and his oft-forgotten side-arm, he would go out on the streets of the big city every day, to fulfill the orders of the Emperor. And, more locally, Inspector Ping. And more locally still, Captain Le and Sergeant Sen. And every day, he would bumble from crisis to crisis, resolving them in a way that was highly comedic to the sensibilities of imperial children. That is to say that he did that when he wasn't taking food from traders without paying ("This lamentable servant of the public peace is woefully deficient in his pay! Would you scorn an officer of the Watch his food? All shall be made well.") or spending his pay on trinkets for the beautiful maidens that seemed to populate every house. ("Young Miss Kim! What a sight you are for my poor eyes! I have found you a pretty thing, though not as pretty as you!"), or playing games with the little children he never considered it his duty to return to the school they had obviously vacated ("Hello, little friends! And what shall we do today?").

Not that his superiors were an improvement, of course. Captain Le was never seen, only heard shouting from behind various doors unintelligible commands that his minions had to figure out (“Sergeant! I need you to have twenty antelopes patrol the goodtime street!”). Sergeant Sen was full of stories about the good old days that no one knew were true or false, and anyway far too busy with his calligraphy to go out on patrol ("I had the good fortune to be in fifty-second place in the exams, you know!"), and so the job was left to the officers of Budeqifa District Station, of which Constable Jun was of course our favorite.

Of course, Constable Jun usually didn’t have to fight real crime. He handed out tickets, told off petty thieves, and would occasionally drag a recalcitrant child off to be disciplined by their father. Instead, there was a regular cast of recurring minor antagonists. Not only were there the district’s rivals, the suspiciously familiar officers at Bukedijian District Station, but there was also the higher leadership. Inspector Ping, a descendant of the stock opera greedy Mandarins if ever there was one, would appear from the prefectural capital (Libucongxin) to issue inane orders and paw at the woman procurators. And when the procurators weren’t being groped or falling asleep at their desks, they were losing cases because Judge Bon (who had the distinction in the first series of being played by a puppet because an actor couldn’t be found who could play stupid well enough) would misunderstand a word or phrase, or lose his hearing aid at a crucial moment, or leave his law book in his chambers (along with the key to said chambers)

But through it all, Constable Jun would persist, and at the end of every episode he would manage to say the classic line: “Well, it’s a man’s life in the Watch, and that’s for sure.”

Of course, the Secretariat has always tried to improve what it sees as the dignity and public standing of those officers who put their lives on the line to ‘Protect the People and Serve the Sovereign’, as it says on their gold and silver badges of office. But these efforts never seemed to reach the same standing with the public. Detective Xian of of ’Xian of the Circuit’ had style and class, and the plots of ’Turquoise 110’ were ‘ripped from today’s headlines’, but it was Constable Jun who sold videos and streaming rights and was embraced by the people, both by his original fans and their children..

And so it was with a great deal of enthusiasm, and only a little skepticism, that the public greeted news of a revival series of Constable Jun twenty years after its cancellation. This enthusiasm was only slightly dampened by the news that it was a Kadrian studio, DawnStar Pictures, that had picked up the license in conjunction with the estate of late showrunner Fan Jun; an attempt at raising a boycott by conservatives failed when the opening credits leaked…

***

Old Constable Jun theme song plays, a jaunty string quartet backing with melody provided by ocarina

A Watch Truck drives through the warm, brightly lit streets of a small town. It’s the old model GyogunDianji C467, familiar to everyone from the original series, rather than the newer YunshuHebing Ying from the last attempt at a revival

The Watch Truck parks in front of the stone fronting of Budequifa Station, the same as it ever was. The music hits a climax, and begins to fade out as the camera begins to pan out. Same as it ever was…

Except this time the camera keeps panning out, until we get a panoramic sweep of the city. And then the music adds a thumping bass line and drum beat, and we get to…

A watch sergeant is typing at his desk. He turns to look up and smile at the camera.

Featuring Jin Fu as Sergeant Sen

A watchNmmr is lying on the floor in a sunny spot, occasionally kicking his feet in his sleep. He jolts up and looks at the camera in surprise

Nmmr as Constable Nmmr

A watch officer is throwing arrows into a pot. He misses, looks around, and gets up to put it into the pot manually

Pon Yenu as Constable Wa

The cameras passes over a door labeled ‘Le, Captain’. It lingers for a moment, as if we are finally going to see the captain, then moves on down the hall. We get a few glimpses of other actors, the characters they portray obvious to fans of the show. The most notable choice is that the actor who played Inspector Ping in the poorly reviewed movie, Wu Yonshu, is reprising his role. As usual, he’s got his hand on the lower back of two young women in ‘nontraditional’ watch outfits, and equally as usual, they aren’t given any billing.

Then we get outside

A large IMP tank rolls through a row of houses. It turns to a slow stop that takes out an entire office building, and the hatch pops open

And introducing Yngvar Frostmoth as Ali Snowfist

An attractive young woman comes running out of the watch station. She’s wearing a standard watch uniform, unlike Commissioner Ping’s extras, but the top three strings have been left undone. She jumps up onto the tank, throws her arms around Ali Snowfist, and sends him toppling back into the cabin. She turns to the camera and grins before jumping down after him.

And Wenli Aisu as Constable Sena

A few other actresses are quickly flashed through, none of them given full billing until the camera pauses for a moment on an older woman. She’s not identified, but she is easily recognizable as Sia Maya, who played Constable Jun’s love interest in the previous revival. She’s quite obviously dressed as a Judge, sitting behind a tall desk.

And then the original music returns, and we follow the quickstep of a Watch Officer on patrol. We don’t see his face, but there’s only one man he can be. He bows to people, throws a ball to children, and takes a stick of meat from a shop stall, then walks off without paying

And Starring

Finally he turns when opening the door, and the music hits a true crescendo

Wong Ling as

He smiles at the camera, goes inside, and the door closes behind him, with ‘Constable Jun’ written on the door

[Roania]

“So, tell me about playing Judge Bon, Sia Nushi. It must be a bit interesting, taking on a role previously occupied by men and a bit removed from your previous parts. What led you to accept the part?”

“Well, men and puppets, and I think I bring at least as much to the table as the puppets.”

“I don’t think anyone would argue with that, Sia Nushi.”

“But, I think of it like this… and this is just my opinion, I’m not speaking for the writers or the production company, of course.”

“Of course.”

“The role of Judge Bon has always felt slightly behind the times. Very much a relic of the Lieshou Era or maybe even earlier. The Circuit desks are no longer the preserve of doddering old fools wearing black and red and throwing people in cangues. I remember the reviews of ‘Constable Jun Saves the Day’, how they said it felt more like a period piece then a revival of the brand, and I know Director Jang wanted ‘Constable Jun, Man About Town’, to be seen as taking place in modern civilization.”

“Of course.”

“As for myself… look, I think I’d prefer to leave it to reviewers and the audience to say whether or not I fulfill the role, but even if I’m playing a figure of fun I’d like to present myself as an example to other young women. There are women magistrates and judges, and even governors. We have a woman Grand Secretary now, and she’s not even the first. This is the modern era and I think it’s time for the portrayal of women in the media to catch up to reality…”

***

“Xiansheng Frostmoth, reportedly you were a bit uncertain about taking on the role of Ali Snowfist.”

“That’s true. I was worried that my appearance would draw in even more controversy than the announcement that DawnStar Pictures had bought the license. More to the point, I had watched ‘Constable Jun Saves the Day,’ and I wasn’t sure I wanted to be associated with…”

“With a failed franchise?”

“I would prefer to say that that iteration wasn’t a success. And the movie, of course, had attempted to shoehorn in a Kadrian… I was worried that my career would be pigeonholed.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Well, honestly, it was Wong Ling. Apparently he’d put my name forward after watching my performance in Pirates of the Dark Sea, which is a bit of a surprise. I don’t know if you’ve seen Pirates…”

“I have to admit I wasn’t, no. My notes say that you only appeared in…”

“Two episodes, yes. And, well, you were hardly the target audience, of course. But apparently his daughter made him watch the episodes where I appeared, and he came away impressed with my appearance and what I would have said were my ‘limited’ acting skills. Hahaha!”

“Hahaha!”

“Look, I don’t want to say anything against the cast or crew at Pirates, so I’ll say that I wasn’t at my best in that role. Anyway… Yes, Wong Ling convinced me to take this role.”

“Yes.”

“So after he was tapped for the role of Constable Jun, he had apparently raised my name for the role that would become Ali Snowfist. When I turned down their initial offer, he got in touch with my sister and pestered her to arrange a meeting with me. When I eventually accepted, he came with a huge book that was, I was told, the Story Bible for the current series and Director Jang’s spec script for the character.”

“And it convinced you?”

“Ha! It was empty.”

“Empty?”

“That’s what convinced me. He said that this was an opportunity to craft my own take on the role, not inhabit a skin made by others. That he believed in the series and its chances, that I would be able to shape the conversation about the issues I was worried about. And when I met Director Jang and Suri GoldMoon, our producer, they expanded on their ideas and plans, and I felt more and more that it would be a good fit.”

“Interesting. And of course, you get to drive a tank.”

“The tank is my favorite prop, and I’m gratified to see the response to what I was worried would be ridiculous. Though it took a few takes for Wenli Aisu and I to get falling down done safely…”

“Could have been pleasant, though!”

“On set there really is no consideration for that… it’s a busy working environment.”


***

“I enjoyed the role, you know.”

“You have said so, Xiansheng Wu.”

“I won’t go ahead and say ‘Great Constable Jun, Hero of the Watch’ was a good movie. I agree with many of the criticisms even of myself, though I will say that we all worked very hard and gave our best. But…”

“But?”

“Look, I grew up watching Constable Jun. I think a lot of people of my generation did. I went into the movie wanting to be the Inspector Pings of my youth, great actors like Bon Shishi or Yuan Feng. Character actors, both of them; it’s a role that seems to attract the classically trained. I’d just finished my performance as Mayor Wan at the Yellow Theater, and it seemed an opportunity to expand my horizons and impact. What I didn’t realize at the time was that Bon Shishi and Yuan Feng had not exchanged notes when Honorable Master Yuan took over the role, and Honorable Bon had never spoken to Xun Xun. They’d gone into the role on their own and made it their own. I grasped what I think was the pelt of Inspector Ping, but I did not properly display it on my own body. “

“Your performance was noted favorably, though.”

“I wish it hadn’t been noted so favorably; it dispirited my colleagues to see headlines such as ‘Wu Yonshu Saves the Day’. I personally think Bin Bao deserved more credit than I, and I wish I’d had the opportunity to tell him so. His sudden passing was a shock to all of us.”

“You said that you were dedicating your new performance to his memory, if I remember correctly.”

“Insofar as my performance succeeded, it was because he was Constable Jun. I could simply let Inspector Ping take over. I like to think I learned to become the actor I am now because of him being the actor he was.”

***

“Tell us about the tank.”

“That tank! Oh my Gods, we had to do that take where the tank crashes through the wall so many times! Everything would go perfectly, but then someone started to laugh and a few moments later we were all laughing. And we had to be deadpan, you know? Especially me. Like, there’s Yngvar driving his tank into the station, and he pops up, and I have to run up to him and take off my uniform, and I kept breaking into laughter and tripping over my boots…”

***

“Why Constable Jun?”

“It’s a question a few interviewers have asked me, and I’m not sure what the answer is. I know Yngvar gives me the credit, but I had to be talked into the role too. I’d turned it down, initially. Well, I’d said I would consider it, but I’d begun a commitment elsewhere. Constable Jun felt like my father’s series, or my grandfather’s series.”

“What happened, then?”

“My wife read the speculative script and told me I had to take the role. Looking back now, I’m glad I did, but at the time it felt like a gamble. People remember the original series, and they seemed to be almost sacred. I had heard of ‘Saves the Day’, but not very favorably, and I’d never really watched it, but I didn’t want to be part of another failed revival. If it couldn’t be done with all of those skilled actors and the resources, I felt it wouldn’t work now.”

“But the public was ready now, perhaps in a way they weren’t back then?”

“I wouldn’t say the public was more ready. I don’t think ‘Saves the Day’ is a bad show. It’s very stiff and wooden, but there are some beautiful scenes. What we’re doing is taking the spirit of ‘Protects the People’ and ‘Stands Tall’ and moving it into the present day, rather than trying to have the present taking place in the past. The car…”

“The car?”

“I wanted to drive the YunshuHebing Ying. The GyogunDianji C467 is a fossil; you don’t see it on Rudan anymore. We had to fly one in from the Middle Sphere. But Director Jang kept saying that bringing back the C467 was key to his vision for the series, and I’ve since had people young and old come up to me and say how much they love seeing the old car.”

“He’s said that he feels vindicated by the audience response.”

“I remember when the announcement was made that there were a few complaints that it was being backed by a Kadrian firm, but Director Jang is the driving force behind this series. It’s a true partnership; I’m glad people have given it a chance, and I’m honored to be spoken of in the same breath as my predecessors in this role.”

***

Constable Jun, Man About Town airs new on Lim 41 at the 10th hour, Five Sisters, and Lim 30 at the 4th Hour, Huanxin. Check your guide for local hours and times.

[Roania]

The low-level official tasked with greeting the visiting school group saluted the teacher and favored the children of Yansei District School Class Four with a smile. "I am Yong Ling, and it is my humble responsibility to welcome you to Supply Depot LiushiKun." He gestured around himself at the huge hall and its iconography dedicated to various harvest and field deities.

Chan Laoshi returned his salute with one of her own. "It is our honor that you are willing to take the time to show our disreputable selves such hospitality. Fangchangganxieni, Yong Guan."

"Fangchangganxieni, Yong Guan!" The various ten-year-olds chorused and bowed with varying levels of enthusiasm. The students had been very well behaved as the guards had brought them in to the depot. They had been crammed into a bus for well over an hour and at this point in the day were willing to acquiesce to almost anything just to avoid being loaded back onto it for a little while. They had even been willing to stand still and let their teacher dust off their purple uniform tunics, a feat nearly unheard of.

Yong Ling shook his heead. "Nali, nali." The ceremonies at an end, the mandarin smiled again. and led them through an archway into a vast space that made the entry hall seem very small indeed. "Now, can anyone tell me what is behind these doors?"

They were very impressive doors, that was for certain. Much of Rudanese domestic architecture in the lowlands tends towards wood and tile for the speed at which it could be worked and the ease of crafting with it. Brick and stone were largely reserved for colder regions or official purposes, and metal structures were a novelty even in the largest cities. But the faces of these doors had been covered in bronze that had been polished until it shone, which had sufficed the Secretariat of Wellness for decoration. The students looked up at them. Indeed, a couple of them kept looking up and nearly fell onto their backsides.

Chan Laoshi coughed when no one seemed willing to provide the answer they had practiced. None of her students took this hint either, so she decided to pick a sacrificial victim. "Ling Bai, why don't you tell Yong Guan what's behind these doors?"

The boy, who had been trying to compare his own height (His mother had told him he was a big boy, after all) with the immense structure, took a moment to return to the here-and-now. A moment and one of his friends nudging him. When his memory came to him, he smiled brightly at the official. "The rice dole, Guan!"

The Mandarin nodded. "Very good, haizi. Here's a reward!" He reached into the bag that hung at his side and tossed a sparkling disk to the boy. It wasn't money, of course. The Secretariat never gives away money.

But it was almost as good as money! The boy caught it absentmindedly and then stared at what he held in his hand. It was decorated in bright shades of red and yellow with a firework design, and within was that most precious of all things to a Rudanese child. Like all children (And indeed, all Roanians), Ling Bai had not so much a sweet tooth as a sweet jaw. The tart candy vanished in a couple of bites, but it had served its purpose. Yong Ling now had the attention of all the students in the class, even if some of them were considering the possibility of mobbing him and stealing his pouch.

"Yes. Behind these doors is the heart of Depot Liushikun, the administrative and storage center for the rice dole of this region. Can anyone tell me how large the warehouse is and how much food can be stored inside?” Now an eager army of hands went up, waving and jostling for attention. No one had told them there would be prizes! That changed everything. Even Yong Ling stuck his hand up, figuring that there was no reason the Heavens might not smile upon him twice in a row.

Yong Ling instead chose a little girl standing toward the front, whose hand had mostly been lifted as part of the general mob rather than because she had any real hope of answering. She blinked a little, and then went quiet when she realized destiny had stricken her. Still, the lure of candy eventually drew out a quiet "Six thousand five hundred meters squared, Guan. It can hold..." She squeaked on being the center of attention and covered her eyes. Her haw flake bopped her in the nose but was rescued by one of her friends, who would probably return it to her.

A boy next to her stepped in front of her and adjusted his glasses. "It contains, fully loaded, an estimated six hundred tons of foodstuffs, approximately sixty percent of which is rice. The remaining forty percent is a combination of fruits and various protein sources, of which the primary product is fish. If the containers were stocked end-to-end..." He may have continued in this vein for some time, but a haw flake hit him in the mouth.

"Thank you, young sage." The Mandarin bowed with a flourish. "I am sure you will do wonders at the examinations."

The student blinked, flushed, and bowed back. "Nitaikeqila." He mumbled, stepping back into the crowd, where a few seconds later someone trod heavily on his foot.

Yong Ling smiled again. "Why should you hear about it when instead you can see it? Follow me!"

"Are those doors going to open?" One of the students said out loud, drawing the attention of his fellows. A concerned and confused murmur came from the children, who could not imagine the great doors opening and somehow not hitting them.

"Those doors? Oh, no, those only open once a year. No, we're going to use these.” Yong Ling indicated a much smaller set of doors carved into the larger ones, flush with their surface but now almost visible. “But before I open them, who knows Nadinzi's Principles of Motion?“ He reached into his pouch and withdrew two haw flake packets, fanning them out.


The students began to chatter among themselves, uncertain. It was a rather advanced question for them. The ‘young sage’ knew the answer, but he had already learned a rather valuable lesson and would no longer put himself forward. The nail that rises above the rest is the one that gets struck the hardest, and wisdom is no excuse to ignore the social graces until status has risen to match it. So he let his fellows fall into a rather sullen silence before he raised his hand.

“Yes, Kon Sun?” Chao Laoshi nodded her head.

“Honorable teacher, honorable mandarin, Venerable Sage Nadin taught that energy cannot be added to a closed system, energy cannot be removed from a closed system, energy wants to achieve equilibrium, and… um… that Equilibrium increases as temperature falls closer to absolute zero.” This time, Kon Sun caught his two haw flakes. One went into his pocket, and the other he offered with a polite bow to his teacher.

“Very good, young man,” Yong Ling nodded, pleased to have the answer. “Now, let me ask you all one last question. Does anyone know why the ancient rice dole was milled and polished? Brown rice is far more nutritious and filling, and the process to mill and polish is costly in large quantities.” Once more an army of hands rose. Everyone knew this. Or, at least, they all knew the difference between white rice and unmilled rice. Yong Ling chose a large boy towering at the back. “You there.”

Quan Su was one of those boys predisposed by genetics and heritage to both largeness and a gentle placidity that could be uncharitably, and wrongly (as any farmer would tell you), described as bovine. For this reason he was known to everyone around him as ‘Four Buffalo’ (Sishuiniu). Despite his size he tended to fade into the background once people got used to his presence, and it took him a moment to realize that the mandarin had chosen him. “White rice can be stored for years in a dry environment, while unmilled rice lasts only months at best before it decays.”

“Exactly. Exactly.” Yong Ling threw a haw flake to Quan Su, who caught it with rather ungainly (lack of) grace. “Decay! Decay is our enemy. The enemy of us all. It is decay that we must fight, and it is decay that we conquer. We must hold onto this moment with all our strength and all our power, for ourselves and our children.” He turned his back to the children and raised his hands with a flourish.

The doors that opened were relatively small, being only two-and-a-half meters tall. They first popped up. There was a hiss as the vacuum seal was broken, the lining snapping back into place. They then silently swung up and out. Whatever the children may have been expecting, what they saw was a disappointment. Just an endless series of sealed crates and boxes, extending into the distance in all directions from the wall, into the distant horizon.


First was the noise.

Life in the Ten Thousand Worlds is not quiet. Even in the most isolated places there is usually a constant quiet hum, almost like a very soft pipa’s lowest string being constantly held. It is the comforting background music of Tianxia, the white noise of civilization, and it is so omnipresent that if you were to remark upon it, many would be momentarily confused.

Here, that hum was a roar.

The acrid smell of ozone was faint, but noticeable. One of the Nmmr made a face and pulled a mask out of her pouch, fitting it around the back of her head to cover her muzzle. Soon the other two joined as well. “Mrrrrrrrr.” They protested, tail lashing in agitated circles.

“Nmmr, it is very good that you, Nmmr and Nmmr remembered your masks today! Gold stars for all three of you!” Chan Laoshi had sent notes to their clowders, but it was always questionable whether or not a fourth year child would remember something even with their parents.

“Mrrrrrrrmmrrrrrrr.”

“You were saying, Yong Guan?”

The Mandarin nodded and held out his hands. “What you can hear and feel, children, is the force of ten thousand stasis fields being generated inside these boxes. Their contents will remain shelf-stable and viable for ten thousand years, as long as the Dragon Throne will stand. Ten Thousand Years, Ten Thousand, Ten Thousand of Ten Thousand Years.”

“Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years.” The students instinctively and automatically responded.

“But of course, if we were to open these boxes you would see nothing but rice bricks. That would hardly be worth your time to come out. So, why don’t you follow me to the other wing…”


Passing by the boxes was an interesting experience. They seemed to take up more of space then they actually did, projecting a pressure field around them that it took an effort to push by and through. To get through, the students had to form a single file, a hard task for children made only slightly easier by the pressure fields.

Yong Ling barely seemed to notice, though. He continued talking as he walked them through the rows of boxes, giving figures and numbers and elements far beyond the capacity of even the brightest among them to understand. “Of course, the process is actually quite simple. Using Nadinzi’s laws as our guidance, and realizing that all motion and matter is but energy, our predecessors realized that to prevent decay was simply a matter of slowing motion. And of course, energy is heat. Within your electrical icebox, the cold air hampers the decay by slowing the motion of molecules. But these… These will stop that motion altogether.”

He stopped them in front of a row of slightly differently shaped boxes. Whereas the others opened from the top, with a massive lid that could be lifted up (should the field be turned off, at least), these were stacked containers with shelves that could be pulled open.

“These are our demonstration shelves. The field is exponentially less powerful, reaching only the lowest level of motion possible through standard thermodynamic measures.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of thick gloves. “As you can see, the pressure differential is much less here. Can any of you guess what would happen if you were able to get through the pressure bubble of one of those other boxes and touch the stasis field?”

One of the girls raised her hand hesitantly. “It would be very cold, right?”

“It would be significantly more than ‘very cold’, though perhaps that is how you would feel it while you were still aware. Your hand would freeze completely, the motion of even the smallest particles in your body stopping. The portion of your hand that is liquid would freeze, turning into ice crystals. Ultimately we would have to amputate your hand. The storage process is only successful because it is prepared very, very slowly”

The girl squeaked and lowered her hand, barely extending it to catch the haw flake he tossed to her again. One of her friends put a hand on her shoulder.

“That pressure field is the result of the intense energy required to maintain the temperature as low as it is, in addition to the heat being continually vented outward. But this box…” He put a glove on his left hand and tried to reach for the shelf. After a moment’s thought, he pulled back and withdrew his hand, then brought it down in a hard slam that seemed to start falling through treacle. Eventually he withdrew. “Now, I have gloves for all of you, and a challenge… if you can reach the door, I will give you all of the haw flakes I have in my pouch. Otherwise, I would like to hear from you an explanation as to why the pressure field prevents motion…”

[Roania]

Taxation in the Ten Thousand Worlds is very simple.

First, there is the Simple, or Head, tax. Dating from ancient times, it is a single charge of 300 Wen (similarly set in ancient times) levied upon every single living person whose world belongs to the Dragon Throne 'once every standard local year'. Which is to say, every single living person. Traditionally it is collected on the Midsummer Festival. Inability to pay the Simple Tax was once a mark of shame and those who attempted to avoid this obligation were subject to severe punishment. Now, though, all the improvident and impoverished have to do is bring their family before the local authorities for counting, proclaim they are unable to pay, and throw themselves before the Dragon Throne and request its mercy. The magistrates will then ensure that the necessary formalities are taken care of. Such is the benevolence of the Dragon Throne, and the munificence of its subjects, that many organizations have been permitted to organize in order to pay for those who are unable to pay themselves.

Second is the transaction tax, a flat fee of 8.7% collected on every transaction. In older times the Treasury would be forced to have armed officers of the Treasury Audit and Accounting Office present and patrolling at every market to make sure that the tax was properly collected, as mistakes would often be made in calculating and both shopkeepers and customers alike could need to be assisted in making sure that the Dragon Throne received its proper share. Of course, in the Inner Sphere, and increasingly on Middle Sphere worlds, the Cash Card has now become omnipresent. Not only are persons spared the effort of carrying around a heavy purse of coins, they also no longer have to worry about doing their duty to the Throne. They simply swipe their card for a purchase, and the tax fees are automatically deducted and sent to the Treasury.

Third is the land tax. As the ultimate title for all land within civilization (and, indeed, everywhere) belongs to the Dragon Throne, it is meet that the Throne and its representatives collect a fee for its usage, and the process for collecting it is as simple as it can be. Once every fifteen years the value of the property or properties (prior to, and without reference to, improvements upon it by the small-title holder) is assessed by a board of local officials. For the next fifteen years, until the next assessment, a fee of 16.7% of that value is levied annually upon the small-title holder. Where the property is divided the fee is correspondingly split. At any time, the small-title holder may bring a suit for appeal owing to circumstances. For instance, should a sudden disaster occur, the previous assessment would obviously be invalid. Improvements to the property are not taxed except of course for the charges on transactions, as noted above, and the land assessment is only marginally impacted by development or location. The land tax was, at one point, the primary income of the Secretariat, but it has now been supplanted by the sales tax. A key factor in its being maintained is that the Secretariat wants to encourage development by small-title holders. Fallow land is land not being used for generating income that can be used for taxed exchanges. The assessment allows both Secretariat and small-title holders to know whether or not land is living up to its potential, and if it is necessary for changes to be made.

Then, there are tolls. The Secretariat's local offices are in charge of implementing what has been deemed to be a reasonable fee for local services, e.g., electricity, water, sewerage, road maintenance, trash pick-up, lighthouses, airports, shuttleports, public transportation, etc. As an example, Huanxin Special Commandery Traffic and Transport Payment Authority is responsible for implementing and enforcing a congestion charge within the central district (1C, payable either after passing through the ring road toll gates or by prepurchase of a pass), as well as the collection of ticket fares for the use of the Capital Regional Transit System's elevated rail and local bus system. (One ride 120w, cash transfer 60w, all-day passes 300w). HSC Water Authority is responsible for water tolls and sewerage, as well as their assessment, HSC Electricity handles the annual toll for use of the Huanxin's network of crystal pylons, and so on, and so on. Similar offices exist across civilization, though in some backwaters these offices can often consist of one very busy and very tired local officer.

Finally, there are fees and fines. Fees include everything from buying a packet of stamps to buying a firearms license, and can thus range from the trivial to the expensive. Fines are the Secretariat’s preferred method of rubbing salt into the wounds inflicted by flogging (though, to be clear, they absolutely can and will rub salt into the wounds inflicted by flogging) and whose crimes are too minor for most judges to sentence to death. They can range from the merely financially crippling to the exorbitant, and some judges in the past were heard to remark that it is convenient that failure to pay an issued fine is a capital crime. Fortunately, these are modern times.

[Roania]

Most in the Ten Thousand Worlds don't believe in cemeteries. The spread of the religion of the Great Llamas, and their synthesis with the lessons of Tazi, has more or less eliminated burial as a common means of memorial. On Rudan Prime, an edict in the third dynasty proclaimed that the cemeteries and mausoleums of the older days would all be opened, and the bodies burned, to free the souls for movement onto the next cycle. With their ancestors cremated, familial memory of their ancestors turned to the now omnipresent family shrines, and public commemoration of the dead to myriad festivals for that purpose. The few mausoleums remaining are now those too large or too dangerous to tamper with.

Such a one is DaiZhong, the great tomb of the First Sovereign. Long after the Tchou family died out, with its estates left abandoned by their servants and its capital burned to the ground by the warlords who ended the Luan reign, DaiZhong looms over the countryside of the territory named in its honor as Diyimu Special Administrative Commandery. Its actual history passed into legend, and legend into myth:

"Shi Huangdi commands an army of stone warriors, powered by the souls of the workers sacrificed at the construction of the tomb."

"An entire city was buried to serve as the court of Shi Huangdi, and the moat around his tomb flows eternally with their blood"

"All the wealth of the wasted lands is buried within, with Shi Huangdi's curse upon it and all who dare seek it."

Such of the truth that remains is rather more prosaic, though with plenty of room for romance. According to the scraps that remain of 'Luan Zaonianjilu' (The Record of the Early Years of Luan), compiled in the reign of the Shishan Huangdi, the workers were paid ten thousand pounds of gold and silver to construct the inner tomb and its decorations. Much of that value doubtless came from the ruined treasuries of the Priest-Kings, but it's doubtful if any of their relics or ornaments had survived what we now know to have been a terrible shortage of bullion in the early years of Shi Huangdi's reign. Stories of blood flowing in the tomb as a perpetual moat appear to be explained by a quote in the 'Classic of History', in which a river of mercury is said to have been set to flow around the mausoleum itself.

(Note that until comparatively recently, this quote was believed to have been as erroneous as the myth it debunks; recent scans of the tumulus do reveal high quantities of mercury throughout the construction, with the concentration rising markedly as it reaches the area where the mausoleum is located)

The stone soldiers are almost certainly referencing the ancient ancestors of the modern terracotta warrior seen rarely as ceremonial bodyguards for certain figures, if they are not simply statues. While it is not impossible that they were powered and moved by recent sacrifices, no records of a massacre large enough to create an army have come down to us. Sacrificing persons to preserve a structure or render the land amenable to use was widespread in the Nine Provinces at the time, so it is not out of the question that a retainer, concubine or serf was offered, but as of yet the limited excavations have not turned up the memorial stone (or stones) that would have been expected to be left in place in the name of the sacrifice. As for a city being buried with Shi Huangdi, while the mound is roughly eight kilometers in area (7.43 square kilometers), it is generally believed that the interior is only modeled in miniature on the map of Shi Huangdi's capital of Tianjing at the time construction began, five years into his reign.

The tomb has been left largely undisturbed since the fall of the Luan. While the land is fed by the Chentse-Banxi water system, the giant mound of earth does interfere with attempts to bring the land back under cultivation. The fact of its existence was even more successful at preventing farming in the region then any superstition by the local peasants, and eventually the point was rendered moot when the Chongwangzi Huangdi placed the entirety of the former Luan estates under an interdict and cleared all the settlements then in the area to establish the administration that ultimately would become the Dimiyu SAC. Any attempts by thieves and bandits to enter the tomb in the years before or since have not, to the knowledge of the authorities, been successful. The amount of work and resources that would be required would almost certainly negate any value from what could be stolen and safely sold on the market. Official investigations and excavations have similarly foundered on that stone; while the area was at one point the center of civilization in the east it is now a backwater and has been for countless centuries. This, as well as a concern for preservation of any relics that are discovered, has prevented archaeology more effectively than any putative ancient curse.

At present, the most convenient way to reach Daizhong from Five Sisters Province is to take the East-West Ferry to its terminus in Winhai, then drive two hours or take the train to Xinxingjing. From there you can take the provincial coach Chin2 (You will need to ask to stop at the tomb, it is not a regularly scheduled stop) or follow the marked roads. From Huanxin, the train to Xinxingjing will put you in much the same position.

Very occasionally the Secretariat of Guidance authorizes talks and tours of the area that are open to foreigners; contact your embassy for the schedule or to arrange for a private commission.

[Roania]

***The Real News with Leili Weilian, Lim Channel***

*musical sting*

Rei: Caution, you are about to enter the Land of Truth. The Real News will be told, now.

*opening*

Rei: It's a beautiful night here in Wujeimijun, a beautiful night indeed. I'm Rei Tun, sitting in for Leili Weilian, and I'm the voice you trust with the news you need. The loss of the noble cruiser Bulwark of the Hall of Mirrors with all hands in the Leos Incident is our main topic tonight

Rei: Honorable Mister Leili will be filing his on-site interview with Toshiu Norioshi, father of the heroic Captain Toshiu, regarding the death of his son in Grand Secretary Meng’s war. Later, I’ll be sitting down with retired Admiral Hanju Asin to discuss what this may mean for future deployments.

Rei: But our commentary tonight is on womanhood and its meaning, something that has been in the news quite a bit recently. We’re going to follow up on one of our earlier shows tonight, because we’ve received confirmation of early reports suggesting that Captain Toshiu and Seer Pheng Sovann had died while the Captain was following his duty to protect Guild Mistress Lian Jin.

*Commentary Chiron*

Rei: I’m joined by Sian Sia, Venerable Counselor to the Guild...





***Laishi Kai on Lim News Fifth Day***

Laishi Kai: If you could say one thing to the people who lost family members onboard the Bulwark, Miss Valdez, what would it be?






***Rudan Tyan Tyan***

Cai Xu: Protests at Secretariat City have continued for a day now.

Weilian Biyein: What began as a haphazard memorial to the deaths of four hundred and twenty men, and one woman, onboard the Bulwark of the Hall of Mirrors has become a focal point of dissent with the broader Open Party policies of the Grand Secretary.

Cai Xu: We go live to our reporters on-site…





***commentary section, Real News, Lim Channel***

Sian: I’ve had the honor of serving on the advisory council of four Guild Mistresses, and never before has one so willingly rejected her responsibilities to go gallivanting off into a war zone.

Rei: Of course, a Seer is expected to serve within a warzone…after being properly trained, of course.

Sian: Exactly my point. Exactly my point. Lian Jin, Guild Mistress went off on her own, serving as her own captain, rather than under the oversight and control of a naval officer.

Rei: She said in an interview with R News that she didn’t see the point in submitting to training on how to be ‘womanly’. After all, the Gods chose her to be a woman, didn’t they? And her former self’s naval training, as a Lieutenant, obviously prepared her to command a ship.

Sian: And what is the result? Dead servants of the Throne, and a dead Seer. Her own life in danger. Had she been properly trained, she’d have known better. The proper place of a woman is alongside a man, led by a man, commanded by a man.

Rei: As we are taught by the sages..

Sian: It isn’t enough to be chosen by the Gods, you must also accept what the Gods have given you! In toto! I don’t mind telling you that the council has filed a formal rebuke of Her Excellency to the Huangdi, Wanzi Wanziye.

Rei: Wanzi Wanziye…

Sian: We need our Guild Mistress here, undergoing her training, not off with the barbarians playing at soldiers!

Rei: Harsh words, Honorable One.





***Kono Hi, Daiyan Hoso Koshu***

Hirata Chaisoko: The Taikun has left his council to announce that a day of mourning has been decreed across the Bakufu and the name of Toshiu Hinata will be inscribed on the Shrine of Heroes as Bushi Toshiu, the first such addition in three hundred years. The Peers have similarly announced that the Haisu Buke will receive a pension, with Bushi Hinata’s daughters being granted a rank of preference as befits the daughter of a peer. Should his widow give birth to a son, he will be entitled to enrollment.

Sagume Naka: When Tazawa-Sama was asked if he would be bringing notice to Naniyorimo regarding the

Hirata Chaisoko: Omo o tataemasu!

Sagume Naka: he had this to say…

Tazawa Tsuitsu: We are raised from birth to know that someday we may die, and to die in service of our obligations is the greatest death of all. Without a good death, how can we celebrate the life that comes before? Bushi Toshiu lifted his sword in the name of Naniyorimo, and for each and every one of you, and that is what a Bushi must do. And you ask me if I will raise his name before the Dragon Throne?

Hirata Chaisoko: We are still waiting for the full crew complement to be released on Daiyan, but we will keep you abreast…





***Rudan Tyan Tyan***

Protester: I want to know if my husband is dead! I don’t think that’s too much to ask! Release the names of the men stationed aboard the Bulwark of the Hall of Mirrors!

Protester: Is my father going to die for barbarians, in barbarian worlds? At least had they died within Wannjie, their souls would find their way to the ancestors, but who knows what the roads to Heaven are in such far off places?

Protester: Bring them home! Not ten thousand foreigners are worth the death of one of our own!

Protesters: Not Ten Thousand For One! Not Ten Thousand For One!


Cai Xu: This slogan has been seeing increasing prominence on the street.

Weilian Biyein: Sources inside Internal Harmony tell us that the Watch is leery of cracking down on the protest so long as it remains peaceful, but Huanxin is on increasing edge as the protest grows. And through it all, since the news came out, there has been no official response from the office of the Grand Secretary.





***Wannjie Baogao, Channel Lim***

Luo Jeihun: One question is on everyone’s lips. Why won’t the Secretariat say their names?





***The Real News with Rei Weilia, Channel Lim***

Rei: say their names…



***Ku An ZaYanQuan, Channel R***

Ku An: still time to say their names…





***Huanxin Jintian, Yi***

Protester: Say their names!

[Roania]

The list was long. It had to be, of course. There were four hundred and twenty-one people on it.

Contrary to normal practice, they were not listed by their world of origin. Also contrary to normal practice, they were not listed by their rank.

But Meng Ailian sat that night, dressed in the loose white robes of mourning, and read all of them.

She may have read them off the teleprompter; she didn’t have the paper in front of her. But she read them all, directly into the camera.

Sun Wan, Jin Sen How, Cao Cou, Nguyen Vinh, Sho Chan…

Pan Jisi, Mao Wanlu, Thinh Sui, Slamet, Harsan Sen.Taokaka Shiibata…

The list continued. Four hundred and nineteen names.

Captain Toshiu Hinata, son of Toshiu Norioshi. Pheng Sovann, Seer, daughter of Om Visothirith

“Regardless of their place of origin, regardless of the rank they attained, they died in service of the Throne. They died for a future worth living in. They died protecting us, they died protecting the Guild Mistress, they died protecting millions of innocent lives.”

“To say that the life of others is not worth the life of our soldiers is to devalue the lives of our soldiers. It is to insult their memories. It is to insult the Banners, and it is to insult the Throne in whose name they lived and in whose service they died.”

“But they did die. It is not enough to say that it is war and in war men and, yes, women too, die. Every death is a tragedy, but every death has a meaning. And I will live by that word. And so, today, I announce that I will go before the throne and offer my own life and my own blood. If that will resolve this conflict, if my submission or resignation or execution will satisfy those who seek for gain in tragedy and permit the rest to heal, then I give it freely.”

“For the Ten Thousand Worlds, and for All Under Heaven.”

[Roania]

This is a breaking news story.

"We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to inform the public that the Huangdi, Wanzi Wanziye, has directed that Grand Secretary Meng Ailian be dispatched to Mars for a period of time. If true, this would be the first time in six eras that a senior member of the Secretariat has travelled beyond the Ten Thousand Worlds. When asked if this means that the Princess Imperial will be returning to Rudan, the spokesman demurred and said that such minor personnel decisions were not his concern."

"As of yet we have not received word on whether or not this means that Meng Ailian has had the seal revoked, and no information has come out on who or what will be substituting for her. We will bring you further news as we gather it. For commentary, we're going to our analysts..."

[Roania]

The footmen lifted their mallets and brought them against the great brass gongs, sending a reverberation through the room. "All kneel! The crimes will be heard and the final punishments will be issued!" The footmen rang the gongs a second time. "Man's law is Heaven's law! Heaven's law is just! Under Heaven, all crime shall be punished, and all wrongs shall be corrected!" The gongs rang a third time. "To break the law is to offend against the Huangdi! To offend against the Huangdi is to offend against Heaven! To offend against Heaven is to commit blasphemy! Ten Thousand Years to the Lord of Ten Thousand Years! Ten Thousand Years, Ten Thousand Years, Ten Thousand of Ten Thousand Years!"

The assembled officials ritually chanted along, though they could not be heard as the gongs were repeatedly struck. As the great doors of the gubernatorial court room opened, everyone in the room except for the Inspectors knelt. Their prisoners were made to kneel by twisting the cables that bound their hands. A criminal is, after all, scarcely more than an animal and must be treated as one lest they get the wrong idea. Instead of kneeling, the Inspectors bowed their heads. When the gongs were struck for the last time, the governor walked through the doors dressed in the black and yellow of his office and carrying with him the great black scroll on which were all the punishments the law called for.

Unfortunately, as he was both very short and very fat, the Governor of Guanshi was not the most prepossessing of senior officials. Nevertheless, he... well, there's no real way around it, he waddled to his seat. One of his Inspectors helped him into the chair, where he unrolled the scroll, produced a small pair of jade glasses that he balanced at the end of his snub nose, and looked down upon the assembled. "I call this court to order." The footmen banged the gongs a final time, causing his excellency to almost leap from his chair. "Will you stop that?!" A moment, he coughed, and then he looked down his nose once more. "Chief Inspector, inform the criminals why they have been brought before me."

The Chief Inspector clasped right fist to left hand and bowed his head. "Yes, most excellent governor! This is the spring hearing of the Northern Circuit of the Province of Guanshi, making up the commanderies of Beiguanshi, Luanju, and Jifeng! Your crimes against Heaven were all committed within this circuit, and so you have been brought before the Governor for your sentences to be reviewed! Thank the most excellent governor!"

Again, the wires were twisted until every kneeling prisoner mumbled an audible "Thank you, excellent governor."

The governor didn't acknowledge the prisoners or their thanks. "Well, what's first on our agenda." He looked through his scroll absently, then pointed at one of the Inspectors. "You. Bring your criminals forward."

"Most excellent governor! This is Yuan Shou! The magistrate of Juanshou District found him guilty of perjury in a lawsuit! The Judge of Luanju has sentenced him to the fourth punishment of the fourth kind!" Yuan Shou said nothing. "Most excellent governor! This is Le Wai! The Magistrate of Beiguanshi found her guilty of unlawfully approaching an officer of the Sovereign! The Judge of Luanju has sentenced her to the first punishment of the third kind!" Le Wai also said nothing. "Most excellent governor! This is Yuan Yuiyang! The magistrate of Beiguanshi found him guilty of selling goods in the market on fifth river street without a license! The Judge of Luanju has sentenced him to the third punishment of the third kind!" Again, the convicted criminal said nothing, and nor did their comrades. After all, their mouths had been gagged rather effectively.

The governor unrolled his scroll once more and began to read through it. One by one, the criminals of Luanju were disposed of to their punishments as the governor confirmed that the law proscribed such acts. Only on one occasion did the Governor hesitate. The stenographer paused in her calligraphy when his excellency lay his cap aside and wiped his sweaty brow. "That one, there. What did you say he was sentenced for?"

The delegation from Luanju quickly checked their notes and held a brief discussion. "Yuan Shou, most excellent governor. He provided a statement deemed by the procurators to be knowingly false in a lawsuit."

"That is what I thought you said. Was he sworn or was he simply providing a statement? And how much money was at stake in that lawsuit? I do not seem to have that here." Again, there was a whispered consultation. It seemed to go on rather longer than His Excellency cared for. "Well? This is a simple matter, is it not? Was this documentation not filed properly by the Luanju prefecture court? How am I to decide if this punishment is correct if I do not have all the facts? Was this information not provided by the Magistrate of Juanshou? Which of you was the attending procurator? "

The Inspector and the assorted procurators coughed and shuffled their feet. Eventually, one braver than the rest slowly came forward. "We beg the most excellent governor's forgiveness, there would appear to have been an error. The attending procurator is not in our number. We will go and call the Luanju Prefecture House immediately with the most excellent governor's permission and have him sent here."

"No, no, that won't do at all. This is unheard of." The governor clapped his hands. "Strike Mister Yuan's bonds and remove his gag!" There was an audible whisper in the gallery among the officials. The Inspector of Luanju prefecture turned white as the snow that still lay on the trees outside, but he obeyed the governor with alacrity. "I will have to inform the Secretariat of the Circuit of this, Inspector. This truly will not do. Mister Yuan, you may rise." As if in a dream, Yuan Shao slowly rose to his feet. The governor pointed at him. "I sentence you to the first punishment of the first kind. You may arrange payment with the clerk of the chamber or remain in custody until I have a moment to see you caned. Dismissed, Mister Yuan! Guards, escort him outside" Yuan Shao nodded, bowed deeply to the governor, and was removed. "...well. Now, before we proceed any further with this hearing, I may as well make sure that all the other information I should have has been provided to me, and there will be no further farces from Luanju Prefecture or Juanshou District!"

Fortunately for everyone concerned, there were no further 'farces' from any of the prefectures or their districts, and the remaining circuit cases proceeded appropriately. The governor leaned back in his chair and rested his hands on his stomach, looking rather like a content frog. "Now, if that is everything?"

"Not... quite so, most excellent governor. We have one more case for you." The Inspector of Jifeng motioned another prisoner forward, and his guards shoved him forward. The prisoner had been heavily shackled, with his arms bound behind his back in a wooden cangue and his legs in chains. He wore a hood over his head, too. "This is Luo Bun. The magistrate of Beiyin found him guilty of the theft of a ring worth five cash, and the Judge sentenced him to the third punishment of the fifth kind."

"I see. And why is his case being held separately? I have no information about this filed before me except for what you just said." The Inspector coughed and chewed on his lip, hemming and hawwing and looking up and around the room for a very long time. The Governor sighed. "Inspector, I do not have the time for this."

"Well, most excellent governor... he has not confessed, you see."

The governor paused. In fact, the entire room paused. The stout figure of the law leaned forward and cupped his hand to his ear. "I beg your pardon, Inspector?"

"He has not confessed, most excellent governor. He did not confess in Beiyin, and he was unwilling to confess in Jifeng, and he has been held in confinement for three weeks now and he still refuses to confess."

"Pre-pre-pre-preposterous! Remove that hood and ungag the prisoner! I will have the bottom of this!"

[Roania]

The only fitting punishment for any crime is death. Everyone knows this. All crimes are crimes against the Dragon Throne, and to commit a crime against the Dragon Throne is to commit a crime against Heaven, and to commit a crime against heaven is to deserve death. It is thanks to the infinite mercy, wisdom and kindness of the Dragon Throne that some are given the opportunity to live on, suitably chastened by their mistakes. But in order for any punishment to have the necessary salutary effect, either upon the criminal or upon the public, its righteousness must be acknowledged. And that is why, since ancient times, it has been required that upon his sentencing the criminal acknowledge his wrongdoing and accept the justice of his punishment. For how can you learn from your mistakes when you refuse to accept responsibility for them?

In the old days, a criminal who refused to admit his guilt when confronted with the evidence of his crime and then sentenced would have been tortured until he did so, and then further charged with perjury. For it is better a thousand innocent men suffer punishment than that one who is guilty continue to infect the people; just like it is better to blockade a plagued city rather than allow the disease to spread. But it was pointed out that such action could, perhaps, indicate that the court was not certain in its pronouncements of guilt, for is it not true that truth needs no support? And so, the recalcitrant must be given every opportunity to admit his guilt.

Luo Bun, when his hood was removed, was revealed to be a young man. Perhaps he had scarcely now passed his age of majority. Some might, perhaps, have found him attractive, but he was ill-favored. The prisoner had more than a whiff of the lower class about him, and his appearance was not helped by the bruises and cuts that decorated his face or his confused blinking in the sudden light. When the gag was torn from his lips, though, he was quick to shout, "I did not do it!" in a very coarse dialect.

"You dare stand before the governor!" The guard on his left shouted in response.

The appropriate corrective action was applied to the back of Luo Bun's knees, and he quickly found the appropriate position. Even with his head resting on the ground, he repeated his claim. "I did not do it!" His back was covered in bruises and scars.

The attending judicial authorities muttered amongst themselves while the governor removed his hat, allowing his aide to once again mop the perspiration from his head. The worthy began to roll through his scroll. "You are Luo Bun of Beiyin District, of the Commandery of Jifeng?"

"I did not do it!" Was the unfortunate's only reply, for which crime he was given a blow across the shoulders by one of the guards that made him buckle.

"When the most excellent governor asks you a question, you answer, peasant dog!" The guard said, delivering a second blow across the shoulders. This time, the young man's knees gave out and he fell flat upon the floor.

When he raised his hand to give a third blow, though, the governor interposed. "I believe he has gotten the message. Shall we try again? I am asking you to identify yourself. You are Luo Bun of Beiyin District, of the Commandery of Jifeng?" Luo Bun did not answer for a moment. The governor frowned portentously. "Has he been ill-treated in his confinement? I see that he has been beaten."

The inspector of the Commandery of Jifeng came forward once more, unrolling a scroll of his own. "Most excellent governor, he has been treated according to the orders of the Magistrate of Beiyin and then the Judge of Jifeng. He has been given food daily and provided with every opportunity to accept his guilt and every inducement permitted by the law. I see nothing unusual in the report of his conditions. Is it your will that I investigate, Most Excellent Governor?"

"Hm." The governor gave a non-committal grunt and leaned forward, looking down at the fallen figure. "Are you Luo Bun of Beiyin District? If you are unable to answer, I will have you taken from this place and brought to the care of the shrine of the Healer, where you will be treated until you are able to attend this court. The cost of your treatment will be added to the fees of this court" There was a pause. The prisoner attempted to rise from his fallen status, but with his hands locked behind his back it was impossible. "Officers, remove his cangue, but do not provide him with further assistance. We will apply the test approved of by Wui Lin." The officers of the court did as they were directed, the two halves of the cangue being separated and allowing the boy to try to rise under his own power. After a moment where he seemed unable to appreciate the freedom of his arms, the putative Luo Bun was able to pull himself into something approaching the kow-tow, though in execrable form. "Excellent. Now then. Let us start from the beginning. Are you Bun, of the Luo clan?"

"I... I am Luo Bun, most excellent governor."

"Splendid, we make progress. You are a resident of Beiyin District?"

"I am not of Beiyin District."

"Very good, we..." The governor paused and settled back on his seat, his hands resting on his table for steadiness. "Explain this discrepancy, Inspector."

The Inspector opened his mouth, closed it, and then turned to the representative from Beiyin in his entourage. "Explain this discrepancy, Procurator."

The Procurator bowed repeatedly, his head bobbing in time with each syllable. "Most worthy inspector, this disreputable worm was informed that while the prisoner is not a resident of Beiyin District, the crime was committed within the district's borders. This lowly individual was not the procurator who attended the prisoner's original trial, but this is the information that was provided to this most unworthy of servants."

The Inspector toyed with his moustache, and then he turned back to the judge. "Most excellent governor, this lowly individual is able to provide the information that the prisoner is indeed not a resident of Beiyin District. The crime was committed within the district's borders. It is to be regretted that this humble servant does not have the attending procurator available."

The Governor replaced his hat on his head. "Very well. Luo Bun, where are you recorded as a resident?" The boy mumbled his answer. The judge placed his hand around his ear. "I am unable to hear your answer, prisoner."

"I am recorded as residing in Nanyin, in the Commandery of Haowei."

"Very good. Officers, please bring me the corvee record for Luo Bun, lately of Nanyin District." The Governor adjusted his hat. "The honorable magistrate of Beiyin obviously took mercy upon you to try you in his jurisdiction so your punishment may be over and done with all the faster, hm? And you have repaid him and the worthy judge of Jifeng by rejection and argument! Shall I add a charge of ingratitude towards your betters?"

"No!"

"Then why will you not confess to your crime?" The Judge banged his hand on the table and stood up to point his finger at Luo Bun. "Disreputable dog, who are you to refuse to accept fate, which binds us all?"

"Because I did not steal the ring!"

The Judge scowled and sat back down. His hat slumped forward, the tassel landing before his face. He blew and it bounced wildly to hit him in the nose. After a minute he resumed his usual posture. "Inspector, do you have the case files present?"

"Procurator, do you have the case files present?" The procurator looked through his satchel, then gave an unhappy nod. "I do have the case files, most excellent governor."

"Please provide them to me."

"Procurator, please give me the case files." The procurator handed over the slender scroll case and then stepped back, as if he was afraid he was going to be bitten. The inspector opened them, scrolled through them briefly, and then stepped forward to place the case upon the table. The Governor scowled momentously, and the Inspector drew his hand back as if stung. He unrolled the case and began to read. "According to the files the prisoner did willfully steal a ring worth an excess of four and a half cash, for which he was sentenced to exile aboard the next departing colonial vessel."

The Governor rumbled. "Rather merciful again. You might have been sentenced to work in the mines. Do you admit this?"

"I did not..."

"Steal the ring. So you have said, yes. Very well. Without admitting your guilt, do you accept that you were sentenced to exile by the magistrate of Beiyin?"

"Y-yes, most excellent governor."

The Governor leaned back contentedly. "The details of the case, Inspector."

"Mrs. Jou Yuna, wife of Cheng Zhou, reported her ring was missing following a party for the young being held by her son and daughter for the midwinter festival." The Inspector proceeded down the list. "There were a number of suspects named, but the prisoner was among the first. While he was being questioned, his quarters were searched. The ring was found in his baggage, along with other personal effects that the Cheng family requested the Magistrate not prosecute him for, out of the kindness of their hearts."

The governor took the scroll from the Inspector and rolled it up. "Very cut and dry. No doubt the Watch was relieved to not have to look for another suspect. Your kind are always so patently obvious. No doubt you were planning to sell it so you could buy alcohol or time with a triad girl."

"I would never have sold it! And I didn't steal it!"

"But you admit you had it!" The governor roared, bringing the scroll down upon the table with an unsatisfying papery sound.

"Yes!"

"You had it, and you repay the mercy of the Cheng family for not pressing charges on the other items stolen by continuing to prolong this and evade the punishment your crime deserves!"

"It was given to me! It was all given to me!"

"Given to you?! Who would..." The Governor was interrupted by the arrival of an officer of the court with a freshly printed sheet of paper on which were the corvee records of Luo Bun. "Here we are. Hm. A whole family of wastrels, I expect." The governor briefly scanned the record. "Your primary residence is recorded here as the village of Lesser Yin, and you were born in the year of the fire dog. Is this correct?"

"Yes, Governor."

"I did not need an answer, it was in the way of a rhetorical question." The governor took the time to confirm the details recorded on the paperwork matched the corvee records. "This all seems to be in order. Your father was Jin of the Luo clan? His death is recorded here as in the year of the fire monkey. That would be three years ago, the tenth year of the Huoxin Er...oh, blast." This was not heard, as the drummer rang the gong.

Everyone not already kneeling kneeled, including the governor. "TEN THOUSAND YEARS TO THE LORD OF TEN THOUSAND YEARS!"

When order was restored, the governor readjusted his hat and resumed his place. "Your father is recorded as passing to his ancestors three years ago, in the year of the fire monkey."

"Yes, most excellent governor," Luo Bun mumbled.

"Well, even for a peasant, losing one's father can be trouble. It is no doubt the reason you turned to crime, of course. Very well, stenographer, please record that the prisoner's father, Luo Jin, passed to his ancestors in the tenth year of the Huoxin...oh, for..."

"TEN THOUSAND YEARS TO THE LORD OF TEN THOUSAND YEARS!"

"...please record that the prisoner's father, Luo Jin, passed to his ancestors in the tenth year of the... of the present era." The governor wiped his own brow. "According to your corvee report, you have a juvenile record of petty theft and pettier assaults, which out of mercy for your fatherless status were sealed when you came of age. I suspect, though, that that mercy was misplaced, and all your coming of age did was inspire you to move on towards more serious crimes." The governor tapped the scroll on the table. "But I will humor you. Out of my boundless mercy, and the mercy of the law. Who do you claim gave you the ring, prisoner?"

"Cheng Aiya," The prisoner's voice caught as he said the name.

"Cheng Aiya?" The Governor frowned. "Who is Cheng Aiya?"

"She is the most beautiful of flowers, as gentle as the wind across the Yin, as..." At the governor's nod, the guard caught Luo Bun with a blow across the shoulders again. He yeeped, and went quiet.

"Thank you, officer. I assume the daughter of the Cheng clan, presumably the one referenced as holding the party." The Governor stroked his beard and scowled. "I did not hear her testimony as recorded. Inspector, come here." The Inspector approached the Judge's table and yelped when the governor slapped him. "Most despicable of creatures, if the prisoner claims that he was given the ring by this Cheng Aiya, why was she not questioned?"

"I do not know, most praiseworthy of servants of the throne, but I will find out." The Inspector promised, then he returned to his party. He slapped the procurator. "Loathsome worm! If the prisoner claims that he was given the ring by this Cheng Aiya, why was she not questioned?"

The Procurator momentarily looked around, as if desperate for someone he could slap, but there was no one of a lower status available. "Most noble of inspectors, it is this unworthy one's unfortunate responsibility to inform you that I do not know why Cheng Aiya was not questioned. Is... is it not mentioned in the case notes?"

The Inspector nervously returned to the table, wringing his hands together. "M-most excellent of governors..."

"I heard him, Inspector." The Governor sighed and reopened the case notes that he had taken from the inspector. Muttering to himself, the majesty of the law scrolled to the court testimony. "Ah, of course. As she is a minor and was quite affected by the theft of her mother's ring and other possessions, Cheng Zhou advised the court that she was not able to attend the court and that she had been sent to stay with family elsewhere. In her place, the son of the Cheng family testified that he believed that the accused had taken advantage of the party to... and so on, and so on. Yes, yes. Well then, there seems nothing else to be done." The Governor rolled his eyes and then rolled the scroll back up, placing it to the side. "Well, the evidence seems quite clear, and the only testimony that the prisoner says would clear his name is unavailable." The Governor frowned and shook his head. "Take the prisoner away, to be held in solitude until such time as he is willing to confess. He is not to be fed, either."

"No, wait! I... I appeal! I appeal to..." But one of the guards got the gag around his mouth. Luo Bun began to try to struggle, but he was unable to do so.

"Shame, really. Just goes to show. Now, there is nothing else on my docket..."

"Objection!" Came a cry from the door, which had been flung aside with enough force to break its old wooden frame and tear the inlaid paper.

[Roania]

"Ob...jection?" The Governor tasted the word. He turned to one of the officers of his court. "Objection?" The officer leaned away, concerned that the Governor would strike him. "Objection." No, he decided he did not like the taste of it.

The newcomer threw back his cloak, revealing himself to be a Kadrian dressed in the royal blue of that nation's legal profession. He adjusted his pince-nez and withdrew a tablet from his pocket, then scrolled down. "As per the Secretariat of the Circuit's regulation of the year of the Wood Serpent of the reign of the Liezhou Empress, may her spirit illumine the galaxy, any person who has evidence that may alter the status of a case may at any time present that evidence before final sentencing is issued. Is that incorrect, Governor?"

The governor's jaw worked soundlessly for a few minutes and then he burrowed into the sheathes of paper that surrounded him. After a few minutes of digging, he found the required documents. "That is quite correct, but I am afraid you are too late. I have already issued the final order of sentence in this case, and we are simply awaiting the criminal's confession before it is carried out. "

"If my client hasn't confessed, then how can you order the final sentence?" The Kadrian played back the audio of the past few minutes, including Luo Bun's steadfast refusal to admit his guilt.

"Your... client?" The Governor sniffed in disdain. "Are you suggesting that that peasant hired you? In what capacity? And per what license? And with what money?!

By way of answer, the Kadrian reached into a pocket and produced a gold-trimmed seal of paper. "I have been qualified by the Secretariat of Guidance to serve in the capacity of a solicitor, as you can see. And I have been hired by a third party to provide evidence that was not made available at his initial trial. Evidence that will reveal him to be, as he has proclaimed, innocent!"

"Hold it!" The Inspector shook his head and held up his hands. "We are all very impressed by your credentials, Mister..."

"Bluehelm. Skaldnyr Bluehelm." The Kadrian rolled up the license and returned it to his pocket.

"Quite. I'm sure we are all very impressed by your credentials, Mister Bluehelm. And by your claims. But I assure you, I have the utmost faith in my procurators, and in the Watch Offices they serve. If there was evidence to clear your...client, then it would have been made available long before now." The Inspector sniffed. "I see no reason for this to be dragged on any further, Governor, and I move that we put Luo Bun to the question. Obviously, passive denial has led his... friends... to delaying actions. No doubt they plan an escape."

"Objection!" Skaldnyr thumped his hand on the wooden fence between him and the court. "The evidence was put forward; it was simply not heard!"

"Preposterous!"

"Preposterous? Miss Cheng, will you step forward?"

And at that point, things became far too loud for the stenographer to record.