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After
events at the palace, security was increased tenfold. Since none of the other
ninja had been found, it was possible they were still..
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The coming days saw
many daiymo leaders and military officials arrive in Shenobi. A council was to be held in the palace. Working
with feud..
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After the divisions left, Ayaka found that
whatever she did, wherever she went, worry followed. Even if the trade had come
to a near halt, ..
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The
columns of Southern samurai riders advanced through the gray wilderness like an
endless, red serpent. Daisuken had grown weary of..
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One night Ayaka had a beautiful
dream.
She and the prince found each other
in a verdant countryside, a place where many flowers had bl..
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The next day a cold mantle of grey
settled over Shenobi. It was the day the funerary procession was to be carried
out. Alone, from one of the p..
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Days after the prince’s funeral, Lord
Kodai-Otosan, backed by Shenobi’s ruling daiymo, proclaimed the full autonomy
of the Southern Kin..
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Ayaka
descended into the mists of sleep, drowning, then plummeting through the
darkness beneath. Further,she fell through clouds and blue s..
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From the crown of a steep hill
overlooking Saigo no Teiko
Pass, Masuro surveyed the
sweep of terrain. Morning dew on the grass had fr..
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Ayaka walked through the
palace gardens. The cold, ashen-cast skies that had plagued the city were gone
today, and the midmorning sun shine..
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