[13:17] Hosokawa Mei 芽依 followed him and processed the information he had given. She understood that he explained more to her than he might have given others. The privilege one she would never abuse. As she moved into the camp, she could see it being bigger than the one she visited in Var-Kor. She would bow deeply before the Master Assassin. “Greetings, Lord Master Assassin.” she gave him the full title in the language he would understand. Her smile warm and kind as she posed demure and yet firm before him. She did not bow down out of submission.
[13:19] Crow (melchior.wardell) stood as he always did in the presence of women. It was something he had been taught as a young boy. The freewoman were given the respect they owed. As ever he would be critical in how one portrayed one self but that was another matter. “Tal Killer, lady Mei.” he would incline his head. “I see you have returned in one piece.” the golden coin still laying on the spot he had laid it.
[13:22] Hosokawa Kinsei – Vesper™ 細川金星 (razius) moved Lady Mei next to him within the ring of the campfire. He stood before the venerable older Killer and said, “Tal Killer. The Daimyo has released Lady Mei to me without coin and with his blessing.” He pulled the gold coin off of the wooden log bench that he left there the previous night before and placing it into one of his hidden obi pockets.”One piece indeed, but with an idea after speaking with Kage in Var-Kor today….a refuge….a place where Lady Yoko’s talents could thrive and, perhaps, other Pani could come in time….a place with the significance held in the words Kuro Okibi Minato….Black Ember Port. Would such a venture be possible?” He laid out so much in just a few words and then stood silent before the Killer.
[13:27] Hosokawa Mei 芽依 (adaugoalika) felt the heat of the campfire on her face, but it was nothing compared to the warmth of Kinsei beside her. She was living proof that he had been granted the blessing of the Daimyo. When he spoke of the name Black Ember Port, she felt a thrill of recognition. It wwas a name that carried both the weight of the steel they forged and the hope of the culture they carried. She looked from Kinsei to Crow. Her expression calmj and supportive. A silent pilar for the man who was daring to dream. “An ember is small, but it holds the memory of the fire and the promise of the hearth. To create a refuge where the Pani way can flourish alongside the strength of the Caste… it would be more than a venture. It would be a bridge between the world we left and the world we are building.” she stated in firm support of the man that brought forth the idea.
[13:33] Crow (melchior.wardell) noted the retrieval of the golden coin. His gaze remained fixed on the lady. She was indeed a sight to be hold. She was the living testament of his brother favor. As Vesper spoke of the idea he would listen, wave his hand as to invite them to take a seat. He would wait to take one – only when lady Mei would be seated. “An ember is a dangerous thing, Lady Mei.” he replied with a hint of humor. “It is quiet, yes , it is small. But it is the part of the fire that refuses to die. To build a port on such a foundation suggests a place that is hidden until it is ready to consume.” He turned his attention back to Vesper. his posture shifting as he gave it more thought. “The venture is possible,” he conceded. “But it must be built as we build ourselves: in the shadows, layer by layer. If Lady Yoko’s talents are to thrive there, she must be protected by more than just words. Let us see if this ember can withstand the coming winter.”
[13:40] Hosokawa Kinsei – Vesper™ 細川金星 (razius) listened in calm silence as Lady Mei pulled the concept forth and gave it new light. He saw the poise in how she took such subtlety in phrasing and gave it new meaning. He remained steadfast at her side and looked to the Killer who he trusted more than any other to see what he would say. It was a small movement of his eyes that would track from Lady Mei to the Master Killer, his body otherwise remained calm in its stillness. He waited for Lady Mei to settle on the log where he picked up the golden coin and directed her with a wave of his hand to sit. “The shadows must always hold us, Killer, and that is not something that either you nor I can brazenly ignore. There is a reason we keep to the shadows, it keeps us breathing. The camp should remain such. Yet, I wonder if we created a port…if we financed the port, would we perhaps not find ourselves also able to gain contracts from those who might travel to the port for gambling and entertainment?” He paused, “…and there is one more important thing it could be a place where Lady Yoko and Lady Mei could glean information that was useful to the Caste.”
[13:45] Hosokawa Mei 芽依 moved with deliberate graceful and slow-motion, accepting the invitatioin to sit on the log. She waited for the men to settle, her presence radiating a quiet, focused strenght that matched the weight of the conversation. She bowed her head to the wisdom of his words. She looked toward Kinsei, her expression one of shared resolve. “Lady Yoko and I understand the value of layer by layer. If the Black Ember is to thrive, it must be a place where the shadows are part of the architecture. We will provide the ‘entertainment’ that loosens the mind, and the silk that masks the steel. The information we glean will be the wind that keeps the ember burning through any winter.” she promised. She felt the complexity Kinsei had mentioned earlier. The dappled light of being a Lady who is also a Spymaster. It was a role she felt born to play.
[13:50] Crow (melchior.wardell) watched how the lady would take her seat on the log with the grace of a falling petal. Her words carried the weight of a blade. The proposal had shifted from a sanctuary to a trap and it was a language he understood. “Gambling and silk.” he stated. “The things that strip a man of his caution faster than any torture. You propose to build a port that is not just a refuge, but a filter. A place where the gold of the cities flows into our purses and their secrets inot our ears.” he chuckles. “The lady of your choosing is quite the promise.” he offered to his son. “He turned back to Vesper, his eyes narrowing. “Proceed with your ‘Black Ember Port.’ Use the gold to buy the silence. I have earned more than enough of my share in Ar. If Lady Yoko and Lady Mei can turn the breath of a drunken traveler into the wind that feeds our fire, then we have done more than build a port. We have built a throat through which the secrets of the Vosk will scream.”
[13:57] Hosokawa Kinsei – Vesper™ 細川金星 (razius) waited for the Master Assassin to take a seat and he tended to the fire as the older Killer did so. He watched Lady Mei out of the corner of his eyes and, although his face remained stone, he felt an inner sense of excitement that he was lucky enough to be connected to the woman who held such thoughtful wisdom and prowess. She was an asset to him, yes, but also a force to be reckoned with in her own right. He watched from his place at the fire, the logs placed in their structure before he sat, how each of them saw the merit in each other and the strong symbiosis that could come from the shared space and purpose. “The secrets scream and the hearts of men will be opened. Now, I think you see why she won my heart so easily perhaps?” He sat at the right side of his Master Assassin, his Sensei, and then looked to the woman he loved, his weaver of stars and heartstrings, and he felt joy and peace and he remained still in that moment taking it in.
[14:01] Hosokawa Mei 芽依 felt the weight of Kinsei’s gaze, a warmth that rivaled the fire in the pit. When he spoke of her winning his heart so easily she didn’t blush with the modesty of the girl. She met his eyes with the depth of a woman who knew exactly what she brought to this union. She watched him take his place at the Master Assassins right hand. “The heart is the most difficult lock to pick, Kinsei- dono.” she said softly. Her voice carrying that trace of thoughtfulness. She sat in her stillness with them. A shared moment that felt like the quiet before a magnificent storm. The weaver of stars was no longer just weaving thread.
[14:06] Crow (melchior.wardell) watched the two of them, he saw something different. A shared frequency, a strenght that made a house so much stronger than the sum of its blades. When Vesper spoke of her winning his heart, he would regard the lady. He listened to her response and knew it to be true. “A lock that is picked can be closed again.” he reasons. “A heart that is woven into cause .. that is a knot that even the sharpest of blade can not sever. You have not just won his heart, lady Mei. You have anchored his purpose.” He looked at Vesper, acknowledging the man’s position at his right hand. It was a place of honor, but also a place of shared burden. “You feel peace in this moment, Vesper, because the shadows have finally stopped fighting you,” Crow continued. “But do not mistake this stillness for safety. It is, as the Lady says, the quiet before the storm. The ‘Black Ember Port’ is a dream that will soon wake up hungry.”
[14:17] Hosokawa Kinsei – Vesper™ 細川金星 (razius) looked to the Master Assassin. His words were calm, without challenge, and with understanding of the man. “Killer, in all the time you have known me, you have never known a whole man. You have known a fractured and tortured soul, scattered into a thousand pieces and pulled this way and that by a thousand voices.” His voice was thoughtful now, more so than usual as he said, “In this moment, Killer, when all of me is allowed to live within this camp as a whole man, both Pani and Killer, I am more dangerous than I have ever been because nothing pulls at me, nothing weighs me down, all of me moves forward in the same unified direction.” He looked at the fire briefly and then back to the man, “Some would say that I can no longer be Pani because I am a Killer….that is incorrect. Some would say that I cannot be a Killer because I am Pani….also incorrect. What these people do not realize is that it is BECAUSE I am both at the same time that I no longer need their approval or permission.” He looked to Lady Mei for a moment and then back to the Master Assassin. “She was the first to see all of me and accept me….you are the second….it is the two of you who will eventually see what it means when the quiet and the stillness in me is but the eye of the storm itself….I am the oncoming storm.”
Crows Murder 