The Great War

by PioneeringAuthor

Chapter 2: Beauty Hiding Tension

“Welcome to the palace,” Chikafusa said with a bow.

Karam slowed his gait to marvel at it all.
Like everything else here, the palace looked bizarre and enchanting to the king of Saddle-Arabia. The palace was multi-storied, with red, ornate woodworking trim contrasted by dark teal tiles on the roofs.
The gates led to a courtyard filled with gardens, neatly lined up to lead to the palace. Everywhere he looked, Karam was astounded by the colors, smells, and atmosphere. He felt as if he’d entered an entirely new world, and absorbed the experience deeply.
Emperor Umi noted the amazed look in Karam’s blue eyes, and a proud smile graced his white, furry face. Comforted to see the foreigner enjoying the city, Emperor Umi relaxed more, and continued leading the way.
In another minute, they were inside the palace, having a grand tour of the buildings, which featured rooms that were increasingly exotic and ornate. Karam gawked in wonder.
He smelled all the herbs and flowers, listened to the beautiful flutes and instruments playing, and thrived on the feeling of the breeze flowing through the windows.
Everything was marvelous.

“This is Empress Asuka,” The translator introduced, “And the Crown Prince Enmei.”

The empress was a light pink color with a black mane, which was done up in an ornate bun with a hairstick through it horizontally, tipped with dangling, glass flower decorations. Ringing her dark-colored horn were several golden chains and jewels that sparkled in the sunlight through the windows. Covering her body was a long, blue kimono decorated with golden flowers and dragons, though her long tail was left free to move about her.
Her son was robed in equal splendor, and his light yellow coat contrasted with his dark blue eyes, and his black mane and tail. The two bowed to Karam, and he humbly bowed back.
Through translators, they were able to speak.
Empress Asuka humbly thanked Karam for visiting the palace, and Karam gave glowing praise to them all on the architecture and beautiful colors, to which the Emperor and Empress were greatly pleased.
The tour wasn’t over yet, though. Soon Karam was introduced to the inner parts of the palace, introduced to the four concubines, and eventually led to the dining hall, where several musicians were playing for them all as they ate a lunch filled with various fruits and vegetables native to Rikuma. For those next minutes, Karam found it hard to think with all the new sights, smells, tastes and sounds filling his senses. It was all marvelous to him.

Into the scene came a servant, who interrupted the moment.

The emperor nodded and turned to the translator.

“The emperor would like to introduce you to the shogun, who leads the daimyo,” Chikafusa explained with a nod.

“Daimyo?” Karam echoed, narrowing his eyes with a confused look.

Karam’s translator looked over at Chikafusa with a shrug.
Chikafusa looked up at the ceiling, struggling to think of the closest Saddle-Arabian word.

“The Daimyo… are leaders of the clans. They are warriors who lead their areas, but serve the emperor.”

“Ah, I see,” Karam nodded and relaxed, “We have similar things in Saddle-Arabia--the sheiks. So, your Shogun leads all these daimyo? How many daimyo are there?”

“We have twenty-three daimyo, and when the shogun dies, there is a great competition among all the daimyo to see who shall replace him,” Chikafusa explained with a proud gleam in his eye, relieved that Saddle-Arabia understood such things.

Karam nodded and asked, “When will the Shogun be here?”

“He is arriving now.”

With that, Emperor Umi himself stood up from the table, and everyone followed him as he led the way back to one of the outer rooms.

The shogun had a much different outfit on, though still very elaborate. He wore what was known as a kimishimo, which featured a silken kimono, an outer, sleeveless jacket with exaggerated shoulders (called a kataginu), and a sort of pants on his hindquarters over the kimono (called a hakama).
He was a deep, blue-grey color, with a black mane and tail neatly trimmed and rolled into a tight bun, tied with some white fabric, matching his white and silvery blue kimishimo.
Once more, translator Chikafusa helped everyone meet each other.

“This is Shogun Kage, of the Katsumi clan, and he is most honored to meet you.”

The shogun bowed lightly, and Karam bowed back, unfolding his wings slightly, as was customary for a winged creature to do when bowing in Saddle-Arabia. For a moment, the Shogun’s yellow eyes met Karam’s, and Karam noticed a flickering, deep emotion.

Was that… anger?

It was but for a moment, and gone before Karam could register it.
However, the visible tension between the shogun and the emperor was easy for Karam to spot. The two stood just a few feet apart, and bowed to each other, but seemed stiff, and forced.
The two glanced at each other briefly before looking back to Karam.

The translator listened to what the emperor had to say, and then informed Karam, “The shogun will be unable to show you around the clans, due to some minor clan strife at the moment.”

“Understandable,” Karam accepted with a nod, though he had a deep suspicion that the truth was darker. Clearly something was going on that he was not privy to, but as the guest of honor he had no right to ask.

The shogun bowed again, and backed out of the room, not turning his back to the emperor, even as the guards were shutting the vast doors to the room. As soon as the Shogun was gone, the emperor relaxed. It was a subtle gesture in his shoulders, but Karam’s sharp eyes never missed a detail like that from his advisors, or any creature around him.
Something was going on… but what?

Author's Note:

Hello, Again!

I hate to break your immersion, so I'll try not to throw in any more author's notes, at least for a while.

If ANYONE has ANY idea for a cover for this story, please tell me. Yes, you probably should read a bit more of the story, but, be thinking of ideas, please. I have no idea what cover to put on this book, and I hate leaving it blank.
At the very least, hearing your ideas might give me another idea, or perhaps I can combine ideas, we'll see.

Also, I am extremely careful when editing and proofreading for myself, but if you happen to catch some dreadful grammar someplace, please point it out so I may fix it.
Feedback is much appreciated, all-around! I'm still writing this story, and a lot of it is possibly going to change.

--Turquoise Dreamer