Isle of Chūsei

The air was fairly brisk on the Isle of Chūsei - as it usually was - but this did not seem to bother Susumu, Takumi and his entourage. Over the years that the Isle of Chūsei have existed, many of its inhabitants had chosen not to leave due to the central location of the isle and the intermingling of three distinct cultures that, despite all odds, seemed to have ended quite well. The isle was peaceful enough, but colder than any of the mainlands - still, Takumi had been to the isle often enough. He'd even built a small Susumu clan compound there, extravagant amidst the ascetics' temples, so he could live in at least a little bit of luxury. The Susumu clan had always had a taste for riches, but Takumi was the worst offender by far in recent years - his motives were commonly listed as gold, gold, and more gold. That couldn't be further from the truth, but it didn't hurt to let the hearsay cloud his intentions. Anybody who looked hard enough would find what they were looking for.

Takumi had been to the centre of the isle on business more times than he could count - Akaritori and Windspeaker Touho had given him exclusive domain over the economy of Yamagakure a long time ago, and under his watchful eye it has prospered beyond all of the other nations'. Takumi had the knack of knowing what to buy, what to sell, and most importantly, when to buy or sell them. He treated money like it was a grand game, one that he had mastered a long time ago, and it was almost as if he was playing against children. Now, he had business there again, waiting for Lady Ayameko's emissary to arrive so they could discuss a large shipment of steel that Yamagakure was selling off.

The seats were, as was custom, carved out of solid gold for Takumi to sit on - and his entourage would sit on stone chairs behind him, observing his techniques that they might learn to become half the man he was. He smirked a little. They would never become anything nearly as great as he was. Takumi sat patiently, as he always did, waiting for his partner in business to arrive. He had chosen to be ten minutes early, knowing that an emissary of Kyokujitsugakure would also be early - it was his job to know the habits of those he worked with. It is difficult to play an instrument one does not know - and the same can be said for people in the world of finance. Knowledge and Money were power, and Takumi was a master of both.

"Um, hello... I was wondering if I could, ah, speak to? Or wait, no, it's probably better to just send a note.. Or.." Allia bumbled out words, her timidity transforming her straightforward request into long-winded nonsense. She was dressed in the ceremonial style armor of the House of Solidas, the Sword of Sheol on her back.

"GET ON WITH IT." Bellowed a giant dragon looking through a window. Zilant was highly intolerant of Allia's timidity.

Wincing in the face of true dragon breath, and mildly worried about getting more flammable saliva on herself, Allia steeled herself, opening the door.. To the receptionist.

The receptionist was rather nonplussed*, in the unperturbed but still intrigued sense of the word. While a summoned creature bellowing outside her door was unusual, it was not unprecedented.

"Can I help you?" She inquired dryly.

"Well... Do you have a handtowel?" Allia inquired back, still worried about aforementioned flammable saliva.

The handtowel was produced instantly by the receptionist from somewhere under the desk. The receptionist was still rather unamused.

"I.. mean.. Wait, no, what I came here for was.. I ah.. What I wanted to do.. Was talk to... Or leave a message for the Yamakage... Um.."

"Get on with it!" The bellow could be heard again, but muffled through the door this time.

"YES! Uhm.. You see, she calls herself the Pride of Exae.. And I'm from Exae.. And I was wondering if she knew what happened to my homeland." Allia finally finished her request.

*if you think that's not a meaning for that word, you are possibly English, and right, in the formal sense of that word.

Yamakage's Office

"Exae?" came the dry reply from the receptionist, who was still not amused at the entire situation.

"I suppose you had better go on through, then."

---

Akaritori's office was reminiscent of the Grand Citadel of Exae, the seat of the Judge-Magisters, and of the home of Justice in Exae that was - anybody who had ever been to Exae before would remember it vividly. The tower was forged of light given form, and shaped into an immense sword that pierced the very heavens above. The tower was so large that even from any point in Exae, the tip could not be seen, and it was the subject of many of the country's idioms and turns of phrases. The office could have been considered extravagant by another country's standards, but Yamagakure did not want for gold and other riches due to its vast mountain ranges, so extravagance was not an issue.

The walls were coated with a thin layer of solid, lustrous gold, and liquid light spilled forth from fonts in the walls, leading down a long corridor to Akaritori's desk, forged from the ancient Exaean technique used to give light a solid form - the only known example in the world that was left. The room had a certain ambience that felt almost like being watched from all sides, and immediately upon entry the stern gaze of the Yamakage, behind her goggles, bored into your skull. It was harrowing enough to humble even the most proud of men, and some did not even make it halfway down the corridor before turning around and fleeing. An audience with Akaritori was easy to get, but she had no patience for those that could not reach her desk before crumbling under the weight of the pressure. It seemed doubtful that Allia would make it without some outside help - but stranger things had happened in that office.

Akaritori herself was reading over the latest missive from Takumi, projecting greater profits due to a beneficial trade of the iron that they had most recently mined. Her body language suggested a relaxed, confident, but still wary - obviously she was a veteran of war - demeanour. It projected a sense of constant vigilance, but one that was so ingrained into her system that she no longer needed effort to remain vigilant, a trait worthy of the Kage title. She would keep watch of Allia if she chose to walk through the doors, but she would not speak. Not until she reached the desk.

Ayameko

Kyokujitsu no Tochi, unlike its Yamagakuran conterparts, had no individual that had domain over the economy - at least in the strict sense they did. It was considered a part of the duties of the Sankage to safeguard the interests of the nation at all times, thus the economy fell under Ayameko's purview. The trade request from Yamagakure was met with with due haste, given their current status as tentative allies. Ayameko's departure was met with little fanfare. Accompanying her was Touzoku, her daughter, as well as the young Kei, who possessed the synthetic Kekkei Tota that Ayameko and Yggdrasil has designed.

The arrive wast timely. Not a minute early, and not a minute late from the request's indicated time. As usual, Takumi represented Yamagakure. Ayameko couldn't say she had a taste for the man. He feigned an air of intelligence, when he was likely the most ignorant man in the room - even more disturbing to her was that the feint was not one of intent, but a believe in superiority. She couldn't deny that she didn't pity the man in some small fashion, but it was not her place to be anything other than cordial.

As usual, Ayameko took her position across from him, Kei and Touzoku to each side, standing. Ayameko wasn't much of a woman for these kinds of games. It was, hopefully, a negotiation that would end quickly, but it was largely up to Takumi and how much of her time he wished to waste. Touzoku and Kei would bow, lightly, yet politely, out of respect for the representative of Yamagakure. Ayameko, however, was seated without bowing, not out of disrespect, but that her formal status, no matter how much she wished to disengage from the formalities, was above his. It was customary within her culture to only bow to one of higher status.

"Shodai Sankage Hyakuyondaime Hokage Yotogodaime Tanikage Shichishodai Shikata Ayameko," she stated, opening her palms to him, a gesture of openness among her people, "I will be negotiating on behalf of Kyokujitsu no Tochi. I have brought along my daughter Touzoku, surname Uchiha, as well as Kei, surname Yoriko. Your request for audience for trade was accepted by the Council and myself."

"This... This... It's the Citadel.. I remember.. I was little.. Everything was huge." Allia seemed completely distracted from Akaritori, missing her gaze in the wonder of the room. "It still is." Her hands felt over the walls, and then reached out into the beams of light. Allia seemed entirely entranced by the light playing across her armored gauntlet. Her armor too, was distinctive of Exae, for it was not made of light as traditional, but forged of steel by strange craft of dragons. Pulling back her hand, she pulled off the gauntlet, throwing her hand back into the light. "Huh... It's a different light than I remember.. Did it change or did I?" She looked up, gazing at the source of the light rather than where it displayed across her fingers.

Then, she finally caught sight of the person she had actually come here to see. "Oh.. I'm sorry.. I was distracted.. Um.. I.. Do you know what happened to Exae?" Akaritori may have known that she only talked to people who made it to her desk. But, unless there was a sign that said that, Allia didn't.

Fortunately for Akaritori's rule, a dragon-sourced blast of wind sent Allia smashing into the wall just shy of Akaritori, bouncing off without any serious harm to herself, thanks to her ridiculous physique. Up close, it was even easier to discern that Allia was no warrior by nature, but had been trained hard. Her manner was timid, she walked like one out of her element, as though someone dressed her up in this armor she wore. Despite that, she moved as though the armor she wore was no heavier than the silks embellishing it. Aptitude but not attitude.

It was fitting that the Sankage, the most powerful person in one of the most powerful nations, had chosen to represent her village personally in the trade. What was not fitting, however, was her assumptions about Takumi. She had fallen exactly into the attitude that he had hoped to inspire in those he could conceivably consider his rivals. Her ignorance of his ignorance was, in its own little way, ironic and laughable, but Takumi did not laugh. It would have been unwise to underestimate the Sankage, her daughter, or her assistant. None of them would dare attack on the Isle of Chūsei - the peace treaty that had been signed had clear ramifications for any that would dare break the truce - but there were other ways to be underhanded. Other ways to wage the war that gripped every society that had ever existed - the war of information. No society was without its secrets, and those secrets were the treasure of every other society. Those who did not participate in the game were its unwitting pawns, and those who did wagered a risky reward. Life and death hung in the balance, even in the neutral isle - but whose lives was less clear than in an open war. That was what the most intellectual players of the game enjoyed.

"Shodai Sankage Hyakuyondaime Hokage Yotogodaime Tanikage Shichishodai Shikata Ayameko," Takumi began, returning the gesture and bowing, "Lady Touzoku," he repeated the gesture, "and Lady Yoriko." and again he gestured. The tone was a little obsequious, but sounded thoroughly sincere - and it was. Formality and good business ethic despite one's personal opinions were the most stable bricks with which to lay a healthy foundation, and there was no structure ever built that could survive for any meaningful length of time without a stable foundation. Whether or not each party returned the gesture was meaningless, but he doubted that they would abstain. Every action and non-action alike were considered by those on formal meetings with emissaries of other countries, regardless of their status within that country - and Takumi knew that Touzoku and Ayameko both knew that. He assumed Kei did as well, given that she was travelling with the Sankage.

"I trust your trip to the Isle was comfortable?" he asked, simply because it was expected despite its banal nature, and did not wait long for a response. If there was a response, it would likely be only a few words. He would reciprocate if asked the question in return, but it was not too likely that that would happen - still, it was his job to be prepared for everything.

"I trust you are still interested in the shipment of chakra-forged iron I have? Ten tonnes, though another five are being produced to be sold shortly thereafter." Takumi began, flicking through an ominously large book in front of him as he did so.

"The... Citadel?" Akaritori spoke, as soon as Allia was blown into her desk, losing herself briefly in the memory of the room in which she'd been coronated, so many years ago. She remembered every detail - the procession, the decorations, being given Masayoshi... And the oath. The oath brought her into deeper memories, darker memories, of the war that she'd won only to destroy her beloved Exae herself. But it hadn't been her beloved Exae for a very long time - since she was coronated. They'd let her down. The Judges, the Magisters, the Judge-Magisters... Everyone - her brothers and sisters in law, her so-called family had let her believe her family alive for two years before... They had forged letters back, told her sweet nothings to ensure that she kept focused on saving their worthless hides. They were just as corrupt as the plague that should have taken them. They had deserved to burn.

But this girl? If she was from Exae, if she had suffered because... If she had survived the war... It was a horrible thought. Then, it had been a horrible act, and Akaritori knew the act exactly for what it was when she performed it. She had thought them all evil, those who survived, but this little whelp of a girl? She was glad that she hadn't burned with the rest of them. It was a horrible way to die, even for the scum that the council of Exae had turned out to be.

"... I happened to Exae. After... After I won them the war, they told me that my family had died. They'd impersonated them for two years without telling me to make sure I saved their worthless hides, and in my grief I destroyed everything... I suppose that includes your family, and your dragon's family too..." She started, beginning to sound a little mournful - sad - guilty, even.

"I was the Pride of Exae... I was the Champion that held back the war... And I broke my oath because they broke theirs. I... I'm sorry, for what happened to your family. And to your dragon's. If there's anything you'd ask of me, anything you want me to do in penance... Please, let me know. If it is in my power, I will grant it to you - that I swear."

"I...." Shock was clearly written on Allia's face, and, having just barely rose up, her un-gauntleted hand pulling herself up via the desk, she fell again to one knee. Several moments of silence from her lips, before her head rose. Even the very muted sound of flapping wings died out.

"Are you alright?" She asked, her eyes teary. "To take so many lives.. I don't know what it would be like. I haven't taken one, even in self defense. Zilant always.. Zilant.." Allia looked up at the ceiling, and sighed. "Does it for me. I am still a child in his eyes, and I suppose in yours as well." A smile came to her lips, though still tinged with sadness, "Hah.. He often speaks of finding me a husband with honor but no name.. I imagine he wishes me to continue the Solidas family contract with his clan in that way and would use your penance for that." Her smile widened, "Hah, on the other hand, he'd never let anyone touch me he didn't pick himself."

Then the smile faded, and she rose and clasped her hands in front of herself. "I don't know what to say to you, I know nothing of your grief. I have grappled with the loss of a family, but I have always had Zilant, and I still believe I will meet my little brother again in Our Father's Hall." Her reference was to a small but noticeable cult presence in Exae. Some few noble families had such pride in their founders and history that they believed their founders had prepared a hall in the afterlife for every member of the family who honored their legacy. Solidas was one of these families. "You.. You have someone too, right? Her name was Touhu, yes? Are you also well as can be after what has happened?" In some ways, Allia lived up to one pillar of Alaria, the compassion of Naya.

The wall was hit hard as a stream of Dragon's Fire* slammed into it, the flames lapping around it falling about the sides, enhanced by the Breath of Azazel, and driven by the deepest fury a dragon of over four score years of age had ever known.

"YOU! YOU! LIAR AND DECEIVER!" The dragon's roar crashed on the walls, accompanied by whirling cutting blades of wind that fanned the flames.

"Kaneros the Nimble, Kaneros the Elder, Gregori the Clever, Rumineos the Black, Myejorin the Masked, Casterin the Golden, Gabarinth the Just!" The dragon crashed onto the building, amid the flames, digging his claws in and attempting to rend it apart, crashing through if it's strength was not sufficient to hold him back after his Ninjutsu attacks. "Them and all their wives and daughters, I swore to protect. Slain for the sins of fear not their own?!? I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!"

"Zilant! Wait!" Allia pleaded

"YOU! No lone human could slay them all as that continent was burned to ash! Not even the fires of Azazel himself, Dragonfather-Before-Mountains, could burn away the heart of Alaria! Who helped you?" Zilant demanded, clearly not thinking straight in rage and grief. He didn't even seem to notice that he had both implied that Akaritori did not do it and that she had done it with help. Before even waiting to hear an answer to his question, he let yet one more stream of fire at Akaritori, in a loose, burn everything sense of the word, whether he was still on the roof or on the ground.

Presuming Zilant had breached the wall, Allia grabbed Zilant from behind, attempting to pull him back. She would make notable progress, dragging him back several feet, his claws digging furrows through the gold as he attempted to stay in place. Regardless, Allia was unable to stop the stream of fire at the moment. Even with sound mind, Zilant was not a match for Akaritori, and Allia realized this yelling out, "Please! Don't kill him!"

*Fire Breathing Technique, as I'm pretty sure it's clear.

**Feel free to autohit KO Zilant, he can't even see clearly he's so angry. You can also go for a free kill if you make your attack look nonlethal till the last second, but if you go in with something that looks like it will kill him, Allia will try and get in the way.

***Of course, most of this sequence assumes you don't take the fight to him outside as soon as Zilant snaps.

Akaritori had no words for Allia - despite everything, she had not been driven to fury like she had in the past, and Zilant was now. It was impressive, in its own little way, that a small part of Naya lived on. The thought brought a happy smile to the Yamakage's face, despite the fury of Zilant being directed at her in its entirety. Akaritori had weathered far worse than a dragon's fire in her time - especially from a dragon like Zilant, that was comparatively a whelp - and that same resolute hardness was still etched deep into her very being, preventing her from saying anything back to the young woman.

She mustered up the will to speak, to say something - to tell her that no, she wasn't a child after surviving everything that she had survived, that she could be anrgy if she so chose, that... She didn't even know any more. The one regret in Akaritori's life that she had never been able to let go of had followed her even to Yamagakure, but in some ways she had expected it to happen. She had thought of it every night for five years after she burned the continent to the ground.

Still - she was Yamakage, the Judge-Magister of Yamagakure, and her claims of power had been tested. It was something that she had to respond to. If she didn't, her titles and powers were meaningless. If she could be challenged, openly, with impunity, her reign meant nothing. That was something that she could not let happen, and even though she was gripped deeply by regret, she was a soldier. She had duties to attend to, even when honour was difficult, and she would attend to them.

"You doubt me." came the words, in a decidedly darker tone, as Akaritori stood up from her desk and unsheathed Masayoshi. She turned to face the dragon, in all of his fury, and let the breath wash over her. It was nothing that she could not take. It was nothing that she could not bear. Still, the appropriate response was not to take his rage - as much as she wanted to let him loose his rage upon her, she was a Kage - she had responsibilities, claims to defend, and people to care for.

"Shikōsai!"

The burst of light was intense enough to temporarily blind even Akaritori (if she hadn't been wearing her goggles) as the wings of light that sprouted from her back suddenly vanished and her form was replaced by pure light - something only the Champion of Exae could do - and her elemental form was bathed in dragonfire to no avail. Zilant could not even burn Akaritori's mortal body, never mind her ascended form.

With a stern gaze, and an outstretched left hand, she pointed at Zilant and made a motion downwards with her hand, speaking as she did so: "Gijin no Shisen."

The Gaze of the Righteous, perhaps the least powerful of her ascended form's techniques, was one of the flashiest and most effective in situations where permanent harm was not desired or required. Zilant, in the space of less than a second, would be cowed - brought to the ground by some almighty force that squeezed at his body, forcing him into as close to a kneeling position that a dragon could be in. There would be some pain, but it would hardly be enough to penetrate the sheer hot-blooded rage of the dragon.

"I was a champion, once, Zilant. I had greater powers than I do now... I could tap into the very heart of the Lightforge, the very font of the Judge-Magisters' power! I carry with me a mere trace of that power now, of the forge that gave birth to Exae, and it is more than enough to lay you low before the power of Justice! I understand your rage, more than anybody, but I cannot let you contest my power freely. I am everything that I have claimed to be, and you will accept that. Do you understand?"

The celestial form of the Kage then turned to Allia:

"I would never kill him for succumbing to the same rage I did... And you are no child, to have survived everything that you have. Naya would be proud of you."

Zilant, mighty dragon but still weak before Akiratori's might, was brought low, crashed against the floor, unstable and without forearms. His long neck writhed as his wing claws scrabbled for purchase. What issued forth from his maw was not some majestic roar, nor illuminated dialogue. It was cracking, screeching cry of desperation. Zilant's body shuddered as muscles surged. Perhaps it was only Akiratori's mercy, but after long moments of full body struggle, the body rose, just a tiny bit, the neck arching ever slightly higher. Not a moment later Zilant fell limp to the floor, body overwhelmed by its exertion, eyes dull and mouth frothing.

Then a long shuddering breath forced its way though Zilant. Another. And another. His eyes cleared as he finally realized the identity of the one he lashed out at. "You... Are.. the Champion of Exae... I... I..."

He rose, staggering once as he brought himself to a bowing position, head low. "I cannot find fault if the one I relied on to complete my duty for me chose not to do so. The fault was first mine. If my brothers had just been.. No, if I had been stronger as befits my calling, the plague never should have threatened our home. I acknowledge your strength, Yamakage. You have my heart's fire, second only to the House of Solidas." This was the word of a dragon, not easily given, and harder still to break. Zilant would never willingly break his oaths, and would have died for the House of Solidas if he had been there when Akiritori made her parent's pyre.

"Thank you! Thank you both.. Zilant!" Allia promptly ran forward, beaming, arms out to cradle Zilant's neck in her arms before... Tripping over the desk? "Ow!"

"Um... Allia? You... still can't see clearly from the light earlier, can you?" Zilant nosed over checking to see if she was alright in a fairly good impression, despite his being a dragon, of a fretful father. She did land in some flickering remnants of Breath of Azazel, but her armor diffused the heat and did not light aflame thanks to the Dragon's Scale's techniques.

".... Maybe..." She turned herself over, directing her face in vaguely the Kage's direction. "Thank you, again, Yamakage. Thank you for telling me what happened. I'm sure.. I'm sure our new home will turn out well!"

"It took the Champion to stymie the spread of the plague... And even I almost failed. Nobody could have been prepared for that plague." Akaritori replied as her flesh returned to her, and the eight wings blossomed forth from her back, almost as if signalling a rebirth, or some other momentous occasion befitting the catharsis that had just spread throughout the room. Akaritori cracked her neck briefly before sheathing Masayoshi, and returning to her desk to continue peering at the book that she had been reading as Allia had entered.

"I'm glad you got the closure you wanted. It is nice to know that there was at least one who survived everything." she replied to Allia, before setting herself back in the exact same posture that she'd been in all day, prior to the little outburst that had just happened - oddly enough, she didn't even seem remotely fazed by the fact there was a gaping hole in her wall. She thought to herself about the rage that had gripped Zilant, and wondered if she had been forced to hold her rage back for as long as he had if anything would have survived her wrath. The thought was terrifying, to say the least. Now, she had the Windspeaker to help with her latent rage, and that was something that she was eternally thankful for. It was still a little difficult to think back to the destruction of Exae, to think of the darkness that had possessed her so easily, but it was necessary. It reminded her of what she was, and how she got to where she was.

"Don't even bother attempting to make appointments when you need to see me. My receptionist is about as useful as the criminals we lock away in the Citadel Tower." she added, the words sounding like a joke but the tone not changing at all - it was a relatively jarring experience to listen to Akaritori make humourous remarks. It was a talent that she had never been particularly good at. She turned again to the whole in the wall, and she remembered that Takumi was on the Isle of Chuusei negotioating a trade with Kyokujitsu. She'd have to call upon Isao to come fix her wall. The mere thought of it made her furrow her brow before she resumed looking at the book, flicking the page casually.

Akaritori was, if nothing else, dedicated to her work.

"Well, the hand towel was nice." She commented as Zilant laid a wing claw on the Sword of Sheol to regenerate for a few seconds. Realizing the moment was over, she turned to leave, very nearly walking through the hole in the wall before Zilant plucked her up by the armor with his teeth, sat her on his back, and flew them away. How he managed to do that without snagging her long flowing hair, we will never know.

Ayameko

It was so sad that Takumi's ignorance extended even to his assumption of why Ayameko found the man ignorant. Despite Ayameko's dislike of the man, her facial expression, now free of the formality of her culture, turned to her usual warm self. Like always, the small creep upwards on the end of her lips, from years of habit.

"It is kind of you to ask, dear Takumi, as always, the trip was fine," she responded, her hands resting over the tops of the chair's armrests. "While I would reciprocate, my time is very valuable, so i hope you will forgive my directness in getting to trade matters. I'm sure you have better things to do as well, to exchange in conversation with me. The iron has been requested by my Mastersmith, as he was relatively pleased with the quality, so I am indeed interested. In exchange, I can offer you 180 bushels of wheat and 300 bushels of oats. Would that be acceptable? My interest in the remaining 5 tonnes is still tentative right now. I would not at all be offended if you found another buyer."

Ayameko hoped that this would settle the matter of trade. Touzoku stood stoically to the side, starting directly at Takumi with an unwavering gaze. Kei, on the other hand, seemed a bit distracted, her eyes wandering about the room in sharp contrast to her counterpart.

Ayameko knew that this much of iron was probably a touch overkill, but the harvests looked to be good this year, yet again and there was more than enough in excess to make this trade. This was significantly different than the South, where the more exotic fruits had been slower growing this year. Ayameko was scheduled to spend some time down there assisting the farmers with diagnosing their plants. It was one of the reasons Yggdrasil and her had developed the Kekke Tota. Theoretically, it would allow those crops to be grown closer to the capital under closer supervision more consistently. As it stood now, only a few of the plants from the south could be run through in testing in sufficient numbers without being too taxing on their resources.

~Sometime later*~

"Are you cold, Allia?" Zilant muttered up at Allia, riding on his back, clad only in her dress sans the armor, green hair flowing with the wind. When it wasn't whipping into her face, that is. Long hair wasn't always graceful on fast moving objects.

"Hmm? No, I'm fine. It's funny. I haven't felt cold since you entrusted the Sword of Sheol to me all those years ago." She glanced down at said sword. It was thickly bundled in cloth, which then had Allia's armor over it, which then had more cloth and bindings over it. "Did we need to bring it today?"

"The Sword of Sheol is not something we can ever leave behind for safekeeping, no matter how trusted the bearer." Zilant intoned, irritated, "It's bad enough that you bear the blade in such a shameful manner. The House of Solidas does not sulk timidly into any arena!" His mouth puffed a spit of flame in his vehemence.

"We aren't going to an arena." Allia chided, "Besides, I can hardly be called sulking riding such a majestic dragon, now, can I?" She patted his neck.

He laughed at her obvious flattery. The frosted lands beneath were but a cloud bank dotted with decorations.

~Sometime Later*~
~Just outside the border~

"HELLO? IS ANYBODY THERE? CAN I COME IN? IS THAT OK?" Allia yelled, one hand holding close the bundle that contained her sword, the other cupped around her mouth.

Zilant's wing claw found his brow. "This is exactly what I was talking about, Allia."

"Look... I had to talk myself into entering a receptionist's room.. Now that I'm actually doing things myself, you're going to have to get used to my way of doing things, Zilant." Allia dropped her hand from her mouth to her hip.

"No... I talked you into a receptionist's room." Zilant's toothy maw widened in a grin. "And I'll do it again. Here. Let me try!"

"NONONO" Allia squealed, lowering and wrapping her free arm around Zilant's neck in panic as he reared up nearly vertical gathering a massive breath.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR" The dragon's voice would be audible far off, echoing through the land.

*TM

Suishō and Shadan

The border between Yamagakure and Kyokujitsu no Tochi was underwhelming from a visitor's perspective. It would take too many resources to post a full military capable of ensuring border security. The system that Ayameko had developed allowed them to operate a leaner boarder guard, utilizing a specially trained force capable of at least holding off a significant military threat until a counter force could be mobilized. While mostly trees along the border, the tree's on Kyoku's border line marked with the symbol of their nation, there were a few scattered outposts, as well as a small town that had developed as a secondary trading hub between Yamagakure and Kyokujitsugakure - at least for the people of Kyokujitsgakure. Allia's point of entry was one of the watch tower a fair ways from one of the towns that had developed along the border as a secondary trade hub.

In the nearly two decades the couple, Suishō and Shadan, had been a part of the border guard between Kyokujitsu no Tochi and Yamagakure's land they had never seen anything like that, and it wasn't the dragon that caught them offguard. Shadan had picked up on Allia, as well as Zilant's presence, early. Shadan was a massive man and among the Senkensha, the sensory division for Kyokijitsu, stood out among the crowd. At about nearly eight feet tall, Shadan's height wasn't the only intimidating feature of him, with a clearly muscled form beneath his clothes. Despite his physically overwhelming presence, he had a personality that burned bright. Suishō, his wife, stood to his right, a lowered bow clutched firmly.

Shadan spoke, "Greeetings. I am Shadan of the Border Guard, you are free to cross at will." It was a bit unusual for it to be as simple to cross the border, but Shadan knew there was something here that made him feel it would be safe to do this - coupled with a perked curiosity.

Suishō was a bit more procedural and cold, watching Allia very closely with her bow easily able to be drawn. However, despite her normal apprehensions, she trusted Shadan's judgment. She'd always envied his judge of character and his sense of people, a skill beyond his Senkensha skills.

"Oh thank you!" Illia tried to bow and wave, at the same time, which worked out very poorly when she was already clutching herself to a steed that was almost vertical and ended in her falling back onto Zilant's arched neck.

Zilant tilted his head slightly and lowered himself slightly, both to accommodate Illia and to stretch himself forward to sniff slightly, eyes almost closing. His eyes passed over Shadan with almost a satisfactory nod before staring a little more closely at Suishō before he lowered himself further to give Allia an easy time.

"I'm Allia, and this is Zilant. We came here to try the shopping." Her bow was much more successful this time.

"We came here because YOU wanted to go shopping." Zilant grumbled, "I prefer not to eat what others have killed, and I very much prefer not to eat what was never alive in the first place."

"Vegetables are totally alive!" Allia responded, "Or, were? Kinda?" She seemed slightly less sure of herself than she did on her initial rebuttal.

Zilant snorted in disbelief as he stomped forward exaggeratedly across the border to jostle a little sense into Allia, who clung tightly to him once more.

Suishō and Shadan

"Well met," Shadan responded, returning with a small bow, "This is my wife, Suishō." He placed his hand on her back as he introduced her, getting a sharp side look from her.

"While my husband may be overlooking the procedures set forth by the Sankage he so cherishes, I will not discard all of them," she spoke, pulling a small charm from her pocket. "We ask that all you do while within our borders is carry this charm. In full disclosure, the charm will prevent you from preforming utilizing your chakra to preform hostile actions on our people. It will not affect you in any other way and it is useless outside of the borders. If you don't wear it, you may find interacting with the people around her difficult."

Suishō smiled at the last bit, quite knowingly. Most of the people knew one another fairly well, sometimes to the bane of those who wanted to keep certain social secrets, but it proved an effective way to help regular border traffic. If people didn't know a person in the village, they would tend to avoid them without one of the charms from the border guards.

"Bah," Shadan responded, pounding the back of his wife in a friendly manner, almost pushing her offbalance, "The people aren't that bad, Now, if they all greeted guests like you, then we'd have a problem." He began laughing, his voice deep and booming.

"And you need to stop treating every foreigner like a houseguest," she retorted, sending him another sharp look.

He merely laughed at her again, responding not to the look or the remark, "Allia and Zillant, enjoy your time within our borders. Kyokujitsu is a beautiful place and there is much to see - much I haven't seen too and I live here."

Kyokujitsu no Tochi

Homura

A girl who sets foot once again on the Land of the Rising Sun arrived and look at the nostalgic scenery of her homeland, "This place hasn't change a bit." She said while squatting on her Brother's summon, looking at the view below. She catches her breath and breathes slowly, thinking of the warm welcome of her friends and family, it's been a long time indeed.

As their about to land in the Kyoku entrance, her brother reveals himself to the gatekeeper and later part each others ways. The girl runs without hesitation, straightforward to her destination which is none other than the Uchiha Clan district, indeed familiar faces are normal to be seen. On the other hand, there are different people who she doesn't know yet she chose to ignore them.

Homura roam around to get a better look on her village, it isn't that bad but one must accept change and go along with it, change is something to be acknowledged not ignored. She gets back on her feet and move about freely from place to place, various places that she knows about and check out new places she doesn't know. The girl went back to the district and enter her house, what do you know, it was an errand return already, her Mother left a note, "Buy vegetables, I need it for beef stew.". It can't be helped, Homura must leave again, she knew where to get a quality veggies anyway.

Sometime later, she head out to the border of Yama and Kyoku, she spotted couples who were talking among themselves and approached them. "Excuse me, do you know where can I buy the finest vegetables?. Ma'm..sir?." Homura asked politely.

Allia and Zilant

"Wow... That's pretty powerful and a complexly conditional effect. For such a little thing to do such complicated and powerful deeds.. These must be hard to make!" Allia examined the charm, but did not adorn it yet.

"Allia..." Zilant grumbled warily.

"Oh, right.. Um.. yes. This is a bit awkward to ask.. But, um, I'm not very good with my chakra or complicated seals like this... And I do have a debt to the Yamakage, so I don't want to impair my ability to serve. And Zilant is paranoid about seals and contracts and bargains." She glanced down at Zilant somewhat disgruntled, and also obviously looking very embarrassed for asking, whatever it was she was about to ask.

With a baited breath, she pulled the Sword of Sheol just slightly out of its bundle, baring a few inches of blade, "Would you mind promising me that the seal will have no lingering effects once I return home and remove it physically?" She reached out with a thumb to just slightly nick herself on the edge of the blade letting a drop or two fall onto the blade. "If you bleed on this sword, it will enforce the letter of any promise or contract by summoning anyone who breaks the contract to Zilant's homeland. The effect last for a year and a day. Seeing I'm asking you to trust me on that one, feel free to examine the sword to make sure that is actually how it works. Sorry I can't do the same for your seal, I'm not good enough at that sort of thing."

~After Homura's introduction~

"Oh, hello! Nope, I'm new!" Allia raised the charm, still not worn yet, and smiled at what appeared to be a little girl to Allia.

Suishō and Shadan

Without hestiation, Shadan slid his hand across the tip of one of Suishō's arrows, drawing blood. With a surprising grace for a man of his size, he slid his hand over the blade and let the blood fall.

"I, Shadan of the Border Guard, enter into contract," he exclaimed in a rather booming voice. Suishō glared at him, disapprovingly.

"Shadan, that was incredibly foolish," she scolded. Shadan, however, just brushed it off, ignoring her concerns on the matter, eliciting a following sigh from Suishō.

Before Shadan could go into details on where Allia should visit in Kyokujitsu no Tochi, they were interrupted by the presence of another young woman. Shadan new her, from his time in the capital.

"Miss Homura," Shadan nodding to her, "I am sure you could find fine vegetables in the village market, but I am surprise to see you this far north. Were you travelling with Lady Ayameko's entoruage?" Suishō was also curious to the presence of the Uchiha girl. While each of the towns typically had some representative of their clan in the village, typically serving as a member of the police forces, she didn't know what would bring her to this territory. Aside from those travelling between the two nations, it wasn't much of a tourist destination. It was far enough north that snow from the mountains in the Land of Frost could happen even as late as May without being too unusual. Most people moved out of the area, and those that lived up here were usually a part of the border guard or a trade organization, along with their families.