"And thus concludes my report, Your Imperial Majesty."

    "Very well. You are dismissed. Inform the guards that I am not to be disturbed for the next hour."

    As the messenger leaves, Emperor Fuyuhito quietly stands up, and walks over to his balcony. It has been long since he's had a message urgent enough to receive it directly in his chambers... but after hearing it, he understands fully.

    "'The Phoenix Maiden has been reborn,'" he repeats aloud. Words that generations of his line have longed to hear. But now that he has heard them, he can only look at the enormity of their meaning with trepidation.

    That tiny little shrine maiden from a border town in the wilderness, accomplishing what generations upon generations of clan-raised noblewomen could not. He knew he saw something in her eyes that her predecessor - her predecessors - did not have. A spark. A determination to do more than simply 'her duty'. And while he is glad to have been right, he feels as if he is a child who asked for a wooden sword and received a divine blade. Suddenly, his plans to lay groundwork to restore the office of Emperor to its former glory, to pass the work down his line, are in turmoil.

    The only political bargaining chip the capital had left, has now become what may well be the most powerful political bargaining chip in the country, period. Fuyuhito may be able to see the country reunited, under Imperial rule, in his lifetime. But it will be an enormous task, far more than he had expected to handle. And it all hinges on Matsu Shuzenji.

    Will she recognize what she has? Will she still be willing to work with him? And even if she is, where will he begin? How will he begin? Who among the court can he trust, once the Capital becomes a legitimate threat to the power of the various local lords? Will they even wait that long, once they realize what Matsu's transformation means? Where should he even begin expanding his influence?

    A much faster path has opened to him... but by all the kami, it is far more treacherous. "I suppose... I shall have to start with the girl. Everything depends upon where she and I stand."