Heavenfall

"I'm... honestly hoping that our children and grandchildren see less need for swords, headbutts, or dagger-axes than we have. Exalting warriors is something I've got little patience for. More people like you, fewer people like me? Sounds like a healthier balance, all told."

"Honestly, I hope for that too, Sora. I really do. But, that's not the nature of humanity... even in this mission, there were divisions and lines drawn."

She sighed. "Division is inevitable. We'll just have to do the best we can to quell the potential of it to escalate to bloodshed and fighting."

"Oh, I expect we'll always need a few people who know how to do what I do, but the fewer the better, hm?"

He sighed.

"If nothing else, it... validates certain choices I made five years ago. We'll need more than Clans and families to guide a healthy course."

She eyed him curiously. "I could see more families in the clans, but... more clans?"

It wasn't an idea she had considered, as clans were something she considered to be tied to a Kami.

"More than Clans. We need to work to make sure the Clans are more than just bigger, more advanced tribes. The libraries are a start on something of the sort."

"Ah." She shook her head, having misheard. Maybe she was still a bit stuck in thinking about possible concussions.

"Hmmm... that is true. And I agree! The Clans have to be more than just bigger-better-tribes. Like... hmmm..." Saruko wasn't quite sure how the clans could be more than just bigger-better-tribes. At least not right off the bat.

"I suppose the point about an Empire is that we're all kind of part of the same tribe anyway, but just doing different parts for the tribe."

"We need shared organizations, institutions. I would say philosophies, but not even the Kami actually have a uniform philosophy. I wouldn't mind seeing Shinsei's teachings used to unify the Empire... but I can all but promise that the Crane, Stag, and Lion would. We'll need to begin with shared practical structures, like the libraries- or like marketplaces- because any effort to impose an ideology on the empire as a whole is a doomed effort."

He sighed.

"And I fear the Emperor's patience and desire to understand are seen by some as weakness."

Saruko mused for a moment.

"You know, apart from the part with Shinsei since I suspect Nanzi will try to steer the clan away from him, you're actually speaking in a lot of similar lines with Doji-Kami." While she was teasing Sora, just a little, she was also being serious. "Now hear me out before you headbutt me."

"A lot of what you're talking about is about bringing people together to find common grounds, to find commonality, is very much based on culture. You're right that we can't browbeat people to change their ways, but you know as well as I do that tribes identified with members of their own because they acted the way they did, talked like they did - with an exception being your former kinsman Koyama since no other Hikaru I've met talk like him - and... dress like they did. Details like that. It's not something we can force people to change over night, but cultural changes is what will bring us closer together in the Empire as no longer just bigger-better-tribes, but as the same people sharing the same land."

"But Doji would overlay her culture on all of us, without regard to the ways in which it's utterly inhuman. Thank the Fortunes for Yuzuru, he's managed to keep some humanity in the culture of the court."

Plus the influence of Chancellor Han-Han, First of His Name, Lord of All He Surveys, but that wasn't the issue in play.

"Look at that blithering horseshit Nanzi scrawled about swordfights as a sign of heaven's favor. How convenient that a skill he chooses to hone is presented as divinely inspired."

"As I said, similarities," she added in. "You're right she would overlay Tengoku's culture on us... and while I don't think it's wrong to bring it here, as we saw with the wedding ceremony during the rescue it called upon Lady Sun's blessing enough for the ritual, it's one thing to force it all on. I believe that there are parts that can be implemented from many different tribes and from Tengoku as well, to give something to unite the Empire."

Being reminded of the sword-thing, she nodded. "Ah, yeah... that thing. I can see the idea for the precedent, since Shiba and Togashi used that method in the tournament, and others might think the same too. But I don't like the idea of it."

"For one thing... they're Kami. They might well actually demonstrate heaven's favor by which of them is fastest on the draw. But us? We're muscle and sinew. Ningen-Do is not Tengoku."

"No, it's not," Saruko agreed, "but it was the Kami's destiny to come to Ningen-Do. Have you not wondered why the Kami are so much like humans? Or rather, exactly like humans but the pinnacle of ability?"

"Because they have as much to learn from us as they have to teach. Yes, they show us heights to aspire to- but as their abilities are at the pinnacle, so, too, are their failings."

Saruko nodded approvingly. "Yes, that is right. But, also consider that it could bring humanity closer to divinity, in the way that Shinsei teaches us that the pinnacle of humanity can also be divinity."

"We are creations of Sun and Moon too - we were meant to come together. The Kami were meant to come here, but they also can change how the future goes - as can we. Although it doesn't mean we have to lose the ways of humanity completely to strive towards better ideals - the ideals that Heaven bring when they speak of ways that will end starvation, end pointless bloodshed. I believe it should be possible to unite the ways of Heaven and Earth together, to attain a perfect balance."

She smiled wistfully. "But, that won't happen in our lifetimes, my friend."

"See, that's what has me so... agitated with some. They don't understand that the Empire will become what it becomes long after we're all dead. They're stampeding to institute the changes they want in their lifetimes. Their haste will make all changes- good, bad, indifferent- run afoul of more resistance. I would hope the Kami might have more patience, but it seems that they have less than might be hoped for."

"Some are more patient than others," she chuckled, knowing that all too well as she had married perhaps the most patient of them. "But all things in time. We have enough people to speak for humanity, and Shiba seems patient and to be listening to those voices."

"But if we erupt into fighting now about how things will be done, then we have failed at creating a better society. At some points, one side has t to give in to the other to avoid that outcome, and I don't think the Kami wish for conflict amongst themselves."

"And that's the problem- the impatient sorts are also the ones agitating, trying to make rapid changes."

She nodded. "Such is the way things go. Though we also need those people from time to time... if we're always patient and waiting for things to change over time, nothing happens either!"

"As with many things in life, it's good to have a balance of both."

"But it doesn't matter who makes the first move- what matters is how it's dealt with. To use an example I don't see happening... what if the Lion decided that the Stag needed to get with the program in some fashion, and applied pressure. What course of action would you recommend to defuse the situation?"

"Hmmm..." Saruko tapped her chin in thought.

"Well, if I were Shiba, I'd give both my brothers a good bonk on the head and remind them that's not very family-friendly!" And she probably would do that too. "But honestly, I do think it would fall on Shiba, or his representative like Jiyo herself, to step in. But to prevent it from happening, I do think that it's important that he too also... talks it out with his siblings, of what he envisions the Empire to be, and what he expects of them. Then such an incident might not happen at all."