The Politics of Business

[Anila]

((House of Sora mission quest, closed.))

Home.

The word rang hollowly in the mind of the nineteen-year-old beauty whose hands folded into her kimono. For the good of an outside force, she was going back to see two men she had hoped to avoid until her wedding day -- her father, and her future father-in-law. Come to think of it...she didn't really want to see Daisuke, either. Granted, he was a prestigious match -- the highest match possible in the entire nation, since the heir to the Akashiman throne was a woman. Anila was moving from luxury to luxury, but trapped in a gilded cage.

That was why she'd run in the first place. If she was going to spend her life being the pampered Lady of the House for the Duke of the Capital, she at least wanted to spend two years on her own, living on her own terms, seeing what Althanas really was.

Outsiders -- and even lower class from her own country -- looked at her family and peers and saw luxury and grandeur, so much so that no one could want anything else. And yet she, like her childhood friend Yamihara Asuka, had wanted to spend time away and out. She'd grown up in a world of rules and expectations. How to treat equals, how to treat subordinates, how to make tea, how to play music, how to dance, how to fight (well, in her case), and how to walk in her long kimonos with her platform shoes without falling on her face. There was a rule for everything, and while Anila had experienced great luxury, she'd also never been free to do as she pleased.

But when was anyone truly free, really? Didn't others have to work for their bread? Didn't other girls break their backs and mar their complexions by hard manual labor? Were they not crude and coarse instead of graceful? But also, didn't they have the ability to choose whom they married, where they lived, and what they wanted to do with their lives? Hadn't that been what she wanted? Was it not for that reason that now she wore the pendant of the House of Sora around her neck?

With a heavy sigh, Anila looked to her mute handmaiden.

"My father and Duke Harumura are expecting us in due turn?" At her servant's nod, she continued. "And Asuka has been contacted? Good. Then I guess all that's left to see is if my father and father-in-law will grant myself and my...associate..."

She sighed once more, letting her hands caress the steel fans tucked into her sleeves out of habit. "Hopefully, Beauregard-san will be presentable before my lord father and father-in-law...and if his attire is not suitable, we shall have to stop and get him something he can wear in front of my family without embarrassment."

Embarrasment...honor...grace, form, power, manner, perfection. Everything an Akashiman lady had been taught to be, think and act from the cradle, the irritating niceties necessitated by court life. But in due time, she was to be one of the premier ladies of the court, a role-model for every woman in the nation. Such a beautiful cage she'd been born into...but still a cage. She turned once more to the sea, and saw the swift approach of the docks.

"We'll be home soon," she said to nobody in particular.

[Io Beauregard]

The coastal winds of the sea kept Yanboo Harbor pleasantly cool in the middle of the summer day. Otherwise it would have been like inland Corone, unpleasantly hot. The Salvarian noble was not new to high temperatures. He and his family of performers had gone around the world and experienced a wide range of different climates. He had experienced hotter. The unbearable heat of the inland was probably an issue of perception. The lengthening duration of the already long days and the fact that he no longer wanted to be in Corone were what probably made the heat difficult for him. He had been in Radasanth for far too long. Its citadel & tavern scene was getting old and Io was ready to skip town, no, the country. Then just as he left he was asked to assist the House of Sora in an endeavor in Akashima. He had the option to decline, but it noted that his theatrical experience may be beneficial to the mission, so he decided to bear the setting a little longer.

As he told his plan and made known his disdain for staying to acquaintances in Radasanth they assured him that Akashima was a unique region, a totally new nation in its own right. It was so much the independent society that it had not yet been sucked into the whole civil war fiasco, and there was a good chance that it might never be. Io was skeptical. Most of his acquaintances were natives who took a pride in their home, so naturally they’d want to make their home look good, but they were right. Akashima was a totally new nation in its own right. The architecture was different, the language was alien, even the clothing was unique. In terms of attire, Io fit in more here than he did in Radasanth, with its dull earthly tones. In fact his silk maroon suit perfectly complimented the deep lavenders and the magenta reds.

Io sauntered down the dock and lazily plopped down at its edge as he watched the numerous ships weave in and out of each other. They fronted flags of various shapes as their sails. Having been on at sea before, the artist knew that a ship was its own little country with its own little set of laws. What kind of country would his partner be emerging from, he wondered.

[Anila]

With a gentle bump, the ship on which Anila rode came to the dock and set down its ramp, letting its passengers disembark onto the cobblestone streets of Akashima's docks. All of it was vaguely familiar to the only daughter of the Sakurazuka; she'd seen it a few times before when traveling with her family on visits to the Azaraki family, the head of which governed this province.

The most closely she'd seen it wasn't even a year previous, when she had decided to leave Akashima for the freedom the rest of Althanas offered -- at least for the two years until she reached marriageable age. She had vowed that she would not set her feet on her native soil until the day she turned twenty-one, and yet here she was, still soft and young at nineteen, going back home to ask her father for a favor.

She and her father had had a falling out over her going. It was unprecedented among Akashiman noblewomen to go out and about on their own. The only one to have left before she herself was her friend Yamihara Asuka, who had always been far brasher and brighter than the quiet, calculating raven-haired beauty that now walked down the gangplank and onto her native land.

"Come, Hissomi," she said quietly. "We must find Beauregard Io and then go to where the carriage will be waiting for us." She was impossible to miss, although short, slender, and dressed conservatively. Sakurazuka Anila had a power in her carriage that was impossible to ignore, a smooth, gliding, certain step under the long kimono that made it look like she floated over the ground, rather than dirty her shoes. Even as muted as she felt today, she was still sure to turn heads in any crowd.

At the very least, her father had sent transport for her. Now was only to see whether or not the ruthless Sakurazuka Yukio would hear out his daughter's business proposal or try to make her remain in Akashima, "the duty of a Lady."

She could but hope her own force of will could match her dynamic father's. It would all hinge on who Astrophel, or "Dylan Seti," as Anila knew him, had sent someone competent and readily trainable. If not...

If not, I shall have to make do.

Right, end of the grace period is coming up. I'd like both of us to put this thread on priority.

[Io Beauregard]

Io’s eyes became fixed on the water below the dock. The canvas of such water under the docks was of uncommon hue. Instead of being a blue as deep as midnight like the rest of the ocean, the dock waters were a disgusting black. Instead of feasting his eyes upon such an unappetizing sight he closed his eyes, lay back, and allowed the sun to warm up his still body. It heated his silk suit and soon his senses were able to convince him that he was under covers. Io would have drifted into a slumber likely to wake up as he rolled his way into the water. He was a turbulent sleeper. Fortunately for him the sound of sailors crept into his ear from afar. He stood up and looked in the appropriate direction just in time to see her exit the ship.

That was Anila indeed. Io could tell at first sight. It wasn’t because she was sone of the only females stepping off of the ship, the thought of which always made him uncomfortable. It wasn’t because of her regal atmosphere or the servant that followed her giving even the most uneducated layman a sign that she was of high status. There were others like her that stepped off the boat. It was something as small as that House of Sora Heirloom that clued him off. The sun reflected it at an angle so that it flashed in Io’s eye.

The artist jumped up and made his way with haste. Anila’s head of long obsidian hair disappeared within the heard of pedestrians in the harbor city.

“Anila!” He yelled as he pushed his way through tight groups. His hands ran through thick silk garments not unlike his own.

“Anila!” Hopefully Io had kept his eyes locked on the right head of hair, but it was no use. No one turned in response.

Io tried one more time. “Keikoku!”

[Anila]

While she had grown accustomed to the discourtesy of being addressed by merely her given name during her time abroad, so little had she expected it in Akashima that she did not process when her name was shouted. It was only upon hearing the rare title, Keikoku, that she heard the voice of her compatriot.

Turning, she regarded the man approaching her through the crowd, and spotted the dark-haired man pushing his way through the crowd toward her. Reflexively, her hands gripped her fans, but when she spotted the silver chain he wore and the Eclipse depicted on the small shield, her hands relaxed once more. A smooth movement of her hands to the pedestrians of lower station cleared a path for him within moments, and soon he was standing before her.

For a long moment, Anila scrutinized him, examining the state of his overall grooming and appearance. It was better than she'd expected, but less than what she'd hoped for.

"Beauregard Iowerth-san, is it not? Nox." She didn't wait for his confirmation, she already knew him as such. She looked him over once more before turning away. "Acceptable. Come with me, there is much you must learn and we have but two days before we arrive at my father's estate in Northern Akashima. The carriage to take us will be waiting at the end of the docks."

She did not watch to see if he followed or not; she expected him to follow and to be able to keep up with her graceful glide. It was only a matter of minutes before they reached the carriage. It was marked in the writing unique to Akashima, stating that it was a carriage of the Sakurazuka house. The horses attached to it were well groomed and kept, and the inside of the carriage was spacious and luxurious.

The driver made a deep bow as Anila approached. "Sakurazuka-kijo," he acknowledged softly, opening the door, but she brushed by him with barely a nod. Hissomi helped her mistress get into the carriage without dirtying her kimono, and then stepped in as well, as it would be inappropriate to leave an engaged young Lady with a strange man.

The driver also bowed to Io. "Beauregard-san. Please step in."

[Io Beauregard]

Nox followed Keikoku with ease. With his background in the performing arts he was able to observe other people’s movements and gestures then copy them with near perfection. His stride was smooth and as swift as hers, but he decided to add a masculine stature and a stylish lean.

“So…” Io said with sly smile, “I’ve made my observations about the etiquette of this region. They aren’t that much stricter than the other regions of the world. It’s just that here everyone abides by them.”

Once they came to the carriage of special markings the verbal greeting of the carriage driver raised a question in the artist’s mind. “I need to get used to the etymology of the region. So far I’ve gathered that, when formally spoken, family names come before individual names. Then there are the suffixes.”

Io bowed mirroring the carriage driver. The artist’s smile and persistent eye contact was the only difference between their movements. He stepped up to the carriage.

“Would you mind clarifying that for me?”

[Anila]

Anila watched as Io preformed the bow back to the driver; an intolerable act if he were to impress her father and aid her in asking for the yearly loan of several hundred workers to the House of Sora. What the House of Sora could offer Sakurazuka Yukio was questionable. Architectural expertise and ships could be found readily in Akashima, and the promise of labor was less than useless against the fact that the laborers themselves would be Akashiman, and likely of his own region. Labor, in other words, that he could easily obtain.

It was his daughter's hope that the promise of increased trade would appeal to her father's sense of economics. More trade out of Akashima meant more luxurious items from foreign countries while more money flowed into his region. It would improve the economy, settle the few rustics that muttered about their relative discomfort, and allow taxes to be raised ever so slightly. Everyone won. It could have only been better if Dylan Seti, or Astrophel, had agreed to give out trade monopolies. It was a less enticing bait to offer her father, and she could only hope that she could offer the bit she'd been given in a good enough light.

If I can get nothing from my father, perhaps I can ask Yamihara Asuka. Asuka-chan will probably approve of Dylan-san's dream and help me fulfill my goal. And with her childhood friend a Duchess in her own right, it would probably be a fruitful endeavor.[/i]

Anila was silent for a few moments after Io asked her to clarify honorifics, contemplating her political situation, rather than how to explain her country's system of honorifics to a foreigner. It was imperative, yes, that Io know how to address any given member of Akashiman society, but it was more important that she know how to appeal both to her father and father-in-law.

She finally spoke when the carriage started moving along the well-maintained roads of the Akashiman port.

"Family name comes before a person's given name, yes, in all circumstances. An Akashiman's family name identifies in most cases a region of origin, and sometimes what function the family serves. You will not be expected to know that. The honorifics are important, however."

Sitting back in her seat, the Akashiman beauty fixed her dark eyes on Beauregard Io, turning her attention away from the passing scenery just beyond the window.

"There are several levels of honorific in Akashima, including the name by which you may address an individual. Family name implies respect and professionalism, personal name implies a level of intimacy. The 'suffixes' you mentioned range from very familiar to very formal. You will hear my brother call me 'Anila-chan,' but the servants will never be so familiar. You can attach '-san' to the last name of most individuals. It is the equivalent of 'sir,' or 'miss' in Tradespeak. There are other honorifics for more formal situations, but for your ease, you should attach the appropriate titles to nobles you meet. My father will be 'Duke Sakurazuka,' my mother 'Duchess Sakurazuka,' and my brother 'Lord Sakurazuka,' or 'Master Sakurazuka.' And you are correct, Beauregard Io-san. We follow our cultural etiquette in Akashima. For this reason, it does not fall apart."