Dueling Swords Part 1

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Dueling Swords part 1 by John Burkhart


I had spent most of the last two years or so traveling with the Dragon Kitsuki Agama. Even when I had been summoned to the Khan's Winter Court, the Dragon had traveled with me.

I have to wonder exactly what favor my Daimyo owed to assign me to be a yojimbo to another clan's courtier. Repeatedly.

So, it was some relief I returned to my temporary home at Shiro Moto, to discuss what I had learned in my travels, and pay my respect to my Daimyo and Sensei.



Most Samurai keep their daisho in a family shrine when they are home. Most Samurai have had swords handed down from parents, or grandparents, to sons and daughters, either after death in battle or retirement. My sword was handed down to me by my Grandfather as well.

My Grandfather was Marik. That was his preference. Shinjo herself may have granted my grandfather the Moto name when he came to Rokugan, but he never took to it. He did fall for an Utaku, never before having met a woman with the physical strength and battle prowess of one of the Shitome.

It took him risking his life to save her during the Kolat Purge for her to acknowledge him.

I was raised by my Grandfather, before he went for his final ride. When his horse returned, he had left me his scimitar.

My first act, upon returning home, was to visit my family shrine. I returned my grandfather's scimitar, with respect. Then I introduced a new katana to my home. I will not say it was my katana. I had carried one, given to me by my daimyo, Moto Zheng. My Grandfather didn't carry a katana, and claimed to have no need of a wakazashi. But this katana, this katana was worthy of more respect than I thought I could properly give it.

Made of pure Kakita steel. When it caught the light, it did not gleam cold, like most steel, but just a hint of warmth that I cannot explain. It felt unnatural. No, that is not right, it was unique. The warmth of this katana felt absolutely right. I recently had encounters with things that were actually unnatural, and this did not belong associated with them.

(The 'Great' Yoritomo Osaru indeed makes great saki, but when traveling together, we seem to find things that simply should not be in mortal realms. This is completely unlike those things.)

This Katana... I sighed. Which duty meant more for me? I'd always thought of myself as a well grounded person. My problem was that each foot seem grounded in different worlds.



I rested the fine blade below my grandfather's scimitar, and above my own wakazashi. I would meditate further on the dichotomy of my life at a later date. I hadn't been home for some time, and I wished to remove the road's dust from me and my clothes.



It was two days after returning home that I received my visitor. One that I had not seen since a short meeting at our Khan's winter court. My sister, Utaku Suyin.

Suyin is my opposite. Where I have the harsh features and rough voice of the Ujik-Hai, she has the melodic voice of a Crane. While I have the talents of a warrior in court and as a scout, she possesses the keen mind of a tactician. Where she is quick to judge, and quick to attack, I am calm and balanced.

Where I am conflicted, she knows where she stands in the empire.

I am too fond of my sister to be envious of her.



“Suyin!” I exclaimed, bowing to her.

“Gonnohyoe,” she replied, pronouncing my name perfectly. She was one of a very few people that could.

“What brings you here?” I asked.

Her right eye widened slightly, and she appeared to be struggling to keep a straight face. “I have heard these two amazing rumors these past few months.”

I mentally winced. Fortunes take the wagging tongue of that Kitsuki.

“I heard that a Moto, with the look of someone from outside the empire, impressed a Kenshinzen with his iajitsu talent. Was that you?” she asked me.

That was not the rumor I was expecting to hear repeated.

I nodded. “Walk with me, Suyin?” I asked. She nodded. We headed out of my residence, and out into the lanes of Shiro Moto. “It's true,” I told her. “I did impress him. Part of me wishes I hadn't.”

She raised an eyebrow in curiosity, and nodded for me to continue.

“You remember what Grandfather thought about dueling,” I said, and lowered my voice. Grandfather's views were not in line with the majority of the Empire. “He considered it useless. If you are fighting someone, it is because you want them dead, not because you disagree with something they've said. The idea of formal duels was laughable to him.” I cleared my throat. “And iajitsu is not something the Moto, in general, pride themselves on.”

“I'm not sure I understand the problem,” she confessed.

“I look like a gaijin,” I said. “Even those who accept that I am a member of the Unicorn, and thus the empire, they then expect me to have specific skills.” I gave her a wan smile. “Even in a family of outsiders, I am an outsider.”

“But I don't...”

“I mean, I can still ride a horse. But when I talked to my Sensei, and told him how I was progressing, and demonstrated my skill at iajitsu, he gave me the same look that I get from the refined members of other clans: Startled and suspicious. Rokugan is a land of traditions. I don't fit into any of them. Or perhaps I fit partially into all of them. I'm not sure. At Winter Court, the Khan asked me where the Unicorn fit in to the Empire. I suppose I am asking the same question.”

We had arrived at the stables. The Crane and The Phoenix may have their gardens, but almost any Unicorn will tell you that true enlightenment will be found in motion, not stillness. We rode, me on my riding horse, her on her personal shiotome steed.



After a half an hour, where the plains gave us a beautiful view of the Wall of the North Mountains, we rested our steeds and continued our talk.

“The kenshinzen I demonstrated my skill to offered me a task. A Kakita blade, originally given to a Crane by the name of Netsui. It was supposed to teach her the value of protecting others, to awaken it as a neumenari. To ask it to help purify its brother.”

My sister ran her fingers through the coat of her magnificent steed, knowing me enough by now to know I wasn't done.

“You always have clear opinions, Suyin. Which should be more important? My duty to carry my Grandfather's blade, or this task that I seem to have stumbled on to?”

Suyin waited for a moment, to see if I would continue. “Grandfather always said there was only three reasons to draw a sword. To kill, to threaten to kill in defense, or to practice in case you needed to do the first two. I think he would understand. But, brother, why protect anyone?”

I met her in the eyes. “It is my duty as a Samurai. To protect others, isn't it?”

“Gonnohyoe. You've said it yourself. You have spent your whole life mistrusted, demonized, ostracized. Why would you protect those that hate you?”

That is when I understood. “Because I must, if I am to protect those that do not.”

She smiled and nodded at me. “Shall we go home?”

I returned her smile, and mounted back up on my hose.

“I did have just one other question. Did you really win an iajitsu duel with a scimitar?”

Fortunes take that Dragon.