Goodbye, Kusari

[Zephyranthes]

Shimazu Estate, Hakone Village, Planet Tomioka, Nagano System
3/25/825 AS, Midnight

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There is a certain air to a home after a loved one has passed. An indentation in a bed with no body. An empty chair at the dinner table. A personal datapad gathering dust in some forgotten drawer.

A voice calling out, receiving no answer.

Of course, Sora was no stranger to this absence of a kindred spirit. Death was familiar to a warrior, and fighting with one's entire body and spirit often required an individual to embrace mortality. But familiarity did not translate into ease.

A day after the ritual, Sora sent out a small comm to any surviving members of her family, but none responded. Seeing no option for a return to Kyushu to bury her in her family mausoleum, Sora instead elected to inter her ashes on a small plot of land nestled within a quiet bamboo grove. The two had visited the small, secluded place during an exploratory romp of the Tomioka countryside. Through the grove ran a small babbling brook, and chrysanthemums bloomed under the watchful gaze of a cherry tree. He thought that she would have liked to rest in a place that resembled their ancestral homeland so much.

A small amount of Hitomi's ashes were used to make a small red crystal that Sora laid into his sword's hilt. Even in death, she would guide him through the most perilous of times.

After all was taken care of, the former shogun received a single warning on Hitomi's datapad. The encrypted message came from a sender saved on Hitomi's pad as 'Aramaki'. It read:

[LOCATION COMPROMISED BY RIVALS OF HIDEYOSHI]
[EVACUATE KUSARI SPACE ASAP]
[WILL CONTACT AGAIN IN TWO MONTHS]
[GOOD LUCK]

He didn't know if 'Aramaki' had received the news of Hitomi's suicide, but chose to heed the advice of the message. After a day or two of preparations, Sora sent out an urgent communication to the Order for help. After a few days, a response came back and indicated a rendezvous point and ultimate destination of Rheinland.

Sora said his goodbyes to the people of Hakone, bid farewell to the loyal members of the Shimazu clan, and paid his last respects to Hitomi in both the family shrine and at her grave.

In the middle of the night, he and his two year-old daughter, Sakura, departed for the idyllic Aki Falls to wait for the planned Order contacts.