Their father’s body was buried in a small temple in the mountains near Oohara Castle, as per his request. Sou stood at the temple gate, overlooking the land below. Oohara Castle spread out over a wide plain in the distance. That was how it got its name, being one of the few castles at the time not built on the top or side of a mountain. ‘What good is a castle that can’t even see its enemies coming?’ they said. ‘How are you going to defend yourself if you’re not on high ground?’ they said. The Yashiro clan had forever faced adversity. You could trace it all the way back to Prince Genji. But that’s what made them strong. Made them powerful. Made them a force to be reckoned with.

All that land down there was his now. His father had been preparing him since birth but Sou still wasn’t sure if he was ready to do this alone. Usually a daimyo retired and then assisted his successor well into old age. A brilliant mind full of experience working with a sharp mind full of ideas, surrounded by intelligent men loyal to the cause. There was nothing they couldn’t achieve together. Now Sou was alone. He wasn’t even sure if his father’s men would listen to him, he was so young.

A hand on his shoulder drew him back.

“How are you holding up?”

It was Yuki.

“Do you want the honest answer or the official answer?”

“Honest, of course.”

Sou sighed. He needed to be a lot more careful with what he said and did now. He was no longer just a green daimyo’s son who could say and do stupid things and get away with it. Now he was the daimyo, what he said was law and one wrong move could drive his clan to extinction.

“I’m scared,” Sou replied. “I’m terrified that you and I are the only ones left. I’m angry at father for leaving us like this, for not teaching me more, for not preparing me better. I’m angry we didn’t go out and enjoy things as a family more, and I’m furious that in what should have been one of his happiest moments someone took everything from him. From us. This wasn’t some attack over a territorial dispute, this was personal. He was murdered, and he was murdered at his daughter’s wedding. I can’t forgive that.”

Yuki squeezed his shoulder harder but she said nothing. No tears rolled down her cheeks. She remained as beautiful and elegant as ever, not like someone who just a week ago was wearing the blood of her own father on her kimono. Sou felt like he was being torn apart but she kept her head held high and let nothing show to the outside world. Sou wasn’t sure he could do that, and now of all times he couldn’t afford to let weakness show.

“I don’t know what to do, Yuki,” he admitted. “I feel like I’m falling apart.”

Yuki turned him so he faced her. She grabbed both his arms and forced him to look her in the face. “Sou.” She never called him Sou. “You’re the best man I know. You’re stronger than you realise, stronger than you give yourself credit for. Look at what you’ve already achieved! Father didn’t teach you more because you were the one teaching him. Don’t you see that?”

Sou gave a small laugh of disbelief but Yuki shook him harder.

“The Yashiro clan doesn’t end this way, brother. We don’t go down with a whimper. Now with you at its head the Yashiro will become greater than ever. You could have every daimyo in this land offer you his sword, you just don’t realise it yet. And you know why you don’t realise it yet? Because you have a good heart, brother. Something that’s lacking in these lands these days.” She punctuated the point with a light punch to his chest. “These lands don’t need another tyrant. They need someone with an honest and open heart. With a vision to make things better. That’s you, dear brother, and it’s about time you started believing it.”

Sou was at a loss for words. He brushed a lock of hair from Yuki’s face. “When did you grow up, little sister?”

“Around the same time you didn’t.” She smiled.

Sou turned back to the castle town spread out beneath the mountain. His castle town. All of it was his now, as far as the eye could see.

“I will get revenge for father.”

“I know.”

He heard Yuki’s footsteps as she left the temple. It was time to do what he’d been dreading. He needed to call a meeting of all his father’s retainers.

The group of old men sat before him, the air so thick with silence that it was almost suffocating. So far, so good.

“I’d like to thank you all for coming here on such short notice to attend my father’s funeral,” Sou began. “I know the journey was difficult for many of you with very little time to plan.”

There were a few murmurs from the group. They were his father’s men, through and through. They would listen to Sou as the new clan leader, but he knew it would be a struggle to get them to follow him willingly. Toshio sat near the end of the long table, Riko by his side. His arm hadn’t regained full movement yet; they feared it was nerve damage. He may never regain full use of his sword arm again. On top of the news that Sou’s father had died they had discovered that Kuroda Mistuhide and Ayane’s younger brother, Bitou Kenichi had taken one of their castles. Hirozaka Castle, Toshio’s home. In one foul swoop he had lost his arm, his family and his home. Nobody wanted revenge more than him.

Sou cleared his throat. The room quietened. “We need to discuss what we’re going to do about the Kuroda.”

“Clearly we need to take the castle back! Anything otherwise is a sign of weakness to the rest of the clans!” Atsuda Motosa. One of his father’s most senior retainers and the oldest man in the room. He had a young daughter, Manami, who Toshio was particularly fond of. She was almost young enough to be his granddaughter, really.

“We need to be very careful about this, young lord. We don’t know what the Kuroda are up to yet, we mustn’t be hasty.” Tanabe Hiroki. Watched over lands close to the Toshiga border and likely the first to be attacked if the Kuroda were further provoked.

“Mustn’t be hasty? So you just want to sit back and let them continue to make a mockery of us? They need to be punished! We have the Bitou girl, we need to show them we’re not just gonna take this lying down!” Baba Junpei. His family ruled these lands long before the Yashiro came in and took them from them. However, for countless generations they had served loyally and were always up for a fight. Junpei’s daughter Ane had until recently served Sou, but just like her father was a fiery spirit and a certain incident had her cast out of his favour. A certain incident where she had tried to kill him. Sou had chosen to send her away rather than kill her, but Junpei had taken an aggressive stance with him ever since. But, to be fair, he took an aggressive stance with everything.

“He’s right, that Bitou girl has been sitting around here enjoying our hospitality for too long, it’s time to show them we’re not playing games anymore. They think they can just come in and steal our lands and we won’t retaliate? Why do we even have a hostage if not to use her? And we all know it was the Kuroda who killed your father - rest his spirit - I don’t care if there’s no evidence.” Ando Mutsu. Riko’s father. Made his name fighting and would go down fighting, probably alongside at least some of his many children.

“We can’t go starting a war over unsubstantiated claims! That would just bring the wrath of the other clans down upon us, we’d have no footing in future negotiations.” Hamada Tatsuki. Sou always saw him as the biggest pushover of his father’s men. Always happy to just sit back and let things happen, never wanted to stir the pot or poke the angry snake.

The table erupted into a war of words, each man trying to get his say in louder than the next. They clearly weren’t going to reach a consensus like this. Sou looked at Toshio and Riko, each sitting down the end in complete silence.

“Enough!” He pounded his fist on the table, causing it to crack. His father’s retainers - no, they were his retainers now - sat back down, silence descending over the room like a blanket.

“Arguing isn’t going to get us anywhere. I know we’re all tired and worn out. I know that feeling better than most of us here, I think.” A few of the men shifted uncomfortably. “But acting like children isn’t going to help us deal with our problem.”

There was a knock at the door. It slid open and Izue stepped inside. The men shifted even more uncomfortably. No-one was happy she was there, and in fact most of the castle had been actively trying to avoid her since she arrived. Sou did his best to ignore it, but Izue seemed to actually enjoy the fear her mere presence inspired.

“The priest would like to conduct the seven days rites now, my lord, if you would like to accompany him back to the temple.”

The men in the room refused to look at her. The meeting was going nowhere anyway.

“Of course, tell him I’ll be there shortly.”

Izue nodded, looked around the room, then smiled. “My lords.” She closed the shoji screen and the room remained uncomfortably silent until the sound of her footsteps down the hall disappeared.

Sou sure had some fun ahead of him.