The Butterfly Arrives in Wu

[Nohime]

"Well, unfortunately, my ship was destroyed by these pathetic bandits that attacked as soon as I stepped off of the docks," Nohime replied to Yigong; it was obvious that she was feeling a bit bitter about that situation. Then as she remembered that Zheng also asked a question, she began to think for a moment before speaking. "Japan is a much different place than this. It is full of bustling cities and several castles, even entire fishing villages. Of course, it's not as good as I make it out to be. There are all sorts of unhappy political marriages, like the one I was trapped in..."

She paused as she had revealed, probably, a bit too much. She would have to not touch on her past life for now. That way, less questions and less humiliation...on her part, anyway.

[Sun Jian]

After arriving back in Wu, he had already set up a campaign to clear out Jiangdong of anymore threats. If the yellow turbans weren't enough, there was always the barbarian bandits and the pesky pirates to cause trouble for him, and though he had heard of a sea Captain by the name of Rui Takiri claiming areas of Jiangdong as his own, he hoped that he would be wise enough to not cause trouble within the tiger's den,, who the fangs would swallow him whole. There was enough threats out there, but the forces of Wu could handle them with ease.

He was simply talking to a few officials who would go and tell the whole of Jiangdong how great his forces were, so they would not sucuumb to following the foolish. After finishing his talk, he left his tent while a banquet was being made, and walked around the camp talking to other soldiers to raise morale, when he noticed Generals Han Dang and Zheng Xian enter the camp with a female on the horse.

A smile appeared on his face, "Wonder what they have been doing", as he strode along towards them. When he reached them, he looked up and turned to Han Dang and Zheng Xian, "Welcome back to camp Generals. I have ordered a banquet to be made in my tent, so you may come when you are ready. I trust that you have accomplished your tasks and I expect to hear great reports when we enter the banquet", he paused, then looked up at the female on the horse, "It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Sun Jian, the tiger of Jiangdong. Welcome to the camp of Wu. I trust my officers have treated you nicely. You are free to join us at the Banquest to".

[Fu Sheng]

Xian stepped off his steed and took his helmet out revealing his short hair, black as ink ending in a small ponytail. He bowed before the Tiger of Jiang Dong with his right fist over his left hand palm as he greeted him.

"Lord Sun Jian." - He got up, dismissed his men then faced back to Sun clan's ruler and carried on - "I will gladly join you on this feast my lord but first I must stable my steed and strip myself of my weapon and helm"

He made a quick bow and left for the camp's stables to leave his horse there and returned back to the ruler's tent where the feast was being prepared. He placed the helmet over some boxes outside and stripped himself of his pike placing it leaned against the same boxes. He looked at it for a moment. The blade reflected the sun's last rays of light, one sight he had not seen before he had it reforged a few past days. He stood for a few moments watching the sun sinking further in the horizon trough the reforged blade of his old pike before removing his gloves, as he would need his hands to eat, and entering the tent where the rest of he guests awaited.

[link]

"Pity, truly," Han Dang responded to Nohime's answer on her ship, "it could have served as a nice model for Wu's further enhanced navy. Yeah, we do have a nice technology in sailing the seas and rivers, but who knows? Maybe we could indeed have learned quite a few things from those in the east, though apparently we lost that chance for now... unless you know how the Japanese vessels work, Lady Nohime?"

And that was when the party of seven, including Zheng Xian's four guards, entered the city and soon approached the palace in no time. Another pleasant surprise, Sun Jin had come out of his quarters to greet them back, even though he had not been informed, and oh? A banquet? Nice... Grinning with joy, Yigong dropped down from his horse and bowed quickly to his lord in reverence and of course thankfulness. Noticing how Zheng Xian was putting away his horse to the stables and taking off his weapons, Yigong shrugged to himself and hollered to some nearby soldiers.

"Take my horse to the stables, and keep this with you as well," he shouted as he left the reins of his steed to one of the two men who had rushed to him, as well as tossing his pike to the other. "Oh, and take this." Rummaging through his pocket, Yigong pulled out a small leather pouch, from which he pulled out several copper coins and tossed equal amounts to each soldier. "Have a nice day, men."

Turning back to the rest of the people, Han Dang said in a hearty voice:

"So then, shall we discuss matters further during the banquet? We don't want to miss any of the nice food."

[Nohime]

Nohime frowned a bit at Yigong's question. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to ever learn how to construct ships," she replied. "But I assure you, if I had learned, I'd be more than happy to fill you in."

At that moment, they entered the Wu main camp. It was quite nice, in her opinion. She observed the numerous tents that littered the ground, undoubtedly holding several soldiers within each. She noticed a few men had been staring at her once they arrived, but she didn't acknowledge them. She then watched as a man who seemed to be of high importance approach them, and that was when she discovered who he was. After all, Zheng Xian did refer to the man by name before he left to discard his armor and weaponry. Sun Jian...

She smiled to herself as Sun Jian introduced himself so politely to her. She slightly nodded to him once he was finished and proceeded to introduce herself in return. "I thank you for welcoming me, Lord Sun Jian," she said in a soft voice. "I am Nohime, and your officers have been absolute gentlemen." She smiled to Yigong before continuing. "I would love to join you at your banquet. After all, you can tell me about yourself and your vision."

She then turned to Yigong after he spoke and nodded. She wasn't feeling too much like talking about Japan anymore. She wanted to focus on the here and now. She had finally gotten what she wanted...an up-close encounter with the man that controls the Wu Forces.

[Sun Jian]

Sun Jian smiled, "Welcome to Wu Lady Nohime, telling by your name you are not from here and have come a long way, so please stay with us at camp so you can have some rest, and of course enjoy your meal with us. I will answer any questions you may have", as his left hand pointed towards the tent, as he began to walk towards there, with Han Dang and Nohime behind him.

When he entered, he took his seat at the top, and saw Zheng Xian seated on the right, and waited for the two to enter, before raising his cup, "Please, enjoy your food", then after taking some himself, he turned to them all, "Now, before we continue, could you both report your findings. What is the current state of Jiangdong?", referring to the tasks they were sent on to see if there was any threats in Jiangdong and if there were any enemies that needed a close eye on.

After they report, he could then turn his attention back to Nohime. Wu was the place he was born in, and wanted to make sure his home and the region of Jiangdong was safe from danger, once this was done, he could then think wider and care about the pleasurable things in life, but he still couldn't rest as the whole land was changing.

[link]

Following behind Sun Jian while kindly keeping pace for Nohime to follow, Han dang stepped into the palace's great dining hall, where the most of the banquets were held. It wasn't everyday that such feasts were opened; it was always nice to join in on the celebration. After all, many victories had been won, they had triumphed over numerous bandits and brigands, and although the land has yet to be suppressed completely and put to eternal peace, current threats had been put down due to the might of Wu.

As several servants scurried over to Nohime to escort the lady guest to a place at the table, Han Dang hopped merrily into one of the open seats somewhere to the left-hand side of Sun Jian, immediately grabbing the cup sitting before him. Huh. Empty. Waving a few servants over to him, he ordered his cup to be filled before Sun Jian raised his cup. Following suit along with the rest of the company, Yigong then started glugging down the goblet of wine. Ah, refreshing, bitter, but nice. Taking a chunk of meat for himself and placing it on his plate, he chomped down on the juicy chicken while he listened to Jian.

Lifting his head to answer the lord's question, Han Dang said, "My Lord, I am rejoiced to tell you that Jiang Dong is clean of rebellion, without a single trace of the Yellow Turbans. Well, other than that pile of skulls burnt to death on the bridge. But then, not even the flesh remained there." At this, he noticed a few men sitting next to him choke on their food, but he continued. "Well, of course, there is that... pirate horde in Hui Ji, but I don't view them as a threat."

[Fu Sheng]

Xian took a seat and awaited patiently for the rest of the guests to take theirs before grabbing a bowl. He faced the lord of the Sun clan as he reported the results of his patrol around the province.

"The province has been hit hard by the rebellion, many have lost their home, their family or their goods. Crops have been burnt and the people can barely sustain themselves even with the rations we provide them. The rebellion itself was only the beginning, even after the it's head fell off, the remnants of this lost cause still pose a threat to the villagers. Beyond that, the number of bandit sightings has increased, though as for the local pirates there have been no reports of trouble yet so far." Xian paused, he sighed as he looked at the cup he held in his hand and carried on with a grave tone "Villages have crumbled and turned to refugee camps, the people fall to sickness, starvation or to bandit raiding parties and they cry for our help, though we can do no more to help them than what we currently are doing. From what I've heard this goes far beyond Jiang Dong, past the Han capital and into the furthermost regions of the empire. I am not sure if the land will ever recover from this disaster, despite our efforts..."

The land had emerged into chaos, even though the rebellion had practically been vanquished, the aftermath was just commencing and already the effects of devastating war in such a harsh period of the Han could be felt. The state of the land touched Xian dearly.
He took a bowl and ate his meal slowly as he stared idly at the food.

[Nohime]

She smiled to Sun Jian's servants as they escorted her to the banquet area, but she was disappointed that she was seated further away from him and, what she assumed, would be the seats of his children. She was faced with a rather awkward decision: should she try and go for Sun Jian or his eldest son? The whole ordeal in her mind made her feel somewhat scummy, but until she was positive which one she wanted, she would keep her advances to herself. That was a rather difficult feat to follow through with.

Finally, Sun Jian granted everyone the chance to begin the banquet. Nohime took her cup in her hands and took a few sips of wine, being careful to not overdo it. The last thing she needed was to get drunk in front of the Sun clan. She then began to hear Yigong and Zheng Xian talk about their experiences. Yigong seemed to be much more confident about his runthrough than Zheng Xian did. This was a little depressing to her. She hoped that things were going great in Wu, but then again, what with recent happenings, she couldn't expect much from any kingdom.