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Ju Feng made his way quickly into the room, his footfalls silent on the stone floor. He spared a glance for his sister, standing off to one side in the shadows, before kneeling before the man in the chair. "You sent for this one, Daijyu?" The man nodded slightly in acknowledgement, but kept his eyes on the game board in front of him. Carved figures were lined up on either side of the board, crystal against obsidian. A few of the figures were already advanced, and a pawn of each color had been captured and set aside. As Ju Feng waited, the man reached across the board and moved another crystal pawn before picking up the obsidian bishop. Rather than moving it, he turned away from the board, juggling the little figure over the backs of his fingers as he considered the man kneeling at his feet. "I understand there was a bit of excitement at the park today." The man's voice was calm and mild, as if he wished no more than to exchange a bit of gossip with his subordinate. Ju Feng stole a glance at his sister again, but her face was as unreadable as marble. She held her head slightly turned away from the conversation, distancing herself. "...as you say, Daijyu." The man obviously knew, already, where Ju Feng had been and what he had been doing. He saw little profit in denying it. Besides... why should he not tell him, now that his mission had been successful? "If memory serves, I asked you to watch from a distance. I said nothing about acting upon anything, much less exposing yourself with something so blatant as an *attack.*" There was an edge to the man's voice now. "What moved you to act, without my specific instruction?" Ju Feng began to look up, and caught himself. He had been there to follow the trail of the amulet; where had he transgressed? Surely the Daijyu had meant for him to retrieve it, given the hand of fortune. "This one saw an opportunity, Daijyu." Ju Feng licked his lips, taking his master's silence as an order to continue. "Jin Hu's amulet was little risk in Firehand's possession, but he was meeting with a... shadow warrior, such as my clan. Had she the time and ability to learn its use, it would have been as an arrow plucked from my brother's quiver and sent against you." His eyes slid towards his sister again, whose studied nonchalance did not bode well. He frowned. "It is too valuable a weapon. This one felt it was too great a risk to leave Jin Hu's amulet in the enemy's hands. They were but two, and he had it out in his hand! How could this one not have taken it from him, in such a circumstance?" "'This one felt.'" The man's words were quiet at first, like the faint rumblings of distant thunder before the storm. Then, the storm broke. "You felt. *You* felt! You *idiot*!" The man surged to his feet and dashed the little obsidian bishop to the floor, fracturing it into several knife-edged pieces. A muscle twitched in Ju Feng's jaw, but he did not flinch as one of the pieces sliced into his knee. The man's lips were almost white as he pressed them together, breathing hard through his nose. After a moment, he continued in an almost reasonable tone again. "You and your siblings came highly recommended, you know. Your associates assured me that your assistance would be invaluable in cementing my hold on this region so that I might offer them an exclusive market for their product here... something my opponent, I assure you, would never even consider. And yet... your brother failed in his mission to acquire the woman. Well enough. I allow that we could not have forseen the extent of interference that would impede him in that particular task. I am sorry for his loss, but it could not be helped. However, his failure *did* provide me with one small benefit in another area." The man dropped into his chair again, gesturing negligently towards the woman standing in the shadows. "Unlike 'this one,' your *sister* thought enough to seek my permission before attempting to retrieve Jin Hu's amulet. She explained its workings to me, and how she expected to find it so easily." The man rubbed the bridge of his nose with a finger. "Which is how I realized the *opportunity* offered to me, to be able to trace Firehand's movements as long as he carried the amulet on his person. Which, under the circumstances, promised to be a good long time-- after all, considering where it came from, he'd hardly toss it in a drawer without finding out what it *did.*" The man's face darkened again. "At least, he *would* have held on to it, without your unlooked-for heroics! You *fool*!" He glared at the black-clad man kneeling at his feet. "You were given a task; a simple task, one would think, for a person of your abilities. Your task was to follow the amulet, and through it, to shadow Dawn's movements, and report back to me. Nothing more. In that task, you have failed me, and cost me a valuable playing piece." Ju Feng did wince at the pronouncement of his failure. "But... Daijyu, I did not know! If only you had said--" A small gasp from his sister warned him of how wrongly he had just stepped. "Imbecile! Since when must I explain my every purpose to an *underling*? The fault for this rests entirely on your shoulders, Ju Feng. If only *you* had followed orders, *I* would still know Dawn's whereabouts at all times. Do you realize the advantage you have cost me?" The man waved a hand in irritation. "Of course not. You're not paid to think, you're paid to do as I say." The man paused and turned back to contemplate his game board. For a moment Ju Feng thought that his disgrace would be borne, and that he would be given the opportunity to redeem himself. Then, without turning, the man spoke again. "Give your sister the talismans. Both of them." Ju Feng turned, still on his knees, and looked at his sister in mute appeal. This time, she met his eyes, but all she offered him was pity, laced with contempt for his foolish attempt to justify his actions. She crossed behind the man's chair and held out a hand expectantly. Ju Feng bowed his head and removed his own amulet from around his neck, adding Jin Hu's from a hidden pocket. He looped both chains over his sister's outstretched hand. "Sister, I bestow upon you the secrets of Fire and of Void, held close by our clan according to the mandate of Heaven and gifted to us for this mission. I pray you continue to guard them close, and use them with greater wisdom than your brothers have." He bowed his head, and felt her hand touch his hair. "Brother. I accept your gifts, and in turn, I vow to redeem your honor in the eyes of our clan and of this our master. Be at peace." "I am ready, sister." Ju Feng looked up once more, meeting her eyes calmly. "I will await you in the next life... Si... Hua...." Ju Feng fell silent, his eyes losing the living spark that animated them as his life drained away around his sister's knife. Si Hua withdrew the blade from his chest and cleaned it carefully on his clothes, her face impassive again. One tear stained her perfect cheek. She wiped it away and resheathed her knife, turning back to the man in the chair. "Your orders, Daijyu Lyegen?"
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