The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

man. But according to what I've heard, he used to be General Saku."
    "How about Risai? She was originally a general of the Jou Provincial Guard."
    "Unfortunately, my education doesn't reach that far. But now that you mention it, the kijuu she rode here has healed up very well."
    "It has? That's good to hear."
    "I don't know General Ryuu, but looking at her kijuu I sense that she's an outstanding person. The kijuu shows a remarkable loyalty towards its master and appears to be very well-trained. It's called breaking the animal, but naturally this involves caring for it as one would a child, being all that the word master implies. No creature can ever be truly broken otherwise."
    "Agreed."
    "I've never heard her name before. The name of an ordinary general is unlikely to spread beyond the borders of a kingdom. General Saku is the rare exception. I think that's what it comes down to."
    "The rare exception. And all the more impressive."
    "Ah," Kantai said with a knowing expression. "Comparing yourself and General Saku, eh?"
    "Not that it would do me any good. He seems the far more heroic figure."
    "Well, if he was such a heroic figure, then Tai wouldn't be in the chaotic state it's in."
    "Don't be mean. We don't know that the Royal Tai is the cause of it. A calamity seems to have occurred, but nobody's sure of the details. It's too early to lay the consequences at his feet."
    Kantai bowed his head only slightly, asking with a bit more seriousness, "And that calamity?"
    "Some sort of coup d'etat. A pretender has arisen and the Royal Tai and the Tai Taiho have gone missing. That's all we know at this point. For the rest, we'll have to wait upon Risai's recovery."
    "I see," said Kantai, and appeared to sink into his thoughts.
    Youko did as well. She didn't know any of the details, except that Risai had come to Kei begging for help. She had risked her life to make this appeal. Except that the scatterbrained, patchwork Imperial Court of Kei was in no condition to help her.
    "In the final analysis," said Kantai, "a reputation is a thing bestowed by others."
    "Hmm?" said Youko, glancing over her shoulder at him.
    "It's the kind of thing that people apply to you after the fact, when they can look at all the results. A general who wins a commanding victory--even by accident--will be called invincible. And if he's such an invincible general, then he will be perceived in similarly hallowed terms. Just as there are those who, despite their incompetence, have fortuitously managed to keep defeat at bay."
    "You're saying perhaps the Royal Tai is too good to be true?"
    "I wouldn't go that far. I'm only saying that if you saddle your colleagues with the quagmires and take the cakewalks for yourself, becoming a so-called invincible warrior isn't so hard to accomplish. As far as soldierly renown goes, everybody loves the undefeated fighter. And once the word gets around that he's got an unbroken winning streak, the assumption that he is a superior general, a fine gentleman, and a man of great character, takes on a life of its own."
    "Yeah. I suppose so."
    "But a reputation only reveals the end product of a process. Referring to General Saku--the Royal Tai--as a man of heroic stature only tells us how he stands in the court of public opinion now. Not how he got there. By the same token, at this point in time, having allowed Tai to fall into chaos, he does not appear so exemplary. At any rate, comparing oneself to others is a fruitless exercise. You will always end up comparing what the public thinks of the other with what you know of yourself."
    "I see," Youko said with a weary smile.
    "Even without making any comparison, I would call Your Highness a fine Empress."
    "Eh?"
    Kantai said, if a bit smugly, "It's one fine Empress who can claim her rightful place upon the throne without getting lost in it, and then hire on a hanjuu such as myself to boot. If I say so myself."
    Youko laughed. "Tell me, Kantai. What if you were to head over to Tai and dispose of that pretender?"
    "Surely you must be joking," Kantai said, waving his hand as if to bat away the suggestion.
    "Surely my own Palace Guard is made of sterner stuff than that."
    "That's not the problem. In the first place, Kei does not possess the resources necessary to field troops in such a manner. Mobilizing an army is a significant undertaking. A single division consists of twelve-thousand, five-hundred soldiers. And that's only counting the infantry. In terms of the entire fighting