The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

back together again, Seirai would be best. But that's not the problem here."
    Everybody nodded. The problem wasn't who would represent the ministers. If that's all it came down to, Haboku or Seirai could do so ably. Or Senkaku or even Risai. That's not where the problem lay. The problem was that Tai currently had no King.
    They didn't know the will of Gyousou. Had Gyousou died, the selection of the next king would take precedence over everything else.
    If the throne was vacated, until the king was enthroned, the Chousai would serve in his stead. But the badly injured Eichuu couldn't fill the post. The Minister of Heaven was missing. And none of the others could muster a quorum of supporters, even provisionally. Unable to appeal to either established custom or Divine reason, it would be close to impossible for anyone to unite the Imperial Court. Nobody had the necessary authority.
    "In other words," said Chou'un, of the Ministry of Fall, "should we take this to mean that no immediate replacement for the Chousai is forthcoming? Who can sufficiently unite our hearts and minds, stand as Chousai, and set up a provisional court?"
    "You've got it backwards!" Ganchou said in an angry voice. "Gyousou-sama is missing, that's all! Sougen said so as well. Nobody says that he's dead. Confirmation of his well-being takes precedence over all else."
    "Please hold on a minute," said Kaei, raising her voice. The strain and anxiety had left her pale face practically colorless. "What do we do in a situation like this? What is the customary practice?"
    " Situations like this? " came voices around her. Kaei nodded. "I do not wish to raise such ominous possibilities, but please forebear for the time being. If, for example, His Highness had been slain, how would we proceed?"
    Senkaku replied, "The Taiho would choose the next King."
    "But the Taiho is missing as well."
    "If the Taiho died as well, then the Kingdom is declared 'vacant.' According to precedent, the Chousai serves in place of the king and a temporary court is established. If Eichuu-dono was too unwell to fill the position, then it'd be necessary to appoint a new Chousai."
    "And who makes the appointment?"
    Senkaku couldn't answer.
    "Don't the Taiho and King have the authority to appoint the Chousai? If the King is dead, then the Taiho acts. However, if both the King and the Taiho are dead, and there is no serving Chousai--have such conditions ever existed before?"
    Haboku answered bitterly, "There are cases of the King and the Taiho perishing simultaneously. And the Chousai meeting the same fate at the same time. But in those cases a pretender had taken the throne, slaying the King and the Taiho along with the Chousai and the Minister of Heaven in the midst of an insurrection. Aside from situations like that, there's never been an incident where all those required to knit the Imperial Court together have been absent."
    "The Chousai hasn't died," Senkaku interjected in a loud voice. "Although his wounds are severe, he is still conscious. The Imperial Seal is entrusted to the Chousai. The current Chousai can appoint the next."
    "The only person able to bestow the Imperial Seal upon the next Chousai is the Taiho, and only if the Taiho has first taken it into his custody. Because the Taiho is not present, how do you propose bestowing the Imperial Seal on the next Chousai?"
    "If His Highness had died, the Imperial Seal would become ineffective. In that case, the foot of the Hakuchi is used. With the foot of the Hakuchi, and following the recommendation of the Rikkan and the Sankou, the new Chousai can be appointed."
    "So this would not be limited only to His Highness's death. But first we must confirm their well-being, and turn the Kingdom upside down looking for His Highness and the Taiho."
    "But I ask you, who is to undertake such task encompassing the entire Kingdom? Without anybody to unite the ministers, do you think we can canvass the Kingdom from one end to the other?"
    In the next moment, the assembly descended into confusion. From her perch, Risai watched on in amazement. Precedent covered the death of a King. Precedent covered the death of the Taiho. However, nobody had ever considered the possibility of them both missing, and their physical welfare unknown. If one or the other still lived, that precedent existed. But both of them missing--and yet not necessarily dead--was a situation whose vagueness nobody knew how to deal with.
    "At any rate, even if the law must be set