The Twelve Kingdoms: The Shore in Twilight

left behind. Her shirei had completely devoured her."
    Rokuta scowled and folded his hands on top of the table. "These were definitely not normal ways to die. No one had ever seen a king die in such a fashion. No one had seen a kirin's shirei attack him in such a manner. Consuming the kirin is the special privilege of the shirei, but they simply don't run wild without regard to the circumstances. The body of every kirin, when he breaths his last for whatever reason, is placed in a coffin and born to the Imperial Mausoleum to lie in state. While there, the hall in which the coffin resides is sealed. When the mourning period has ended, the coffin is removed, but during that time it will have been emptied of its contents. That's pretty much how it works."
    Youko raised her hand to the base of her throat. Hearing the fate of the kirin from a kirin himself made her chest hurt.
    "Something very unusual had occurred. Furthermore, Jin Tei had committed no sin to account for such a fall. He was a righteous king who held fast to the Way. No one objected when he dispatched the Imperial Army to Han. He certainly hadn't sent the Imperial Army to Han to torment its citizens. He was a king whose deep compassion extended to other kingdoms. He mobilized his troops in order to save the people of Han. He had the support of the ministers and his subjects. No one criticized this action. Nevertheless, such was the fate of both Juntei and Sairin. When they both died without forewarning, all the customary procedures went out the window. Clearly, these were no ordinary deaths, but at first nobody made the connection between them and the mobilization of the Imperial Army."
    "Did Enki and Jun Tei--?"
    "We never crossed paths. Jun Tei ruled long before my time, though it is said that he and the Royal Sou had met."
    "The Royal Sou--"
    "It seems that briefly after the coronation of the Royal Sou, Jun Tei had generously offered Sou foreign aid. And then he was suddenly struck down. When the Royal Sou ascended to the throne, Sai had been enjoying a three hundred year reign under the most enlightened monarch of the south."
    Enki swirled his tea and stared into the cup. "Nobody understood why Jun Tei had to die. After that, a new king ascended to the throne. It was then that they realized that the impression on the Imperial Seal had changed, and thus concluded Jun Tei must have committed a grievous sin. There was a precedent in this case. The kokushi of Tai had changed once before, from Tai (meaning 'generation') to Tai (meaning 'peaceful calm'). The triggering event was said to be a king who strayed from the Way. His kirin subsequently died, and in order to prevent the next kirin from being born, he invaded Mt. Hou, slaughtered the wizardesses, and set fire to the Shashinboku. There are cases where the kokushi has changed as the result of the crimes committed by the king. This was the first time it was understood that Jun Tei had been called to account for sending his troops across an international border."
    "That bad a crime--"
    "That bad a crime. Borders cannot be trespassed, even for the most humanitarian of reasons. Not for any reason at all. Only then were the implications of this precept fully understood."
    "Wait a minute. Who exactly laid down that precept? Tentei?"
    "Who's to say? All we know is that the precept exists. The only thing written in the Divine Decrees is that one kingdom may not invade another under the force of arms. This sentence was without a doubt a transcription of the will of Heaven. These precepts exist in the world. Go against them, commit a sin, and the punishment is sure."
    "But who knew that what Jun Tei was doing was a sin? Who delivered the punishment? There's gotta be somebody up there, right?"
    "Not necessarily. When the king and Saiho are enthroned, they climb those stairs. The same ones you climbed. And by doing so, they receive the Divine Unction. That which they did not know before was newly written upon their minds. Or you could say that the essence of those precepts was imbued within their bodies. Turning against the precepts of Heaven would seem to activate a previously-instilled punishment. Think in terms of the body itself being conditioned for a specific response, like there was an angel perched on Jun Tei's shoulder judging the rightness and wrongness of his actions. There's no need for any 'person' to be handing down the sentence."
    "What about the Imperial Seal?"
    "You could think of the Seal being