Chapter Text
The heavy wind cuts with its merciless claws the perfect body, standing in silent expectation, when the gaze of firmly open eyes, sparkling with dull amethyst, rushes towards the gate. At the top, as far as the eye can see, you can see small, like large specks of dust, white, soft snowflakes, accompanied by crystals of ice, which promise the beginning of winter. Her body is able to feel a burning tingling on her cold, hollow cheeks, as soon as nature touches her, but she does not think to cover herself with a hood, she watches, she waits. The late hours of the recurring day, changing each other in silence, like guards at her gate. The warm light is behind her, the palace seems to be asking her to come in and hide from the snow. On the ground, hard, cold, now the beginning of winter lies like a thin veil, small traces of local animals will not hide from her eyes. She's attentive. The Shogun pulls her hand forward, sharply, without a doubt, allowing her body to feel and understand - it's cold. Feels the body. How does she feel?
Nature is becoming stronger, more white, the wind stings, cuts acutely, bites, but the body will not bite through it. When Shogun sighs, nothing changes. How long has it been? Maybe half an hour, maybe an hour.
Maybe two.
Three?
Shogun does not look up when she notices the change, the snow no longer lands on her hand, instead of white and cold, it is soft and dark there.
Cloth.
She realizes someone's presence later than her body feels warm, perhaps she got out of reality, succumbing to thoughts about different things. It smells familiar, it's a body odor that she's used to so much that she doesn't question who, how, or why. Is she that brave?
“Madam,” her voice does not confuse thoughts, on the contrary, it is able to sound with them, “You will freeze.”
Shogun turns with a delay, hearing how the violator of her pacification is breathing, to whom she can forgive this, and it is not at all easy to achieve her forgiveness.
“This body defies nature, Officer,” she did not take off the cape, lightly squeezing her fingers, “When did you return?”
"Just now, my Shogun," she does not go forward, then Shogun takes a step back, the tengu are famous for her height, and she raises her head, allowing herself to do so. There are changes, the black feathers of the wings are spread, the snowfall caught her off guard, she can guess. The silence lasts for minutes, the Shogun sees that the samurai is tired, it is inherent in mortals, "You have been searched.
“Kyoto?”
“Empty." there were no people in the village who had the Vision, perhaps they managed to escape, or maybe they tried to cross the border at sea, the outcome is different in each case.
There is a hardness in tengu's voice, a tangible note of hoarseness, and, most notably, softness, which the Shogun attributes to fatigue of the physical body. Kujou Sara seems to deliberately ignore the fact that her body, her vessel, is solid. This cold is nothing to her. She does not want to give up the cape.
"It's not difficult to find me," however, she stands on the southern part of the palace, where the forest is nearby, where she visits most often, "Who is looking for my attention?”
"Who's not looking, Lady Shogun?" Sara tilts her head, the amber in her eyes is able to disperse the darkness under her helmet, "General Hitaka, with a report after the trip.”
Shogun thought for a long time that she was not satisfied with the current general of the army, Hitaka's speeches could even make her feel strange, this man is so dry and sometimes cruel to his people.
"Officer," Shogun breaks the silence, examining the tengu with interest, "Remind me how long ago the general was on a trip.”
"Six months, My Shogun.”
“Am I correct in understanding that you performed his duties when he visited Liyue?”
She gets a nod in response, which was unexpected. It became quiet again, calm when the palace is full of work and noise, everyone is looking for the Shogun, as if she had disappeared.
“Are the results of the negotiations known?”
“Soldiers whispered that they were failing as before.”
The Shogun is silent, as if she is looking for reasons to change something. The coolness of the air refreshes the mind.
“Kujou Sara.” the Shogun says confidently after thinking about it. Thoughts lead the Shogun to this decision, she has prioritized her thoughts, calculation and benefits from what she will say now. Tengu, who stands in front of her in a questioning expectation, is still young, and most likely has insufficient experience “How can you evaluate your work as a deputy general? Have you experienced difficulties?”
People don't like yokai, but they are afraid.
“Madam, why this question?”
“I wish to promote you to the rank of general.”
Sara is silent too, in her look of bewilderment and... fright? This is the first time Shogun has seen anyone react like this to a promotion. Anyone can see that Tengu has a lot of questions.
“Do you have any objections?” as if she could say “no” to Shogun, who decided that her decision had no chance to be questioned. What kind of commotion will start in the palace because of this, she won't explain why she made such a spontaneous decision?
“I have questions, my Shogun, I…”
“They shouldn't be,” she interrupts, there is no dissatisfaction or disapproval in her voice, this is one of those moments when she sounds like nothing, it's just a voice pleasant to the ear, habitually firm, “Go and inform General Hitaka that I am waiting for a written report, I will deal with the rest.”
This was probably the beginning, when she crossed an invisible line, when she entered, because she felt it was necessary, without additional thought. She watched, thought, listened, something inside insisted, and she did it.
People are afraid of her.
Shogun has heard many things about herself. She could unwittingly catch the quiet conversations of the gate guards out of the corner of her ear as she strolled through her domain. The guards fell silent as soon as she appeared in their field of vision, straightening up at the same moment. The military and officials talk about her, she can at any moment repeat the words of everyone whose words she managed to hear, however, she did not strain herself with this. These conversations were empty, there was stupidity in them, bordering on the daredevil's desire to create an object of discussion out of it. It's a waste of time, it's not what she needs. The Shogun found people predictable, close enough to consider them the same, even though she was well aware of the line.
It was enough for her to hear a few words, ask one or two questions, and she understood everything. Her tone, facial expression, gait, gestures, she took everything into account.
They are not the smartest creatures, they live very little, and they can die for the most ridiculous reasons.
The Shogun took into account that a person is not able to dodge a blade that flies in his direction in a second, but there have been lucky ones. They can be cunning, they can be as good as a priestess from the Narukami temple, and the Shogun knows that a smart person will not go against her. There are few smart people, she keeps them for herself. People are a resource, a goal, and an object for achieving a task. And she's getting fewer and fewer of them.
Watatsumi is taking away her resources.
Shogun examines them, men and women, whose voices may rise by the second, so outraged are they by defeats in battles with a small island. Watatsumi's domain, compared to Inazuma, is like a speck of dust that can be easily blown away. There are those sitting in the hall who have never been on the battlefield in their entire lives, and who held a katana only to escort young soldiers to certain death. The Shogun watches as the old man offers to gather new soldiers as replacements for those who were killed and go back to the island.
"They won't last long, my Shogun!” Confident, he continues to say something to the others, as if Raiden shouldn't care about the details of their plans.
Yes, at first everything went fine, and people coped with her instructions, but now the Shogun is present at the meeting because she does not see the result, she does not see what she thinks is necessary. Half of the people are silent, nodding in obvious incomprehension, and the Shogun's eyes flash bright purple in the dim room when a dull rumble of thunder is heard outside the walls. The Shogun is revered, she only becomes convinced of this when those present switch their gazes to her.
"Speaking while under the control of emotions is not the wisest decision," the Shogun listened to all the discussions, realizing that against several thousand soldiers, their army, for some reason, is inferior. The Shogun demands to know why.
Noboru. She knows the loud old man by his name... his hair, or rather, their absence, which distinguishes him from many others like him, is short in height, and young in voice, and, the Shogun dares to assume, his mind has begun to fade. His suggestions are getting more and more... desperate, when a few months ago, he was actively in favor of soldiers being given uniforms of the best quality, now the subordinate does not disdain to offer the only sons of families to fight without preparation. The Shogun believes that he is revered, and therefore no one openly objects, because it is clear from their faces that the situation is unacceptable.
"The meeting is over.”
It becomes quiet, the tense silence of the heads of families who are not in the best mood. The Shogun sees through them. Doing business in winter is dangerous and risky, and considering that this is an island, they will walk on thin ice.
The first time the Shogun decided not to listen to the advice, she needed someone smarter than a few elders with a dim mind. Silence can say much more than words. This is one of the Shogun's favorite ways of conveying information, there is no unnecessary waste of time, as well as mute communication helps her identify those who are useful to her. Who understands her without instructions, with the look of amethyst eyes that flicker in a dim room, since the Shogun rarely bothers to leave her territory, marked as a workplace. She is in thought, does not need physical and moral, material benefits are meaningless for her, she only requires submission to her will in the name of achieving a goal. The Shogun can sometimes be depressingly silent, which can frighten, depress the spirit, and instill a threat into the soul of a mortal. She looks like a threat, her gaze is always steady, her movements are precise, unmistakable, her decisions are always based on logic and law, there is not a drop of emotion in her. It can be assumed that she knows everything, in her memory there is information about every inhabitant of Inazuma, she is able to list everyone in any order, and it takes her a few fractions of a second to do so.
Sara doesn't know how it happened. She doesn't know why she can't take a deep breath without feeling a sharp stream of burning electricity down her spine. She can only wonder why her wing looks so... scary, why her feathers are falling heavily to the ground too fast.
But Sara knows one thing for sure.
She's in pain.
It hurts terribly, as if someone is slowly picking at her from the inside with the sharpest daggers, and then abruptly twists her. Probably because of this, she spits blood when trying to get up from her trembling knees.
This is not the first time her body has been tested for strength.
But her body stubbornly does not obey, her hands rest on the ground by themselves, preventing her from falling face down, and the girl feels the heat with her fingertips. Her sensitive hearing catches a muffled rumble, Sara hears voices, and they are clearly getting closer and closer. She finally manages to focus her vision, and what she sees beneath her makes her flinch, ignoring the torrent of pain. There's a girl lying under it, a little girl, probably under ten years old. She is shaking like a leaf in the wind, her face is wrinkled in a painful grimace. Sara notices the burns on the children's hands, and her memory is etched with how they ended up here, why everything seems so creepy.
She can't breathe evenly, because Sara abruptly sticks her ear into the quietly snuffling body, trying to hear any signs of life.
Heartbeat, breathing, crying, whatever.
The general does not immediately realize that she is holding the girl's shoulders too tightly, her fingers are dangerously digging into the delicate skin, but the child still does not react. The death of a child is unacceptable!
She tries to get up, tormented by a sense of duty, she will force herself to live and, perhaps, will pull this scoundrel out of the world of the dead, if necessary. Part of her mask has been burned for a long time, so the girl decides to discard the useless item of clothing. She rests her heels on the floor, tying her tortured shoe tighter so as not to fall on the way.
She remembers a loud and quick knock on her office door. Sara could hear the soldier breathing heavily even behind the thick door, and so she immediately allowed him to enter.
The kid, rookie, hastily bowed, and... Sara doesn't remember what he said verbatim. Just that the squad in the southern part needs her help. She remembers the young man's breathless face, he almost jumped on the spot, it was clearly not simple hooliganism or vandalism.
The general followed him as fast as she could, adjusting her uniform and armor along the way. The soldier looked back anxiously, making sure that the general did not lag behind, and Sara picked up her bow and arrows in advance. That's all she can remember now, as she winces from the burning pains in her legs and back. She lifts the fabric of her trousers from her legs, and sees that her skin is darker there than usual, and the bloodstains make this picture worse. She tears the fabric from her sleeves with her teeth to tie it tightly around her leg, hoping that this will dull the pain. Her mouth is dry and has a metallic taste. The girl swallows a lump of fear before bending down and taking the girl in her arms as gently as she can. She is alive, and Sara breathes a sigh of relief when she hears the girl's painful whining.
Sara doesn't see any fire in the room, so she listens. The house is burning from above, as if someone deliberately set it on fire by throwing a torch on the roof. The sharp, hot air strains the general, and she hurriedly searches for a way out, feeling small fingers hug her neck tighter.
The general suddenly hears a scream and recognizes the voices of his soldiers, who probably want to help her navigate the smoky room. There is no water, Sara's flask has been empty for a long time, and her head is spinning. She doesn't like it. She loudly kicks something metallic that she can't see, signaling her subordinates to continue. They shout at it again, louder and fiercer, which gives the general a path to the wall, she runs her hand over it, feeling for an opportunity to get out.
The girl coughs hoarsely and cries, and Sara gets tired of unsuccessfully looking for a way out. Does it make sense if she can create a way out on her own, right? Holding the child tighter, she grabs the dagger with her free hand and strikes between the surprisingly dense boards, hearing an impressive crackling volume. Something tells her that she should put the baby on the floor, but she quickly shakes her head, dismissing this thought. Her hands are shaking painfully, but she breaks the board, and then the second, until she creates enough space for her to crawl through, crouching. It's dark outside, but the scarlet glow quickly changes the mood. A cool breeze greets them with a stream of fresh air and Sara sighs to immediately clear her throat. The girl does not want to let go of her, clinging to the fabric of the uniform with a death grip.
“Madame Kujou! She's here!” the soldiers are shouting as they run up to them
“She's safe, she's safe!”
Sara twitches at the unfamiliar voice, and looks towards the crying woman, who is being held by subordinates.
“Give me my child, you monsters! Let me go to her!”
It takes the General a full thirty seconds to realize that this woman is crying because of her. The fact that the soldiers are holding her seems too cruel to her.
“Let her go.” Sara's voice sounds surprisingly hoarse and weak. She herself did not expect that a strict order would sound like a plaintive request, but the stern expression on her face does its job.
"As you say, General.” they answer, and relax their hands.
"My girl!” the poor mother runs up to Sara, barely able to stand on her feet, “Come to me... “ she holds out her hands, but not expecting tengu to give the child herself.
"It hurts.” The girl cries harder, but she doesn't let go of Sara, as if she's looking for protection in her. The girl swallows nervously, trying to get her throat wet.
Just as Sara decides to bend over to loosen her trembling hands, someone abruptly pushes her to the ground, and the weight of the child immediately falls off her arms. She falls backwards, crippling her wings, and barely suppresses a cry of pain. She hears the clink of weapons, and only notices the bag lying next to her. While the soldiers are dealing with someone, Sara reaches for the bag, and the Eye of the God falls out, hitting the stone with a characteristic ringing sound.
It's...
Oh.
She remembers how she ended up near the village. How the villagers shouted furiously, waving torches, pointing them at the soldiers, who did not spare them in return. Sara remembers how seemingly civilians saw her.
"It's tengu!” they shouted, trying to throw fire at the general, “Hands off our children!”
Sara only now realizes that the villagers could be looking for a way to expel her, like an evil spirit. Similar to how they are driven away with the help of beans, spells. Fire is a universal remedy, and the fact that tengu has wings made fire insanely effective. Something hard painfully brings Sara back to reality, gathering blood in her mouth. The girl frowns when she sees that her soldiers do not know what to do, squeezed by angry rioters. The ringing in her ears is interrupted by another blow to the face and the general sees a stranger in front of him, holding her tightly by the collar.
His face is angry, the veins stand out on his forehead, which is fogged with emotion, but Sara does not allow him to hit her again, sharply twisting his arm behind his back. She gets up from the ground, pushes the insolent man with her shoulder, getting more harm than good from it, and he falls screaming into a pile of ash-blackened snow.
“General Kujou! General! What do you want us to do?” her name is the soldiers who respected her request not to allow themselves to be cruel to the residents.
Sara watches as the man on the ground trudges towards the bag with the visions, bends down to pick it up earlier. She remembers that she came here to pick up five pieces.
There is only one vision left, and this girl, whom Sara forgot, has it...Confiscate it? Perhaps because the girl decided that she would not give up without dirty tricks, so she ran into the house, and the general irritably followed her, feeling a pang of overtaking guilt. Sara herself was much younger when she got her vision, but an order is an order.
She remembers how the girl desperately shrank into a corner of the house, seeing in tengu in front of her only a monster ready to destroy her in one lazy swoop. The girl was shouting something at her, and Sara remembers only a small part of their brief altercation, because the little scoundrel managed to grab a stick and swing at the general. It was not difficult for Tengu to intercept a weak attack, but hitting back would be rude and unwise. Sara just threw the stick away, stretching her arms out in front of her as she slowly approached the girl. She screamed, kicked, and hit too hard for a little girl, and Sara made no attempt to calm her down, knowing that she would only make it worse.
The house caught fire from above, Sara believes that one of the torches was the reason. The strangest thing about this situation was that the girl not only stood still, but also did not allow Sara to leave on her own. The look in the children's eyes was filled with anger and fear, and the general, who was famous for her composure, felt uneasy about it.
Then…
And then the roof burned down, falling on top of them with a loud noise, and in those ten seconds Sara couldn't think of anything better than to open her wings in a very fragile shield and hug the child to her. Even when the scorching debris and ashes fell on her, Sara felt small fists on her.
“Mom.” the girl gives a voice, forcing Sara back to reality again, “Put me down, please.”
“You're safe," mother does as she asks anyway, and the girl smiles at her before giving the soldiers the most angry look she can. How can a little person say so much without words? The eyebrows seemed to be crossed, it was really impressive. She hurries towards them, limping and hissing under her breath, realizing what they need. She pulls the general by the belt, silently asking her to bend down, removes her vision from the leather strap, red, which has already managed to catch a few scratches, and carefully puts it in her hands.
“Do you need this? Take it and leave!,” Her voice is tired, the general is just silent, nodding in agreement.
The Shogun's will has been fulfilled, despite the horrific number of casualties and destruction. And this is only in one village. Sara remembers that face for a long time, those rough hands that could have strangled her if this girl had been taller. She even tried to find out her name, for which she received only disapproving glances from the villagers. Sara goes with the squad back to the commission building to give the collected visions, she catches the gazes of the residents.
They're definitely not happy about her. And it was all so... cruel? At some point, she caught herself that it wasn't worth people's lives.
One of Sara's first adventures as a general did not end on the most positive note, that's for sure. It would seem that the most ordinary child, but she did so much that the general literally drowned in paperwork for several days while the case was being sorted out. The previous general would not have allowed this.
"General," her thoughts were interrupted by a monotonous but pleasant voice, and Tengu doubts that they came to her to spend time having a pleasant conversation.
The Shogun.
"You are more red than you would like," she notes, darting her gaze over the bandages and wings of the tengu,"Has the offender been punished?”
She's talking about the girl. Will she kill her? Something tells the subordinate that she is quite capable of this. Filling her lungs with coolness, she lies that she is. The Shogun is silent, she blinks smoothly, but her gaze is sharp, as if she knows Sara well enough to determine her inability to hide the truth.
"How is your condition, physical, mental?”
Both were lost in an unspoken game of who would be silent the longest.
"It won't affect the next trips, Madam," Tengu has lost the ability to move her limbs on her back indefinitely, but she is sure that she is fine. Shogun couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to feel the pain that a living being feels when blood or tears flow out of it. People think that tears hurt more. Strange creatures.
The Shogun knows that the general lied to her twice in a row.
"This is not the answer to my question," she looks into her eyes intently, demanding, she really wants to know what this body feels, a living body, a soul in which either has unnecessarily succumbed to the system of goodness, or is captured by the desire to ignore the importance of fulfilling her duty.
"The lower left wing is broken, My Shogun, but don't worry, I'm…”
"General, it is not your right to tell me whether I should worry or not," The Shogun feels the snow falling on her hair, she expects her faithful assistant to instantly reach out to take off her cape in order to cover from minor moisture and cold, "The cape will remain on you.”
Is Sara really that predictable? Puzzlement, misunderstanding, but in the end, obedience.
No?
"Allow me, my Shogun," tengu does not obey again, insistently throwing a soft cloth over the shoulders of her body.
"This is not reasonable on your part," this is not a refusal, nevertheless, "This body does not succumb to nature, take care of yours, I need you alive. I cannot understand the motive of your behavior.”
Does it look like... outrage? A well-trained team? The Shogun repeats this too often, that her body is noble and flawless, Sara has heard it many times enough to be able to repeat it even in a dream. The streets of Inazuma are covered with snow, fortunately, the general was not left without cover. As soon as the soldiers noticed her without a top, they panicked, offering their own.
"My duty is to protect you," Sara tilts her head, accepting a cape from one of the female samurai, "May I ask why you ... think about this?”
"It's snowing," the Shogun sighs, crushing the particles of nature between his fingers, "Harder."
Attention to detail.
"Excuse me?
"Last week the snow was much softer," She examines the deserted streets, as if the residents had fled from the disease to their homes, only the guards accompanying them stand faithfully watching.
"Hmm... winter promises to be cruel,," tengu repeats after her, finding it soothing despite the circumstances, "Nature is against us.”
There are problems in the city.
Even if a mortal trembles in front of her, giving out his best words to her, the Shogun never excludes the fact that in his thoughts this person wants to get rid of her as soon as possible, it is obvious that the people are not happy with her, her rule and harsh disposition. People's lives are fleeting, they have needs, desires and ambitions, they may seem the same, so the interests of the majority converge, and the Shogun needed there to be no minorities, everyone's interests should be the same.
A single mind is eternity, which is about to be in the palm of her hand.
Reflections on the future are interrupted by the present, when a rhythmic soft tapping reaches the Shogun's ear, which begins a mental report.
One. Two. Three.
The usual pause.
Four.
Five.
This is the general with the next report. The Shogun allocated some space in her memory to memorize tengu's habits, which she classified as idealistic, since there are no instructions to knock a certain number of times. Perhaps this is a quirk of tengu, nevertheless, the Shogun expects the next step from her subordinate.
"May I come in, my Shogun?" the voice outside the door is firm, with a subtle note of hoarseness, everything is as usual, the ruler does not hear any changes. The general of the Tenre commission differs from the rest in her directness and impressive lack of fear in front of her, and the Shogun allows herself not to hide that she finds communication with her alone more useful.
Perhaps she has found a favorite among everyone, because her tone seems to automatically change when she turns her attention to the general, which gives brilliant hopes for the future of the country.
"Come in, General," the Shogun answers calmly, she watches as the wooden door opens, and the young heiress of the Kujou clan appears in the room, whose appearance she could designate in no other way than tired, "You came later than usual.”
It was not a reproach, more like a statement of fact, the Shogun is looking for an answer, which caused the delay, again, there are no statutes designating such details. Raiden is spinning in his head the possibility of creating such, perhaps specifically for the general, it is too important for the circumstances and its loss would be a huge mistake.
Kujou Sara is silent, she has entered a room large enough to have all the necessary attributes for meetings of all clans. The Shogun may notice that she is not waiting for the news that she would prefer to hear. After all, the general came to her personally, not one of her soldiers. Noble and clever.
"My apologies," tengu's wings twitch barely noticeably, this happens when she puts more pressure on tengu than her coarse feathers are able to hold, "The battle on the island ended in defeat," It is not easy for Sara to present information about defeat, about this, and the Shogun wonders if the general will present a portion of excuses as it was with previous generals. This is probably her first defeat, her first failure in a new position, when she has so much work and tension on her shoulders.
"Accepted," the Shogun mints dryly, this is definitely not what the plan was for.
Suppressing the uprising turned out to be a failure, more difficult than one might have expected, the Watatsumi people are quite strong, sharp and aggressive, the ruler does not detect any physical damage, even though she seems tired.
Fatigue is a sign of a living creature, the Shogun is not familiar with this feeling, she has enough observations, the sight of soldiers exhausted by battles gave her enough information about this. She is silent for several seconds, digesting the situation.
"State everything briefly," it sounded more like a request than an order, the Shogun tilts her head, barely noticeable squinting. She missed the moment when the room went dark. “Retreat from the battlefield due to the appearance of unforeseen foreign allies.”
"Any losses?"
“Only wounded, the enemy side suffered heavy losses, I did not risk the situation, everything was not going in our direction,” the advantage was intercepted not by the number of soldiers, but by the quality, the general would have been able to catch this moment if everything turned out to be less blurred.
"Foreigners, General?" The Shogun looks thoughtfully at the map, the traveler clearly intends to knock everything down, as if it were a handful of sand for her, “She managed to escape from my sword.”
Perhaps this should be taken as a form of condolence, but there is no intonation in her voice so that the general can determine what is meant. Even for Tengu, who has some misunderstandings in the field of emotions, it was quite difficult. The Shogun is unpredictable. To the main problems, a traveler has also been added, appearing as if from nowhere, which inspires doubts in people's minds. There are so many hindering factors, but this is nothing compared to the determination that grows in the Shogun's body with every second. Her will will be done.
"Lady Shogun, you sparkle, " tengu's voice is quiet, she was aware of the features of the body of the ruler of Inazuma, and the dark purple light, which characteristically whistles and scratches silence with darkness, does not confuse her.
The shogun looks in tengu's eyes and does not deceive, and Her movements are frozen, catching herself that her body is not obedient, control is lost. This has not happened before. Nevertheless, she is not deprived of the opportunity to speak.
"Touch my hand, General," she gives a brief decree, which is immediately subject to execution. The current is not new for tengu " it is more native.
Her hand is cold, Sara touched it without thinking, carefully, not wanting to somehow damage the solid body, the vessel that should be protected. It gets warmer when she regains the reality of movement.
"You are free to remove your hand," the Shogun does not remove her palm, she waits for the general to do it, and the wait lasts for seconds.
The seconds seem to last for minutes, the current still tingles, tengu ignores this, probably, as well as permission to relax. The general's hands are covered with cuts, flashing red, burns, calluses, this is a manifestation of a living creature in full form. Strong hands, the fingers of which shot more than a thousand arrows, and made hundreds of swings with the blade of the sword. Hands capable of fighting and defending. The Shogun does not approve of the general releasing prisoners, especially the accomplice of the visions, she does not say that she knows about it. Why? The only thing that keeps the army stable is now holding her hand, as if in an incessant attempt to give them warmth.
"Your actions are senseless and gratuitous, General, however, if it brings you peace, I give you free rein.”
No matter how much the Shogun tries to get into Tengu's head, in which there is a forest of thoughts, her facial expressions remain vague to her. Like an arrow, her gaze is piercing, and she is not looking at her hands, which she examined with special interest, perhaps even curiosity, so incomprehensible is the Shogun. The skin of Tengu's face was pale, so why did the scarlet color on her sunken cheeks attract the Lady's attention? Nature took its toll for thoughtlessly covering the Shogun from the snow, she believes.
"Are you feeling unwell? Do not be silent.” there is no habitual treatment, there is a misunderstanding. They both have a lot of questions.
"My Shogun," a sigh escapes from the general's chest, "The foreigner has her own plans, and she is much more influential than she was originally supposed to be. There's no point in catching her, she'll run away.
She agrees with that. Using powers without vision is a rather threatening ability.
"Take care of the allies, General, nature does not help you more than that. I know you have ideas.”
Sara will definitely have a trace on the traveler, given that the stranger did not express a certain position even in battle, there is a chance to earn her trust. She is remarkable, has blonde hair, white clothes, and is a very talkative short conductor who has the ability to fly and provoke soldiers to attack. It doesn't sound like someone dangerous to Inazuma.
"I'll do it. Madam, please rest.”
She bows and leaves without a glance.
"This body doesn't need to rest.”
The Shogun sighs.