This scroll is sealed with the personal chop of Bayushi Kachiko and is accompanied with a bundle of travelling papers.

Ayami-san

My informants in Ryoko Owari Toshi tell me that you are a magistrate of

considerable skill. I am to understand that in recovering the fine sake from
Kawacho, that you ended a bandit threat to the region. My little birds also tell me
that there may have been some malignant influences that had been involved in the
unpleasantness. Well done.

It was important that the sake make it to the wedding at Shiro Kyotei on time.
The Blue Frog Sake is my personal gift to the couple. I felt, as you were responsible
for salvaging the situation, it would be appropriate for you to sample the finest
sake in the Empire by attending the wedding in person. After all, it was the sake
that you recovered. Doji Hotaru-sama has been made aware of your service to me,
and she has provided travelling papers at my request.

I have had several pleasant conversations with your grandmother. She is a very
wise woman. She has compared the politics at Kyotei Castle to that of the fable of
The Mirror of Matsuyama! How apt a comparison it is! I presume you have been
busy with your magistrate duties in Kawa Province and may not be familiar with
the situation, therefore I will let you know the subtleties.

Twenty years ago, the Damasu family of the Lion Clan ruled the Golden Valley
from their stronghold at Kyotei Castle, which lies along a merchant’s road between
Otosan Uchi and Toshi Ranbo. The castle and the nearby town of Chikuzen are
strategically located between Lion, Crane, and Phoenix lands, making the castle
one of many witnesses to bloodshed over the last several centuries. Almost twenty
years ago, Tsume Retsu, a vassal to the Doji family of the Crane Clan, conquered
Kyotei Castle by force of arms. Lord Damasu Kojima and the entirety of the
Damasu family fell in battle. However, the Doji had not ordered Retsu to take such
drastic action, and since then the Doji’s diplomatic arm finds itself busy trying to
hold back the vengeance of the Lion Clan and assuage fears of further aggression
toward the Phoenix.
Rumors have always swirled that the castle is haunted by the Lions who fell there,
if you believe in such things. Perhaps it is cursed, for after seventeen years of ruling
the Golden Valley from Kyotei Castle, Lord Retsu was discovered dead in his very
chambers. A search went out for the culprit, and a castle guard was charged with
the lord’s murder and executed.

To ensure peace in the Golden Valley, Tsume Takashi, son of Lord Retsu, is to be
wed to Phoenix Clan bushi Shiba Itsuyo, daughter of Lord Shiba Katsuda of
Nikisake, a neighboring Phoenix Clan city. As you may know, Nikisake is the city
that Lord Retsu threatened before his death. This is purely a political match, and
in fact, the couple has met only once before, when the engagement was sealed.
There is no love between them—at least, not yet anyway—but such is expected in
Rokugan.

A wedding’s importance is measured by the caliber of its guests. Although the

Tsume family is but a vassal family, they are being permitted to marry into the
lead family of a Great Clan. The Crane and Phoenix have sent the most prestigious
guests, and most of the other clans have sent a delegate or two in order to win the
favor of the new couple. Notably absent are the Crab Clan, who have deemed that
the journey is too far and too great a distraction from their main mission on the
Carpenter Wall.

Be vigilant on the roads in the Golden Valley, as famine and war have left the
roads precarious, and bandits are said to be problematic. Perhaps I need not
include such an admonition given your recent exploits, but your safety is important
to me as I would fear your grandmother’s wrath if something were to happen to
you while representing my interests. This wedding is important to our Clan.

Lady Shosuro no Bayushi Kachiko