MargardKazuki/SessionFive

Prologue

Retired General Menka Jovan (2nd Unit of the 7th Legion) from Lookshy arrives at the Palace of Len Occam one morning. Mizugami is able to indentify exactly who he is. To everyone else, from all appearances it seemed that Judas' very own servant had finally arrived.

The Spring Festival – Day 1

During the second week of Descending Water, the Spring Festival begins (yay!). All classes are cancelled during the time that the festival takes place. All students take part in the festival, with students, faculty and prominent citizens of Cherak attending.

Danic has actually been keeping track of the various activities that her students had volunteered for. There are the few who signed up for the Host / Hostess club, and Ranka volunteered to be subcommittee chairperson for the bonfire event. She expects everyone to at least attend the ball.

The welcoming ceremony proceeds smoothly, and many prominent people give speeches, with Ferem Lasha emceeing the event. Satrap Ferem Amosa presents the final speech, and her presentation excites the crowd with a little bit of Charm-help, and everyone is in a festive mood as they leave the amphitheater to begin the festival.

Ranka is overseeing the cleaning of Dunleavy to see if enough raw material would be available for the bonfire, and she determines that it is enough. There are most likely insufficient resources, so she orders her fixer to arrange for some timber and brush to be delivered. "Some" being a relative term.

Kira finds a nice outdoor stop to relax and read, for the most part ignoring the festivities, though she occasionally goes to play a game just 'cuz.

Judas wanders the grounds "people-watching." He spends a little time looking for Lucrecia, who is being watched at the library by Virtuous Cloud. Their conversation goes well, and he spends a good amount of time talking with her. He learns more about her realm.

Mizugami has a tagalong -- Reflections of Chaos. She is more than happy to try any and every food available. They go about sampling a little of everything, like the plays, the music, and other artful activities.

Jahanna spends most of the morning practicing and she falls asleep part way through. She visits the festival for a short while, trying out some of the games of chance, but doesn't realize for a while that they're being rigged in her favor. After she discovers the truth, she intentionally tries losing some of them, and after a while the booth attendants oblige and let her lose. She gives up.

Kazuki hangs out with the Idiots. Unsurprisingly, Mahiro knows the best places to go. One of the bodyguards assigned to watch over the idiots, Sanosuke, approaches Kazuki in the afternoon and makes note of someone with a pair of twin-hook swords that has been following the group. Kazuki suggests going to an indoor site; they go watch a play, and Kazuki leaves after 15 minutes. The shadow follows him. Kazuki confronts his tail -- twice -- and nothing happens, so Kazuki buys everyone a drink, including the tail, and enjoys the rest of his day.

The Spring Festival – Day 2

It is Mizugami's turn at the host club, and Chisato wins the lottery. Chisato is completely charmed by her host and he finds out about her unusual hobbies as she specifically asks to be taken to all of the haunted houses and fortune-teller booths around the festival.

Kira is sought out by Kasif. He talks to her about the outing from the previous month. He says that if the class is going to continue to go out doing such acts, they need to be more aware of what they are getting into. According to Kasif, the tribe was at least once able to control a powerful water elemental. It all goes back to due diligence. Kazuki wants to go to the Great Grape Debate at first, but the smarter Idiots persuade him to wait for a later time. Tonight is the night of the Ball. They go to Dunleavy to help out there instead.

A couple of hours before the Ball, Danic approaches Jahanna and asks about what she is wearing. Jahanna was planning on wearing the dress that she wore to Kazuki's ceremony in -- Danic suggests going shopping, and explains the sociopolitical intricacies of never being seen at social gatherings in the same dress twice.

The Ball is full of everyone wearing wondrous fashions. The most striking is Ferem Lasha wearing the latest in Southern Fashions, which consists of very little, and what little there is very diaphanous.

Kazuki is politically well-shielded -- as a Margard, it is almost socially acceptable to be a little... off -- and the more powerful members of his family are present. Margard Merta is there, and her wolf is there sitting in the corner. Kazuki's mom is also there, and they spend a lot of time talking together. She is, in addition to being beautiful, also intelligent and obviously physically adept (minister of warfare).

Judas is approached by a huge guy -- 7 feet of muscle. As big as he is, he is still ruggedly handsome, with blond hair and wearing a huge grin that never leaves his face. He is wearing a military dress uniform. He is Admiral Ferem Helkar, admiral of the Cheraki navy. The admiral is using the ball as an opportunity to get to know Judas. The admiral knows and recognizes Judas' lineage thanks to Captain Jaffin. They get along smashingly, and decide to get a drink. Judas' incredible vigor eventually drinks him under the table, though it takes all night.

Jahanna is a wallflower, standing in the corner by the giant wolf since so most people are reluctant to get near the animal. A member of House Margard, Margard Nastani, doesn’t seem to mind the wolf and approaches Jahanna anyway. Though he is dark and creepy, he seems content and happy with his gothness. During the conversation, Jahanna reveals that she wants to be better than she currently is, and he takes advantage of this opening by asking Jahanna to dance. Jahanna agrees, and actually has a good time. She even cracks a smile.

A number of people talk to Ranka. Ferem Amosa is the most prominent person to speak with her. She invites Ranka and guests for dinner. An immaculately-dressed man also approaches Ranka during the evening, with garb that rivals Ranka's own in elegance and style. He is from the Guild, obviously Wood-aspect Dragonblooded. He introduces himself as The Deadly Rose Lord; he has been in Gem before. He has a very amicable relationship with Ranka's father and wants to prolong the relationship into Ranka's reign.

Mizugami's time is not monopolized through the evening. A number of people want to spend time speaking with him. A woman arrives in armor and weapon -- Tepet Elena, Imperial Magistrate -- who speaks briefly with Crow, Mizugami, and a few other people, to let them know that she will be in town for the next few days, before heading out of the party. The person that seems to want to spend the most time with Mizugami is V'neaf Tegraat -- Wise and Knowledgable Advisor to the Foreign Tributary. He is interested in Mizugami's position as a 1st year Speaker, and in what his vision for the future may be. Tegraat is interested in helping Mizugami achieve his goal. Mizugami, always the gentleman, also dances with Reflections and Lasha during the night.

Kira is also visited by many. Abbott Takgana is the one who surprises most by stopping by to talk to Kira for a while. He questions Kira's reasons for being at an event that she has no desire to be at. He lectures her about making choices for herself in the future, to do what she believes is right.

Late in the evening, an unfamiliar woman comes in and approaches Kazuki’s table, asking Trevail to join in. She brings "good news" for Kazuki. Ferem Havelock tells him that the people he rescued from the Ravisher are recovering, though Kazuki cannot remember what she’s talking about.

The Spring Festival – Day 3

It is Judas' turn as a Host. He has signed up for three sessions to cover a whole 6-hour shift. In his first session with "Twilight's Shadow" he takes his charge to his quarters, which has been converted into a battlefield campground. He dresses up as his father and gives a big speech about what is expected of him -- but he changes it into something to try to prove that he's as much a normal student as anyone else. He encourages her to ask questions about him, and at the end he invites her to come to join in his other sessions.

Charge #2 is Kayla, who he has arranged to meet with in the art room, but she just wants to have sex. Judas is conflicted because of his previous commitment, but turns her down and instead has Kayla pose for him while he sculpts her. He discovers that she plans on joining the legions, and from what Judas can tell, she is fairly competent as a swordswoman. Otherwise, she is not interested in learning the deeper truths. Twilight Shadow does show up and, though embarrassed by Kayla's state of undress, she continues to ask questions.

His third appointment is with Ferem Bazu, whom Judas tells to meet at his training circle. Judas uses this session to teach him some combat skills. Bazu is a lot more familiar with Dragonblooded, so Judas answers questions about Lookshy instead.

Kira, Kazuki, and the Idiots participate in the Great Grape Debate. A crowd forms, and Jahanna and Mizugami go to see what's going on, and they are practically dragged into the "debate." Reflections joins in too.

While Ranka is working on stacking the wood for the bonfire, she discovers that Tiger of the Heavens is there. He thinks that Ranka is planning something to do with such a huge bonfire with haunted wood. She didn't have any plans at first. Now an idea has been planted into her mind. Mizugami figured that Ranka was leading the bonfire subcommittee because she would be concerned about potential unexpected "problems" from the haunted wood. Ranka just wanted to do it because it was going to be a big fire.

That night, there are several very purple Dragonblooded. Jahanna burns hers off with a burst of anima. Mizugami mostly washes his off. Kira washes a bit to get rid of the smell, but doesn't bother with the color. Kazuki and Reflections doesn't concern themselves with it as much, though Reflections tries to mask the smell with incense. Ranka goes to the library to speak with Virtuous Cloud to see if anything would happen from burning haunted wood; best she can tell, it won't even be all that spectacular.

Mizugami finds out which party Cynis Elin will be attending, with plans to drop by as well. She is going to a party held by one of the patrician families allied with House Ferem. It turns out to be a formal dinner party. Elin is there to set up relations in Wallport.

The Spring Festival – Day 4

This is the day that Kazuki is a Host. Margard Hikaru is the lucky winner. She is slim and athletic; a skilled equestrian. Kazuki lets Hikaru decide on where to go, and they go around the festival participating in all of the more physical activities. She is particularly competitive, and manages to win as many games as Kazuki does, but at least she manages to have a good time.

Ranka engineers the bonfire woodstack with a small hole in the middle with a crawlspace.

For the rest of the week, Kira accompanies Mizugami for some nighttime social hobnobbing.

The Spring Festival – Day 5

Ranka plots something with the bonfire.

Kazuki, while hanging out with the Idiots, spots Hikaru dominating in a couple of the games and invites her to join them.

Moro, who is wearing an unusual costume, finds Mizugami and Reflections and asks if they are able to play instruments and have the "Blazing Inspiration" charm. It turns out Mizugami plays the flute and Reflections plays percussion; the three join a mortal band missing a few players, and their presence turns the concert into a huge event.

The Spring Festival – Day 6

Kazuki is walking along the quad with the Idiots and Hikaru when Kazuki notices a group of "actors" obviously going to a play. They are wearing reinforced buff jackets and four of the five are armed with weapons -- the fifth doesn't carry weapons, but he is flanked by the others and is obviously in charge.

One of the idiots' bodyguards runs up and says that he recognizes the lead guy -- he's an assassin -- and he's here to get the group out of there. Kazuki, keying on the world "assassin" fires off his speed-enhancing charm and separates himself from the group. The bodyguard takes the group away with little argument but the Idiots insist on watching the battle from a safer distance.

The leader introduces himself, "I am Red Fist Hayoo – I, and the Demons of the Glittering Smoke, are here to take your head." Three of the four that surrounded him converge on Kazuki's position while a fourth throws a weapon that completely misses. Kazuki’s long-forgotten shadow pulls his weapon and joins in the fray, coming in from the other direction.

Kazuki gets far enough away to force his attackers to waste their time chasing after him. Aside from Red Fist Hayoo, there is a large man wielding melon hammers, a man wielding a bo staff, a girl swinging twin broad swords, the guy with the twin hook swords, and one man with throwing axes staying back.

Because of a twist of fate, Kazuki’s classmates also happen to be nearby and hear Red Fist make his declaration. Mizugami and Reflections are exiting a quad building at that very moment, Jahanna exits the pool after a training session, Ranka is at one end of the quad walkway watching the bonfire preparations, Judas is at another end of the walkway enjoying the festivities. Only Kira does not realize what is happening right away, but she catches wind of the incident from others students’ murmurings.

Red Fist's hands glow much like those of the First Pulse Style, except with a bright red color. He charges forward and strikes Kazuki with a clean blow that knocks him back and seriously injures him. Kazuki shakes off the attack and attempts to defend himself by activating his Wood aspect ability, expanding his weapon and countering Red Fist's attack; he strikes and stops the charge, but Red Fist doesn't seem to be hurt by the attack. Animas are already flaring from the flood of essence being thrown into attacks, and it is revealed that Red Fist too is an Exalt.

The rest of his attackers pounce on Kazuki relentlessly; Melon Mallet Man shakes Kazuki’s resolve with an intimidating threat, Twin-Hook Swords Guy catches hold of Kazuki’s weapon, and Twin Broadswords Girl’s attack is only barely blocked as Kazuki swings the grip of his dire lance around to deflect the blades.

Mizugami and Reflections arrive first, engaging Throwing Axe Dude in the back line, and forcing him to flee for fear of his life. Kazuki takes advantage of the arrival of reinforcements, shrinks his lance to free it from Twin-Hook Swords Guy's grasp, and runs back to the defensive line that Mizugami and Reflections have established, forcing the attackers to once again run to catch up. Twin Broadswords Girl is much more agile than her companions and closes the gap with a vicious attack that opens a fresh wound in Kazuki’s chest sending him staggering. At this point, only the shouts of encouragement from his friends coming to his aid are keeping him standing.

Kira manages to take out two of the mortal Demons with shots from her bow that strike true as she advances with her air-enhanced speed – Twin-Hook Swords Guy is killed, and Twin Broadswords Girl is seriously wounded. Reflections crushes Bo Staff Bubba’s defenses and cleaves him in two with her axe.

Kazuki uses Melon Mallet Man’s extended attack reach to his advantage by sticking close to him, forcing his enemy to attack Reflections instead. Reflections is hurt both from his attack and by one of Red Fist’s attacks, but manages to stay on her feet. Mizugami is also hurt but continues to fight on knowing his friends are almost there. Judas has grabbed hold of a cart and is using its improved mobility to try to reach the fight faster, while Jahanna and Ranka are trying to arrive with all due haste.

Kazuki is hurt badly enough that he can barely swing his Dire Lance, so he takes up a defensive stance instead, and he is barely able to fight off Red Fist’s continued assault. Mizugami attempts to break through Red Fist’s defenses, but the assassin proves to be too well-trained. Reflections decides enough is enough and destroys Melon Mallet Man with another vicious swing.

All that remains are the students and Red Fist Hayoo.

As the two sides square off for one more pass, Kira leads off with a shot that strikes home. However, instead of Red Fist Hayoo dropping dead to the ground, his body evaporates into dust, and the arrow that had struck him is suddenly embedded in Kira’s arm. Kira is hurt very badly, and only Reflections’ treatment keeps her alive long enough as aid comes in the form of Crow, Incomparable Ebony Comet, and the Black Helms.

Jahanna rushes off and catches Throwing Axes Dude.

Judas performs first aid on Twin Broadswords Girl. Kazuki receives magical medical treatment from Incomparable Ebony Comet and Virtuous Cloud, who arrives a little later.

Aftermath

The two survivors are taken in for questioning. They reveal that everyone in the freshmen class was being followed. They also reveal that Red Fist had been meeting with an enigma known as Glorious Serpent. A little research reveals that Glorious Serpent is a legendary figure in the criminal underground, and the name has been in use for at least 400 years, but no one really knows who, or what, Glorious Serpent is.

Despite having been hurt and stuff Kira and Mizugami go off to find a bar, and drag Jahanna along. Mizugami hooks himself and Kira up with comfort companions; he tries the same with Jahanna, but she is uninterested.

Kazuki notices that the remnants of the bo staff have been left behind, though all of the other weapons are confiscated. He picks up the pieces and runs off to meet back up with the Idoits. Hikaru is understandably shaken by events and seems reluctant to accompany them that evening.

Ranka goes back to plotting for the bonfire.

Judas goes off to interrogate the two prisoners in private, though Raven is already there. He joins in the questioning – Raven seems especially zealous in his methods, though the prisoners are more than willing to talk. Raven goes to inform the City Guard of his findings while Judas follows up by paying Cynis Yorake a visit -- he passes over some information in exchange for the privilege to find out about Red Fist's return to Cherak before anyone else. Using that information, Cynis Yorake ensures that the two prisoners don’t survive the night, and begins plans to increase his organization’s reach while Red Fist’s own group is still in disarray.

The Spring Festival – Day 7 (The Bonfire)

Kazuki, as usual, hangs out with the Idiots and they go to find Hikaru. She is, at first, hesitant to rejoin their group having been spooked by the previous day's combat. Kazuki, however, convinces her that he will always protect his friends.

Judas and Mizugami hang out and go buddy-buddy and try to come to an agreement on ideals and behavior. They reach an impasse and the status quo remains.

Jahanna mostly sleeps off her hangover, and makes a pained attempt at practicing. Danic finds Jahanna and offers to help with training, and Jahanna asks to be trained in riding.

Kira investigates Glorious Serpent and finds nothing new.

Tiger of the Heavens approaches Ranka again to see if she plans on doing anything. Ranka still seems reluctant. Tiger mentions that he knows someone -- Faneluyo -- who would most likely be interested in doing something with the bonfire. Ranka does have some ideas to make it interesting. She has set some fire powder in the center of the bonfire pile to ignite the fire. But other than that, there is nothing special planned.

When the fire reaches its peak, Ranka flares her anima and starts dancing dangerously close to the fire, inviting other fire aspects to join her. Lasha joins, and Danic even dances with Ranka briefly.

Judas approaches Jahanna and asks why she isn't joining them. Jahanna think's they're only showing off. Judas plays a prank on her by hinting that someone might toss her in; then he armors up. Jahanna runs off.

Kazuki, being the kind of guy his is, at some point takes the broken bo staff and tosses it into the fire, paying a little respect to the assassin that attacked him. Somewhere in the realm of the dead, a hero is born.

At some point while the embers are still hot and smoking, Judas goes to the fire and asks to use the coals for iron body training. Ranka is reluctant to allow him to do so, but cannot stop him. He enters the smoky remains and uses it to symbolically purge his first kiss out. Meanwhile, there is an anathema that suddenly knows of his existence. Several days later, the fire finally completely burns itself out and Ranka declares it safe to clean up.

The last word of the festival is the "WHAAAT?!?" that Kazuki exclaims when his sister finally reveals to him that she was responsible for planning the committee.

Time marches forward...

The next six month pass by quickly and mostly uneventfully. During this time:

Ranka spends lunches sitting with Judas. Judas offers to cook spicy Gem cuisine and eventually manages to succeed in getting it hot enough for Ranka’s palate. She offers to have her chef train him, but Judas is sure that’s such a good idea since he is already training under Chef Huey.

Ranka also goes around to find a good, fun bar for the group to hang out at. She finds one owned by the Guild that is a good candidate. She invites all of the Dragonblooded along, and Kazuki even brings the Idiots with him. When Tiger of the Heavens doesn't show up, she tries to investigate his past and find out more about him -- however, no one seems to know much about him at all. Judas tries to ensure that the members of the underworld never try to take over the bar for their own purposes.

Ranka also has dinner with Ferem Amosa. Ferem Helkar is also at the dinner. Ranka and Amosa bond because of their similar fates.

Judas decides to go on a crusade to free the Ravaged in the city. He approaches Ferem Havelock for assistance, and she willingly accepts taking them in. After some time investigating, he discovers a barracks where 24 of them are kept, and undergoes a mission to free them. He succeeds, and brings them all to Havelock for reintegration into society.

Jahanna spends time continuing to convince her classmates to train for the competition. Kazuki, without realizing how much he is helping, is now bringing an expert equestrian into his fold; he has been training some of the Idiots in Fighting in which other could also participate; and he has been having study sessions with Mizugami and the smarter Idiots. He never had any active intention of taking things to this point, things just worked out this way. Mizugami, however, does not wish to be involved strictly in training, that there are better things in life than a single contest. Judas is still waiting for Jahanna to bring him evidence that she has built a team. Ranka is totally for the contest and participates in the training wholeheartededly.

Those training in swimming with Mizugami have begun showing some proficiency and Mizugami graduates them to swimming in the bay.

Mizugami also goes out to the city to begin his power play to achieve some influence within important circles. He also takes Kira with him to train in The Game. He becomes more heavily involved with the Cherak Survival Council.

Mizugami also gets to know Elin better -- she is destined to become the Trade Legate at Whitewall. They also strike a deal to work as president/vice-president of the Deliberative next year.

After having witnessed the battle in which Kazuki could have easily been killed, the Idiots realize the burden that Kazuki has taken upon himself to protect them. A few of them decide to take up arms and train with Kazuki to increase their combat ability so as to be able to at the very least protect themselves better. Kazuki agrees to train them, using some spears that he had gotten from the zombie dojo months ago. He reworks them into padded staves, and has the Idiots train using him as their practice dummy – Kazuki intends to toughen his body to be able to take hits better, and uses this as an excuse to do so.

Kazuki has also gotten Hikaru to hang out with the group on a regular basis. She’s not so close as to be willing to move in as the others have, but she stops by the Palace for meals and has been helping to teach the other students how to ride a horse.

Kazuki, at one point, also takes Quintero aside and talks to him about his "date" during his stint at the Host Club. It turns out that Quintero got an exceptionally loud and screechy voiced fan-girl, and memories of that day bring a pained expression to his face. Quintero does seem a little more confident – after all, he was with a fan, and he has been joining in on Ranka’s outings. Kazuki sympathizes and promises that things will get better.