Heroes and legends (Day 6, LA)

[Soshi Taira]

Taira looked surprised. "That isn't a common request, Otaku-sama..."

Which of them could he mention in polite company?

After some thought, he offered, "Do you know the tale of Soshi Saibankan?"

[Moto Khulun]

Khulun chuckles and says, “Of course, we heard many tales of Soshi in the desert from the wind.”

[Otaku Imane]

She noted his surprise but did not comment on it. A smile crossed her face at Khulun's response. "Oh you." She laughed musically and looked back at Taira.

"My cousin Sayedda Khulun has such a delightful sense of humour, wouldn't you agree?" There was a little more warmth in her expression now. "Saey-ban-khan? This is not familiar."

[Soshi Taira]

"Hai, she does certainly."

Taira couldn't say he entirely knew how to handle Khulun, but he pushed on. "Saibankan. The man who is now the fortune of justice."

Clasping his hands behind his back, he added, "Born a simple Soshi bushi, he was the man who saw an empire plagued with corruption and injustice, and would change that empire in a lifetime."

[Moto Khulun]

Now this was a story that sounded violent and Khulun says, “I like this already.”

[Soshi Taira]

Little did she know it would be far from violent, at least, not as the core of the tale.

"It is important to understand how justice was administered in the empire, before Saibankan's reforms. In those days, cases were heard by a small set of justices, who held total sway in determining guilt and punishment. They were often hereditary positions, and the men could often rule based on who could better pay them, rather than who was truly guilty."

[Moto Khulun]

"Was order kept?" she asks.

[Soshi Taira]

"A cruel, unjust order."

Taira smiled faintly. "Envision a man who kills a member of your family out of jealousy, but because he has money, is able to walk free."

Glancing at the shrine, he continued, "It was anathema to Saibankan. Here he saw an empire in which honor was disregarded in favor of personal gain, where the celestial order did not provide the safety and stability it promised, but rather an excuse for the strong to prey upon the weak, instead of instructing them and guiding them to serve their lords in search of a better next life."

[Moto Khulun]

“Then we kill man in blood feud, simple-simple,” she says.

[Soshi Taira]

"What if the judge refuses the feud? What if trying it would get you imprisoned? Your family lands taken?"

Taira sighed. "The law was arbitrary, and easily subverted."

[Moto Khulun]

"What if the judge refuses the feud? What if trying it would get you imprisoned? Your family lands taken?"

Taira sighed. "The law was arbitrary, and easily subverted."

“Things different here,” she says in response.

“Softer.”

[Soshi Taira]

Taira laughed. "I doubt you'd say as much if you had to step into my lord, Soshi Ideyoshi's court, but that's beside the point. The law back then served the wealthy, to the exclusion of justice. It sheltered the wicked, or the persuasive, and left justice to the whims of the judges, who were, unfortunately, not uniform in their virtue."

[Moto Khulun]

"So get to part where Soshi kills enemies and sets things right," she says.

"The good stuff."

[Otaku Imane]

The Fortune of Justice? Good choice.

She listened intently as Taira spoke and Khulun interjected. "Well I for one appreciate the context Soshi-san. It sounds as though the Empire was in a bad way. When did these events occur?"

[Soshi Taira]

"Around the year 150, after the formation of the empire."

Taira sighed.

"The changes started as the emperor, Hantei Genji, grew sick of the perversion of justice in his land. In his search for real justice, he began to canvas the land, looking for someone who upheld that quality before personal gain. His search took him about the empire, until he finally heard of a man named Soshi Saibankan, a judge known for his eccentric, yet remarkably just rulings."