"The man should live," the physician began tentatively. "Though he might not wish to. I am not sure how much damage there is to the brain. There is only so much that I can do."

"I understand. Domo arigato,Doctor -san."

The physician bowed and left the room hurriedly. The guards, sensing Theodore's mood, followed him out. "An eye," Theodore mused aloud to the empty room. He remembered a snatch of a Germanic legend in which the deity Wotan had traded an eye for wisdom. An odd trade, eyesight for insight.

"I shall see that you are treated well while you are in Kurita hands, Frederick Steiner," Theodore vowed. "Though I have closed one of yours, you have opened my eyes and I am grateful.

"You have pointed out what I have chosen to ignore for far too long. Being a simple warrior, even a buso-senshi,is not enough. Likewise, it is insufficient to be a good field commander. I am the heir to my clan and to the Draconis Combine. I must be more than an ordinary samurai.

"For the honor of my clan and for my own honor, I swear to become all that I must. I will do whatever is required. The Dragon must triumph!"

BOOK 2

Tenacity

36

Kanzijankin Reserve, Deber City, Benjamin

Benjamin Military District, Draconis Combine

10 January 3030

"Cousin!" Theodore called as he rose from his cross-legged seat on the greensward. Even where he stood within the shadow of the trees, Constance Kurita could see the pleasure on his face. His mood was far different from the one that had ruled him the last time they'd met together. That had been the day Takashi banished his son to the Legion of Vega.

She was as happy as her cousin. It was too long since they'd been able to enjoy each other's company. But Constance was conscious of her dignity as head of the Order of the Five Pillars, and she maintained her steady pace. Showing haste to meet Theodore would set a poor example for the half-dozen Adepts who accompanied her. Once, she would also have been concerned at how smoothly she walked over the undulating ground of the Kanzijankin Reserve. Today she glided comfortably, her skirts smooth and undisturbed by her step. Her saffron kimono was set off by the red robes of the jukurenshalike a goldfinch among cardinals.

Drawing nearer, Constance was surprised to see the scar that ran from Theodore's central forehead down to the outer edge of his left eyebrow. He had not mentioned it in his letters, nor had Tomoe spoken of it during her short debriefings at the hidden villa where trusted Pillarines oversaw the upbringing of Hohiro and Omi. The scar marked him as a mature warrior, even more than the Katana Cluster he had been awarded in 3028. Nor was the scar the only mark the war had left on him. She noted his thinness. Any trace of fat had long ago surrendered to the rigors of the field. While his increased bodily strength was easily visible, her practiced eye also noted something more intangible in his stance. Gone was the cockiness and brash arrogance of youth, replaced by an assurance of strength and confidence of position.

Seeing Theodore now, she had no doubt that he was a samurai, and a strong one. She wondered how Takashi could have doubted the reports that his son had destroyed so many enemy 'Mechs. The Combine had needed a hero in those dark days of the Steiner offensive when so many planets were threatened by the invading forces. Lost in his obsession with Wolf's Dragoons, the Coordinator had approved the award, but he had confided to Constance that he was sure the numbers were inflated by toadies hoping to flatter Takashi's own vanity. Takashi had left the Katana Cluster awards ceremony to Warlord Cherenkoff of Dieron. He had refused to see the son who had for months communicated with his father only through the routine battle reports of a field commander to the Coordinator. Takashi's actions, or rather his lack of them, had only fueled the bad feeling between them. Father and son had not seen one another since the confrontation on Luthien almost five years ago.

Since that painful day, the relationship between Takashi and Theodore had remained static. Not so the universe around them. Even before the war broke out, a series of events had occurred to plunge the Combine into turmoil. Warlord Samsonov of the Galedon District had bungled the attempt to retain Wolf's Dragoons, and had failed even more miserably to execute the contingency plan that called for the Dragoons' destruction. The result was that several fine DCMS formations were mauled or destroyed in battles with the mercenaries as they escaped to Davion space. Enraged, the Coordinator had ordered Samsonov's execution. The cowardly Samsonov had bolted for the Periphery, taking officers and men from his Fifth Galedon Regulars with him. The ISF had managed to hide the disgrace from the news media, promulgating a story of Samsonov's assassination by a member of Wolf's Dragoons and the seppukuof the Warlord's inner circle of officers who had been shamed by their failures. Constance believed that even the frightfully efficient intelligence apparatus of House Davion had been taken in by the tale.

To replace the missing Samsonov in Galedon, Takashi had transferred Warlord Kester Hsiun Chi from Pesht. That competent officer had found it difficult to restrain his new district's warriors from pursuing a blood feud against Wolf's Dragoons. The war-within-a-war against those mercenaries had crippled efforts along that section of the Davion front until Chi finally managed to assert himself and coordinate efforts with Warlord Shotugama in the neighboring Benjamin District. Despite that, the Combine forces made little headway. Not even Takashi's waking from his dream of revenge and taking direct interest in the Davion front had been enough. There were few successes.

In what Constance believed to be an error in judgment, Takashi had filled the gap in the quiet Pesht District by naming her father, Marcus Kurita, its Warlord. Certainly, Takashi could not afford to have the ambitious Marcus waiting for an opportunity to strike at the Coordinator's back, but making him a Warlord again was dangerous. Yet the move had taken Marcus from close proximity to the Coordinator's person, and intrigue on Luthien had shown a dramatic decrease since his transfer to Pesht. Knowing that units of Pesht Regulars had gone to aid the fighting in the Rasalhague District worried Constance. Rasalhague had been her father's old power base.

The removal of Marcus as head of the Otomo bodyguards had rendered moot the putative cause of Theodore's exile. The way should have been clear for him to step into the traditional post of Heir-Designate. But then the war had begun, and Takashi breveted a little-known Tai-sa,intensely loyal to the Coordinator but a cipher in imperial politics, to the office. There had been no word from Theodore on the issue. He had no time to worry about family quarrels and empty honors.

That would change soon. As would so very much else.

Signaling her monks to remain at the edge of the trees, Constance continued on alone to where Theodore stood waiting. They exchanged bows.

"What is the news that you could not send by messenger?" he asked.

"The war is over," she stated simply.

Theodore froze, lids shuttering his eyes to a narrow, suspicious glare, but Constance ignored it. "My agents on Tharkad report that Archon Steiner has called off the Commonwealth's offensive," she went on calmly. "She plans to consolidate her gains and concentrate reserves on contested worlds. The DCMS's counterattacks have proven too strong for the Lyrans. All indications are that she has advised her Davion allies to do likewise."