His goal was in sight. While the others dreamed of freedom and national sovereignty, he looked further. They would never understand his vision, he knew, but that was unimportant. They only needed to play their parts, unwittingly setting him on the path to rulership. He looked forward to the power he would wield. There was so much good he would do, so many wrongs he would right. His name would be remembered forever.

4

Governor's Mansion, Kuroda, Kagoshima

Pesht Military District, Draconis Combine

18 May 3018

Constance Kurita stifled a yawn. She automatically arrested the hand that rose to rub her sleep-filled eyes, then remembered she wore no cosmetics to smudge. She allowed herself the luxury of freeing the hard particles that clung to her eyelashes. Then she gave all her facial muscles a hard rub. She was never at her best in the predawn hours, and years of meditation vigils had done little to change that.

The urgent summons brought by her maid had left no time to apply her usual court make-up. She had chosen her simplest garb, an amber-colored Pillarine robe, and bound her lustrous black hair at the nape of her neck after only the most cursory brushing. ShudochoOda would not look kindly on a tardy novice, even if she was a member of the ruling Kurita clan. Within the Order of the Five Pillars, Oda was her superior. As long as she was an active member of the Order, Constance was obligated to respond when he called. He never abused the privilege and was most circumspect about her social position, so far above his own.

The message had mentioned that she was to meet with Florimel Kurita, her great aunt and Keeper of the House Honor. Constance believed she knew the true author of the summons.

The Keeper was the custodian of the Combine's religious, ideological, and social codes. In her charge was the Dictum Honorium, a detailed and complex set of conventions and axioms originally compiled in 2334 by Omi Kurita, daughter of Shiro, first Coordinator of the Draconis Combine. Much like the samurai "house codes" of ancient Japan, the Dictum set forth guidelines for the proper conduct and concerns of a subject of the Kurita clan. Centuries had enlarged that document with the wisdom, and sometimes the follies, of succeeding Coordinators and Keepers. As custodian of the document and the ultimate authority over its contents, the Keeper of the House Honor was a powerful figure in Kurita society and a significant check on the office of the Coordinator. As part of that check, the Keeper ruled the pervasive Order of the Five Pillars, known colloquially as O5P.

Constance herself had joined the Order after secondary school when her sex barred her from further formal education. She knew that O5P was in part a teaching order. Those who teach, she had reasoned, must hold the knowledge that is taught. Her action had galvanized her father, Marcus Kurita, to action. He had arranged for her to be tutored in law by one of the finest lawyers in the Combine, in the hope that she would renounce the Order to follow the lure of knowledge he dangled before her. She had accepted the tutor, but remained with the Order, dreaming of rising to the honored rank of jukurensha.Vowing that his daughter would not be sent to wander as a penniless teacher in the Combine's outback, Marcus then used his influence as Warlord of the Rasalhague District to persuade the masters of O5P to keep her on Luthien, where he might see her during his sojourns in the capital.

Constance had accepted with delight, for she had not relished giving up the pleasures of court life. She also realized that she would better tread the path of an Adept if nearer to the center of power and wisdom.

Constance's musings were cut off as the door slid open to reveal ShudochoDevlin Oda, back-lit by the lamps in the corridor. Oda slid the door closed and walked silently across the mats to the east wall to bow before the small shrine, lit softly by light from the shojiwalls of the corridor. The shrine was in the ancient Ryuboshintotradition, consisting of an intricately carved gilded box in decorative and figurative motifs. The box stood on a pedestal of ivory carved in the serpentine shape of the Kurita dragon. Surrounding it were five candle stands, each of a different material: gold, ivory, steel, teak, and jade. Each material symbolized one of the five Pillars that supported Kurita society.

The shudochoreached out to each of the stands in turn, lighting a red wax candle there. The last one he lit was the Pillar of Ivory, which Constance took as a sign. Ivory symbolized religion and philosophy, the realm of O5P itself.

Oda knelt across from Constance. Though bursting with curiosity, she said nothing, for the shudochogave no sign that speech was allowed. When Constance flicked her eyes in the direction of the low dais that formed the northern end of the room, she found Florimel seated there. At some point, the old Keeper had silently taken her place.

The Keeper was dressed in a floral-printed formal kimono whose colors hinted properly of the spring. Her posture was straight, causing only the absolute minimum of folds in her garb. She was seated on a stool, a concession to her seventy-six standard years. Florimel's cerulean eyes gazed from a porcelain face, composed and painted with formal court make-up despite the hour. The effect denied her years, making her look thirty years younger. Those eyes seemed kindly now, but Constance knew they were capable of sudden shifts. She had seen them flash hard and unforgivingly toward enemies of the realm.

"ShoshinshaConstance," Florimel began. "The dawn will bring a new day, graduation day for the current class of the Wisdom of the Dragon School. This night there is another graduation, one not marked with the pomp and ceremony of a military academy. This graduation will be one of simplicity, pure in its essence and harmonious with the Way. So it must always be for the Order of the Five Pillars.

"We only recognize what is."

Florimel stopped speaking. The silence grew so long that, had the old woman on the dais been anyone other than her great-aunt, Constance would have assumed she had fallen asleep.

"This night we recognize that you, Constance Kurita, are no longer a student. Accept our congratulations, JukurenshaConstance. You shall greet the sun as an Adept of the Order of the Five Pillars."

Constance found herself unable to think clearly. Here, un-looked for, was the goal she had sought for years. She had not thought herself ready. There was so much more to learn.

"Well, child, have you nothing to say?" Florimel asked with a smile in her eyes as well as on her lips.

"I am surprised," Constance said haltingly. "I had not thought to achieve this goal so soon."

A little of the joy left Florimel's smile. "Your journey is far from over, daughter of my heart. You have achievednothing, save another step. An Adept is not perfect. Perfection is a journey, not a goal. Honor is found in that journey. To have achieved the goal, or more accurately, to believe that one has achieved the goal, is failure.

"My confidence in you is great. There will be no failure."

"I am honored by your confidence, JokanFlorimel," Constance replied.

Oda's laugh shattered the tranquil formality.

"You are to be honored by more than that, Constance -sama,"Oda assured her in a dry voice.

Constance looked up sharply at the shudocho,but his expression was closed, his intent shuttered from her view. She turned to her great aunt.

Florimel gave her a comforting look before turning her gaze toward Oda. "Oda-kun,you are less distant from the confusions of youth than am I. If I can show tolerance, so can you. Mind your manners."