Hohiro shook his head slightly. "Neither of us placed much weight on the accomplishments on Marfik, because we realized that, while they required courage and cunning, they merely attested to your ability to follow orders. No, we were more impressed by the raid you organized against the stronghold of renegade units on Najha during the Ronin Wars. It was an extremely well-organized and executed 'Mech action for a leader who was only eighteen years of age."

"Again you credit me for what was my good fortune." Shin felt the hot flush of embarrassment over his cheeks. "When the renegades tried to destroy our unit's training center because they hated us for being yakuza, it came down to giri.It was my dutyto my compatriots and to those who had given us the honor of becoming MechWarriors to lead my cadet company's defense. Had the renegades known the base area as we did, or if their 'Mechs had not suffered equipment failures during the fight, I would not be here talking to you." The memory of a Centurionpointing its autocannon at the cockpit of his Panthersuddenly hit Shin. If that cannon hadn't jammed I would have been killed.

Tarukito watched Shin for a moment, then bowed his head slowly. "After so many years of soldiering with arrogant warriors who seek nothing but personal glory, your humility is as refreshing as it is undeserved. Your career since Najha has been exemplary. I look forward to your taking command of Hyo company."

Hohiro nodded in agreement with Tarukito's assessment. "We will have it your way, then, Yodama- san. I hope, in addition to your skill and experience, you will grant me some of your good luck as well."

Shin bowed. "I pledge all that I have and am to your service."

Tarukito smiled broadly. "Excellent! Now we need fear no one." He clapped his hands twice. "You were summoned here for tea, and that is what we shall have. After that, Tai-iShin Yodama, you will have the run of Edo and a chance to become acquainted with your new home."

* * *

The rings around the world of Turtle Bay were etched across the night sky from horizon to horizon. The world's shadow slowly blackened the rings as evening wore on, but the furthest reaches still caught enough sunlight to burn brilliantly in crimson, purple, and gold. Though Shin had witnessed the effect during the DropShip trip coming insystem, it was entirely different looking up at the colors from the ground than from in space.

Shin stopped where he was, gawking like a tourist. This world is certainly more beautiful than any other where I have lived. I hope never to lose my sense of wonder for a sight so magnificent.

After some moments, Shin shifted the unopened bottle of sakefrom his left hand to his right and set off again, carefully reading the street signs directing him through the hilly Edo landscape. With all the planet's heavy industry in space, mining the asteroids in the rings and refining the ore into the raw materials, the city of Edo was lovely and serene and free of large industrial complexes. He caught himself remembering the words of his oyabunback on Marfik. "We are civilized, Shin," his chief used to say, "and therefore should live in a civilized way." Myoyabun would have loved this place.

Shin's path took him down a hill and through a darkened gate. He heard the hum of electronic equipment in the shadows, but nothing and no one kept him from passing through.

The roadway wound off to the left and up the hill. As he turned the corner, his destination came into view.

The building had been styled after castles raised in Japan fifteen hundred years before. Massive stoneblock walls formed the foundation of the seven-story-high tower. Each level covered slightly less area than the one below it, tapering the structure gracefully to bring the hill's natural lines to fulfillment. The eaves of each level curled up at the corners into ferocious dragons'-heads that stared down at the approaching MechWarrior. Beneath the eaves, the gentle flickering of candles showed through the shojipanels to silhouette the intricate patterns of the wooden guard-rails around each level's balcony.

Shin let himself smile with true pleasure at the building. The way the rings hovered overhead and the two stands of pine on each side balanced the castle is perfection. The architect was a genius and the landscaper an artist.He mounted the steps up to the broad, flat courtyard before the towering building, then soundlessly crossed the wooden bridge over a white-stone river to the entrance.

Two men bowed to him as he entered the foyer. As Shin returned their bows and slipped his boots off, one man carried the bottle of sakeaway. Shin frowned, but a reassuring look from the remaining man told him the rice wine would be decanted and presented at the appropriate time. Just so long as they satisfy themselves it is not poisoned.

Shin pulled a pair of black slippers from an alcove above where he had placed his boots and donned them. Wordlessly, he followed the remaining servant through the house, marveling at the beauty of the place. Someday, somehow, I will live in a palace like this.

The beautifully painted shojidivided rooms from the wood-floor hallways. In some rooms, the furnishings were quite modern and contained everything from tables and couches to holovid viewers and even holographic gaming tables. With one exception, the young men lounging in the room laughed and drank raucously.

The one dour individual wore no shirt, but Shin had to look twice to be absolutely certain of the fact. Though the man was attempting to be stoic, his expression suggested that he wanted to scream aloud, and that he probably would have if his peers were not in the room. On the left side of his chest, a black line-drawing of a dragon coiled from shoulder to waist and around—Shin surmised—to his spine in the back. The dragon's tail ran down the man's arm to just below his elbow.

That is the first stage in getting a tattoo in the old way, with paint and a bamboo needle. If that fellow thinks it hurts now, wait until they go back in to give the dragon color and life.Shin grinned and nodded a salute to the man, which seemed to briefly relieve his pained expression. He must have done something special for hisoyabun to authorize a tattooing.

Shin's guide led him up a cedar stairway, then paused next to a shojipanel. He drew it aside and waited for Shin to pass into the chamber before closing it and departing silently.

Shin knelt and bowed to the room's only other occupant. "I apologize for intruding on your valuable time. My gratitude knows no bounds that you have made this visit possible." Shin brought his body up, but did not make eye contact with the other man. "I am Shin Yodama, born on Marfik in the seventeenth year of Takashi Kurita's reign."

The skeletally thin old man across from him bowed respectfully, but remained aloof. "In the name of the Ryugawa-gumi,I, Ryoichi Toyama, welcome you to Turtle Bay and Edo." He slipped his left arm from the gray silk kimono he wore and bared the left side of his body. 'This I got when admitted to the Dragon River Gang in the first year of Takashi Kurita's reign."

Though similar in design to the infant tattoo Shin had seen downstairs, the oyabun'stattoo showed an artistry from another era entirely. Even the bullet-wound scar on the older man's stomach could not rob the forty-five-year-old design of its exquisite power. The dragon, as it rose and fell with the old man's breathing, seemed to come alive. Shin could have sworn he heard the rustle of scales and the scraping of the beast's talons across the man's ribs.