Yorinaga, as always, fought a self-possessed battle. He tried to concentrate his fire, as was his custom, on one part of his foe's 'Mech, but Kell's twisting and dodging made that difficult. Yorinaga used his medium and small lasers to keep Kell at bay while his PPCs cooled, and he staggered their use so that Kell could not advance while the Warhammerran hot.

Some observers had described the fight in terms of a martial arts match, while others had regarded it more as an odd dance-of-death. Ishiyama had tracked down all the accounts of the battle, which had so melded in his mind that he felt a perfect understanding of each move and its complicated nuances. It disturbed him deeply to understand the battle so well, yet not be able to understand how his idol could have met such disgrace.

Finally, when Kell's medium lasers seemed to have knocked out the Warhammer'sright PPC, he sailed in at Yorinaga. To meet him, Yorinaga's right PPC came up and loosed a bolt of argent electricity. The energy slashed into the Archer'sright shoulder, searing completely through it. Within a heartbeat, Yorinaga's shot dropped the Archer'smelted right arm to the ground, and the maimed 'Mech stumbled to its knees. Kell was finished.

Yorinaga's Warhammer,barely thirty meters distant, leveled both PPCs at the stricken Kell Hound. Silver-blue energy erupted from both weapons, but the bolts missed their intended target and instead melted sand into glass beyond Kell. Morgan Kell, in desperation, triggered two flights of LRMs, which sent forty missiles flying from his 'Mech's torso against Yorinaga's Warhammer.

Though the flight was too short to arm the warheads, the missiles slammed into the Warhammerand battered it savagely. Some propellant tanks exploded and washed the Kurita Mech in sheets of golden-red fire. Other missiles smashed and dented armor plates, or crushed heat sinks and shattered joints. Yorinaga's Warhammer,though it remained standing throughout the onslaught, might have been a toy abused by a hateful child.

Yorinaga trained all his operable weapons systems on the Archeras it rose to its feet, but could not score a hit. It seemed as though Yorinaga's Warhammerrefused to acknowledge the target's existence. Ishiyama had even heard the stories of MechWarriors present at the battle who said that Kell's dead Mech vanished like a ghost from their instrument readings. While lasers flashed and PPC lightning burned the air into ozone around his machine, Morgan Kell did only one thing. His Mech, though not built for it, bowed as best it could toward Yorinaga.

Ishiyama remembered the shock in the voices of MechWarriors who had witnessed the barbarian mimicking their traditions. They waited for Yorinaga to destroy him, then to give them the command to destroy the rest of the Kell Hounds. Instead, when Yorinaga's voice rilled their ears, they heard a simple haiku:

Yellow bird I see

The gray dragon hides wisely

Honor is duty

Some believed that the enemy's missiles had injured Yorinaga and that this was his death haiku, but it was soon followed by his order that the regiment withdraw. One Chu-i,a Lieutenant recently attached to the unit, protested that the Tai-samust be injured and out of his mind. At that, Yorinaga turned both PPCs on the Chu-iand melted his Pantherin a hellish whirlwind of lightning. All understood, then and there, that Yorinaga had some reason for his actions, and so they obeyed him absolutely.

Up to that point, Ishiyama could accept all that Yorinaga had done, for he had acted honorably. He did not surrender. As his men withdrew, all that Lord Kurita would have lost was a Pantherand the chance to take the world. But, so the whispered stories went, Yorinaga cracked his 'Mech's canopy and tossed out both of his swords to where Morgan Kell could retrieve them.

After the battle on Mallory's World, Yorinaga had traveled to Luthien to report in secret to the Coordinator. It was said that he asked for leave to commit seppuku,but that the Coordinator denied him the honor. Instead, Yorinaga was exiled to the monastery on Echo V, and had been there ever since. Aside from this visit by Ishiyama, the only contact with the outside world had by Kurita Yorinaga-ji—the jiappended to his name to signify entry into the monastery—was his annual request that the Coordinator permit him to commit seppuku.

Ishiyama reached over and picked up the small hammer. He struck the gong softly, but with enough power for the sound to penetrate the paper walls. Again he struck it, again and again until five distinct tones rang out, each one filling the dying echo of its predecessor. After the fifth sound, Ishiyama replaced the hammer, lowered his head and waited.

Slowly, as befitting its great antiquity, the door slid back. Even through the hood of his visitor, Ishiyama could recognize the face. The glittering dark eyes and the long, thin nose lent Yorinaga-ji a noble aspect many men would have killed to possess. Yet Ishiyama could see from the deep creases around Yorinaga-ji's eyes that exile had not been kind to this man.

Yorinaga-ji, moving with the fluid grace natural to a superior MechWarrior, squatted inside the tea chamber and slid the door shut. He turned slowly, but Ishiyama knew, despite the respectful inclination of the man's head, that Yorinaga-ji studied the room the way a field commander might survey a battlefield. Though Ishiyama had expected some hesitation when his visitor saw the red mat on the other side of the table, Yorinaga-ji gave no sign that he noticed.

The MechWarrior-monk crossed to his position at the table and knelt on the rose pink tatami.He never looked in Ishiyama's direction. Instead, he bowed deeply toward the Coordinator's empty position, and held the bent-over position for longer than most men could have tolerated. Then, slowly, he straightened up.

Ishiyama, distracted by the crest worn over Yorinaga-ji's breasts, and on the sleeves and back of his kimono, hesitated and almost spoiled the whole cha-no-yu.The crest, showing a fierce yellow bird reflected in the eye of a dragon, had been born in the first line of Yorinaga-ji's haiku, and formed an image of his disgrace. All Draconians knew that the Yellow Bird was the Dragon's only enemy, and Yorinaga-ji had retreated from his chance to kill the Yellow Bird when he saw it.

Ishiyama salvaged the ceremony by bowing deeply to the Coordinator's position and holding the bow for even longer than Yorinaga-ji had. He then bowed to Yorinaga-ji and held that bow for nearly as long as his bow to the Coordinator.

"The Coordinator says, Komban wa,Kurita Yorinaga-ji." Ishiyama's voice, barely more than a whisper through his mask, came almost as an echo of words from the absent Coordinator's throat.

Yorinaga-ji bowed, but made no reply.

Ishiyama lifted the blue tea bowl up onto the lacquered table. Using Urizen's ladle, he dipped steaming water from the tea urn and brought it down slowly enough for the steam to form a thick white curtain between the urn and the table. In three fluid motions, he filled the bowl with water, releasing a cloud of steam with each move.

As the steam dissipated, Ishiyama again whispered. "The Coordinator says he wishes to apologize for not replying to your annual request to commit seppuku.He admits that his own weakness has kept him from contemplating this life without you. He says that he has never replied because he could only deny your requests, and that denial would bring you pain."

Again, silently, Yorinaga-ji inclined his head toward the invisible

Coordinator. He paid no conscious attention to the man acting as the Coordinator's surrogate because, as long as the other man wore the black costume, he did not exist. Yet, the tea master's skill was such that, as he added crushed tea leaves to the water and mixed them with so dexterous and easy a motion of the whisk, Yorinaga-ji relaxed unconsciously for the barest of moments.