dream lanterns

Hattori knew things were tumultuous in Nihon, there was always conflict in some form or another but to hear that- it had his brows furrowing deeply indeed. He could already think of the names of leaders and clans who would be vying for the throne, rallying their forces to seize what they thought could be theirs. He knew that Iga, in whatever state it now was in, would be vying for the throne as well. Better armed than most, but brute force would not guarantee victory, there were so many cards sprawled out on the table. So many vectors and vectors, things that could go wrong, shift things from bad to worse. Had he hands they would have been pinching the bridge of his snout.

"It is not surprising." He said, noting that she did seem disturbed by these turn of events. Perhaps she'd had a personal stake that had been knocked off the board? "Nihon has always been and will always be a land of change. Is that why you are here? Did you lose?" He pressed, a rather pushy question to be honest. But with markings like that surely she'd been on the board somewhere.