The Emporer of the Reed.
Dreamed I was an emporer of a small nation on a new world. I was master of some sort of martial art involving a long reed. The purpose of the reed was to show that thin and fragile could still be dangerous. Sometimes by bending in the direction of maximu flexibility/weakness we suddenly find our strength.Like the reed I used that had been notched out in the final contest. When bent into a circle it made for a very strong sheild, then a ring to capture and disarm my opponent, allowing the woman I'd chosen to test for emporess to lead the rest of our team to safety.
I was sparring in the common room of an inn with one of my soldiers when I overheard a woman complaining that she would be a better leader than the current emporer. So I listened, she had some good ideas, but seemed to lack one essential element, experience leading people. So I arranged for her to be brought to the residence (there really wasn't a palace.) She was very frightened at first, but soon as she thought there was no getting out of it, an intermediary gave her leadership of an exploration group, of which I was a member, and to all appearances the weakest of the group. She thought she was being sent to die. My captain explained that he'd been on several of these mission, the first of which he'd commanded, in fact, and nearly everyone had survived. He explained that he was not the leader of the mission, she was, he'd learned that while he had skills, he was content with his current command. He was just no a big picture kind of guy, after all was said and done. The emporer would not have asked this of you if he didn't think you were able. She then thought it was because the emporer wanted to bed her.
"Yes, but only if you are everything you say you are" he joked.
There followed about a half dozen scenes of exploring, training in the reed and other arts, her discovering that I had very extensive unarmed and improvised combat skills, trapping and hunting skills, and was the group's sniper. She also began to have very strong feelings for me and the group as a whole. At one point she caught her captain reporting something to me, I quickly covered by saying my curiosity got the better of me and I wrangled it out of him. I ended up helping the captain dig and cover the latrines as I had gotten him into trouble. But at least her disipline was fair, given what she knew.
At the edge of our explorations we came across a race of giant sloth like creatures, who seemed to have some form of communication and used tools. We were attacked and she had to decide to fight it out, or o run, running won out, as the empire needed to know what was found. She had to decide who to leave to delay the pursuers, and how many. I volunteered, along with one of the younger soldiers who'd showed great promise. She overrode the younger soldier, but asked me to delay then follow immediatly along a different route, lead them away into a nearby canyon. She sent someone ahead to leave me a rope and to cover me with the sniper rifle. It was a good plan so I went to face the sloths with my collection of reeds.
I actually defeated several of them with the reed circle and pole, disarming and tripping them. poking hole in their arms and legs where I hoped there would be no permanant damage. Eventually one of them appeared and pulled the others away. He sat on a rock opposite me, putting down his obsidian blade. And sitting unarmed. I set the ple down and released the circle so it hung limply then dropped it. I didn't have a place to sit other than on the ground so just squatted so we were at eye level I then drew a figure of myself on the ground and said my name. There were mutterings and sounds I knew were language. He gestured to himself said something, then his tribe and said something else. I did the same. I took off my necklace and pointed to the direction we came from and handed it to him. He did the same and we both stood and ran off in the direction we had come from. I caught up with the team as they were making their way to the pickup point, the captain arguing that we should go back and rescue me. Not needed, of course. There were many hugs all around. And several of the younger team members forgot the ruse and saluted. Give my emporess credit she picked up on it an asked "who are you, really." and "You were testing me." and "I fell for you."
I game my name, "Yes" and "Me Too, from the night I heard you in the tavern." Being who I was I didn't want to make a big deal about it at the time. I needed to know that she was able to genuinely lead and love the people as I did. Democracy will come, people will demand it in time.
She was angry, but she was also proud of herself. I told her she was going to have to get over it, she had a lot to do, because I was going back to visit and negotiate with our new found friends, lets hope that eating the ambassador is not part of their culture.
I was sparring in the common room of an inn with one of my soldiers when I overheard a woman complaining that she would be a better leader than the current emporer. So I listened, she had some good ideas, but seemed to lack one essential element, experience leading people. So I arranged for her to be brought to the residence (there really wasn't a palace.) She was very frightened at first, but soon as she thought there was no getting out of it, an intermediary gave her leadership of an exploration group, of which I was a member, and to all appearances the weakest of the group. She thought she was being sent to die. My captain explained that he'd been on several of these mission, the first of which he'd commanded, in fact, and nearly everyone had survived. He explained that he was not the leader of the mission, she was, he'd learned that while he had skills, he was content with his current command. He was just no a big picture kind of guy, after all was said and done. The emporer would not have asked this of you if he didn't think you were able. She then thought it was because the emporer wanted to bed her.
"Yes, but only if you are everything you say you are" he joked.
There followed about a half dozen scenes of exploring, training in the reed and other arts, her discovering that I had very extensive unarmed and improvised combat skills, trapping and hunting skills, and was the group's sniper. She also began to have very strong feelings for me and the group as a whole. At one point she caught her captain reporting something to me, I quickly covered by saying my curiosity got the better of me and I wrangled it out of him. I ended up helping the captain dig and cover the latrines as I had gotten him into trouble. But at least her disipline was fair, given what she knew.
At the edge of our explorations we came across a race of giant sloth like creatures, who seemed to have some form of communication and used tools. We were attacked and she had to decide to fight it out, or o run, running won out, as the empire needed to know what was found. She had to decide who to leave to delay the pursuers, and how many. I volunteered, along with one of the younger soldiers who'd showed great promise. She overrode the younger soldier, but asked me to delay then follow immediatly along a different route, lead them away into a nearby canyon. She sent someone ahead to leave me a rope and to cover me with the sniper rifle. It was a good plan so I went to face the sloths with my collection of reeds.
I actually defeated several of them with the reed circle and pole, disarming and tripping them. poking hole in their arms and legs where I hoped there would be no permanant damage. Eventually one of them appeared and pulled the others away. He sat on a rock opposite me, putting down his obsidian blade. And sitting unarmed. I set the ple down and released the circle so it hung limply then dropped it. I didn't have a place to sit other than on the ground so just squatted so we were at eye level I then drew a figure of myself on the ground and said my name. There were mutterings and sounds I knew were language. He gestured to himself said something, then his tribe and said something else. I did the same. I took off my necklace and pointed to the direction we came from and handed it to him. He did the same and we both stood and ran off in the direction we had come from. I caught up with the team as they were making their way to the pickup point, the captain arguing that we should go back and rescue me. Not needed, of course. There were many hugs all around. And several of the younger team members forgot the ruse and saluted. Give my emporess credit she picked up on it an asked "who are you, really." and "You were testing me." and "I fell for you."
I game my name, "Yes" and "Me Too, from the night I heard you in the tavern." Being who I was I didn't want to make a big deal about it at the time. I needed to know that she was able to genuinely lead and love the people as I did. Democracy will come, people will demand it in time.
She was angry, but she was also proud of herself. I told her she was going to have to get over it, she had a lot to do, because I was going back to visit and negotiate with our new found friends, lets hope that eating the ambassador is not part of their culture.
posted by Fermius Firefly | 8:13 AM
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