Hideaway Strath taigiroku

kyn-dono tries to explain. satsu imagines he has had many chances to do so with others, judging by the quick manner of his explanation. the absurdity of his "strike first" policy cannot be expunged by any measure of explanation however.

the family did nothing but defend themselves.
the fact that the daimyo's second-in-command had attacked a child aside, there was no reason for an adult to cross from one han to another, and certainly no betrayal on the part of the family.
this man, this wound collector.

satsu wondered if this was the same mentality that got her father killed.
had he deserved to be usurped? did her brothers deserve to be slaughtered? had they been betrayed or had they done the betraying? to satsu, it sounded as though kynareth did not understand how the concept worked; but she was ignorant too, having never experienced such a thing.

i do not understand.

from the sounds of it, betrayal was commonplace for kynareth. this was not so for satsu.

i, i mean — it is terrible what happened. i know that much. it is amazing that you survived, kyn-dono, sir. you have built yourself up to something great again. she was fumbling, wanting very much to be respectful for the tiger lord's evident prowess and the immensity of his loss, but at the same time, satsu openly disapproved over his tactics.

—but in knowing how that feels, and having rebuilt your han to such a grand scale, why would you take all of that and choose violence? would it not be better to be peaceful. you are a warrior and i am not; perhaps by virtue of that ignorance i will never understand.

she fell silent then, contemplative.