Northstar Vale Surgery is just stabbing something back to life.

Set after the Vesp/Reiko thread

In the evening Hime felt a chill descend upon the vale. The heat of the day was slowly fading, although some level of humidity would persist at a comfortable level and give them all a relaxing blanket of warmth as sleep came upon the members of the empire.

From among the trees came tiny drifting lights. As the sky darkened they became stronger, brighter. They rose from tangled branches in most cases, or the parched grass of the rolling hills. Meanwhile, the ponds and rivers within the vale sprung to life of their own in the form of frog song. 

It would have been lovely, had it not been so immeasurably dull. A deep sigh pulled its way out of Hime as she prowled along, She found the scent of a rabbit among the conifers but did not pursue it, despite the feeling of hunger in the depths of her belly. She did give a cursory glance of the fields - perhaps to seek out a guardian to order in to a hunt - but saw only the scattered lightbugs.

Another deep sigh came to her then, and she tasted something in the air. Her brow quirked, her lips pursing in to a hm? There was something familiar there, too... Sweet milk, and -- Reiko? But why would the Empress carry the scent of blood with her...?

Pacing by the no longer blooming trees, she padded around back and forth as fast as her shaky legs would allow. The children were asleep and fed, and the Empress was still furious after the poor excuse of a conversation with Vespera had all went down. It felt like she was stuck, constricted in all directions, bound in this moment and all she wanted was to rip free from this cocoon. Even as her legs screamed in agony and wanted nothing more than for her to rest, the pain was minor to the bubbling indignation that the Empress felt. 

The heat and humidity burned at her Takeshi inflicted wounds, her neck felt stiffer than ever and yet, her mind whirred with possibilities, possible solutions, whatever had to be done had to be done right the first time around so he couldn't retaliate... that was the one certain thing she knew of. 

And like a blessing, Hime appeared. In a sick satisfaction, Reiko offered a sliver of a smile in her direction, as if this woman, the one who had seemed so despicable for so long might hold all the answers. But how, if she was in cahoots with Takeshi after all, how can Reiko get advice from her to get rid of this Emperor problem of theirs without alerting her, and thus, informing him of the plots his loving wife was finally concocting.

As she followed the scent, then the sound of pacing, Hime came upon her sister. Her usually fluffy coat was tangled. There were murky stains in some places along her neck, a ragged quality to the Empress that Hime found utterly unbecoming. She took notice of the way her sister moved - not with the grace of her station, but in the manner of a weakened animal. Her first thought was, you have become prey, and she was immediately repulsed. The scorn she felt did not register on her face, though. Reiko turned to regard her with a thin smile, one that darkened her features in an eerie manner Hime was unaccustomed to seeing. It was like looking at the mirrored surface of the lake.

A brief frown contorted Hime's own features as she closed the distance. She need not make a show of looking over her sister's wounds as they were quite evident, as was the anger emanating from the typically placid ruler. What, pray tell, had happened? It did not elude Hime that the emperor could be malicious, but she was surprised he would be so outright with his corrections. The entire empire could see the wounds upon her sister - and there weren't many others with the gumption to attempt an assault upon their empress.

Did he not think of how that would look? How the peasants might bear witness to these wounds? If he did, then he truly had more pride in himself than Hime realized. Takeshi was, therefore, a more dangerous animal than she had given him credit for.

The flicker of Hime's attention was brief as she took all these things, thought her thoughts, and then softly offered her sister one tiny phrase: What shall we do about this?

We, Hime was careful with her words and such was evident when faced with the roughed up Empress who was most likely clearly on edge. Even as the word was soothing, it was equally loaded in this moment with the previous assumption that both her sister and husband were behind the scenes plotting things among themselves. Inform everyone of the Emperor being unhinged, request all individuals to sleep in communal dens and not to anger him until a solution can be made. She had to protect everyone from his wrath further, somehow, even if it was by avoiding the man all together. In numbers, they should be fine, especially now that he had shown his colours to more than just Reiko now. 

At least, she hoped.

The solution was clear now, the man had to go. Permanently. The thought of poison was promising, she knew enough of the dangerous herbs to make a wonderful concoction that could render him harmless and neutralized without cause for alarm. This was all before she had her conversation with @Collision of course. No matter the method, the man wouldn't go, and even if he did, there were little chances that he wouldn't return or cause more harm from beyond the vale's reach. Can you help me inform everyone of this?