A Fine Wine

The Elder pulled his jacket collar around him. The cold wasn’t so forgiving nowadays. With each bite of it he could feel not only the winter but the snapping jaws of the younger men who worked for him.

Today’s underlings…

He walked across the rooftop transporter-pad and saw a lone figure waiting beside the railing, his blonde hair blowing in the wind. It was the Tokyo5 Daimyo, Kurogari.

‘—I err have a meeting… are you not shifting back?’ He called out, his voice buffeted by the cross-current of wind.

Kurogari looked up and laughed nervously. ‘Oh, I’m waiting for my father’s ship.’

He nodded.

Something inside the old man shifted. Within the walls of acumen and aptitude, skills which had kept him where he was in the hungry ecosystem of the brokerage’s data-markets, something soft and delicate stirred. He had forgotten it even existed. He looked at the boy, standing gauche at the edge of the pad, brushing his hair back behind his ears, an attaché hanging at his side.

‘Do you think it’s possible?’ Said the young man. Hard to believe he was a president. His face was so young. ‘That there’s some kind of organisation to the geists’ movements?’

The Minister had brought it up. Thrown a real spanner in the works. They’d had the information for a long time and he was releasing it bit by bit, when it served to pry open otherwise sealed lips. The only issue with data broking was that at any moment some idiot could open their mouths and reduce the value of your stock to nothing. He let the anger dissipate. The boy was looking at him, his eyes blinking, completely without guise.

‘Does your father require your presence this evening?’

***

Toguchi Castle was ancient. It had been built early in the post light period and even then was an overlay of a central edifice that went back centuries.

‘You can filter out each addition.’ Said the Elder, the current Toguchi family patriarch. ‘Right back to the original structure.’

The boy peered around each corner, gazing in wonder at the great library, the central hallway. The old man smiled. It was like rediscovering the place himself through younger eyes. He had sneaked around the upper corridors as a boy looking for entrances to the many secret passages. Places where samurai had hidden when the castle had been sacked. Secreted in the invader’s blood stream, waiting to attack.

They retired after eating to a pair of oversized velvet seats in front of the crackling fire. Toguchi’s automata refilled his drink, remaining bent beside him after, and he waved a hand to dismiss it.

The warmth of the drink mingled with that of the fire.

‘Electress Atala seems nice.’ Said Kurogari. The shadows on his face danced before the flames, the fire reflected in miniature in his eyes.

Toguchi smiled. ‘Yes. Seeming is her speciality. She is a scorpion.’ He sipped his drink. He was slumped deep into the crux of his chair.

The boy looked at him in surprise. ‘A scorpion… ?’

He sees others motivations only by his own…

‘Do you know how the Electriarchy chooses its leaders? There is no election. No debate. Every few years, one of the aides betrays and kills the incumbent.’ He sipped his drink again. ‘It is the how they strengthen their structure. Like scar tissue on a wound, tearing and healing over and over again, each time a little stronger…’

The young man’s eyes were opened wide. After a moment a note of confusion touched them and he looked to one side. ‘But how did you know?’

Toguchi looked at him. ‘Hmm?’

‘We have been out of touch for centuries. How were you aware of their processes?’

Toguchi broke into a smile, broad and real enough that the tips of his teeth were exposed.

And yet he is sharp! The material is pure but it can be shaped, directed… his eyes wandered to the family katana hanging above the fire.

‘The brokerage accumulates information… as a function of its existence. Most of that information is generated as a byproduct. Like the sound emitted by a weapon. It has no value. Yet, everything has value in the right circumstances. This information I am telling you now for instance. The brokerage simply finds those locations. In this way it generates value. Sometimes the location is a time, a specific date. Perhaps sometime I will explain more of this to you, if you are interested.’

‘I would like that.’

Toguchi leant back in his chair. It had been a long time since he had been able to relax. His body felt like a muscle that had been tense so long it had forgotten that it could relax. ‘They are all ruthless in their way… don’t be fooled by the face they show you. Daiko, for instance. He plays the careless fool… no fool could play the role so well.‘

‘But the Minister.’ Said Kurogari. ‘He was somewhat brusque but did not seem—‘

‘Three years ago, he was but an adjutant to the Minister-In-Chief. Since then scandals have hit each of his superiors, possession of classified information, that sort of thing. Each denied it, of course. And yet he remained, his path to succession shortening by the day.’ He sipped his drink again. ‘The right circumstances…’

Kurogari absorbed this for a few moments. ‘It seems there is much I could learn from you.’

Toguchi was silent for a few moments then turned to him. ‘You might not always make known your thoughts so readily.’

Kurogari looked up at him.

‘What you said about the black ones… it was wise but perhaps also… a little unwise.’

The young man thought for a moment. ‘It was true though.’

A little surprised but not hurt. He is not hampered by ego.

‘Yes.’ He smiled. ‘And it was an astute observation.’

He swirled the contents of his glass for several moments. ‘What do you think of the wine?’

Kurogari looked down at his glass and sniffed instinctively. ‘It’s… delicious.’

‘Do you know why it’s delicious?’

Kurogari looked at his glass, the room reflected in its surface.

‘Because it has been kept for centuries. Matured first in oak barrels, then metal casks. Stored in the coolness of the cellars.’ He swirled the glass again. ‘Waiting until the perfect moment.’

‘When it has value.’ Said Kurogari, still staring at the glass.

A smile bent across Toguchi’s reflection.