5
Aihi
For all his claims of preferring the simplicity of the world, the emperor’s tastes remained extravagant. Aihi strode across the royal garden’s jade walkways with gold inscribed characters, past the meditation garden filled with rare gemstones and minerals instead of rocks, and the lifelike stone dogs, foxes, and dragons, all of which were the remnants of the fallen Warlock Empire. However, the luminescent wisteria swishing along the path and the grove of kiri trees in the centre of the garden were Furahau Takeha’s additions.
And, of course, the crystalline gazebo he ordered built so he could stargaze while he contemplated his next move in whatever board game caught his fancy next.
Today, Aihi found Takeha, her father and emperor, kneeling beside a raised bamboo board beneath the
