(Note: Somehow Kenren who starts out as Tenpou's
subordinate when he first comes to the western army- as per the flashback in
the April 01 GFantasy- winds up with Tenpou as *his* adjutant by the start of
the series. Most unusual, since a Marshal outranks a General and shouldn't be
serving in a position junior to one. What happened? This is my guess.)
Back Then
1.
"I'm
thinking," Tenpou said, "that I might retire."
Startled
silence. Then-
"Retire,
huh?" Kenren said. "Leave the army?"
"Not
exactly."
"Then
what?"
"Resign
this position. Commanding isn't my forte, I think."
"I'll
say. You want a definition of 'superfluous', it's called being one of Tenpou
Gensui's men."
"Oh?"
"Oh.
You always gotta do everything on your own."
"Anh.
You may be right. That way avoids errors, at least."
"You
want it done right, do it yourself?"
"Basically."
"Well,
maybe. Makes a man feel like a fifth wheel, of course."
"Anh.
Apologies. The fact is--"
"Mh?"
"I
was thinking of taking a more junior position. Something less in the public
eye- something that would leave me more time for my studies--"
"More
what?? You don't need any more time--" Kenren paused,
eyebrows crooking. "A junior position? Kind of unorthodox, isn't it?"
"Yes,
I believe it is. But then, so am I."
"Mnh.
True. You think Goujun will buy it?"
"I
think I can persuade him."
"Oh."
Pause. "I'll miss you, I guess. Enjoyed working with you. It's been
fun." He smiled. "But of course, you and those books--"
"The
fact is--" Tenpou became very busy with a refractory lighter. "-I
think the flint's dead on this."
"Here."
Kenren flicked his own and Tenpou lit another cigarette.
"Thank
you. The fact is, I was going to ask to be your adjutant."
"My--
you wanna work under me??"
"Well,
yes. I can work with you. The past few years have proved that."
"Yes,
but--"
"And
we get along."
"Yes,
but--"
"And
you wouldn't work me very hard, would you?"
"If
that's supposed to be a comment on how I do my job--"
"It's
not."
"Oh."
The lightbulb went on. "And I don't have any axes to grind, do I?"
"There
are people who wouldn't mind making me pay for my umm heterodoxy, if
they were given the chance."
"Well,
that's not me. But I'd have said it /was/ Goujun."
"The
Dragon values efficiency. I'm at least efficient."
"Will
he believe that if you ask to switch positions with me? Right now he probably
thinks you're the only thing keeping me in line."
"As
I say, I think I have enough credit with him to get my way."
"Mhh.
Well, I don't have anything against the idea. May feel a bit funny to start
with. I'm used to taking orders from you."
"You're
used to bossing me around and managing me."
"So
now's your chance to get even?"
"Heavens,
no. Managing you would be a full-time occupation. I'd have no time left over
for study. You can go on giving the orders." Tenpou waved a generous hand.
"Hmph,"
Kenren snorted. "You know what people will be thinking?"
"They'll
think I'm lazy- keeping the rank and resigning the duties."
"They'll
think I'm screwing you and not liking taking orders from my current lay."
"Surely
not?" Tenpou said, looking startled. "I'd have thought your
reputation would--" He floundered a bit. "Would protect you from that
kind of talk, at least."
"Kenren
the skirt-chaser?"
Tenpou
flushed. "I didn't say that."
"No.
Right. You didn't."
"You're
angry. I apologize--"
"Tenpou."
Silence.
"Yes?"
"You
gonna tell me?"
Silence.
"It's the
drawback to your being so bright, I suppose. You see too much. It's a touch
inconvenient." Tenpou drew on his cigarette and frowned into space.
Kenren
waited. The silence went on.
"I
take it that means no?"
"I'm
sorry."
"Too
dangerous for me?"
"No.
Hardly."
"Private
then?"
"Kenren."
"Stop
asking questions. OK."
Tenpou took another
drag on his cigarette. Went on looking into space. "You'll play your part
better if you don't know what it is."
"Oh."
Kenren felt his shoulders stiffening. "Like that, huh?"
"I'm
afraid so."
Kenren
laced his fingers together and hunched over, resting his chin against his
hands.
"OK,"
he said, and let his breath go explosively. "See if you can talk Goujun
into it. And I'll forget we had this conversation."
He
could feel the relief in Tenpou's body.
"Thank
you."
"You're
welcome, I suppose." He got up and walked away, not looking back.
2.
"Adjutant,"
Goujun said.
"Yes."
"Kenren's
adjutant."
"Mh."
Blank
red eyes looked at Tenpou. Tenpou gave them his wooliest smile in return. Eccentric
Marshal Tenpou. Goujun leaned back, resting his elbows on the arms of his
chair; made a steeple of his fingers and regarded Tenpou above his talons.
"Why?"
"You
know I'm not really suited to a commanding position," Tenpou began.
"No,"
Goujun interrupted. "I don't know that."
"I'm
too independent," Tenpou continued steadily. "Not a teamworker."
"So?"
"I
feel I'd do better in a non-supervisory position."
"I
can remove those duties from your position, if you like. I don't understand why
you want me to remove *you* from the position."
"It's
becoming a little burdensome." Tenpou was beginning to sweat. Dealing with
Goujun required patience- required being nearly as patient as a dragon and able
to wait a dragon out. But bringing down a stone wall by chipping at it with a
chisel was hard work.
"I
take it you don't find commanding General Kenren burdensome?"
"No.
I can work with the General. He's not the problem."
"You
perform your duties well. More than well, as you know. I've no desire to
replace you with someone else. And I've no desire at all to make you
subordinate to General Kenren. He needs someone sitting on him, hard and
always."
"To be perfectly
frank, sir-- Kenren is umm highly ambivalent towards authority. Orders don't
work with him. I think it'd be much easier to control him from below than from
above."
"You're speaking literally?"
"I- what--"
Tenpou blinked his puzzlement, then stiffened in shock as understanding came. A
wave of anger hit him. He clung to his temper with both hands. "I'm afraid
I don't know what you mean," he said, in a voice that felt too tight even
to his own ears.
"Indeed."
Goujun wasn't angry at all. Cold and white, mouth twisted as if he'd just
bitten into a lemon, red eyes blank and unfeeling above it. The two of them
stared at each other. It was Goujun who turned his head away first, most
unusually.
"Very well.
Request granted."
"Thank you."
"Keep him in
line, Marshal. I never wanted him here and I only took him on in obedience to
my older brother's orders. I've been aching for an excuse to boot him out, and
that goes double after today."
Tenpou let anger take
him a little farther than was safe. "Indeed? Now why would that be?"
he asked.
"I'd never have
thought you'd let the likes of Kenren lead you into such an-- unbecoming--
request as the one you just made. I owe him for that." There was an iron
animosity underlying the words, like the hard frosts of Under heaven. "But
I see even the best of men have their weak spots."
"And dragons have
none, I suppose?" Tenpou said. "I only hope that's true."
Goujun's head went
back. "Meaning?"
"Nothing," Tenpou said. No
proof at all that Goujun was part of the disturbing anomaly Tenpou had long
sensed happening in the upper echelons of the army. No proof, just a strong
supposition that if he wasn't part of it himself, he was turning a convenient
blind eye to it. Only an incompetent would be totally oblivious to what was
going on in his own army, and Goujun wasn't incompetent. Which left at best,
mistaken ideals; and at worst, venality---
"My regard for
you is purely professional, Marshal. Rest easy on that score."
Tenpou's eyebrows rose
even as he realized this wasn't the total non sequitur it sounded.
"Naturally. I wasn't meaning to imply otherwise. My apologies." And
I wonder if that's true, he thought, mildly stunned that Goujun would
mention personal attachments at all, even if only to deny having them. He
stared at the dragon king, mind dizzy with surmise.
"Accepted. You
may go." Goujun looked back at him, expression closed as a book. Nothing
more to be got there.
"Good day,
then."
I'd give a lot to know
what's going on in his head, Tenpou thought in frustration as he
left Goujun's office. He would have derived no comfort from the knowledge that
Goujun was thinking exactly the same thing.
3.
"It's
settled," Tenpou said. "I'm your adjutant from today on."
"Good,"
Kenren said. He poured himself another cup. "So what do you see your
duties as being?"
"Ah,
the usual. Keeping track of your appointments, drawing up the schedules of
guard duty, reporting any infractions I see- like that."
"Fine.
Carry on then, Marshal."
"I
know this isn't easy for you--"
"Piece
of cake, what do you think?" Kenren was well into the jar by now. Tenpou
frowned.
"You
were right, I'm afraid. Goujun seems to think I'm acting from tender feelings
for yourself."
"Naturally."
"I
might almost have thought-- he was jealous."
"Hohhh.
Even better. I cut out the Dragon king for a piece of your ass. Can't wait for that
to get around the officer's mess."
"Kenren."
"S'matter?
This was your idea. You live with the consequences."
"It
isn't absolutely necessary that my superior be you," Tenpou said in an
edged voice. "It's the position that I want, not the personal connection.
I can ask Goujun to assign me to someone else."
"You'll
never get your reputation back if you do. You go sniffing after me, we have a
lovers' spat, wham you're after another guy. What are you, a field marshal or a
camp follower?"
He
didn't see what happened next, only felt it. Found himself sitting on the
floor, mouth bleeding from Tenpou's fist. After a minute he put a finger to his
split lip and grimaced.
"Warii,"
he said. "I went too far there."
"Yes,"
Tenpou said, standing above him and shaking a little still. "You did. So
perhaps you might stop beating round the bush and tell me what your complaint
is?"
"Complaint?"
Kenren said slowly, getting to his feet. "Well, I could complain that
you're jerking me around. Tell me you're going to use me and don't tell me how.
I could complain that you're taking me for granted, handy dandy Kenren, rely on
him to back you up in anything and no questions asked."
Tenpou's
mouth opened in surprise, but Kenren gave him no room to get a word in.
"But the fact is,
what really gets my goat is that you gotta do this all yourself. Just like
always- me my way and screw everyone else. Nearly got you killed the first day
we met, and did you learn anything from that? Nooo, you did not."
"I'm
sorry," Tenpou said after a minute. "But that's how I am. I didn't
think you minded."
"Fifth
wheel. 'I don't need you.' Now why would I mind that?"
"I
see. I hurt your pride?"
Kenren
flushed. "Asshole." His mouth went tight. "OK, Marshal.
This is General Kenren speaking, your commanding officer as of today. And
here's your first order- *tell me what all this is about*."
"Ah,"
Tenpou said, blinking. He looked down at the desk top. "Do you have
another cup available?"
"Mh."
Kenren pulled one from his capacious pocket. Tenpou took it and held it out.
Kenren reached for his winejug and filled the little bowl.
"Mh,"
Tenpou said, and perched on the edge of the desk. Kenren watched him a minute,
then took the chair.
"Good
wine," Tenpou said, sipping.
"Not
bad," Kenren allowed, not taking his eyes from him. They drank in silence.
Tenpou finished his cup and held it out for a refill. Kenren poured, and
another for himself.
"Kenren,"
Tenpou began, relaxing into the wine's warmth. "I have a proposition to
make. A little unusual. There's something going on- I think something's going
on- and I want to be able to check it out. I need to be a little less
conspicuous than usual for a bit; and, yes, it might help if I were a bit more-
dismissible- in everyone's mind as well." He took a reflective sip.
"So here's the plan. I'd like you to take me on as your adjutant for the
next while." Kenren's eyes widened fractionally. Tenpou looked straight
into them. "And I'd like you not to ask anything more about it. Because
the people involved, whoever they are, are bound to react to you if you're in a
more prominent position, but I don't want what you do there to be influenced by
my preconceptions." His mouth crooked. "Also, without offence- you
aren't that good an actor. I don't think you could pretend to know
nothing if you knew something. So. What about it?"
"Mmhh,"
Kenren said after a minute. "I think I can handle having you as my
assistant. But what do you think Goujun'll have to say?"
"He'll
blame you for debauching me. Spoiling my service record. Can you live with
that?"
"He
doesn't like me anyway," Kenren shrugged. "No skin off my butt."
"It's
likely to be a long-term inconvenience, him having a grudge against you."
"Too
bad. I couldn't get into his good books if I tried, and I don't want to try.
Let him think I'm screwing you. Doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother
you."
"It
doesn't bother me."
"Good.
Cigarette?" Kenren pulled his pack out of the skirts of his coat.
"Thank
you. I don't mind if I do." Tenpou took one. Kenren reached up to light it
for him, and his own.
"Mhh,"
he said, savoring it. "Good."
"Anhh,"
Tenpou agreed.
Kenren leaned back in
Tenpou's swivel chair, and blew a smoke ring. "Of course, if I'm not that
good an actor, maybe I should be screwing you. Just to look
convincing."
"Ha
ha. Yes, possibly."
"Henh.
Yeah." Kenren laughed as well.
Their
eyes met briefly, Tenpou's blanked by the glass of his spectacles, Kenren's
crinkling in a sardonic smile. Kenren grimaced ruefully and looked away. Tenpou
gave a small grunt, mphh, and took another drag.
Kenren finished his
cigarette. He reached a long arm to the ashtray, butted it out, and got to his
feet to stand above Tenpou. Tenpou looked up at him over the top of his
glasses, and his smile went away. Was replaced by that closed considering
expression he sometimes wore- the one that seemed to come from very far away,
from way back in the part of his skull where he did all his thinking. Kenren
gave a little grin at the almost-stranger looking out of Tenpou's eyes. Hi
there, you. How's about it?
"Is this your
second order?" Tenpou wanted to know.
"Baaa-ka."
"Mh." Tenpou
butted out his own cigarette and got to his feet.
"Here?"
"Bed'd be more
comfortable."
"True." They
turned and went wordlessly together into the adjoining room.
MJJ
Dec 2001- Jan 2002