The Unicorn weren’t exactly known for their courtiers--not like the Crane or the Scorpion or even the Lion with their Omoidasu. Their reputation was more along the lines of the Crab, and the oft underestimated Yasuki. The Ide leaned heavily on their perceived outsider status and their feigned ignorance of Rokugani ways. The fact that anyone still believed that the Unicorn hadn’t assimilated Rokugani cultural norms in 300 years was a nine days wonder, but no one in the Unicorn questioned the prevailing prejudices. It was what was expected of the Unicorn, and the Ide had long ago learned the lesson that presented the expected fare to the courts led many to underestimate them.

Ide Nanako was the exception that proved the rule. Oh, she could play the uninformed country ingenue as well as any, but she did so dressed every inch the fashionable court darling.

”You do have a plan for dealing with the Crane, right?” she asked Moto Dayu, brushing an imaginary speck of dust from the fine silk of her lavender kimono, ”or did you plan on leaving that to me?”