What choice did he have? Taiga came at the summons. He almost disappeared in the night, trading gold to wokou pirates to ferry him to China.<br/><br/>But that wouldn't have worked anyway, only left him destitute in a land whose language he didn't speak. So he was here, kneeling proudly upright, his swords settled on his hip.<br/><br/>In moments, the Emperor would enter and surely order the son of the rebellious lord to slice open his own entrails.<br/><br/>That was if they wanted to allow him to keep his honor at all. Taiga's exterior was cold and blank but on the inside, he felt sick, nausea roiling in his gut—the very same one that might soon be sliced open.<br/><br/><i>Treason.</i>A crime he wouldn't come back from. A crime none of them would. Taiga didn't look at his brothers, kneeling beside him, all five of them in various states of sweat and disquiet.<br/><br/>They'd each face the knife alone, if it came to that. He stared at the door and saw a flash of bright cloth as the emperor entered. He immediately kowtowed, bending down, the first of his brothers.