<div class="floatright">(http://i58.tinypic.com/97m96r.jpg)</div><br/>Like her fellow Matsu, Shiori notices the lack of ceremony, of any Owl family member present.  With some effort, she manages to keep from frowning disapprovingly, a slight thinning of her pink lips as she stands rigidly at attention, feet together, long legs straight.  Every samurai was expected to give her life, and in a way, that was what she was doing here.  Similar to how, if she married out of her family, she would don a white kimono in recognition of her 'death'.  Instead, here, she was leaving the Lion entirely, with no one to witness it but an Imperial and a scribe, dressed in one of her ordinary kimonos.  Her lips tighten a little more.<br/><br/>Through her irritation, the import of what she was about to do begins to seep into her consciousness once more.  Shiori's stance becomes, if possible, even more rigid, her lithe form standing tight and tall.  Her lovely features pale ever so slightly as she hears first the Scorpion, and then Keitaro speak.  She scarcely hears their words, but she knows when they are finished, the silence more intrusive than their speech.  After all, the silence meant that it was her turn.<br/><br/>Swallowing away her nervousness, Shiori steps forward with military precision.  "Until now, I have always been Matsu Shiori of the Matsu family, in service to the Lion clan and the Emperor."  Despite her pale appearance, her voice is clear and strong.  "I have been released from my service to the Lion.  From this day forward, I pledge my life and death in service of the Owl clan."  She hesitates a moment her lips still parted, before she steps back, her cheeks pinking ever so slightly.  Was that it?  Was that all it took?  Was she an Owl now?  Further words seemed somehow both insufficient and unnecessary.