Story:

Kageie's back went rigid, and for once the master of hidden presence could not hide the plain disbelief on his face.

"Away—? Kenshin-sama—where does my lord wish to go?"

Kenshin returned him a knowing smile—slow, curved, and utterly unrepentant, the smile she wore when a campaign board suddenly showed her a move no one else had seen.

"Where else? To investigate what these Oda witches have found." She rose, and her voice went quiet and warm with the thrill of it.

"A secret that may change the destiny of Yamato—the destiny of Uesugi itself—in this chaotic era. Do you imagine I would sit on a hillside and hope two foreign witches carry it off safely? And besides—" the smile sharpened, and it was pure Dragon,

"—as a rival, I cannot possibly allow the Oda women to gain the upper hand on me in something this important. If Oda's wives are resolving the root of the war while Oda himself wins the branches—then Uesugi Kenshin will simply have to see the root first."

She pressed the letter back into Kageie's hands.

"Now. Return this letter to its delivery route—restore it to the butterfly's course exactly as it was, seal intact, path unbroken, as if no wind ever touched it. And at this stage..." her eyes glinted,

"—we do not alert the Oda witches that we know. Let the sisters depart in their happy confidence. Their secret stays safe with me—for now."

Kageie bowed low, letter swallowed into his sleeve, and was gone from the room without a sound.