[center][h3][b][u]The Imperial Palace, Bushu, Musashi System, The Musashi Empire[/u][/b][/h3][/center]

The two imperial guard bushi leading Admiral Nathanial Fren had said exceedingly little to their charge, sometimes answering with as little as a grunt should the Dominion admiral ask a question. The Imperial palace of Bushu was a large structure, although certainly not the largest in the galaxy, and was a contender for most ornately designed. Interestingly there had been few other individuals seen within the palace, those few the admiral had seen were either other imperial guards or the occasional government worker. That all changed when the two guards suddenly halted in the middle of the hallway they were currently leading Nathanial through and fell to a knee.

"Who do we have here?" A woman, dressed in fine silky hanfu asked. Her tone hinted at the smile hidden by her mask. "A foreigner? Its been centuries since we've had one here. What is your name?"

Nathaniel took a moment looking at the stranger and following after the guards he had he gave a simple bow before answering "I am Admiral Nathaniel Fren of the Dominion,I was sent to speak with some of the more influenctial people within the Empire." 

"Oh?" The woman cocked her head to one side. "Well you certainly found one of them Fren-dono." She turned her gaze to one of the Imperial guards as she asked "And where were you to leading him to? My dearest cousin?"

"It is as you say." The guard responded.

"Of course it is." The woman said as she turned her gaze back to Nathaniel, leaning in towards him slightly. She made a 'tsking' sound before saying "Fren-dono, why do you let the likes of them" She gestured towards the guard that had spoken "see your face?"

Nathaniel tilted his head curiously "I'm not sure what you mean by that, the people in the Dominion have always allowed others to see their face. I suppose it allows people to hide less of themselves and their emotions." Nathaniel said before continuing on "I suppose I could ask you why you don't let others see your face?" 

The woman let out a soft chuckle before answering "Why would you ever want to show your face to an inferior?" She shook her head. "You foreigners are so... odd." She shook her head again. "If you would like I could provide you with a proper mask. A... gift, if you will, to the first foreigner to walk these halls in centuries."

Nathaniel Smiled "I would be honored to have a mask my lady, I would treasure it always. Though if I may ask who would I have the pleasure of speaking to and recieving such an honored gift from?" 

"Excellent" The woman said. She gestured to he servant who had been waiting a respectful distance away. "I knew that not all of you foreigners were... barbaric. It is pleasant to be proven correct. I am Yamamoto Saeko. You may use my given name so long as you attach the correct honorific to it."

The servant stepped forward and held out a porcelain mask painted in the greys and red colors found on the Dominion flag. The servant immediately backed away once Nathaniel had taken the mask.

"Now remember," Saeko said, "that you are to remove that mask when in the presence of only your betters. However the presence of even one inferior is excuse enough to wear your mask."

Nathaniel nodded and smiled at the gift before he put it on and took a bit to get adjusted "What honorific name would I give to you if I may ask?"

"Sama and denka are both appropriate." Saeko answered. She looked at the two Imperial guards as she said "Well, lead the way." The two guards rose without question and once again began to lead the way down the hallway. "So tell me, Fren-dono," Saeko said as she walked besides Nathaniel, "What brings you here? Besides talking to 'influential people' as you put it."

Nathaniel nodded "Well, Saeko-Sama, Aside from offering my commander's best wishes to the princess and making sure she is alright, I was also asked to open up diplomatic ties with the Empire and further improve the relations that the Princess and Ms.Rong had done."Nathaniel said while walking fairly slowly still adjusting the the masks small eye holes.

"Ah yes. I remember Yuki sent Kau-san off to the Dominion some time ago. It must have been quite awkward for her to not have Kau-san on hand, what with the mess she was in recently." By this time the group had come to a halt in front of one of a number of doors in the hallway. Had the Imperial guards not taken up position on either side of the door it would have been indistinguishable from the others. "I suppose we have arrived." Saeko commented before knocking on the door. "Yuki-nee? Its me. I'm here with that guest from the Dominion. We are coming in."

Without waiting for a reply she opened the door and stepped in, gesturing for Nathaniel to follow. The room was a small one, adorned by a couch on one wall, and a small table with four chairs occupying the center of the room. Seated in one of those chairs was Yuki, who cup of tea raised up to her lips, had a look of surprise as both Saeko and Nathaniel stepped into the room.

"Saeko-chan" Yuki said as she set her cup onto the table. "You really must wait a moment or two before entering. Saeko shrugged as she walked towards the couch. Yuki raised an eyebrow as she watched the other woman before turning her gaze towards Nathaniel. "Fren-dono, was it?" Yuki asked. "It is a pleasure to meet you, I'm Yamamoto Yuki. Please take a seat."

As nathaniel walked in slowly he gave a small bow to the princess before moving forward "Fren-Dono,yes I believe that is what Saeko-sama had called me. Not that I'm entirely sure what it means." he slowly walked towards the table and took a seat "It's an honor to meet you Princess. I'm glad you aren't hurt from your imprisonment." 

"As am I" Yuki said with a smile. "All things considered my stay in the Confederation was quite comfortable, if not boring. As for the dono honorific, well-"

"It means something akin to 'lord' I suppose" Saeko interjected from where she sat on the couch. "Its basically used for nobility and high level military and government officials."

"Thank you Saeko-chan" Yuki rolled her eyes.

"You are most welcome" Saeko's tone strongly implied she was rolling her eyes as well.

"Now if you don't have something better to do..."

"I don't." Saeko seemed to be perfectly content to remain where she was and Yuki, realizing this, decided to just ignore her presence.

"Very well then" Yuki turned her attention back to Nathaniel. "What is it you have come here to discuss?"

"While I can't go into to much detail as that was what the Executis Conrad was to do. I believe it was to open further negotions aside from the small trade convoys we currently have. I believe that he was interested in allowing the empire control of historical points of interest on Earth." 

"And what points of interest are we talking about, exactly?" Yuki asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You don't sound very certain about your purpose in being here" Saeko commented.

"Well to be frank, I'm not entirely certain for the past 7 years that I've been with the commander I've been a warrier not a diplomat. Though I suppose being one of his closest men he saw fit to send me. " Nathaniel said before taking a deep breath. " I suppose, I should get to know your culture so he's better prepared for when he arrives." 

"Ah, so it's a mission of discovery." Saeko sounded amused. "A word of advice, Fren-dono. Speak with certainty. You aren't guessing that you are to learn our culture, you KNOW that you MUST learn our culture."

"Well if learning about our culture is your objective Saeko-chan is the one to listen to." Yuki gestured towards the other woman. The two women seemed to stare at each other for a moment before Yuki rose to her feet. "I'll allow her to attend to you." She reached for her mask. "Now if you'll excuse me I have some other duties to attend to."

"Best of luck Yuki-nee." Saeko said as the other woman put her mask on and headed towards the door.

Nathaniel seemed confused behind his mask as he watch the princess leave the room before looking once again at Saeko "Well Saeko-sama, what should I know about Musashi culture?" 

"Hmmm...." Saeko brought her hand up to her mask and tapped it twice. "For starters both I and Yuki-nee are princesses. We are a social class above you, thus you should not wear your mask in our presence. Our society is... probably more stratified than others. We place importance in one's place in society. An indentured servant is below a commoner, which is naturally below a soldier. And soldiers, of course, are below the aristocracy, which stands under the Imperial family. Are you still following me Fren-dono?"

Nathaniel quickly nodded and began to undo his mask before looking back at her once again.

"Determining when to remove your mask when in the presence of those of your same class can be equal parts science and art. That is something that can't quite be explained, though if you feel that those you are speaking to are more important or powerful than you, you should probably remove your mask." Saeko shrugged. "There is a lot of information you can gather simply by observing who removes their mask and when they do so."

"I somewhat understand your heirarchy, yet. I noticed that there are several suffix's depending on the different classes and how close you are? So how would one be able to tell when to use the correct suffix?" Nathaniel asked with a confused look.

"It's really quite simple" Saeko answered. "There's five different honorifics that, if you know when to use, will more or less cover everyone you would talk to. First we have [i]san[/i], which is similar in usage to Mr or Mrs. Mr Fren. Fren-san. This reminds me... do be sure to use an individual's family name unless told otherwise. And for future reference Musashi names go family then given. I will never understand why your foreigners insist on having your names in the wrong order." She shook her head as she let out a theatrical sigh.

"[i]Sama[/i]" Saeko continued, "is essentially a more respectful version of the [i]san[/i] honorific. It is most normally used when speaking to one's better, however it can also be showed to simply show admiration for an individual or respect for one's office. I hear that Yuki-nee loves to use [i]sama[/i] when speaking to foreign heads of state. The [i]dono[/i] honorific lies between [i]san[/i] and [i]sama[/i] in terms of showing respect. I suppose it would be similar to using the term lord or master in other human countries. It is most commonly used to refer to the aristocracy or high ranking members of the military or government."

"And then" Saeko continued, "we have the honorifics refering to royalty. [i]Denka[/i] is for non-sovereign royalty and is similar in usage to Highness. [i]Heika[/i] is used for sovereign royalty. If you ever speak to the Emperor, ensure that you use [i]Heika[/i] at all times." She paused for a few moments before adding "Of course there are other honorifics that we use, but they are much more situational and less important to know right away. Does that answer your question Fren-dono?"

After taking a few moments to take it all in Nathaniel begane to slowly nod his head "I believe it does...though it feels like I just learned a school lesson." He said with a chuckle.

"Well then Fren-dono," Saeko said as she slowly rose to her feet, "how about I take you to a theater where you can see some traditional dances that originate from ancient China and Japan?"

Nathaniel slowly began to put back on his mask and nodded " I think that would be lovely."