“I ask you to but look at the portrait above. Forgive my rough skill with the arts, but I know each of you recognize the face of our former champion, Akodo Arasou. I know you knew what he stood for. The pride of the Lion, the exemplar of our clan, who held high our banner and dared to see us rise. I fought alongside him in his victories, as Matsu once fought beside Akodo-no-Kami.
“But who has replaced him? A man without bravery, without vision, without honor. A man who hesitated at the gates of Toshi Ranbo, and who later abandoned it to the Crane. You ask me if I remember the dishonor and devastation that this hour brought upon our clan. I ask you instead—does Akodo Toturi remember? That he should grant the city that is ours by right to our greatest enemies?
“And now he has again stood by while the gaijin invade, spreading like the Taint itself as they corrupt all that we have ever known. Say what you will—that a Champion must bow to the Empire, not simply his own clan—but what justice is there in risking the welfare of your people, that we might lose our very home? That our own people might suffer not only that disgrace, but starve while our enemies grow strong?! What will come next? That the Doji should simply be replaced by their counterparts, the Thrane? What honor is there in following someone who thinks so little of his own?
“I am a Matsu and not an Akodo, this is true, but I am, most of all, a samurai of the Lion Clan, and I can no longer bear to see it kept low. My duty is to my clan and the memory of my beloved, its greatest champion. I cannot follow with false face a man I do not believe in, whom I see leading our people into ruin. I stand to pick up the burden that Arasou-sama dropped and to carry his banner. In me, his fire will burn again, and it will be a flame that reduces our enemies to ash.
“I hereby claim the title of Champion of the Lion Clan, that my betrothed once held, that his brother dishonors. I claim it not as dowry, but as a debt I mean to pay, and a promise I mean to keep.”
