HlGEKO'S DOSSIER: This garden does not contain the tasteful arrangements you would see at the Scorpion Garden or the Garden of Daikoku. Instead, it is a riot of garish display and vulgar foreign blooms. No one seems quite sure who paid to have the Island Garden built, but it shows a definite Unicorn influence in its contents. Most establishments on Teardrop Island seem as independent as the fie fs of neighboring lords; each sake shop or geisha house provides its own security. As you would expect, they care little about the fates of their neighbors. (An exception to this rule of indifference is the matter of fire suppression, which is handled collectively.)
If individual buildings are provinces, then the Island Garden is
something of a no-man's-land. Apair of gardeners are supported
in an apparently mendicant fashion, begging contributions from
merchants and visitors to keep the garden presentable.
Apparently they are sufficiently subsidized to keep the garden
somewhat under control (though it can be hard to tell).
In any event, even though the plants are tended, the visitors
are not. There are usually a few members of the Thunder Guard
on hand, but they will only become involved in the most blatant
or violent transgressions. Opium is smoked openly, sake is drunk
with abandon, deals are made and trysts arranged. It is a busy
place, one where something is occurring day and night.I tried to
appoint a deputy to keep an eye on events, but so much of a
dubious nature occurs in the Island Park, and its layout is so
confusing and labyrinthine that I eventually abandoned the effort.
It is only two minutes from the House of Foreign Stories, five
from the Morning Star and a minute or so from "Swords
Polished"