Story:

The Gion estate Nobunaga had claimed as his Kyoto residence was luxury distilled into garden form—ponds glinting with carp the color of embers, stone lanterns, a veranda that caught the evening light like a held breath.

The district outside its walls was famous for exactly the opposite of war: markets, nightlife, restaurants, laughter spilling down lantern-hung lanes until dawn.

Inside the inner rooms, his wives were making that contrast even sharper.

Kicho and Euphy had spent the entire afternoon in the new luxury yukatas Saru Hideyoshi had presented them—

"A small token of gratitude from your humble servant, in celebration of our glorious entry into Kyoto, and the finest silk Gion's merchants could be politely persuaded to part with."