Arachne Meets Hades

The Queen's Light
She had grown accustomed to her schedule. She would wake up a few minutes later than she was supposed to, rush to groom herself, and then practically sprint down the hallways of her palace to the council room to where she would have some meeting with some diplomat from another nation, a business owner of Wano, or whoever showed up. Then, during the meeting, she would listen to the words of smarter people, nod occasionally, and leave. Then, she would do some paperwork in her office, signing whatever needed to be signed—pretty much, whatever Isshin told her to sign.

At times, she believed that he was the one who actually ran her empire. It didn’t bother her any. If that meant she didn’t have to read the documents on her desk, or meet with her Shichifukujin, then she was fine with Isshin being the figurehead. It was never a role that she thought up for herself anyway, at least not like this. Still, today was no different.

There was a rhythmic knock on her door. She already knew who it was, which is why when her eyes creeped open, the fact that he as standing in front of her was not surprising at the least. He was almost like a ninja, always appearing in places without alerting a single person to his presence. Legs didn’t even understand how he did it.

“Koyuki,” Isshin spoke with the barest hint of emotion, his tone as robotic and stiff as his stature. “Did you remember that you have an important meeting this morning?”

She didn’t respond right away.

“Koyuki….”

“I’m surprised,” Legs begun as a brief yawn fragmented her sentence, “that you’re even here. You’re usually gone by this time.”

Isshin folded his arms across one another. “I saw this meeting coming up a while ago, and so I set up my schedule so that I could return to ensure that you wouldn’t miss it.”

“Of course.” Legs slid her legs to the edge of her bed. As she did so, she scooped Isshin into the palm of her hand. “You’re always responsible that way.”

Isshin’s glare strengthened. “You’re hungover.”

Legs wiped her eyes. “A class of six-year-old children were here yesterday.”

“Yes, I’m well aware…”

“And, they wanted to give me the best gift they could think of, so they prepared for me this gorgeous, chocolate cake. They apparently worked on it all week. I took a bite of it, but it seems that they weren’t notified that I’m allergic to caffeine. Or well, caffeine does this to me,” Legs informed, gesturing to her body groggily. “It wasn’t their faults. How could they have known? I don’t tell anyone about it….”

Isshin’s face lightened up. “You’re far too careless sometimes, Koyuki. Regardless, you still have a meeting today. One that can’t be postponed.”

Legs stood up off the bed. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll be fine, I think. Just tell them to buy me an extra five minutes, and I’ll be ready.”

He nodded and leapt from her hand towards the door. As he slid under the cracks, he looked up. “Oh, Koyuki.”

“Yeah, I know. Don’t say anything stupid. You’ve told---”

“You did well…”

He departed.

Legs smiled.

Meet and Greet
No later than thirty minutes had passed, as Legs walked through the hallways of her palace. She hurried into her empty throne room—minus the tens of royal guards that rested around the massive royal seat—and sat down in her throne. There, her scribe read to her. “Your Shichifukujin should be here in a moment, my Empress. Then, briefly after they arrive, we will instruct the royal guard to escort your guest up to these quarters.” Legs nodded, crossed her leg over the other, and idly waited for the arrival of her men.