After Tsuki led her Open Rebellion out of Tsumaga and against The Prefecture, the Takashi family became wary of their neighbours. To ensure a loyal Wolf clan for the next generation, the Dragon offered to foster the Tanaka heir, Nobuko’s son with the Takashi family at Eddo. Fostering is an old tradition and it is a great honour for a clan to have their children taught the ways of the samurai by their liege lords. This strengthens the ties that bind the clans together and creates very loyal vassals for the greater clans. Such an offer cannot be refused without causing a diplomatic incident or even war. The Tanaka heir was sent with his uncle Kazuo to Eddo, the seat of the Dragon clan but they simply traveled to Ryu and stopped. The fostering had been agreed so the Takashi had no cause to call out the Tanaka but the boy studied in Ryu under Wolf clan tutors and learned his family ways, not those of the Takashi. They were just always “On the way to Eddo”. Honour was satisfied. Not all were happy with this however and a Prefecture official saw the boy and his uncle and tried to have them escorted to Eddo by an armed guard. Incensed by the lower ranking official trying to force his hand, Kazuo refused. None of the Prefecture ashigaru survived his refusal. Knowing this would not be accepted, Kazuo took the boy and fled. Lord Nobuo had no choice but to declare Kazuo an outlaw, claiming he kidnapped his son or the Dragon would have cause to declare that the Wolf Clan were disloyal. Now with nobody to help, Kazuo not only teaches the boy the wolf ways of sword fighting, their loyalty to the Shiho and the ways of the samurai but also must protect him from the Dragon and any who would take their coin for the bounty they offer. —description from the publisher