The flute player gushes about Empress Youmi, given the chance: "She's my muse!" he says, "There will never be a ruler as beautiful or graceful as Her Imperial Majesty!" It takes a little effort to get him to settle down and talk about anything else, but he's very thoughtful when he does.

The city has gotten used to the presence of the Mountain Clan; when they first appeared several months ago, they were all very nervous -- business didn't go so well with so many people staying off the streets -- but it's returned to some semblance of normalcy. He hears some people pleased about Youmi's proclamation and others who are not, though he personally would like some kind of alliance to be formed; the Mountain Clan, he's heard, don't know very much about the arts, so he could have a monopoly there. (There are a lot of flute players in the Sea Clan.)

To Rhys's questions, the flute player explains that the empire has traditionally traded to the Flowerlands and across the sea; they have a lot of connections to neighboring nations in that way, and are accustomed to peace. There has not been any kind of war in the past few generations, after a civil war was won in the Crashing Wave's favor, but they keep a fleet of military ships in case of attack from the water.