The Hikari Royal Castle

Ancestral seat

The Hikari Royal Castle stands at the heart of Goguma and is the ancestral fortress of the House Hikari line. Once a symbol of the kingdom's strength and prosperity, it is described under the usurper's rule as a monument to cruelty, its darkened windows overlooking the emptied streets below like a silent judgement on the city.

The war room

Deep inside the fortress lies a secluded war room in which Arata Hikari plans his campaign against his sister. A candlelit table holds a sprawling map of the realm dotted with small carved figurines, and a body of noble strategists confers over the board.

It is in this chamber that Arata receives word of the loyalist crossing of the river and treats the news as the confirmation of an existing plan, calls his banners to meet Satomi Hikari in the open field, orders that the Black Hand be engaged once more, and dismisses the Raijin family as a problem to be settled only after the war is concluded. The same conversation establishes that his knowledge of Satomi's position comes from an informant he calls a mutual friend.

Character of the place

The castle's role during the civil war is administrative and conspiratorial rather than ceremonial. It houses the strategists who direct the usurper's war, shelters the planning of an assassination intended to end the conflict without a general engagement, and stands as the physical expression of a court that governs Goguma through public execution.

The Great Hall

Chapter 20 opens the castle's ceremonial interior for the first time. Deep inside the fortress lies the Great Hall, described as the heart of all social life for royalty and nobility alike. It is the setting of the victory ball Satomi Hikari holds at the end of the week of national celebration.

The hall is filled with hundreds of guests drawn from the city and from neighbouring kingdoms. Music is played loud enough to carry over the rustle of silk gowns and the chatter of the crowd, but kept melodic enough to hold an elegant atmosphere, and the floor is cleared for partnered dancing as the tempo shifts.

The chamber is also where the court's attitude to the Tower is put on display. Shun Sato attends as an invited guest and is met with tight defensive knots of nobles whispering behind gloved hands and ivory fans, and it is on this floor that Yumi Raijin crosses the hall to ask him to dance in front of the assembled court.

A private chamber in the tower

The castle also holds Yumi's old chamber, high in a tower room with a window overlooking the cobblestone thoroughfares of Goguma and, in the distance, the jagged silhouette of the Tower. She is brought here to recover after the battle and wakes in it a week later, recognising it as home.