"She's going to the meeting? Do people know she's still around?"

"Briefly. No, they don't. And before you ask, making her suddenly appear is the idea. She'll give a few platitudes about how you're a Savant we can trust." He coughed, then cleared his throat. "Now, it won't be so unexpected that it'll be completely unprecedented. I'm not sure how you humans do things, but it's not unheard of for the vision of an ancestor or the ghosts of the deceased to suddenly attend a kitsune family gatherings."

You were beginning to feel like this wasn't much of a business meeting at all.

"Ok. Any reason she isn't here saying this herself?"

"Because I," The ghostly voice of Sumiko said as she came out of the walls, "Did not wish to push my luck with you, son in-law."

"Right, sure," You weren't rattled by her sudden appearance, and recalled the tulips she gave to you and Ayane, "Didn't you give me some sort of peace offering? And aren't we supposed to be friends now?"

"Yes, it represented forgiveness. Both for how I treated you, and for how I've hurt my daughter. Nonetheless, despite you taking them, I hesitated— for Savants are notoriously spiteful." She plainly said. Although you felt like she didn't particularly like you still, she was willing to overlook the fact you were human for the sake of her husband and her daughter.

"And the fact that it might show potential tension between the union you and Ayane have and the rest of the Mitsubishi side." Hisashi quickly added. "If you want a superficial answer."

And the three of you spoke about what to expect, how these meetings usually go, things you should watch out for, and so on. It was stressed that, unless you wanted to antagonize anyone that wasn't part of your immediate in-law family, you had to act with subtle calmness and respect.

"Patience is a virtue not many short-lived species can understand." Sumiko huffed.

Ayane prepared you for this sort of thing for the most part, but it was good to have a reminder. Sumiko still seemed a bit unwilling to talk with you much, and eventually she went into a small crystal of her own that Hisashi held up. You're reminded of the crystal that you'd turned into a makeshift wand this morning, using your Lunacy Savantae. Last you saw of it, Yumi was cautiously looking it over out as your other wives did some last minute paperwork and upkeep of the castle.

Soon a smaller ship arrived by. Ai and Eisho were waiting there and brought you and Hisashi along. You noted how Hisashi didn't speak much to them other than a token greeting. After making a quick stop to pick up Ayane, you land near the headquarters of the Mitsubishi-Yasuda Trading Firm.

In keeping with the theme kitsunes had, it was a very Asian-styled place. You wouldn't say it was fully Japanese, but it did really have a certain feel to it that made itself known due to the surrounding European-styled buildings.