The Age of Exploration, Part 4a  The tale of the Colonies
continues with this penultimate tale of the 2012 Kotei
tournament wins. The final selection of prize wins will be
posted tomorrow, so check back here!   The Age of Exploration,
Part 4  By Shawn Carman  Edited by Fred Wan   Kansas City
There were amazing things hidden deep within the jungle. The
beauty of it was how easy it was to conceal those things. Even
in an explored region, even when something was mere feet away,
it could be missed. The shadows were so deep, the undergrowth so
thick, that even an enemy could exist almost within arm’s reach
and go completely undetected. Or it could, at least, if one was
an obtuse fool completely devoid of a hunter’s instincts.
Shosuro Hawado was not a person of that sort.  Truth be told,
Hawado was not certain herself precisely what sort of person she
was. She certainly never fully understood other people. Their
thought processes were incomprehensible, almost alien, to her.
She operated on instinct, committing a