50,000 Bushels [Central 46 Assembly]

"This emergency session of Central 46 now begins. The topic of this forum is with regard to the future of the Seireitei, and the role of both the noble houses and the Gotei United therein, having been requested by several families. I will, as moderator, cut off any discourse which is not meaningfully productive."

As representative of the most prestigious noble house which sat outside the Great Noble Families, and as former Captain Commander, it was only natural that Abalia Kyoraku be the one who would oversee this particular assembly of Central 46. Of course, given the circumstance in the Seireitei, the overwhelming majority of noble houses had requested permission to send their own representative; all had been approved as a matter of course.

"The floor is open."

Whoever opted to speak, Abalia's attention fell squarely upon them. She would not tolerate anything less than the utmost decorum in this setting, not when the situation demanded immediate attention.

The recent catastrophe in the Soul Society left no question that this meeting of Central 46 was inevitable. All nobles had the right to attend, and so three specific individuals, each with a personal stake in matters, made their appearance.

Byakuya Kuchiki's presence should not have been surprising. Duty-bound and unwavering in his convictions, he was not one to neglect his responsibilities, especially as the Head of the Kuchiki Clan. Once he entered, he took his spot and remained silent. Before speaking any opinion, he would hear the others.

J. Saionji's appearance might have been mildly surprising, since he had not appeared at many meetings like this in the past, his focuses generally elsewhere. However, the war that came to the Soul Society, not just the Gotei, J felt that his presence was necessary. He would provide whatever he could.

Hana Aoyama's presence would be a surprise, since she was never present at anything like this, and her father would normally have been the one here. She had no idea what she could provide here, but after receiving notice of the meeting, she felt obligated to attend and was wary of consequences for those who didn't.

"To what end do we wish to debate the nuance of terrible candidates as you put it, Lady Shiba?"

He spoke up from his position. The crass voice of an old man up in his years shot back a question and adjusted his glasses. Kagenaga did not want to waste the forum's time with discussing this folly, rather they should attack the issue head on.

"We are gathered to discuss the future of the Seireitei, and yet we should discuss the present. Many here have suffered losses, not once, but twice to foreign incursion into the Seireitei. Both times the Gotei Thirteen and United have been responsible for the protection and both times they have failed to prevent or minimise damages."

"Yet you begin the discussion with asking how we ought to weather whatever storm cast onto us rather than address the issue. In thousands of years of history, the Soul Society has never seen more invasion, more damage, than this last century. The living world has changed in an irrevocable way with its rise of spiritual awareness that has only made the shinigamis' role more difficult."

"Why are we in this situation? It's simple, there has been no captain-commander that can succeed the founder since his passing! I ask everyone here how much longer we are to weather this storm? How many more times will the balance of the three worlds be threatened? How many chances are the Gotei to be given when its spirit died with Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto himself!?"

He rose his voice to make sure that it projected. He was passionate about the topic he brought to the forum but his motives had to be put aside for now in the interest of the noble family that he served. Regardless he had to raise the elephant in the room. There was no Yamamoto and accused as they were of maintaining tradition, this was one that had overstayed its welcome.

Until someone rose with a new system that could evolve to the new situation of the three worlds, the Gotei was a shadow of itself. Without returning the world to the same state prior to the events of the Winter War, it was an archaic idea that would continue to fail.

"We agree with house Honjou." Hitoshi's voice chimed in, with the rare sight of him without a parasol. "The Gotei has been attempting to compensate for the loss of its founder with structure change after structure change. Still we find the streets torn to rubble - and we will rebuild - but the faith of the citizens is the lowest it's ever been! None of those candidates do anything to fix that. Lord Yamamoto was many things, but what they all remember, is safety." A surprising amount of emotion from the man, his eyes sliding across the other noble families. Shishiyuki wasn't attending - some attendant for the Koizumi Hitoshi didn't recognize.

"The tragedy that we've all gone through demands a righting of the ship. We are in no position to be taking more damage, and acting rashly means sinking us all. For that end, the Kurata would ask to put a motion to vote. " Raising a hand, Hitoshi's gaze flicked to Byakuya's for a moment, flicking back forward all the same. "I propose we leave the seat of captain commander vacant, and with the full backing of the Central 46, we find a candidate to be trained for the position. A symbol that everyone of Soul Society could look up to." his voice was steady, confident, and after a pause, he lowered his arm, finishing his peace.

"And until they reach the appropriate status of Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, the Central Forty-Six acts in their stead."

It was a bittersweet day for Lady Morikawa to put it lightly. Her husband was incapacitated, having suffered injuries from a large explosion that originated from a distance away from their home, and her youngest daughter Mika's condition was still uncertain. The young woman who was a prodigy among prodigies, hailed since birth as the future of the Morikawa who would elevate their name to true nobility, remained in a coma with devastating wounds across her body.

Yet despite all that suffering her family had endured over the past day, their dream to be recognized as nobility, to have a legacy that would extend beyond their lifetimes, had come to fruition: She was invited to a Central 46 meeting as a representative of the Morikawa.

Mina bore a morose look as she came to her seat in the arena-like meeting place. She sat listening to the other nobles stand up and voice their thoughts and concerns, feeling out of her depth...but only for a short time. Mina rose to her feet with no amount of ease, still winded from traveling her from her damaged family estate because of her scarred lungs, and spoke clearly for all to hear.

"It is my belief our efforts should be focused on reconstruction and aid to the Rukongai Districts most affected by the war. It was Lady Kyoraku herself who, as Captain Commander, worked to fully separate Seireitei's Nobility and the Gotei from each other. Attempting to reverse those changes in the middle of reconstruction can only increase tensions..in an already tumultuous..time." Finished speaking, Mina fell back to her seat short of breath. Perhaps as a first timer to a Central 46 meeting she was overstepping her bounds by speaking so candidly, but as she recovered from the exertion Mina remained confident in the meaning of her words.

The Machihara were far from a prestigious family, lacking the pedigree that many of their peers had earned from proximity to the original Gotei and having had few members of their clan ever join the organisation let alone rise to any prominence within it. But they were still a longstanding noble family, and so an invitation had found its way to their door. Given the pandemonium, they were busy with several members of the family injured whilst others were left tending to the wreckage that had been left in the wake of the invasion but the family head would make the effort to represent them all today.

Masao Machihara was a broad-shouldered man with a wide build, though he was not tall and far more rotund than actually imposing, with rounded features and a small clump of balding pink hair so dark that it would have been easy to mistake for brown under any circumstance. He sat on a chair that was struggling ever so slightly to uphold him, legs bowing inwards, a walking cane held out in front of him to act as a ballast. There had been the thought that he might tap it on the floor to show his support of any given opinion, but it had remained quite still ever since the moderator had called for this meeting to begin.

Gotei this, Rukongai that. It was like they had forgotten that the Seireitei had borne the brunt of the destruction, countless nobles were not here today because they had been caught up in that disaster. He had lost valuable business assets to that wanton destruction and the focus remained upon how they could best serve others and not a thought for how to best serve themselves. But people enjoyed appealing to that goodwill, to help out the unwashed masses and such, so he would have to be quite coy. Unfortunately, that was a characteristic he certainly lacked. There was a quiet creak and pop as big Masao pushed himself to his feet, slicking back a few strands of hair from his face before he spoke.

"My dear fellows, I appreciate all your fine words. It is certainly true that the Rukongai and the Gotei both need further guidance, and we few have the experience to give it." His spectacled gaze glanced around the room, not lingering on any one person before returning to the centre. "But I do not believe I am the only person here that feels like we must look inward as well as out. The reforms of recent years have been a terrible burden on our resources, and now - after even more has been destroyed - we are positing the idea to offer up what little we can spare? I say we must think of ourselves so that we can think of others, repeal and reassess."

Returning to his seat with a huff and a puff, he settled in to watch where the discussion would go. His remarks would likely win him few friends, but they were genuine and certainly shared by many even if they would not admit it quite so publicly.

Whether by good fortune, by their own refusal to settle for a life of ease, or some combination of both, the Sawachika Estate had suffered quite little in this attack. Of course, the same could not be said of the Sawachika themselves, for they were not the sort to sit idly by when their home was under attack. His eldest daughter was still in recovery and had nearly exerted herself to an early grave; his youngest son was far from recovered, and his wife would likely be in bed for weeks while her wounds healed over.

Even so, Lord Sawachika would be present for something as momentous as this. He had no intention of speaking just yet, preferring to study the people around him, to look for those weak points and be ready for when they collapsed in time. His daughter accompanied him, allowed on the grounds that she was ready to assist if his own injuries from the battle became troublesome. They would not, of course. Lord Sawachika was a man who did not falter. But she had been adamant in her desire to accompany him, and so he had allowed it.

"There has been no Commander whose presence equals that of Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto. Of that there is no question, and the voice of Honjou speaks true in that regard. However, there will never be a Commander who does. He is the one, you recall, who built the Gotei into existence. Had he wished, we would have been turned into nothing but ash. It was simply the nobility's good fortune that he built a military, and nothing more authoritative than that."

To speak on hypothetical destruction, in the wake of such real destruction, may have seemed unreasonable to some. But the reality was that Yamamoto would have inflicted far worse, had he only wished to do so.

"Does the Seireitei intend to raise another man of that nature?"

A pointed question, and one which did not address the more pressing matters. Could such a man even be raised in the hands of the nobility? Could a man like him come from anywhere other than decades of conquest as a warlord?

No. Lord Sawachika doubted that very much.

"With regard to reconstruction, even assessment of these damages will take time. To rebuild will take far more, and will be costly beyond anything we have faced since the era of the first captains. Our resources are great, certainly. But they are not infinite."