A topic from AEG's L5R CCG Rules forum, copied for Oracle of the Void from a copy of the forum saved in October 2015, so pages it didn't save are missing. Players' names are left out; the rules officials are named. Rulings are as they stood on these dates; later rulings, the rulebooks and the Rules Archive may differ.
A player, 2 February 2012
Torch's Flame Flickers states "Negate the next card effect that bows one or more of your Personalities who is there (at the time)."
If a card effect does something else along with the bowing (like Gold and Steel which also can move the target home), will it also negate the send home? I was unsure since it says to negate the next card effect and not the next bowing.
Also, does it only protect the personalities that were at the battlefield at the time that Torch's Flame was used or if something moves to the battlefield later will it protect it from being bowed if a bow effect is used after the new personality show up?
Jon Palmer (rules official), 3 February 2012
Torch's Flame Flickers states "Negate the next card effect that bows one or more of your Personalities who is there (at the time)."
If a card effect does something else along with the bowing (like Gold and Steel which also can move the target home), will it also negate the send home? I was unsure since it says to negate the next card effect and not the next bowing.
Also, does it only protect the personalities that were at the battlefield at the time that Torch's Flame was used or if something moves to the battlefield later will it protect it from being bowed if a bow effect is used after the new personality show up?
It will only negate the bowing. The bowing and send home from Gold and Steel (in your example) are separate effects and only the bow effect is negated.
"at the time" refers to the time of the bowing, so it does not matter if the Personality was there when Torch's Flame Flickers was played.