The New Winds

Tanshin looked down at his bowl with a slight grimace. He felt that he had been progressing well, and in need of self-reward.

When the room is relatively empty, he attempts to get the attention of one of the cooks, particularly one he recognizes as heimin.

"Oi." He called, and motioned for the cook to come closer. "Could you give me a spicy pepper sauce? I can only take so much of these bland samurai meals." He fell easily into the speech patterns of heimin that he learned in his childhood.

One of the servants looks up from their work and bows.

"Ah, hello, samurai-san. The food is not to your liking?"

Tanshin kept his demeanor relaxed and friendly.

"You may call me Tanshin, when others are not about. What may I call you?"

"I've enjoyed your food very much. But, I miss some meals that my mother would prepare in my younger days."
"I miss a particular spicy pork dish she would make in our village in Shiba province. Do you know it?"

"I am Rin. And I am unsure, I have never been to Phoenix lands. Only here in Hirosaka. I have spices though, hot or numb?"

Tanshin smiled. "Numb! Okasan would joke that it would put fire in my belly!" He tried joking.

"I spent most of my childhood with my family in a small farming village before being … introduced to the ways of Samurai. I miss the simpler life I had.
I don't suppose that you would be willing to help a homesick boy get in touch with his childhood? Perhaps I could accompany you when you leave the compound? I would need to disguise myself to move past the guards, I think."

"You wish to come to my home?"

Tanshin's face drew blank in surprise.

"I... I … No... I was asking more for a chance to be among the people that we both know make the world work. I do not wish to burden you with myself as a guest. " Tanshin felt this opportunity fading away by the moment.

"Your assistance to get past the guards, in the most simple way is what I seek."

"You want to sneak out then? I don't think I can help you with that, samurai-sama. The lords of this dojo would find me responsible and punish me."

Tanshin was sympathetic to Rin's concerns.

"Is there some agreement we could come to where your risk is at a minimum?

If you could provide me with clothes that would make me appear as a worker, that would be easy, wouldn't it?

Is there something I could do to help my friend, Rin?"

"You may certainly have a spare set of my clothing, and I need nothing in return, samurai-sama. Um.. Tanshin."

Tanshin gave a small bow. "I'll collect them when I return my bowl."

Tanshin sat and ate his pepper-reinforced dish, mulling over his next steps. He began to sweat as the heat of the pepper took its effects.
It was bit hotter than Okasan would make, actually.

The clothes will help make him look unlike a student, but he felt that the guards may still notice a young man among the others.

"Of course, samurai-sama. And any time you would like something more for your dish, please just ask. I am happy to serve you"