The New Winds

Saburo settled into his place at breakfast, and ate with the relish of a dead man walking, picking his way through the meal with all of the force and ease of a man who wanted anything but to leave and go about the rest of his business. Admittedly? He was only like this because nobody seemed to have the decency to give him a decent night's rest in the midst of this entire affair. He grunted and pecked while looking over the treatise of Saibankan's fables.

He paused, however, as his hand picked up a bun and he looked at it, his eyebrow raised.

Mai didn't see Otoko, but she did see Saburo, so she went over to him and bowed. "Good morning, Asako-san" She sits down. Ready for the day?

Nope. Definitely not Otoko here. Wrong sort of curse with this one. "Ah, kohai," he aid, returning the bow and nodding with a grunt. "I am nearing full preparedness. I am not quite there, but when I am finished eating, I should almost be ready. What of yourself? Have you eaten yet?"

"Just about to start. Been trying to figure out how to improve my.... courtesy. The training sessions I have had with Doji-sensei have not gone well."

"I have been reading the Subtlety of the Courts. It has been... informative within certain constraints, but I'm finding that people seem to react oddly when I attempt to follow its precepts too closely." Because he was thinking of every engagement as a battle interaction wherein he was not actually trying to 'win' but simply 'survive to retreat another day.' It tended to leave him eternally still stand-offish. "What has her commentary suggested to you about your behavior that you wish to improve upon."

Yeah, when he put it that way, it doesn't exactly sound like he has a clue what he's talking about, other than having read it in a book somewhere.

Mai was little better with such subtleties if for entirely different reasons. "She asked if I was taking it seriously when I joined her court training with your Clansman Isawa Haruki. She just let him run circles around me without giving any real help until I was about solve the discussion with a punch to the throat." She was still a little bitter about that.

Mai then sighs. "She did like my calligraphy, and she's going to teach me tea ceremony in a little bit hopefully that will go better." It won't.

He frowned and nodded. Ah, the Doji arrogance. Almost as infamous as the Isawa arrogance. Just a different field. They said that they were friends with everyone, but they judged behind silken fans, at least in his experience. Ok, the smith apprentice probably didn't, but she was a little bit ... unworldly in the end, at least in his experience, as limited as it was.

"I believe it is the Doji equivalent of a drill sergeant. Imagine a gunso like the old Akodo I have seen about. He barks his commands, drives like a master of beasts, and yet we grow from it. Some sensei teach by driving us almost to distraction. I confess... I prefer ones like them myself. They match the barking in my own mind."

"I dunno. Akodo-sensei seems a lot nicer to me." She then considers. "My sensei back home was pretty gruff. Maybe it's just the style I'm more used to." She sighs and then takes a bite. Surely the training this afternoon will go much better.

It wouldn't.

She then looks at the Phoenix with some concern. "I'm sorry to hear that. You should come to the Isles sometime. That would help."

He chuckled. "The voices in my mind will only abate when I achieve what it is that I seek to achieve." there was a small smirk on his lips. "And given that is perfection, I doubt that will be for some time. But I think we do agree on one thing. I think that I find men such as the Akodo more to my liking as sensei as a rule."

Mai nods. "The beaches of the Isles of Silk and Spice are very relaxing. You can let go of such concerns. Just enjoy the sea and sand. You can just let go."

He laughed a little wetly and shook his head. "It is nice of you to say so, but I have never been able to relax, kohai. I am simply too keyed up all the time. I suspect that is part of my trouble with meditation. That I just cannot get my muscles to unclench inside of me, always coiled, always ready. No matter how I rest in the hottest water, they never seem to ease."

"I'm just saying, have you ever met a tense Mantis?"

"I have met two mantis in my life, kohai." He allowed himself a small snort of a laugh. "And your kinsman is ... the very opposite of the word tense." A foul mouthed rake of a boor, more like, but he didn't actually add that on. He found Kokyou to be ... a lot to handle.

"See. You should give it a try. Isn't Kokyou's attitude one worth striving for? He is perfection in not being tense." She gives a mischievous smile to show she's not entirely serious.

He snorted and coughed once into his sleeve. Shaking his head he had a 'perish the thought' look on his face. "If I were to strive after an example of the two of you, it would be you, not he. He has a way about him that is very ... different from how I approach everything." Not to mention there were days he wanted to punch him in the face. Usually when he was talking with girls.