The New Winds

After his Iai study, the young Kuni tried to find his center once again and found himself almost there. But it was just out of reach. He let it go and took up the rake so that he could practice his raking once more. He was becoming quite good at it by this point.

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D6 Horse, Meditation / Void, TN 20: 5d10o10k2 19

"Hello Kuni-san," Nobuko greeted the Crab with a bow as she passed by him in his raking, "Are you faring well with the raking in this weather?"

Bowing to the Otomo that introduced herself, he nods. "I am. Crab lands get much hotter. During the summer. It's the cold that I usually have a problem with," he says. "My master has made me do harder work in worse heat. Just need to make sure you have plenty of water and I drink often."

"It gets quite hot in the Crane lands, as well. Though my school is closer to the sea than most, so we often have the breeze coming in from the ocean to break the heat in middle of the day," she said, knowing well how humid it could get in the border lands the two clans shared. "But sometimes it doesn't and has been something to learn to deal with. It is good you have learned to handle it. There are many who cannot."

Mostly Crane couriers who whine about the heat while having heimin fan them. But some of her fellow Imperials have acted in such a manner as well.

"Well, Crab are basically forced to endure it, spending hours training in it. It's basically a requirement for most of us. I suspect it's the same for Mantis on their islands too I'd guess. I think those are pretty far south."

"I am told they are warmer most of the year, with almost no snow," she said with a soft 'hmmm'. "But I have never been to the isles. I have only traveled the coast in Crane cutters. Have you ever been on a ship?"

"I haven't. But I'd like to some day, purely out of curiosity. I don't know what I would expect from it, only that it would be a new experience. What was your time on a ship like?"

"...different," she said after a moment of thought. "It is as though the ground beneath you is constantly moving. Is it, of course, because the ship moves with the waves. But it doesn't stop your perception of it being wrong to do so because when you have two feet beneath you, you feel you should not have to worry about the ground moving. On a ship, though, you do. All the time. Once you get used to that, it's a bit more difficult to walk on land for a time, because you are so used to having the ground move, that once it doesn't, it feels odd. So... different."

She gave a shoulder shrug, "Other than that, unless the weather turns sour, it's much the same as traveling near the coast. Lots of salt water and wind."

"What about the food? I'd guess that a fire on a ship probably isn't a great idea. Do you eat dried food and fresh sushi?"

"Sometimes," she nodded, "but there are ways to cook on a ship. Lots of stone to protect the wood, very centrally located and limited use. The heimin that controlled the fires of the kitchen were very skilled. I've only been inside such a room once, when I was first touring a ship many, many years ago. As a passenger, its never really been my place to do set myself in the way of those who perform the functions that keep us afloat, fed, and protected."

"That makes sense. You wouldn't want a diplomat interfering with the operations of an army's quartermaster or a duelist getting in the way of a temple's abbot. Everything in it's proper place," he replied with a nod.

"If it were my ship to control, I would have to know about it, but as it was not," Nobuko gave another shrug, agreeing with him. "Still, it is an experience. And can be quite thrilling. I do not have the love for it that the Mantis do, but I am not made distraught by the thought of traveling so."

A pause, then a gentle smile, "But enough about ships. We were discussing your experience with the heat. The Crab lands. Though I have been to the Crane lands, near to the border, I have not been within the lands of the Crab. It is more mountainous, is it not?"

"They are quite mountainous, and hilly where there aren't mountains. The weather is cooler up there, from what other Crab have told me, snow on the peaks of some of the taller ones. They get heavy snow during the winter months, then when the spring comes around the waters rise as rivers and streams fed by the mountains run down. It keeps the land around such areas quite fertile, though it's not a great deal of land that benefits from that. But even as the water rises and falls through the seasons due to snow, the land around the rivers and streams doesn't get so much snow and the temperatures go from hot to warm and back. Some places get cool in the evenings in northern areas of our lands and even get snow in winter, but we don't really get snowed in heavily like many northern clans."

"It's no wonder that many prefer to go to Southern Courts for the winter, if they are able. Warm, but not hot, weather is far more favorable than being stuck inside during a snow storm. No matter how nice the court you are at is. Unless it is the Imperial court. There is no question that wherever the Light of Heaven is, there will be comfort."

She tilted her head and let her fingers twist together atop her obi, "I should like to visit your lands, I think. I should like to visit many lands. Perhaps I will be granted leave to do so after my Gempukku, that I may learn the many ways of the Clans while the nakodos vie after suitable spouse."

"Well, the Crab are always glad to host the members of the Imperial families. It's an honor to have the opportunity to do so. Though we do live a far more sparse and less comfortable lifestyle. Always we favor putting resources towards the wall. It's not an undeserved reputation that we can seem to be inhospitable, but I think that's more an issue of our function and duty than it is a desire to be inhospitable."

"I wish all the clans could have a similar duty to the Crane, to uphold the empire's culture. It lends itself well to comfort and beauty. We do what we can, but always preparing for war does not leave room for that. Did you know, that when the Crab have taken part in wars among the Clans, we cannot bring the full might of our military to bear? Every time it has happened in the past, the armies we have raised didn't include those that stand guard on the wall. We simply cannot leave it undefended. If not for that fact there would be just as many Crab samurai as Lion in the Imperial Legions."

"I am not familiar with the Imperial Legions, but I do not question the Crab's dedication to the Empire. All clans serve as best they are able to. The fact that so many of your clan are stationed in such dire conditions and yet you continue on speaks well of your honor... even if culture is a little lacking at times."

She gestured at the rake, "Do you think you are done, Kuni-san? If so, perhaps you could walk with me for a moment?"

"I can be done in as much as the task is never done. We rake the courtyard every day, not to keep the courtyard clean but to help further instill a sense of responsibility and build our work ethic. No courtyard requires a half dozen samurai in training to rake it every day," he says with a chuckle, setting the rake aside to join the Otomo.

"Of course it doesn't. They like to see what sort of busy work we will set ourselves to do if instructed to do so," she agreed with a soft laugh and began an idle stroll around the perimiter of the yard.

"I have... taken some interest in what clans find to be lucky or symbols of luck. As a Kuni, I expect you have more insight on that for the Crab clan than most."

"Actually, theres only one thing that I can think of that we find lucky. At least only one thing that probably started with the Crab. We find surviving a lightning strike to be a sign of Osano-wo's favor. Most everything else superstitious deals with bad luck. Many consider jade to be lucky in the Empire as a whole, but even that is different for the Crab. Jade is a necessary tool, a blessing that keeps us safe."

He thinks for a moment and nods, "Yes, probably lightning... that doesn't kill you. Getting killed by lightning would be the opposite, a sign that you displeased Osano-wo."

"I would think that getting struck at all would be a sign of disfavor," she said, slow and measured so she didn't show exactly how startling that sounded to her. "But I can understand the thought that surviving means one is favored by the Fortune. However... I was looking more for... well, ways you find luck in smaller things. Tokens or occurrences that do not require one being so obviously... blessed."

She tapped her fingers against her obi, lips pursed, before clarifying a bit more, "If one were wanting to ask for luck for someone when praying at a shrine, what kind of token might be made in offering? For the Scorpion, an image of a rat might be given. For the Unicorn, an image of a frog. What in that sense is lucky to the Crab?"