The New Winds

Somewhere was a Yasuki. A Kaiu searched for said Yasuki and discovered sadly that his Ginkarasu-searching skills did not get any better. He found himself now not only in a dojo, but with an entire city to search. This took a somewhat long time, because now the sun even set. Eventually he found him, though, at the Laughing Carp he was not half a hour ago. Approaching Ginkarasu, Aiichiro bowed shallowly.
"Ginkarasu-san, do you have to do something now? I wanted to ask for your help."

He looked up at the sky, and then shook his head, "Nothing important I suppose. What's up friend?"

"Oh, I just wanted to go to the market buy a book. It's not tremendously important either."

"Yeah, okay. What's the book?" He asks simply enough.

"How do you think you're doing? I know I'm very surprised to be doing this well!"

"Just some historical pillow book that looks interesting. Maybe a war one. Nothing too specific. I think I'm doing average. You did very well indeed, Ginkarasu-san."

"I almost got Mirumoto Hinata-san, but she managed to hold her ground, even after my Kiai shout!" He looks to Aiichiro. "I've been practicing turning on the kill face. It's supposed to save lives when you're a yojimbo. Getting people to back off without drawing steel is winning without fighting, my sensei's say."

"The shout was fierce. Almost scared me watching it." He replies. "I have been training too my courage. A lot of Shadowlands foes inspire fear. Anyway, shall we get going to the market now?" He says, pointing with his arm to the door.

He nods happily, walking out the door. "Pillow book? Gift or for yourself?" He asks, curious.

He walks at his side. "I like pillow books, although I don't read them much anymore. Although it is on the range of my tastes, it is a gift. Like, I used to read fantasy monogatari when I was younger, then I moved to war monogatari, then to history monogatari, then to parodies. I don't read the fantasy novels anymore, and my taste kind of developed to parodies, but I may pick up war or history monogatari that are really good. But like I already said I don't read that much anymore. Can't even compare with when I was a kid."

He nods. "Which is what, a few months ago? Or before your schooling got intense?"

He smiles a little. "I hear courtiers have to stay well read. Never know when someone is going to make a reference to an obscure story and being able to bounce a reference back means you get to have the conversation with the person everyone else wants to talk to."

"One year. Since one year and six months ago." He replies, finding a strange feeling in his throat. "Courtiers have. It was not for that purpose I started with the reading, though. My father just thought it would be good for me. And I understand him, too.
He looked forwards. "Which style of book do you read? What's your favourite?"

"I don't much. Spent much of my childhood on wagons as we traveled with my parent's duties, or being apprenticed to other yojimbos to learn things before going to the main dojos. Meant carrying as little as possible. Most of the things to read at the dojo is about terrain and tactics. Treatises I guess you'd call them." He thinks hard for a few seconds, "Oh! I think I remember! When we'd go to my Mom's family home every year during tax collection, there were a collection of stories that occurred at a roadside inn. So many of those were funny. And they taught you lessons too!"

"Wow. This sounds sad. It's understandable, but saddening nevertheless. Do you want to buy one for yourself too? I know some great titles. Maybe my father carried some with him on his trip back I could ask for, too." He replies. Seriously life outside a castle with kuge children was different. "I recommend A Gathering of One Hundred Supernatural Tales for reading occasionally, because it is a hefty book although being fun and fragmentary. Stories aren't connected to eachother, it is just a gathering of one hundred heimin superstitions. But for starting out any good fantasy book will do. Unless you have a preference."

"Maybe after I learn what my duties will be? If I'll be mostly stationary then it won't be any problem, but if I'm to live on the road, getting books will mean I have to store them somewhere, and we try really hard not to have unnecessary excess."

"Ah, I see. So today we are just buying a history monogatari for her." He nods towards the market as it approaches, and handles Ginkarasu his coins bag again. "Could you?"

He nods. "Though you'll want to tell me how much you regularly think it'd be worth and how much you're willing to spend beforehand I think. If we get a greedy merchant, they'll use every advantage they can to take more coin."

"Two bu is the average for a good book. I should have it with me. I believe you can also sort of take advantage on the fact that heimin shouldn't know how to read, or at least not very well."

A shake of his head, "Not if they're selling books. They have to be able to read to manage their patron's property right. Now, you might get someone pretending to not be able to read, or you might have a patron who doesn't really care about books having hired the wrong person, but if they're selling books they often buy books and you don't want your clan's merchants buying a bunch of worthless books."

"Ah, so there is that. Anyway, anything over three bu is more lengthy than I would like to gift to someone not used to monogatari, or really high production which would be nice in an usual giftgiving but not necessary on this one. Anything that costs less than one bu is their attempt to sell something that does not sell."

"Okay! 2 buish historical pillow book, maybe about war." He muses for a second. "Oh! Real war or fictional war?"