The New Winds

although he liked the company of the others, it had been a long time since the two were together alone. An invite sent to Kenji earlier, Aiichiro waited in a particular room with his student clothes — better than muddy competitor ones. As usual, he did something else whilst he ate "not to lose time", which almost always meant an engineering draft.

Kenji, still a bit tipsy after his adventures with Yasuki Jun, sratched at Aiichiro's door.

He got up to attend the door, letting Kenji enter with a bow. "Welcome, Kenji-kun."

Carefully, watching his feet, Kenji entered Aiichiros room. He bowed and said: "Greetings, my friend, I, I hope you had a goood bath, the hunt was quite... muddy"

"Please have a sit." He says, gesturing to the table and closing the shoji after him. He returns where he was and starts to organize aside the engineering tools.

Kenji walked, as gracefully as possible, to the assigned seat and sat down. He waited for what Aiichrio wanted to do or say.

"It's been a time since we talked. Not like, talked talked. But really talked. If you know what I mean. How have you been?"

Kenji's friendly face, which was his standard on, faded. It wasn't the alcohol that allowed him to open up on Aiichiro.
"To be honest, I'm afraid that I'm the laughingstock of the crane. I have not won a single competition and in the other tests I did not really shine. Being third last among the Bushi is pretty... tough." he confessed. "Other than that, i heard troubling news from you clanmate Yasuki Jun,.... concerning the Wall,..."

"Yasuki Jun? This is one I don't know..." He asked, thinking it was an adult Yasuki. As far he remembered, Ginkarasu's father was not named Jun either. "News of the Wall are always grave. As far I know, this year's Winter Court was good. The Imperials and the Crane really helped us. But the mood at Kyuden Hida..." He looks to the side. "I was trained to believe those are common ocourrences, although they worry me."

"No, no he's a competitor, he should be with you here in the Laughing Carp,... he's in the Merchant school, i met him in the Merchant House, cause i was buying a Gift for Kaita-Dono,... he was guiding me around and gave me alot of Sake to drink,..."

Kenji tried to remember every detail, but couldn't remember everything..

"Anyway, he told me that the Jade supply are dire and perhaps run out till Winter,...."

He kept the laughs inward to himself. Oh dear, his friend got Yasuki'ed. But if he told him that, not only he would be getting in the way of his clan's affairs but also would somewhat punish a man who only followed his duty right. "We got enough jade supplies last winter court for the remainder of this year. But things are always aggravating."

"..." he remaind silent for a bit. He was thinking about something about the lines of: You can coun't on me! I can change things, but Kenji was neither powerfull nor influential enough to provide the Crabs with more Jade. And he didn't want to give a promise, he can't keep.

"The year isn't over yet, so i hope the Crab can manage to get more" was his answer, hoping for his words to become true

"We got ten thousand koku more than what we strictly needed for this year. We are safe in this aspect. What bugs us the most recently is that we fear there may be the rising of a new, more powerful foe. Our scouts are seldomly returning. And it isn't a problem of getting lost because the scouts are trained not to get lost. The bushi at Kyuden Hida are more or less losing their spark."

"You think the 9th one is planning an attack?"

"Is there a time he is not?"

"No, i guess not, but when your scouts don't come back, there's a reason for that. So, well i'm not as knowledgeable as you on this topic, but what i meant was if he's planning like a big attack?"

"Then we have been responding accordingly for over three months, or less specifically, eleven centuries. It will trouble us, but I'm confident we will also resist."

"Well, as a Crane i need belive in the crabs ability to protect the empire, as it did, honorably, for the last eleven centuries" he said resolut.

"Would you mind some tea? I'm still a bit,... thirsty after my encounter with Yasuki Jun-san"

"You may ask for tea if you want." He nods slightly. "I have called you for a reason, maybe, I fear."
He guards all the engineering drafts aside, but under them was a letter. He pushed it into Kenji's direction.

Kenji instructed a servant of the Laughing Carp to bring tea and waited until it was brought.

He sat down at the table again and offered Aiichiro a cup before he would drink one himself.

Another Letter, huh? Kenji thought to himself.

"May i read it?" he asked politely, preserving the etiquette, even if he already knew the answer to it.