The New Winds

This was something Masuyo looked forward to. She understood where her senseis were coming from back home with the need to not give in to indulgences, however they were also instructed they were welcome to partake any meals offered to them.

In fact, a particular senpai told her to indulge when away from the High House of Light. After all, the Isekai dojo offered two meals a day. Be there at the proper time or miss out, very few exceptions. Food had a tendency towards bland of late and Masuyo was dying to try anything at all outside the norm.

Instead, it was rice and miso soup. Oh well. At least the miso isn't watery. The tea is decent, too.

Sakura was humming to herself as she entered the dojo designated for food. It wasn't going to be as good as the food back at home, but it was food and she was hungry. She also carried some paper and writing equipment.

Pausing, she looked around for somewhere to eat, and her eyes fell on the Dragon girl. She smiled brightly and bowed, before moving over there.

"Hi! Can I sit with you?"

It was cute Crane-chan! Masuyo's hand reflexively rubbed her thigh at the memory of the strike. The Dragon monk bowed as best as possible while sitting and nodded eagerly. "This one is Masuyo! Mirumoto Masuyo! Of the High House of Light! You're a... Doji? Right?"

Ooc: Masuyo wears a chest wrap and has a large back tattoo of a carp jumping up a waterfall, the upper left is oddly missing.

"Hai! Doji Sakura of...I guess Tsuma, although I grew up closer to Kyuden Doji. Tsuma is where I studied though."

The girl sat down, putting her paper next to her and her food in front of her, bringing her hands together in a polite prayer of thanks for the food before looking at the Dragon girl. Noticing a hint of colour on her back when the girl bowed.

"Oooh, is that a tattoo? Dragon have tattoos I heard! That's really cool, who did that?"

"Tsuma? Is that one of the Doji Courtier dojos?" Masuyo had studied a bit of history but the name was lost on her.

"Oh!" She turned around to show it to the Crane girl. The lower right had an Asagi koi carp jumping powerfully up a swirling wave. The upper left shoulder was completely blank and the parts of the wave surrounding it were uncolored. It appeared to be a masterful piece of art, although unbalanced as if it wasn't yet completed.

She turned back to face Sakura when she'd had a chance to look at it. "One of my senseis, the sensei of paintings, did it, but not the tattoo master. This is a normal tattoo. Some Dragon tattoos are special."

Mai tried to meditate but could not concentrate. So, she decided to get something to eat.

Looking to make new friends, she sees the Crane and Dragon after getting her food. Going over to them, she bows. "Hi. I am Mai of the Mantis Clan? May I join you?"

"No, it's where the Kakita academies are. I'm study with the prestigious artisans of the Crane, making weapons and other beautiful arts, but I've never met anyone who creates tattooes before" Sakura leaned closer to admire the work "beautiful. So beautiful. Do you get it finished when you finish your gempukku? Do you know how to do tattoos yourself?"

Then someone approached! Sakura bowed to the woman, moving her papers over so Mai could sit down.

"Hello! I'm Doji Sakura and this is Mirumoto Masuyo-san. I don't see an issue with you joining us, we're just talking about art."

"Thank you. That sounds interesting. What kind of art?"

"Kakita... artisan? That sounds interesting! I'd like to see what you can make some time." She paused, "I don't know how to do it yet, but I will before gempukku. 'When I learn what it means to be truly Dragon...' Don't know what that means yet but here we are. They did say the tattoo is based on the story of the Carp who never stops trying to jump over the waterfall, despite being weak it keeps trying."

She laughed to herself, "maybe they were called me weak?"

"Hello! This one is Mirumoto Masuyo, nice to meet you Mai-san." Her curiosity got the better of her, "have you been on a ship before?"

"Mirumoto-san was talking about her lovely tattoo. It's amazing" Sakura beamed a happy smile at Masuyo "I make weapons and jewelry, and work with gems too! It's really exciting. I also do some singing as well."

She shook her head at Masuyo, adding "and you don't look like a weak carp to me!"

"A few times. My sensei kept me mainly on the islands. But I did go visit my mother's family in Susume lands before, and I came here."

At the Doji's response, "Oh. You make weapons? I have always wanted to learn. To create some legendary neumari for my Clan is one of my dreams." She then turns to the Dragon. "You have a tattoo? One of the magic ones?"

"Doji-San here is rather talented. I can't wait to see her work. You can cut gems?! That sounds really hard."

Masuyo turned to show the large back tattoo to the Mantis, her chest wrap didn't cover much. "It is not one of the magical ones but yes, I am training to be Ise Zumi."

"What are the islands like? I never really got to leave the mountains so anything else sounds interesting. We don't really get visitors to the High House of Light."

The Dragon ate more of her rice, trying to be polite but clearly hungry. All the exercise and tests burned calories, after all.

"I can cut gems and make almost anything! It's very very hard though, you need to be pinpoint perfect or you can shatter a precious gem in seconds, and everyone will be disappointed with you. I usually focus on working with less precious ones though, less risk that way. As for weapons, my school focuses on making swords" Sakura looked proud "but I can do any weapon as long as I know what it is."

She paused as well, curious about the question of the Islands, and taking a chance to have a little food. She was quite tired from the days actions already.

Mai looked impressed. "If ye don't mind, I would like to see work sometime. My brother's ship takes him to the Ivory Islands and he has told me about the weapons. It got me interested even if I won't be using them myself."

She turns to the Dragon. "I see. That's interesting. Even my brother never met an Ise Zumi. Not even one in training." She takes a quick sip from her miso. "So, the Islands of Silk and Spice. They are beautiful. My sensei lived near a beach. The smell of the sea. The sand squishing in between your toes. And the sunsets over the ocean. If I was an artisan, I would paint nothing but those. I have never seen anything so lovely. Oh. When I was younger, I would go watch all the creatures. Saw a sea turtle lay her eggs and bury them before going back to the ocean."

Masuyo also looked impressed. "One of the meditations back home stated, 'You should not have a favourite weapon. To become over-familiar with one weapon is as much a fault as not knowing it sufficiently well.' Perhaps, Doji-san's flexibility of craftsmanship is exactly the kind of thing they meant."

"I think I saw at least one familiar face today, so maybe you will meet more."

Masuyo tries and fails to imagine the image described by the Mantis. It sounded so exotic and she had only heard of such things in books.

"What's a turtle?" Masuyo pictured a bird burying it's eggs with sticks in some manner of misshapen lump of a nest and shuddered.

"I'm working on a project right now" Sakura said with a big smile "once it's done I'll show everyone! It'll be so pretty and so cool."

She looked interested at the talk of the Mantis islands. It sounded so...exotic.

"I want to visit now...I don't know what a turtle is, but I want to go visit and paint the scene now. So badly! Your kin offered to show me one of your clans ships too, Mantis all seem so nice, although I can understand you much easier than I can understand Kokyou-san."

"Turtles are like lizards, but they have a hard shell. Sea turtles live in the sea and have flippers> They come to land to lay their eggs and bury them in the sand."

Oh. Kokyou. Somehow Mai was not surprised he got to the pretty little Crane first. "Kokyou-kun is kind like that. He spends a lot of time at the docks and picked up the sailor's way of speaking."