The New Winds

Sasaiko, diligent, once again finds herself in the tea room, setting up for and carrying out the ceremony of tea--making ready for Saburo.

There may be a hint of a blush on her cheeks. It seems to distract her (Tea Ceremony fail).

Finding no peace with it, she casts aside the first pot and simply makes tea, which is just ready when he arrives...

There was a quick, gentle rap at the door before it opened and revealed Saburo. His eyes still had that weird, unhealthy color to them, but he looked ... well, not exactly well, but less openly unwell in how he carried himself. Like many, some of the development of the last few years had been refining, and he seemed more confident in his strides. He grunted and bowed, offering the Toritaka a polite, level look before taking his seat.

"Ah, Toritaka-san. Thank you for inviting me. It is a pleasant way to finish off the evening after the meal. Gets the mind attuned for the evening studies and cleaning." Seriously, someone needed to get this kid a hobby.

...

besides Shogi. Because that might as well have been tied to his battle training, so it wasn't really a hobby was it?

She bows back, gesturing to a seat and tea.

"You look like you're feeling better, Asako-san. I am glad to see it."

Once he had settled, he grunted again and closed his eyes. "I believe that the diet, the exercises and the warmer climate of the central lands may have been helpful to my congestion." There was still a gravelly quality, but it was slightly less pronounced. Mind you, he still was no picture of health and well being, but he certainly didn't look at death's door which he'd almost looked when they first met. "I have been told that your daily lessons went well today. I apologize that I cannot view them personally, but the alternate approaches seem to be bearing fruit. I am taking that into account." Certainly, he was starting to consider how to actually use the shit he read in books rather than simply recite it.

Taking a cup of tea, he breathed it in slowly, eyes lidded. "I... have meant to ask you something. It is a slightly less pleasant topic, though. So if you'd rather spare it for another day, I would ..." Pause. Glance over shoulder. He reached back, closed the door and proceeded to check under the table and around. No tree frogs. No small animals. Squint. No, he was not going to magically appear in the middle of this tea room like he had the baths. Little bastard. "Sorry. Making certain he does not appear again. Mentioning his name seems to summon him."

That damned Mantis boy, she thinks.

"No sense putting it off. And I will regard it as a sincere question from a friend who wishes to know, rather than as anything else."

She looks at him, raises an eyebrow.

"We are friends, right?"

He blinked. There was a pause and he looked over at the Toritaka for a second as if consider what she'd asked. He breathed in and reached up to tap his lips before frowning. "You know... Toritaka-san. I do not actually have that many friends. I don't suppose my mother or sister count. They are family. I'm... uh... hmmm... yes, I think I am comfortable calling you a friend." A nod. She was polite and reasonable, and hadn't made him fear for his life being around her, so that seemed perfectly reasonable. "So, yes. I will consider this a sincere question of a friend, and ... I think I will be a little circumspect for the reason I mentioned earlier."

"There is a ... person." Yes. Person. He was going to give him credit for that as he sipped his tea. It was decent tea at least. "He has a rather ... unusual way of speaking. I believe we know the person I am speaking of. Yes? You... do not like this person, do you?"

She nods.

"I believe I know whom you mean, and I can say that there are others whose company is far preferable, yes. And you are correct that he seems to pop up in unexpected places at unexpected times."

She takes a pull of her own tea, wondering why she has trouble with the ceremony when another will join her.

"Within the bounds that a friend is permitted, I wished to know what about him discomfits you so. I admit that... hmmm... currently, that one is perhaps the person I least prefer to have within ear-shot of my person among any who are within the compound," which, though he didn't actually say it, included the eta who cleaned any of the filth that accumulated with this many people in one place. He really didn't like Kokyou much at all, and the man's alarming ability to simply appear was ... irritating. He was like if you made a ninja out of the fables, took him out of his black pajamas and had him yell 'YAR' while staring lecherously at girls all the time. Honestly, they didn't even make characters like that in pillow books.

"I just wondered if he had done something to personally offend, or if he was simply... not someone you wanted to share a room in the company of."

That's not a direction I expected things to go, she thinks as she sips at her tea again and considers an answer. I mean, the boy does tend to suck all the air out of a room, and he is annoying loud. And he thinks he has a lot to offer, even if it is all blow-and-go. And the bad attempts at flirting don't help, either.

"Is Asako-san familiar with the lodestone, by any chance?"

He blinked and considered that. Uh... He'd probably heard of it at least in passing. "That's the kind of stone that always seems to point in one direction if shaped correctly? Shiny little metal of some sort, but no use in metal tools otherwise. I've heard of them, and seen one I think. Why do you ask?" He was expecting that there was a metaphor involved here somewhere. The Toritaka seemed to value certain alliteration from time to time.

She nods.

"There are more than a few in Toritaka lands. Sometimes, when they are brought together, they will almost leap to join one another. Sometimes, however, they will spring apart from one another. And I think that it is sometimes that way with people."

"Ah yes. I remember seeing that. It was considered a fanciful demonstration at the time." He'd been enthralled as a kid anyway. A nod, and yes. The description seemed an apt one, save for one aspect. "He does seem to enjoy throwing himself into situations where stones would be repelled from him, I have noticed. I would almost say he revels in it."

A grunt and he took another sip. "But, I do not know that more need be said about him today. It was a matter of curiosity. I wanted to be sure nothing was wrong per se. That is all. We can find far better topics to talk about than the lodestone that seems to repel us both."

"Indeed, though I thank you for your concern."

She nods.

"To what studies have you been turning your formidable young mind, Asako-san?"

He was glad to abruptly separate himself from the previous topic. All the better if you asked him. A quick nod and he sipped tea before setting the cup down for a moment. "I received a particularly good lesson on kyujutsu from Akodo-sama today in the morning, and I am planning to inquire with Asako-sama soon for further insights into meditation and spell theory. But a great deal of my studies have been regarding investigation, law and iaijutsu. I wish to make sure that all of the elements of what I believe we are studying are covered somehow."

A pause and a little frown before he shook his head. "It feels almost a daunting thing, doesn't it?"

She nods.

"There have been several of us practicing iaijutsu, as well. And it is a large undertaking, certainly. But I believe you'll do well--that you'll continue to do well."

"I certainly hope so. The longer that we go, the more we begin to enter fields of study that I have not been as prepared for. It is difficult for any of us to truly be the master of all that is expected of a samurai, is it not?" He was increasingly starting to identify that the mere idea of perfection that was the 'traditional' samurai was an impossibility. Nobody knew all of that... "Do you ever wonder where they got the idea that each of us should be all these things at once?"

"The writings of the ancestors," she replies, "whom the records state were, in fact, all that we are expected to be, if perhaps not quite so early in their lives as we are in ours." She smiles a bit. "Though records are always incomplete."

"Mmm, I feel like we are speaking of Soshi Saibankan again, and the importance of a bit of ... color in one's history to make a point," Saburo said with a hint of amusement. He wondered for just a moment. Had there ever been a better swordsman than Kakita and Mirumoto? Or were the legends truly real where it came to them? Certainly, recalling a talk earlier that day about the Sword, he had to wonder if they always lived up to that perfect image, or if they too had had rough patches in their childhood.

"Big sandals to fill regardless, yes?"

"Just so, though some might say small feet are more desirable."

There is a bit of a smirk, as if she is making a jest.

"And it does bring up the questions of what should be recorded, and by whom?"

He blinked and there was a snicker that came out of him as he brought his sleeve up to his mouth to conceal it. His laughter was a bit close to hiss, but it came out with a little cough as he tried to control himself. "If they expect little of us, it's so much easier to surpass their expectations, yes?" A little giggle there, and he managed to calm down. "I imagine whoever does the recording makes a great many decisions of what is remembered... for obvious reasons."