The New Winds

She had not, strictly speaking, needed to race around the town, down the riverbank and back-twice- to find a suitable spot for a meal. But she'd needed something to chase the memory of jogging along on that poor, unsuitable pony from her bones.

Once around to spot the place. A pause at the gates to send a note with directions. The second time around to work off the rest of her simmering frustration, and walk over to a grassy hill that's catching some breeze off the river, and enough moon that she won't worry about losing track of the onigiri in the dark. There's a row of cherry trees nearby, and a stone shaped a bit like a crouching monk in the dark with hunched shoulders and a hint of broad straw hat. Enough of a landmark to go by, at least.

Spotting some lights over a hill with all those other landmarks and a map: not even Kokyou could ruin that plan — or could he?

Nevertheless, the young man nearly freaks out as he gets the message at the inn with such a short notice. He mentioned a date with the Utaku, but wasn’t actually expecting her to, well, ask him out so soon.

He makes sure to double check his clothes (sturdy and manly enough) and his well prepared hairdo that looked like it wasn’t prepared at all.

With a hand mirror to check final details, Kokyou slides down the inn’s stair by the handrail, and fetches a basket with some beverages and snacks one of the service ladies quickly assemble for him.

He tells her, loud enough for the whole inn to hear, “Oba-chan! Wish me luck. I ‘ave a date. A date!”

Striding his way up the hill with a warm lighted lantern, he approaches the indicated place on the instructions he received.

He scans around, trying to find the maiden and the chaperon.

To be honest, if Nesrin had thought of it as a date, it was really one for Tabudai. So she was in her practice gear, hair in one long braid. She was pulling wrapped packages from the saddlebag to lay out when she saw the lantern coming and waved, just to make it clear he'd found the right spot.

"Glad you found us!" She rummages in one of the packages as Kokyou approaches, and holds out a large, thick carrot. "Here. Helps with the introduction and all. Easier if you break it in pieces." Tabudai is already showing a lot of interest in whatever's going on with the two-legged folks and their food.

Noticing the wave, Kokyou approaches the rider and mount with a grin. He puts the lantern and basket down before bowing to Nesrin flourishedly, and taking the carrot offered in hand to break it in a couple of pieces. "I hope ye're havin' a jolly evenin'. By th' sweat n' warmth, looks like yer been exercisin' r' somethin'."

He bows once again, to Tabudai, but slower now. While he does so, he swirls his hand and offer the treat, "Here ye go, horsey. Let us be mateys, aye!"

Nesrin grins at the flourish. Placing a hand on Tabudai's neck as the Mantis approaches, she introduces them exactly as if it were two people meeting in court. "Tabudai, this is Kokyou of the Mantis, a fellow competitor. Kokyou, this is Tabudai foaled of Yukihime and Ashir of the lines that returned with us from Shinjo's long sojourn." It's more lineage than she usually offers when introducing herself. "Um...he'd like to be mateys, which is, I think, friends."

"Best to hold it up in your palm, fingers flat," she demonstrates. "They've got no eyes in their mouth, so they can't tell fingers from treat and can bite you by accident otherwise."

As she watches the exchange, she answers other questions. "We were riding. I was so frustrated by having to do the competition on that poor wee pony! I just needed to feel the wind with a proper ride after that. It was so awful."

Kokyou nods at the instruction and opens his palm, saying, "An honor t' meet yer acquaintance, Tabudai-kun."

As he gets his palm licked up with a generous amount of dribble, he notices Nesrin uses his own accent to describe the ponies. "I confess 'twould 'ave been vary intimidatin' t' other competitors t' ride mounts o' Tabudai-kun's stature. Me, I would mighty much be even more struck in admiration."

Tabudai shows no sign of his noble lineage as he slobbers up every bit of carrot with all the dignity of toddler offered sweets. He does, however not back off immediately, stretching forward snuffle at the Mantis boy's hair, which could be a gesture of getting to know him, and could be a hunt for carrot hiding places. Either way, it's friendly.

"If they'd just let those with horses use their own, so much less trouble. Did you see how some of the larger folks dwarfed those poor ponies? I swear Moto Ichiro pulled that trick just to stretch his legs properly, and he's a stride almost long enough to just run alongside them anyway." She shakes her head. "I know most folks are a bit put off by horses this size. But it's awfully hard to adapt to the tiny ones after you're used to a proper horse."

For some reason, Kokyou inflates his chest at Nesrin's last sentence and actually grows a few inches in height as Tabudai munches on his well prepared hairdo freely. He looks serious to her, even though not as tall as Moto Ichiro –– but definitely with a bigger ego –– and states, "We Mantis are used in adaptin' newfound lands t' th' anchor's depth 'n stretch. 'tis always a marvel o' how we manage t' find safe harbor 'n find footin'. I can relate t' that."

He nods, perhaps not really making any sense, but making his point altogether... maybe.

Nesrin smooths a hand down Tabudai's neck, trying to make heads or tails of much of the speech. She decides that the rest probably doesn't matter as much as the last, clear sentence, and she nods. "Yeah, I suppose everyone will have to adapt to something over the course of this tournament."

She throws her shoulder against Tabudai's, "c'mon greedy, there's plenty of grazing here, quit chewing on people" With a toss of his head, he does at least back off. To Kokyou, she says. "Don't let him bully you just because he's bigger. Every horse I ever met is greedy as anything, but the decent ones are good natured about not getting what they're looking for."

"Anyway, we've got something to eat too. Though they didn't have any sweets at the inn to hand out, there were plenty of onigiri and a few apples still good after the winter, though they're wrinkly." She gestures to the unfurled furoshiki cloth with food set out on it. At this hour, at least she didn't need to worry about birds swooping in to steal stuff.

He nods a couple of times at her explanation of horses, and tries to recompose his hairdo, saying, "I don't mind him bullying about. I actually find it funny. 'tis sort o' a carin' gesture, Be it nah?"

Kokyou looks at the whole setup and grins. He also offers a small basked he brought along with some extra things to nibble on. "I brought some thin's, too. I mean, they don't look as delicious as wha' ye 'ave, but... it wouldna be smart o' me comin' empty handed."

His eyes finally trail off her to look at the food she mentioned. "We can cut th' apples in slices, 'n they'll be fine."

"Oh it is. He means nothing by it, it's how like all of us two-legged people bowing or roughhousing in a friendly match, that's just how horses are."

She looks at the basket he's holding. "I'm sure whatever's in your basket is just as good. I just asked at the inn for something easy to carry. They're making piles of everything with so many people in town, so I'm just hoping the salmon onigiri are acutally that and not mixed up. I mean...I like umeboshi ones just fine, but they're kind of a surprise if you're expecting something else, you know?"

Following his suggestion, she pulls out her knife to start cutting the apples. These stored apples tended to be sweeter as the dried, but lacked the crisp juicyness of a fresh one. "I heard you did well today at, well at dashin," she says with a grin.

Kokyou places the basket nearby. He wasn't sure what was inside, though. He shrugs to her comment, saying, "Har. Thar's an interestin' game I used t' play wit' me caretakers back in Kyuden Gotei's onigiri stand. Pick one at random wit' yer eyes closed, 'n afore bitin' it, shoutin' out a kiai tryin' t' tell its flavor."

He grins, remembering, "Thar are a lot o' flavors fer onigiri at th' islands. Scallywags tend t' break some traditional rules thar t' create somethin' even more delicious."

At being praised, Kokyou merely shrugs condescendingly, adding, "I be amazing like that. Ye best be used t' it by now, lass."

Laughing at his cockiness as well as the image of watching a bunch of kids shouting as the bit into mystery rice balls, Nesrin tosses him one. "Hai, I imagine you'll be vying for top honors for sure. Well, let me know if that's not salmon." The seaweed strip wrapped around the ball is no longer crisp, but it still keeps the sticky rice off of one's fingers. "Maybe they should have that as a training if they repeat that experiment next year. Hone kids' investigation skills with figuring out onigiri stuffings."

"We get some interesting spices from trade across the Sands as well. Opposite direction of your clan's trade, but probably some crossover since I hear there's trade from all over meeting out in some of the cities there." She taps a corked gourd. "There's plain tea in there."

"Do you get the spicy stuff in the islands? And...saffron, the little red threads?"

He snatches the onigiri and examines it, trying to find the inner flavor with his very ki. There's a small chuckle as Nesrin mentions the experiment in Tsuma. Kokyou thinks on replying to that, but it would ruin his concentration.

He shouts, "SAKE!", and takes a bit bite. Munching on it with some sticky rice on his lips and cheeks.

Kokyou ponders for a moment, savoring the moment and looking at Nesrin while doing so. With an eyebrow wiggle, he confirms victory. Salmon it is. The young man rubs his face, managing to remove all but one rice grain that keeps stubbornly attached.

Once again, he nods with full confidence to the Battle Maiden question, reassuring her, "Spicy stuff, ye reckon. Wha' we don't 'ave, we find a way t' get."

There's a wild flutter of birds, frightened into flight in the dark, Tabudai startles at the shout, lifting his head from the grass and tensing for a charge.

Then sees two kids sitting on the grass laughing, and offers a snort before going back to his own dinner.

Nesrin bites into her own, with less drama. "There's so many interesting things coming from outside our lands. The sweets from the sands can be amazing too, they use a lot of honey, or at least the ones that travel all the way back to us do." Glancing up, she notes the grain of rice. "Ah, you've got a bit...right there," she performs the nigh universal gesture of pointing to approximately the point on her own face that mirrors his errant dinner.

"Wha?" He narrows one eye while the information sinks, and puts his hand on the same side of the face, which was natural opposite wince they were facing each other. "Thar's nothin' 'ere." He says examining his hand, playfully, but with a serious expression.

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D3, LE, Sincerity/Awareness: 6d10o10k5 43

ith a laugh, she points at the opposite side of his face. "Over there. Bit of rice."

"Blisterin' Barnacles. Here 'tis." Kokyou snatches the grain and raises it forward with a glare.

After a moment, he says, flicking it up into the void of the darkness surrounding them, "'twas ne'er meant t' be mine. T' th' Fortunes wit' it."

"Or the sparrows in the morning, neh? I'm sure they'll appreciate it." She passes the tea over, the pale gourd visible in the dim lights. "And in your basket?"

Kokyou takes the gourd and pours some tea, after a sip to match Nesrin, he slides the basket in front of them, so they can inspect. "Peaches. Dried apples. Hassaku, or peeled oranges. Nah sure how ye call them around yer parts. Dried peas that smells like... hmmm... wasabi. Some other crunchy snacks. Arare, maybe, or kaki no tane."

The young man looks at Nesrin with a grin and pulls off a big wrapping from the basket, unwrapping it to show its fish-like format. He says, "Shiver me timbers. A big taiyaki t' share."

Offering to her so she can have a morsel, he encourages, "'twon't bite ye back. Come, try it."