[Gardens, Juramashi District, Otosan Uchi] WOW!

[Yasuki Ginkarasu]

Ginkarasu bows as they leave the guard behind.

"Yeah? Does that mean some of the streets are sometimes where people put their houses? Would your ancestors get lost, not knowing where your house is after it's moved?"

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"That would make more sense. A maze is meaningless if you have the map to it. And even if they don't do maps of this part of the city, the enemies of the empire could send scouts to memorize the roads. I have heard that your ancestors can help you in the Shadowlands, so they must be very good at finding you."

[Yasuki Ginkarasu]

He nods deeply agreeing or absorbing the Kaiu's words. "That's very brave of them! To go there when your duty is done."

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"Aren't they the bravest samurai, though? I think even Crane ancestors need to be brave."

[Yasuki Ginkarasu]

He thinks about that for a few seconds.

"Is it bravery when you don't fear dying because you already did? But the Shadowlands, I bet that makes even the ancestors cautious."

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"You must always say the ancestors are brave and courageous. Otherwise it would be an offense to them." He explains. "But it is right. Can the shadowlands corrupt them, too? It can corrupt the dead... Zombies."

[Yasuki Ginkarasu]

He nods. "Okay. That's really good to know. We always stress how clever they are and how wise." He frowns, and shivers reflexively at the z word. "I really hope it can't. Z's are bad enough from everything the Hiruma told me last year."

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"Ah. I think goblins are worse because my sensei told me that they sometimes stick mud on their hands and try to climb the wall. But it's not like any one of those kind of creatures are not awful... Did something happen to the Hiruma last year?"

[Yasuki Ginkarasu]

"Nothing specific that they told me. But we were visiting a place along the Wall and one of the Hiruma told us some stories. Parents wanted me to hear it right from them." He frowns. "Hard stuff. Real hard stuff."

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"I thought you had heard a lot of histories from the Hida. Never thought you were training to be a merchant, but that makes a kind of sense." He says. "But the Hiruma stories should be the best. The scouting and everything."

[Yasuki Ginkarasu]

"Training to be a yojimbo, probably for merchants. But my ancestors, they were largely merchants. And its good to honor them, right?" He frowns, it distorting his young face a bit. "The Hida mostly tell stories to try and frighten the rest of us. That Hiruma told stories so we'd know what to be worried about."

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"At which clan? I hope Phoenix. I have yeard that the phoenix yojimbo are very good." This was all big news. The Crab clan, as far he knew, didn't train any yojimbo. "What it is like to study on other clan?"
He stood silent a small little bit, before resuming talking in a defensive tone.
"And why don't you like the Hida? I know they don't like gardens, but there are other priorities."

[Yasuki Ginkarasu]

"For the Crab!" He looks to the Kaiu. "We've got people who go into courts, and we Yasuki go everywhere. Not everywhere's safe, so some become yojimbos." He nods assuredly. "Some of the Hida in the dojo really like to remind you that they're big. And they're Hida, and the Hida are in charge." He shakes his head a little.

"Mostly they're angry because they're Hida being trained to be yojimbo, and not Hida going to the Wall. But they're still big."

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"So there is a Yasuki yojimbo school? Never would think on that. But yes, I understand why Hida would not like to travel around the empire. I mean, it looks nice here and everything, but traveling is not what I want to my life if I stop to think on it like that, neither what my ancestors would want for me."
"Also they can't obligate you to do anything just because they are Hida. Even if their parents can. But I really thought you were training to be a heavy armoured soldier."

[Yasuki Ginkarasu]

A shake of his head. "We gotta be light on our feat, but able to hold of a gang of bandits by seizing the right terrain and forcing them to face us, not the merchants and their carts. Heavy armor is both kept for the Hida at the Wall and so we can keep up with the carts. Might walk across the Empire one day. Might instead be guarding someone who doesn't travel, don't know."

He shakes his head, "They don't do it just because they are Hida. They do it because they're bigger and stronger. And because I generally have mochi. Which they want, but won't give me anything in trade for it, because they don't have anything but punches. So, when I try and trade things with the mochi I have, I gotta let them know that I'm tough too and I'll trade them blow for blow, if that's what they're going to offer."

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

Aiichiro, hearing that, didn't hide he got concerned. "I thought you were, like, learning to fight like a Hida. But this also explains all the injuries. Isn't it... Isn't it a crime?"

[Yasuki Ginkarasu]

"For me to not be good at defending myself? Just would be a shame to my ancestors. Besides, we're not learning how to defend the Wall. We're learning how to see that kind of behavior in others. And experiencing it seems to be one way the sensei help us learn." He looks to the Kaiu. "Things don't get competitive at the Kaiu dojo? People trying to out do each other? Prove they're the best?"

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"No, to kick you for mochi without giving their price. That's... stealing. But if you are learning how to defend yourself from people stealing from the Yasuki, that should be fine." He looks to see if they were still following the right stones. Apparently yes, but no way to know.
"Ah, that happens all the time. When that happens we usually go play a modified version of the Kaiu game in the engineering lessons, we let it be on all the other ones and discuss for two hours to end up asking our sensei on the battle ones. But sabotaging eachother is an exercise on futility. There are really a lot of lessons that are dependent on nobody failing. And my sensei hates internal competition, too, because if you are obcecated with only one thing you don't pay attention to everything you should. And Kaiu need to pay attention to everything, she says, because if you fail you aren't dooming yourself but another warrior. At the minimum."

[Yasuki Ginkarasu]

He nods a bit at that.

"I'm not supposed to have the mochi at the dojo. They call it a "captive audience", whatever that means, and that its unfair to the others that I've access to it. At least, that's what they said about the kid who got found out for having a bunch of candy, and sent them to another school instead. I'm hoping the Ruby Dojo doesn't have that rule."

He bends down to try and move some leaves off some of the bricks that were obscuring the color.

"What about when one of you is wrong and won't admit it?"

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"Why do you bring mochi to the dojo if you can't bring mochi to the dojo?" Quite squarethinking. "Ah, that's really common too. We get angry at eachother for the remainder of the week, go home and forget when we come back. Sometimes people don't forget about it and stay disliking eachother, but they don't dare screwing up any lessons because of this."