The New Winds

Ichiro sat on a bench looking out into the bay, his brown eyes reflecting the light off the bays water he sat and plucked strings on his Shamisen, he wasn't playing any kind of song and honestly didn't know how yet but he planned to learn while he was at this time waste of a dojo.

On his shoulder sat a small lizard that looked about at its surroundings and then nudged Ichiro's ear its blue tongue flicking out and licking the boys ear "Come on Zurui you know I don't want to be here, I'd rather be home learning to ride a steed from father. Stop trying to cheer me up." he say reaching into his pocket for a berry he hands up to the little creature "Here eat this." he said to give it something to distract it.

The North and the South Docks have a connecting bridge in-between. Since Kokyou arrived earlier from the first, he decides it would an awesome thing to explore the southern part where even more ships were moored. With a map if his own making in hand, he starts to right down interesting points, such as...

Lizard!

"Ahoy, lad! Wha' be that creature on yer shoulder?" He asks the other kid without any restraint on his own accent, and gets closer, inclining his head. "Tis' a mini-orochi o' sorts?"

The Mantis boy reaches a hand to touch the lizard, and after potentially doing so, asks, "Can I be pettin'?"

Ichiro looked up at the strange newcomer "It's a lizard, you've never seen a lizard before?" he studied him for a few seconds "Does everyone from the mantis islands sounds so ridiculous?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Kokyou raises a similar eyebrow, but higher.

"Only th' ridiculously awesome. Like me. Ye can be tryin' it, too. I be sure ye would be soundin' way cooler. Try sayin'..." He stops a bit wave his hand off his chest as if singing a melody, to encourage Ichiro to follow up with a, "...Yaaaaaar!"

Ichiro and Zurui stare at the mantis boy with unamused expressions, yes the lizard is very expressive "Yeah, no and if you try to make me do that again I'll definitely throw you into the bay."

“I bet ye can’t throw yer own blubber arse off that there bench ye be sittin'.”

Kokyou scoffs, crossing his arms back at a safe distance. “Ye big scurvy landlubber. An' 'ere I been tryin' to be yer heartie!”

Ichiro was up and in Kokyou's face in a flash "You better take that back, I've pasted bigger guys than you for less than that." He said with a cold anger.

Kokyou's blood pumps up in the face of danger, and he's glares at Ichiro, "Ye loot it back first. Ye started it!"

The moto loomed over the smaller kid "I just said you sound ridiculous. Because you do! You sound like a character from a cheap pillow book!"

Kokyou grows nearly up to the Moto’s height as he inhales a lot of air and pushes his heels up to clack their foreheads into a bump.

He mocks, “An' ye be truly a landlubber readin' cheap pillow books about gentlemen o' fortune! Harr! Ye wish ye was me!”

"Id never want to be you! You Mantis all trapped on your ships for months at a time. No way not for me." He said with conviction "and I don't read pillow books but when I hear you thats what I imagine is in them."

"Ye're th' one trapped, ye can nah sail! Th' sea be yer gibbet!" He chuckles, de-escalating the tension by returning to his actual height. "Wha' do ye like t' read?"

"Yeah so trapped on the endless plains with my warsteed underneath me galloping across the open land. Yes very trapped." He replied with a humorless tone sniffing and backing down as well having perceived himself the Victor since Kokyou backed down first.

"I don't read much, too busy training and practicing to become stronger. Sometimes I read the scrolls of the She-Tien Yen-Wang to learn more about the spirits I worship."

He scoffs again with a hint of arrogance, wondering to himself if Ichiro would ever understand the greatness of arriving in lands unreachable by land while saying, “A 'orse can’t take ye to the seven seas! Ye’re trapped in this here patch o' land.”

He hears that word again, and cocks his head back, “A big scurvy dog such as yerself should be drinkin' stronger grog. What be the issue with ye purple people an' spirits?”

"Id rather be trapped on a vast endless expanse of grass and land my whole life than spend more than a month inside those wooden prisons." He said motioning to the ships nearby.

"The She-Tien Yen-Wang are the gods of my ancestors, lords of death that now serve your Emma-O as his kings. They are one of the few remnants of the Ujik people that are still around."

Kokyou shakes his head, “Yarr! Most o' these ships be real shite. A mantis man-o'-war, though, it be the work o' the fortunes, I tell ye. Even yer 'orse would love to travel around in it to explore distant places ne'er before known.”

He shrugs, and then narrows his eyes again, speaking in a low tone of voice, “Serve me... wait. Aren’t ye Rokugani?”

"Unfortunately." He replies dead pan "I view myself as a son the Ujik people the ones that became the Moto. If I had it my way I'd ride out to the burning sands and find whatever remnant of them that I could. But instead I am here going to this pointless school to bring glory and honor to the family." His tone said much about what he thought about the idea.