Dark Edge Village

Out by the dueling fields, a supremely well dressed Mantis in an expensive kimono, hakama, and haori combo with lots of jewelry was practicing some basic katas with a kama in each hand. Honestly, it wasn't her best weapon. She preferred the Katana, but her sensei would have a fit if she didn't at least *occasionally* practice with the kama.

Butaj is really just passing by looking fo Soshi Taira when he gets distracted by the gold-dangling woman waving long curved knives that look like peasant implements. That juxtaposition perplexes Butaj: how come she cannot afford a decent blade to train with? He stands and stares, trying to puzzle it out.

She did, of course, wear a daisho on her side, as he might notice upon closer inspection. Yuzuki, meanwhile, continued her kata, oblivious to the Moto watching. Or not caring that he was there. Her style was wild and unfettered, very much the style of the Mantis; though Butaj was unlikely to know that of course.

Eventually, she made it all the way through the exercise, and stopped.

Someone watching!
Yes. Could be the one this time.

She placed her Kama back at her sides, and looked toward the Unicorn.

Could be.
Could be a woman again.

And gave him a bow.

It does have long hair.
And a beard. Women don't have beards.
Says who?

"Good morning, Unicorn-sama. This one's Yuzuki of the Mantis Clan."

"Butaj is Moto Butaj. Glad to meet Yuzuki of the Mantis Clan. Is the Mantis Clan like the Rabbit Clan, not too great and rather young?" Butaj bows clumsily then extends the hand for a handshake, equal cultural exchange and all that. "Butaj also wonders why Yuzuki of the Mantis Clan trains fighting with farmer sickles when she looks rich and has a good sword."

She looked at the hand. It wasn't the way Samurai greeted one another. Assuming it was a greeting, that is. But, it'd probably be rude to refuse, so she awkwardly extended her own.

"Uh. Mantis is the oldest and largest of the minor clans. Founded a few years after the Ki-rin left. And we fight with Kama because they're good weapons to use when fighting on a ship. We live on the islands to the east, and have a big navy."

Butaj takes her forearm in a confident squeeze before releasing it.

"Oooh. How big are Mantis navies? Oral traditions of the Moto tell about great ships of the West Butaj's ancestors have seen and travelled on to the lands of Merenae."

She seemed perfectly capable of withstanding the squeeze, though she did seem a little relieved when the awkward gajin custom was over and done with.

"We now have two fleets of Kobune. I think only the Crab might have a bigger fleet, though we might even be bigger than them now. I think I've heard of the Merenae. I believe they're the ones that came to Rokugan in the past, and their fleet was destroyed by the Mantis."

"Butaj doesn't know much about sea affairs. He's a creature of the endless steppe." He accepts her revelations with a nod, on fave value. "Sailing Moto were many generations ago."

"You should see the sea once, at least. It is both beautiful and vital to the empire."

Why does he refer to himself in the third person?

That was a mystery no-one has asked Butaj about yet.

"How is it vital? Ah, perhaps the easterners prefer boats to horses for travel. The Unicorn prefer horses to boats."

"It's not just travel along the coast, but food as well,"

Yuzuki's attention was half-drawn to a furry creature in the shape of her cat, Kon, who was in the middle of another great hunt that was likely doomed to failure.

"Uh, after last night's dinner, it should be no surprise that fish makes up a large part of the samurai diet."

"And why is that, Yuzuki of the Mantis Clan? Are eastern stomachs unable to take meat and dairy?" Butaj rubs his stubble in bemusement.

"Uh, I didn't have any problem keeping the food from last night down."

She scratched her nose, eyes still occasionally wandering over to Kon's hunt.

"It's partially for the taste. But it's also because meat is unclean. It is not proper for a samurai to eat most kinds of meat. It is a spiritual thing, so you'd be better off asking a Shugenja about it."

Butaj stares, not really paying attention to the running pelt material. The point is not getting across. Finally, he responds. "The meat was not undercooked. And it had been washed and seasoned. It's not a nice thing to say what you've just said. You don't like Unicorn hospitality?"

She blinked.

"I don't mean it wasn't prepared well, Moto-san. I meant that in the Empire it's a religious taboo for Samurai to eat meat."