Dark Edge Village

Long after the crowd from the ballad competition had dispersed, Takashi found himself treading the same ground where he'd been. He was thankful for the moonlight to keep him company as he wandered. His rolling and crashing thoughts kept sleep at bay, even when so much of the town and camps had already quieted for the night.

Not far away, another person lies faceup in the grass with her head pillowed on her arms, watching the moon. Bright moonlight picks up her skin and the paler colors of the embroidery on her dress, making her easily visible.

Even caught up in his own thoughts as he is, Takashi easily notices the moonlit form across the way. Still as she is, his immediate thought is that the person may need aid.

A few swift steps draw him close enough to see the woman's eyes open, her features composed. Relieved enough that he can now process his surprise, Takashi's feet respond to his curiosity more than anything else. Laying in the grass, staring at Lord Moon? That's one of the more normal things about them.

At a respectful distance he speaks out: "Good evening, Unicorn-san. It's a lovely evening for... It's a lovely evening."

"Huh?" The form in the grass shifts around and sits up, reflected moonlight flashing briefly from her wide eyes as she moves. "Oh. Hello, um," luckily the full moon is bright enough to pick out a hint of his colors, "Lion-san." She pushes herself to her feet, then brushes her palms off on her skirts. "Yes, the stars are clear tonight."

"This one is Kitsu Takashi," he says with a bow. "Please forgive my intrusion. I had not expected to find anyone else out alone in the dark."

"Well, you found Iuchi Saksaha, and you do not intrude," she says in a light, vaguely husky voice, remembering without too much delay to return his bow. "It is not my field. So what brings you out here, Kitsu Takashi-san?"

Takashi smiles at her understanding of intrusion. "I think that while my mind was busy trying to resolve some conflicting thoughts, my feet decided to undertake an adventure, Iuchi-san. It is not a common thing for me, but this is also not a common setting for me."

Two heartbeats after he finishes, he considers whether his meaning might be misinterpreted. "That is," he jumps to explain, "a miai isn't common for me. And I suppose that these lands aren't common, but that's no reflection on the fine hospitality of the Unicorn." He bows his head respectfully.

Saksaha decide it's probably better not to point out these lands belonged to his own Lion Clan, functionally at least, until a few months ago.

"Of course," she agrees. "If this were common for anyone, it would be strange. Most people marry but once."

She casts her eyes up toward the sky again and adds, "Marriage is a great matter, also, and for many people this calls for much thinking. This sounds not odd to me."

Takashi nods as she speaks. "Well, until today I hadn't been giving any thought to it. Now, it's... Rather like a dam on a river that's giving way: As one thought slips through, it makes it more likely that two more will sneak through as well."

((OOC: sorry for the lag in responding. )

"You gave it no thought?" In the moonlight, Saksaha looks at this Lion more curiously. "This is why we are all here, is it not?"

"To perform our duty to our clans," Takashi says, almost absent-mindedly. He pauses before continuing. "I'm sorry, Iuchi-san. I meant that I came here with my focus entirely on service to the Lion. That I would be honored by the marriage that came to me, whatever it may be. It was..." he quiets for a moment, looking up to the stars for words. "It was much easier," he says, "to think this way before meeting so many new and interesting people. Now... I have thoughts, now, about how I might prefer things to turn out." He looks to the Unicorn, expecting her to look at him like he's crazy.

"This seems to me like thinking so much of service to my Clan in battle, that I forgot about how or when to use my saber," the Iuchi woman says, rather bluntly.

"Well, if I had a saber, that is."

To Takashi's traditional Rokugani mind, the bluntness is unexpected--making it that much more impactful. As the Unicorn's point crashes through his mind, Takashi falls silent. He's obviously still processing it as he remarks, "Iuchi-san suggests that by hewing blindly to duty, I have not fully performed my duty--to think and to find the path where I can best serve." He seems to be thinking out loud, but talking seriously to Saksaha at the same time.

"Well..." she tugs at the end of her braid, and picks out a stiff stalk of grass that had managed to weave its way into the plait. "Yes."