Say you, Sayyed (D8 LE, Yuuru's Yurt)

[Soshi Yuuru]

Yuuru returned to his tent after the dog event and had some food brought over to his yurt for a meeting he had arranged. He felt a little lonely now that the puppy was gone, despite it only being there for a few hours. He smiled as he picked up the bowl he had set out for its water and put it away.

Yuuru pulled out a set of maps on a small table and set the food nicely on the bigger one in the center of the yurt. He waited patiently for his guest to arrive and leaned back out his elbows as he thought about what to say...

I thought part of her might've been interested... but then yesterday happened... maybe I need to show how I can be a bit more serious and realistic.

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha locates Yuuru's tent, after stopping once or twice to ask directions, and scratches politely at the felt doorflap. "Soshi-san? It is me, Iuchi Saksaha."

[Soshi Yuuru]

He rises quickly and comes to the flap to open it up, "Evening Sayyed Saksaha. Please come in, peace be with you."

He smiled a bit pensively to see if his greeting training from Khulun was really a trap in disguise.

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha raises an eyebrow and gives Yuuru a curious look. Is he making fun of her accent, or...? She smiles a bit tentatively. "Hello, Soshi-san. Thank you for inviting me." She remembers to bow instead of reaching for her hand--she's really getting better at that!--and ducks inside at his invitation.

[Soshi Yuuru]

He smiled and motioned for the table with the food, "I figured you might enjoy a late supper while we talked... seeing that the puppy competition kept us busy a bit earlier."

He sat across from her and smiled pensively, "Did I pronounce your greeting correctly? I tried to get it down right... but I'm afraid my tongue may not work that way properly yet."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Mmm... close enough?" she says judiciously as she takes a seat on a cushion, folding her legs instead of tucking them under her as most Rokugani girls might. Her voluminous wool skirts and trousers make this position no less modest, though. "Who told you this? The sound you learned seems more desert Mekhem, to me, which some of our people know. Mine is learned from my grandmother, who knew a steppe dialect. She would have said gege or maybe hatagtai. But..." her lips twitch a bit at the corners, "I think this word form you used is for a man. Our Rokugani language does not make such distinctions, happily."

[Soshi Yuuru]

Yuuru's eyes flared open a bit in shock, "A... man?"

Damn you Khulun.... Making me look like an idiot...

He shook his head, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to... I was told by a Moto woman this was a term of respect... She said, "Tell her 'Sayyeda Saksaha, the wind whispered your name to me and I have come. May I steal this kiss if only for a moment.'..."

He paused for a moment realizing he might have made just made two errors. "Sayyed-a! A! I forgot the 'a' didn't I?"

He put his hand behind his head in an expression of embarrasment, "And the whole kissing thing seemed a little forward... So you know. Figured I'd actually say 'hi' correctly before..."

He stopped talking, "Anyway... let me take my foot out of my mouth."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha presses her hand to her mouth to stifle a snort of laughter, not entirely successfully.

"The wind..." she half-groans into her hand, then takes it away from her face, revealing that she's still grinning somewhat. "Have you listened to the talk in camp these past days? Maybe Moto here are not the ones to ask for proper courtship advice, you know. If this little grammar mistake is the only impropriety you were lured into, you are really lucky."

[Soshi Yuuru]

His smile had an embarrassed tinge to it as he looked up, "I suppose you're right. This whole learning a new culture thing is apparently laid with pitfalls... I'm glad this was a more mild calamity."

He chuckled, "Though I think the 'thoughtful', 'mature', and 'diligent' angle I was shooting for probably failed pretty epically with this mistake."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Yes, a very small one," she agrees, still amused. "But maybe I do not want to see some 'angle' you have planned anyway. Did you think of this?"

[Soshi Yuuru]

He chuckled, "Mah, I wanted to see if I could impress you a bit. Show you I was interested in trying to make you feel comfortable."

He smiled, "I don't think I'd call it 'some angle' per se... but perhaps another aspect of my true self I might not have displayed as well in the past."

He motioned to the food, "Shall we eat?"

[Iuchi Saksaha]

But you did call it an 'angle.' Boys! With the trace of a smile still lingering, Saksaha gives a tiny, enigmatic shake of her head. She smooths her skirts over her lap and says, "Yes, if you say so, let us eat."

As the guest, she'll wait for Yuuru to start the meal, but after they've begun, she says, "Maybe I will give you another piece of advice for talking with my people, Soshi-san."

[Soshi Yuuru]

He began to eat and then looked up intently when she made her statement, "I would be happy to hear your suggestion."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"We have traveled far and wide, and found that all of the peoples of the world have their own ways of talking. We had to learn how to speak to all of them--especially the Ide, but when the tribes were separate, then all of us."

Saksaha pauses to swallow a bite of rice, handling her chopsticks with reasonable deftness though there's something vaguely non-standard about the way she holds them. "Because of the great care we must use in this speaking with outsiders, and because Shinjo-no-Kami favored Honesty and Compassion highly, between ourselves we love plain talk most. More than speeches and angles, more than fancy plans and clever tricks of word play. So... my advice is, with us, just say the things you want to say in the way you want to say them. We are all Rokugani cousins. So we should need to learn no new languages between us." She smiles serenely... then slightly dampens the friendly-authoritative effect of this speech by almost fumbling the next piece of root vegetable she tries to pick up with her sticks. Ooops.

[Soshi Yuuru]

He smiled and nodded, a bit less enthusiastic than before but perhaps because he is listening to what she is saying, "So you take the things that I'm saying to be less than the full truth? I see. I suppose I cannot blame you fully given what is known of me and my clan. I have sought to be honest with you to this point, but it seems I have been less than successful in convincing you of that."

He took a bite of his rice and thought for a moment, "If it is honesty you would like, then I shall give you blatant honesty. I am interested in pursuing you as my future wife. There is another on my mind as well of your same family. It is likely that I will have little say in the matter as I do not appear to be ranked very highly in your clan's competitions, but I am here to seek the best possible match for my clan, and potentially for me."

He tilted his head, "The reasons why? There are several. First, I find your personality and strength to be an excellent tempering factor on my somewhat adventurous tendencies. I believe we would make a good balance in our relationship. Second, I believe that positive relations between the Iuchi and Soshi are of great importance. We share a long border, and could potentially work together to open the Seikitsu pass once more and provide greater prosperity to all the Unicorn provinces. Thirdly, I find you to be a beautiful woman. One that I could spend the days of my youth in pleasure with and willingly give all of myself to. And your inner strength and wit make you a potentially great life-long partner who could continually bring greater intellectual fulfillment with each passing year. And finally, I know that with your gifts you could find great achievement and fulfillment in service to my lord. My lord would be interested in helping you develop and enhance your gift so you could better wield it as a tool of service to the Empire."

He paused, "That is why I keep asking you to spend time with me. So I can continue to see if my estimations of your character and personality accurate. I have never had all that much luck in life or with women... so any behavior that you see as worthy of skepticism please understand to be not that I am hiding anything... but that I seriously lack the know-how and talent to properly draw out interest of me in you. I am willing to answer any question you have of me with utmost honesty. I ask only that each time I open my mouth, the immediate response is not as terribly cynical as you have been to me up until now... Even a dishonorable Scorpion knows when lies have no meaning or efficacy."