[D4 LA] Serving Tea II: Electric Boogaloo (Amaya's Yurt)

[Ide Amaya]

She listens, a dutiful student, though she completely fails to grasp the nature of the intimate transmission he alludes to, so lacking was her education in that area.

"Taira-Sama, if you might permit me to call you as such, I know you are not spreading monstrous tales to frighten children into being good. I take all you have said as your bond. If I am afraid, it is not by what you have said, but by what it means. You are entirely right that we are unprepared, though I believe such a thing does not concern a Moto warrior, and will not sway Khulun-San's course."

"You have been a sage teacher, and if I might impose upon you once more? Should Khulun-San be stayed from this course, should no one stand upon the field to answer the creature's request. Should that creature, in its ire, turn on Dark Edge Village, would it even be possible to repel such a beast?"

[Soshi Taira]

"It would be, but we would likely require the aid of those better equipped. Skilled warriors, with blessed arms and armor, and shugenja to banish evil."

Taira looked grim. "Else, it could wreak a great deal of death before falling to our blades. It is still a thing of flesh, at least in part, and is not, itself, a diety."

With a soft sigh, "I wish I'd known how little you'd been told... I would have immediately suggested word be sent to the Jade office, the Asako, or the Kuni. Any of them are much better equipped than I."

[Ide Amaya]

Dropping her eyes, she curses Dabo-Sama's selfishness.

"I see only two paths: that I attend this meeting at Khulun-San's side and pay witness to whatever might transpire; or warn everyone that they must be prepared to evacuate at a moment's notice, in the middle of the night."

She massages a temple with one delicate hand. "I like neither of these options, and I am ill-equipped for either."

[Soshi Taira]

Taira nodded.

"It has put us all in a difficult position."

Clenching his hands on his knees, he added, "I would say that it may not yet be a hopeless case... the creature may not be able to bring itself here, fully... or it may even be attempting to trick us with the name of a more powerful being... it is hard to say. In either case, the best thing we can do is have the guard be aware, be ready, and vigilant, for whatever comes."

[Ide Amaya]

She sipped her tea, contemplative. "I must thank you again, Taira-Sama, for not shirking from such unseemly topics. For not treating me as a foolish girl. I should like to call you friend, or at least an ally in this matter."

[Soshi Taira]

"Of course. I am here in the spirit of friendship, Ide-san."

He finished the cup of tea, setting it down gently, and contemplated it, wondering just what else might happen.

[Ide Amaya]

"More tea, Taira-Sama?" She tried to study the man opposite her without giving herself away. A shame it wasn't him, not Suteichi, who approached me at the opening ceremony.

[Soshi Taira]

"Of course, thank you."

Taira slid the cup forward so it was easily accessible.

As for his part, her had no idea what was coming... how his miai was about to be disrupted, so he had no such second thoughts. Not yet.

[Ide Amaya]

She poured for him, then refreshed her own cup. Somewhere in the distance the promised storm released a roll of thunder. "It looks like a bad storm coming, but I haven't been in Rokugan long enough to know what to expect."

[Soshi Taira]

Taira shrugged. "I'm not well versed in these lands, but I imagine it will be a heavy downpour. I'd advise staying indoors, if you can, once it starts."

[Ide Amaya]

She sips her tea thoughtfully. She doesn't quite want the Scorpion to leave, but has nothing to offer to keep him. She does not wish to press him on the usual topics that have dominated her ma-ai, the ones designed to feel out what a marriage to one's conversational partner might be like.

She allows the silence to stretch out, uninterested in small talk and not uncomfortable at having nothing of consequence to say. I hope his future spouse is worthy of him.

[Soshi Taira]

Taira allowed the silence to stretch out, unbroken, as he sipped the tea. His expression was serene, and the distant rolling thunder promised a night of fury and storm.

When he had finished the tea, he set it down, and stated, in a soft baritone... or perhaps he was a tenor, but it was hard to say... "In the midst of this chaos, peace is a welcome pause."

Crossing his arms, he added, "So tell me, Ide-san. What is the dream you hold for the future. Not the miai, not politics... what is the Unicorn idea... and what is Ide Amaya's idea of the future? Where do you fit in this empire? What kind of neighbors do you seek to be?"

[Ide Amaya]

Her cup had been empty, but she had been enjoying the warmth against her fingers. She placed the cup down and fixed her gaze on him. Her large eyes were childlike, it gave her an air of naivety. Her voice, however, was a power to itself, though she spoke softly. "Ask a hundred Unicorn and you will hear a hundred answers. I can only speak to my own desires, and even then not with any huge depth. The Empire is a strange place to me. If I unearthed a new discovery every day for the remainder of my life, I would not begin to scratch the surface of all that is Rokugan."

"You ask where I fit in this Empire, and I will tell you I do not know. I intend to do as my parents ask of me: to marry a Rokugani man, and that is no arduous task. But yet, I am still to learn what sort of wife I will be. I have been Amaya, who rode from dawn until dusk; I have been Amaya, mediator and advisor; I have been Amaya, earnest student, dutiful daughter, blushing debutant. I have faced down Khulun-San's blade with only words as my armour, and I have trembled in fear of a suitor's stoney silence."

"There are many things I am still to be."

[Soshi Taira]

Taira listened in silence, arms crossed, that tall collar pressed up so it hid his mouth. His eyes observed her as she spoke, taking note of her motions.

After a long moment, he asked, "Do you feel you have ceased to be those things now?"

[Ide Amaya]

"I will never cease to be those things, for they are part of me. Some of them I long to be again, and some I wouldn't wish on my greatest enemy. But they are all me." The doctor's mouth was concealed, but his eyes were not; however, his on was strong when he wished it to be, and he was impenetrable.

He crosses his arms because he cannot keep his hands from speaking, she suddenly thought.