Dark Edge Village

It's warm and pleasantly breezy outside, whereas inside the yurts it's already getting a bit stuffy. So for this small cooking project Saksaha has dragged the little charcoal stove and cooking pot outside. She sits on a wooden chest next to this set-up, sleeves rolled up and hair tied back, stirring a potful of barely steaming milk with a wooden ladle.


Not far away, a white goat crops some weeds with a bored expression.

Tomonaga was moving through the yurts, heading southwards, when he spotted the Unicorn samurai doing some cooking. Naturally, his mind went immediately to rice, but the scent told him that it was most definitely not. He stopped, blinking, wondering at the unfamiliar smell.

A few moments later, and he realized he was probably linger. "Ummm... good morning, Iuchi-san." He said, giving the young woman a bow. His eyes flickered over to the goat, and then back to the Iuchi.

Saksaha looks up from her work. "Good morning, Crab-san," she replies with a semi-bow, still stirring. She's just added some soured kefir, and the curds are starting to separate... actually, it looks a lot like soy milk turning into tofu at this point, albeit with a very different smell. And assuming that young scions of wealth and privilege spend enough time in kitchens to have seen tofu being made.

The goat fixes Tomonaga with a yellow-eyed stare.

There was something odd about goats' eyes... Tomonaga did his best not to meet its baleful gaze.

"Yasuki Tomonaga. It's a pleasure to meet you." He introduced himself automatically. His eyes were on the pot more than the Unicorn. And definitely not on the goat, oh no.

He looked to Saksaha, eyebrows going up. "Can I ask what you're cooking, Iuchi-san? It sorta looks like tofu, but if it is, the Unicorn have a very different recipe than what I'm used to." Unless it always smelled like that when being cooked? He wasn't sure, to be honest.

"Iuchi Saksaha. It is good to meet you, also." She gives the pot another stir and tests the temperature with a careful fingertip (it'll be another few centuries before Rokugan invents either thermometers or rigorous food safety standards, after all). "This is... well, it is going to be cheese. But maybe you have never seen this before?"

The goat seems to find something interesting in Tomonaga's appearance. Or at least it keeps looking at him, chewing lazily at a clump of weeds dangling from its mouth.

"Cheese! Right." Tomonaga said. "Yeah, I had some of that at the feast after the opening ceremony. It was... interesting. I spent some time trying to find the right sort of drink to go with it, but I'm not quite sure I got it right. I'll have to give it another try sometime."

Tomonaga cleared his throat. "Iuchi-san... is that your goat?" He asked, his voice a little faint.

"We usually have it with kumis. I do not know if your thin sake tastes strong enough for it," Saksaha replies with a smile to take the sting out of this (possible) diss to the Rokugani drink of choice.

She glances over her shoulder. "Oh. Yes, that is Fiyanggu." Then she looks back at Tomonaga with mild concern. "Is everything all right?" The little beast looks normal to her...

"Kumis..." Tomonaga's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, although he matched her smile. "There's a great many varieties of sake, actually. Some more or less thin than others. My family makes a pretty strong version that might be a good match. Although..." His eyebrows went up. "Actually, I think the best might be something with a fruit infusion, like a peach sake or something. Could be worth a try."

He didn't even try to pronounce the unfamiliar name. "I'm sure it's nothing." Tomonaga was torn between turning further away from the goat, and making sure it stayed in his line of vision. He tilted his chin upwards instead, defying the unsettling feeling.

"Fruit?" Saksaha, still stirring gently--the curds are coming along, but not there yet, she decides--gives the handsome Crab a curious look. "You put fruit in your wine? Is it good? We eat the fresh cheese with fruit sometimes, if we have it."

The goat wanders a bit closer and nudges at Tomonaga's kimono with its nose, possibly wondering if he has any treats. Or is made of treats.

"Ah, you do, huh? That's a good sign for my thought. And yes, we do flavor our sake with fruit. And other things, like spices. You can even change the flavor depending on what sort of wood the barrel you brew it in is made of." Tomonaga tilted his head, regarding the strange Iuchi curiously. "You've never had flavored alcohol before? I know you have shochu. I suppose that's usually more pure..."

His thoughts were interrupted by the encroachment of the goat. Mildly alarmed, he took a step back. "Ummm... hello there." He greeted it. Tomonaga lifted his hands, palms out, both to show the creature that he didn't have any treats, and as a warding gesture.

"No..."

Then the goat-based interruption occurs. "Oh, Tiny, don't be rude!" Saksaha sighs. "Come here!"

The goat... doesn't. Instead it takes a few steps closer to Tomonaga, hopping its front legs up to bump his palm briefly with its nose.

Tomonaga was good with animals. Or, at least he felt like he was. He certainly said it from time to time. But he wasn't prepared for the sudden goat assault.

"Whoa!" He said, backing up as the goat's face pressed into his hand. "Ummm, are we playing, or fighting, or just saying hi?" He retreated, circling around to come next to Saksaha, casting her an alarmed look as he did so.

"Oh, she will not hurt you," Saksaha reassures him, putting down her spoon to fend off the goat with an open hand. "She is interested in people. Well, mostly when she is hungry." She fishes in the leather pouch at her waist and produces a small piece of yesterday's bread, which the little animal takes eagerly from her hand. "There. Now go leave him in peace."

Tomonaga waited until the goat was well away before speaking again.

"Ummm, so. The cheese. I guess I've never seen this part of it before. Just the finshed product." Once more, he peered into the pot. "So this is it, huh? Made from milk? Which comes from an animal somehow, right?"

He looked over to the goat. Then back to the pot. Then back to the goat. Shock seemed to be slowly dawning on his handsome features.

Saksaha misses much of the shock while she's busy ladling off the curds into a bowl lined with a cheesecloth, but she does look up in time to see Tomonaga staring at the goat. Inevitably, she misinterprets his surprise...

"Yes, this is all from that little one's morning milking. Maybe she looks small, but she is a very good milker," she says with a hint of pride.