Dark Edge Village

A small pot rested on an open fire, bubbling softly as faint smell of milk tea lingered in the air. Within the pot simmered milk, nuggets of fresh cheese and few strips of dried mutton. The host for the 'occasion' sat by the pot, clad in grey-purple woolen robes as he stirred the milk. Water skin laid by the door, well away from the neatly placed belongings that sat on the crude sleeping mattress the Unicorn had provided for their guests.

There was a knock on the wooden panel that made up the door. The white hand that had knocked belonged to the delicate flower, Iuchi Batul. She had looked forward to meeting the other fellow Iuchi that had come to the Miai.

The samurai-ko wore her elegant purple silk Furisode of sleeves that fell bellow her arms almost to the floor. There where white winds elegantly flowing from her feet up the right side of her waist, mixed with autumn golden leaves. The samurai-ko was very proud of her kimono, but she did not forget her heritage, and on top of it wore a fur hat that gave her warmth and respect for her own ways as much as to the ways of the Empire.

"Sumimasen" She called out "I am Iuchi Batul. Can I come in?"

A faint smile flickered on the young man's lips as he turned to face the doorway. "Yes, of course, please come in cousin." He waved with his hand beckoning her to enter. "Make yourself comfortable." The same hand pointed at the small pile of worn pillows that laid on an old dahabi carpet, a souvenir of one of the many journeys of the Clan. "Food's almost ready."

"I hope you slept well?" He asked the newcomer as almost an afterthought.

Batul stepped inside, leaving her shoes at the entrance, so not to dirty the rugs or the furs inside the yurt. It smelled like home, almost at least. She made her way to one of the pillows that her cousin pointed out to and allowed herself to cover with some of the furs. Such warmth could not be found on anything else, not those strange blankets that she had seen, beautiful as they were.

"When you sleeb among furs, it is like sleebing on clouds that sving you softly." Her stomach grumbled from the smell of cheese, and the news of food being almost set brought a smile to her face. She removed her hat and sat it next to her. "That smells amazing, cousin-san."

"Thank you, but it's nothing special." he nodded at the simmering pot.

"Mhmm." Dong-Ha could only agree, even if he wasn't sure how it was to sleep on clouds, swinging or otherwise . "I can't complain either. It's feels almost like a lie. This peace." They had been riding at breakneck pace for the past years after all. "I haven't still gotten used to... being in one place this long." He paused for a moment to stir the gentling bubbling mixture of milk, curds and dried meat. "Makes you think... what next and then you realize that in no more than few weeks we'll know who we are going to spend the rest of our lives with, Fortunes willing." Calloused hand wiggled a small sign against evil on the carpet.

She understood, the missing words in his statement were clear, they had gone through a lot to get to the Empire, they had lost many, heard of many going insane, and had suffered in the darkness for long years until reaching the light of the Emerald. "Ei" She confirmed in her own dialect. "I am just glad to be out of that darkness. I feared for losing my mother and father, but heaven's bless, they made it through."

Settling... it wasn't settling that bothered her yet, she was still in the dream of standing of the home of her ancestors, and of her Kami. No her worries were others. "What next." Her words fell solemn, more serious than they should had. She tried regaining some of her cheer, specially from the smells coming up. "Only the Fortunes can gnow, all we have to do is show the Embire the bower and honor of the Unicorn. They have grown far too long withaut us."

Iuchi Saksaha pauses outside the tent entrance and claps her hands to announce herself, a hard habit to shake when many of the "doors" in your life experience have been fabric or skin instead of wood. She waits a moment for a response, enjoying the sensation of the bright, unfiltered sunlight on her face and hair; then, assuming she's invited, she'll duck inside. "Hello, cousins. Are you well?"

((I assumed since we've all been in contact enough to plan this we've at least been introduced by name before, if maybe not much more than that?))

Iuchi Batul wrote:She understood, the missing words in his statement were clear, they had gone through a lot to get to the Empire, they had lost many, heard of many going insane, and had suffered in the darkness for long years until reaching the light of the Emerald. "Ei" She confirmed in her own dialect. "I am just glad to be out of that darkness. I feared for losing my mother and father, but heaven's bless, they made it through."

Settling... it wasn't settling that bothered her yet, she was still in the dream of standing of the home of her ancestors, and of her Kami. No her worries were others. "What next." Her words fell solemn, more serious than they should had. She tried regaining some of her cheer, specially from the smells coming up. "Only the Fortunes can gnow, all we have to do is show the Embire the bower and honor of the Unicorn. They have grown far too long withaut us."

Dong-Ha looked down, his voice now more quiet than before. "We lost my youngest sister and brother. Others too, cousins, aunts." A soft sigh followed. "A horse would wander maybe ten, fifteen feet away from you. And suddenly you'd see them no longer. And when you went to seek... you'd only find a horse." He clearly didn't have particularly good memories of the ride.

"Well, what's next is the food." the young mystic added, managing to muster some cheerfulness into his voice.

Iuchi Saksaha wrote:Iuchi Saksaha pauses outside the tent entrance and claps her hands to announce herself, a hard habit to shake when many of the "doors" in your life experience have been fabric or skin instead of wood. She waits a moment for a response, enjoying the sensation of the bright, unfiltered sunlight on her face and hair; then, assuming she's invited, she'll duck inside. "Hello, cousins. Are you well?"

((I assumed since we've all been in contact enough to plan this we've at least been introduced by name before, if maybe not much more than that?))

((That works out.))

That thought however, was interrupted by Saksaha. "Oh morning cousin. Have a seat, the food's done." Figuring that she could fine a pillow to rest her hips on, Dong-Ha reached for a small bowl, filled it with the steaming milk and fished few chunks of cheese into it before handing it to Batul. "It's hot." Not that she wouldn't have known.

Batul held an empathic and sympathetic smile towards Dong-Ha as she listened. She had been lucky, her most direct family had survived the ride, she thought that most Iuchi had since they were the ones who had discovered the power of crystal against the darkness. But maybe she had been wrong. How little attention had she paid to others as she herself had suffered in the sands fighting her own demons. She touched his elbow in comfort, luckily among the Unicorn physical contact was not shunned as much.

There was a clap.

"Saksaha-san, so good to see you!" Greeted the other Iuchi. "Come, join us for some food. We were about to begin." Batul grabbed the hot bowl from the hands of Dong-Ha as she bowed her left brow over her eye questioning him about her knowledge on the dish. "Best to eat it hot, than as a cold budding, as mother normally says."

As soon as Batul had taken her bowl, Dong-Ha moved to fill the next one, scooping some pieces of fresh cheese into the bowl before he covered them with the simmering milk. "It's nothing special." he nodded at the newcomer. "I hope you slept well?"

"Thank you--that is, thank you," Saksaha says, settling onto a cushion and biting her lip a little as she realizes her linguistic slip. Best to get out of that homey habit of salting one's speech with Ujik-hai phrases, natural as it is to her. "I slept very well. I hope it's so for you both as well." She brushes at the skirts of her woolen robes to settle them over her crossed legs before accepting another bowl of soup.

"I did wake early. It is the anticipation, I think."

Yukarin arrives a little late; She had contemplated not answering the invitation favourably since there was an interesting lecture being given and most of her Family barely counted her as worth the Iuchi name for giving up on her parents' traditions... But she was still proud of her lineage, and had no real reason to alienate the others here.

She slipped into the yurt quietly to make sure she didn't disturb any conversation.

"Hello, cousin," Saksaha greets Yukarin with a friendly enough nod, lifting a hand to brush back a strand of hair that's escaped from her braid and was threatening to get into her tea while she drinks. "Are you well?"

She's vaguely aware that there's something a little peculiar about the other young woman's choice of training, but it doesn't bother her particularly, perhaps because her own family background is not short of comparable oddities.

"You are welcome." Dong-Ha replied without even thinking what he was doing. "Can't complain. Was just telling how strange it feels to sleep safely like this."

Heating Saksaha mention early morning, the young mystic perked.
"Me too. Ever since the ride I've tended to. First rays of Lady Sun that banish away the darkness..." His sentence was interrupted by the arrival if Yukarin. "Good morning cousin! Have a seat." Dong-Ha quipped moving to scoop her a portion of the milk tea. "Here you go ." Moments later calloused hands passed the bowl to her.

Yukarin bowed deeply, "Good morning cousins, This one is Iuchi Yukarin, daughter of Iuchi Wataru and Iuchi Yayoi."

They might recognize the names as a fairly famous line of priest-scholars who specialized in keeping and identifying awoken items and artifacts. As she straightened she took the bowl, bowing once more with just her head before going to find a seat.