Dark Edge Village

After dropping off her things at her yurt, Tomoe headed over to see if Monkhbataar was still up for that drink he had promised her.

At first, only a few drops of rain fell on her jingasa and she picked up the pace. Then it felt like the whole sky opened up to drop down the ocean on her head, and even if the rabbit dashed through the yurts, she was completely soaked through when she finally found the tent she was looking for.

"Shinjo-san!" she called out through the downpour, hoping he was there.

He was, in fact, home. Opening up his yurt so he can see who called for him, he ushers Tomoe inside. "Come in out of the rain," he says, concerned that she might get ill standing outside and continuing to get soaked.

He already has the small fire in the center of his yurt going, to help dry out the eventual moisture the rain would bring. "Warm yourself and try to dry off. It's nice to see you Tomoe-san, though I'm sorry I missed your lesson this morning. How are you doing?"

"I'm... fine?"

The rabbit looked like she had been dunked into a lake... several times. There probably wasn't even an inch of her that hadn't been completely soaked by the sudden torrent of rain. "Goodness! That rain came fast and suddenly!" she took of her straw hat, which flopped into a wet mess.

"... Thank you... I hadn't planned on arriving here like this. You had offered drinks, and I was just going to walk over from my camp to yours when the sky just opened up."

"Well, I can certainly offer drinks," he said with a wide smile. "As well as warmth and company. And if you'd like... a change. I'm not too much taller than you."

"Thank you but... they'd just get soaked again when I have to leave?" she noted a bit bashfully. It would be horribly indecent to spend the night here, after all!

"True... but you'd be dry while you're here," he says with a shrug, moving to get some cups and a skin. "No point in being uncomfortable while you're here."

"That... is a fair point. If it's no bother for you, of course!" she quickly added, not wanting to inconvenience him.

"Definitely not an inconvenience," he says, setting the cups and skin on his bed. He goes into a trunk inside the yurt and pulls out a spare kimono and a piece of cloth she can use to dry off with before handing them to her. He then takes a blanket and hangs it up from the ceiling, using hooks that look like they're meant specifically for sectioning off the yurt.

Tomoe murmured a thank you as he gave her the clothing and something to dry herself with, and she was very appriciative that he was making a makeshift screen for her to change behind.

"How thoughtful of you," she said with a small chuckle, ducking behind the other side of the blanket. "Always prepared for rain-soaked maidens to come in and seek shelter from the rain?"

"I like to always be prepared to help out friends. But the rain-soaked maidens part is no unwelcome. Provides a bit of insight into the future depending on how things turn out." He chuckles at that as he pours a couple of cups while he waits, sitting down on his bed.

Tomoe chuckled from behind the 'curtain' as she undressed.

"And saving them from your clanmates when they start asking a lot of questions?"

"Curiosity is not uncommon among the Moto while being concerned with propriety is. For them proper is being straightforward and not dancing around subjects. I definitely didn't want him to ruin your teaching experience because I want you to come back so I can continue appreciating you and your lessons."

"Thank you... I appriciate it." She spoke with a soft voice.

"I try to be as honest and straight forward as I can be, but it is a difficult balance to find since some consider parts to be improper."

"I think that you won't find that to be too big of an issue with most Moto. Though with an Imperial in attendance that did make it a bit more difficult I imagine." He waits patiently with the drinks, in no hurry, leaning gently against the yurt wall.

"If it's so difficult to talk about such things, how can you ever get stuff done in the Empire? With that being your duty, it must make things more difficult."

"It certainly is," she laughed a little bitterly. "I mean... if it was up to the Imperials, I imagine the Unicorn would know very little of the recently dangers in the Empire that you should be made aware of."

Tomoe thought of all she had to tell poor Chi-Pu the previous day. How little prepared the Unicorn were for the current state of the Empire.