Day 2 [Early Evening] Test Your Might

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha brushes an errant strand of beads back from her cheek and smiles. "I hope it is so."

Speaking of which...

"Now, I think there will be no more bariqu today," she guesses with a slight sigh. "And I have things I must do, and do not want Soshi-san to find my company stale too quickly. I will go, I think, but... I might see you another time?"

[Matsu Nintoku]

She flushed and hid behind her fan, the Moto were unrefined but she held her cousins in great esteem, "my apologies if I have given offence, Matsu-Sama. The Moto are a strong people with long traditions. They claim no use for the pretty words the Ide say."

"It's hard to say which family needed the other more as we travelled. The Moto protected us by their strength, and in turn the Ide ensured that no feathers became too ruffled nor that our encounters on our journey turn to unnecessary violence." She did not add that - in dealing with merchants, caravans, or just their newly reunited kin - she believed violence to alway be unnecessary.

Her words did paint the Moto as being pretty similar to Matsu down to their disregard to pretty words as nothing more than a delay to the unavoidable. Still their 'barbarism' and seeming disregard for bushido would put them more in the alley of the Hida than the honorable Matsu.

"There are certainly some similarities" he said after his silence "I take the Ide served as the diplomats in the journeys of the Unicorn? I would think that given the sheer expanse of the world beyond one could not rely only on brute force. Too many enemies."

[Ide Amaya]

"You are quite correct. My father was a diplomat and had great skill with languages." She pondered on his words a moment, fanning herself lightly, "enemies indeed. When the sand below you and the skies above you can turn to enemies at a moments notice, it is imprudent to make foes of of the people you encountered as well."

[Matsu Nintoku]

Her words made his curiosity grow "I can only wonder what people lay beyond our borders." he eyed the Moto "And what might look like."

"Were the Moto the only ones taken by the Unicorn or were there more?"

[Ide Amaya]

"The Moto were the only peoples to follow Shinjo as a one. But it was not exactly uncommon for marriages to be brokered with the more amenable gaijin."

[Matsu Nintoku]

"That would explain the prevalence of foreign sounding names." he replied "Were these marriages brokered by the Ide? Were they perhaps ways to ensure the cooperation of the gaijin and protect the Unicorn?"

[Ide Amaya]

"That, and some of the Unicorn simply took fancy to the way the names sounded. My mother was Moto, a Battle Maiden, she thought that Rokugani names were pretty." Amaya smiled, she admired the intelligence of his questions, and even more the interest they showed.

"Some of these marriages were political, and brokered by the Ide, but some were made for love. The Moto have many stories of 'heroes' who kidnapped their wives from other races, and Unicorn songs and poems tell of spouses who fled their homes in the night to elope with a Unicorn they desired."

[Soshi Yuuru]

Saksaha brushes an errant strand of beads back from her cheek and smiles. "I hope it is so."

Speaking of which...

"Now, I think there will be no more bariqu today," she guesses with a slight sigh. "And I have things I must do, and do not want Soshi-san to find my company stale too quickly. I will go, I think, but... I might see you another time?"

"Nothing would make me happier. I look forward to the chance to get to know you more." He bowed slightly.

[Matsu Nintoku]

"That, and some of the Unicorn simply took fancy to the way the names sounded. My mother was Moto, a Battle Maiden, she thought that Rokugani names were pretty." Amaya smiled, she admired the intelligence of his questions, and even more the interest they showed.

"Some of these marriages were political, and brokered by the Ide, but some were made for love. The Moto have many stories of 'heroes' who kidnapped their wives from other races, and Unicorn songs and poems tell of spouses who fled their homes in the night to elope with a Unicorn they desired."

"Wait." he seemed to be confused "Your names are not chosen by yourselves? You do not do gempukko?"

[Ide Amaya]

By way of explanation, "three days before I was born, a violent storm swept down on the Unicorn and forced them to seek cover, they could not continue in the face of the storm's ferocity. As my mother laboured to bring me into this world, the storm calmed to a gentle pattering rain, and it was in those hours of calm that I was birthed. The storm returned to full strength again that very night, but I was named Amaya for the life-giving rain that had soothed my mother's heart in that difficult moment. For her I kept the name she bestowed to me."

"Perhaps it would please Matsu-Sama to meet another time and discuss such things some more? The day after tomorrow?"

[Matsu Yurio]

"A strong, honest handshake is a good way to greet and to say goodbye. Butaj, like most Moto, bows less and grips hands more. This is how Butaj expresses respect. But if Matsu Yurio is not ready to accept our customs, Butaj can live with it." Butaj explains, having the ear on Amaya's conversation.

Yurio stayed unmoving for another moment, mulling over the conflicting ideas in his mind.

"This is as much about you integrating into our society as us adjusting to your ways, Moto-san. Our traditions and customs are just as important to us as yours are to you. Beat me tomorrow and I will shake your hand. My word is my honour."

He bowed again, this time with a genuine smile.

[Moto Butaj]

Butaj takes away his hand and shrugs with a smile, then bows back as well as he can. He remembers Yuzuki's words about the Lion and it looks like she's been right. Still, everybody is somebody, so Butaj doesn't hold the rigidity against Yurio. There is some fairness in what he said. "If you wish it to be so. See you tomorrow then."

[Matsu Yurio]

Yurio nodded and withdrew, allowing others to claim a piece of the Butaj, as he was so popular.

[Moto Butaj]

Butaj the wingman of Unicorn maidens approaches Amaya and nods to the other Lion. He says nothing for now, just smiles.

[Ide Amaya]

Amaya smiles up at her cousin, "the ladies of the ma-ai shall surely starve for your attention, Butaj-San," she teases.