Daily History Lessons III (Day 3, Late Morning)

[Moto Baatar]

"Ahhh, Shinjo Wakumi is a great Unicorn Champion; she would make a fine Fortune!" Baatar said proudly. "She led us out of the dark wastelands into the green lands that we live in now."

"In the wastes, there were many trickster spirits, who play with shadows and illusions that fool the eye, to try and lure brave men to their deaths," the young Unicorn explained. "But Shinjo-dono was never fooled by these, and kept us safe from harm as she led us unerringly to Rokugan!"

[Shinjo Taichi]

Having sadly found out about these sessions just this morning, Taichi took the opportunity to learn from the Usagi. She had seemed very knowledgeable when he'd met her the previous morning, and he admired her efforts to share this knowledge openly with others.

Once the story was finished, he settled back a little, thoughtful. Kaimetsu-Uo sounded like a great man, if a little too proud, but this Gusai was a fool. To draw a blade against your Emperor was the an act he could not understand.

At Bataar's mention of Shinjo Wakumi, he stepped forward a little in support of the Moto. He wasn't quite sure how becoming a Fortune worked, but he did hold a great respect for his Champion.

[Usagi Tomoe]

"She sounds very amazing, Moto-san," the Hare said with a warm smile... it was hard to think of this young man as a, well, adult who was here to get married. In many ways he made her think of someone who was much younger!

"I look forward to hearing of what sort of great deeds she will accomplish now that she has returned the children of Shinjo home to Rokugan. Not only because we know so little of the leaders of the Unicorn, but because you speak of her with such clear admiration."

Noticing Taichi, she gave a bow to the Shinjo. "Shinjo-san! Moto-san was just telling us how much of a hero your noble Champion is."

[Shinjo Taichi]

"Hai, she is a great woman. As Moto-san said, it was through her leadership that we survived the Dark Ride to come here. It was also her wish for us to all learn more of our home, so I must thank you for helping us in this, Usagi-san." He bowed to her.

[Usagi Tomoe]

"I am honored to be able to help in this regard, Shinjo-san," a nod of her head. "I'm not a skilled fighter who can impress with the sword or bow, but I have studied a great amount of history and gladly share what I know of it where I go."

"Though I think I shall avoid telling fairy-tales again," Tomoe said with a small laugh, thinking of some of the ridiculous rumors she had come across in the morning. At least they weren't gossiping about the poor crazy Lion. "I'm not a storyteller like the Marta of your family... so probably best to leave that sort of thing to them."

[Shinjo Taichi]

Taichi raised an eyebrow, momentarily a little confused. Fairy tales? Did she make all that up? But... the Mantis seemed to agree with her, and it seemed to fit with some stories he'd heard during his travels in the Empire. He shrugged internally. He'd trust it for now, maybe look into it himself later...

...after a gentle prod. "The truth is always interesting Usagi-san, and for what it's worth I found your telling enjoyable. The content is what is more important anyway."

[Otomo Tenzo]

"Perhaps there was a misunderstanding heard somewhere in the story, Usagi-san? An occurrence which all are liable to run into while the Unicorn become used to our ways and the opposite as well, and for which on both sides it can be forgiven as no matter at all while we learn," Tenzo said with a knowing nod. "This one did appreciate the end to it, though it was regrettable that there was little opportunity to delve in and discuss it."

[Usagi Tomoe]

Tomoe nodded respectfully to Tenzo, as he had been present to hear her attempts at storytelling to the Unicorn. "Thank you, Otomo-sama... it means much to hear your opinion of last evenings storytelling."

She looked to Taichi, perhaps sensing his confusion. "Gomen... it seems some had a misunderstanding of a fairy-tale I grew up with, and retold yesterday by Shinjo Hanashi-sama's campfire. It was my failing to attempt to stray a bit more from historical facts as I'm used to dealing with and try to be a bit more... entertaining."

The Hare smiled sheepishly over the whole thing. From now on, she was going to stick to cold hard facts.

[Shinjo Taichi]

"Ah, I see. I apologise for my misunderstanding. As you say, such things are difficult to avoid at times, neh?" Pleased at his social finesse in resolving the issue, Taichi smiled at the historian and the imperial. "We must all work to bridge this gap as smoothly as possible."

A small pause. "A question if you will though, Usagi-san - that also relates to yourself. Why are some clans called minor? Surely all samurai who serve the Emperor are to some extent equals?"

[Usagi Tomoe]

"Short answer would be that only the clans founded by the Kami are allowed the honor of being the most important clans in the Empire," the Hare explained, taking no offense at it all.

"Slightly longer answer, one could consider it a balancing factor in some ways, when new clans were created out of nescessity to see to certain tasks... it meant the Son of Heaven could award such duties to remarkable individuals without favouring a Great Clan too much and give them much more power over the other clans."

She smirked. "But the easiest answer could be that because the Minor Clans are much smaller in size than the Great Clans, we are called Minor Clans."

[Otomo Tenzo]

"Despite being called 'minor' I would add that being awarded the status of Minor Clan status and the right to start one's own by the Son of Heaven is an immense honor and a very rare one at that: one might see the Emperor name one to a few Fortunes over the course of their rulership and guidance from the Emerald Throne, but the formation of a Minor Clan might go generations before occurring again," the Otomo added to what the Hare stated.

"With it, of course, comes great responsibility as decreed by the Son of Heaven and the formation of a Minor Clan almost always stems from a need for a specialized duty or task to be performed, one in which the Son of Heaven recognizes the founder of said family as having not only special and specific talent to carry out but to train others in carrying out that duty as well. All in all as Usagi-san points out, it is a differentiator between those clans founded by the Kami and those that came after."

[Shinjo Taichi]

Taichi nods his thanks at the explanations. "I can see the wisdom in creating a group to manage a specific Duty. So how many minor clans are there then? There's yours, the Mantis, the Kitsune... I believe I heard something about an Ichiro family?"

[Usagi Tomoe]

"Well, first we have the Mantis," which were just talked about.

"Then we have the Fox Clan, who have the Kitsune Family. The Tortoise Clan, who have the Kasuga Family. The Sparrow, ruled by the Suzume Family. The Centipede, ruled by the Moshi Family. The Badger and their Ichiro Family. The Hare with the Usagi Family. And the most recently created Minor Clan, the Piranha, with their Family Ryuuta named after their founder."

She tapped her chin a little in thought.

"Until very recently, there was also the Dragonfly Clan, with their Tonbo Family, but... they were struggling greatly after years of disasters, they chose to become part of the Dragon Clan, who had always been good friends to the Dragonfly."

[Shinjo Taichi]

Taichi absorbed the information like the dutiful sponge he was. "Thank you again. It is no wonder they're smaller than the other clans - they all have only one family. Although that makes sense since they are created to fulfil a specific duty."

"And if your clan ever encounters trouble Usagi-san, I'm sure that the Unicorn would be happy to assist. We have accepted many into our clan throughout our travels, and together we have grown strong."

[Iuchi Yukarin]

Yukarin listened to the Hare woman talk to the Shinjo; She too was absorbing all this, only just recently having learned about the existence of minor clans.

She raised a hand to ask a question.