[D3 LM] Clearing my Head

[Ide Amaya]

She hid a wry turn of her mouth behind her fan, remembering her sensei's cautions and Suteichi's stoney quiet disapproval, but pushed the thought away. "I, too, regret that the opportunity to meet the Crane has been comparatively slim. Yesterday I was fortunate to meet Doji-Sama and Kakita-Sama, they are lovely indeed and perhaps their refinement might smooth down the rough edges of my Clan brothers."

Tilting her head, "but what of the Phoenix? I am told they are scholarly, and though I am a poor student, I am interested in such things. Do you not also appreciate music and poetry?"

[Asako Hirase]

"Oh, we do. We just aren't as revered for it." He smiled back. "My Clan is known for scholarly pursuits and mystical ability, though our warriors actually do have a fine artistic tradition, it's more in line with the creation of beautiful things, not thoughts or the incorporeal delights. For that, we have certain shugenja. There are those among us, Air tensai mostly, who make art with the aid of the kami which is beautiful to behold."

[Ide Amaya]

Her large eyes widened in wonder. "Oh, I cannot even imagine. As the Unicorn rode for home there was little time or room for all but the smallest or most ephemeral of arts. My kin who are talented at crafts of the hands tend to make things functional or very small. Such things are an avenue that I have never had the chance to explore."

[Asako Hirase]

"I could see how that would be." He thought about it. "You must have had to live a rather ascetic life, with few retainable possessions. What heirlooms you have must be all the more precious." Curiously, he asked, "Is that why your Clan doesn't write down their histories? No space to spare for scrolls?"

[Ide Amaya]

"You are most observant, Asako-Sama. Scrolls can be lost or destroyed so easily, and Clan's worth of scrolls would need twice as many horses to carry. We have done what we can to keep our history alive by our stories and our songs."

[Asako Hirase]

It was only reasonable and Hirase nodded. "Do you know if your people will try to build libraries and so on now that you're here, back where you should be and not likely to leave?" At least, he assumed they weren't going back out into the world again, though who knew what leadership might do? "Or temples and such for that matter."

[Ide Amaya]

"It is difficult for me to say. I am here to be married out to another clan. My sensei has worked very hard to make me acceptable for a Rokugani man, and I will be leaving the Unicorn. I would like to think that our stories will be written down, along with the stories that from other lands that we have brought as well."

"Perhaps the task will fall to people like myself, and yourself, to begin this record?"

[Asako Hirase]

"It does tend to be a courtly business." He looked at her, studying her expression. "Are you so certain that you will join another Clan? It all comes down to favor, and if your fancy falls on one with less than your own, you might yet remain."

[Ide Amaya]

"I have but little status," she returned with honesty, "and even if my husband-to-be were to become Ki-rin, I am still an Ide Emissary. If I were to remain in service of my Clan, I should likely travel to the courts of other nobles, to represent the Unicorn there. I am not sure it is something I am sufficiently skilled to do. But that is my training."

[Asako Hirase]

"It is said that one learns best by doing. I remember very well how it was when I was given my first posting." A small smile appeared on his lips. "I was assigned not to a proper court but to, effectively, our northern border. I had been interested in the Yobanjin in school, you see, and it so happened that the Isawa needed someone with a bit more social ability than was currently available to act as both arbiter and ambassador. I knew the language, had studied the people, and was known for a level temper. Still, knowing that I had all the skills required and going and using them were very different things."

For a few moments, the Phoenix grew quiet, contemplative. When he spoke again, it was softer tones.

"Samurai are not meant to feel fear. Indeed, it is one of the three great sins. Yet, I admit, I was very much afraid when I left for that place. Not of the people, nor of the strangeness. Instead, I feared that I would fail. And yet, I managed. Not everything I tried was a success, yet even in those times I erred I still learned. Nor did I ever do so badly that it caused permanent trouble. It was a challenge, and yet, after the first month? It became...not easy, precisely, but...comfortable. The challenges had stopped being theoretical. What I had imagined as a worst option in my mind was not nearly so bad as a reality. So, I think, you will find court."

[Ide Amaya]

She shook her head firmly. "No. It is not that you should feel no fear, but that you be brave enough to face that fear. Head on and without shirking. To say that samurai feel no fear is a pointless abstraction. You surely made you family and you Clan proud. As I hope to."

[Asako Hirase]

"I am certain you will. You have, simply by arriving here, already endure far more onerous an ordeal than most of us can imagine. Even if half of the tales are exaggerations, which I do not believe, what remains is still praiseworthy. And to survive it as a child?" Hirase shook his head, slowly. "I know, intimately, just how fragile children can be and, worse, how very little they understand that. I have enough trouble with Ichiro as it is, when the worst that might have befallen him was a tumble down the steeper slopes or off the rocks. To have to care for, teach, and safeguard your child, while ahorse, while riding through dangerous lands? It is a wonder."

[Ide Amaya]

She nods, slowly, she is not a mother, but hopes to be one day. "Others have commented on the experience of my childhood, but I had nothing else to compare it to. It seems like a trial, to look back upon, but I was young and knew no different. I still am young, and I only know little different."

[Asako Hirase]

"This is, I imagine, the first time you and your kith have spent so long in one place for quite some time." The very idea of a migratory existence was something that he could understand, logically, but could not internalize. "Is it difficult for you? Though, as you say, courtiers, do travel to other courts, often they remain at one for months or even years at a time. It will be very different."

[Ide Amaya]

"I confess a certain sense of peace. Riding every day is hard. It takes a toll on the body and on the mind. Some days it was if we were not even living. We ate, we slept, we rode. I, too, wonder if I will become restless to see things that are new, or just for the feel of a horse at an easy canter. If the Fortunes are kind, then wherever I am taken in this life, should restlessness come over me, I will have the ability to answer its call. In some limited fashion, at least."