[D4 LA] Serving Tea II: Electric Boogaloo (Amaya's Yurt)

[Soshi Taira]

Taira nodded.

"Hai, I too am tempering hope with reality."

Liar. A little voice told him.

A sip of tea.

[Ide Amaya]

She allows the moment to stretch out, taking another sip of tea.

Eventually, "you have told me a little of your work, and of your aspirations for a wife, do you enjoy any hobbies?"

[Soshi Taira]

"I like to read."

It sounded a little lame, so he added, "Just about anything. I just love learning, I have yet to find any decent hobby I don't at least find interesting, but I have none, outside of medical aspirations and jiujutsu, that I have practiced extensively."

[Ide Amaya]

Smiling, "I should like to read more. I've had so little opportunity before now. I have never been the best of students, but perhaps a different approach might be just what I need."

[Soshi Taira]

Taira nodded. "Hai, I found it best to follow my interests... this led me to medicine, and started my path toward a lifetime in that service."

[Ide Amaya]

She sighed, softly, or perhaps it wasn't a sigh at all, just a single deeper breath. The threatening storm had cast a pall over her mood, or it was perhaps the dark topics of conversation they had addressed earlier. Her day had started early, earlier than she would have liked, and promised to continue deep into the night. She was tired, and being a terrible host, said that internal voice.

"I'm terribly sorry I don't have any sweets available to serve you," she covered her weariness well, but not perfectly. "I actually had a number of the kinds of treats my Clan enjoys, but they have been served and I didn't have time to fetch any more."

[Soshi Taira]

Taira smiled. "It's fine. I hope I am not tiring you, Ide-san. I know this sort of event can be draining, especially if you are much engaged."

Another sip of tea.

"I actually quite like tea in itself. Some prefer something sweet to pair, but I don't mind the bitterness."

[Ide Amaya]

A gentle smile, "how strange, after all I have been through, it's sitting about all day drinking tea that I should find tiring?"

"I am well, if a little distracted. This matter with Khulun-San never seems to be far from my mind." And what Dong-Ha told me this morning, she thinks to herself, another piece to a puzzle I have no idea how to solve.

[Soshi Taira]

"I can understand that."

Taira rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "I just... I understand that your clan could hardly be held responsible if something went awry, that you are not yet experienced with it... but even so, it seems too great a risk to me."

Setting down the teacup with an gentle thump, he added, "I cannot be certain of the specifics, but it all trends dangerously close to blasphemy to even consider hearing it out. I would hate to see her brought on charges by witch hunters, or inquisitorial agents. They are not... forgiving, nor do they accept context or excuses."

[Ide Amaya]

She looked deep into her teacup, lips pressed together, Taira's mention of the mundane consequences had knocked the puzzle pieces askew. "That is," a pause, "troublesome." Her tone is measured, though she already knew what the Moto would say: that the risk was worthwhile.

"Again, Soshi-Sama, your information proves invaluable, and I am indebted to you. Might I ask that you favour me further with the answer to a question? I do not think the Champion-thing will physically harm us, not yet. Simply cutting down a small measure of our number accomplishes nothing towards whatever dark purpose such things might have. Meeting with this thing might leave us physically unharmed, but what of our minds?"

[Soshi Taira]

"That..."

He looked at her, then he sighed. "Have you heard of the touch of the ninth? The Taint? The sickness which cannot be cured?"

[Ide Amaya]

"Is it related to the creeping shadow? The--" she shudders visibly, "the darkness that steals men's faces?"

[Soshi Taira]

Taira thought for a moment, until he realized what she meant.

Oh... the scorpion would need to see just how much the Unicorn knew about that... but later. Focus Taira.

"No. That steals the identity, destroys a being and unmakes the soul."

Taira's expression was grim. "This threat is that of Jigoku, of the ninth brother. It infects the soul and cannot be cleansed by any means. It corrupts, twisting flesh and bone, until the body resembles the soul, tainted, lost, forever damned to reside in Jigoku."

A slow breath. "The creature Moto Khulun banished was a manifestation of that power. The blasphemous magic that some practice carries that taint. It can spread from blood to blood, from claws of the beasts, from the air and earth south of the Crab wall. It enters the soul and devours it from the inside out."

He fixed her with an honest, stolid look. "It is the greatest enemy the empire has ever known, and it is the duty of the Crab to throw it back, daily. That is why, though they waged war on my clan, I do not seek vengeance. That is why the Lion do not march south to crush them, distracted though they may be. Because they, practiced as they are, are the very best at fighting this enemy, after centuries of hard won experience."

[Ide Amaya]

The only sign she gives as she listens is a panicked rise in her breathing.

"If the disease can travel from claw to body, and Khulun-San was wounded by the fell beast she slayed, could she already be in danger?" Her voice was low, but calm and firm. "If the corruption can be carried on the air like plague, are we all in danger of that thing just being close to here?"

[Soshi Taira]

"Not the air here. It is... the shadowlands... south of the wall, that are so corrupt."

He considered her question, and then said, very, very quietly. "Yes, Moto-san is in some danger. We have no way of finding if the disease has gained purchase. It is possible to be exposed, and not contract it... sometimes one is strong of spirit, and fortunate."

Taking a slow breath, he added, "It would only be possible for it spread through... well... fluid. So as long as you do not exchange blood or... other liquids... you should be safe. and I advised her to obtain jade. It provides protection, and so long as it does not burn her to touch it, the corruption is not grown strong in her. If it ever does, then she will have to speak to the Kuni, to obtain help. There are ways to... contain the disease, stop it from progressing. That said... perhaps she should speak to her husband before... they... complete the marriage. He would risk exposure if she did exhibit signs... that is one way it could be spread."

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he continued, I tell you this not to scare you, the taint is not common here, the beasts of the south rarely make it this far north... indeed, it was astronomical misfortune that these things are happening here and now, yet they are, and we must address things as they are, not as they should be. I only wish for your clan, and your clansmen, to be safe. To have time to learn, to prepare, before facing this sort of foe. I do not doubt your valor or skill, only your preparation."