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

[Ide Amaya]

"That is indeed the case. We have relied on stories and song to remember what we can, but they have a way of losing a little something over the years.

[Soshi Taira]

"Ah. Oral histories are hard to maintain... you must be very strict, and you still risk interpretation."

He nodded. "There are those in the empire that manage it... such as the Ikoma and Suzume, but it is rare."

[Ide Amaya]

"And harder still to verify. If a Moto claims to have felled a hundred-score enemies, fifty, a hundred years later, how can it be known just how much he exaggerated by?"

She begins to prepare the teapot, the water almost hot enough now.

[Soshi Taira]

"Well, a samurai's word is his bond."

Taira shrugged. "So if he slew 100 foes, who will argue? They are all long reborn and dead, many times since."

[Ide Amaya]

"I suppose that is true," she offers a small shrug, "even if I do not understand it. If a deed is worthy to be remembered, it does not need exaggeration. And a deed in need of exaggeration is not worthy of being remembered."

[Soshi Taira]

Taira laughed.

"Yet... we seek someone to look up to. So we make them greater than us, so we can aspire to greater things."

[Ide Amaya]

She pours hot water over the fresh tea leaves, solemnly thoughtful. Heroes die, she thinks, with a touch of bitterness. "Again, I must concede to your superior wisdom. I am fortunate that this isn't go."

[Soshi Taira]

"Ah. You might beat me at that. I have never learned more than the rules."

He sighed.

"The yoriki prefer simpler games, in general. Dice and the like."

[Ide Amaya]

"I haven't played for a long time, but I lack the strategic forethought it takes to play well."

[Soshi Taira]

"A pessimistic self assessment."

He sighed.

"I guess you would know better than I."

[Ide Amaya]

"Merely an observation, Taira-Sama. I mean nothing by it."

[Soshi Taira]

"Of course."

Tapping the rim of the cup, he continued, "There are many aspects to games... you could possibly win before the game by ensuring I was not at my best."

[Ide Amaya]

"Perhaps you would teach me some of the games you know? Not here, now. But there are still a few days of the ma-ai left." She sipped her tea and looked at him over the rim of the cup. Her fondness for the Scorpion doctor had grown quickly during their conversation. She could certainly see herself enjoying more talks with him.

[Soshi Taira]

That brought a smile. "Of course. I'm not good at them, mind you, but I'd be glad to share them."

Well, most of them.

Not Tenko, or four fingered Magistrate.

[Ide Amaya]

Gladdened, smiling, "good." And she sips her tea.