(D3, EE, Open) - Horse Care 101

[Togashi Udo]

"I am enjoying the Unicorn's return. I need more time to get used to the forthright nature of conversations, but I find it refreshing. A samurai is ever supposed to be on guard. The Unicorn seem to guard themselves physically, but less so verbally."

He thinks. "Some more so than others." He moves to stand next to her. "For example, I feel you are more guarded than most. I am attempting to let my own guard down so we can know each other... you should do the same."

He hopes that doesn't sound forceful for pushy...

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"... am I?" This is probably a point at which a girl from any other Clan would find a fan extremely handy. Such props are still not especially common among the Unicorn, though, and Saksaha has never owned one, so there's nothing to conceal her blush or the awkwardness of her quick half-smile. "I am not... I'm not trying to be." She turns toward him, her back stiffening and her chin lifting a bit as pride kicks in. "A priest must guard her mind well, it is true, especially in the dark places my people have passed through. But I do not mean to guard it from you, Togashi-san. I am not afraid to answer any question you may ask me."

...and maybe that wasn't exactly what he'd meant. Still, close enough?

[Togashi Udo]

Togashi smiles, softly.

"I did not mean to be rude, Iuchi-san." He takes a step back from her and splays his hands to give her some space. "If you encountered a deaf man and asked him to describe sound, he could not. It is hard enough for those who can hear to do so. I would ask you any questions under the sun, if I but knew what to ask... but without knowing you, how can I know what to ask?"

Udo's eyes look to the ground. "I suppose we can start somewhere, though. You are a priest, and I am a monk. I follow Shintao closest, but honor the Fortunes as well. Is that how it is for you?"

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha shakes her head a little. "No, you were not rude," she says quickly, with a slightly embarrassed smile, before taking a moment to chew over his metaphor and his question. "Iuchi, the honored ancestor of my family, carried a copy of the Tao out of Rokugan as his most precious possession. It is said that he met Shinsei in the times before. So, yes, we hold the Tao very close."

Gio the horse punctuates Saksaha's thoughts by pawing the dirt floor and nudging her mistress in the arm with her soft nose, and Saksaha lets out a breath that's halfway to a laugh and pats the tall beast on the shoulder. "All right!"

She goes on to finish her explanation while leading Gio over to one of the temporary stalls and fetching a measure of grain from the feed barrel. "Iuchi learned from the Tao that 'all things are one,' even when they seem separate to us. It is told that this wisdom led him to understand much about the ways of the other people Shinjo's tribe met on their travels, and also to make his magic work when the people traveled far from Rokugan and the voices of the elemental kami failed. So we Iuchi do not make a great division between the Fortunes and the Tao and the elements. All are parts of one whole." Brushing grain dust off her hands with a fold of her wool skirt, she adds, "Although... I find that there are many more Fortunes now in Rokugan than ever I heard of from my teachers."

[Togashi Udo]

"All things begin as one and return there, but so long as there are two there are many."

Udo considers for a moment whether he made any sense to someone other than himself before shrugging it off as unimportant.

"It is interesting how time and distance changes things... or perhaps makes them more clear. Who changed more since you left? You, who clung to your heritage and ancestors but still had to adapt, or we who could be more complacent but were less forced to change?"

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"That is very hard to say, is it not?" Saksaha says, giving Udo a curious look. "If there is no fixed point to see between us, how can we measure which has run further from it? They say the Lion priests can speak with their ancestors in Yomi, so maybe such a one could answer your question. But for the rest of us..." she shrugs slightly. "All things are one, all things move."

[Togashi Udo]

Udo nods. "It was a monk question -- a question without an answer."

"You are an interesting person, Iuchi-san. If you find yourself curious again in the future, I hope you will come find me. Regardless, I expect the Fortunes will cause our paths to cross again."

Udo bows to her. "For now, I am going to finish my work and think on our conversation."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Hm. A monk question." Saksaha rubs her cheek and considers this. There had been no such people as monks, really, with the traveling Unicorn--only the Iuchi. A monk, it seems, is quite a different thing.

She remembers to return his bow--it's easier to remember these fine points of Rokugani etiquette when somebody else goes first--and says, "I think I will, Togashi-san. But now, I should go. I have much to dream on this night."

She gives her horse a final pet on the nose, and Udo a final, slightly shy smile, and departs the stable tent.

/exit.