Let the Dice Fall (D9 EE, expecting)

[Yasuki Tomonaga]

Tomonaga squinted at her finger for a moment before his face lit up in enlightenment. "Oh! Shrimp! Yeah, those are called shrimp. They used to be my favorite."

Continuing, Tomonaga made a face, his lips twisting in disgust. "But then, I was talking with Yuzuki-san and Moto Bataar-san. And he asked if they were a kind of bug. And he kept insisting that they look like bugs. And now I can't not see it." He made a face again. "I don't know if I'll be able to eat them anymore."

[Ide Amaya]

She pulls a face, "the ones I ate didn't look like bugs. But they had no heads or legs or tails or anything." Her mouth twists, "but if they looked like Kei - oh, Kei was my lucky cricket, but he died before the ma-ai - then I don't think I'd want to eat them either."

[Yasuki Tomonaga]

"Mmm, yeah, they only look like that when they still have the shells on them." He nodded agreement. He gave her a sympathetic smile at the mention of her lost cricket. "They don't really look all that much like crickets. It might be okay." Of course

Tomonaga sighed, comfortably. It felt good to be able to give Amaya what she needed again. And... maybe he needed to talk to a friend, too. "I'll bet you'll be able to see the ocean someday. Stand in it, even. Do you know how to swim? You can go in a little without knowing, but it's a good idea, just in case."

[Ide Amaya]

She looks embarrassed. "I've never swam before. There wasn't exactly much opportunity. Even when we were able to bathe in natural streams and pools," strangely, perhaps, she shows no awkwardness at the mention of bathing, "they were almost never very deep."

[Yasuki Tomonaga]

Tomonaga nodded. "Of course, right. You were in places without much water at all, I remember that now." He shrugged. "Well, it's no problem. Like I said, you can go in a little without any problem. And it's easy enough to learn. I could... I bet you'd figure it out in no time." He said, smiling.

"Maybe... maybe you could tell me about the most amazing thing you saw outside the Empire?" Tomonaga asked. "I mean, I'd ask for something specific, but I don't even know where to begin."

[Ide Amaya]

After thinking for a few long moments, "I suspect the answer you are seeking is the Jewel of the Desert. I don't really recall much about it, I was still quite young then. It is a vast city, with more people than grains of rice in a paddy field. It made me feel so tiny. Everything was so busy and noisy, people and camels and horses and livestock, bustling back and forth, and here and there, never stopping."

[Yasuki Tomonaga]

"Really?" Tomonaga said. "That sounds incredible. How do they feed all those people? I mean, the fields around it must go on forever." His expression was thoughtful. "What do all those people do there, anyway? I mean, I'd guess a lot work the fields, but that seems kinda circular."

[Ide Amaya]

She shakes her head, "the Jewel is located between three Empires. People come from all directions to trade with one another. Much of the food is brought into the city."

[Yasuki Tomonaga]

"Oh." Tomonaga said, blinking. "Three empires. Huh." He shook his head. "That's really something."

He gave her a smile. "So, that was the most amazing thing you saw outside the Empire, huh? I mean, this Empire, I guess. Huh." His expression turned thoughtful. "It feels difficult for me to imagine a city that big, even though I've seen cities before, obviously. I wonder if it was the same with the ocean, if I could imagine it from a big lake. But I don't remember. I've seen the ocean now. Huh."

[Ide Amaya]

"I don't think anything I can imagine would do justice to the vast beauty of the sea. To the surge and swell moving against one's body," she exhales softly as her eyes glitter in the darkness.

Turning her thoughts, with some difficulty, "the Jewel is not the most amazing thing I saw, but the one I imagined you would find most interesting. The Jewel is a hub of trade, a shining monument to commerce. I hoped that it might capture your imagination, as your words of the sea have done mine."

[Yasuki Tomonaga]

Tomonaga turned his gaze back to meet hers, a smile on his lips. "Yes, exactly. It's an amazing feeling. The intensity... I think you would enjoy it, Ide-san." As would I.

Listening, Tomonaga nodded. "It does, to some extent. I can certainly begin to imagine some of the possibilities." He gave her his trademark charming smile, the crooked one. "But really, I wanted to know what you found the most amazing, Ide-san."

[Ide Amaya]

Intensity? I feel that much from your words.

She smiles, she'd hoped he would ask that very question. She hides her anxiety well, but the fear that he will think her foolish gnaws at her stomach as she begins to speak. "The most beautiful thing I saw was an oasis. We'd been riding through the desert for weeks, the nearest signs of civilisation were far behind us, and there was no respite in sight. We'd had no shelter from Lady Amaterasu's burning gaze, not a breath of cool air to relieve us. It was hot and dry and exhausting."

"Then, we crested a great sand dune and, beneath us, was the largest oasis I had even witnessed. There was a lake, and scattered around it were fresh pools. Date palms leaned over the crystal clear water and the breeze, even though it was hot, sighed gently between the dunes. It was so green, like emeralds scattered on a bed of gold. So isolated, we might have missed it entirely if we had been turned just a few degrees in either direction."

"A small herd of wild gaijin horses were drinking at the pool, and there were little birds, bright as jewels, flitting about while brilliantly coloured parrots picked at the dates." She sighs happily, "even though I was surrounded by the Clan, I felt so secluded, it was such a secret place."

[Yasuki Tomonaga]

As Amaya spoke, Tomonaga's eyes slowly went distant, as his imagination took over. His lips pursed, a thoughtful expression on his handsome features as he listened. Slowly, his eyelids drifted lower, going half-lidded, the corners of his mouth curling up just a little.

His eyes opened again after she finished, seeking hers. "Amaya-san..." He said, his voice soft. "That was amazing. Your words, the way you described it..." He gave her a crooked smile. "It was almost as though I was there myself. The heat on my skin, the sweet relief of the oasis, the beauty, the life." He sighed, almost wistfully.

"Thank you, really. That's what I was looking for. It sounds amazing. To have something like that, a beautiful memory all your own. Secluded and secret... it seems like that would make it even more special." He smiled again. "I wish you could show me, although I almost feel as though you already have."

[Ide Amaya]

A little embarrassed by the strength of his praise, "I wish I could show you, but sometimes I wonder if I might have dreamed it, it was so long ago."

[Yasuki Tomonaga]

"Huh." Tomonaga thought about that for a moment. Finally, he shrugged. "It still seems like a good memory. And real or not, I guess it's all the same to me. Either way, I'll never see it with my own eyes."

"Do you enjoy stories, Amaya-san?" He asked suddenly.