[D7 EE Saksaha's] Halp!

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Nope." Dong-Ha interjected dryly. "Uh.. I hope that the Togashi don't think that the two are the same." he huffed softly, pausing to take a sip from his cup. "I haven't heard much from them, well, besides what people are saying about Myo-En-sama, the voice of guidance." The Dragon Monk had become semi-religious figure among the Unicorn. "So how do they resemble us, then, besides no fitting in?"

"Hmhm, Tomoe-san mentioned that. The foreigners for Merenaw betrayed the Empress' trust several hundred years ago, leading to some strict edicts about letting strangers in... or even interacting with them." Dong-Ha sighed. "I guess it's good they found us before we found them. Had we come here, riding over the mountains... they might have been a lot less welcoming."

"Uh, did they have a way to tell who is not a foreigner then perhaps?" he asked, puzzled. "I cannot see how it would work otherwise."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Whoever the Emperor says is not a foreigner, is not a foreigner," Saksaha quotes from memory. "I guess this is all very well if you can find the Emperor and ask him," she adds wryly. "But at least I think it means no trouble for us. Maybe more trouble if we had to find our own way back here, like you say." She can easily imagine how that might have gone wrong.

"Togashi-san says that the Dragon mountains are not rich, except in mines, so that like us they learn to find wealth in things other than many possessions. Knowledge and wisdom, or family, or friendship. Their way of doing this is more inward, where we have been always out in the world and had to defend ourselves from dangers, but I think maybe he is right that there is something the same in it." She tugs thoughtfully on a strand of hair that has slipped loose from her braid before tucking it behind her ear. "Even this practice of adopting kin is not so strange. Our own tribe grew this way many times before. Just not so often or so recently."

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Well, that's convenient." Dong-Ha muttered, sullen as he was. "I guess we are lucky that he believed Myo-En-sama and others when they heard of us." Had they not believed her, the Unicorn wouldn't be here now. Sighing, the young man drained his cup dry and dropped it into his lap, catching it between his knees.

"Uh.. I see what you mean." Nomads had never amassed wealth, even if the Unicorn starting stipends were rather generous. "Mhmhm... I guess." Dong-Ha wasn't entirely sure he could agree and his tone betrayed as much. "I will take your word, for the time being." He figured he would have to study the topic when he'd find the time. Unfortunately, the situation with the miai and their recent experiments meant that he was rather occupied. "You think you could live among them, then?"

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"I don't know," she admits, rubbing her nose thoughtfully. "But I must go to live among some other people, probably, and I trust the Dragon. At least I would not be some curiosity on display there, and I would like to see these mountains. It is hard to think I would fit better with the Lion, or the Scorpion. I am half-Moto, which I think the Lion will not like, and I do not care for secrets."

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Living up in the mountains would bother me. I'd hate not being able to jump on Poppy and go see what's behind the next hill." How did you get horses up the mountains anyway? "Mhhm, I have been thinking about that. You know that the Scorpion wear masks to remind people that we never show our true selves to others?" Dong-Ha's fingers drummed his knee softly as he regarded Saksaha. "I don't know how I'd fit among such people. I mean, I guess it's better than being a trophy... a token of power, but still... I didn't quite expect Empire to be this.." he sought for a good word. "..stiff."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Think of the view from thetop, though!" Saksaha's eyes widen a bit at this mental picture.

"Yes, I also wonder this about the Scorpion. Take this Soshi Yuuru-san. He says that he would not allow anyone to treat his wife as a curiosity... that is very well to say, but how can one man answer for his whole Clan? Suppose I did not like to wear a mask all the time, or could not learn to speak the careful words they do? None of our people are used to hiding our true faces," she says, nodding to show her agreement with him. "Still, Bayushi Hotaru-san did not seem so stiff to me. Or some others--the people from these Minor Clans, not at all. The Crab, either."

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Well... I guess. But if you cannot go to all the places you see, what's the point?" Dong-Ha had always been 'hands-on' person. "I mean, I'm sure it's pretty and all that." he added with a conciliatory tone. "And they seem to know a lot, in a ways that do not always make sense."

"That is a good question. I have a feeling that the oaths of allegiance are taken much more literally here. It sometimes feels like people here cannot do a thing unless they have a permission for that." he muttered. "Bayushi-san... and few others have emphasized how they are serving their clan by being here. I mean, I understand they had to send people here to this.. thing, but you'd think they'd have asked volunteers first. Usagi-san, for one thing, seems to have come on her own volition, because she wants to learn." Dong-Ha seemed to be rather pleased by this fact.

"The Crab? Have you talked to one? I hear they are dour people...." an eyebrow rose to indicate curiosity.

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Yes, others have told me this also. Especially the Lion." Saksaha shakes her head in some disbelief, even though she's had time to get used to the idea. "In all the Empire, they could not find enough samurai who actually want to marry us? It is one thing not to expect to be swept away in ten days, but not to care at all?" She shrugs helplessly.

"Only one, Kaiu Hiroji-san," she admits. "He did not seem very dour to me. Though he also was not at his best, I think. Some kumis that did not agree with him... anyway, that other Lion, Matsu Nintoku, was much more grim. And jumpy. So was that Fairuz-ronin, and that is not even to mention the Yogo, Yuichi..." Oh my gods, that one.

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Well, it's a mess. I mean this whole thing was a Crane idea." Dong-Ha tapped the ground before his with his index finger. "And yet, the Crane I talked with told me that this is not particularly common in the Empire. That occasions like this are... rare." he frowned. "So, that could explain why they have had hard time finding people willing to come. This isn't just done."

"I guess... they expect that whatever the outcome, duty takes care of the rest." Dong-Ha turned his palms upwards to express the helplessness he felt. "They are so dogmatic. Stuck with their ways."

"Yougo? I met one and she mentioned that her whole family is cursed by the Ninth. That her ancestor did something to piss him off and ever since they have been stuck by an evil eye." he muttered. "So... these Yougo might have a reason to be dour. I'd be, for sure."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha nods. "I have heard it is not unknown, but also that it is not too commonly done. It seems to me much better than letting one of these nakodo decide everything for you, anyway. Here at least you can meet people first, and have some choice."

"Cursed?" She stares off at a corner of the yurt ceiling, going over her encounter with Yuichi in her mind. "Maybe this explains some of it. But even a curse is no excuse for failing this much in courtesy, I think. Unless that is the curse..." She remembers the Yogo's insistence on rubbing his Jade rock all over Kitakuhime and is not sorry for having intervened. "Did the one you met mention what kind of curse this is?" Is it catching?

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Well, seeing how the system works, I am not sure about the choice. The Crane told me that the nakado actually introduce the people to each other... to see how well they get along. That they won't force people together if there is no harmony." Dong-Ha explained calmly.

"Well, the curse has a peculiar nature. They are doomed to betray whomever they love. I believe this is why they appear rude, so that no-one would ever love them." he had his theory, of course. "And their children bear the curse as well."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Ugh. That's awful." Saksaha frowns, wrinkling her nose. "Why do they just... not marry? Have no children? That is lonely, but then no one else would be cursed." Then she gives Dong-Ha a sharper look. "Wait. The Scorpion sent someone with this curse to the miai? More than one of them?" She throws up her hands. "Isn't that worse than ten jumpy Lion?"

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Uh... I guess that's the problem. They still want to serve. They still want to see their line grow and prosper." he muttered. "It's easier say than let an entire family die out... and well... ahem." his cheeks reddened. "People seem to enjoy making babies a fair bit."

"Eleven jumpy Lions?" he asked, not entirely sure where she was going with her parable. "Well, I think the Yogo..um avoid loving their spouses, when possible. It's an arrangement to them." Dong-Ha shrugged. "I mean, that's what Yogo Mizuki-sama told me when I went to see her."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"I do not know... they could adopt heirs, couldn't they?" Saksaha wonders. It seems to her a terrible thing to pass on to an infant. And while she may not be personally experienced, she knows enough about midwifery to have an idea that husbands and wives have at least some alternatives to having another baby every year if they don't want to.

"Well, I am glad this Yuichi has not enough influence to choose me if he wanted to, then," she concludes firmly. "Not that I think he liked me. But if that does not matter to these Yogo..." She spreads a hand and looks over at Dong-Ha, suddenly a little concerned. "Yogo Mizuki... I think she is well thought-of. She is not interested in you also, is she?"

As vicariously satisfying as it is to have her kinsman become one of the most hotly pursued bachelors at the miai, a cursed, highly-ranked suitor seems less than ideal for him.

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"I guess." Neither of them seemed to know that the potency of the Yogo magic drew from their curse. "Though, with their numbers that sounds less than easy. But you'd think they could at least dilute the curse by doing something like that."

"Aye, better we keep away from them." Dong-Ha agreed wholeheartedly. "Well... she was very upfront with the whole matter. She said she wanted.. to confirm our compatibility." the young added, grimacing from shame. "She was very beautiful though. Apparently her mother had.. had taken a handsome lover.. a Crane.. and she was the result of her dalliance. She presented this as part of her mother's curse... that she loved her husband, but was yet course-bound to hurt him." It also sounded like a convenient excuse.

"Anyhow, I told her I wasn't really interested. She seemed to accept that."