So Fluffy! (Day 9, LM)

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"That is too bad." Saksaha shrugs. "Cheese is not difficult, and milk is how our children grow tall and strong." But her tone doesn't seem too pointed; she's long since realized there's nothing to be done but to accept Rokugani eccentricity on this point. Instead she gives Yuki a curious look. "Who is your intended?"

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki paused. "Well, when they are still babies they are breast-fed, of course, and some are not weened off of it until their second year." She explained. "But as a whole, most do not partake after that point."

Yuki smiled warmly, looking out at the fields. "Moto Butaj." She says, simply enough. It was getting easier for her to admit it with every passing day as her heart fell for him more and more.

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Oh." Saksaha raises her eyebrows a bit. "From what I know, he has a good heart."

It's too bad no one can say the same of his parentage. But then it seems such things are not so rare in this country, anyway.

"He will go to live with you? He might miss the food of our people," she adds with a small smile. "Though if you will keep horses, at least there will be mares' milk for kumis in season."

The black lamb seems to be through nursing at this point, toddling away from the goat with a faint bleat/burp noise.

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki smiled. "I've certainly had no complaints about it." Not entirely true, and Yuki's face briefly showed that.

She nodded at the question. "Hai. I'd come here expecting to stay among the Unicorn, but it seems that is not to be. We do have two horses, but Butaj-san mentioned wanting to start a small herd and... well... I figured it may not be a bad idea to get some more experience with animals."

She glanced to the black sheep as it toddled away from the meal and giggled. "Oh but those ones are adorable."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

((Yikes, sorry, totally lost track of this thread!))

"They are, truly," Saksaha says with a quick grin as she also watches the lamb. "Sheep are very stupid, though. Goats and horses are much cleverer. Even yaks... but maybe you do not want yaks. Horses will be more use to you if you will live among these people of yours who do not drink milk." And with mares around Moto--err, Asako Butaj will at least have a little kumis in season.

"It is not difficult, mostly," she adds. "Animals have their own ways of thinking. If you expect them to think like themselves, and not like stupid humans on four legs, you will manage them well enough."

[Asako Yuki]

"Mostly just horses I hope, outside of the Unicorn we wouldn't get much use out of most everything else." Yuki admitted. "Nor the peasants to keep track of it all. I have a little experience with horses, but not more than two, and I never really had to take care of them."

She listened to Saksaha's words of wisdom and nodded. "So... how do they think then? Or is that just learned with experience?"

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Um.. well, experience helps much." Saksaha thinks, pushing a loose strand of hair back behind her ear and leaving a faint smudge of lamb-transmitted dust on her broad cheekbone. "But maybe it is most important to remember they are made to be in a herd. They are more like a deer than a dog in this way. And...not like a deer, they can come to know people as part of their herd." She chuckles. "So you can get their trust, but to keep it you should use it the way they expect you to. They do not love surprises and things they do not understand."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki listened carefully to the explanation as it was given. "I think I see, Iuchi-san. Thank you very much." She smiled warmly to the woman. "How have you been liking the miai?"

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"It is... it has not been what I expected, but mostly it is good. I have made many friends, with more speed than I thought anyone could." Saksaha is then briefly distracted by the white goat, which has grown bored with being confined and starts chewing on its rope tether. "No!" She sighs and reaches down to untie the rope. As she straightens up again, the little beast shakes its head and bounds over to a clump of grass a few paces away.

"I do not know who will be my husband in a year's time, but there are enough men I would not be unhappy with, and some I think would be very good... this is enough, I think."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki smiled. "Hai, I have done the same. I hope to keep in contact with most of them in the coming months and years as well, through letters if nothing else." She glanced at the goat as Saksaha yelled and giggled a bit. "Do they always do that? Eat whatever is near their mouth?"

Yuki smiled a little. "Hai, I've had no objections among the Unicorn men either, though I admit I've not met all of them."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"A sheep might. Fiyanggu just grows bored with being tied," Saksaha explains with a rueful smile. "She thinks she is a pet, not livestock. And I am running out of good rope." She shakes her head as she looks over at the goat, now grazing in a perfectly well-behaved sort of way.

"All here whom I know are good men," she agrees, "Or... well, or at least good boys," she laughs. "And boys become men quickly enough, I guess."

((Postscript: happy to wrap this on your schedule, as I'm sure it's not exactly your most vital end-game thread. XD ))

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki smiled at that. Note to self, no sheep then. "You should be careful that you don't start to think of her as a pet too then." She paused. "Though, I guess in most corners of the empire, if they took any liking to it, a goat would be a pet. For most samurai keeping one around wouldn't be of much use."

Yuki laughed at Saksaha's comment. "My cousin, Hirase-san is not a boy. He's older than most of us here, truthfully. His previous wife died." She explained.

((Many of my vital threads are tied up, so no rush here))

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Ah, maybe it is already late for that," Saksaha admits, laughing. "But my people know that animals must come and go in everyone's life, even special ones. So it is with people too, really, even though that is harder to accept. I do not think I have met your cousin," she adds, after thinking over the name for a moment. "I am sorry about his wife."

[Asako Yuki]

Yuki nodded at that. "Hai, though as no one in the empire eats red meat or drinks milk outside of the unicorn, I do not expect to see petty goats in every castle." She giggled at the thought.

"The loss was some time ago." Yuki explained, "and he is quite resilient."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Oh." Saksaha nods. "That is good. I hope he will find a good wife, then. To be resilient is an important thing to our people." She smiles a bit wryly. "I do not think I would mind a widower myself, though there is not very much purpose saying so, since I will not choose my own match."

Brightening, she adds, "I do hear they keep goats in Dragon lands, also," which is either a return to the other subject of the conversation or... not, entirely.