Kyuden Shika

He sighed and the pain within it was for more than just himself. a soft clunk landed between them, a familiar jangle and he picked up another bottle. "Why are you so damn stubborn?"

He was desperate now. "The Unicorn can be what you need, I don't know Mitsuki well but I know she has pull and is practical. In time you can earn new oaths of fealty. Will you at least bring up the idea to Aimi, see what she thinks about it?"

He looked at his friend very seriously despite his drunkenness. "You are already going this far, do the Tortoise really matter? They may have a good offer but I think mine is better so screw them. Come with me and you two will never have to run again, you can go see the Burning Sands for yourself if...

"Come south with me, both of you, I can offer you shelter for a time then you can escort me to the Unicorn, even in Scorpion lands my father is important enough for them to think twice about hurting me or my people. We can find friends from here on the River of Gold, the Otter or Hikimasu. It doesn'...

"The Moto have their own Lords of Death, perhaps they can help me. Either way at least I know she is in caring arms. So if I change my mind, if I decide to walk on my own do you or Aimi have any advice?"

"I know it will sound selfish, I'm sure much of what I say does but the Shika are idiots. They have tried so hard to separate themselves from their Crane heritage that they have come up with this game rather then a real Miai. After this bath I will go to my forge and craft something fitting for this...

He lowered his head, as if some slight hope had been dashed by the Shiba's words. "I was considering something similar." He lifted another bottle and swirled it around in his hand. " I was on the verge of cutting...something this morning, I wasn't sure if it was going to be my hair or something else...

"And if she doesn't respect me or mine I just live with it? I don't want to be someone's bride, kept in a house and ignored my mother was treated like that, she was forge for making heirs and nothing more. The unicorn fascinate me, she does but that isn't enough after what I have tasted and I don't ...

He turned to look at the Shiba shocked. "You aren't?! Is she going with you?"

"I tried, I really did. Unsei, Koi, even Mitsuki. That must be why the picked her, she's the one I spent the most time with besides Bai, never mind that she almost surely hates me. She talks to me like I am five, she shows no interest in me or my life. I am just these." He lifted his hands from the ...