Kyuden Shika

Inoshishi side-eyes Ishi hard, clearing weighing if now is the right time to say something. By the melting in her eyes and the lean in her body, she’s decided, again, to trust Ishioka with something important.

“Then…I suppose there may be some use for a war after all.” She smiles, happily, then clearly quotes from something. “‘Two were first. One there was, strong as a Lion and cunning as a Dragon, her sister the other, fleet of speed and stout of heart, the reverse from the same wellspring. From the Stone Mountain and the boar they came, 6 sisters. Their brothers heard the roaring of the sea, but all were loved the same.’”

The Lion looks at her curiously, seeming lost in her eyes and face as he tries to process the meaning of her divinations.

A small spark seems to wink above his sandy hair as his eyebrows lift and there's a slow building excitement roll through him, coming to his eyes to have a better look at her. "Wait, wait, you're saying... Like..." He looks at her seriously a moment. "You mean... soon?" A pause, then, "And not six at once, right?"

She smiles up at him, widely. "Yes beloved, that's what I'm saying. Soon...relatively. 3 seasons from now, more or less."

After the pause, she smacks him playfully. "No, not six at once! You...well, WE are Lion, but that doesn't mean I'm having a litter for you! I would be ruined! And my chest! The scandal! You'd have to buy me all new clothes and I would look positively matronly!"

She giggles.

"You will make a good father, my love. Now let's hope your family can put this together before I'm showing. Wouldn't do for the lesser families to think I'm deformed."

Ishioka leans in to kiss her cheek affectionately. "Dear one, if there are potential cubs on the way, my family will be so excited they may forget to try to outshine our kin. It has, uh, been very important in the family for a long time to see a great warrior samurai-ko raised. If we may have twin girls, the... The excitement may be too much for some hearts to bear," he says, smiling happily. He again leans forward, resting on fists on either side of her, to kiss her cheek.

Inoshishi leans into the kiss. "Well, that is good. The first will be that thing that you say. The second...I cannot tell. But I can tell you she will not be a warrior. She may hear the Kami or the ancestors, I don't know. Or perhaps she will be like me, a collector and teller of stories."

She looks down shyly.

"Your family will not be...dishonored if I am showing? Or if someone realizes it was during the miai?"