Kyuden Shika

"Ah, but don't we all?"

Sip.

"So, that disaster aside, how has your day been? Did it at least start nicely?"

"Infinitely better," she spoke first and thought second... it was too late to backpedal, wasn't it?
"What are your plans for the rest of the day? Attending the next play, or too worried it might break your brain... again?" She delivered a wry grin.

"Infinitely better? Must have been some breakfast..."

Sip.

"Especially to make you change the subject so abruptly afterward. But yeah, I'll probably attend the play. I'm not really used to having as much time to myself as we do here, so it's generally not something it occurs to me to skip. And, ah... probably hitting up the dojo for some practice, and then I'll be meeting another friend for a bit... and then..."

And then a tryst with two women at the same time, one of whom I actually like a lot as a person, both of whom are beautiful, and both of whom are evidently insane enough to invite me along.

"... seeing some other friends back at the Inn. Might work some dinner in there somewhere."

"I didn't realize you were so popular, Shiba-san," don't be suspicious, don't be suspicious! detour! distract!
"Sounds like a full day, filled with seeing innnteresting people," she teased, "-despite your complaints that you don't know what to do with all your free time.
I don't think I'll be at the play tonight. Probably better to catch up on rest." Especially if I don't want my heart to give out completely at the geisha house after this morning, Narumi kept her expression neutral. "You'll have to track me down so I can almost die again, listening to you recount it for me."

"No one is more surprised by my social calendar than I. But given all of our conversations, maybe they figure you know something..."

Sip.

"And I'd hate to be the cause of any distress that I didn't find hilarious, so I'll have to pick my spots, won't I?"

And see if I can figure out who you had that breakfast with, 'cause he or she is a fool if they don't capitalize.

"Now, I believe we owed each other a story or two, but if you're not feeling up to it, I suppose I can just barrage you with exciting tales about pebbles in sandals and that time we thought the camp cook was trying to poison us..."

"Oh but this one knows nothing. Her mind is a complete blank slate, not a thought going on behind her eyes."
She grinned wryly to hide how much she ached something fierce. The tea helped.
"You have my rapt attention, Phoenix-san." Narumi chuckled, taking her cup in hand as well and getting comfortable in her seat. "I'm especially enticed to hear about any stomach ailments you might have endured. Regale me with you intestinal woes, so I might feel better."

"Well..."

He smiled.

"I can tell you about the worst trip I ever took that didn't involve anyone actively trying to kill me... although I have my suspicions about the Taiasa who ordered it... now, ordinarily, the duties of the army tend to involve people we want killed, but every so often, we do something a bit more worthwhile."

Sip.

"So, in the middle of a particularly nasty winter about two years ago, we got word that some pilgrims to the Shrine of the Ki-Rin had gotten lost in the mountains. So. My Taisa at the time, the redoubtable Shiba Michinaga," who was a blistering imbecile, "decided something must be done."

Sip.

"By someone else. He told my Chui, Shiba Tsuji, to handle it. And because my Gunso, Shiba Ashikihara, had offended Tsuji-sama in a complicated mess involving a koi pond, Tsuji-sama's daughter, and a visiting delegation from the Dragon, his guntai got the nod."

Raizo paused. Grimaced.

"Twenty-five young idiots, sent up into the Great Wall of the North in an absolutely murderous winter to look for lost pilgrims. So naturally we got lost too. It was about three days after Ichiki went mad, and one day after Gorobei was buried under a small avalanche, but two days before things got unpleasant that it happened..."

Sip.

"We'd holed up in a small cave, and had just thawed Gorobei out by a fire we'd kindled from letters from Ashikihara-sama's wife, and the blizzard was only cold enough to make us wish we were dead when we heard it- a woman's voice. So. Ichiki started screaming about snow maidens, and Ashikihara-sama was screaming about how we'd burned the letter he liked reading to get to sleep at night, but most of us were too busy clenching our teeth to keep them from chattering to say much, so we just headed out to see if maybe we'd found the missing pilgrims. Of course, nobody could see anything... it was a complete whiteout. Jinpei took the lead into the storm, muttering something about getting it all over with. And then we heard him scream- a despairing shriek, as he'd stepped over a cliff and fallen, the wind of the blizzard forming an eerie counterpoint to his terrified cry."

Raizo took another sip of his tea, his expression level.

"If the drop had been more than a three-foot slide down some icy scree, he would have been in serious trouble. As it was, I felt pretty silly for how I'd dived forward to try to grab his hand as he went over. But his shrieks had drawn the attention of the pilgrims, who homed in on us by following his shrill cries. So that worked out well."

Sip.

"And then the storm abated, and we could see the mountains all around us- glittering with the snow, beautiful in the morning sunlight. Rosy pink, soft orange, under Lady Sun's radiance. I'd never seen a vista quite like it- absolutely gorgeous, and the air, the air was suddenly so clear that we could actually see the path we'd lost earlier in the storm. We joined up with the pilgrims, and Ashikihara-sama took the point in full confidence."

Sip.

"The storm rolled back in later that night, and then things got bad..."

[Passion for travel vicariously indulged, -3 strife]

"Hm. I've never doubt that a soldier's life is a dangerous one. I've listened to my share of stories such as yours while entertaining onboard my aunt's riverboat. But you recount your trial so vividly..." She could feel goosebumps that had raised on her arms.

"Yes, well, the real danger came when we got back and Ashikihara-sama found out that someone hadn't burned all of the letters, and had, in fact, kept one of the, er... spicier ones."

She grinned over her cup, dark eyes shining with mirth. "Sounds scandalous! My favourite kind of trouble." An uptick of her manicured eyebrow at that.
"I bet someone got their ass handed to them for that? Wait, was it you? Something to keep you warm after nearly freezing your.... toes.. off, Phoenix-san?"