Kyuden Shika

She watches him fluster, wishing they were in a place for him to speak his thoughts- both literally and figuratively. Instead, she takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "I'd like nothing more. Though difficult as it may be, it's worth the continued effort to maintain some sort of balance, hai?"

Ishioka's eyes narrow curiously as his analytical side starts to pull things away from the emotional side.

"Balance how? I mean balance is important... I don't know that we could move our clans that much on our own, anyway..." His face shows that he's moving to more comfortable terrain, analyzing a problem, and away from his personal feelings.

Narumi tiptoes around how to proceed in these new waters with him.
"Well. A treaty of good faith? Clan relations as a whole between Otter and Lion are less than favourable, given... extending circumstance." Like the Otter's good relations with the Crane, among others, but there was no sense rubbing salt into wounds. "Perhaps tides can be shifted with due effort from both sides."

The Lion gives a small smile. "You know I struggle with... new things," he says quietly, "but that doesn't mean that we can't make things better than they are. There are... known ways to improve things." He quickly adds, "I mean, not via marriages," eyes getting a little wild as he scrambles to affirm he wasn't thinking of that.

A flash of conflict and remorse in turn colour Narumi's eyes, and she takes a steadying breath.
"You and I both struggle the same, Ishioka-san," she reiterates their alikeness painfully. "But that doesn't mean we can't hope for better."

Ishioka takes a deep breath, clearly thinking deeply about something. After a time he slides his hand to the middle of the table between them. His eyes are focused on it until he looks up at Narumi and says, with enough conviction to surprise even himself, "Things will work out as they are meant to. It has never really been up to us anyway." It's clear he's talking about everything, from their personal relationship up to what might be between clans.

He looks meaningfully at his hand, then back to her, wondering if she'll remember an earlier time when their hands touched. Things had seemed simpler then, perhaps, but they were back to simple now.

She heard his words and nodded, taking them to heart.
Then looked off to the side and away from him, before idly patting his hand softly as she had done once, what felt like so long ago now; the night he made his intentions for her known at the sake bar.
Agreeing wordlessly to a reset, of sorts.

Glancing back to the Lion, she gave a resigned smile. "I hope the Shika, and the future, are kind to both of us."

That she'll touch his hand at all tells him what he needed to know. They aren't where they were before - too much has happened for both of them - but they still have some bond that never broke, even through a whirlwind.

Ishioka watches her pat his hand and smiles. Not like a man in love, or like someone who even knows what they're doing, but just like someone who had lived a crisis, and knew they'd made it out the other side. He takes a deep breath, starting to actually feel centered, finally.

"The Crane men here," he says without prelude, probably shocking Narumi for a moment, "Whatever else happens, I hope they marry out. They are good people and... It would be unfortunate to see them under inhospitable circumstances." She can see in Ishioka's eyes that he means it, it's not a threat but a statement of reality. "I pray the fortunes that it'll be for social reasons that I see them after we leave here."

She understood what he was saying. Get Bo as far away from Crane lands as you can.
Narumi nodded again, slowly. "I'll do what I can to keep him safe," she says quietly. "You stay safe as you can, as well. And we'll see each other again."

The Lion nods, and perhaps smiles more than he should. Seeing each other again doesn't sound easy, but he clearly wants to.

/scene?