(D6, MA, baths) Water outside, water inside

[Kuni Yasu]

Yasu reaches to steady the Dragon as she retches out water, surprised and concerned at the reaction. She doesn't pound on her for the moment, letting the coughing do the job it's meant to, though she gently lowers Ino's arms.

"What was that about?"

[Agasha Inoshishi]

After Inoshishi gets herself back under control, she chuckles feebly.

"Nearly 2 decades of training to bow low when I say something really really close to heresy? Or that could really really anger someone that can talk to the Kami?" She shakes her head, carefully not burping in the Kuni's direction.

"I hadn't realized how that would sound to someone that was trained as you were. So uh, yeah, what if I ask you to just not tell Ishi-san or anyone that would tell him?"

She's tired enough from all of that that she doesn't even bother to wait for an answer, hoping the Kuni will understand why after she asks her.

"What if Matsu Ishioka's sister missed her shot? Hit the front arm, which with a Mirumoto duelist would have held the wakazashi? Or worse, didn't actually hit at all? Maybe it was a kimono piece?

Of course, another answer would be that it wasn't a Mirumoto duelist at all, but who would have that sort of deviousness and willingness to die to implicate the Dragon?"

She seems FAR more concerned that Ishioka will hear that she's questioning his sister's competence than that there's someone impersonating Dragon duelists. That's...probably not a good thing? But also not very surprising, given everything else she's said.

[Kuni Yasu]

"Heresy? No...just between darker spirits and idiot tanuki you end up not being able to ask someone to pass the rice or something." Yasu says amiably enough.

"Could be all manner of things, but we'll never see to be sure now, and really, Ishioka-san's the only one who was right there _to_ ask about the little details. So you can't get an answer without asking him. Not that I plan to," she adds, in case the Dragon needs that reassurance. "It should be in the magistrate's hands to figure out what was justified. Even if she missed, seems a bit much to kill her over it. Shi duels aren't _that_ common."

She pauses, considering the interest in the topic. "Seek the truth of it, if that's your calling, but he's not going to thank you for it, I think. Neither answer is pleasant."

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Inoshishi hears the truth in the Crab’s words and sighs.

“I just…” she blows bubbles in the water than looks embarrassed, even though she’s not particularly redder (if she even can get redder).

“I guess…I don’t mind being an Agasha. It’s all I’ve ever known. But even before I knew of Ishi-san’s…troubles, I knew he didn’t like…” she gestures to where her absent kimono would rest.

“I suppose I was just hoping to figure out a way to distance myself from…her. And then maybe he wouldn’t look on me with such pain and anger when he thinks I don’t see.”

Again, the melancholy pops through. For someone so sure of herself, when the fire gutters she’s a shadow of herself.

[Kuni Yasu]

There's a distant look in Yasu's eyes while she thinks around the question. "For me, I can't separate Kuni from me. It's a stone in my heart that's always going to be there, and if someone only wants me without my mask and my duty, then they don't actually want me."

A longer look at the Dragon. "I don't think you're that stable. Agasha is the making of you, not the heart. It's only on your shoulders. So Ishioka-san doesn't need to care for the Agasha to care for you. But that pain's his to manage. He won't feel less of it, particularly in your direction, if you convince him Hachiko failed."

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Inoshishi nods. “I would rather convince him it was a faux Dragon, but even then.”

She sinks in the water up to her neck.

“But to your earlier point, no I’m not stable. No Agasha is. We’re temperamental as our labs and concoctions. I know many shugenja, and they are as attached to their colors as you. It is an odd thing, to not hear the spirits when everyone around you does.

I suppose I can look at my stories and decide the likely course wherever I am.

Thank you Kuni-sama. Every woman needs someone to turn to with things like this. And while I have no sister in truth, I can forget that for a little while when we talk.

Maybe in a day or two we could get together with our menfolk?”

She giggles, using the silly sounding older word. She is mercurial, for certain.

[Kuni Yasu]

Yasu nods, with a small smile at the odd, old word. "And who knows what might develop between now and then? But it would be good to talk."

She stands, letting the warm water sluice and steam from her skin as she climbs from the pool. "There is something about becoming familiar with the spirits of a place. It can be hard to want to leave them. It seems a little easier for those who can't hear them."

"I hope the rest of day sees you well, Agasha-san," the Kuni adds as she gathers her towel to depart.

/exit.