Kyuden Shika

Soyokaze had been standing in front of the Topaz Champion's room for several minutes trying to work up the nerve to knock.

If you tell her everything she will be furious, and she will certainly tell Oharu-sama and he will be furious. Then he will send word back to father, no this is a mistake.

"But I can't go home anyway."

Asahina Soyokaze drew in a deep breath and lightly knocked on Kakita Reina's door.

The door opened. Reina had changed into enough layers for hanging around in her room, but still proper enough to receive guests.

She smiled and to the Asahina.

"Good evening, Asahina-san, please come in." she offered.

The room was well ordered, and smelled lightly of incense.

"Please, won't you join me for tea?" she said allowing him access to her room.

Soyokaze bowed and then entered the room and bowed again.

This is a huge mistake!

"Thank you very much Kakita Reina-sama I am Asahina Soyokaze son of Asahina Kenjiro. I am sorry for disturbing you, especially at this late of an hour, I will try not to waste much of your time but tea would be most welcome thank you." Soyokaze waited to be offered a seat but began speaking as soon as the door closed.

"I have come to ask you something but first let me offer apology. We are halfway through this Miai and I have not presented myself to you. I was a student of the Kakita Weaponsmithing school, only completing my gempukku within the past year and i wish to offer you my services while we remain here. No doubt several more martial events yet remain and I assume that at least one of those will involve the use of your sword. Should you desire to have you weapons tended to after an event I would be honored to do so for you. i am also able to create any number of items you may desire for yourself or as a gift for another."

Reina offered a seat, and set out a white tea, good for balancing the elements, sifting through the apologetic barrage. While the tea brewed, and the Asahina spewed, she set out an incense burner, and loaded it with sandalwood incense.

Once the Asahina let her speak, she lit the burner.

"Would you breathe with me for a minute, Asahina-san?" she requested politely, put forth the incense burner.

"Ah, yes of course -sama" Soyokaze adopted a familiar posture and tried to center himself.

The scent of sandalwood was well known for it's relaxing properties, and this was quite nice incense. The pair sat in silence, partaking of the aroma, while the tea brewed. Once the tea was brewed and served, then did Reina deign to speak.

"To be completely fair, Asahina-san, I've been wanting to have a word with you since your presentation to Shika-sama with your gift. It is a truly wonderful piece of art, and a very important piece of art as well. Unfortunately, as Topaz Champion my time is often requested by many. In fulfilling my duties of the role, I have not found the time to seek you out to speak about your art, and for that I apologize." she offered sincerely.

"No apology is needed Reina-sama I understand you must live a very busy life. I remember seeing you at the Academy and the the throng of people who demanded your attention even then. You are a fine samurai and bring honor to the clan, I imagine many are vying for your attention and your hand."

Reina sipped her tea.

"Well, that IS true. At least your observation about many vying for my hand. I'm sure many see yet another beautiful product of the Crane clan, and think of how wonderful it would look in their household." she said with a small rueful shake of her head. "They look to Daikoku rather than Benten when considering their matches. But this is the game as established by Lady Doji so long ago, is it not? And do I not think like they do? My aims may be for the betterment of the clan, but that still seems.....less than ideal."

"Any man who seeks to leash you to a household is likely a fool." he said matter-of-factly, disappointed at the men attending this Miai. "If there is anything I can do to assist you I am at your disposal." He took another sip of the tea. "But I promised not to take up too much of your time and instead i may have completely wasted it. I came here to ask if you had found a partner for tomorrow's event yet. I suspect that it will be martial related, wrestling probably, but they have tricked us with some of these events before and I put nothing past them at this point. However it suddenly dawns on me that in using you to try and elevate myself I will be dragging you down to my level and I have no desire to do that. Your performance here is too important to yourself and the clan for me to sabotage that."

Asahina Soyokaze wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 22, 2021 12:53 am

"Any man who seeks to leash you to a household is likely a fool." he said matter-of-factly, disappointed at the men attending this Miai. "If there is anything I can do to assist you I am at your disposal." He took another sip of the tea. "But I promised not to take up too much of your time and instead i may have completely wasted it. I came here to ask if you had found a partner for tomorrow's event yet. I suspect that it will be martial related, wrestling probably, but they have tricked us with some of these events before and I put nothing past them at this point. However it suddenly dawns on me that in using you to try and elevate myself I will be dragging you down to my level and I have no desire to do that. Your performance here is too important to yourself and the clan for me to sabotage that."

Reina shakes her head.

"we are both children of the Crane, Asahina-san. If we cannot support each other, then we have nothing. Let us stand together in the dojo." she said, dedicated to supporting Soyokaze.