[D14LM] Horseshoe (Soyokaze's Forge; Expecting)

[Moto Mitsuki]

Mitsuki was a bit... embarrassed:

"I'm very good at seeing with my eyes... And not nearly as much at looking behind the facade of people.

We'll skip the visit to your family then. The brewing war is the perfect excuse for that. Everything has a silver lining.

It's not to a smith that I'm going to teach that anything that has been broken can be repaired, with time and care. Where we're going, half a country will separate you from your past, and, when we ever get to go to the Sands, you'll basically be on the other side of the world. You will be at peace for healing and learning what you need to learn at your own rhythm.

As for the war, I cannot promise you I won't die there... But I think I made clear how hard I train specifically to not die in battles."

She accepted the cup and attempted a small toast:

"To new beginnings?"

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"To new beginnings." He said raising his cup and drinking with her. "I don't suppose that if I kept you with child you could avoid the battle?" He was joking, mostly, and hoped it didn't offend the warrior within her. "I have made you something, I started working on it after we first met. I guess now i don't need to worry about you refusing it." He stood up and walked behind the workshop divider looking for something.

[Moto Mitsuki]

"The Matsu are reputed to still go to the front so late in pregnancy than births on the battlefield are commonplace... and the Moto cannot do any less."

She raised an eyebrow:

"Yet another gift? It feels like you spend most of your miai in this forge, making gifts after gifts for your fellows."

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"I like to make people happy and it's the only thing I am good at." When he came back to sit down he had two sets of horseshoes with him, one set shined Resplendently like the sun and the other seemed to absorb light around it. "I do not know if they are large enough for your steed but they should at least be close and I can stretch them if I need to. I just want you to be happy with me."




Shoes but they are for horses. | TN: 2 | Success: 5 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 1

[1 Fire Opportunity to make a second set]


Shoe Shine | TN: 2 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 2 / Strife: 0

[1 Opportunity used to grant the Resplendent keyword, 1 Opportunity used to impress]


Shining more shoes | TN: 1 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 2 / Strife: 4

[1 Opportunity used the grant the Subtle keyword, 1 Opportunity used to impress]

[Moto Mitsuki]

Mitsuki held a comment about the ex-Crane constant self-deprecation – it wasn't an issue that was going to be solved in a single day and hammering it now would do no good – and offered a small smile:

"Well, it's more of a gift for Avel then. I guess your first test as a Unicorn will be to have Avel accept them, and to remain still while you shoe them with those.

He is not a difficult boy usually... But he is a clever one, and he'll certainly try to tease my betrothed."

[Asahina Soyokaze]

Soyokaze didn't know what to do with his and fidgeted nervously. "So what happens now? I've been so...preoccupied with things here that I never stopped to consider what happens next. DO YOU want to travel to my home? Should I travel with you to your home? There isn't a mount here that can keep up with yours save the Utaku's. O-Or maybe we both take a mushi shugyo, take a year to get to know each other free of duty?

He sighed "No, you are a warrior, you won't be seen as running from a fight. And I know my duty too, I just...never thought I would marry a warrior despite my training. I consider it no small fortune that it is one such as you but there is so much more I want to learn about you." he refilled their cups. "And there is nothing I will not tell you if you ask, there is no point in hiding anything from my wife."

[Moto Mitsuki]

Mitsuki sighed:

"Honestly? With one ongoing war and one upcoming war, I have no idea.

In other circumstances, we may have first each gone back to our family to iron out the last details, then meet again in a few months for the wedding proper. But there's a huge chance that in a few months crossing from the Crane to the Unicorn won't be possible anymore with the Lion and the Phoenix closing their borders for that very purpose.

So a safer plan of action would be to rush things a bit, ask for the Shika to lend you a pony – don't think they can refuse us such a favor after the mess surrounding Kheree among other things – and ride toward the closest Unicorn outpost where you will be provided with an actual horse. And then Hyōzenshō until the situation becomes a bit more readable.

Of course, we should send a letter explaining the situation to your family before departing. How do you think they will react? I don't know what they expected of this miai... But in all cases, they will have to deal with it."

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"There is nothing I really need from home, most of my important things are here and no one at home will miss me so other than filling my pockets with koku I don't really need to return there. Ever. Receiving a letter will do and probably be more to my father's liking. He will be thrilled by all this, I have finally done something right.

I do have a assistant, Hameko, who is yet to have her gempukku so I should at least escort her back to Crane lands where I can leverage my family status to get her a proper escort home, beyond that I am yours. I don't even expect any of my family to attend our wedding unless my father is really keen to try and get some horses from your family, do not give them to him.

I have already started packing all this up, I could be prepared to leave by nightfall if you wish to do so."

Emotion began to well up within him and he was forced to stand and turn away to hide it, pretending to pack things up as he forced his heart to harden. He didn't want her to despise him for his weakness so he if he could not bury it he would kill it.

[Moto Mitsuki]

"Seems like a good plan to me. Crane lands are but a stone throw from here if you borrow ponies. We can meet back here in Shika, in let's say, three days? Time for you to go there and back and arrange things, while I myself stay to prepare the supplies and the paperwork for our trip in the north."

She took a sip, meditative.

"To remain in one place while someone else rides like the wind seems like the contrary of what Unicorn are about, but I guess with marriage also comes flexibility.

Actually, I could lend you Avel for that trip. He's my horse, but he is not a sacred Utaku horse. He can accept other riders if you're nice with him."

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"Yo-You would do that? Would he even accept us? Hameko brought little with her and we are both small, if he could bear us both it would take no time at all, if he will listen to me." He was utterly shocked at the offer, assuming he would come below the steed in her estimation.