[D4, LA](Soyokaze's Forge) Raging Fires [Expecting]

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"I love my clan but I have no interest in returning to my home." He said dispassionately. "As you said, I'm excited for the change and the experience."

[Kaikoga Koi]

Koi allowed a small smile to touch her lips. "And you are seeking someone that you could marry into? I highly doubt you'd be married into the Moth Clan, Soyo-san if we were to wed. At the end of the day, a Crane can not be the size of a Moth. We are too small."

She glanced around the room before saying, her voice losing perhaps a great deal of the playfulness in her voice that she carries. "I'd never really found a place in the outside world, but had stayed away too long to fit in at home.”

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"My...lord...has granted me permission to join any clan that will take me regardless of circumstances." He said sounding somewhat deflated. "I seek a place in the outside world because I don't fit in at home." He smiled weakly.

[Kaikoga Koi]

Koi almost laughed.

Almost.

Koi looked at the Crane before her. "Why do you say that? Speak openly, I will not judge and I will not gossip you have my honour."

The way she spoke, the tone of her voice and how she looked at the Asahina said that she was being wholly, one hundred percent honest and human. She glanced at the assistant with a look of thunder that Soyokaze might miss a look of warning that perhaps would be as fatal as the blade that laid before her.

[Asahina Soyokaze]

The young Kakita returned the Moth's gaze with a look of filled with both understanding and then skepticism. She bowed and could be heard exiting the back of the market stall into the rain. He did not start talking right away, it was clear a debate was raging within him but after a moment it became clear that the emotion that won out was I don't care.

"I will spare you the details of my lineage as I am no Lion. I am the second son of a lord of the Anahina family. Our lineage traces back to Isawa Asahina and we have records going all the way back to the tribes of Isawa themselves. My father is very proud of this heritage and maintaining it is of utmost importance to him." He visibly swallowed before continuing. "I was born without the gift of speaking to the kami. My father is a shugenja, my mother is a shugenja, my older brother and 4 younger siblings are all shugenja, I am not. This makes me failure." He took a sip of tea and continued. "The first of many failures. If I had become a courtier perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad. Perhaps if I had learned the sword and gone to The Wall my father could have at least respected me. Instead I am an artisan, and my father detests art. Officially I am a Bladesmith, this was his choosing as he would not permit me to become a true artist even if he knew the Kakita would teach me them anyway. After my mother passed 4 years ago his mood got worse and he found me a new sensei who was just as unforgiving as he to complete my tutelage." He started to rub his back, unconsciously. "May father is not a typical Asahina despite his love of tradition. He does not seek war but he is...strict. He does not accept failure and as I said, I am a failure. For a long time accepted this, I am weak, I often struggle to hide and control my emotions and he hates that. I do not know what if any strings he pulled to secure my invitation here but I was given an order from my lord, return with an out of clan marriage secured or regret it." He looked up and directly into the Moth's eyes, steel in his eyes. "This is the first thing my father and I have agreed on in years."

[Kaikoga Koi]

Koi moved to sit closer to the Crane with a look of steel, her face stronger than the mountain and as she spoke the very fire of the kami bellowed into the passion and intensity of her words. "You are not a failure. Regardless of your linage and what blood that flows through your if you can hear the kami - this does not make you any less of an individual than anyone that can do all these things. Bitterness, and poison spewed by a parent to belittle and crush your soul does not carry any more worth in your life than those that would rob you of your belongings."

Koi leant closer, words flowing from deep inside her as if Allul was reaching out to the Asahina through her speaking undiluted. "A figure that would teach you a skill but hinder you because of prejudice that they have does not make you any less of a samurai. Your name, and your blood are your own to judge, and to find your own happiness. No one, not even the Kami themselves can change who you are and what you believe, or how you live yourself. Do not bend to that hardship, do not yield to toxic beliefs that would crush you - you are a swordsmith, be a stronger metal than anything you have forged before. Do not bend, do not show them that you are not strong enough for that you are. You are still alive, you are still pursuing your craft, you are alive. The kami flows in your as much as anyone else.."

As Koi speaks, her passion burns as hot as the forge and perhaps in the back of the Asahina's mind a recognition chimes of someone who has felt the similar pain. "We arrive and depart this life alone. Every moment in-between is a unique opportunity to experience as much love and belonging as we can possibly muster. Instead we obsess over petty differences, toxic pains that scar us and turn our backs on those we are supposed to love. You have this Asahina Soyokaze, you are handsome, powerful, intelligent, vigilant, reliable and can endure the worst that the kami can throw at you because you are living, and forging yourself your own path."

Koi leant even closer, not touching but intense with her jade eyes burning brightly as she stares directly into Soyokaze's eyes. "“How you choose to feel today should not be dependent on others - I hereby give you an order, Asahina Soyokaze - hear my words. For the rest of your life, from the moment you wake, to the moment you sleep no matter what order you are given by someone of higher station - Believe in yourself. Try. Do Good. Those are your creeds, your motivation. You will find happiness, and love and if you ever doubt, or forget go back to your creeds. Believe in yourself. Try. Do good."

Koi said softly, kindly, gently. "Otherwise they win and we do not allow them to win. Remember - Believe in yourself. Try. Do good. Repeat it to me."

D4 LA. Performing a Speech to motivate the crane. Performance/Fire. Deadly Allure. | TN: 2 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 1

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"Try. Do good." He exhaled. "Try. Do good."

The second came with more strength behind it and he managed a wary but playful smile.

"Your words are kind and powerful Kaikoga Koi-sama, i did not know I was in the presence of the the Moth clan daimyo." He offered a bow. "I have dumped quite a lot on you and this kindness will not be forgotten. We are trained not to show such emotion but I think I needed to get that off my chest. I wonder if maybe you are he person I should ask my question to. One of the things I was taught growing up stands in direct conflict with this entire event."

He paused a moment to collect his thoughts and began again.

"Many emotions were not welcome in my home, sorrow, greed, ironically pride, but largest among them was the concept of love. Love, as it was taught to me, was a false emotion; something created by bad poets and playwrights. It does not exist except to show the weakness of those who embrace it and it certainly did not exist in real life. Those who claimed to really be in love were in violation of the tenets of Bushido and were usually removed from my father's service. Of all his decrees this one always felt...off, but it was the environment I grew up in so I never really questioned it; I have enough weakness already no need to court more. Then I received my invitation here. I didn't really know anything about the Shika and started trying to learn something about them. I was happy to see they were descended from the Crane but shocked to learn, from a Sparrow who was passing through our lands of all things, that they were born out of love and were ostracized for it. This made sense to me but being given their own clan seemed strange. Then I come here and everything is about love. Every play, ever event hosted by the Shika, all anyone seems to be talking about is love. Not our duty to our clans, LOVE."

He shook his head and his hair fell forward and obscured his tired eyes. "Was I lied to Koi-sama? Is love real or is this all a test? I do not understand why I would be sent to this place and I do not know what to feel anymore."

[Kaikoga Koi]

Koi sat as straight as she could before pulling her fan out from her obi and bonked him on the head lightly. "No. All of it. Three things. Crane-sama. Three of them. BELIEVE in your. TRY. DO GOOD." She said.

"Name me the virtues of Bushido." She said, calming staring into his eyes. "Name them to me."

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"Duty, Honor, Courage, Righteousness, Sincerity, Courtesy and Compassion." He said with a practiced snap after receiving the admonishment. His posture was painfully rigid, his eyes distant.

[Kaikoga Koi]

Koi said softly, and with a soft hand placed the fan under his chin so they looked at one another. "Compassion is a tenet of Bushido. Compassion fuels emotions, it fills your heart and can make you a man or a monster. You're history has taught you to forget that. No more. Compassion, and love they exist in everything. All things. Every moment. Any man that tells you that emotions or love doesnt exist does not know pain, or hurt, he is dead inside a husk. A shallow being of low moral standing, and anyone that would tell you otherwise...is wrong."

Koi said softly. "When love beckons to you follow him, though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him. Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you believe in him, though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, so shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth......"

Koi moved closer again, her hand perhaps inches from his face never quite touching. "But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor, tnto the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; for love is sufficient unto love. And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself. But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires: To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To know the pain of too much tenderness. To be wounded by your own understanding of love; And to bleed willingly and joyfully.”

Koi sat back and said calmly. "Love is like breathing, it is in us all we do. Hiding it all the time, destroys your soul."