[Day 0, Early Evening] A Bit of Hot Water

[Shiba Raizo]

"Oh, I wouldn't want to taste that stuff again even if I could be bothered to remember the name."

He made a face.

"I was trying this... they call it Akina, but it's an oolong with some cinnamon to it. If that doesn't interest you, I'd say the choice is yours."

[Usogawa Emiko]

"Hmm...I can't see it here, so shall we leave it to fate?"

Emiko took a small coin out of her sleeve, and put the menu down before covering her own eyes.

"Tell me when to drop the coin. Fate can decide the tea."

[Shiba Raizo]

He cocked his head to the side... and humored her.

Sure, the "Akina" house blend was what he'd ordered before she entered, but what the hell.

She was hardly the weirdest person he'd met that day.

But he made her wait a bit before saying "Now."

[Usogawa Emiko]

At the 'now' she dropped the coin, which bounced slightly and rolled before stopping right on the edge of the table. Next to a blend called 'island blend'. Emiko uncovered her eyes and peeked.

"Oh, Island blend? I think I've heard of that, it's supposed to be a Mantis brew. I wonder why they have it here?"

[Shiba Raizo]

"Maybe they've hosted some Mantis for a miai and wanted them to feel at home... think I heard something about a Mantis around earlier today, come to think of it, but I wasn't paying too much attention."

He shrugged.

"Never met a Mantis formally, but we, uh... escorted some back to their boat one time."

Said "escort" had involved arrows flying in both directions, and plenty of insults, but Raizo wasn't going to hold that against them. Things had been rather tense.

[Usogawa Emiko]

"I've met a few Mantis, we both work in the water after all" Emiko chuckled softly " although the Otter are riverbound, and the Mantis are seabound, all rivers eventually lead to the sea. Their ships are so big, I felt like if we sailed too close they wouldn't even notice and might go straight over us! Thankfully that hasn't happened yet."

She flagged down a servant to ask for this 'island tea'.

"I wonder what it's like? I hear Mantis teas are very fruit tasting."

[Shiba Raizo]

So there's an Otter Clan. File that one along with the name for future use.

"From what I hear, the Mantis seldom worry about who they might run over in their voyages. Still, I expect those large ships would find river travel a bit of a hazard."

He knocked back his own tea, which had, after all, not exactly improved by being left unattended earlier.

"Never had a fruit-tasting tea. Well. Not that I recall, anyway. Most of the time in the mountains, I was just happy to have something hot to drink."

[Usogawa Emiko]

"My father told me of a big ship that got stuck once and needed 20 samurais to get it free. That would have been amusing to see" Emiko tried to resist laughing at the memory of the story "however I don't think they usually come into rivers."

She paused as the tea arrived already, a scent of strawberries in the air.

"Ooh...is that strawberries? I heard of strawberry tea. It's supposed to be really really nice!"

She picked up the teapot and carefully poured the tea for Raizo.

[Shiba Raizo]

"Hnh. Interesting..."

He inhaled the aroma.

"This'll be.... new, in any event."

[Usogawa Emiko]

"Please try it first. If you dislike it I will ask for a different tea."

Emiko leant on her hands, her blue eyes on the man.