[x] EtchedSteel
The days pass swiftly as your caravan makes its way across the winding roads that mark your journey within the greater Empire. The days are warm, but not uncomfortably so for summer. Besides, this far north you're finding the air getting cooler. Crab lands are located in the south, and it is often humid there. These climes are hardly anything in comparison, and you're finding the weather to be ever more agreeable as you travel.
The days go by swiftly as Yasuki Goro urges more and more speed. You spent a full day longer within Kyuden Bayushi than had been originally intended. In the grand scheme of things this might not be much, but your superior is obviously eager to make his way swiftly toward Dragon Lands.
You pass through Shiro no Shosuro in but a single day, spending the night to rest but otherwise not doing much within the city. You manage to catch a single play during your time there. It was not a grand play, but rather a short rendition of a time when Bloodspeakers assaulted the Tomb of Iuchiban, only to be repulsed by the Daidoji who guarded it.
Though not lengthy, the performance made you smile. The Daidoji are not like the rest of the Crane. During the Battle of the Tidal Landbridge in the year 703, Daidoji Masashigi sacrificed his life to defend both a Crab outpost from being overwhelmed and the third son of the Clan champion, Hida Bokaru. The Crab do not forget bravery, and your Clan and the Daidoji have been staunch allies ever since.
From there you journeyed past the border town Keikai Kousaten with hardly any delay at all. Yasuki Goro managed to push past guards who would have made your party wait for hours as they properly checked through the caravan, intimidating the Magistrates into simply looking at your papers and allowing you passage. The courtier had looked for once like the typical example of the Yasuki, loud and forceful, allowing nothing to get in his way.
You look toward your superior as you travel through the pass, mountains looming at either side. He seems intensely focused on the road ahead, keeping his eyes locked toward the distance. His expression is neutral, and you have no idea what he is thinking.
You stare at him for a few minutes more, debating with yourself. Then, finally, you decide nothing will be done until you commit to action. You urge your horse toward him, making your way up the line.
"My lord Yasuki-sama," you say as you approach, bowing in your saddle.
"Sosuke-san," Yasuki Goro says back, nodding. "How fare you this day?"
"I am well, my lord," you respond. "And I hope you are as well."
"I do fine enough," the courtier says. "Now that we're finally making real headway again." He smiles. "We'll be in Lion territory soon."
"If Yasuki-sama will forgive my impertinence," you say. "Would my Lord be willing to tell me of his opinion of the Lion? I found your words on the Scorpion to be most informative."
"The Lion…" Yasuki Goro begins, then stops for a moment in thought. "The Lion are the only other Clan besides our own who truly know war." He waves a hand. "The other Clans play at battle, but they don't really understand it. The Lion do, and that is important. It means they can comprehend us when we speak of conflict."
Your superior's words surprise you. To your knowledge, no other Clan in the entirety of the Empire really knows what it is like to be in a war without end. Your people have lived under the shadow of death since their inception, engaging in furious skirmishes with the Shadowlands during the periods between outright wars. Times of peace last years at most, if even that.
But then again, the Lion have constantly battled with almost every Clan in Rokugan, save the Crab. Now that you really think about the matter, it seems hardly twenty years go by without the Lion engaging in some small war or another with the other Clans on their borders. And considering the Lion rest within the center of the Empire, their neighbors are many. Perhaps this gives the Lion a mentality similar to your Clan's own, an understanding born of blood always being shed.
It is an intriguing thought.
[] Write in.
