"Thank you for joining me. You must be rather busy. The Minor Clans all seem to be in very great demand this winter." Shinnosuke smiles as he bows to his guest, indicating that she should be seated first.

"'s good t' be noticed," Aiko says, returning the bow and taking her seat. "Flatterin', even.

"Now, what all c'n I do y' for?"

"Kitsune-sama is honest and direct." Shinnosuke's gray-blue eyes seem to sparkle cheerfully as he settles onto his seat cushion. "I shall be honest and direct in return. I'm not entirely sure if you can do anything for me, but I did quite want to meet you, and to ask you about a few matters, one on behalf of House Tanaka. And have an excuse to take some tea away from the gloom of the castle, that doesn't hurt either."

He picks up a lacquered box, about the size of a thick book, which had been tucked under the edge of the tea table, and places it on the tabletop with both hands. "Speaking of House Tanaka, my cousin assured me this would be an appropriate first-meeting gift. I hope she wasn't putting me on," he adds with a deprecating smile.

"Now, Doji-san," Aiko says, "y' know y' ain't had t' do that."

"Well, perhaps I didn't have to, but can't I want to do it? I'm a vassal of Doji. I can't help being as I am." He grins.

"I suppose y' cain't," Aiko allows. "But I cain't be other'n I am, neither, an' all this's too fancified f'r me."

"How can you say it's too fancy when you don't even know what's inside?" Shinnosuke chuckles. "Won't you at least give it a chance?"

If she does open the box, she will discover it contains a shallow upper tray holding a few sheets of paper, and a deeper lower tray, padded with the shiny fluff from broken silkworm cocoons, protecting a pair of gnarled-looking brown roots nestled inside. The papers are botanical sketches of a peony plant in various stages of growth--sprout, leaves, bud, orange-tinted blossom.

"Well, you put it that way..."

Aiko will, on that third offer, accept the box, and she will open it.

"Well ain't that somethin'?" she says, smiling. "Got a place that'll grow real nice, I get home an' all. Thank you, hon; you're sweet!"

Shinnosuke shakes his head. "The credit is all divided between my uncle--he grows the flowers, you know--and his daughter for thinking of it." He looks pleased all the same, however. "I'm awfully glad you know what to do with it. I'm not quite sure I would."

"Oh, these take some tendin'," Aiko says, still smiling. "But ifn y' do, they'll live t' be a hunnert year old. I'd 'magine y' might could get one t' wake up, ifn y' tended it just right."

"If I did manage something like that, it would be all thanks to the good advice of friends," Shinnosuke says, in a voice laced with slightly wry laughter. "I dare say I wouldn't be too proud to ask for it."

Aiko's dialect is unusual enough (in his experience, anyway) that it is taking him the first minute or two of the conversation to fully accustom himself to it--although he would never let on and risk embarrassing her. Rather than that, he would sooner reach out his bare hand and grab the hot coals under the iron kettle the teahouse attendant is just now arranging beside their table.

Luckily his experience with the variety of archaic and poetic dialects used in old plays, combined with solid Crane social intuition, is helping his ear adapt fairly quickly. Still, he's glad enough to spend a little while batting pleasantries back and forth before turning to more complicated topics.

"Ain't nothin' wrong with seekin' expertise on a subject," Aiko says. "All them thespians you coordinated a couple a' days back looked t' you f'r their instruction, didn't they?

"Ain't nobody as knows it all, under th' Heavens," she adds. "An' precious few in 'em, either."

"I can't speak to the Heavens, not being a priest or monk, but I can't disagree with you about the earthly side," he says, cheerfully enough. "That being so, may I pour you some tea and ask your opinion about a family matter, Kitsune-sama? Oh, though I hope a coastal Kakita gyokuro is acceptable--I've been missing the taste of home now and then."

"I'm sure whatever you pour's gonna be just fine, hon," Aiko says. Evidently the gift sits quite well with her. "An' talkin' 'bout family, well, I'll help with what I can."

"Well, so..." Shinnosuke starts to speak but then thinks better of that, and takes a few moments to arrange the cups, pour out the tea, and so forth, before continuing. "I mentioned a cousin. Actually, I have several of those, but in this case I meant my cousin Tanaka Kinuyo, second child of the lady of House Tanaka and an officer of rank in the Crane army. The-Lady-my-aunt would like to see her younger daughter married soon. In fact, she put Kinyuo-neesama on the list of eligible samurai for this winter's matchmaking."

He picks up his teacup and takes an unhurried sip. The rich flavor of the tea draws out a pleased smile, even though he's engaged in a serious inquiry. "Since my clan have managed to secure Imperial permission to arrange betrothals with other Great Clans again, my aunt may be expecting a fiance from the Dragon or Scorpion at the end of the season. But the truth is... my cousin has always had a great interest in your Clan, and the Kitsune Mori and its tales. I wonder if you think that might be a basis for a happy marriage with a Fox? If a suitable arrangement could be made, of course. I do want her to be happy," he adds earnestly. "She and my cousin Sumiha are the closest I've got to sisters."

"Well, that's all right!" Aiko says. "An' it's good t' take care o' your sisters an' such.

"I got a guy, Kitsune-ke no kashin Kondo Yoshimasa, who's got a poetic streak a mile wide. He's been gatherin' poems from 'cross th 'Empire t' put t'gether f'r Lady Shinjo when she gets back t' these parts. Been doin' real good on that project, too. Helps that he's one o' our major ambassadors, too, man of [Status 6].

"Sounds like your Kinuyo'd be a good possibility f'r 'im."

"Ah, so he's a well-traveled person?" Shinnosuke's eyes brighten. "That would be a good thing, I think. Kinuyo-neesama has a romantic temperament, but she has a lot of opportunities and experience I shouldn't like to see go to waste. And a major ambassador would be only a little above her officer rank, I believe [status 5]."

He chews his lip thoughtfully for a moment. "I should have to consult the other delegates to be sure I'm not at cross purposes with their plans, of course. And since Kinuyo-neesama is an officer and in the direct line of House Tanaka, if she marries out, it would need to be with proper dignities." A delicate hesitation. "Another one of the Crane delegates mentioned your Clan is beset with, er, some spiritual concerns at the moment? Is that something we ought to take account of--or, I suppose, is it anything my cousin could help with?"

"It ain't s' much beset as it just happens t' folks e'ry now an' again," Aiko says. "Folks'll get t' studyin' what all we have in th' Forest, an' they'll--well, it's kinda like fallin' in love, but more. An' f'r most folks, it's somethin' we c'n work 'round. But m' brother's a bit out o' place t' work 'round, really, so I'm tryin' t' work 'round it, let 'im do what all he loves, an' get on with what all else needs doin'."

"Oh, I see," Shinnosuke says, with an inflection that might indicate he only sort of sees, as yet. "So this isn't in the nature of an emergency, it's more like an ah, personal preoccupation of one individual?"

"More ' that than t'other, yeah," Aiko agrees.

She takes a drink of tea. It is not a sip, although it does not match a certain nakodo and her sake.

"If'n my brother weren't th' Champion an' all, it wouldn't be a problem. But as he is, it is, even if it's been somethin' goin' f'r a while, now."

She takes another drink of tea.

"This's pretty good stuff, Doji-san. Where all'd y' say it's from?"