[D7 EE] Spring Chicken

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Mmm." Shinnosuke nods. "And I want her to be happy, of course. Marriages can be more or less happy. My aunt and uncle are very attached to one another, although I believe theirs was an arranged match--I'm sure Kinuyo would like that, if it's possible. My parents... well, they seem to manage. But one also hears such stories of matches that didn't work," he adds, eyes widening. "I'd hate to be even a little responsible for such a thing, for my cousin or any of the Crane marrying into the Lion and Dragon and so on."

[Otomo Mariko]

"You think those Clans would fit ill for your people, then?" Mariko asks, her smile tight. "I am concerned, however, at a samurai who needs more than fulfilling duty to find happiness. It seems sinful."

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Oh, not at all that the clans would be a bad fit," he parries airily. "But you know Crane--we aren't satisfied unless we've gone beyond 'good enough.' I'm sure all of our eligible samurai would be content enough in a dutiful marriage. But friendship and joy are gratifying to Musubi-no-kami, and great Benten smiles on love. So does great Hotei on happiness." This thought summons a smile from Shinnosuke as well.

"Any bureaucrat can draw a line between two names on a piece of paper," he adds, picking up the teapot to refresh their cups. "But I am sure there is more artistry involved in making a really good match. I should like to know more about that."

[Otomo Mariko]

"Well, I can say this, Doji-san," Mariko replies. "You are persistent. So I will tell you that it is not enough that the samurai concerned be compatible--worthy samurai will make themselves compatible, as their lords require. It is not even enough that the Houses benefit--although that is useful, and there are many benefits. One must think always of how the Throne is best served by a given union--or its refusal."

She nods. "The Throne above all."

[Doji Shinnosuke]

That answer is... perhaps a bit disappointing. Less romance than Shinnosuke may have been expecting from a sprightly older lady who insists on being perpetually twenty-seven, when she could just as easily have picked a more staid and responsible number like thirty-five or thirty-six.

Still, she's right that he is persistent, and that extends to his optimism. "All right, then, what do you look to when you judge that?" I suppose worthy samurai will also make themselves serve the Throne as best they can, wherever they are. So it's nearly the same question, really, right? How do you work out who to put together so that as a couple, they'll be worth more than the sum of both parts?"

As the two are talking, waitstaff will bring in some of the light dishes Shin had asked them to prepare--not knowing whether the Imperial Matchmaker has other supper plans or not, he'd thought it best to hedge his bets with a repast that could qualify as snacks to send the tea or wine down, or, at a sign from him, scale up into a proper meal.

[Otomo Mariko]

"Consider, Doji-san," Mariko says, "who does best, and who does worst. Should not those who do best find reward, while those who do worst find rebuke? And is not the Throne served thereby?

"And do please pour some of the sake. A young woman doesn't do well with a parched throat."

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Oh, of course!" Shinnosuke lays out two cups and deftly plucks the sake bottle from its vessel of hot water.

"Hmm. That is one way of seeing the question, I suppose. It seems a little backward-looking, though, if I may say so," he ventures, with the slightest hint of a frown. "Reward and punishment are a way of stopping people doing what you don't want, and doing some things you want--well, provided what you want is more of what you've already got. What about cultivating new possibilities? Mixing new colors? Growing new sorts of flowers?" And like that, the hint of frown is gone. Darn poetic Crane.

[Otomo Mariko]

"Thank you," Mariko says, regarding the sake, and her cup is suddenly empty again.

"But as to reward," she continues, "even that can guide things along and prompt new and better outcomes, depending on the reward.

"Think about our talk together now. Think about what you have learned from it and from your teachers. Now think about what a spouse would learn from you, were you to find one."

She puts the cup down, idly taps the rim.

"But you're not looking for one for you, but for your Kinyuo. So, what does she need to learn? And what is it worth for her to learn it?"

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"What does she need to learn?" Shin looks thoughtful (while inconspicuously topping off the sake cups). "I suppose that's a hard question to answer because she was always ahead of me," he concludes, after a moment, with a slightly wry smile. "Inches taller, two years ahead in reading and figuring, much better at sports." He laughs and drinks... a little less of his sake than it probably looks like, a good trick for young actors entertaining more illustrious patrons to know. "A fine swordswoman with an illustrious career. My father would exchange my learning for hers in a heartbeat, at least. I guess she's a bit of a romantic, but is that a bad thing? It runs in the family."

[Otomo Mariko]

"And you've gotten a lesson out of me, after all, Doji-san," Mariko says, her smile not quite so tight.

Why is her cup already empty again?

"It's a lesson to be applied widely, perhaps."

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Otomo-sama is a generous teacher," he agrees.

Etched-in-the-bone manners training says that the youngest, lowest-ranked person at the table fills all the cups as they empty, but the Kakita Academy has no corresponding Lore:Bartender's License training involving watching how fast someone drinks and when to slow them down, so Shin will continue to gracefully, deferentially keep the sake flowing.

"Well, I guess it's as Shinsei says, 'where three people are walking, I can find a teacher among them,'" he adds. "Or where two spouses are walking? So, a match may be suitable if both partners have something new to learn from the other. Hopefully something good."

[Otomo Mariko]

"It does help," Mariko allows, and another bottle has made its appearance at the table. "But always, always, the larger group must be kept in mind--and the larger the group, the more so."

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"As in, the Empire? Although that's almost too big to keep in one's head all at once, isn't it?" From behind the rim of his sake cup (which he sips without emptying), Shinnosuke is a picture of pensive ingenuousness. "Or perhaps I'm over-thinking. One flower growing up well in its own patch of soil is some contribution to the garden."

[Otomo Mariko]

"For a time, a lone flower brightens any plot," Mariko replies, nodding. "But left on its own, it withers, and then there are no more blooms. The gardener must think for seasons to come."

She drinks again. Tsukemono have nothing on her liver.

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Now that sounds like a certain priest in our delegation," Shinnosuke observes, brows arching. "She has become quite concerned that our Clan fencing ourselves into our own patch of garden," (or being fenced, but no need to be so inelegantly blunt) "could be adding to a spiritual imbalance in the Empire. The whole garden of flowers suffering because the butterflies can't get over the wall... or, er, something. All that spiritual stuff is rather over my head," he admits, raising his sake cup again after another polite top-off of both cups.

[Otomo Mariko]

"Ah, but a matchmaker must have a head for such things!" Mariko replies. "And there are certainly avenues out. The Younger Clans always need new blood, after all, and there is virtue in joining to those whose lines the Throne has honored."

She drinks again.

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Well, that's all much above my rank, anyway, whether because it's priest matters or matters for the Throne... luckily for everybody the fence is down now, I suppose." Shin helps himself to a bite of one of the dishes, aware that he at least won't enjoy his evening if he drinks too much sake on an empty stomach. He leans in as he refills the cups again. "I just want people to have beauty and pleasure in their lives, for the most part, you see? I think most people would like to live an honorable life and serve the Empire. Why shouldn't they get to do so in a world that is a little richer with empathy and connection? What if compassion isn't just a reward for avoiding doing something ill, but a thing that makes the Empire stronger in itself?"

[Otomo Mariko]

"Were people actually so good as that, Doji-san," Mariko replies, "there would be much that is not needed of what we have. But we do need it, and it is because people--in the aggregate; there are exceptions--will not act as they ought without fear of reprisal. The Kami would not have had to civilize the Empire when they came were it so; more recent histories would not have occurred."

At this, she drinks more slowly, but she drinks deeply, nonetheless.

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"I think about that history differently, myself," Shinnosuke says, smiling as he picks up his cup. "There is a beautiful chant in the play Shinjo-no-Kami that I've always loved. As Lady Shinjo is preparing to journey into the west--bidding farewell to her brother Hantei, you know--she sings about her love for the people of the land, about the beautiful things the people have built and the goodness of mortal man which saved the world from the Enemy." He hums a few bars, melodically. "The Eight Kami thought mortal people were worth joining themselves to, after all."

"But this is all very abstract," he admits, brightly, to his sake cup. "I meant to ask things like, may a very short lady marry a very tall gentleman? may a Fox be content as a Crane? would Kakita-ke no kashin Iida Choko be happy with Agasha-ke no kashin Hasegawa Kinzo since both are magistrates?--that sort of thing, you know. And here I am talking philosophy!"

[Otomo Mariko]

Mariko's smile tightens again.

"A short lady may well wed a tall man," she says, "although the reverse usually does not work as well. And talking about philosophy is not a bad thing, certainly. What is the Tao but philosophy, after all, and its worthiness for study has the highest commendation."

She pointedly does not look at the Lion mon that are on display.