Building deals and relationships. (Day 7 MM)

[Hiruma Daichi]

Daichi arrived at the office of Kaiu Masahiko early. Best to knock this out of the way as early as possible.

Scratching at the door he waited for an answer, he was expected but the other man may be busy.

[Kaiu Masahiko]

Hida Tadao passed Daichi on the way out, holding a small package. He gave Daichi a friendly smile and a bow. "Kaiu-ue is free," he said as he goes.

And indeed, the big man was seated at his desk as usual, fiddling with another contraption. Bits of wire and metal were everywhere on the desktop, but the old man was smiling as he worked.

But then, he looked up. "Ah, Hiruma-san! What can I do for you?"

[Hiruma Daichi]

"Just had a bit of business to discuss with you on matters of trade, Kaiu-dono." The gunso replied after offering the man a deep bow on greeting.

"I've been talking with the Lion and Fox, and a bit to the Scorpion and Dragon as well."

"If we are able to come to an agreement with the first two, it should eliminate some of our problems for the next year."

[Kaiu Masahiko]

"That is welcome news, Hiruma-san. What sort of deals are we discussing, here?"

[Hiruma Daichi]

"The Lion first as I feel it's the more advantageous of the two." Daichi replied as he reached a hand into his kimono and pulled forth a piece of paper detailing the nature of the deal.

Lion give:
15 Rice,.
5 Copper.

Crab give:
9 Equipment.
5 Iron.
4 Tea.

In addition, one member of each clan will marry into the other

"The Rice is what we are truly after here, we have little direct need of the Copper, though I believe having it could open up other avenues of trade we may need. Or to keep in case of future shortfalls. Ore simply doesn't go bad." He offered with a wry smile.

"The marriages are a bit of a sticking point, as it's been a bit hard to match, but I believe with the aid of the Imperial matchmaker we can make headway there."

[Kaiu Masahiko]

"Fifteen rice is certainly a boon. And with the Crane and Lion achieving rapprochement, arming the Lion should not be a serious impediment. This is mercifully well-timed."

[Hiruma Daichi]

"I'm glad it's to your liking." Daichi replied with a dip of his head. "The next isn't perhaps the best deal for us, but with the worries the Fox showed in court, I believe a show of our Sincerity will help relieve tensions there."

Fox give:
1 dye
2 paper
2 rice

Crab give:
2 arms
2 stone
1 iron
1 tea

"As I said a bit in their favor, but not horribly so and there are talks about a marriage to seal the deal as well."

"There is also one other matter the fox brought up outside of this that will take some consideration."

[Kaiu Masahiko]

"And what is that?"

[Hiruma Daichi]

"Kitsune-sama wishes for Crab support to see her raised to the Daimyo of her Clan." He replied evenly.

[Kaiu Masahiko]

Kaiu Masahiko's eyes widened a bit.

"Her brother's still alive, right? Is he sick or something?"

[Hiruma Daichi]

"She didn't mention it." He said with a shake of his head. "I think it has more to do with who her brother is, and the reason she is here."

"It seems he only has an interest in the magics of his family and not so much his other duties. So Kitsune-sama has been covering those other things for him and just wants to make it official and leave him to his studies. From her words it seems she has the support of her clan in this too."

"I honestly wouldn't of given it a second thought, but she struck me as the type to have her Clans best interests in mind over her own. So I decided to seek counsel of a wiser head about this."

[Kaiu Masahiko]

"If I were her, I'd sure tell you that she has her clan's support behind her, too. And you'd have no way of knowing different until our ninjas run into his hundred-strong guardian squad. Wait...I made an assumption. Did she actually ask for ninjas, or did I make that up?"

[Hiruma Daichi]

"You just made that up." He replied with a soft chuckle. "I mean I'm pretty sure ninja don't exist anyways." He continued his tone joking.

"Those were my thoughts too. No way to tell for certain without asking her Clan. I mean we could ask another Clan for information on her, but that's putting cost into it I don't think we want to invest."

"I mostly think she was after support in court. She didn't seem a big fan of a Great Clan stationing any kind of troops in the Foxes lands"

"It's also separate from the trade deal. So we could agree to one and not the other."

[Kaiu Masahiko]

"I think that's the best way not to put our foot into a big ol' trap. Unless we can verify what's really going on in the Kitsune Mori, we can't put our faith in what sounds a lot like a usurpation."

[Hiruma Daichi]

He nodded. "I can try to bring up such talks with the Scorpion they had little they were willing to part with that we had a need for during our first discussion. They did mention knowing a few things like this though. Plus trying to find some common ground for a deal with them would only be a boon."

"In the meantime do you have any thoughts for the trade arrangements with the Fox? If I need to try for a better deal I could start working on that now. "

[Kaiu Masahiko]

"No, I think the exchange is well and good. It meets with my approval."

[Hiruma Daichi]

Daichi nodded. "I'll pass that along then." That would see them set for the next year at the very least.

"There is one other thing about the Scorpion information and a offer they shared." Daichi continued after a moment. "Though I've had no real idea of what to do with it."

He took a slight breath. "They've said their priests have made predictions that Jurojin's servant is soon to visit the Empire. And that they have medicine available for one Clan, at the right price."

"They've also asked we keep this information confidential and don't tell the court at large."

[Kaiu Masahiko]

"Hm...They're born liars, all of 'em, but I'd hate to miss the chance if it's their turn to tell the truth. Have we got any verification of their assertion of this coming issue? I would guess not. Might be something to ask the Fortunes about, if we've got a way to do it. Also, you can bet they're shopping it around court, too, so don't worry too much about leaks."

[Hiruma Daichi]

"I'll ask our Shugenja about it, they might have some insight there." Though he figured if they could it might be something known already. "Or a way to have a chit-chat with someone who might know a bit more."

"I'll see if I can set up a meeting with them again regardless, we need to get them at a deal table somehow anyways." Though it could be that he'd have a hard time figuring anything out there.

"That leaves us with the Dragon."

[Kaiu Masahiko]

"Yep, what've we got there?"