(D10, Court) D-d-d-duel!

[Soshi Eiji]

"Kitsu-san, might I have a moment of your time?" Eiji asked.

[Kitsu Sayomi]

"Soshi-sama," she bowed respectfully. "Of course. Have you had rice today?"

[Soshi Eiji]

'I have, thank you for asking. I believe this is the first time we've spoken formally so..." he offered.

"I am Soshi-ke no kashin Miura Eiji, it is a pleasure to meet you. Have you had rice?"

[Kitsu Sayomi]

Another bow. "I am Kitsu-ke no kashin Tatsukawa Sayomi. It's an honor. And yes, I have thank you."

She looked for a moment to the court floor, then back to the Soshi. "Another duel... I suppose that is to be expected for a winter court?"

[Soshi Eiji]

Another bow. "I am Kitsu-ke no kashin Tatsukawa Sayomi. It's an honor. And yes, I have thank you."

She looked for a moment to the court floor, then back to the Soshi. "Another duel... I suppose that is to be expected for a winter court?"

Eiji raised his fan to conceal....well his mask, but old habits die hard.

"Well, I suppose when you keep people who have been warring with each other mere months ago in a small space with their swords, winter court does tend to lead to such things." he admited.

He nodded to the floor.

"I assume you're well aware of the recent history between those two families?" he asked.

[Kitsu Sayomi]

Sayomi shook her head, and seeing him raise his fan, she mirrored the gesture herself.

"I cannot say I know the story, no..." It might've been something above her pay-grade until recently. Or it had just slipped her memory.

[Soshi Eiji]

It was possibly the later, but then again with all these houses, who could say?

"Ah well, for the past couple hundred years, the Kamoshita family has been quite agressive towards their neighbors, regardless of the clan colors they've worn. One of the targets of their violence has been the Shimomura family whom they've raided. Now if you ask Kamoshita-san, this has driven Shimomura-san to hate all who bear the Kamoshita name, vowing bloody revenge. And most certainly against her personally, as she has slain his sister." he explained.

"I will say, having talked to Shimomura-san, if he has such a rage, it is buried quite deep beneath his geniality and his quirky mustache. Quite the stark comparison to Kamoshita-san's vitriol when she insulted his swordmanship, ambitions, and mustache in all the same breath."

[Kitsu Sayomi]

Sayomi sighed quietly. It was all messy, but she felt it would be not her place to go on a tirade about in-fighting within her own clan.

"Perhaps a duel will resolve the matter, in such a public forum as this Winter Court." She really hoped so.

[Soshi Eiji]

Sayomi sighed quietly. It was all messy, but she felt it would be not her place to go on a tirade about in-fighting within her own clan.

"Perhaps a duel will resolve the matter, in such a public forum as this Winter Court." She really hoped so.

"Perhaps," Eiji said, his voice laced with doubt rather than hope.

"Of course, dueling is dangerous, especially when one's heart and mind are not clear. If one does not properly control themselves, and puts the full force of their strength into their blow, rather than the precision needed to draw a tiny drop of blood..."

He shook his head.

"Disastrous. On both sides of course, killing in a duel to first blood would be shameful to an unimaginable degree, and in perhaps the most prominent setting in the Empire?"

"Disastrous."

[Kitsu Sayomi]

"Soshi-sama sounds very well-acquainted with duels?" she asked, turning the focus more to him than the impending bloodshed.

[Soshi Eiji]

"Soshi-sama sounds very well-acquainted with duels?" she asked, turning the focus more to him than the impending bloodshed.

Eiji chuckled.

"Only insomuch that I have told many tales of Lion warfare, and within that sea of stories, duels tends to come up more often than not." he admitted.

[Kitsu Sayomi]

Eiji chuckled.

"Only insomuch that I have told many tales of Lion warfare, and within that sea of stories, duels tends to come up more often than not." he admitted.

"Is that so?" she chuckled as well. "I imagined it would be more about the glorious charge of the Matsu, or the indomitable Akodo generals."

[Soshi Eiji]

Eiji chuckled.

"Oh there are plenty of those tales, Kitsu-san, most certainly. But you can't neglect other tales of Lion heroics. Take Matsu Maya for example. A Matsu so strong she threw a kappa back into the river rather than bow to it. When a corrupt magistrate refused to listen to her honest testimony, she challenged the man to a duel over the matter. Surprising many, she won the duel and brought justice to the opressed. She continued to study the art of the duel, channeling the purity of her honor and the strength of her ancestors into a strike so terrible, she because known as Matsu 'Last Blood" Maya, Would be opponents would quickly apologize when her name was brought forth, not because she killed in a first blood duel, but for having won over two dozen death duels." he regaled her in the style of the Ikoma bard, fan lowered now that they were no longer discussing the floor.

[Kitsu Sayomi]

Her eyebrows rose slightly, and there was a softness in her features in response to the Omoidasu-like presentation Eiji had.

"First blood isn't as important as last blood, and all that, huh?" she chuckled and looked to the floor again, observing the discussion over temples. "Seems like a contentious day today, indeed."

[Soshi Eiji]

That brought a chuckle from the Soshi.

"When is it not? My sensei always said that court is meant to be a very boring affair. The simple filing of paperwork for agreements that have been hashed out well in advance far away from here. But i these turbulent times with the throne empty no less, it is not quite so dull." he mused.

He turned back to the Kitsu.

"But surely you are no stranger to court, Kitsu-san. What are your thoughts upon it?"

[Kitsu Sayomi]

"Not a stranger, no, but it is my first time acting as a delegate for our clan during such an important season," she confessed honestly. "I have observed the courts before, and have had my time in Lord Ikoma's court."

A daimyo's court, while prestigious, wasn't quite the same as the Imperial Court.

"Perhaps I didn't expect to see monks take such an active role in politics. As they're supposed to be retired from such worldly things, or so I thought." Monks were ever so popular with the Lion.

[Soshi Eiji]

That got a cough and a raised fan.

"Nor are samurai supposed to obsess over money, and yet here the topic lays before the court again. As for monks, well there are many different sects. Some remove themselves from the world entirely spending their days meditating in solitutde on whatever they meditate upon. And some...."

There is a quick glance at two paritucularly political monks.

"....think they are the second coming of Shinsei, here to guide the poor unenlightened masses to a better future. If ambition is located somewhere in the body, Kitsu-san, clearly it does not reside within your hair." he mused.

"It does speak quite well of the compassion of the Crane, in their forgiveness over the whole tea incident. While monks do enjoy a certain freedom to mingle amongst people high and low, they are afforded few protections. It reminds me of the story about the monk who wanted to impress upon the atendees of a costume party the plight of the poor, and thought the best way to do that was to roll about in the stables."

He shook his head. Eiji seemed to share a very Lion attitude about monks as well.

[Kitsu Sayomi]

Sayomi laughed a bit at the joke about hair. "You sound like you've spent some time with these monks? I can't say I've crossed paths with them yet this winter... most monks I've interacted with are pilgrims traveling to the Water Dragon Lake, but they don't seem interested in stopping to debate trade or politics with my house, thankfully."

Oh right. Raise the fan.

"Compassionate, perhaps, but supposedly it's bad fortune to harm a monk. Though as we've seen, there are other ways to retaliate than to draw swords." Considering the Crane had flocked to the floor to argue against the offending monastic. "Maybe the monks should consider different approaches if they want to succeed at the costume party?"

[Soshi Eiji]

Eiji nods.

"I have spent a little time with the young, one-armed monk. He is...friendly enough for light conversation purposes. But if you do more than exchange simple pleasantries with him...."

Eiji taps his fan against his chin consideringly.

"Allow me to ask you a spiritual question, Kitsu-san. Imagine a samurai who lives for himself, rather than others, who spends their life taking rather than giving. And firmly believed that they were righteous in doing so. And let us say that when they reach the court of Emma-O, Emma-O returns them to this world as a monk. How many spins of the kharmic wheel do you think it would take to correct for such faults, that they might be samurai once again?" he asked, purely hypothetically, you bet.

[Kitsu Sayomi]

Her fan tapped against her chin once, twice, as she contemplated the question. She wasn't a spiritual expert like the rest of her family, but she knew some.

"If a person does not change their ways, then they are forever tied to the path of continual rebirth they are on, unable to break free from the cycle and reach the realm of Blessed Ancestors. At least, that is my understanding of it, Soshi-sama. I'm no priest, and no monk."

Sayomi lowered her fan. "I think that, by the virtues taught to us by the Kami, selflessness is an important connection to the seven tenets of Bushido. That by living for and serving others is how we reach the heights of honour."