[Day 2, Early Evening] Butterflies (Expecting)

[Agasha Yuna]

She felt such a warmth from the shrine. A sense of approval.

"Oh, Hotei for sure after Benten. Contentment. I wish that for you. For us."

At 'Musubi-no-Kami' he could see she couldn't immediately remember which Fortune that was. A genial nod and then that slightly unfocused look at she walked mentally through her memory palace. And ... Marriage! Oh! He could see the moment her smile widened.

"Yes, definitely Musubi-no-Kami."

[Shiba Ryusei]

"You are a marvel, Agasha-sama. I'll have to brush up on my grasp of the Tao. Fair's fair, after all."

[Agasha Yuna]

"I should be very glad to study the Tao with you. Or let you surprise me by your study apart from me. But it is a great pleasure to read the passages together and reflect upon them."

"One of my favorite passages that I used to consider, sitting by the river on our lands is this one: “The truth of the world can be found sitting at the riverside, The river never begins, the river never ends. All of life is like the river, lessons never begin and lessons never end."

[Shiba Ryusei]

"Maybe a bit of both... it's not the sort of book that should only be read once, after all."

As she recited the passage, he realized he could, in fact, fall harder.

"That's..."

Beautiful and wise.

"Apt, to say the least. 'Only when you are in the grave will you have nothing more to learn.' That's one I know. And take to heart."

[Agasha Yuna]

She smiled. "I thought you would like that verse. I see that water is important to you. A part of you. The river was my taste of that in a place very focused on the things of earth. The river was both beautiful and necessary. The fish and river plants supplemented our rationed rice."

"The Little Teacher says: Nothing in the world is softer and weaker than water. But for attacking the hard and strong, there is nothing like it! The weak overcomes the strong, and the soft overcomes the hard. This is something known by all but practiced by none."

"My papa would say the earth chooses to let the water erode it. But I am not so sure that is so."

[Shiba Ryusei]

He was thinking now, thinking from new angles, and it was a treat.

"Far be it from me to gainsay your father, who I'm sure knows the Earth better than I ever could, but... waves on the shore make a good case for nothing being allowed. It can seem like a a battle between sea and shore sometimes. What's interesting is how the earth can best resist the water by being, well... soft and weak. Sand shifts, moves, and accommodates, and stands up to the waves far better than just about anything..."

He trailed off.

That was it, that was how his ancestors had erred, how his father had erred. They'd tried to be stern- unyielding. To stand up directly to the blows of fate. But the waves had battered House Shigi down for its inflexibility.

The smile was back.

"There was an old rock pier on the mainland shore, you could see it from the castle walls when I was little. When I was six, it stood about the height of a house above the level of the sea at low tide. When I left for Court, it was all but gone... but the sandy beach it stood on remained the same..."

Okay, Benten. This is getting out of hand, and sweeping her up in my arms in the temple would be an incredibly stupid thing to do...

[Agasha Yuna]

She smiled brightly.

"You see it exactly! Flexibility is the grace of water and of sand. Our mountain earth is hard but your sand is soft yes? It is soft to the touch, yes? To footfall as well as water's lapping? It is Isora and Suitengu. If I am remembering correctly what I read about seas and shores... They yearn for each other, but they do not diminish each other when they touch. The water comes in and out. The sand remains. It is not swept away."

Sand... what had she read about sand?

"Oh! And ... you need only bring another element to the table and ... if you are rich in sand, you can use fire to make glasswork from sand. Did you see the Kitsu at the gift giving? A glass container. It is a fine treasure fit to house a gift for an Empress. Tremendously valuable."

"You may not have that much sand. But it is still a charming thought."

[Shiba Ryusei]

"Hm....I don't know much about the process, but our sand is very fine-grained, I'd have to look into whether that was good or bad..."

He shook his head.

"No, first we need to find people who know how to make the glassware- that's step one. Quantity of sand isn't an issue if there's no one to shape it. We get the people together, and then maybe start the industry..."

We.

It was already we. He wasn't even conscious of it.

[Agasha Yuna]

She smiled, excited by the project, also thinking of it as theirs.

"Your sister is at the Shiba Artisan school, right? That school is the place I would start first for records of both the process and any graduates in the last few decades who had skill of the kind. Though it is near to smithing in many ways, fire-born, so I'd also visit Water Hammer - the city near our Ageki lands - where all the best metal-smiths train. The best in all Rokugan. That's where my Uncle learned his goldsmithing that earned him an imperial patron and me this lovely headdress."

"An art that builds on the best artistry and craftsmanship of the Phoenix and Dragon together."

"Uncle Toma would have advice for sure."

"The Little Teacher said: "Find the essence of fire within yourself, and the world shall bend around you like metal at the forge.” Fire is the spark of creativity and innovation. Knowledge and wisdom. Passion."

[Shiba Ryusei]

I have to marry this woman.

"I can get some letters to Mei at the Academy before Court ends, have her look into the feasibility of it... but yes, calling on Water Hammer City to consult with your uncle would also be brilliant. It could be our own... modest tribute to the lessons and traditions of the Izaku Family."

Ryusei bowed to the woman he was now dead-certain he wanted to share the rest of his life with.

He was absolutely on fire now- because if they could get this off of the ground, then the sky was the limit. The fleet wouldn't be rebuilt overnight, but the Shigi still had rights to call at ports up and down the coast. They could leverage those rights, and not just to resurrect the fortunes of a house his father kept saying was doomed.

They could become more.

We could endow a monastery for the Brotherhood- a place of teaching. And build up a library- it won't rival the Ikoma libraries anytime soon, but we could certainly try. That printing she was talking about...

He cocked his head to the side and grinned.

"Oh, are you wearing a headdress? I've been too dazzled by this conversation to notice."

[Agasha Yuna]

She smiled very brightly at his comment that he hadn't noticed her headdress because he was too dazzed by the conversation. Ah, she liked to hear that. She liked that very much. She liked him very much. He was so charming! So intelligent! So kind!

"I am sure your sister would most want to hear about you and the court. But I think she'd be excited to have a project, too."

"My uncle is at Kyuden Miya currently, with his patron Miya Kaiya-sama. He escorted me here and is entertaining her with sketches and plans and storyboards of inspirations for jewelry pieces to be made next. And I am sending her detailed descriptions of what everyone is wearing so she can take advantage and anticipate the fashions for next year. She is the fashion expert. The fashion setter. And she has been very kind to me. She helped arrange the opportunity to study at the Loremaster school."

"Oh but think! Not just glasswork containers. Glasswork art. Glasswork jewelry. "

It would take years to establish. A lifetime perhaps. But what an endeavor. And she knew precisely the right people to make it fashionable, should they find the idea as inspiring as she did.

"Shiba-san, we should probably pray to Daikoku also. But Benten-o-kami first. I have so much to thank her for."

[Shiba Ryusei]

"Mei-chan will also want to hear about you, i strongly suspect... just means it'll be a longer letter than some of mine."

Fortunes, please please please let this happen.

"Glass can be shaped more easily than stone, meaning custom designs could be made with relative ease, so... yes... yes... oh, definitely, we should definitely get along to Benten's shrine..."

Ryusei wasn't even a little coy in front of the Fortune of Romantic Love.

He let Yuna take the lead, go first, but when his time came... he was ready

Benten-no-Kami.

All my life, people have been saying you favor me. And it's true, you have gifted me in many ways.

But all them pale before this, and my gratitude knows no bounds.

I know that some of this is simply infatuation- we're young. But I also know, i feel that this can and will grow into more. That I will be, if anything, more smitten when we're in our dotage.

Because she is more than her grace, beauty, and charm, and those are all more than I could reasonably hope for.
She is wise. She'll let me know when I'm wrong. She'll push me when i need a push.

And she sees something in me she wants to share her life with.

For that, I can never offer you enough thanks.
So I have one more thing to ask of you, greedy as it might seem, when you've already given me so much...

Never, ever, ever let me take her for granted.

[Agasha Yuna]

She knelt at the small shrine to Benten here in the temple complex. She tried to recall everything she knew about Benten from her reading.

"Benten-no-Kami,

You are said to be indescribably beautiful and I feel that today. I can't properly describe how my heart flutters and races and lifts every time he speaks. I feel drawn to him. Irresistibly so. Made for him.

They say your gown seems woven from the roiling sea. This young man who has lived by the sea, and on it, and has been so shaped by it is surely someone you have watched and inspired. The most lovable man imaginable.

Thank you for bringing him into my life. You surely had a hand on the colleague at the library who gave me his name.

Thank you for him!

Thank you for this feeling between us!

May it always connect us and enrich us. May it shine so brightly that others marvel at your glory because of how we look at each other and treat each other.

Guard our hearts so this fire is always warm, no matter what else life brings.

I will thank you every day of my life. And love him with every breath."

[Shiba Ryusei]

He lingered a bit after finishing.

Nothing more to say, to the Fortune, but... Yuna, well. They had so much yet to say. So many more Fortunes to honor, thank, and consult.

"I think we're going to be at this for a long time."

He sounded anything but upset.

[Agasha Yuna]

And so they continued, talking and praying.

She gave great thanks to Hotei for the contentment and joy she was feeling and prayed that it would always be a part of their lives.

She thanked Daikoku for how he had blessed her family and asked that he bless House Shigi.

She prayed to Musubi-no-Kami to help them marry, and to bless their marriage.

She prayed to Tenjin great thanks for every library in Rokugan, for the chance to serve as a librarian, for the joy of reading, and that he might help her visit the Ikoma library and learn there what was needed to support her clan and those around her at the winter court.

And lastly, she prayed to Agashiko. Simplicity and reflection. Gratitude for the Tao. For moments of clarity when the seemingly complex becomes simple, for the restoration and wisdom provided by meditation and reflection. For a life that simply focused on loving the man beside her and making his dreams come true.

[Shiba Ryusei]

[Feels like /scene to me!]

[Agasha Yuna]

(Thank you so much for this lovely scene!)

[Shiba Ryusei]

[Back atcha!]