[D3 MA] Tea with a Sparrow

[Agasha Yuna]

After court, Yuna returned to Dragon House and readied the tea for the visit from Suzume-sama.

She started the tea brewing on the sunken hearth. The tea set was elegantly made - moriage pottery with gilt covering many of the surfaces including the image of a dragon. Dragonware. (See: https://ibb.co/M2Y1YfJ).

She made sure that the common area was clean and ready for a guest. She set out some treats to accompany the tea.

She was ready for her guest.

[Suzume Ryobu]

Ryobu is soon shown in by an attendant. She is carrying a pot with leaves emerging from the top, which she holds in her left hand as she bows.

"Blessings on this house," she says. "I trust all within have eaten rice this day."

[Agasha Yuna]

Yuna bowed deeply.

"Thank you for coming, Suzume-sama, and for your kind blessings. Please, take a seat and make yourself comfortable. Let me pour you a cup of tea."

It was a green tea infused with ginger - bright and focusing. A favorite in Dragon lands.

"I had rice earlier, yes."

She glanced curiously at the pot the woman was carrying. A sample of vegetables?

"How are you finding this winter court so far?

[Suzume Ryobu]

"Tea would be most welcome," Ryobu says, taking her seat, "as I hope this will be."

She sets the pot upon the table and smiles slightly. "It is something of a commonplace among the Sparrow. One almost has to do it."

[Agasha Yuna]

"I am curious about your Sparrow custom, but you are my guest. It is for me to make sure you have everything you need."

The polite dance of refusal of what might be a gift.

She had by now poured the tea for both of them.

[Suzume Ryobu]

"And it is the responsibility of a guest to bring something for the host," Ryobu replies. "Even in the Sparrow Hills, it is so; how could it be less so among the Elder Clans?

"So, please, accept this gesture."

[Agasha Yuna]

"It is certainly a very gracious gesture, and not uncommon. But so is the host's desire that the guest consider keeping for themselves something they brought. For if keeping it would give you pleasure, how can I resist offering you that? For I want you to be comfortable and at ease. And this is something that reminds you of home."

A polite 2nd refusal, for the sake of the courteous dance of it.

[Suzume Ryobu]

"Yet I shall return home," Ryobu says, "and it were better if Agasha-san had a reminder of our time together, one that will bear--not fruit, no, but something much like it--for years to come, should it be tended as a friendship ought.

"So I offer it in token of enduring amity. Please do accept it."

[Agasha Yuna]

Yuna smiled brightly.

"I should like that very much, Suzume-sama. I accept it gratefully as a token of well-tended and enduring amity to come."

She will take the pot and eagerly examine the contents.

[Suzume Ryobu]

"It is a yam," says Ryobu. "Taken from one of the finest fields the Sparrow Hills offer. Watered and kept in good soil, it will grow and multiply abundantly and without end, and cuttings from it may be replanted indefinitely."

She sips at her tea.

"It is good tea."

[Agasha Yuna]

She smiled.

"The very vegetables I sought. It is most considerate."

"I wonder if our clans might find more opportunities to assist each other. If there is anything you need, now or in the future?"


ooc question: does this yam produce the 7 vegetable units needed? or no, I need to negotiate to get 7 vegetables this year, but any one yam would suffice for the following year, if tended properly?

[Suzume Ryobu]

"The same might be asked of Agasha-san," Ryobu replies. "It is said that the northern mountains are rich in many things, but not in farmlands."

~~~~~
One plant is not a trade unit. You'd need to negotiate for the trade units. That said, those trade units might well be yams. From the Sparrow, you may almost rely upon it that they are.

[Agasha Yuna]

"I would certainly be interested in trading for yams."

"Do you have an interest in stone perhaps?" The Sparrow had spoken of a firm foundation at court, which could have meant many things, but stone was one possibility.

"Inter-marriage, as a sign of a longer term bond between us?"

[Suzume Ryobu]

"Agasha-san proceeds directly to the heart of the matter," Ryobu says, and she takes another sip of tea.

"It really is quite good tea.

"But, yes, the Sparrow could use stone. [2 units] of it, in fact. And perhaps the Dragon mountains also yield [2 units of] copper and [1 unit of] iron, or perhaps their lower slopes might give [2 units of] lumber or tea?

"Our harvest has been...good this year," she continues. "Enough that we can offer [10 units] of such produce as you see before you."

Here, she again gestures to the pot.

"Additionally, there are marriage candidates among my kin, both for...accepting people in and for joining other lines."

[Agasha Yuna]

"That is a robust harvest. A credit to your lands. I would only need some (7), and would gladly find a deal. Unfortunately we do not have several of things you mentioned. I can do the stone (2). I can do the copper (2)."

"I do not know if this would interest, but we do have some red meat in excess (3). Not all clans include that in their diet. If you do not, I mean no disrespect. It helps us meet our needs and we have enough to share."

"I wonder also if there are other ways we could support each other to balance the deal. Having someone marry in that has a skill you would find valuable, perhaps? Or a service? There are spiritual services we can provide. There might also be something practical - like a calligrapher to collect your stories and keep them preserved for you."

[Suzume Ryobu]

"The mountain tuna for which the Dragon are notable is, alas, above the humble palates of the Sparrow," Ryobu replies. "But the spiritual service is possibly of interest. Of what sort is it?"

She takes a drink of her tea.

"There are so many spiritual practices in the Empire, after all."

[Agasha Yuna]

"One service is training along the path of enlightenment. One samurai - perhaps yourself, or a person of your choosing, could experience all the benefits of a closer relationship to the void."

"Another service is the offer of wisdom. Consultation. A wise suggestion as to a successful resolution to a problem a clan might have. Our methods to discern solutions are spiritual in nature, but the problem itself does not need to be. It could be political, practical... whatever needed resolving."

"The last provides spiritual cleansing and restoration to one person who has been cast out by a monastic order. I am not aware of such a need for you and your people, but certainly if that is of interest, I mention it - like the mountain tuna - for the sake of completeness, and to prevent a missed opportunity on the chance it is relevant to someone important to you."

[Suzume Ryobu]

"Those are all worth considering," Ryobu says, taking another small sip of tea. "But for the calligrapher, however skilled she or he may be, the Suzume lands are not kind to paper records. It is why so much emphasis is placed on storytelling, in fact.

"Marriage arrangements are always to the good, however," she continues. "We have three candidates here, and future marriages for those not present may be guaranteed, as well."

[Agasha Yuna]

She smiled.

"I understand that your lands are not kind to paper records. But there are options. As enduring friends, we could establish a collection in a safe place in Dragon lands. A library to which you would always have access - should any wish to visit, to review what has been preserved. Librarianship is my specialty. I could certainly help you with that if it is an interest. It would be distant enough to not interfere with the culture of oral storytelling, but a resource to future generations - perhaps to see how stories evolve over time with the telling."

"Could you tell me about your candidates? Do you seek most for them an elevation in status? A partner to work locally in Sparrow lands?"

[Suzume Ryobu]

"For two of the candidates present," Ryobu says, "it would be a partner in the Sparrow lands; for the other, a spouse to whom he could join his fortunes in the world beyond the Hills.

"That last one, Suzume-ke no kashin Suga Kantaro, has served well in a minor office thus far. Interested in music, he makes some study of the mystic arts, although our Clan does not produce many gifted with the ability to confer with the spirits.

"One of the others is Suzume-ke no kashin Niitaka Keiko, who is a young woman of no small acclaim as a storyteller. She would need a partner who would join the Sparrow.

"The last is the more mature Suzume-ke no kashin Takayama Chigusa," Ryobu adds. "She is highly ranked in the Clan and has three living children, each of whom is soon to take a new name. It would be a help to her to have a spouse again."

Another small sip of tea.

"It is to be wondered whom among the Dragon would make such matches."