Sapphire Ambassadors

Ordering a pot of sweet cinnamon spice herbal tea and some low calorie snacks, Yoshino slumps against a wall glumly when the staff were out of sight. She now planned to see the nice Asahina she'd met for checking over later in the day. She hadn't felt better after being up, having breakfast and moving about. All morning she'd felt out of sorts. Now she was steeling herself up for an awkward conversation about it.

In her usual experience she'd be asked whether she had been drinking, overeating, undereating, active enough, too active, if she had a lot on her mind or if she wasn't being mindful enough of more important things. And so on. Most medical and spiritual practitioners she'd met always assumed the worst and didn't like to listen. It had given her a slight aversion to them.

If she thought her cousin were a good physician she'd see her in a heartbeat. However, she had never quite gotten that impression. Besides, she didn't want to alienate the few family she had left, even if they were just distant cousins.

Yoshino sighed as a worse funk than usual descended over her. Her success only the day before was treated as an anomaly rather than something to celebrate.

And in walked Bayushi Ameiko, literally all confidence, certainty and possibly swagger as well. Her face was freshly painted, her hair properly arranged, the pigtails happily bouncing. A servant found her as she entered and the Scorpion spoke softly enough, but poured on charm, making the young man squirm, bow and shuffle quickly to give her a good, quiet place to sit.

She smelled the cinnamon in the air.

"I will have likewise to the young Crane there, impeccable taste as the day beings just cool enough", she said with a nod and a smile. Then gave a short bow to Yoshino as if to thank her for the suggestion that wasn't given.

The tea was sought for quickly and Ameiko, posture perfect, withdrew a small silk-bound volume from her sleeve and poured over it. The cover was unadorned save for a kanji stating it was for notes.

The Crane was sitting up, which is to say sitting properly, by this point. She bowed wordlessly toward Ameiko. Otherwise she left the Scorpion be so they could both enjoy the quiet with their tea. The notebook did catch Yoshino's eyes, but she rarely cared enough to be nosy.

Instead she relaxed and nibbled. Perhaps the savoury smell would travel in the direction of the confident Scorpion next?

For her part, Ameiko seemed quite content to hum a bit happily to herself while she went over whatever was written in her small book. When the tea arrived, she asked the servant to bring her some some onigiri. Just having trained, she needed to replenish.

Some more time passed, but the Scorpion didn't seem distracted by the Crane who was now seemingly not bothered by anything.

Onigiri were a staple and to be respected. Still, when Yoshino noticed this she did wonder if something else might go better with the tea. To each their own.

The Doji was making an effort to look relaxed. To appear not bothered by anything. It was only semi-successful. Her posture was fine, but she appeared a little tired and pale. Well, more pale than usual for a Crane.

Ameiko cleared her throat after finishing a bite of rice ball.

Then she flipped the page.

Only after a while longer did her eyes wander toward the Crane, who was perhaps not doing as good a job as she'd hoped in looking proper. At least by the Scorpion's standards.

"Pardon me, Doji-san", she said after looking up from her book. "Should you be resting now, rather than being about?"

The Crane lowered her head so her fringe further shielded her face. She idly reached up to play with it. "Surely this is resting... Scorpion-san."