Sapphire Ambassadors

Hatsuki had tea and snacks already prepared for their meeting in the evening. In fact, she had specifically requested Choudai help with that aspect. She had only eaten once today, after all.

The tea was honey ginger chamomile from the Sunset Leaves, requested to take a small amount back for her stomach. After the other day, she didn't want to run the risk of being nauseous in front of her guests. And so, she waited.

Choudai, of course, had been only too happy to provide the food, and even happier to have a reason to stick around.

And despite the danger, he was genuinely delighted to be working on a problem alongside of Hatsuki.

There is no one I trust more. End of discussion.

The pair aren't kept waiting long. Yoshino knocks on the room door at the designated time.

"It's... Doji Yoshino." She calls out stiffly. Visiting two Scorpion in their room in the late evening would always be an awkward thing for a non-Scorpion no matter how helpful it may prove. However, some disparaging rumours were the least of Yoshino's current problems.

"Please, come in, Doji-san," Hatsuki said, pouring a fresh cup of tea for the Crane for as soon as she walks in. "Come have a seat with us."

She glanced over the foos, looking to Choudai curiously. "What did you decide on?"

"Comfort food. Miso soup, a few senbei with a bit of ginger, and, of course, rice. Nothing fancy."

But it smelled pretty damn good.

It all smelled nice. The food and the tea. That curiously made Yoshino warier. Friendly Scorpion usually led to non-friendly outcomes.

"Please excuse me." She stepped in and closed the door with a wince. She moved to take a seat. "Thank you." In her mind she acknowledged she would have felt more comfortable if the reception was less welcoming. It would be rather rude to articulate however. Even so, she looked nervous. She checked to see if there was a painting in the room.

"You said you've encountered a shadow figure before...?" She jumped right into the main topic.

There is indeed a painting in Hatsuki's room, just like all the other rooms.

"Itadakimasu," she murmured as she picked up her chopsticks and looked to Choudai to start. She would follow his lead on how he wanted to obfuscate the nitty gritty details as they discussed this.

It was eyed warily. Yoshino reached for the cup of tea Hatsuki had kindly poured her. She didn't touch the food just yet. The tea was sipped as she waited with apprehension.

Choudai fixed his gaze on a point on the wall over Yoshino's shoulder. He would need to blend truth and deceit.

"It was during the recent war in Naishou. As you may or may not know, Doji-san, the Scorpion army was largely based in the forests of the province, and even a quartermaster spent a lot of time staggering from tree to tree at odd hours. We were, for the most part, wary of Lion or Crane forces, plus the occasional bandit, although most of them were... gone by then. We weren't looking for much else- the war was plenty."

A pause.

"So it was a shock, to say the least. I was checking on a guard post- running some soup out to them like any common messenger might have done, because... someone special to me was there."

A vein jumped in his throat.

"Shosuro Chizuru. She was a cousin of Shosuro-san's husband. A very good scout, with a wonderful sense of humor when she bothered to show it."

He and Chizuru had been friendly enough, as undercover spies went, even if Choudai was pretty sure her opinion of his tradecraft had been on par with his own, but her main utility to the story was having actually been in Naishou, and having vanished since.

"Anyway. You don't need to hear about my reasons for being by some guard post in the middle of the night with a soup pot in my hands. I don't know where it came from. But there was a shadow in the shapes of a man, and it was... hostile. One minute, it was business as usual, a bit of light flirting over a ladle, the next... this things was attacking. And I froze. I just stood there like an idiot with steam rising into my face for the crucial seconds as it cut through the sentries."

He let his breath hiss out, remembering again his raw terror as he carried Hatsuki back into the town, abandoning Chizuru to the creature that had carried her off. "Yasuki Kanbei" had been free to express his deep concern for her. Bayushi Choudai had to transfer it to someone else.

"Then it finally occurred to me to throw the soup at it and draw my sword. I think I struck it maybe once... it seemed to hurt it a little. I'm also certain it would have killed me too if the next shift of sentries coming on hadn't spooked it."

Hatsuki nodded in agreement. "I heard about it from Bayushi-san when we were catching up. Those poor people. I wonder if anyone knew what it was?"

Well, he updated me after I regained consciousness, anyway.

The story required some taking in. Yoshino sat and listened quietly. The only thing she could conclude was that these creatures were incredibly dangerous. However, the one that had appeared in her room hadn't attacked her in the rip apart sense.

"I see..." She frowned. "I'm sorry about your kin. These creatures sound dangerous, but are they the same?" She fiddled with her tea cup nervously. From what Choudai had said Yoshino had the impression Chizuru had been cut down by the creature rather than abducted. "The one that came after me didn't seem to be trying to cut me. I would have been an easy target in the futon. It was more stalking me... I feel it has visited before." She involuntarily shuddered.

"If they are the same then I am relieved they can be hurt." Not that she looked, in any way, shape or form, relieved.

"It was very... visceral. Kinetic. They might not be anything alike- but then, I have only had the one encounter."

Two if you count hacking up that thing impersonating the traitor.

"But the thing you saw- it retreated when you awoke and cried out, is that correct?"

"True. It's hard to say how similar these things are from one to the next," she suggested. "Though I suppose the point here is to collect our knowledge and see if they are the same or not. If they're not, we still know more than we did."

"I don't know if it retreated. I was out of the room too quickly. It more likely left when you all came... which is similar to your experience with your reinforcements arriving, ne?" She tried to draw some logical comparisons.

She nods at Hatsuki's words.

"I'd be grateful for any knowledge you have to share. I am worried it is stalking me. I think it must have visited me the night before." Yoshino felt very vulnerable saying this. She balled up slightly. "I woke up not feeling well yesterday. That was only my second night at this inn."

"Drained, hm?" She tapped her fingers lightly on the table. "That's a new one. You may be right about it not being the same thing... Though a spooky shadow thing draining people is still worth looking into."

"Like the world was duller. Or my senses were." She clarified. Naturally, she nods in agreement about the creature being worth investigating. "I do believe it's hostile."

"I took the painting to Asahina-sama at the shrine and asked a few questions. He said it probably wasn't the painting itself, and suggested I speak with Kaiu-san."

Nothing ominous there!

"Asahina-sama?" Yoshino perked up slightly. "He has been very helpful and kind. So, it wasn't that painting then..."

"Not according to a shugenja who knows a great deal more about these things than I ever will."

He paused.

"Which may actually not be a good thing. If there is nothing special about the painting, then it follows that any painting will do..."

The Crane grips her sleeve and raises her arm just enough to indicate the painting in the room. "You may wish to remove yours too... what did Kaiu-san say?"