"That was not the question...." Ishiyo smiled, "I mean, one strives to maintain Bushido but humans are flawed and Bushido was penned by a god. A perfect samurai does not exist, everyone falls short. It is the understanding that one does and that one must learn from theih mistakes that define a good samurai from a pooh one. I asked, perhaps poorly, if you were willing to help one who strives toward perfection even with deficiency or if you would settle foh nothing less then one who has no deficiencies."

Yes, Ishiyo-chan!

He was calm and cool. She was closer than the Utaku to truth anyway. He wondered when the Matsu would give them something to Bushido about.

"Of course none of us are perfect," Chiyoko interjected. "And we hope that one will learn from their mistakes when they do fall short. But Bushido ain't something that you just talk about and sit in a nice picnic and contemplate. It's something that is lived. And a good spouse should be constantly living Bushido in their lives. While it sounds like such a person to exist must be perfect in Bushido, that just isn't the case. Someone who lives Bushido considers it as readily as they draw breath, and acts in a manner that is consistent with those ideals.

"Mistakes are forgivable, of course. But as long as someone lives Bushido, then I have no doubt they are a good enough Samurai for myself, at least. I of course have no intent to put words in Utaku-san's mouth."

"It's... quite alright, Matsu-san."

She sighed herself, poking around at the fried shrimp. Or at least she thought it was shrimp...

"I do not claim to be perfect, and I have not said I am. However, I expect much of myself, because I am a samurai - to be a samurai is to ever strive to uphold the ideals as set down by our ancestors and the Kami. I would dare say that Bushido was also written in mind with the ideal that very few could ever abide it all perfectly - although I could also argue that this is where Shourido has its merits in that a samurai can aspire to reach the ideals of Bushido through the tenets of Shourido. Such as the pursuit of Perfection. Both philosophies in the end are created with the thought that we, as samurai, should ever evolve to be better than we were before."

Well, not that she was a huge devotee of Shourido, but even she had to acknowledge that its virtues weren't without meaning or purpose.

"And I would not expect anything of my partner that I would not expect of myself. But I'm sorry to say I can't give you a clear answer, Daidoji-sama, because it would depend too much on this defect and its nature. Some things can't be helped - some things are minor inconveniences."

Ishiyo winced a little at the two pronged attack and went back to eating for the moment. "As you say Matsu-san, Utaku-san."

Shokomaru had some choice words, but he wasn't interested in a 3v1.

"Living for an ideal is fine", he allowed. "I'm not a preacher of any of that though. I think it's more personal."

Hyeon-ju wasn't going to go into the personal nature of it, and let that subject rest. She hadn't expected the conversation to steer this way when she had just asked what the others were looking for, and she silently chewed on the Probably-Shrimp.

Wait, why was she the one feeling the responsibility of keeping this meeting going? It was the Spider who had wanted to take the trip out here. And had the highest status.

"So, Daigotsu-sama, if you don't mind me asking, how did you reach such a high position at such a young age already? It must've been an impressive military record to have a commanding rank so quickly," she remarked honestly, with a neutral tone.

Ishiyo perked up, curious herself. The man did not strike her as the sort of hard riding man of action that would have fought his way up...nor did he come off as a simpering yes-man.

"My ancestor, also named Shokomaru, lead the 9th Obsidian legion originally", he said and puffed his cigarette. "When he finally died, one of his many descendants, named Shoharu, took over leadership. Though he had so many descendants being kind of a playboy, the 9th was like a big family, as a lot of positions were passed down to children. Few thousand years later, one named Mifune settled on Kobushi while leading the 5th company, and since then my branch of the family has held that position."

He put the cigarette out in his ash tray, then slipped it back into his tactical pouch and shrugged.

"Though taking the name of the former and more famous leader of the legion was my idea, there's a lot of stagnation in the military these days, and I wanted to let them know that the 5th company was not my last stop."

He chuckled. "At least it isn't like the old days."

Ishiyo ate while Shokomaru spoke, when he finished she had a sort of pensive expression on her face. "Family connections often prove valuable when seeking higheh command." She stated flatly, but it did not seem a statement of judgment. Given her own background how could she judge the Daigotsu?

So nepotism it was then. A pity. She had hoped the Spider would have a more pragmatic view of action meaning more than blood when it came to worthiness.

"Well, I wish you best of luck then if where you are now is not your last stop."

"Luck? I've had some of already, being born to my family", he answered without much care. "Though truth be told, I had ample opportunity to lose everything in training at the officer corps." He opened his canteen. "Plenty of people want my rank, land, income...just like there are assignments above me that I'm chasing."

"Sounds cutthroat," Chiyoko commented quietly before getting back to her food.

"Sounds more like a battle royal almost than anything else... is this standard for how things are done within the Spider?"

As the Spider were so removed from the rest of the Empire, it was unusual to hear directly from one what things were actually like there.

"Well...to put it simply, if you show real weakness you lose", he said. "Though there are a lot of different forms of strength." He drank from his canteen. "You don't have to kill someone for looking at you funny, and some people have the poise to just ignore it and make the challenger look unworthy...honestly it's not that different than what you can expect with a pack of greedy wolves, it's just less polite..."

He tapped his chin.

"Or more polite, if you're a Susumu, I suppose. Though I hear it isn't much different among a lot of courtier families." He sighed. "Though it isn't like we don't have fealty, loyalty, all that. Just don't show you're unworthy of it, and you won't get the rug pulled out from under you."

Ishiyo kept eating, she new her own father indulged in power politics and that sometimes it even destroyed lives...literally in more then one case. But it had all been through a mask of civility, the Spider seemed to have discarded even that. She wondered if she would be able to survive in that world.

Her face probably expressed at least some of these thoughts.

"It is very different from the courtier families I know of... or rather, the Ide are devoted pacifists and diplomats. The idea that they are... so callous, well, it seems outlandish to think so, considering their staunch support of peace."

Having finished her food, Hyeon-ju carefully sorted out the paper, chopsticks, and plastic separately for different trash-bags.

Shokomaru nodded dully at the Utaku's words.

"That's actually very fair to say, it's hard to think of a family specifically as devoted to resolving conflict through peace than the Ide. Sure the Phoenix are a clan of pacifists, but they can also nuke you from orbit. And even though every family has rats, liars, murderers and other villains, I don't think my comparison works quite for the Ide, no. So good pointing that out, they even used to be good friends with the Susumu back when the Spider was young."

"If I may...has Utaku-san had to deal with the courts or business sides?" Ishiyo asked quietly, "Much is placed on appearances in both of those realms. A surprising amount of ruthlessness happens behind the scenes in my experience. Nothing quiet as...callous as Daigotsu-sama describes but still..."

"The Ide's philosophy is to make honest friendships. An idea that has served the clan well many times." Not all the time, of course... still, she nodded in response to Shokomaru's words.

"Ah, not as such, Daidoji-sama. Some courtly training is required of all Sky Riders, as we are often chosen as escorts for diplomats and ambassadors, and I have been on a couple of missions like that, but I've not had to directly deal with diplomacy or business myself. I realise my limitations on the field and prefer to let the experts take care of it."