Huddled under her sky-blue umbrella she wore the sundress, a pale-flaxen yellow dress of conservative cut that hugged her body a little with the skirt dropping down almost to her ankles. Floral accessory in her hair she popped up the steps toward the Shiro. Today she started on the next leg of a bit of a journey, securing a little meeting with the governors daughter.

Many people were milling about the Shiro, hardly deterred by what little annoyances that the rain could provide. Diplomats and colonists were going about their day, perhaps a large amount of work brought in by the impending miai negotiations or perhaps it had always been that way. It wasn't so busy here that the halls were filled with people but everyone here had a purpose and a routine.

Perhaps the person who stuck out from all of them was Chiruha, who was dressed in a mere colonist's jumpsuit. She was moving at a leisurely pace as she looked pensive over something, almost looked preoccupied with herself.

Walking through Ichika couldn't ignore the look she noticed on Chiruha's face. Trying to bring herself up to/in line with the woman she leaned over a little,"Is everything alright, Samurai-sama?" she asked, raising a brow as she looked over with a smile.

Chiruha blinked out of her reverie and looked to Ichika, quickly presenting a smile and giving her a bow. She wasn't too sure if Ichika was already speaking to her previously and she had rudely ignored her, just to cover her etiquette bases.

"Good morning, Doji-san. Hai, everything is well. Uhm...is there anything I can do to help you here? I'm Asako Chiruha."

"Oh!" she said, bringing a hand up to her mouth and covering her little giggle. "Good morning, actually.." she laughed again, "I was just coming to see if you were alright, Asako-sama. That was before I knew it was you," she laughed again, "I was hoping to get a chance to speak with you, actually," she only chuckled this time. Dipping her head.

"I'm Doji Ichika, a pleasure to meet you, Asako-sama," she said and then bowed.

"Oh, and a pleasure to meet you, Doji-san," she smiled softly at the Crane guest. "I guess it's a bit surprise to have my popularity proceed me...but after a few days, I'm sure that our guests have made themselves part of the community. Is there something you wish to discuss...perhaps we could do it over tea?"

"There is!" she said with a chipper smile, dipping her head. "Speaking over tea would be wonderful Asako-sama," she put her hand up and giggled onto her knuckles. "I hadn't thought I would manage to find you so easily, let alone free to talk," a soft chuckle punctuated the statement.

Chiruha paused for a moment, wondering if she had missed a joke somewhere that had the Crane in such chipper spirits. However, it was a bit infectious at least and she found herself chuckling as well. "I guess it can be hard to track me down sometimes around the colony, I could be one or another place. I don't have anything in the ways of assistants and a waitlist, unlike my father. It was eventual that you would run into me, Doji-san?"

She waved over a servant to make the pre-emptive request for tea. "Please follow me, I think I know somewhere quiet we can chat."

"Mmm," she vocalized with a happy tone, nodding. Following alongside, allowing the conversation to wait for the moment till they got to where they were going.

Taking lobby stairs up, Chiruha would lead Ichika to one of the meeting rooms found at the corner of the Shiro. Seeing as Ichika didn't bring a tea set and neither of them were in kimono, she figured that they didn't need a wholly traditional place for their talk. Chiruha would arrive at a door and wave her card to claim the room before entering in. The room looked like a contemporary lounge and a board room with a table in the middle with six chairs. There was also a corner by the windows where there were a set of couches with a coffee table in the middle. The room also included a small kitchenette and the other walls were taken up by tall bookshelves with various books populating them.

She gestured Ichika to enter with a smile. "I hope this will do, Doji-san?"

"Of course!" she said with a smile, entering as she was bid. Stepping off to the side a bit to allow Chiruha to walk the room unabated.

"It's a lot more than I was expecting," she said with a two note giggle.

Chiruha smiled sheepishly, "It's a bit sudden...but I imagine that you would be used to something more formal in your line of work, Doji-san? I glad it's to your liking."

She paused for a moment, wondering if they would take the meeting able or the couches. After some quick deliberation, she made her way toward the couches. She settled at one of the couches by the window, leaving her guest with the better viewing angle. "I think we can get a good view of the courtyard and the rain on this side. The tea should be here momentarily. I hope Silver Needle is fine? I find it goes well with a cool rainy day, kind of makes it refreshing."

"I trust your judgement Asako-sama!" she said cheerily as they sat, "You know," she glanced around a little more. Resting her hands in her lap, "You would think a lot of meetings take place in rooms like this, yea? I haven't done a lot.. but I feel like the real meetings always take place wherever someone wants to be. Like a gazebo or something," she said, looking back with a smile.

"Ohhh..." Chiruha murmured at first, perhaps finally getting the sense that Ichika was far younger. "A lot of meetings do take place here, mostly local ones. In the last years, my father has done his best to cram as many meeting rooms in the Shiro as possible in hopes that he might even run a Winter Court one day and potentially host all of the visiting delegation needs. Actually, many rooms in the Shiro are being redone to have a traditional facade. I like this room the most, it has a good view of the front steps and it's just relaxed!"

"It certainly is, and I hear it rains a lot here, yea?" she asked, glancing out the window that was so kindly prepared for her viewing in a manner of thinking. "This is the deal-making room," she nodded confidently, laying her hands out on either side of herself to bring attention to her seat.

"Your father's an ambitious man though, I hear?" she smiled, looking over toward Chiruha.

"On these couches?" she mused with a smirk. "I never thought of it that way. I've mostly used this as reading and studying. When I was younger, I did get into a few wrestling matches with my brother. Sometimes, there would be a dozen footprints left on the cushions."

She turned serious for a moment at the next question. When she was about to give a response, the door open and in walked the servant from earlier, rolling in a cart with a tray on it. The tray was quietly laid on the table, the fragrant white tea was kept in a contemporary glass pot and the cups matched it in design with a ceramic handle built in. There was a tray of simple mochi placed down as well. After the first pour was served, the servant left the room to give them some privacy.

"He is...I suppose you were one of the Crane who had the pleasure of meeting him earlier?"

At the first, just as the servant entered, Ichika laughed a bit, but settled and gave a little smile to the servant bringing in the tea. "I am!" she said, a smile and a nod. "I spoke with him just yesterday, actually. Heard from him a little bit of the story of Asakaze. I also heard that coming to you might give me a different opinion, at least, on the future of Asakaze, yea?" she asked, a soft smile.

"So he did mention me?" she asked out of curiosity as she picked up the cup of tea, her fingers feeling the surface of the glass to tell her what she already knew about the temperature.

"It would have been interesting to get a transcript of that conversation..." she showed a faint smile. "No, you're under no obligation to share anything, Doji-san. But he is right about that. I could only guess that he must have shared with you his grand plans for the settlement, maybe all of Asakaze, taken you a tour around his grand design on display. In comparison, my plans are probably more humble."

"Something like that," she said, a soft chuckle into the back of her hand. "We spoke during the thunderstorm yesterday under the gazebo," she said, picking up her own cup with a soft smile. "So, yea, I heard a lot about your fathers plans for Asakaze, and how he wished they were going more smoothly. Which brought him around to speaking about others who thought differently," she looked to Chiruha, giving a smile, that little non-verbal indication.

"I would very much like to hear your side, your plans, Asako-sama," she said with a final bright smile.

Chiruha couldn't help but let out a small sigh and placed her cup on the table so that it could cool properly. She folded her hands together and took a glance by at the window. "I suppose while his dream that Asakaze becomes a more productive, vast and industrial colony as a whole...I think quite the opposite. At the moment, the Shiro and Asakaze is perfect as a whole, we have enough to sustain ourselves and we share this settlement with a bounty of wildlife all around us. I think they when they staked his place to build Shiro Yaoke, the intention was to use it as a staging where we could explore and learn from everything around us."

She looked back to Ichika. "And after several decades, we're still studying and learning. We've learned how to tame and utilize otori but we're also learning more about their habitat, lifecycle, behaviours and even developing ways to care for them. Maybe my father thought that mission was dated and had run its source, thinking that our future is in progress and expansions. There are many planets in the galaxy where reserves are held, often the whole planet, maintaining their unique treasures for many generations to come. I feel that Asakaze could easily qualify for that and not just become another generic industrial base."