"Okay. She needs a good spouse in short. Well, that's something she might actually hope to find at this miai. Though since you're on her shortlist, I'm kinda left wondering if her tastes match her needs."

Tsugiharu rolled his eyes at that, clearly unimpressed by the Crab's summation skills.

"In much the same vein that Hida no Kami was 'a good warrior'." he quipped. "But as to your second point, I don't think the Phoenix particularly care about her or my tastes. I think the governor's son's reaction to Moshi-san having a seizure being about equivalent as someone belching loudly without excusing themselves speaks volumes. So I've no idea what kind of spouse either of us will get, or if we'll end up matched together."

Akemi opened her mouth so wide for a second that one could fear she'll dislocate her jaw.

"Seriously, I know our Phoenix hosts have been... peculiar... with their poisonous ikebana... and their birds... and their mushrooms...

But there are limits to madness."

She shook her head.

"To speak of something else... You wouldn't happen to be a specialist in wards? Someone told me some of the wards the Phoenix put in the forest have been triggered recently, but I have no idea what that means. Does that trigger an alarm bell in one of the Phoenix surveillance posts or something?"

Limits to madness? She must not have met Nara he thought to himself amused.

But the Crab's question drew a frown out of him.

"Wards in the forest? I am no expert in wards, admittedly, they take a decent amount of skill to entreat the kami to lay dormant awaiting the triggering of the ward. But that's odd that the Phoenix would put wards in the forest. Like I said, wards are tricky to set up, and setting them up to not trigger constantly when wildlife passes by would be extremely tricky. Nor are the forests off-limits to people. Patrols would be a far more efficient way to watch for danger."

He rubbed his chin.

"Well, unless they were warding off your clan's ancient foes. But the form of that ward needs to be renewed daily."

"I think those were some of the wards against the big cemetery boat and not just some wards seemingly randomly lying around. No idea if that helps or muddles things even further."

"Hmm. Well, I guess if you wanted to keep people out of a tomb, wards would be an acceptable way to achieve that. Nothing is coming in or out anyways, but you really wouldn't want to waste patrols on a place no one would have a clean reason to go." he admitted. "Though if they're going off, that's problematic."

Akemi shrugged:

"Well, if those wards are indeed not plugged into some sort of alarm, one only need to break them once to pass forever. Or at least until the next Phoenix patrol. No idea how often they check them."

She stretched both her arms, as she always did out of habit each time her focus went away.

"Not that there is much more we can or should do about that. Was more to satisfy my own curiosity."

Tsugiharu nods.

"As you say, Hida-san. Despite some of the incidents, one does not wish to criticize one's hosts too openly, especially when it comes to matters of safety. Especially when one's hosts have so much say over one's future. It reminds me of the old story about the earnest guard from another clan who tried to warn a court about an oni attacking in the courtyard, only to be cut to ribbons by the court for 'Disrespecting our clan and implying we cannot defend ourselves."

He shrugged.

"But one can find acceptable cover if one knows where to look. Should any ask, I've just been doing esoteric research on unrelated matters all day today in honor of the Wise One." he said with a small smile.

Akemi raised an eyebrow at the very specific example given and wondered how much information were going around:

"As a Crab, I might have done the same at that guard in that specific case. Or might have went to push the oni myself. Hard to say without the full context.

... Weren't you Spider roasted recently because you've meddled with a local affair actually?"

Akemi's brain finally added two and two.

"Oh. Unrelated stuff at the library. Okay.

So did your... unrelated research... teach you anything about the local religions? The Phoenix are very religious people, I wouldn't want to commit a faux pas by offending a minor local Fortune or something."

An open palmed shrug at the Crab's first question.

"I wasn't involved in that affair. There's enough Spider at this miai that I can honestly say that."

He did look somewhat surprised at the Crab putting 2 and 2 together, when he only gave her 2.

"Hmm, indeed. A good topic during a miai, yes? Talking about spirituality, especially about the local relgions. After all, either one of us could be wearing Phoenix colors in not too long, right?"

He leaned up against the wall.

"Have you heard about the Shrine to Mori no Reiou? It was built soon after the Phoenix landed on this world, on a nexus of the elements. It's...followers, believe that it's one's connection to nature that leads one to enlightenment. Very old school sort of stuff, meditating under waterfalls, day long vigils, hours spent reciting the sutra, that sort of thing. Yet, it's surprisingly popular on this world with adherents in many important positions. Surprising given the governor's plans for expansion and modernization anyways."

He looked over to the Crab.

"Sound interesting to you, Hida-san?"

Akemi stretched, seemingly bored:

"Well as long as their beliefs are not heretical and they don't infringe any law, that's just yet another religious lobby in Phoenix lands. Not really our business, unless you indeed hope to settle there. The Phoenix is always looking for new shugenja I guess?

Out of curiosity though, were they in charge of our most natural activities, like ikebana, or of any animation here really? Events seem to alternate between being highly technological and being very wild."

"Oh, I'm very aware of the hazards of interfering in local affairs, Hida-san. I don't have a badge of the emerald office, or the jade office, or even a piece of paper from the local magistrate proclaiming 'He's one of the good ones.'"

Tsugiharu shook his head.

"Unless I was feeling personally threatened, like my life was actively in danger, would I consider such interference."

"On paper, the greater danger you may encounter on this planet is us, the Crab clan. A tetsubo cleaning accident can happen so quickly... Would really need exceptional circumstances for us to put our differences aside and try to solve a problem together instead of fighting each other. Maybe if the planet itself was actively trying to kill us? Nah, even that might not be enough."

Tsugiharu snorted at that.

"I'm not Shinsei reborn, Hida-san, uniting the clans against a common threat. The clans united can stop literal gods, and yet I'm relatively certain the last words spoken between two samurai at the end of the Empire will be, 'This is YOUR fault!'"

He shrugged a bit.

"But it's academic, ne? All Hida-san should be concerning herself with is impressing the Phoenix matchmakers for a fortuitous match, yes?"

"Obviously. Why do you think I hit the library and ask all these questions for? At one point, the Phoenix is doomed to have an event that is nothing but a quiz about what we learned here. They do intend for some of us to settle here, so sounds logical they test how enthusiastically we were in our discovery of this new environment.

So far I've visited both of the city's temples and... uh... a bit of the forest?

In retrospect, that's not much actually..."

"Hm. Perhaps. I'd heard that the governor was really looking for strong warriors at this miai, but I had thought that being Phoenix, their would still be an active interest in shugenja talent. But I suppose it's risky to assume things about people just because of the colors they wear. Sometimes they surprise you." he offered.

After a noticeable moment of hesitation, Akemi played it safe, having no idea how much Tsugiharu knew:

"Sometimes they do indeed."

Tsugiharu looked somewhat amused.

"Well, at least there's something we agree upon, Hida-san. Thank you for bringing your concerns about Moshi-san to me, you didn't have to." he offered.

"I thought about seeing the local Phoenix specialist...

But somehow circumstances are such you found yourself above them in my trust list. For that particular case at least."

She smirked:

"Is this the moment we've become friendly enough I should ask you if your miai is going well outside all these people treating you as their personal doctor?"

"Hmm. One wonders if that speaks well of me, or ill of the Phoenix." he mused. "As for the miai, I don't think I've made much progress other than taking a literal 'first look'. I've not impressed the matchmakers, nor do I think I've particularly swayed the attendees. The latter is more troubling, I never expected to impress the matchmakers, but deeper connections with the other attendees would have been nice."

He shrugged a bit.

"Common courtesy demands I return the question to you Hida-san. How has the miai proceeded for yourself?"