"Mhm. Crane and poetry. Bit like Crab and guns or Mantis and piracy." Smacking his lips, Sora leaned back again. "Some thing go always together. In stories and here, in life." he patted the stones surrounding the path. "Why would we care about stories so much, if not for the answers they have. Might have." Not all stories offered particularly good answers. The fact that it was a bad idea to proclaim your love to a 13 year old was generally considered a bad idea.

"The stories have a purpose. They remind of us how things should be. Or how things shouldn't be." he mused. "Say, Doji-san. Do you know the story of the first Isawa?"

Ichika twisted her bottom lip a little, furrowing her brow in thought for a moment more, and then promptly shook her head. "Not in so great of detail, no. Maybe it was covered in some basic history? But I can't recall now, at least," she said with a little nod, looking to him for the answer.

"Isawa-ryoshin was but a man like us. Well, just like Kakita-sama or Kaiu-sama. Important person that shaped the history of our Empire, but still a man." Sora began, his voice low. "But unlike Kakita or Kaiu, Isawa did not bend knee to Shiba." There was a certain smugness in his tone. "Isawa did not need the Kami. The Kami needed him to achieve their goals. But, Isawa was a proud man. A man who knew his worth - and so Shiba knelt before him and ever since the Shiba have guarded the Isawa. And Isawa have served the Empire."

Ichika watched him as she listened, a little quirk of her brow with his voice so low but following along wasn't a problem. "And so your Clan has ever been lead by the Elemental Council and not a Lord, yea?" she said, a little raise to her brow as she smiled. "A good source of your pride in your Family too, yea?"

"Yes, that would be the case." he nodded. "The masters lead and the Shiba daimyo enforces their decisions." Phoenix politics was hot mess at the best of times and disaster when things went downhill, each of the five masters convinced that their idea was the correct one. With each of them having their own sycophants, navigating the Phoenix politics was a daunting task.

"And a lesson." Sora murmured. "An important lesson."

"What might that lesson be, Isawa-san?" she asked, a slight tilt to the right with her head.

"Maybe I should leave that as homework for Doji-san. I think she'll enjoy more if she has to figure out the answer herself."

Ichika squinted at him a little with her eye, but laughed it off. Waving her hand a little, "I do think puzzle's can be fun, but I don't think we'll get a chance to talk after this, yea? How will I know I figured out if I came up with the right answer?" she said, covering her mouth as she chuckled.

"There are some answers one knows to be inherently true, when one grasps them. Perhaps Doji-san has had her sensei tell her something, that at the moment felt strange, but later became obvious, hmm? I think this is like that. That once you figure it out, it suddenly makes sense."

"Yea," she said with a nod and a laugh. "I remember a few of those. Okay, maybe when I get it figured out you'll feel an itch on your nose, yea?" she suggested with a goofy little chuckle.

"Perhaps Doji-san will be able to figure out the lesson of Isawa one day." Sora smirked. "Or maybe she won't. It's a millennia old puzzle that some are still working on."

"Well, I'll try my best," she said with a little nod. Bringing up her hand, covering her mouth with the back of it again, laughing a little.

"Though it does sound like the odds are stacked against me. I'm ready for the challenge," she said with a confident little smirk, nodding her head, then laughing a little more.

"Do that." Sora nodded. "Do that and maybe you'll see the world in a new light one day. As they say, when the student is ready, teacher appears. Some figure it out in few years, some never. You have to question what you know to make sense out of it." he offered Ichika a hint, frowning softly as he figured that she would never serve the cause. "I think I should get going. it's getting late and well, I am still meeting a nakado tomorrow morning." The young man pushed himself up, caring little that she could see him without inch of cloth on his body. "But, it was a pleasure."

Ichika furrowed her brows in thought, committing that idea to memory a little. With a nod she gave him a little smile, "Guess we'll see," she said, though it was likely certain his appraisal was right. However, only time could tell with such wild possibilities and their time here was coming to a end quite soon.

"I'll be here a while longer," she said, taking the moment to glance toward the exit as if to give thought to it, but really she merely found a way to not become a witness to such things. "But I do hope that your meeting with the nakado goes well tomorrow, yea? Hopefully whomever becomes yourself will find themselves happy?" she said, a touch of a smile as she returned and looked to him with easily kept discipline.