Heavenfall

Kinsen sighs, biting her lips in worry. "You're right. Odd things have already started to happen. We should be double aware of everything. This might be our last chance to find balance and delight before we jump into what is required of us."

She turns her head to look at the girl a bit more, and opens a sweet smile. "How old are you, Bayushi-san?" Kinsen askes, looking to the skies again.

Umeno opened an eye to look over at Kinsen a moment before closing it again with a soft grunt. "19. And please, you can just call me Umeno. Still not all used to that 'lord's name' thing."

"I thought so." Kinsen mentions about her age, and adds. "Let me return the favor, too. Call me Kinsen. At least when we are talking privately. Honorifics and good manners are necessary to be enforced, so that civilized relationships become the example."

Of course those were words of Hantei, but Kinsen agrees with the thought, occasionally.

Bayushi had said something to that effect to her as well, but Umeno was a bit slow to accepting it, and Bayushi had accepted that fact in his own patient way. "Yeah, well, I'll try to remember that when I return to Bayushi lands and act in a more formal setting, if I'm made to, but I confess I'm not a very civilized or well mannered woman."

Umeno was silent a moment again. "...You can't be too much older than I am. I'm horrible at guessing ages, but you're in too peak of condition and.. um... well, I mean... you LOOK young enough Kinsen." She had almost said 'too beautiful', but that didn't seem right, so she'd made due. She disliked the uncertainty she felt in her words and actions. Awkwardness wasn't her base state.

"Thank you! You're so sweet." She grins with closed eyes to Umeno and replies, "You're correct. I gave birth at your age. Now my child is a three year old boy."

Kinsen chuckles, tapping her cheek with an index finger while resting the hand under the jaw. "It passed so quickly, thinking more about it now."

Umeno grunted softly. "Maybe one day Bayushi'll find someone appropriate for me, or I'll find someone appropriate for myself, but I doubt that'll be anytime soon. I've never been a romantic, and never thought about having kids. No one back in Kuwagaya lands ever really caught my eye or interest, and I'm not even certain what I'd be looking for anyway."

Someone strong yet poised, fierce yet kind, decisive yet thoughtful..., Umeno thought. She opened her eyes to look over at the Hantei relaxed in the pool and gave a deep sigh. This time she wouldn't look away. "Time always seems to pass faster when you're enjoying it."

"I'm sure you fetch a husband in the blink of an eye. Make Bayushi-kami-sama proud of you. Providing to your clan with strong and beautiful children." She says and starts to notice she's being... noticed...

Kinsen glances her eyes to Umeno, and blinks a bit.

After a moment, she says, "I'm sure there's a line of people just waiting for you say yes."

Umeno's gaze met Kinsen's, and something in the blonde's look made her loosen up. She relaxed, even giving a sharp laugh and smirking. "I can almost guarantee that there isn't. The Kuwagaya tended to flock around the delicate, artistic sort, and the people that've joined the Scorpion aren't the most... martial. Maybe there's some shy man or woman out there pinning over my awkward, distant self, but I'm not really the sort for that type."

"I was once a Noriaki. The notion of being delicate wasn't very welcomed. The Seppun, though, showed me so many beautiful things that are delicate. Doji-kami-sama reinforced it. I find there's a... balance... that makes everything so perfectly fit." Kinsen shrugs, and chuckles again, "I am sure you would look even more lovely. If you allowed for such delicate things."

Kinsen wonders what Hantei would think of Umeno representing his brother, all alone, in this expedition. Would he approve of her?

Umeno's face scrunched up a bit in uncertainty, but she finally nodded. "I mean, I like to think I'm open minded enough that I might find something, or someone delicate that I can appreciate. I'm not certain about how I'd be more delicate though, let alone make myself lovely at all."

"Every rose has it thorns. It is cheeky, but completely true." Kinsen mentions while looking to the side with a shrug.

"See, you have been quite romantic so far." She adds to the thought. "It feels like you're not stranged to it at all, when you want to. But... tell me: why exactly is keeping you in this path. I mean, you undersatnd this is extremely dangerous, right?"

"Romantic?" Umeno looked flustered a moment, but the comment after made her brow furrow. "What path? What danger?"

"Yes. You have. Not sure if it is foolishness, though." Kinsen mentions, turning her head slightly to the side with a sly smirk. "You understand we are going into a place we might not return. If we do, we'll probably be scarred forever."

A bit of understanding finally touched her face, and she gave a stoic nod, a arm coming out of the water to have a hand rub the back of her neck. "Oh, that. Well, I suppose the easy answer would be to say Bayushi told me to come and I'm following his orders. That'd be all proper and stuff. I... think I have an additional reason that I'm overconfident in myself sometimes, and that I thought this would be a good opportunity to apply myself."

"Of course, speaking to Shinsei and learning more about what all this entails has left me a lot more doubtful than when I came, but... it's not like me to slink home with my tail between my legs. I believe in myself, even still. I believe I'll survive, and come out the stronger for it." She paused. "And I believe you will too."

Kinsen takes another good look at Umeno and nods, with a certain proud feeling in her eyes. "We are indeed like-minded. Aren't we? Some years ago, when I was your age, I thought the same."

"And now you have more doubt?" She certainly thought Kinsen seemed confident enough, but her words before had seemed cautious and wary. "I mean... looking at you, I'm certain you could handle a whole group of bandits all on your own. The creatures we'll find can't take that much more I hope."

Kinsen shakes her head negatively, still smiling. “No. No doubt at all. Just a different reason. I don’t really need to prove anything anymore. Be it to me or to whomever. I just want to protect and honor my family.”

"I... think I understand," Umeno said with a slow nod. "It's a touch selfish, my outlook, and I can understand that much. Just like I can understand priorities changing when you have a family to look after and care about. As long as you don't forget to look after yourself as well, and your own needs."

She paused, laying her head back again, arms on the edge of the pool they were in as she stared at the sky with a sigh. "They're lucky you know, to have a wife and a mother that's so thoughtful and caring for them."

"They are Amaterasu-kami's preferred, after all. No?" Kinsen giggles, closing her eyes in respect to the light shining by her mother-in-law in the skies. "They ought to be lucky."

The tall stag takes a stone in her hand and tosses it onto the river, saying. "You do have a family, now. Don't you?"

"Suppose I always did," she said softly. "I mean, my parents are still alive. In a broader sense, I was always a part of the Kuwagaya, and now the Bayushi. Still, not quite the same, is it?"