D5LM, Small Blessings (Expecting)

[Otomo Gusai]

"I can guess at it," Gusai replies. "There've been a few times I've been lucky enough to help my parents before I've had to ship back out. Still do with my mother when I can."

He sighs, then smiles. "And getting home's good, even if I still want to ship out again soon."

[Jiyo Sora]

"So that part never goes away?"

[Otomo Gusai]

"What, wanting to go home and to go out from it, both at once?" He shakes his head. "Not for me. Maybe you'll be luckier."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Dad says he'd b happiest if we could all go on the trail with him at the same time. Says he misses people, not places."

[Otomo Gusai]

Gusai nods.

"Wise man, your father. You should listen to him. And if you can take such a trip--do it. Most folks don't get the chance."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Well, we're all waiting for Soryu's first trip. Poor kid's been cooped up in the Imperial lands for his entire life- 'Yuki and I had been to the Nezumi Empire by the time we were three..."

[Otomo Gusai]

"I only visited the once, and--"

Gusai pauses.

"What's kept him here?"

[Jiyo Sora]

"Mostly Dad having to go really far, and not to an allied Empire with a lot of infrastructure..."

She giggled.

"Not that it would have stopped Dad, he says Hikaru were scaling mountains as soon as they could walk, but Mom's a bit less inclined to let him drag Soryu off to the Crab lands. And now with the next baby- or babies!- on the way, nobody's likely to go much of anywhere."

[Otomo Gusai]

"Well, no," Gusai agrees. "And the Otomo used to take ship while still at their mother's breast, so...maybe soon?"

He shrugs. Not his place to order another's household. Even his crew is safe from that.

[Jiyo Sora]

"I'm hoping we can take Soryu to visit the Scorpion by next fall, though. I like them."

[Otomo Gusai]

"It'd be a short trip, too."

[Jiyo Sora]

"That too. And Un- er, Bayushi-Kami is so..."

She appeared to be looking for the word.

"Classy."

[Otomo Gusai]

"I believe you," Gusai says. And why not; he's not met him, that he knows.

[Jiyo Sora]

"Of course, 'Yuki and I have both been to see the Dragon and the Ki-Rin twice. I think Dad had an easier time getting permission for that since that's where some of his best friends ended up. And 'Yuki's been to visit the Spider- that was last year, I passed on that trip to help Mom with the library here..."

[Otomo Gusai]

"Can you tell me about that? The library, I mean."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Oh, it's just like all of the others... well, not just like it, but you know what I mean. Pretty involved process, keeping it organized, but worth it. And Mom's so happy there, so it's always fun helping her out."

A pause.

"Er... did you have something specific you wanted to ask about?"

[Otomo Gusai]

"Um, well," Gusai almost demurs. "What's reading like, anyway?"

Conversations he's had ring in his mind.

[Jiyo Sora]

She blinked.

Then.

"Wait right here."

She took off at a run.

When she returned, she had neither brush nor parchment, but instead a small wax tablet and a stylus.

"Okay, this..."

She wrote quickly, deftly, the daughter of two people devoted to literacy.

"This is my name. Jiyo Phi."

She indicated each character in turn.

"The Isawa gave us a lot of characters, some of which make the same basic sound when read aloud, but which have different meanings."

She rubbed out her writing- and started on something different.

"This... Is 'Otomo.' See if you can copy it. Dad says it helped him to sound them out, and that writing them made it easier to read them..."

She handed him the tablet and stylus.

[Otomo Gusai]

Gusai takes them awkwardly, holds them ineptly. And his writing, like his player's, is messy, hesitant, difficult to read. But the first character is clearly the O, and the second seems to be Tomo. Maybe.

"Like this?" he asks, somewhat embarrassed.

[Jiyo Sora]

"Pretty close! Dad did his first writing in the dirt with a stick after Auntie Reiko showed him how, and he says it was terrible, so you're already off to a better start..."

She rubbed out the first demo character she'd done, and wrote it again, working more slowly.

"It's like anything," she said, with all of the assurance of a twelve year old, "just takes practice. I can get you a primer if you like? Do you have anyone who'll be going home with you who can help you out?"