Breakfast may have been the most important meal of the day in Misaki's book, but dinner was usually her largest meal unless she was out in yhe field. Something about a nice meal and letting it digest before bed just worked for her. As opposed to a big lunch and feeling sleepy in the afternoon. Between the beauty and simple decor, she found this a more than satisfactory place to eat too!

So it was she'd found a cushion near a window and brazier and sat down to a meal of rice, pickled daikon, cold shrimp and noodles with almond, and some milktea. The evening outside was dark and cloudy, but it was still a peaceful scene inside the palace grounds.

"Might I join you Doji-san," Ayano had likewise decided to eat before the wedding, though just a light snack for now. Having spotted the Crane from her morning bath, the young Lioness had decided to speak to her again.

With the wedding close, Ayano had worn her best silken outfit. In the style of the Crane it was multi-layered, each a subtle change of shade from the one above. The overall effect was an attempt to mimic the colors of her clan's name sake with the dark brown of a mane at it's outermost layer.

She smiled warmly while waiting a response.

For her part, Misaki was dressed in a variation on a thicker version of a priestess's winter robes, white top and red hakama broken up by simple blue ties and a sky blue obi.

"Oh! Hello Makime-sama! Yes, please, feel free; It is quite nice near the fire here despite the chill rolling in. How has your day been since the excitement of this morning?"

She gave a seated bow before sitting back up and motioning to a cushion.

Ayanoo returned the bow and then took a seat, "Well enough, but I worry I have overdone the day. The wedding still to come and already I feel some weariness."

"I mean in a good way, from all the activity. Not in anticipation of the wedding." She rested her hands on her hips, "I have heard Lady Doji herself had a hand in its planning. I am eager to see the full ceremony."

"And you, how has your day been?" Her cheeks reddened a fraction, "You survived the Isawa's attack quite well."

While the two are talking, and other guests in the dining hall are likewise going about their business, a strand of music continues to drift in from the open walkway on the outward side of the chamber. It sounds like a koto, played with reasonable competence.

Eventually the tune winds to a close, and a few moments of quiet follow, soon broken by a rustle of fabric and the sound of a shivery indrawn breath--"Hhhhshhshhshh!"

A figure in red, cradling the polished wooden instrument, scuttles in from the night outside and plunks down by the nearest brazier.

"Please pardon my discourtesy, samurai. I lost track of the time and my hands are sssssso coldddd..." The voice is female; the figure's veiled head gives a little embarrassed shake as she stretches her hands toward the coals, flexing reddened fingers.

D1 EE - fluff koto playing, 1CR, total TN of say 20: 4d10o10k3 28

Misaki let the slightest smirk touch the corner of her lips, "Ah, that? It was nothing. Though the water was quite hot and full of minerals. Still, the worst I got was messed up hair and some water in my nose. I am used to inconveniences like that, working so much with families, and especially animals. I'd rather get splashed any day comoared to getting licked by an overly affectionate horse, or knocked over by an ornery sheep."

She looks at the figure that enters with a bit of concern, "Oh my, you look a fright! Please, do warm yourself."

Kogi flinches the slightest bit at a fright, but she's committed to action by now. Having already set down her instrument, it would look strange to scuttle away to a different brazier. And besides, she tells herself, it's unlikely Misaki really meant that the way Kogi's instincts were trying to hear it.

"Thanks." The outer corners of her eyes crinkle in a way that's meant to convey a smile, since it's impossible to see her lips under the red silk veil draping her nose and chin. She rubs her hands together, the chilled red-and-pale coloration already starting to fade. Thankfully so--it did clash nastily with her scarlet sleeves.

"I see," Ayano chuckled, "Though I am a bit surprised given the Crane's embrace of the caste system. Regardless you bore it with dignity." Her own smile returned. Her eyes turned to the source of the music, and before she could make a remark the Scorpion was joining them. "The weather has turned quickly, it was such a beautiful morning."

The Lioness spent a moment studying the the newcomer, raising her brows at the concealing veil. She frowned a little as she noticed the cold's effect. Ayano's walk home back to her rooms would be dreadful. She discarded the thought with a shake of her head and her smile returned. Since another was now in there orbit, Ayano quickly introduced herself.

"Ayano of the Makime, Envoy of the Lion delegation."

The woman in red is sitting up straight now--not fully un-chilled, but at least enough so to perform with composure. She tucks her hands together briefly and bows. "Kogi, of the house of Bayushi-Kami. An honor to share your fire, Makime-sama." Envoy sounded important enough for the honorific, probably.

"I fear we're in for a cold night."

"Oh, you think so, Bayushi-san?"

Misaki turned and looked out the window curiously; The clouds were a bit ominous...

"Who would have thought after such a pleasant and sunny morning? I hope it is a passing thing then."

Ayano sighs, "My concern is how bad will it be, a cold enough turn could end any chances of travel until the spring." She ponders this a moment, "Although that could also be a boon. A chance for dialogues to be opened that can be pursued further come the next season."

"Stuck here until spring?" Kogi sounds a bit concerned at the prospect. I didn't pack for that! "What an epidemic of cabin-fever that would be. So many of the important people here must have other plans..."

"You would be surprised." Ayano remarked dryly, "At least for a few I am sure."

Technically her winter would have been spent drawing up logistical plans for whatever project her mother decided to focus on this winter. Or helping grandfather plan his spring excursion along the trade routes.

"I suppose one doesn't become important without using time well. Usually." Kogi shrugs one silk-draped shoulder. "Though as I am not important, I can't speak from experience..."

"Either way, it is hardly unusual to be trapped inside for a bit in the winter, especially if you mean to travel by cart or horse. Or if the snow simply does not cooperate. Though I suppose I have not been to the lands of Lord Bayushi-sama, so I would not be able to speak from experience there..."

"I think my mother would agree with that assessment, for the most part," Ayano sighed, "Strangely neither have I...most of my travels were along the eastern coast. Though the lands of the Crane and down to the Stag. And north to the Dragon or west to the Unicorn on occasion."

"Winter isn't the same in all parts of my lord's lands," Kogi offers, since the others seemed curious. Her hands were finally getting warm enough to fold in her lap instead of reaching hungrily for the coals. "In the northern part, it's more like this. If there isn't snow up there, there's mud, as like as not. At the south end of the Spine of the World, it's colder than the autumn, but not this cold. We have frosts in the south mountain valleys, but not hard freezes, usually. And far south down the river valley, I hear it's much more mild."

"Hai, I suppose this is fairly early for it to get this cold, even if we were in the mountains; I can see some people out there hurrying to get inside, and I can see their breath in the lantern-light."

Turning back to her meal, she picked up some tsukemono with her chopsticks, "Still, nothing wrong with staying inside if necessary. I do like the outdoors, but I can get enough with some sunlight and the occasional open window if it means not freezing my tush of... my fingers off I mean."

Another bite of her simple meal, this one to hush up her mouth from making any more gaffs.

"Mud? Is your northern lands one of those that freezes over then the layer of frost soaks the grounds as it melts?" Ayano asked, she chuckled at Misaki's little slip. "I imagine neither is good to freeze of Doji-san. And a pity in either case."

"The plains of the Lions are relatively mild, even as we are further north. The lands of the Akodo, being closer to the warm sea, tend to be the most mild. My mother's lands rest more in the northern center of the Lion. We tend to get the occasional cold wind from the north mountains and the accompanying sharp freeze."

"I'm glad most of my winters have been spent in places where people can breath fresh air from outside without regretting it." Unlike the capital, where, as she'd just learned, this was clearly sometimes a mistake. "I've only passed a few winter weeks in those north hills east of Seikitsu. My lord's castle town is down in the river plains," she says, by way of explanation for the thinness of her description. "Others who travel up there often said it's even harder to get through to the high settlements in winter because of mud and ice--it's never easy, any rate."

She glances at Ayano from beneath eyelashes and the shadow of a veil. "Your mother... is that Lady Makime?"