Why was this evading him?

The night was colder than the one before. This time, instead of painting in the garden, he found a hallway with a window. And there, he set up his easel, layering paint onto it in somewhat more comfort than the night before.

It didn't help.

As he worked, Hikaru found himself growing more agitated. It showed only in the lines of his handsome features, and the tension in his lean form. He still used the brush delicately, carefully. Although without passion.

Sighing, he slowed, pressing a hand to his forehead.

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D4LE Painting, setting TN at 30, VP 1k1: 7d10o10k4 28 (this is actually D3, of course)

From behind him, he will hear "Something troubles you?"

If he turns, he will see the tanned form of Otomo Gusai, single eye focused intently, giving a short bow.

Hikaru paused, and then slowly turned. "Good evening..." a quick glance, "Otomo-sama."

He straightened, gesturing to his canvas. "As you see, I was attempting to paint the view from the window. The moon and stars, the falling snow, the blanketed ground. But I was not satisfied with my work."

It looked alright, actually, black and white and grey. Still, Hikaru's lips remained tight together as he washed his brush.

"Who of us can equal the world the Fortunes give?" Gusai replies before introducing himself with another bow and "Otomo Gusai, Skipper of the Hopeful Endeavor. With whom have I the good luck to converse this evening?"

"Doji Hikaru." Hikaru bowed again. Then he frowned, looking back at his canvas. "I can but try. I have seen better. From Lady Doji herself, of course, but also from her best students." He sighed. "Well, self-improvement is the work of a lifetime."

Frowning, he looked back at Gusai. "Skipper? Hopeful Endeavor?" His brow furrowed. "What are these things?"

"As you say, the work of a lifetime," Gusai replies before addressing the questions posed to him.

"I command the Stag Clan vessel Hopeful Endeavor," he answers. "She's a good ship, and I've sailed on her, man and boy, these many years now. And have called at many Crane ports along the way, as well as many other places.

"I gather, though, that you hail from inland?"

Hikaru nodded. "I have never been on a ship." He straightened. "I serve in Lady Doji's retinue."

After a moment, he sighed. "Or, I normally do. Unfortunately, she was unable to make this journey." His forehead creased in longstanding worry.

Another moment, and he shook it off visibly, shaking his head, making his single white lock of hair shake. "I have never been to the ocean. I should like to try it someday. What is it like?"

Gusai nods. "It can be a hard thing to be away.

"But as to what a ship is like...ah, my friend, it is like itself. The pitching of the waves, the rush of wind and sea, the speech of the planks as they creak and shift, the snap of canvas..." Gusai sighs, closing his eye. "It is as life itself for those of us who sail. Think on it like life ashore, but more, and more focused, and you'll begin to have some of it.

"For the rest, though, nothing will suffice but to be aboard and under sail."

Hikaru looked at Gusai, his pale eyes strange. "I suppose that nothing substitutes but experience." He said.

With a sigh, he folded away his canvas, rather heedless of the work he'd done. "And here you are, stuck inland with the rest of us, trapped by the snow." He looked at Gusai, smiling gently. "Such is destiny. You were here for the wedding, I expect?"

Gusai nods. "I had the honor of escorting the Lady Hantei and the young lord here, yes. They sailed with me a good portion of the way, river-barged more, came overland where we needed to do so."

He shakes his head. "I will never understand how people enjoy riding horses." And he chuckles a bit. "But I've heard many say the same for sailing, so I suppose I can't complain, or shouldn't. But the snow's not so bad as some I've seen, and mess is good here, so I'm, again, not complaining--though I will be glad to get back on deck."

Hikaru nodded acknowledgement. "I have never met Lady Kinsen, although I have seen her a few times in my official capacity. I had the honor of training with Hantei Genji-sama the day of the wedding." Hikaru inclined his head. "He seemed to me to have a great deal of potential."

"Mess?" Hikaru frowned. "Is that food? Regardless, I take your meaning. I suppose one should try to be grateful for opportunities, like the time to paint..." Hikaru grimaced; after all, that wasn't going well. "But I find the expected urgency of my duties too great to enjoy it."

"The Lady Hantei is...formidable," Gusai affirms, nodding. "And the young lord will be a worthy successor to his father, in the fullness of time--may it be long coming.

"And, yes, mess is food. And in it, as in most endeavors, practice is always good, even if the immediate result is not as it might be hoped.

"But," he continues, "what are your duties that press upon you so? 'Urgency' might be a good word, indeed, for something that would gray a man so." And he nods at the white streak. "Or does that come from something else, if it might be asked? I'm aware that some don't always appreciate such things," here tapping high on his left cheek, near the eyepatch.

Hikaru's lips twitched. "I should like to have the opportunity to meet her sometime."

"Oh." He reached up, poking at his grey lock of hair. "That. It is nothing to me." He gave a minute shrug, a shift of the shoulders. "I've had it as far back as I can remember, to when Lady Doji found me as an apparent orphan. Perhaps I had it from birth. Either way... I simply mislike leaving Lady Doji for so long, although she has others tending to her, of course."

He glanced at the eyepatch, lips briefly pursing, but he did not ask, not with that warning.

"Spend time with the young lord," Gusai replies, "and you likely will.

"But as to the hair, I would guess it's good to have a distinction early on. Better than how the eye happened, truly. But that'd be a tale for another time, I think; it's all too pleasant here," he says, "nor've I had enough to drink!"

He laughs a bit.

"Is painting the only art you practice, my friend, or are there others that captivate you?"

Hikaru nodded, accepting that, his lips shifting ever so slightly at the mention of drink. Good or bad? It was hard to say.

"I practice many." Hikaru said. "A student of Lady Doji must be at least familiar with all forms of art. And yet, there are a few that I have practiced more than others. Painting, at least in theory." His lips pressed together. "The sword. The flute. All are methods by which I attempt to express myself."

He inclined his head. "And you, Otomo-sama?"

"Can't say in truth I've studied those so much," Gusai replies, "though I don't speak ill of them. And swords don't always do well on deck--not much room, you see--so I've worked more with knives and fists. Knot-work, though--as a sailor must, and as many do even when 'must' isn't applicable.

"And some others, as well, though perhaps not the most fit for this place, eh?" His eyebrows waggle, and he gives a chuckle again.

"That all sounds very practical." Hikaru said politely.

He stared at Gusai for a few moment. "I'm sorry, I don't take your meaning." He said, brows drawing down. "Nothing criminal, I'm sure."

"Criminal?" Gusai asks, melodramatically placing a hand on his chest. "I am wounded! Wounded!" The hand lays itself across his forehead, palm up and fingers splayed. "However shall I recover!"

He holds the pose for a moment, then laughs again.

"Oh, no. Nothing of the sort," he says, "But even as rough a sailor as I knows some things are better not discussed in detail in the Emperor's own home."

He winks. Or blinks. There's only the one eye, so it's hard to say.

There was a long pause. "I see." Hikaru said. There was another pause.

Finally, he took a breath. "Well, since you are stuck here for a while, it may be time to try something else." He pursed his lips, considering a moment. "Perhaps something musical? Hands that are clever with rope may be clever with strings as well."

"There's no knowledge not worth having," Gusai replies. "Have you such an instrument here?"