It wasn't sure if it had been Satsuki's or Ko's idea to play hooky and skip court after the open forum they had hosted, but Satsuki for sure thought it was a great idea as she tossed a bunch of pillows into a pile. She was so going to dive into that.

Tea? Check.
Sweets? Double-check.

Now to dive into the pillows like some pampered southern princess, and await the guest Ko had invited over.

Yua had never been intended as a particularly courtly presence here, and being stuck by the snow certainly hadn't changed that. So she answered Ko's note with some pleasure for the excuse to stay away from a court that didn't much need her, given the more adept members of her clan present. Meeting with the kami's daughter seemed like a 'fancy outfit' occasion, so she arrived in the three-layered ensemble of pale grey, sea-blue, and slate grey. both the underlayers showed water stains on the edges of the sleeves where they peeked out, the silk having taken some damage over carelessly sweeping snow from places to sit over the days since the wedding. There was no decoration on the plain robes, though perhaps some embroidery in the months to come could salvage those sleeves.

She scratches at the door and waits, hands tucked into her sleeves.

Absently reviewing the bronze circlet she usually wore in her hands, the make of it and the reminder of whom it came from. However, that memory quickly buried itself once more at the scratch by the door. Looking up, recognition coming over her brow she looks to Satsuki. A brief smile as she nods and then gets up. Standing she quickly gives herself a quick little check over, making sure her little companion hadn't torn something in her robes while he was scurrying around. An affirmative check and she was off across the room. Opening it to find Yua there with one of her brief smiles.

"Hello," was all she said, smile worn, and then stepped a little to the side in a manner which to welcome her in.

A small nod and faint smile are offered in greeting, along with, "good to see you again," before Yua took the opening and shuffled through the door, a bit burdened by the extra layers.

She'll bow much more deeply approaching the Dragon princess. Bits of leather and bead ornaments in her hair swinging as she does.

A smile, a nod. Turning with her, walking Yua in she looks to Satsuki with a faint rather than brief smile, "This is Ryoshun Yua. You will like her," she says, looking to Yua. Turning to finish the rather simple introductions Ko manages to offer, a gesture, "Togashi Satsuki."

With the scratch at the door, Satsuki was quick to sit up straight again. And passed her hands over hair to smooth it out a little.

She wore the same robes she had on earlier that day, with a deep-green skirt, accents in yellow, with a red robe over. The outfit was done in a style not too different from some clothes of the Ayakashi, though this was made with silk and linen, rather than cotton or wool.

"Ryoshun Yua, a pleasure to meet you," she greeted the very small Bat with a warm smile. For a shugenja more sensitive to the nature of the kami, there certainly was a warmth around her entire being, as the fire kami clearly like her presence. "I'm Togashi Satsuki. As Ko already said. And we're very happy to host a member of the Bat for a light afternoon tea! Do you like sweets? Rei-R... I mean, Lady Rei, likes these when she's come to visit."

The tea was a light green tea, with hints of jasmine to it, and she indicated the plate with sweets set out. "Saru Takurou, the one who cooked up the feast a couple of days ago, made this for us."

"I am honored, Togashi Satsuki-sama," she said from her bow. Her warm monotone was not well suited to expression, but there was something of awe to the depth of her bow and the length it was held before straightening to really see the young Dragon and her refreshments. There was a reserve to the Bat that was only partly to do with the high-ranking company.

"I heard of that feast as everyone spoke of it the other day, but hadn't been able to attend. Thank you for the second chance to sample their work. The tea smells so delicate." A slow smile lifts the edges of her lips. "And sweets are always welcome. Not the kind of frivolity I find much time for when...well, when not trapped halfway from home by the snow, I guess." She finds a seat, smoothing her robes a bit self-consciously. "I hope your winter here hasn't been too dull so far, at least."

"Just Togashi-san or Satsuki-san is fine. We're not in court," she said, sharing a conspiratory smile with Yua, before being a good host and pouring the tea. The first cup for the guest, then for Ko, then for herself.

"And the winter certainly hasn't been dull no! I'm... not used to so many people at once, so I haven't been partaking in all the arrangements, but it's been entertaining. It's my first time travelling outside the Dragon lands, so it's been a rare opportunity to meet people from other clans and speak with them. Is this your first time travelling too and meeting so many new people?" There was a genuine enthusiasm and energy to her words, though she seemed to be making sure to give room to breathe. And for Yua to speak as well.

Kind of like an energetic little critter.

With the other settling in, Ko found her place. A brief smile passing as Satsuki began pouring the cups. Something she recalled from over-viewing Satsuki's own lessons perhaps, which only added to the warmth witnessing it brought. Glancing between each as they took to turn in the conversation, hands resting in her lap. A thought played across about an actual little critter. Checking with gentle pats in her robe she made sure little Buta was still where she had seen him last. A calm relaxation of her features as she felt the small warmth of his presence, snoozing in her robes.

Looking back the last question directed to Yua, Ko likewise looks to her with a warmth to her passive smile. A look to her eye as she seems to gauge Yua for her own appraisal of how the meeting, as fledgling as it was, was going far as Yua was concerned.

The Bat is rather the opposite of energetic, slow and deliberate in both movement and expression as she nods. She seems to belong more to the winter, everything blanketed in snow.

But her smile, while slow to form and every bit as slight as she is, is sincere. "It was deemed time I went with the delegation trading our wares. Even sold one of my student pieces." Her eyes drop a bit, following her hands as she wraps them around the tea cup, though the tea seems more of an excuse to disguise some hint of pride or embarrassment that is betrayed anyway by a slight flush of her cheeks.

"Quite a lot of new people to see in the markets. I've only just begun reaching out among those stuck here after the wedding though. I hadn't much expected to interact with most of them beyond watching everyone celebrate." With a slow, sidelong glance to the friend of squirrels--or at least of a squirrel--she says, "I take it you've been much busier meeting people than Wu-sama..." After a short pause she corrects, looking up at Ko. "Or is that Wu-san as well here? I admit, the many titles and honorifics are a bit of a jumble among so many. I'm just Yua at home."

Satsuki listened attentively as Yua spoke, her deft hands picking out a flowery confection from the tray for her to nibble on. For the energy tingling around her aura, she still seemed patient and interested.

"We can say just Yua, Satsuki, and Ko, if that is easier. I think Ko prefers it that way too. Honorifics are not of much importance to me, as I'm used to being just Satsuki." Or Tsuki has her family still would say. "I know my mother's people among the Ayakashi were much more relaxed on such titles and manners of speaking, and I frankly enjoy it myself." Her smile was both warm and encouraging for Yua to be at ease as her guest.

"As for me? I've been a little bit busy, yes, so I'm very happy to just... have tea, chat a bit, and relax like we are now, yes? I'm curious of what it is you make, since you mentioned you've sold a student piece?"

"Thank you Satsuki.." there's a small pause with the urge to add *something* to the kami-child's name, but she resists it. "I appreciate the effort to make everything so comfortable. I was born among the Ayakashi when the Kami came to the realm, but was very young when we left."

Relax, enjoy, maybe choke on some sweets, big sister? Just going to keep hoping over here.

Yua's smile fades to something barely there as she lifts the tea to sip as she listens to the voices of both worlds, brows lifting just a bit. "Oh...tastes as nice as it smells. That's...not always how tea works."

Smell? Yeah, would be very interesting to know what that's like.

She takes another sip, with a long breath of the steam before lowering it, smile faded to a gentle neutrality "I am a student of the forge, so weapons and art of metal are my craft. It was just lanterns I sold, and gifted for the wedding. But the gifted ones were a lot nicer."

"It's only right to make a guest comfortable, and one of Ayakashi blood is almost like family, I feel." Satsuki could sense there was something, seeing Yua's smile fade somewhat, but she felt it would be rude to press on that.

"Mm, it's a tea that won't upset the senses or the natural energies of the body. But rather help with feeling a sense of calm and balance... I don't particularly like strong teas myself." Not that she herself thought it was odd to have a more zen approach to something like tea.

Likewise, she sips the tea herself, listening to Yua speak. And now she did remember that Yua had gifted lanterns to the married couple. "I knew the Bat had many skilled artisans, but I'm happy to meet one in person now. I remember the lanterns gifted at the wedding, and how lovely they looked." Yua looked so small, so she briefly wondered if the Bat-girl worked in a smaller forge. "Are weapons your preferred craft to work on, or is it something else, if you don't mind me asking? I've never been much of a craftsperson myself, but I really enjoy watching people at work in the forge, how fire can change something so drastically and be a source of creation and creativity."

At the mention of the honorifics, Ko stops mid-raise of her cup to offer a nod in agreement with the declaration from Satsuki. Honorifics, let alone addressing someone by name at all, was not something taught in a forest with only two beings around for miles, after all. There was a comfort in the lack of required social graces some presented themselves with. A remnant of that time spent in the forest, the wariness for the details, did inspire a glance from over a cup as Yua's smile dims for a moment. Social grace was something Ko wasn't born to, but learned more for Satsuki's sake than her own, and on that thread only often cared for it in the girls presence at particular moments.

Yua cradles the cup in her hands. "That is the aspect of fire I know best, though it obviously has a destructive one as well." Setting the tea down, she reaches for her wakizashi, pausing to ask, "I'd show you rather than just describe it, if that's ok?"

Assuming permission is granted, she places it on the table, the sweepingly stylized Bat wings of the guard making it sit a bit less securely than many. "There's a lot to a weapon that I like. They teach so much. You can make a lot of finicky adjustments all along a blade, making the metals stronger here, more flexible there." Her fingers gently indicate--without touching the blade--parts that presumably have such properties. "Though I really need some more skill and practice actually using one to see how well some of those things work." Her hands come aways to rest on the edge of the table.

"Getting the edge right is fussy too, and there's kind of limited spaces for decoration, so you have kind of an interesting boundary for artistic creativity. You can learn almost everything you need to go on to other projects by making blades, so the techniques touch everything else." A small smile grows as she describes the art. "Which, I suppose, makes it a bit like Void...a foundation that touches everything else." She shrugs a bit. "But the metaphor falls apart if you look at it too closely."

Permission was given, whether out of trust or just not seeing Yua as a threat, or both, it wasn't made clear.

Placing her own cup down on the table, Satsuki leaned closer for a better look as the Bat spoke, taking note of where she pointed with interest.

"I admit, I hadn't put that much thought into the techniques of swordsmithing, even when I carry one myself. It is fascinating... I have more knowledge on how to use a blade than what goes into making it. It's surprising that so much of it applies to other tasks too... in a way, that's a good lesson. Apply what you know to new task."

"Apart from metalwork, do you work with other crafts?"