Kogi has made sure the room is neat and elegantly arranged. A spray of early quince twigs studded along their length with dark red flower buds is displayed in the alcove, the tea things are set at the ready by the table, and fresh coals in the copper brazier warm the room (and the tea kettle) cozily.

Once her honored guest arrives, Kogi will invite her in to get comfortable.

"I am pleased we could meet, Bayushi-san." Rei had greeted the Scorpion with a polite bow and made herself comfortable. Hen accompanied her, sitting next to the Bat.

The appearance of Hen by Rei’s side at the door had prompted a rather inscrutable look at the little pig, but Kogi hadn’t said anything. Anyway, at least she knew Hen to be a very civilized piglet, based on yesterday’s performance in the garden.

“I’m grateful you could make the time to see me, Ryoshun-sama. I am sure you’re very busy here in the capital, with many demands on your attention. This bad weather has transformed Lady Ananzihime’s wedding into a regular trading fair, ne?”

She busies her hands preparing some tea for her guest as she speaks.

"It has provided a nice opportunity to make new acquaintances." she nodded. "A pleasant surprise for the season."

“How good to hear it’s been pleasant,” Kogi says, veiled head tilted at a friendly angle. “Oh, my lord would send his greetings to your lady mother, of course. And your father, less directly.”

She offers Rei a bowl of tea with a polite two-handed gesture before taking up her own drink.

“In honesty… the particular matter I wanted to ask you about today has to do with your mother’s legacy, rather than your father’s, Ryoshun-sama.”

"Oh?" She had dipped her head in thanks for the tea. "In what regard?"

“Your lady mother was originally a priestess of the old Seppun tribe, wasn’t she?” Kogi inquires.

"She was." she nodded. "But, her connection to spirits made living among the Seppun, or any other tribe, difficult."

Kogi nods solemnly. “The Kami have made places in this land for many people who didn’t have one before.”

She leans forward a bit, wrapping her hands around her warm tea bowl. “Did your mother pass on any of the Seppun tribe’s old stories to you? Especially the ones about the world before the tribes of humanity arose?”

"Some." she said. "I focused mostly on stories of the elements and ghosts, but she told me many tales."

"I am not surprised that's where your interests lay, given your circumstances, Ryoshun-sama." Kogi nods. "So perhaps my question won't be of much significance to you. But... I've become interested in the stories your mother's people told about the 'eastern forest.' That would be the forest we call the Shinomen Mori now, wouldn't it? On the western border of my lord's lands."

"Oh yes." she nodded. "There are some ghost stories about that."

"Ghost stories?" Kogi leans in again. "So it's a dangerous place? Danger beyond the natural, I mean. The tribes near there avoid it, mostly, but they don't talk much about why."

"I have no personal experience with it." she shrugged. "But, there are stories of ghosts, spirits and other monsters. It seems like every forest has such tales. One of that size, more than others."

Kogi sips her tea while Rei is speaking, a practiced multi-step procedure which involves catching her veil in one hand while maneuvering the tea bowl with the other, all without revealing anything the veil conceals.

Setting it down again, she says, "I read that there were tales of great snakes who rose up there, before spreading around the land in the time before the human tribes. I didn't understand what was supposed to have happened to them, though. Are they still there? And if so... could they be a threat?"

She shakes her head slightly. "I know these are strange questions, Ryoshun-sama. It's just that... recently I received some vague information that implied there might be something dangerous in the forest, maybe a danger beyond the human. I can't report this concern to my lord Bayushi until the roads are clear, anyway, so, well," she shrugs, "I'm trying to learn as much as I can while I'm delayed here--to evaluate how seriously the clan ought to take the issue, if I can. My childhood home was in the mountains and people there didn't tell any stories about the forests."

"My sister Agasha said something about giant snakes once." Rei said after a sip of tea. "She came across something about them in one of her trips to the south. She also thought there might be something in the lake in our lands. I wish I could give you more details."

"Hm. That's something, at least. My lord might wish to have someone write to your sister later, when the weather allows." Kogi's brows draw together; she still feels more short of answers than she'd like to be. "Is there anyone else you would recommend as knowing those old Seppun tales well? If not here in the capital this winter, then anywhere else I could seek out come Spring?"

"Most of the Seppun are among the Stag now." she sat back with a thoughtful expression. "My mother never travelled south of the Spine, but she wanted to. I think it was something about the forest. It may have been snakes. She had questions, questions about the... darkness...."

((Oh gosh, I thought I tagged in on this thread yesterday! Sorry.))

"Unfortunately, when I inquired I found none of the Stag in the capital this winter happened to be former Seppun. When the roads are better... I could ask Hantei Genji-sama to recommend someone who knows the old stories, and write then. But for the moment, you are the closest to a Seppun I could learn of," Kogi says with a polite nod.

"Questions about--darkness? Like, um... like the darkness that tried to imprison Hisomu-no-Kami in the far south?"

"I don't think so." she shook her head. "This was something that had always been here, a primordial darkness, not something from another realm. I thought it might be the Void, but my mother insisted that it wasn't. In the story she told me, the darkness spread when grandmother sun and grandfather moon came together. It swallowed up the great snakes and made them disappear."