The place was called Old Ko's Ceramics Emporium, and it offered a kind of dark, windowless charm.

The proprietor- who had been called "Old Ko" for well over the last fifteen years and now looked truly ancient, like a plucked vulture-smoked something aromatic out of a long clay pipe and seemed to be playing some kind of board game... against himself...

Having gotten a note directing him thither--and having found someone to read said note to him--Gusai charts his course to the Ceramics Emporium again. Same stuff, he thinks, but that's not a surprise, given weather and shipping restrictions overland.

He nods to the old man. "Pleasant morning, yes?" he says, and he peers intently at the game.

"Well. It's fine weather to learn patience in."

Old Ko peered at him and made another move.

"Apologies, Stag-sama, at my age, one sometimes forgets one's polish. How can I help you?"

Patience? Gusai thinks. Sora.

He nods, asks "If I may?" and takes a seat.

"I'm curious about this game you're playing."

"Oh, this?"



"An old thing. Picked it up from a Ki-Rin who picked it up froma Nezumi, who... you get the idea."

He made a move... and grinned around his pipe.

"No idea what the rules are, of course. But a lot of games are like that."

Gusai gives a chuckle. "The past several days've shown that, certainly. But we've got to keep playing the game; not's not an option," he says.

"Yes, and it's always so easy when the sides announce themselves."

Old Ko took another puff on his pipe.

"It's not always a simple thing, of course. Not all enemies announce themselves and throw down the gauntlet. Some come with smiles..."

"As we've seen," Gusai nods, agreeing.

"And even if one opponent seems to chase another off," he adds, "it might be that it's a regreouping and resupply. And that'd need more attention, wouldn't it?"

"Well, without knowi9ng the rules, you can never be sure the game has ended, can you?"

"That's true," Gusai agrees, "though a patient man can learn much of the rules through careful observation."

"That's so, that's so."

The old man puffed on his pipe... and then swept the pieces off of the board.

"But patience isn't my line. I deal in pottery. I have some lovely jars with willow designs on them in the back room."

"I'd be interested in seeing them," Gusai says. "Might fetch a good price in some places I go; might be remunerative for you to have 'em brokered."

"Well, well, plain dealing, very good. Right this way..."

Old Ko brushed a beaded curtain aside and motioned for the Stag to precede him into the back.

Which was every bit as dingy and rundown as might be expected.

Still.

Sora, parked at a small table with his feet up on it seemed comfortable enough.

"Figured as much," Gusai says, nodding in respect to the older man.

"Though I mean it about the pottery."

"Oh, and I may well take you up on it. The free flow of trade is very important. Now, if you'll excuse me?"

Ko bobbed his head and headed back out front.


Sora chuckled.

"Did he do the thing with the board game?"

Gusai nods. "I think so, anyway. He was playing one."

The captain finds a seat. "Weather's clearing. I'll be shipping out soon. Be good to get back on my deck. Probably needs holystoning again."

"And yet we're definitely not going back to normal, hm?"

Sora motioned for the Stag to take a seat.

"Been thinking about some of our conversations, Otomo-san. Been thinking a lot."

"Normal changes," Gusai says. "Winds shift, stay shifted. Currents move, sandbars form and crumble. We chart new courses."

"We do indeed. So. Speaking of which. I think back to our little chat after the Sumai, and it occurs to me that you might need sounding out on a couple of things."

"Ask away," Gusai replies. "I'll answer as I can."