With the morning's bath taken care of, it was time to eat.

Sora had never really gotten the hang of having servants, so mealtimes with his family were always a bit... disorganized.

He insisted on cooking the rice himself- "Just the way I do it on the road, this stuff is great!"- but he had, after the Rabbit Incident, agreed to let other dishes be provided by other hands.

But Sora being Sora, he intended those other hands to be those of his children, and thus Kinyoubi was greeted by a meal of her husband's rice, her son's earnest but clumsy efforts at a... soup of some kind, and a few eggs her daughters had gotten hold of.

Sora closed his eyes and smiled as he heard his family's breakfast chatter- from Shirayuki and Phi finishing each other's sentences to Soryu loudly proclaiming that he'd learned how to write his name while Sora had been away.

Whatever I did to deserve this, I'm glad.

There is a clap at his door. When it is opened, a figure, who should be very clean, yet somehow seems to already have a slight air of dust around him appears.

"Uncle Kyosei!"

"Didja bring those, uhm-"

"Soryu!"

"Aw, Phi..."

Sora glanced at Kinyoubi. Gave a wan smile. "I, er... may have consented to some gift-giving?"

"Yes, yes, I figured. But, did their mother? Or should I just take these back to my rooms?" He holds out a largish container. It is about 2 feet wide, and 3 feet tall, and seems awkward, shifting in his hands. It is woven straw, but sturdy for all that.

Kinyoubi scarcely looked older than when they had first met fifteen years previous, though that was hardly a surprise for a follower of a Kami. The main difference was her quite heavy belly and the tiredness in her expression. It didn't make it less warm when she smiled, though. "Of course not. Please, come in, you can set your burden down wherever you like. Can we get you some tea?"

Kyosei smiles. He sets the object down, and there is a strange clattering sound, from inside it.

"Tea would be wonderful, thank you."

"I'll get it, m'love you just... sit there and look stunning, all right?"

Sora went about the motions of puring the tea. Someday, someone might convince him that this was an act with ceremonial significance, but that seemed vanishingly unlikely.

"I can do at least that much, but I do appreciate it," she replied, leaning over to kiss Sora's cheek lightly before sitting down. "What brings you today? It's always a pleasure."

"A few things. I am in town for the winter- my daughter gave birth about a month before I left, and my loving wife ordered me away, before I completely spoiled the babe. I did a few trades, and dropped things off as I went. Oh, and visited the coast, rode in a ship for the first time. Quite exciting." As he slowly rambles, he smiles at the no doubt impatient children. "Oh, and found these for the squirtlings."

He opens the top of the basket he brought, and brings out what look like odd little bowls. Each is carved of a various stone - none very expensive, but well carved, and bringing out the luster of each one. The boy gets one with a red and white pattern, and a second with a blue and white pattern. Each of the twins gets one that is mono-color, one green and one orangish of shade, and a pair that are half purple, and half brown, split somehow exactly in half. He hands them out, odd little things that they are. Each is about 2 or 3 inches deep, with straight up and down walls, instead of curved ones, like most bowls.

"What are they?"

Phi, sighed "Soryu, say thank you first."

"Oh, yeah, uh, thank you Uncle Kyosei."

"So what are they?"

"Shirayuki..."

Kyosei blinks at the mob. "Obviously, they are for the food and water. What else would they be for?"

It was Phi's turn to turn interrogative. "The food and the water for what, exactly?"

"OH! I didn't show you, did I? For these little guys." He reaches into the basket, and lifts out the top part, showing that the bowls had been in a smaller basket, that was held up. Under it, he pulls out, one at a time, three small creatures. First are a pair, almost identical in appearance, then a smaller one, similar but slightly different.

"I couldn't decide, so I leave it up to you who will have each one. They are babies, puppies, right now, so will spend a lot of their time sleeping. And, you will need to take care of them. Not the servants, you. So, if they need to go outside, you have to take them."

The puppies were asleep, but two of them are waking now. The smallest remains asleep for now.

Sora stuck his fingers in his ears just in time to dull the worst of the excited squeaks.

"They're going to take some getting used to, kids. Just like you did."

As the kids are distracted, he leans closer to the other adults. "Took me a while to find something suitable. The breeder said that they wouldn't grow much taller than an adults knees, but I've no surety of that. The mother dog was, but could have been just a very small dog. Can't go back to him, he was heading north, didn't want to stay in the Empire, so was heading out."

"Well, I suppose we'll see. If they turn out to be wolf-sized monstrosities, I imagine the girls will just try to ride them..."

As for the man who chose to leave the Empire, well...

"I hope the Crab give him no difficulties about leaving."

Kyosei shrugs. "There's always a few, every year. I always feel sorriest for the ones heading in the autumn. Many of them don't know what they are heading into. This one was mid-summer, and had some supplies, so, he might have made it."

Turning back to the squeal-pile. "They also need something else. They don't have names, yet!"

Phi appeared to be giving it a lot of thought.

Shirayuki held the one she'd claimed up to her face to make eye contact. "You look like a-"

"Mine's name is Chomper!" Soryu evidently left the indecision to others.

"All right you three, remember, your mother's got a lot on her hands right now, so-"

Phi nodded, but Shirayuki spoke.

"Right Dad, we'll take them outside!"

Kyosei smiled as the three thundered out of the suite.

Once they are gone, he turns back. "I hope the dogs keep them occupied when the newest one arrives. I do remember the many . . . issues you seemed to have when Soryu was born." He nods at the lady of the rooms, then takes a sip of the tea. "Mmm. Sora, how many leaves did you put in the pot? Seems a bit... off."

"Leaves? I thought I was supposed to just pour the water into the pot without washing it first..."