Interesting...I wonder if anyone else has noticed how the kanji for 'words' looks so much like 'sword.' Likely a philosophic debate stored in there...

A rain-spattered Hare paid visit to the barracks and then training yard he'd seen upon the map the day before. He was careful to maintain his On as he walked, to not risk giving offense. With a word to his traveling companion assigned to him by the embassy he turns, "What was the word for warrior again? Kmsalia?" He makes an effort not to frown, nor to say what was likely mispronounced too loudly.

"Kshatriya, Usagi-sama." The plump heimen woman puffed as she tried to keep up with the young Hare. "Their equivalent of samurai....there's subsets...of course..."

"Kshatriya.." he tries the word out in his mouth a bit. "Hmm...subsets? Like the Great and Minor Clans? Or more like families of one large clan?"

"They have Houses... which are like Clans...in a way." The poor woman started panting more as she struggled to walk and talk at the same time. "But I meant more like...dojo....different styles..."

"Ah..." he slows down a little as they've arrived. "Is there one style they revere above all others?"

As the rain begins falling faster, Zenko takes out his umbrella, opening it and using it to provide some shelter from the rain for the translator that he'd dragged out into the storm.

The little woman seemed glad of it, though nervous to be so close to her better. "Well, Usagi-sama, they've traditions and all, but what's favored depends on who you ask. There are a few constants...they've their own ritual of dueling, for example, though they use knives and not swords."

"Huh... The Ujina might feel at home with that." He looks about for an awning or at least someone else crazy enough to be out in the rising storm. "Anything mystical, or with the aid of the kami?"

"They have priests, they call them Brahmin here. I don't know how they do what they do, only that it works." The woman pointed to a doorway that was open, through which the sound of voices could be heard. "They hold their casters even higher than we do, enough to make two castes of what would be the same as samurai back home with the shugenja standing above the warriors and courtiers."

He nods at that. "Very good to know. All anyone would tell me up to now was not to mess with their cows, and that we are their gaijin."

He gives a light smile, then heads to the doorway at a slower pace to let the woman keep up, giving a knock and hoping that this conversation at a barracks would be more informative than the last one.

The door swung easily, revealing a small group of warriors who were currently playing at dice. Three men and one woman, they all looked up as the strangers arrived.

One of them called out something and the servant murmured, 'He asks if you seek shelter from the demon rain, too."

He frowns looking at the rain, "I don't know about demons, but the rain's wet enough. Conversation and shelter are both good, if we can enter."