The rest of the ship was beginning to fill with people and their chatter, so the tiny Shiba makes her way to a place that is rather familiar, and that is most likely to be empty this early in the voyage.

Entering the Sick Bay, she moves to the center of the room, milky white eyes carefully studying everything. She doesn't touch a thing. In fact, her hands are carefully folded atop her obi, slender fingers intertwined lightly.

Another figure enters the sick bay, only to freeze as he notices that the room was occupied. Occupied by a someone he 'knew'. At least as well as you could know someone who had not bothered to introduce herself.

Sighing, the man coughed ever so carefully.

The small girl stops her studious inspection of the room and turns quickly. To find that same Unicorn from before. Biting her lip, she bows.

"Good evening, Unicorn-sama."

I wonder if he'll just go away.

Bowing carefully to the woman in the cramped space of the room, he man shot a quick glance as her, his eyes running from the top of her head to the tip of her toes.

"We meet again, by chance, Phoenix-san." he told her, smiling. "I am Iuchi Xiao Hua. Well met, again."

He was pretty sure she had caught it the first time. Then again, she might have been deaf. Her eyes made her look blind, and the way she had been scanned to room had been rather eerie.

So he's going to be all formal. And NOT leave. Inwardly, she sighs. Outwardly, she glances down and lets her bangs fall slightly over her face, and speaks as if she's talking very quietly to the floor.

"Ah... um yes. It's... to meet you, Iuchi-sama. Again." There was a slight pause in between her mumbling where she bows again. "...Shiba Nozomi."

She might have said it was an honor or pleasure to meet him, but the word was a bit obscured and too soft to really make out unless you had particularly keen hearing.

Nodding happily, the young Iuchi babbled on, bowing to her once again. "Honour to make your acquaintance, Shiba-san."

He would have wanted to ask what she did in the sick bay, but didn't really know how to do it politely. He went with the second best option. "I hope that I am not disturbing you..."

Mentally, the man winced.

"Eto... no." Realizing she's still standing in the middle of the room, and therefore an obstruction (albeit a small one) to anyone moving through, she takes a few steady steps off to the side.

"Did you need help with something?"

I hope he's not seasick already...

"Erm.. no..." he followed her with his gaze as she moved aside.

They sure make 'em small in the Phoenix lands...

"I was merely looking around, curious... curious about what a ship of this size holds. I know some medicine myself as well, so this seemed like a good place to start." Xiao Hua continued, keeping his gaze on her.

Her expression brightens the tiniest bit and she glances up at him quickly. From beneath her bangs, he might get a quick glimpse of her eyes before they're once again lowered.

"I... had similar thoughts. The Half Moon seems pretty well-stocked." She points to one of the overhead bins. "We didn't have those on my last ship."

"Oh." The man's eyebrows rose ever so slightly. "Shiba-san is a healer as well?"

Iuchi was, as learned men are wont to be, master of stating the obvious.

The current master of short answers nods. "Hai." At least this one was spoken clearly.

She tilts her head to the side, clearly considering something. "Eto... don't Unicorn... I mean... um..." She makes a tiny motion with her two index fingers, very similar to the one people usually mime when talking about walking, while managing to squeak out something, wherein only the last word was really discernible "... horse?"

He nodded her first reply and then... gawked.

Tilting his head to the side, he spoke again. "Erm.. you want to know, what happened to my horse?"

Curiosity he could understand, at least. The way she had asked about it just... peculiar. The way the girl carried herself, and her innocent curiosity. If not for her gaze, she could have been cute, Xiao Hua mused to himself.

Thanking the kami she wouldn't have to ask again, Nozomi lets out the air she had been holding and nods once more. It was something she was incredibly curious about, as there really wasn't any place on-board to put them.

Another question popped into her head, but she leaves it unvoiced. How on earth do you heal from on top a horse?

The answer to the latter question, had it been voiced, would have been 'with flair', but as the question was not asked, the Iuchi didn't have to come up with a cheesy one-liner.

"Ah, my steed is in the good care of my family, back at our family estate." he explained.

She frowns slightly. "If it's... there...then... how did you get here?"

In some things, she really was rather bright. Today, she'd need the excuse of the minor panic of new surroundings and new people, it seemed.

"On a ship?" he suggested, smiling.

As much as he felt bad about it, the young man hoped the woman was better with her bandages than she was with logics.

"Oh." She pauses. Then, if it hadn't been for her tan, she probably would have turned fairly pink. "...makes sense."

In a slight panic to turn the conversation away from her obvious oversight, she casts her glance about the room. "..."

Looking incompetent already. Shiba-no-Kami, lend me strength...

"Do you specialize in poisons, suturing, or surgery?" It was a somewhat forward question, but certainly more insightful than her last.

"A do little bit of everything." he nodded. "Even though I can hardly call myself a master of the art."

"What about Shiba-san."

"Mostly just make sure nobody gets too hurt. Some voyages it's more necessary than others..." She fidgets slightly with the ends of her hair, brushing it back and forth over one finger.

"Although most poisons don't get much of a chance. It's rare to see them used. Unless you come across a jellyfish."

"Hee, so Shiba-san travels a lot then?" he asked, curious, smiling still.

"Jellyfish stings are an ailment of Fire...?" Actually, the man had no idea. Nor had he any idea how to treat such an injury.