Shinjo are the children of the wind. They like to feel the wind run through their hair as the ride as fast as they can on the back of their horse. Sadly, no horses allowed. So, the next best thing for Qulan, the homesick Shinjo, was to let the breeze waft through her hair as she looked out into the sea. Which she found surprisingly pretty.

Last time I get to relax before my first sea storm. Yay.

There is the padding of heavy feet behind the woman. They don't approach, but there is definitely someone there.

The Hida is in his armor, with a tetsubo strapped to his back, lightly scraping against his armor. He seems to simply be patrolling around, getting a feel for the ship.

The sound of something of heavy armor clacking together and heavy foot steps. On a ship. Qulan didn't even have to look to know that it was a Hida. They're the only one's stubborn enough to wear heavy armor out at sea, despite the dangers of doing so.

"Hida-san."

Still trying to come to terms with the idea that the ship would simply be crawling with people, Nozomi comes aboveboard and bows to the two samurai already on the aftdeck. Unless addressed, she moves to a space with a clear view of the path behind them and leans against the railing. The perceptive would notice her lips moving noiselessly after a short time.

The man bows, even though he can't be seen. "Evenin'." He looks up at the rigging, or maybe the sky. Nah, it's the rigging. His eyes trace the latticework of ropes and sail cloth the way most samurai gauge a training dojo. "Why can I smell you?"

When the little girl from the party comes by, he bows politely, but doesn't seem to change what he's doing...yet.

The Shinjo turned to the tiny Shiba that passed by and bowed. "Shiba-san..."

They let a child on board? She can't be more than ten years old. Cute little thing, though.

Thankfully, the girl is a little focused on what she's doing, and doesn't really notice the comment about... smelling the Unicorn.

After a moment, Nozomi turns back to the pair, bows quickly, and regards them shyly with her unsettling milky gaze. "Unicorn-sama... Crab-sama...I didn't mean t-to interrupt."

Bad eyesight, maybe? Poor thing...

"It's alright, Shiba-san. I was just looking out at the ocean. You weren't bothering me at all." The kind Shinjo offered her friendliest of smiles. She didn't want to upset the poor child, after all.

The man lets the question drop. It seemed more like childlike curiosity than anything else, anyways. "Didn't interrupt me, kiddo-san." After a moment, "Ya think that rope there is taut?" He motions toward a line that runs from mainmast to middermast, "wouldn't want ta make the mistake of using a loose rope ta cross the boat and fall in a stiff wind."

K...kiddo-san?

She glances at the rope. It really wasn't taut enough to hold his weight and she was sorely sorely tempted to tell him it was. But she didn't particularly want to be responsible for him ending up in the medbay already... choices.

"I think you'd be better off picking the one to the left, Crab-san. Unless you like being a rock at the bottom of the ocean." She points. The -sama was perfunctorily dropped, but she highly doubted he'd notice.

Turning her haunting gaze to the Unicorn, Nozomi wonders if all unicorn make it a habit to smile constantly. Must be a Gaijin thing. "S..Shiba Nozomi, Unicorn-sama. I... I think I met your clansmate earlier..."

"Oh? Who would that have been, Shiba-san?" Qulan leaned back against the railing, giving the small Phoenix a curious look as her smile faded. "Was it Iuchi Rinzuki-san?"

He nods, "Hai, think yer right. Domo." He clumps over to the railing and examines one of the unused rope pegs for weight. "These'll do in a pinch I think." He gives it a few brutal looking swings to make sure.

He's like a cannonball with arms... is Nozomi's incredulous thought. Blinking slightly, she carefully turns her attention back to the Unicorn.

"Ah no... He's an Iuchi, yes... eto..." She really can't remember how to say his name and just saying with a wierd name seems more rude than she's willing to venture at the point in time.

"Ah, then I have not met him yet." The Shinjo offered another bow. "I am Shinjo Qulan. It is a pleasure to meet you."

The mumbled reply closely resembles the word "likewise."

Xi-something or other, Qulan, and Rinzuki... At least Rinzuki almost sounds normal...

"...re you a healer, too?" She looks a little skeptically at the woman.

"Ah, no. Not a healer at all. I'm a bushi." Qulan rubbed the back of her neck. "I guess it is strange that a Unicorn like me is on this ship. But I'm doing well, all things considered."

Watching the crab once more, her next words are to him. "Y..you must be bushi, too, neh?" If he genuinely said he was a healer, of any sort, she'd start to have serious questions about this voyage. Particularly after his stories of tentacles.

He shrugs, "Trained as one, yeah, but mostly a sailor. I spent my whole life since my gempukku on the sea. Never been off ship fer longer than two weeks ta travel home and see 'em burn my dad after he was killed. Had ta get a tetsubo back in my ma's hand, she wore white for almost a week."

Qulan, being polite, kept largely quiet as the Crab and Phoenix made conversation. She had no intention of interrupting them, after all.

If the Unicorn was looking for some sort of cruel joke to play, making Nozomi carry a full conversation was a perfect choice.

She makes a smy superstitious symbol with her fingers quickly, and murmurs something to the effect of ancestors, yomi, the cycle... none of it really all that intelligible.

Milky eyes look hopefully from the Unicorn to the Crab and back again, only to have those hopes dashed by the Unicorn's apparent disinterest in continuing conversation. Oh Joy.

Conversation topic. Something. Anything."Eto... wh-what kinds of shi-ships were they?"