[Day 3, mid-morning, closed] Fishing fish.

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

A small skiff floated on the waves, a man dressed in a thick coat rowing the boat further away from the ship as the sun slowly rose higher. It wasn't actually the best time to catch fish, but he hoped he could ail the matter. A man who could talk with the spirits of the sea, would know where the fish lied, after all.

[Shiba Naomi]

With a jacket over her uniform and a jingasa on her head, Naomi had control of the rudder of the little boat. The bow and quiver was by her side, just in case, as was the fishing pole, but she seemed more prepared to use the latter than the former.
"It's going to rain today," she commented and looked up at the sky, tilting her hat slightly as she did. "The northwest wind is bringing with it some."

"It's a good weather for fishing though," Naomi added.

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"I gathered as well." he replied, lifting his arms to shake his cloak, implying he had prepared it for such an event. "And yes, yes it is." he smiled to her. She was naive, it seemed. And apparently a pauper. But beyond that, she seemed acceptable. His parents could have done worse. They could have had married him to a Hida.

Little by little he moved the boat to, lifting the oars up as he judged that they were far enough from the ship. "Now, if you'll wait for a moment." He raised the oars to the boat.

Turning to the sea, he bowed and chanted ever so silently, as the gentle waves rocked the boat.

"Shinkai no kami yo, waga meirei wo shitagaitamae, waga shoukan ni keichou shitamae. Waga no moto ni kite, waga gimon ni kotaenasai."

[Shiba Naomi]

Had she known his thoughts, she might have laughed at some of them. But, for now she just enjoyed the company. It was a nice change of pace after all, to spend some time a bit away from everyone else.

"Of course," she nodded obediently as he asked for a moment's patience.

Naomi was quiet as she let him offer his respects and devotion to the kami of the sea, and with practiced and calm movements prepared her fishing pole. Making sure nothing was knotted up, hook was in place and wouldn't get caught in anything, like her hat.

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

Having his answer, the man nodded, whispering a thanks for the departing kami, before turning to the girl once again.

"A bit further away, they said. Take us to that direction", he told her, pointing to her left, behind him.

[Shiba Naomi]

"Aye, aye," she replied with a teasing voice of mimicking how a 'stereotypical' sailor would respond to the captain, and took hold of the rudder again.

"Rather handy to be able to ask the kami nicely about such things. It's certainly a way of making fishing trips productive, rather than just tossing in the bait and hoping for the best." She tilted her head slightly to make sure there wasn't anything in the water, but it seemed clear, unlike yesterday.
"I've never fished so far out at sea like we're now. Perhaps we'll catch some rare fish."

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

He chuckled. "I actually prefer not use the spirits something like this. I rather like the waiting.. and not knowing if I might catch something or not. It's part of the fun, the slow wait, you know."

"Or then again, maybe not. Rare fish do not live close the surface, I think. And usually it's the river fish that's the most appreciated. In a sea, you can always lay a net. In a small river, to catch eels or some of the fish that feed close to the bottom.. you have to use pole, or small catches. Making the fishing more difficult."

He explained as he rowed, trusting her to direct them to the correct destination.

[Shiba Naomi]

She at least seemed confident enough that they were on the right way.

"I agree that it is the wait that's nice with fishing, hopeful that something will bite the bait. Always preferred a pole over a net to be honest," she admitted with a light smile.
"I hear there are bigger fish out here though, and they swim closer to the surface." As long as we don't get a shark on the hook, all is well.
"I've had the chance to sketch down some of the things I've seen out here so far, like what we saw yesterday... and O-Washi-sama's bird. But none of the fish so far, but I haven't really felt the need to yet." Obvious enough, since there haven't been any unusual fish about yet.

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"There might be." he nodded. "Though the last time I was out on a skiff, all we got was some smelts. Hardly a big fish, smelt." he smiled to her.

"Hee, so you draw as well?" He wasn't sure if he should have remembered this tidbit. He hope he didn't wasn't making fool of himself. Then again, at least according to his father, he was a fool. And it wasn't as if the girl had any choice but to marry him. Nor did he. They would just have to manage.

"I rather eat fish." he admitted. "Than look at the pictures."

[Shiba Naomi]

She laughed gently. "I don't draw to fill someone's stomach, silly."
"I'm kind of keeping track in my journal what we see on our way during this voyage, including much of things I've never seen before and it might be educational to someone else in the future... who knows." Her shoulders shrugged.

If he had failed in remembering that detail, she didn't fault him.

"This is the place?" Naomi asked as she looked around them and eased the rudder.

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

Journals. Journals did make sense. "Ahh, like a journey book? " he nodded, smiling. "I love those."

"And yes, his should be it... Kami are only so precise." The man lifted the oars to the boat once again, turning to prepare the rod he had brought with him. "Let's see if we can catch something."

[Shiba Naomi]

"Hai, a journey-book," she said with a smile and let go of the rudder.

"How have you been since we last spoke?" Naomi asked casually as she got her fishing pole ready and with hopeful eyes watched as the line went into the water.

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"Fine I guess." he nodded. "Much better after all that.." he waved his hand north, to the direction of the Sea of Shadows.

Preparing his own pole, the man attached the bait, a small bit of dried fish he had learned to hate already. Mantis might have known a lot about sailing, but it seemed that where ever the ninth Legion commander had found his cooks, terms 'taste' and 'flavour' were unknown.

Casting his line over the side, he turned to regard his wife-to-be. Who had brought a bow with her. He half wondered if she was afraid of her chastity. Then again, it was hardly a topic he could bring up. "So, have you been fishing before?" More innocent question, would surely help to clear the tension.

[Shiba Naomi]

She followed his gesture to the north, and nodded. Again, she felt glad to have her bow with her, incase something would happen.

"Few times, yes. I'm not unknown to it. Father liked to do it once in a while to just wind down, and was more than happy to take us along when we were young. I think he just like the simplicity of fishing, since it's not exactly as we were reliant on our fishing skills."

She looked back at Xiao Hua. "I don't think most samurai have to get by with fishing on their own though, so it's probably just a hobby for those who do know how to do it."

"I rather like the chance to be out here and a bit away from... well, everyone else. It gets rather overwhelming on a boat, since we're so many and it's so cramped after a week."

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

At least her father likes fishing, then... can't be entirely bad man. For a pauper. Maybe that's why he fishes.. Oh dad, is this your view of Phoenix Trading family? Bitter as he was, he kept smiling at her. It was not her fault, exactly.

"True, true..." he nodded. "Something to kill time... and valuable skill when on the move." It was easy enough to agree on that, pauper or no pauper.

"It's nice, but I also get some of that up in the crow's nest. Scouting is a lonely duty he chuckled. So for me, this is a bit opposite. Having someone to talk to, without having half of the crew snoring behind my back."

[Shiba Naomi]

She chuckled a bit as he spoke of the crows nest.

"Does your father fish too? All I know of him is what little I've heard from mine, and he spoke of your father highly. Even if we have very different traditions and all." I should try to familiarize myself with this, after all.

"My father is rather old-fashioned, so I'm surprised he seemed to take such a liking to a Unicorn." Her face flushed slightly and she quickly added in; "not that there's anything wrong with your clan, of course, just that our traditions are very different from yours."

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"Not really. He doesn't really have time for such things." he explained. "Family duties keep him too busy." Tugging his line up, he checked that the bait was still there, before lowering it back to the sea.

"Well, my father seems to get well along with almost everybody, so that might have helped." he chuckled. Still no idea why he wanted to join our families..

His face hardened as the last words left her mouth. "You mean that Phoenix don't try to invade the capitol, burn in to the ground just because the Throne stand empty?"

[Shiba Naomi]

She looked away from him.
"That's not what I meant. And... it's in the past now. The Divine Empress, long may she reign, have forgiven the actions of your former Champion. Please, I didn't mean to offend."

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

Man breathed deep and sighed. "I am sorry... your kinswoman just... seemed to think that I was responsible of... the incident." After a moment of silence, he added. "It was unfair of me to..." What ever it was, was swallowed by silence.

[Shiba Naomi]

"Oh..." she looked a bit surprised, "I could never think that you would be responsible for such... actions." Naomi couldn't find a more polite word for it now. It was the actions of one ambitious man.

She let the silence linger for a while. She checked her line, noticing that the bait was still there, and threw it back in.

"I can understand if you feel a bit... defensive. I imagine all of your kin must. It's still fresh in all of our memories, just like the invasion from the north is fresh in our memories. Such things are hard to forget."