[Day 7, Late Morning, Library] Books n' stuff!

[Shinjo Qulan]

"It happened when the Empress ended trade agreements with the foreigners from Thrane. They had left, but returned. The resulting battle killed the Lion Clan Champion and our Empress of the time, Hantei Yugozohime. After that, we barred most gaijin from coming into our Empire. Which proved to be troublesome when we returned. We came back, looking much like the gaijin from the Burning Sands. We were not trusted until we presented Doji's Fan. A gift from the founder of the Crane to the founder of our Clan. They were very close sisters."

[Jayant Utpal]

Jayant listened. "I can see why the Thrane were expelled. Bad men with traitor's hearts. I don't think the Kingdoms have ever had dealings with them." He paused. "I do not quite understand completely though. If we were attacked by an outside force, we would not turn against all outside forces."

[Shinjo Qulan]

"They brought with them something we call gaijin pepper. Explosives. That made us... Wary of outsiders, obviously." she said with a frown.

[Jayant Utpal]

"Explosives?" Jayant looked rather confused by the idea. Something he obviously had no experience in. And it didn't look like Qulan's explanation had cleared up any of the gaijin's confusion.

[Shinjo Qulan]

"Well, it's a powder that... Explodes. Causes a lot of fire... Most of our buildings are made of a much less sturdy material than stone or wood."

[Jayant Utpal]

It was Jayant's turn to frown now. "That does sound very bad." He says, simply. Then adds. "What do you make homes out of, if not stone or wood?"

[Shinjo Qulan]

"Partially wood and maybe some stone exterior... But the rest? Paper." she said with a laugh. "Pretty silly, actually. We Unicorn do things different because we are nomadic by nature. We use yurts."

[Jayant Utpal]

Jayant blinks. "Paper? I've heard it is much colder in Rokugan than here. How do you survive using only paper to keep heat in when there is snow on the ground? How do you keep secrets? Or defend against attackers?"

At what was apparently another new word, Jayant paused. "A yurt? I do not think I have read about those yet."

[Shinjo Qulan]

"Well, I know that the Phoenix Clan use their magic to keep things bearable... Most of the other Clans live further south, only the Phoenix and Dragon get the bad winters." She smiled. "And a yurt is a large... Tent. It takes a while to set up, but it can be fairly warm once you make a fire pit."

[Jayant Utpal]

The man clearly did not dare think about what a bad winter might mean. When the good winters didn't seem all that good in the first place. "Ah. That makes sense then. If your hou- clan had traveled a great deal they could not build homes every time they stopped. So they would need to take their homes with them."

[Shinjo Qulan]

"Exactly. And we still travel quite a bit among our lands, call it a habit." Qulan grinned. "I'm glad to have traveled where few Unicorn have dared to go."