(Moon 10, aftdeck, Early evening) Horizons

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"Am I?" he asked, turning to face her, his gaze more serious than moments before.

[Shiba Nozomi]

She clasps her hands in front of her small frame slowly, clouded eyes looking up at him out from under her bangs. "I w-would like you t-t-to take a g-good long l-look at me, I-Iuchi-sama. F-from your w-words, you h-haven't seen m-me... at all."

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

Doing as he was asked to, he regarded the woman, tilting his head to the side slightly as he did so. "I have seen you."

[Shiba Nozomi]

Struggling through the words, she replies with,"If t-that's true... th-then you m-might understand h-h-how well I k-know the w-w-world isn't what it su-seems."

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"Do you? The item you marvelled at first..." He tapped the occulum. "... suddenly turned unattractive, just because you heard where it came from." The man asked her with a gentle, curious tone.

[Shiba Nozomi]

Sighing a little, Nozomi explains,"H-hai. Kn-knowledge w-will change one's p-per-perspective of things."

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"So, based on the items origin, you deemed it somehow faulty?" The man inquired, his tone a little questioning.

[Shiba Nozomi]

"I n-never c-claimed it f-fails t-to work. It's a m-matter of wh-why." She blinks, surprised as how difficult the concept is for him to grasp.

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"Matter of why?"

[Shiba Nozomi]

Trying to be patient, she asks, "W-were I to c-cast a sp-spell, and it h-healed you, h-how w-would you f-feel about it?"

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"Erm, if I were injured, I would most likely to be thankful?" he asked, puzzled.

[Shiba Nozomi]

Her nose twitches. "J-just so. So..." She takes a deep breath and uses a distinct force of will to keep from messing the next part up.

"What if... you found out... it was fueled... by power from... blood magic?" Small fingers subtly made a ward against evil.

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

Iuchi's fingers traced the very same mark against evil. "I would call the spirits of the earth to smite you." he huffed. "But you are not a tsukai, nor is this item foul." he tapped the occulum again. "it's just construct of wood, metal and glass."

[Shiba Nozomi]

Her soft voice is barely above a whisper."How do you know those things for sure, Iuchi-sama?"

Shaking her head, her hair falls farther forward over her face. "A l-little knowledge c-can be a d-dangerous thing. Using some-something can change the u-user, and n-not always for the b-b-better."

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"How can any mortal be absolutely sure of anything, Shiba-san? The Throne has accepted the Unicorn as the children of Shinjo, as a part of the Empire, and thus, the Celestial order. Foreign doesn't simply mean evil, or foul."

"Knowledge is surely power." he nodded, agreeing. "And one has to be careful what one does with power. But this thing is a mere trinket. Handy, but hardly powerful."

[Shiba Nozomi]

"Or-oracles can also s-see distant things un-un-unfold right before th-their eyes. I'd n-never deny that th-they have g-gr-great power."

She sniffs. This was beginning to wear on her."Also, the D-Daughter of Heaven did n-n-not accept every f-for-foreigner as p-part of the Celestial Order. J-just the Unicorn, I-Iuchi-sama."

In her mind, the Unicorn could be accepted as fully Rokugani, or he, and his clan, could adhere to Gaijin roots. Not both.

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"Oracles represent the Dragons! Of course they are powerful. They can do many things, beyond seeing distant things. I wouldn't compare my trinket to them." the man muttered, somewhat annoyed.

"No, she did not accept every gaijin. But even the world beyond the Empire... is connected to the world we live in. All is one. Origin of an item should not make it dubious. Only how it is used."

[Shiba Nozomi]

The man was intolerable. Her voice, while still relatively quiet, quavers with intense frustration. Practically hissing, the words roll smoothly from her lips, "And when it's used to kill countless innocent people, and lay waste to Toshi Ranbo simply in a play for selfish power? Then what?"

A heartbeat of pure silence passes before Nozomi realizes what she's just said. Minuscule hands fly to her mouth and she squeezes her eyes shut tightly. Shiba-no-kami, please forgive me...

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"I did not march to the Toshi Ranbo." he told her, matter of factly, somewhat annoyed. "My Clan Champion did, and as far as things stand, the incident was resolved."

Muttering, he continued, keeping his eyes on her. "And yes, I was not pleased when I heard about it. I am a mere merchant patron. Khan does what Khan wills. War is always bad in my line of duty." Well, to some merchants war was also good, but not to Xiao Hua's family who traded with luxury items.

"What killed men in Toshi Ranbo was greed, pride and Rokugani steel." He huffed.

[Shiba Nozomi]

He could have been stationed on the Obsidian Dragon for all she cared. What mattered to her was that he seemed almost entirely unaffected by the whole travesty of a situation. To make matters worse, what seemed to affect him most was his complaint about it's effect on business.

Oh yes, the Unicorn would smile all day for no good reason, but would hardly look concerned about wholesale slaughter.

Bowing very stiffly, Nozomi requests in very formal language, "I..if Iu-Iuchi-sa-sama will ex-excuse this one? She f-feels an in-intense need for m-me-meditation and p-purification."