L5r - scroll 03 - The Crane Read Online Free PDF Page B

matches, Toshimoko-sama? Perhaps you should leave the worried faces to your students and keep a wiser smile on your chin." Laughing, the storyteller stepped up her pace to match his.
    "Who are you, impudent squirrel?" Toshimoko asked gruffly, tugging at a lock of her white hair.
    "Do you not know me, Uncle? It is Doji Shizue. If your eyes are weary, I can have a maidservant guide you to the balconies so that you can hear the fighting." Her impish smile betrayed the teasing words.
    "You are not Shizue-chan. Shizue is a little girl, only this high." He held a hand to his knee and winked at her. "You must be the maidservant."
    "If you keep throwing the Phoenix in the river, we will both become maidservants."
    Toshimoko grunted. "Not my fault. The boy wanted a bath. I gave him one."
    "Tell me, old father, do you still remember the way to the dueling grounds? I seem to have lost my way." Shizue grinned shamelessly.
    "Go past three mountains, and turn left," Toshimoko pointed at a line of burly Dragons, facing away from them and blocking the hallway ahead. "Better yet, let me move the mountains for you." Stepping forward with his best sensei shout, the old man barked at the gathered samurai, "What are you doing!"
    Two of the Dragons jumped to the side, landing in martial stances. Instantly, they had readied themselves for combat, legs wide and hands in fists to block or strike. The third simply lifted an eyebrow and looked back over his shoulder at the man with the young girl at his side.
    Toshimoko stood with an almost bored expression, his hands clasped behind his back.
    "Watching the Lion prepare himself," the third Dragon said peacefully. On his sleeves hung the mon of the Miru-moto family, a very high-ranking name within the Dragon Clan. He still stood in the doorway at the edge of the practice field. Beyond him, the Crane practiced their swordsmanship. He pointed across the field at a knot of retainers dressed in the brown and orange of the Lion.
    "Watching Lions?" Toshimoko scratched his head thoughtfully and reached into his vest for another part of the cinnamon twig. "That could be interesting. We'll join you."
    The jumpy Dragons looked at each other sheepishly and lowered their hands, noting that Toshimoko seemed to be ignoring them.
    "Since you seem better informed than your companions and significantly less eager—" Toshimoko's glance scalded the defensive samurai— "you can tell us about this Lion's technique." He bowed politely to the Dragon. The burly guards stumbled slightly backward, forced by decorum not to touch the sensei or the swords that protruded from his blue obi. "Come, Shizue. I wish to hear the Dragon speak."
    The third Dragon smiled at his compatriots' obvious discomfort as Shizue stepped neatly between them and joined her uncle in his bow. "Honorable Dragon-san, I am known as Doji Shizue, and this is my uncle, Kakita Toshimoko. It is our pleasure to meet guests of our house, and we hope that you have enjoyed the hospitality of our Lord Hoturi." Her voice was smooth and polite, with just the proper touch of deference.
    "Noble Lady, I am well aware of both your name and that of your honored uncle. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mirumoto Taki, son of Mirumoto Sukune, general of the Mirumoto family of the esteemed Dragon Clan." He bowed in return, his broad shoulders moving beneath a green silk kimono and golden haori vest. Brown eyes smiled from a round face, and twin swords hung at his side.
    "Taki?" Toshimoko smiled genuinely. "I know your father. Good man and should be daimyo. Damn thing, that." When
    Taki did not respond, Toshimoko pointed again at the Lion contingent aiding their lord into his complex armor. "Tell me about that one."
    "The Lion is an Ikoma named Jushin. He is the son of Ikoma Ijode, once Akodo Ijode, and still lord of the Tenkai province. Their lands stretch beneath the Lion palace of Kenson Gakka."
    "A farmer?" Toshimoko snorted.
    "No, he is the third son of that lord and