Late light rests on Lord Matsudaira's private garden. Moss softens the stones, and the water channel glints beneath trimmed pines. Arimari sits with brush, ink, and paper, letting the quiet settle around him.
He draws the curve of a pine branch, then the dark line of the channel, careful and patient. The koi turn below the surface, their ripples breaking the reflection into fragments.
Reina
His hand is steady. Even now, he looks for the shape inside the silence.
Reina sits near the edge of the path, her white fur bright against the shade. She watches the paper more than the pond, her ears angled toward Arimari's breathing.
Reina
You make the garden look calmer than it is.
A pause follows, easy and warm. The lord's walls hold their secrets for the moment, and no one calls for them from the house.
Reina
When you are done, show me the sketch. I want to see what you keep when everything else is moving.
“I show reina the sketch and tell her I have grown strong feelings for her also”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Arimari lifts the sketch board and turns it toward Reina, the inked pine branch still wet at the edge.
Arimari Tiarasan
I have grown strong feelings for you, too.
Reina
Then let me see the whole truth of it, not just the branch.
He opens the page wider, showing the water channel, the stones, and the careful quiet he has caught in line and wash.
Reina
He sees more than surfaces. That is why this matters.
Reina
Your hand makes even a resting place feel worth guarding.
Reina leans closer, her ears forward, the softness in her posture belying how still she keeps her breath.
Reina
Stay a moment longer, and let me answer properly.
“I stay and listen.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Arimari settles back on his heels and lets the garden hush around them, brush resting across his palm.
Reina
When you listen like this, I forget the estate and its knives for a moment.
She lowers herself beside the mat, gaze moving from the ink to his face, unhurried and earnest.
Reina
I have walked many roads. I know the feel of being useful. I know the cost of being wanted only for that.
The water channel murmurs beside the stones as her tail gives one slow, thoughtful sweep.
Reina
With you, it is different. You look, and then you see.
Reina
That is why I can speak plainly now. I care for you, Arimari, and I would have you know it without distance between us.
She falls quiet after that, waiting with an open, searching patience.
“I answer Reina with my own feelings”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Arimari closes the sketch board with care and sets it aside on the mat. The garden stays hushed, the water channel threading silver between the stones.
Arimari Tiarasan
Her words are already enough to answer.
He turns fully toward her, shoulders easing, and lets the silence hold for a breath before he speaks.
Arimari Tiarasan
I care for you too, Reina. Plainly.
Reina
Then I am glad to hear it from your own mouth.
Reina’s ears angle forward as she searches his face, then her posture softens by a careful degree.
Reina
I did not want to guess at something so important. Not with you.
Arimari reaches for the folded cloth at his side, then stops, leaving his hand resting open on the mat between them.
Reina
Tell me, then, where your loyalty bends if the road grows difficult. I want to know the shape of your heart, not just your duty.
“I promise Reina I will choose her”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Arimari reaches to the edge of the mat and draws the folded seal toward himself, slow and deliberate. The garden seems to listen with them.
Arimari Tiarasan
Her question is the hardest one.
He lowers his gaze to the seal, then back to Reina, and slides the packet into her waiting paws.
Arimari Tiarasan
Then I choose you, Reina. If duty pulls me apart, I will still come back to you.
Reina
You place that weight in my hands so easily... I will not forget it.
Reina closes one paw over the seal, careful as if it were a living thing, and her ears lift at the confession.
Reina
That is what I needed to know. Not the language of a lord, the truth of you.
The water channel murmurs over stone while she holds his eyes, a small smile softening into solemn trust.
Reina
Tell me, then, when the road bends, what kind of future are you choosing with me?
“Is Reina asking for a marriage promise?”
YES (Likely, rolled 65)
Arimari Tiarasan
Her question is not about the path of the clan, but the path of our lives.
Reina
I speak of a union, Arimari. A life bound not by the ink of a scroll or the command of a lord, but by the choice to walk the same road until the end of our days.
“I promise her my path beside hers”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
The garden stays hushed as Arimari lets the answer settle in his chest.
Arimari Tiarasan
I will walk beside you, Reina. My path is yours to share.
Reina
Then I will not walk it alone. Not now, not ever.
Reina loosens her grip on the folded seal and rests it in her lap, as if the promise weighs less when it is shared.
Reina
He chooses this with his whole heart. That is rarer than rank, rarer than land.
A breeze moves through the leaves, and the sketch board catches the soft light off to the side, waiting for his brush.
Reina
If we share a road, Arimari, tell me what you keep drawing when the world is not watching.
“I show Reina the sketch beside us”
Arimari turns the sketch board toward Reina, angling it so the soft garden light falls across the inked lines between them.
Arimari Tiarasan
This one, beside us.
The drawing is simple, the quiet path, the low leaves, and the space where two figures seem to share the same breath.
Reina
He keeps even this moment with care.
“I tell reina for now we must focus on journeying to the nomaru lands”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +0)