[Day 3 EE] Ra'Shari caravan - Sing me the song of your people (expecting)

[Claudia Gabinus]

Snip

"I'm a surgeon, so I specialise in cutting people open and putting them back together. Well, I'm a soldier too so the first part often happens independently."
She winces at something.
"When I remember to block."

She's spotted Nihira glancing at the empty spot several times and so feels compelled to answer.
"Umm, do you have a ghost too?"

[Nihira]

Snip

"Hey now, rooting around in people and making them better sounds good to me. You do make them better, right? You don't just...cut them open to look inside and that's it? Nah, nah. I don't think that's a thing. Or is it?"

Nihira reflexively glance at the same spot by the fire again upon hearing Claudia's question. "Grandmother, yes. She was hoping I'd be a dancer like her, like everyone else in my family but I have these two left feet when it comes to that stuff. I just couldn't do it. But that's fine, that's fine. I'm good at other stuff, just like you. Blocking might not be your thing but checking inside people is. It all works out."

[Claudia Gabinus]

Snip

"Well, some surgeons did, originally. But most of those people were dead so it doesn't count. Now we try to make them better, although most of my experience is with battlefield injuries where you can be a bit less delicate."

Claudia glances next to her then glances at the spot, the two women apparently staring all around them.

"I'm no dancer either, but thankfully I never had to be. I'm sure the stuff you're good at is important."
She pauses for a moment.

"Would your grandmother like to meet my grandfather? He usually enjoys meeting new ghosts."
Slight wince.
"...Even if they aren't Yodotai." There's the sense Claudia is translating a less polite word.

[Nihira]

Snip

Her nose crinkled up at the mention of rooting around in dead people for just a second before realizing she didn't really care if it got modern medical science to where it was now. Should she be bitten by a jackal of some kind she hoped someone like Claudia would be there having learned from those early corpse explorers.

"Hey it's a science and that's how we make things better. Learning stuff for sure. I think that's how all of it works, I'm no woman of letters.

For the millionth time her eyes went back to that spot by the fire. "Does he speak Mekham? Or Ra'Shari? We could translate I guess. No need to let language come in between a connection. I'm not sure if I've heard Yodotai...Yodotai-ish? Yodotai-ese? Your language."

[Claudia Gabinus]

Snip

"Grandfather says he doesn't speak bar- he is most fluent in Yodotai." She smiles. "We tried to keep it simple. People? Yodotai. Nation? Yodotai. Language? Yodotai. They are all the seem thing, yes?"

On the spirit plane a barrel chested legionnaire in full armour and regalia had turned his head to the spot by the fire as Claudia leans in to whisper.
"Does your ancestor lecture you all the time too?"

[Nihira]

Snip

"Food? Yodotai. I think I get it. Sure does make it easy to remember. Like, I was speaking Yodotai with a Yodotai all the way from Yodotai while enjoying some Yodotai. Yup, nice and easy."

If Nihira looked hard enough she thought she could see Claudia's grandfather, even though she couldn't and just thought he was wearing a toga. "Not all of the time, mostly when I'm doing something she doesn't approve of. Surprisingly it's not all of the time but it's a good amount of the time. Hey now, maybe across all that distance and difference in culture and language we're not so different."

[Claudia Gabinus]

Snip

"It's a lot of Yodotai to remember, but there are quite a lot of us to the west. It is strange to be in a land where we are the mysterious foreigners from far away."

Claudia's grandfather looks over at her and waves his hands a bit at Nihira before sighing and mumbling something about mortals these days.
The surgeon meanwhile hides a grin with her hand. "No matter our differences, we all have grandparents who want the best for us. Or, what they think is the best for us."

Cocking her head.
"Do you mind if I ask what it is you do, professionally?"

[Nihira]

Snip

"Think and what actually is might be the thing that is up for debate. But yes, their hearts are in the right place. They care and want to guide us, you can't hate that." Nihira nodded to herself. Even though it seemed a little harsh sometimes, her grandmother loved her.

"Aha, well you are looking at one of the premier entertainers among this caravan. Well maybe not this caravan since this one isn't mine and they don't do entertainment as much as other things, but they are welcoming of me anyway. Juggling! Danger! Acrobatics! Agility! Grace! Skill! You get all of this at a Nihira show. Maybe you've seen me in the Merchant Quarter? I tend to travel around that place."

[Claudia Gabinus]

Snip

"But you can get a little annoyed at it."
Her grandfather glances over and the Yodotai looks innocent.

"Oh, you're an..acra...acro..acrobat? You perform? That must be exciting. I might have seen you from a distance? The people told me Ra'Shari weren't to be trusted, but I think that is not right. Just because someone can juggle does not mean they are a bad person."
She nods to herself, imparting the great wisdom of the Yodotai.

"But you have travelled? Now that is interesting, have you been to the Rokugan? Apparently they have powerful magics there."

[Nihira]

Snip

Nihira glance around before adding a confirming nod of her own. "Sometimes the best of intentions can be...annoying."

That was all she was going to speak on the matter least she catch a wayward sandal upside her head. Best to change the subject as well. "You might have seen me indeed. Walk through the Merchant Quarter and you have a good chance of seeing me putting on a show. Reception is...mixed but I attribute it to certain people not being used to such entertainment. I'm pretty good, don't worry about that. Or maybe it's because of who I am but I wouldn't put too much stock into what people say about us. I know it to be false, all of it. They need someone to look down upon and oh look at that, were convenient." Her voice began to rise, betraying the fact that maybe she did actually care what people said.

"Rokugan you say? I've heard of it. I've also heard you have to jump through hoops to get in. You'd think I'd like that but too bad they're not literal hoops, otherwise I'd be all over it. Have you seen inside this so called Emerald Empire?"