Cassie Visits Hiro

Cassie examined Hiro's clothing while they moved toward their destination. He was dressed oddly and she asked him about it. He told her that his kamishimo (outfit) was simply a kataginu (a vest) over hakama (wide, flowing trousers) and was traditional Samurai clothing. Cassie looked at his feet encased in funny socks and wearing hemp flip-flops.

Hiro noticed her stare, "The socks are called tabi while the shoes are called waraji."

"I see what you mean about foreign words," Cassie chuckled. I'm getting some of what you say in English, but many words remain Japanese. "So you are a Samurai? How does that work?"

"Actually, I'm ronin. I have no daimyo and so am no longer an official Samurai. My Boss concocted a story about me saving my now-dead daimyo's child and then I was left to suffer the consequences of his decisions. I am not supposed to allow myself to live without a daimyo," Hiro said softly. "But with a mission from him at his death, I was still under his auspices and so I did not seppuku – what you would call 'fall on the sword' and now continue to inhabit this realm without the need for following all the rules of my culture, bushido."

Cassie tried to absorb the alienness of what he was telling her. But what she really wanted to do was touch the beautiful clothing. The shoulders on the vest were exaggerated and yet they still barely covered the expanse of chest to arm. His arms were highly muscled. The cloth itself seems to shimmer and was beautifully done in muted colors with a delightful pattern. The sash around his narrow waist held two swords.

Hiro brought Cassie to a spacious, airy, but simple house. As they entered, Hiro took the longer sword, his katana, and laid it aside. He kept the shorter sword, his wakisashi, and a small dagger, tanto, tucked into the top of his tabi were left. Cassie asked if he were expecting danger.

"One of the tenets a young Samurai learns is that he must always be prepared for death, his own or someone else's. I am always armed. Always."

"Well, this is going to be interesting. I usually don't even have a nail file with me," thought Cassie as she tried to absorb the notion of violence inherent in Hiro's culture.

"My reason for being at the fountain," began Cassie, "was to begin writing in a journal. I thought that if I gathered information and help from other characters, I could somehow figure out more about The Station. Although, it seems vast and complicated, I think knowing more would be better than knowing less, which is all I have now."

Hiro could remember the terror he first felt upon arriving here and he nodded in agreement. Knowledge was power across time, space, and all the dimensions.

"Perhaps I could make tea and we could discuss what I have learned," offered Hiro. He went off to gather the proper equipment together.

Cassie remembered reading about the difficulty in preparing ceremonial Japanese tea and she wished she could just have a cup of coffee. But she didn't want to offend a heavily armed man. "Sure," she said, and prepared to wait for tea.