[D2, MM, Open] A Gift Before Parting

[Doji Hametsu]

Having executed the morning routine for his Chui, Doji Hametsu returned to his tent to see about packing for the journey, only to be confronted with a surprise.

There was a package, a large one, waiting on a sledge. The freight agent, a burly man with a thick accent from the southern coast, presented some papers for a stunned Hametsu to sign, then signaled his servants to pick up the package and schlep it into Hamtesu's tent.

A moment later, having bade the freight agent farewell and a little wrong-footed by this unexpected arrival, Hametsu hesitated at the entrance of his tent, now invaded by this oversized parcel slapped down in the middle of his personal space. Finally, he squared his shoulders and slipped inside to fetch a knife and cut the thing open, only to discover a thick layer of straw.

"Hmph," Hamtesu pouted. This blasted straw is going to get all over my floor! But, unable to simply wish the thing away, he thrust a hand inside the mess of dead grass to find something solid, and, lifting it, fairly substantial in weight. As the straw fell away, he saw it. A kabuto, painstakingly shaped into an object worthy of an officer, not too ostentatious, but solid, and subtly shaped for maximum protection, and, around the opening for the face, the subtlest touch of artistry in the curve of the cheek-guards.

And that wasn't all. Piece by piece, each of a like quality, the parcel yielded a full suit of armor. Its quality and the attention to detail--each piece precisely matched Hamtesu's measurements and stamped with the chop of the House of Niihara--could speak to only one maker.

Hametsu set the last of the pieces down in his trunk, having carefully wiped away the clinging straw, and sighed. He sat on his cot for a long moment, staring at the armor gleaming within, blinked, then closed the lid.

He'd spend the rest of the hour pensively sweeping stubborn straw out of his tent.