Tea time

She hadn’t entirely intended to avoid his question outright, but a part of her wanted normal conversation first before she dove right into her issues. If she ignored them enough, maybe they would go away… but they had never done so before, and it was foolish of her to think they would do so now.

She paused mid-pour, the mouth of the pouch dripping a few stray drops of the peppermint tea onto the dirt floor. She’d thought ahead of his horn growth, having just gone through the regrowth of her own not too long before, and the peppermint was known to relieve headaches. She finished the pour and slid the cup toward him, placing the pouch down gently. ”I…have been better,” she said, a wry smile tilting onto her pale lips. The ghostly woman fussed nervously with her own cup, taking a sip before continuing, a motion that was clearly meant for comfort.

”I haven’t mentioned this before, though it’s not a kept secret, but I have a son. Hattori Hanzõ, the shogun of Ashen. Or…I suppose, as I recently learned, the former shogun of Ashen. He’s leaving, setting off to find his own more fertile soil and…I don’t know what to do about it,” she confessed. Her brows over her soft silver eyes drew inward and she felt the ache in her chest flare up once again. All Kiyo had ever wanted was a home, a steady home with a man who loved her, to watch over their gaggle of children together as they grew into old age. She had once considered Iga her home, but it had quickly become a prison, and then Ashen had felt like home, and now that was being torn away from her too.

"Hattori Kiyo"