"[color=dodgerblue]Even normal villages these days seem to have bands of scavengers waiting to pick apart your purse with glee. I suspect if we show up with coin in our hand, we'll find rooms and a meal account for exactly every coin we have, plus one.[/color]"

The man had his arms wrapped around his staff, secured behind his neck. Almost as if he were taking the time to rest and relax. Unlike the older man who traveled with him, he didn't need it as a tool to help him walk. Nor was he quick to offer his one prized possession to help the farmer out. The events of their escape had been... [i]annoying[/i], to say the least. Hyōryū was not accustomed to being herded about like livestock, however he couldn't say the chase was entirely unpleasant. Well used to travel for most of his life, the effects of the escape barely showed. More than that, his present company was [i]interesting[/i]. It was a rare day that he had companions on the road, and it wasn't an unwelcome change.

A breeze gently surrounded the group, blowing back the way they came, and evoked a scowl from the man. Circumstances permitting he never liked to move against the wind, but they were caught between a rock and a hard place at the moment.

"[color=dodgerblue]The wind blows away from this place, I would rather find a floor to sleep on as quickly as possible before moving on. Getting my throat slashed in an argument over sake isn't much more appealing to me than mining away the rest of my days.[/color]"

Not that he [i]minded[/i] the thought of getting a bed for the night, especially if it was the woman's money they were going to be spending. He himself was poor enough already though without the town's friendly 'caretakers' deciding that his own meager coin purse was suffering from a case of mistaken ownership. That, and he doubted there were any potential students in the place worth pursuing. Truly, it was going to serve as the low point in his travels. Even moreso than the Shōka festival had turned out to be.

His eyes drifted between the woman's outstretched hand and the sword at her side. Perhaps he could rely on her for both money and defense, it would certainly be a nice change of pace not having to fight or open his own coin purse. In all likelihood she was just a pampered upper-class noblewoman with a sword for show and no tolerance for life on the road, needing a bed to sleep at night and having more coin than a normal person could hope to spend. However, he did have his doubts. It would be a massive coincidence, but in his travels along the coast he had caught word of a woman who was said to be renowned with a blade, and shared an uncanny likeness with his new companion.

There was a higher chance of the wind blowing a petal back to the flower it came from.