[color=indianred]”Oh!”[/color] Masako said, surprised when Akane’s voice called over to her from somewhere behind Masako. [color=indianred]”I didn’t see you there,”[/color] she said, standing and looking up at the ronin who was sitting behind her. Had she been… Meditating? Perhaps that was the key to the woman’s level head. 


Masako looked down at her handiwork in the dirt before calling up to the ronin. [color=indianred]”I think we’re almost to Shinkawa? Around four days away, if not less I think,”[/color] Masako said, guessing at the distance. Geography had been one of her subject of study as a daughter of a daimyo, and Masako neither thought herself good nor bad at it. [color=indianred]”Will we be heading there next?”[/color]


Waiting until the Ronin hopped down from the pile of rocks, Masako bit her lip. In the court, she’d been forced to keep up a mask and hide her thoughts for fear that someone would deduce enough to hold something—anything—above her, but she didn’t want to have to put on a mask for the ronin. Akane struck Masako as an honest person, and she wanted to reciprocate that honestly. [color=indianred]”Say,”[/color] Masako started, frowning, [color=indianred]”if I wanted to pass through Shinkawa without anyone recognizing me—especially the guards—would that be feasible?”[/color]


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[@Damiann47]