The ronin woman arrived at the inn promptly for her appointment.  Paying work was hard to find.  This patron was supposed to be a rich Crane; she hoped that he would offer her honorable work.  While in Ryoko Owari, she had taken a few jobs that were on the shady side of the law; she didn't much like it, but she had a hungry child to feed and couldn't afford to be choosy.

The innkeeper obsequiously escorted her to a private room where her new patron awaited her arrival.  The innkeeper knelt to slide the shoji screen aside, allowing her entry, before silently departing.  The ronin gasped in surprise as she recognized the man waiting within - a slim man in rich court dress, with immaculate white hair and fine features, marred only by a scar along one cheek.  This was Daidoji Toshi: warrior, poet and courtier of the Crane clan.  And once, many years ago, her lover.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me," began the Crane.  "I hope you and...the boy...are well."

She laughed bitterly.  "'The boy'?  Our *son* and I are well enough.  But why have you come asking after us now, after so many years?  Have you come, at last, to be with us?"

"You know that can never be," he said gently.

She turned away from him, struggling to maintain her composure.  "Once...once you thought otherwise," she said softly.

"Yes," Toshi admitted, sighing deeply.  "But I was young then, and knew no better.  I...I have a duty to my clan."

"Duty!" she cried angrily.  "*Duty* has always stood between us.  Have you no *duty* to our son?"

Saying nothing, he looked down shamefacedly.  Though a courtier and a poet, no words came to his lips.

"So, then," she said at last, with a sigh.  "Why have you come?"

The Crane took a deep breath.  "I had heard your sword was for hire.  A small amount of land has come into my possession, but I have little time to maintain it.  I hoped I might hire you to administrate it."  Toshi pulled a scroll out of his sleeve and unrolled it.  It was a writ naming her magistrate of a small Crane village, with a generous stipend.

Her mind raced at the possibilities that money would bring: new clothes for her son; white rice at meals, instead of millet.  But, the ronin forced herself to harden her heart.  "I cannot accept this...*charity*," she said.  "I may be poor, but I am *still* samurai."

Toshi smiled slightly.  "It is no charity.  You will need to work for this money.  Please, take it."

"What sort of work?" she said scornfully. "Are you expecting to buy my sword...or a place in my bed?"

His eyes widened in shock.  "No, no, nothing of the sort," he protested.  "It is honorable work, I swear it!  Though I must confess...I would rest easier knowing that you and...our son...are provided for."  Toshi rolled up the scroll and thrust it into her hands.

Their hands touched for a moment, and her pulse leaped.  Startled, she gazed into his eyes; they were like pools of ink, and filled with sincerity.  She remembered the boy she had met beneath the cherry trees, so long ago.  But then the moment passed, and she pulled away from him.

She had meant to refuse the scroll again, but somehow she had ended up with it.