<div class="floatright">(http://pre01.deviantart.net/993d/th/pre/f/2012/195/c/a/legend_of_the_five_rings_female_samurai_by_phantom_cz-d579ozg.jpg)<br/><div align="center">Doji Shizuka (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=277531.msg13637264#msg13637264)</div></div>Doji Shizuka was properly seated as Hirohide-same returned, and she listened in attentive silence as he gave the explanations and instructions.<br/><br/>When it came time for questions, she drew her fan, a simple and practiced gesture.  The slats of the fan was made of gold, and upon either side of the silk was painted the ancestor for whom she had been given her name.  Upon one side, ancestor Shizuka was smiling and beckoning, and upon the other, she was turned away, with a fan of her own held up almost as if for protection.<br/><br/>The golden slats were indented with different markings on either side, allowing Shizuka to know which way the fan faced at any given time, and which way she held the fan demonstrated her intentions without speaking a word.  Most commonly, the two sides meant affirmation or denial.  Were she to reveal the Shizuka looking away - Iie-Shizuka - and fan herself, it meant that she had no questions and was ready to be dismissed.<br/><br/>As she began to open the fan, Iie-Shizuka was on the side facing Hirohide-sama, and it appeared as though she would do exactly that.  Yet she stopped before fully extending the fan.  "There is strength in numbers," she said, her voice one of working through a quandary.  "Having committed a crime, one would expect criminal and accomplice to remain together, at each other's side to evade pursuit for as long as possible.  Yet the two travel in opposite directions."<br/><br/>She had no answer, yet it was a puzzle.  Most often, a puzzle meant that things were not as they appeared, offering the insight for which she'd stood out at Doji Diplomat School.  Allowing possibilities and guesses to whisper in her mind and for others to offer ideas of their own, she fanned herself with Iie-Shizuka to show that she had no further questions for Hirohide-sama and was ready to be dismissed.