Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mizu, emerging from Okaa-sama's room with an empty cup of tea on the lacquered tray in her hands, stopped abruptly at the sight of the new arrival. Smiling cheerily at the thought of a new member of the okiya family, she hurriedly washed the tea cup and wiped her wet hands hastily on a well-placed towel before reappearing by the porch.

"Ohayo! My name is Mizu, one of Serena-sama's maiko! I hope you feel welcome here," she said with a sunny smile before turning to her Onee-sama. "Ne Onee-sama, should I take the new maid to her room and get her acquainted with the okiya grounds?" she asked politely.

Mizu nodded respectfully and beckoned to the other girl with a smile, leading her from the porch to the interior of the okiya's main building. "This is where all our rooms are...um...I never caught your name..." Mizu blushed and giggled gently at her own ignorance. "Please, forgive me, I am not laughing at you but rather my own ignorance," she explained. With another smile, she gestured down a hall. "This corridor leads to the kitchen...it's also where your room is located...do you want to put your stuff away or explore the grounds first?" she asked.

Sakura went bakc out to the garden grabbed the trimmers and started to trim the hedges, 'I love to work in the garden!' She thought.
She trimmed all of the hadges until the were perfect, 'That took so long'
((Jusan=13))

Serena thought for a minute, trying to think of what the young maid could do next.
"Wehy don't you clean the chandelier in the dining room,"Serena suggested.

Umemi had been so busy lately that she had little time for the girls as she was trying to sort the books out. She wanted though to spend time with them and get to know them. As the Oikya mother it was her duty though of course she wanted to get to know the girls on a personal basis as well. She finsihed looking though the books and decided to stretch her legs and see what was going on.

"So how was your trip, Tome-chan?"Serena asked her young maiko.

Mizu smiled at the maid, her expression open and cheerful. "Mizu is fine really, I tend to speak to everyone respectfully, especially my Onee-sama and the Okaa-sama, but Mizu is fine for me; Mizu-chan if you're daring," she teased lightly, leading the girl outside. "Why don't I show you the grounds then first? It's too nice a day to stay inside Aire-chan!"

Slipping on her zori once more, she led the other girl by one of the cobbled paths around the okiya grounds. "This way is our gardens! We have lots of flowers, especially roses, and a special little sakura bower back there. The cherries aren't the sweetest, a little too tart for my liking, but the flowers are beautiful in bloom. It's a pity it's nearly winter now..." Motioning her charge to a location beyond the gardens, she ushered the maid to a stretch of cobbles as well as a small pavilion by a well. "This is generally where we do our laundry! You might see one of us maiko or even one of the geisha practicing the shamisen here. You know," she said conspiratorially, though her eyes were filled with teasing laughter, "you have to keep your hands in the well's ice cold water until they go numb before you practice. That way, if you get stage fright at a performance and your hands go numb, you'll already know what it's like!" Mizu giggled cheerfully and pointed off towards the okiya building. "Do you want to go back or should we go see other parts of the okiya grounds?"

((sorry if my posts get slow Dea-san, minna-san, I think I'm catching a cold...))