She sighs, nodding. His fingers were - they made her think of her sisters. Elspeth. Elspeth always had such a delicate touch. No matter how long and exhausting the petitions were of a morning, Elspeth could will them away with the same little movements.
It worked the same, now.
"What customs have you made? Perhaps I could borrow one for a little while?"
"I suppose so. I am adaptive--it's easy for me to discard my own customs and to take up whatever suits my will and the will of people I care about. For me, I keep the custom of my tea ceremony, but rather than making it a grand gesture of diplomacy, I make it a friendly gift. Back home, it was weighed with significance, and it was more often others who served me. I only performed the ceremony myself in order to smooth over some ruffled feathers or to ensure a diplomatic agreement. Here, I can offer that ceremony to any friend or new acquaintance who needs a bit of soothing." Which Gilia clearly does at the moment, so he thinks it's not a bad idea. And he might be able to offer it to her as a tool.
"I can teach you. It is soothing both as server and recipient, and though it has rules and repetition, it uses those things to calm and give peace. You may be able to use it because it makes your guest attentive to you and your command, while also giving them a great gift of care and calm."
"I have only just learned what tea is. I would love to know more of it. I did not know there was a ceremony for it too."
Tea... everyone seems to have some variant of it. Maybe it would be nice, to share it with them, something that helped her feel more like everyone else, in some small way.
"There are herbal infusions that can be made with any plant, and sometimes the people here refer to those infusions or tisanes as 'tea'," Huaisang explains, gently dislodging her as he gets up, then reaching to help her rise with him. "Tea is made from the tea plant. There are many varieties, and the leaves are then dried and in some cases fermented to prepare them to be infused in hot water."
Keeping hold of her hand, Huaisang leads her through the main floor of the house into his little tea and dining room, opening a cupboard to show his array of little tea packets and cakes. He went through a variety of them to introduce her to them, having her smell green and black teas and explaining some of the differences before he selected one of the green tea cakes and set it on the table, along with his tea set. "Now, we have to start with boiling water."
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no subject
It worked the same, now.
"What customs have you made? Perhaps I could borrow one for a little while?"
no subject
"I can teach you. It is soothing both as server and recipient, and though it has rules and repetition, it uses those things to calm and give peace. You may be able to use it because it makes your guest attentive to you and your command, while also giving them a great gift of care and calm."
no subject
"I have only just learned what tea is. I would love to know more of it. I did not know there was a ceremony for it too."
Tea... everyone seems to have some variant of it. Maybe it would be nice, to share it with them, something that helped her feel more like everyone else, in some small way.
no subject
Keeping hold of her hand, Huaisang leads her through the main floor of the house into his little tea and dining room, opening a cupboard to show his array of little tea packets and cakes. He went through a variety of them to introduce her to them, having her smell green and black teas and explaining some of the differences before he selected one of the green tea cakes and set it on the table, along with his tea set. "Now, we have to start with boiling water."