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Chiharu was suspicious towards the lone building, it almost seemed haunted in her eyes at first. But once she was able to read the fortune's name she smiled briefly and became thoughtful:

—This is ... a lonely place for sake house, isn't it?

@ Ayame:

The best you got is that, with the Crane clan's love of Benten, this definitely seems in place for your expectations of a Crane province. Beyond that, you've never heard of this particular sake house, but it kind of is off the beaten path.

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No one is around, and you three, of course, do not have to stop at the obvious trap sake house if you wish to keep traveling. What is the plan?

Ayame nodded. It wasn't a place of any note to someone who knew everything so clearly there wouldn't be anything to learn about it, but much like staying at that hotspring she was dead set on letting the 'have the tents but don't need them' philosophy last as long as possible while they had the chance.

"Yup. Let's take a look at what it has to offer. This is Crane lands, surely they have tea alongside their sake, at the very least." she responded, dismounting Rakurai, tying him to any presumed stable posts they hopefully had available, and leading the procession inside. Though she did stop to give a little aside to Tsuyoshi on their way on. "Ah, Doji-san, don't fret too much about the contraband you collected. I plan to bring us back to Kyuden Doji either tomorrow or the next day so you can report this incident to your superiors and I can... report the attempt on my life to mine. I'm sure Domotai-san will be happy to put it to medicinal use. After the war you must still be distressingly short on painkillers. Those fields may be in rough shape but at least some convalescing Daidoji will appreciate the infraction."

(Not fully back yet; but using this opportunity to post as much as I can while my cat's asleep)

As Chiharu looked inside while her imperial charge was securing her horse, she would see hardly anyone in there. A lone man, who you guestimate to be in his late 20's, is behind a counter, a bored look on his face as he was placing some small object onto the surface, as if moving it from a larger pile to a smaller one.

Of course, as soon as he took note of you (only a second after you opened the door), he lit up. His head was shaved, but he was in a light blue cotton kimono - a non-farmer peasant in employ to the Crane, it looks like.

"Welcome to Benten's Fune, Doji-sama," the man would say, bowing his head to Chiharu. Stepping away from what he was doing - which, after studying it from the doorway, looked like a solitary game of mahjong - to the center area behind the counter. "How can I help-"

The man would stop suddenly as Chiharu stepped aside and Ayame entered. "O-oh! An imperial guest!" In a moment of panic, he looked to Ayame and then to his game, before dashing to it and sweeping the tiles from the countertop to the floor behind it with a series of loud clatters. Rushing around the counter, he would bow deeply in respect to the Miya. "W-welcome to my humble establishment, Miya-sama!"

There was no invitation for the other Crane to drink- not that he needed one. Tsuyoshi wasn't planning on drinking anything besides perhaps a tea of his own, though he was perhaps a little sad to see the game so abruptly put away. Oh well- they weren't here for leisure. So, he tried not to look too intimidating to their poor host as he stood by, acting the part of yojimbo behind Miya-sama and looking around the empty room.

Tsuyoshi gladly took the offered cup, taking a long time to just sample the warm scent of it before taking a small sip, to find himself even more delighted. Surely, Miya-sama would also be pleased. He took another smell for good measure before setting it down for the moment. "You are most kind. Miya-sama is surveying the land for the imperial maps, so we may have need of such."

"I'm sure Benten's Fune will find itself a traveling landmark on the map." He paused, looking thoughtful for a moment, and turned to Ayame. "Assuming the scale of the maps allows for landmarks such as an esteemed travelling stop. Does it?"

It was around this time when the door to the sake house would open, and in would walk three samurai, donning colors that immediately identify them as Scorpion. Two men, and a rather tall woman with shoulder-length hair. She had a jawline mask with two upturned tusks; one male had a whole lower face of a large snarling cat, while the other had a small mask around his left eye that extended to his ear, colored and stylized in the fashion of a blue crane, carved to emulate patterned feathers.

The two men looked to you and said nothing. The woman did not seem to notice and walked to the counter, resting her arm upon it. "Good afternoon," she'd greet him in a deep voice. "Some sake, if you will. And since we are unlikely to make it to Kyuden Doji by nightfall, if you have any spare rooms, we'd like to utilize them as well."

"H-hai, samurai-sama. The sake I can do, b-but the few rooms we have are already secured..." the peasant would say, intimidated by the woman's size.

"Ehhh? By whom?" Following the man's gaze, she would take note of the three of you. Smiling, she would push herself off the counter and walk over to the table... Before bowing deeply. The cat-faced Scorpion following would do the same, but the crane-eyed one would hesitate and promptly kicked by Cat before doing the same.

"Hello, great and honorable Miya-sama," the woman would greet. "My apologies for not greeting you at the door. The Doji have a habit of trying to overshadow those of imperial heraldry, so I failed to notice you and give you due respect upon my entrance. Please forgive my breach of etiquette."