Private Lessons by David Thun An old man and a young boy walked in silence down the Tachibana Road. A group of peasants working in the fields alongside the road stopped to stare as they passed, for the two made an unusual pair. The boy was perhaps thirteen years of age, small but well-built, dressed in the blue silk of a nobleman's son. His dark hair was worn long, the tail dyed white in the fashion of a Crane Clan youth. He wore no weapon, and when he smiled the younger peasant girls in the field blushed and covered their faces. "Hoturi-kun," said the old man, suddenly coming to a halt. "Hai?"