snip "I still fail to see how such an order would be different from a division of the guard with a training focused on breathing exercises, hand-to-hand techniques, and mastering one's internal energy. From my understanding, a monk is someone who has directly dedicated their life to a certain duty,...

snip "Even the Kami must have some sort of limits or they wouldn't require human followers to second them at all. Likewise, even Shinsei's knowledge isn't infinite. Yet, no question is without answer in absolute. It's just that the search for that answer can sometimes span several lifetimes. There ...

"If you prefer, I can put it on a paper if you dictate its content to me. You know, Jiyo Sora was a grown man that didn't know to read and write when he joined Shiba, and he's a librarian now. And there are a lot among the old guard that still don't know their letters. Being able to learn to read wa...

snip "Kuu told me about a kee-aw granting its user some sort of extrasensory sight not two hours ago, so I do believe it easily. I'll even hazard the guess that it was the highlight of your demonstration before Shiba and the Imperial Consort. From his explanation, I mostly gathered that these new t...

"Destiny eh? That word has been on everyone's lips since the fall, but as of late it seems to have acquired a new meaning entirely. Not as the general concept of things that are bound to happen, but more as having the potential to decide a great deal of the future. For about a decade now, the monks ...

snip "Let's not put the cart before the horse. These kiho definitely have potential and a lot could be learned from studying them. But your clarifications made me reconsider about their applicability to daily life for the near future. Similarly, let's not create yet another Imperial office on impul...

"Oh. Sorry to hear about that. I hope you will be able to rebuild your life within the Bat in time. There were a lot of people whose ties had been severed by an unfortunate life among the very first followers of the Kami, and in most cases their new clan helped them becoming whole anew. If I may ask...

"A one name man? This is becoming increasingly uncommon. I used to go by simply Ayumu for a time after joining Shiba – and have no issue with people calling me just that, without honorifics and all, to this day – but as the double name usage became prominent, it eventually turned confusing for my in...

That was quite the impressive display, and further more not in a style Ayumu knew of. Curiosity had him join the Bat for his break, bow and speak: "Jiyo Ayumu, born of the Isawa, now servant of Shiba. Pleased to meet you Bat-sama. If I may ask, your technique is not like anything I've ever seen befo...

snip Ayumu returned the bow, and answered while going through a series of codified stretches of his fingers and wrists: "Just doing my part. A long time ago, when people were asking me why I had rallied the banner of Shiba, I used to answer along the lines of: Even if you cannot change the world yo...

The dojo was supposed to be reserved for the Imperial families usage in the morning, but the palace staff had received instructions to be accommodating with rules in light of the exceptional situation. So he just nodded at the sight of the Bat samurai training there. He himself had been quite neglig...

snip "The trip between the Dragon and the Stag can easily take a trained messenger on foot a full month. Several for a merchant caravan that adopts a more leisurely pace and make a few extended halts to buy and sell products at markets. I would have been quite surprised if you had told me you visit...

Ayumu came back from a quick trip to the kitchen with a few pitchers full of water, and improvised a break corner by putting them on a table near an exit, accessible in a few steps but far away from the fragile paper to avoid unfortunate incident. He himself took a good mouthful to restore physical ...

Ayumu didn't expect today's court to turn into a contest of the best scribe, but here they were. He did his part, calmly, trying to recopy what he was hearing as faithfully as possible. His experience as a teacher of course helped him a lot with ignoring the parasitic noises and following from start...

snip "Makes sense. The Dragon population has been growing up a lot these last years, like the rest of the Empire, so they need more food for their people. And since the Dragon lands' topography is indeed inadequate for expansive agriculture, alternatives had to be found. I guess the Crab cuisine al...

"I would prove a poorer go-between that you take me for. I have been absent from the palace for years, going from village to village, and I basically know no one anymore at the administration entry level. From my understanding, the most straightforward way is to go through the official procedure eve...

snip "I think the one who said it intended it as a dirty joke, but it's no less true: Humans would go extinct if they didn't indulge from time to time. There's even an argument to be made in favor of having a reasonable reserve of fat so as to not collapse at the first privation." Ayumu tasted a bi...

"I am not a good measure for that. From my perspective it took my entire life, since I was raised by a follower of Shinsei since childhood. I've been training my body and spirit for it ever since that point. Others I've seen that have no training have taken years or months. Someone trained as a mon...

"It has not been discussed by me, as I don't actually know any of the kiho that allow it. But I have witnessed it in action," he says, shaking his head. "It isn't the same as sight though. I saw two different versions. One could sense anything moving many yards away. The other simply sensed life in...

"The Empire stands on the promise of peace. The Imperial legal system is the soul of that promise. It hopes to grant a happy ending to any situation that would have in days past simply devolve into violence. To break the cycle of enmity by providing as fair as possible of a resolution for all partie...