Missing You (D8 LE Open)

[Kakita]

Kakita stood looking out over the frozen lake in the garden… his eyes not focused on any object in the material plane of existence he inhabited.

I did it sister… The threat has fled.

The depths of the mountains’,
Where even flying birds’
Songs do not reach;
The depths of my heart
I would have you know...

Come home… I will make a place for you. And we will face tomorrow together…

His spirit reached out into the world… where is body could not touch.

He let out a long sigh that filled the air with frosty mist as he stared out over the frozen expanse.

[Anjing Sagara]

Called by the long gasp, the samurai-ko Sagara looked to her left. Not far from there stood the bat samurai who had been faced in duel. She had not paid attention to the reasons or to the duel. But there was the man of the hour.

"Greetings, and good evening Kakita-sama. My name is Anjing Sagara. We have not met before, but it is good to do so at last."

[Kakita]

He bowed respectfully, “Good evening Anjing-sama. It is a pleasure to meet you… Quite the eventful day, no?”

[Anjing Sagara]

She corresponded to his bow with an even deeper one. Her long kimono swept along the garden floor gently as she bent. "I believe it has, although I did not have time for all events being held. I gave some time to the art exhibition myself, as a novice artist that I am. How was Kakita-sama's day? Did he enjoy his rice in peace and blessed?"

[Kakita]

"It was... an auspicious day. Many revelations for the days ahead." He replied as he continued to look out over the frozen pond.

"How... was the art exhibition?" He asked politely.

[Anjing Sagara]

She reacts in surprise. One of the disadvantages of living so far away, of not forming part of the Empire, was lacking in court training, and in observing the bigger picture. "Days ahead... I can only foresee a long way travel home, but at least I have met some decent people and made amends with a clan that was not close to us until now, thank the fortunes. As for the art exhibition, there are some superb samples of art, great art expressions of different forms of art."

[Kakita]

He paused for a moment, "So you were not present when the creature of Jigoku arrived in the court?"

[Anjing Sagara]

She gasped, deeply shocked. She had rarely attended court, leaving Chizu to do most of the court time since her disturbing face could cause unwanted attention. "I'm sorry, but I had not known. Could you please bring some detail into that?"

(I read the court, so you can just summarize and I gasp)

[Kakita]

Kakita briefly relayed the events of his own duel that morning which revealed Hadananzi to be an oni impersonating a Crane vassal and how the lady of the Camellia house turned into a monster and proverbially threw down the gauntlet against ningen-do in court.

[Anjing Sagara]

"Chilling." She pointed out as a shiver went down her spine. She had not faced many demons, she had seen a few creatures from the southern lands, but a demon, and at the court!! "How... how could they had gone into the court. Measures need to be put into place to make sure that this does not happen again." Her breath left her softly, languidly. "Does this mean that the realm of evil is going to go against the Empire? Trying to get through our Champions?"

[Kakita]

“It appears that a conflict is indeed on the horizon… The enemy seeks to attack us through the realm of dreams currently. Makes it difficult to know where to prepare… The preparation must be internal, first.”

[Anjing Sagara]

“It appears that a conflict is indeed on the horizon… The enemy seeks to attack us through the realm of dreams currently. Makes it difficult to know where to prepare… The preparation must be internal, first.”

"I understand." The samurai-ko knew little on spirit realms, especially on the dream realm. She had heard people having nightmares a night earlier, but she had not suffered in any way. Could such nightmares have a future effect? she wondered. "We all enter the dream realm when we sleep, that is a major attack hard to defend to. It could affect our rest and even make us weak in our waking hours. There must be some way to protect ourselves from this attack, we need to know about these realms."

[Kakita]

"The threat is known now at least... It appears that there will be more attention paid to the issue. The Crane are devoting their resources to combat the influence that seems to have infiltrated their ranks. And a commission led by Bayushi Sasori and Ryoshun Rei will be investigating the various realms and seeking what support we can."

He paused, "I am sure you and your people can contribute to these endeavors as well. We will need the entire might of the Empire to combat this evil."

[Anjing Sagara]

"The strength of my clan will help the Bat focus on their duty at hand. Nonetheless I would offer my own life to Ryoshun hime if she were to ask, and would bring with me as many Crab strong hands as I could of course. I also got to know Bayushi Sasori-sama a bit, and know that she is wise in spiritual realms, and hope that she can also count on me if need be. This is a threat that we must all in the Empire face together, I would say."