(Expecting)

There was no guarantee that what he was looking for would be here. But he had to try.

His wardrobe as impeccable as always, his white lock of hair dangling down over his face, Hikaru waited at the entrance to the library, He stood rigidly, if not quite stiffly, as he waited for his two... study companions, he supposed they could be called, would arrive. Of solid mind and character he judged both of them. And, perhaps, with a few gifts beyond that.

His hand touched the pouch at his side, where the crinkle of paper could be heard. Sighing softly, he resumed his vigil.

Ayano arrived as well, her own well made silken kimono a pale goldish color like the sun's fading light. She kept most of her loose, with two braids pulled back and bound together to form an almost half crown.

"Doji-san," She bows politely and smiles, "A pleasure to see you again. And...thank you for your words they were lovely."

Hikaru bowed in return. "Makime-sama." He greeted her politely. "A pleasure to see you as well."

His smile was as slight as ever, but something flashed in his pale eyes at the compliment. "I am glad you found them so." He said, inclining his head again. "It is as I said: some things are best expressed not through words, but through art. That particular moment was such."

Straightening, his eyebrows went up, just a little. "Although I did not sign the poem. Were you certain I was the author?"

Ayano's smile turned to more of a smirk, "After our discussion at tea? Truly you think I am so lacking in perception?" She hides her smirk behind a sleeve, "I am not flooded with poems if you are curious. Indeed yours was the first note I have seen that wasn't from the palace."

Soon enough the other two would be joined by the third member of this study group, as the tall Dragon princess showed up. Something seemed to be on her mind as she approached them, but she quickly pressed on a polite smile to Ayano and Hikaru. "Minna-san!" she greeted and bowed slightly as she was still walking. "... So... what are we doing here?"

Makime Ayano wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 13, 2021 12:36 am

Ayano's smile turned to more of a smirk, "After our discussion at tea? Truly you think I am so lacking in perception?" She hides her smirk behind a sleeve, "I am not flooded with poems if you are curious. Indeed yours was the first note I have seen that wasn't from the palace."

Hikaru hid his own expression as he bowed. "I assure you, I would not make that mistake." He straightened, eyebrows going up. "Although I am surprised to hear that mine was the first. It almost makes me think..."

Togashi Satsuki wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 13, 2021 12:55 am

Soon enough the other two would be joined by the third member of this study group, as the tall Dragon princess showed up. Something seemed to be on her mind as she approached them, but she quickly pressed on a polite smile to Ayano and Hikaru. "Minna-san!" she greeted and bowed slightly as she was still walking. "... So... what are we doing here?"

The arrival of the Dragon Princess cut off whatever he had been about to say. Hikaru bowed to her as well. "Togashi-sama. Thank you for coming as well. Are the two of you acquainted with each other already?"

Satsuki wore the same relaxed but elegant outfit in pale yellow that she had worn the day before. "Makime-san and I met yesterday actually, during the bonsai-lesson."

She looked between the two of them with those intensely colored eyes, before stopping at Hikaru. "... This has to do with what we spoke of the other day, yes?"

Ayano raised a brow at the Dragon's mention of 'what we discussed', "Thank you for hosting the event Doji-san, it was enjoyable..." Her tone turns more serious, "You mentioned something of great import at tea?"

She looks to the Dragon, "And it is good to speak with you again Togashi-sama. Though I worry now this will not be a purely pleasurable chat between us three."

Hikaru met Satsuki's gaze with his own intensity. "Yes. It does." He inclined his head. "And if you met at my demonstration, all the better."

With a crisp turn, Hikaru faced Makime. "And I'm afraid it will not be pleasurable." He took a deep breath, then leaned a little closer, his already low voice growing lower. "I do not know if you are aware, but Lady Doji has been suffering from an ailment recently. It causes her to walk about as one who is in a waking dream. And sometimes say strange things. And this..."

He pulled a piece of paper from his pouch, fine, but well-worn. He unfolded it, then held it out for both to see. It was a poem, written with exquisitely beautiful calligraphy... but with odd, uncanny characters insinuated between some of the normal Rokugani characters.

"These began appearing in her writing. She is not aware of them." Hikaru said grimly. "I was hoping that we might find something about her illness here... and what these are."

Ayano leaned over the table to peer at the strange writing, she bent closer, hoping to discern some meaning. "It is not something I have seen before I think. But if are we looking for answers...this is probably the best place to begin." She looks back up to the other two.

"Such is my hope." Hikaru said, his lips pressed firmly together. "My most fervent hope. Curing Lady Doji is..." there was a pause as he steadied himself. "-my highest priority." He took a deep breath.

He glanced back and forth between them, his face still slightly strained. "Discretion is also a concern. I will not ask you to tell no one, nor will I appeal to your honor; I accept that as given." He inclined his head. "But tell only those who you must, and who you trust implicitly."

Satsuki too leaned over to get a better look, her face twisted in a mixture of thought and concern.

"I've not seen any writing like this before, I think..." she shook her head for a moment. "I had a strange vision yesterday, where I was given a letter. I just remember the writing being very strange, but I could read it. But I don't know if it was the same as this. It was more the words that stuck with me than the actual writing..."

Maybe if she was better, she would have noticed it.

Hikaru turned his gaze on her. "Would you share with us what it says?"

He held the paper out to her. "I confess, I was hoping you might have some vision of from this paper. Although I know that such things are often beyond the viewer's control..." He gave the slightest of shrugs. "Nevertheless."

"I saw that someone came to me with a scroll. Said it was urgent. When I unrolled it, it read; Sweet wisdom drips from the depths of the night sky and runs in black creeping rivulets into cracks and crevices. Find it, drink, and know truth. The ink then flowed from the scroll and down my hands... that was when the vision ended."

She shook her head once more to clear her mind of it. Cursed good memory. "I'm sorry... my father might've known more, if I saw this," Satsuki gestured to the paper, "but I will do my best to see if I can glean something from it, with the aid of the power I do have."

Hikaru frowned. "Cracks and crevices? Is there a cave near here? Or perhaps a building in a state of disrepair?" He grimaced delicately. "The interpretation of visions is beyond me. I wish this disease was something that could be fought..." Hands briefly tensed at his sides.

After a moment, he offered both his companions a gentle smile. "Perhaps we shall discover that it is. Shall we examine the scrolls, and see what we can find?"

"I don't know... the area here isn't familiar to me. It could also be metaphorically. Personally, I am sceptical of its meaning, or rather, the intentions of the one who sent it to me." She didn't like the vision one bit. It was... spooky and scary.

She didn't want to say out loud that she really really wished her father was here. She had to prove she could do this!

"Please give me a moment, with the paper, if possible. It will take a while for me to draw upon the fire kami for what I request of them, but I want to give this my best. For auntie Doji's sake." And for father's sake.

Unlike the very easily agitated and energtic girl he had met the day before, Satsuki seemed much more focused and determined now than before.


-----------


All the rolls in one neat block, as Satsuki will DO HER BEST FOR AUNTIE DOJI (even if she scares me)!

D3 LA Seeking Answers. Commune Fire (Importuning). IR1+1 Affinity, +1k0 teacher's spell. TN 10: 7d10o10k4 28 - Commune cast successfully. (1 Wound)

D3 LA Seeking Answers. Importune Mental Quickness. Spellcraft (Importune)/Fire. TN 25.: 6d10o10k4 38 - Importuned successully.

D3 LA Seeking Answers. Casting Mental Quickness (Importuned). IR1+1 Affinity. +1k1 Void. TN 25: 7d10o10k5 33 - Mental Quickness cast successfully (Intelligence increased by 1). (2 Wounds)

D3 LA Seeking Answers. Casting Fire Kami's Blessing. IR1+1 Affinity, +1k0 teacher's spell. TN 10: 7d10o10k4 22 - Fire Kami's Blessing cast successfully (+4k0 to Intelligence-based rolls for High and Merchant skills). (1 Wound)

D3 LA Seeking Answers. Investigation/Intelligence. +1 to Intelligence (Mental Quickness). +4k0 from Fire Kami's Blessing. +1k1 Void. 2 raises. TN 35: 10d10o10k6 57

4 Wounds taken for spellcasting.

Togashi Satsuki wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 13, 2021 11:50 pm

*snip*

This was an unfamiliar script the left even the Kami at al loss. It seemed likely that what they were dealing with was outside the normal bounds of what they had understood until now - how even they understood the world to work. Things might be much more out of balance in a much deeper way than anticipated.

And staring at it for so long was giving her a headache, like long fingers were holding her head and starting to squeeze, trying to press into her skull and deeper yet...

Ayano just shakes her head, "It is nothing I have seen. It doesn't even look like natural to me...in the sense of writing. There is some sort of wrongness to it, like it insults the natural patterns in the world." She shudders to think what her mother would do with this, either go mad from trying to study it or else burn it and any who had touched or seen it.

"My apologies Doji-san, Togashi-sama...but this is beyond my expertise."

His eyes on Satsuki, Hikaru gently shook his head. "There is no need to apologize, Makime-san. I have shown it to wisefolk around the Empire, and even Shiba himself. None of them could recognize it."

He cast her a quick glance, and then his eyes flickered back to Satsuki, brow creasing with mild concern. "And I understand what you mean. Lady Doji's art has sometimes been described as otherworldly. This writing is... uncanny." Hikaru grimaced. "I should not care to try to make a painting or a poem of the feeling it gives me."

Satsuki was deeply engrossed in her task, communing with something beyond the understanding of Hikaru or Ayano. A flame licked her skin as the offering of blood was drawn from her un-tattooed forearm, and the fire kami accepted the words of prayer and the blood. Soon enough the flame burnt the wound closed.

Her hair moved as if a breeze had brushed past them, but there was none, and her eyes seemed even more intense as she poured over the text.

"Uuughhh..." she groaned, her hands coming up to hold her head as she forced her eyes shut to look away. "... I don't like it. It's... wrong. Wrong. Imbalanced. It shouldn't exist."