Water, the Element of Change [Day 9, LE]

[Wu Ko]

Yet carrying the markings, a careful hand which managed to clean without destroying the work. Slow work, but meaningful work. With the weather warming the night chill was not as bitter though it was still encroaching yet Ko feared it not. Hand in hand they walked together until they reached the waterfall itself. Ko's mind distracted with thoughts that left her gaze planted just a few steps ahead of herself and nothing more. Not yet.

[Yuzuru Hiroya]

When he had first seen his work still on her he blushed fiercely not thinking she would keep them this long but he had calmed somewhat as they walked. It had been a quiet walk Hiroya comfortable just to feel Ko next to him, to feel her hand in his as they moved through nature.

The river had begun to rise due to the snow melting and the waterfall was fierce and powerful as it was beautiful when they walked up to it. Hiroya looked up at it and then around at the slowly thawing landscape "I can see why you like it." he said softly as his gaze drifted from the nature around them to Ko.

[Wu Ko]

As they approach Ko's hand starts to slip a little from his, their fingers intertwined but becoming loose as they start walking what would be the last steps of their journey here. While it seemed unintentional at first there was a purpose to it. One that reveals as her fingers are able to gently brush against his own. Looking up to him with a warmth to her smile hidden slightly behind a few strands of hair which made their way over the circlet she wore.

"There was a waterfall back home. Where I grew up," she says, a brief smile as she seems to have the urge to look toward it but doesn't want to allow her gaze to part from him in the moment. "It was smaller than this. Fenced in by large tree's which guarded against the skies. I went there often when I needed time," she says, and her gaze does part as she looks for a space near the waterfall they might sit. A rock, a boulder.

[Yuzuru Hiroya]

It was with small reluctance Hiroya let their hands part, he met her eyes where she would see the warmth she offered to him returned in kind in his own eyes.

He smiled softly as she talks of the waterfall from her youth "Well that is a nice place to have. I usually only had a room to go to when I wanted time alone."

[Wu Ko]

"You should come here," she says, looking to him and catching his gaze. Walking over toward the waters edge she leans one hand down onto a black stone, clearing the light mostly melted snowfall stop it with a wipe of her hand. Enough room for two to sit and look to the waterfall. Looking out over the water alone for the moment until she hoped Hiroya would join her side.

Looking to him regardless, "I want to show you something," she says, and turns back to the water. Kneeling by the waters edge she starts to remove her outer robe. Cold air rushing her and infecting her with a chill that causes a shiver but she's determined through it. Bunching up her robes she holds them in hand, looking for Hiroya to take them.

[Yuzuru Hiroya]

He smiled happily for a moment following her to the water's edge and meeting her gaze "I just might start." he said with a chuckle. He sat down next to her easily his hand briefly coming to her back before she stood and took off her outer robes. His brow furrowed slightly, it may have been warming but it was still winter. He had to stop himself from fussing over her and instead let the furrow in his brow relax as he took her heavy robes. He didn't say anything but rather just looked at her with warmth in his eyes paired with no small amount of curiosity.

[Wu Ko]

Meeting his eye as the robes were turned over into his care she gives him a brief nod. Then looks to the water, getting a sense of it before extending a hand and reaching the hand within. A soft hiss at the cold water escaped her without thought but the scrunch of her nose and uncomfortable expression quickly fade away to neutral determination. Hand removed from the water it dripped, the cloth wrap around her hand soaked through. Reaching out for him with dry hand she would take his, and guide him to sit beside her at the waters edge.

Pulling forward her small dagger she carries with her she looks to him. An uncertain furrow of her brow as she considers the next step. Forethought that was atypical, "Will you be comfortable watching?" she asks, unsheathing the small and sharpened blade.

[Yuzuru Hiroya]

Hiroya moved to the water's edge with her sitting next to her as she reached into the freezing cold waters. His eyebrows went up but he trustee that Ko knew what she was doing.

As she produced the blade and asked her question he chuckled a little "do you forget I am from a family of priests and priestess, it will.not be the first time I have watched." He said with a smile.

[Wu Ko]

Ko smiles warmly at the answer, a nod to give acknowledgement first and foremost always. "I do not make assumptions," she says, in that tone of reminding that seems only a little forceful but the warmth in which she speaks it is comforting enough to make up for this. Focusing then on rolling her her sleeve so that she would have a bare arm to work with. Kobwas slow and diligent in all her movements, but in these it was one extra step more. The whole process some internalized ritual made over the years.

"When I was younger," she began to speak as she worked at the sleeve. "I first lived with my mother. I do not remember this time well. We were a tribe, and my mother was ill. Our tribe was a caring one, communal, and children were raised by many but my strangeness to them made me difficult. My mother's sickness took her when I was ten," she lays out her story like setting up pieces to a puzzle, slow and methodical with a hint of detachment from the entire thing. Hand working away at removing the wet wrapping from her arm and setting it just off to the side.

"I sought the man my mother spoke of in her fevered dreams, the man in the woods. He was the one who became my mentor. He is the man I am certain is my father," she says, pulling the blade from it's scabbard shifting to kneel before the water she leans forward, extending her arm out over the cold and icy water. "He would not teach me his ways at first, but I was persistent. Many in the village complained of this persistence. Stubborn, they would say. It was how I was, I could not change it, and it hurt. With him, it changed his mind and he taught me the way," she says, bringing up the dagger and making a clean and safe cut to draw the blood required.

As her arm bled, the red liquid trickled down over the skin. Watching it with a mesmerizing stare she sat for a few seconds, and then dipped the arm once more into the water. As the blood mixed in the red wafted and washed away from her arm. Speaking words of ancient command the water reacts, and the red washing within dissipates so that the water is clear once more as if it was vanished.

Removing her arm the image of a small water fall into a pond, freshly trickling with the thaw that was coming to her home.

[Fluffy basic casting of: Reflective Pool]

[Yuzuru Hiroya]

Hiroya nodded at her assertion on assumptions, he didn't look wounded or reproached but accepted her words with a fluid grace. As she performed the blood letting with ritual precision he watched and listened intently to her story about her childhood, her training, and he looked down into the pool. A mirror to another place to a piece of her history.

He looked up from the pool to her kissing her cheek gently "Thank you." He said softly there was both a happy warmth at being told about her past but also a bit of sadness hidden back there too "you have not had an easy life Ko. I am...happy you've shared so much of yourself with me."

[Wu Ko]

Ko's eyes still had that almost stony determination set on her task but a hint of warmth slipped in at the kiss, a smile that almost seemed a separate entity playing across her lips. Hand working the same soaked cloth back into it's original place over the room, wrapping it up to and including the hand over the palm. "There is a purpose to it," she says as she maintains her focus on getting the wrap tight but not too tight.

Finishing with it, she turns to him, a brief shiver but she meets his gaze and holds it. "I do not often understand people. They speak words which are meaningless but have meaning. They do things for strange reasons I do not understand. It is strange. Many find me strange," she says, reaching for both of his hands, one far colder than the other. "These last few days have much meaning in them. I have different feelings around you than I am used to. I need time to consider what this means," she says, a brief if almost mournful smile as she glances to the water.

[Yuzuru Hiroya]

Hiroya nodded "people can be tough. People say what they mean less and half the time don't mean what they say." He takes her hands easily not even flinching at the cold hand. He listens to her talk gently nodding to her words "yes." He replied after a moment and let the silence settle between them while he looked out to the water. This shared space that was everyone's but for now was theirs.

"I tried not to think on it much." He said breaking the silence "I knew you would be leaving soon. That this time together would have to end. You have your duties in the Dragon lands, to learn from the great Saruko, to watch over the daughter of a God. As much as I wish these snows would pile high until you could never leave it was just a dream."

He squeezed her hands gently wishing for her attention as he looked back to her a sad smile on his own lips and his eyes wet but no tears fell "You have made me feel in ways I have never felt for another person Wu Ko." His voice trailed and his eyes broke away as he took a breath to steady himself "I...I know this must be goodbye but I hope, I hope that we can still communicate.." He stuttered a little looking back to her "regardless I know I will never forget you Ko."

[Wu Ko]

Ko listens, but as he speaks he can slowly get the sense she has an idea she has not yet shared. One she has been leading up to and as he finishes there is a silence with a tone to it which all but confirms the very thought, "I am glad you feel this way," she says, a distance to her voice but a warm smile worn easily.

With his hands in hers she directs him to shift to look toward the waterfall, looking herself as well. "I want you to come here. If you continue to feel this way I would ask you come to this very spot and look upon the water fall. Once a month, every month, at this hour," she looks back to him. Uncertainty mixing into her expression as she glances down a moment. Considering once more if this is right to ask him. Commitment however is found as she looks up and meets his eyes once more.

"I will look on this place. Once a month, at this time. I will think on what this has meant. What it should mean. Each month I will remind myself by looking onto this place."

[Yuzuru Hiroya]

He smiles to her less distance than she has in her expression. More present. He wanted nothing more than to be here and now with her. He nodded "I will do that. I will come here whenever my mind fixated on you and the way you make me feel." He paused "well as often as is reasonable or I suppose possible. But I will always make sure to be here on the same day, the same hour, each month so you may look upon me."

He paused again thinking "will I be able to see you as well? I do not know how the magic works."

[Wu Ko]

Ko smiles as he says that he will, but with the question it dims slightly. Hands retreating, or attempting to, but she does not let go of his. Only feeling the gentle tug as she pulls in on herself a little. Eyes glancing down as she shakes her head.


"Only I will be able to see," she admits in a meek voice.

[Yuzuru Hiroya]

He reaffirms his grip on her hands gently encouraging her to not withdraw. He leans forward and kisses her gently "that is ok Ko. Obviously I would like to be able to see you as well but knowing you're seeing me. Knowing in some small way we will share this space. It will be enough." He said softly giving her hands a gentle squeeze a small smile on his lips as his gray eyes look at her with an abundance of warmth.