(D5, EM) Waking Up to See the Sun

[Ryoshun Yua]

(expecting, but public space)

While Yua's devotions to Ryoshun tended to be reserved for hours of transition or of darkness, there are plenty of other spirits great and small to fill the daytime hours if one tried to address them all in a day. Yua does not try that. But today, with the sun so bright and clear on the snow, seems a good one to dedicate to Lady Sun's attention.

A half sized stick of agarwood incense is tucked behind her ear as she cleanses hands and mouth before entering the temple. Her coat is the one meant for travel, and shows the wear of it, but the blue dyed bats flitting all over it still cheer her when she sees them.

The incense is retrieved from its secure space to be burnt in offering. The young Bat settles quietly to her prayers and specific note of how delightful the sparkle of sun on snow is this morning and a hope for insight into the many paths before them.

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru had tried many things in his search to cure Lady Doji. He had tried prayer, of course; who would not? But he had not tried it recently.

Or quite so desperately.

Something of this desperation was on his features as he made his way through the arch, his steps just a little hurried. Spotting a Bat samurai, Hikaru paused, composing himself with a deep breath, brushing his errant lock of white hair back. He, too, wore a traveling cloak, although it was a rather fine one, doing as much to flatter the wearer as to keep him warm.

"Ryoshun-san. My apologies." Politely, Hikaru bowed, hoping the cold would explain his mild flush. "I hope I do not disturb your devotions. I... should not hurry to them so. A reminder."

[Ryoshun Yua]

In contrast, she looks up slowly, then inclines her head in a small nod of acknowledgement. The kami are eternal, they certainly care little for your hurry, or lack of it, I'd imagine. The words are a warm monotone, the pitch a bit surprisingly low for the slip of a woman tucking her hands into her sleeves. "But I am undisturbed."

A tiny, sharp turn of her head to the left lasts only a moment before she focuses on the Crane once more. "When Lady Sun offers such blessings, I imagine many are reminded to make their way here, certainly I was. I hope her blessings find you well beneath them Doji-sama."

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru inclined his head, acknowledging her acknowledgement.

"Thank you." Hikaru murmured. Now fully composed, his expression was polite, but beyond that, his handsome features offered little in the way of reaction. "I hope they may."

He pursed his lips a moment. "And yet, it does not seem overly occupied." He paused a moment, considering. "I think that may be fortuitous. Private prayer feels more..." He spread the fingers of one hand as he failed to find a proper descriptive word.

[Ryoshun Yua]

Her lips shift into a slight, slow half smile. "Private?" Ah, her voice is apparently capable of enough rising inflection to make that an obvious question. After a blink, the smile slowly fades.

"A fair many aren't done waking up yet, I think. Being stuck here is a rather odd sort of break, ne? Normal work is on hold...so what to do with the days, and the nights?"

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru's lips shifted, just a little; probably the ghost of a smile. "It should be easy enough for the two of us to ignore the other, should we desire. As opposed to a line stretching back down the hill."

"Yes..." Hikaru's lips pursed this time, forehead creasing ever so slightly. "And thus we have these diversions, a way to pass the time, and feel productive." The crease deepened. "I wonder how many others seek occupation, not because it is a break, but because they feel they ought to be doing something. The weight of duty does not always lift just because one may not attend to it." Indeed, it seemed to be sitting rather heavily with him right then.

[Ryoshun Yua]

"Do we need to ignore one another?" She slows at 'need,' one thin eyebrow lifting.

"I suppose diversions help some feel productive. I'd rather work on some designs or research if I'm stuck away from the forge. Some duties are harder to attend to here than others though, I imagine." There's a flicker of her eyes as she blinks a moment "Oh...hmm..I suppose if this is par of your duties and you were hurrying so to attend to them...perhaps you desire that we ignore one another?" Again that slowing at 'desire' matching the sentence it mirrors. There are similar shifts in pacing that provide some sort of cadence to the small woman's speech.

[Doji Hikaru]

"I feel no particular need to do so." Hikaru said. A moment, and he shook his head. "Nor the desire. There is no urgency..." he pressed his lips together a moment, "-or, at least, none that will change in the brief time we spend in conversation."

"The forge... you are a smith?" Hikaru inclined his head respectively. "Difficult work. To create from metal... I know the basics, but no more." He regarded her with gentle interest. "Did you train under Ryoshun Mai, now Hisomu Mai?"

[Ryoshun Yua]

A gentle turn of her head to the right and back to face him, twice, serves as negation. "I was far too young to do more than drag supplies to those working the forges when Lady Mai began her work, and still barely an apprentice when she left. So..not directly under her tutelage as most seem to mean by that question. Her wisdom remains in every bit of our forges though." That soft smile lifts again. "Through the Void we know we are still connected though she has not touched her tools in our lands in years, because all time is connected there as well."

"Did you know her, Hikaru-sama?"

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru shook his head gently. "I did not. I, too, was too young, and I lived among the Crane. But I met a Hisomu who knew her, and I have heard the stories of many who traveled far to rescue a lost Kami. She was one of those."

His expression was thoughtful as she spoke, and he was silent for some moments after. Finally, he took a breath. "Would it still be the same if none remembered her? Not just that no one had worked with her, spoken with her, but that her name was meaningless to your ears?"

[Ryoshun Yua]

"The journey that took her from us for now, yes." She nods, but ends with her head tipped down and a bit to the side, to look up at Hikaru through her lashes. "I understand that one of those diversions is a retelling of that journey organized by your clan?"

To the other questions, she gives full consideration, a finger to her lips in thought for a long moment. "The forge might well wear away before her name fades in human ears so, but her teachings will remain in our hands and the Void knew her name before she did. So some echo might remain however long it has been for us."

[Doji Hikaru]

"It is." Hikaru said, bowing. "I understand I will be taking some part in it, if it would please you to watch."

He was again silent for a long moment after consideration. "I see." He finally said. "It is a question that has occurred to me from time to time." Another moment, his gaze going distant. "I have no memories of my birth parents. I was raised in Lady Doji's court by one of her handmaidens. Sometimes I wonder how much of me may come from them, unseen." It was a strange confession to a strange stranger... but it was a strange morning.

[Ryoshun Yua]

Yua's eyes close a moment, focused on ignoring the voice hissing in her ear. "I would come watch, yes." There's no sign that it would be enjoyable in her even tone as her eyes open once more.

"Much comes to us from our parents. My own father is barely known to me, as we journeyed away when I was quite small to seek the training I required. But," she holds her hands splayed out before her, palms down, looking at them. "I see his hands in memory thus...much larger, but the same shape and creases at the knuckles."

Before she says more, she asks, "Do you know what realm your parents are in now?"

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru acknowledge that with a nod. He understood, or so he thought; only able to perceive with his eyes, it was possible he was missing something, of course.

"Does he yet live?" Hikaru asked gently. His eyes drifted down, looking at her hands. Did life and death mean the same thing to a Bat as it did to him?

Equally gently, Hikaru shook his head. "I do not. I know nothing about them, not even their names. Only the village that they were from. But it is nothing to me." After a moment, he pursed his lips. "Is... that something that could be found, somehow?"

[Ryoshun Yua]

There is a slight shrug. "My mother journeyed to visit two years back and he still lived then. I've heard and felt nothing to indicate any change there. I may travel there someday and see, but my duties haven't held that much time open so far."

As to his circumstances. "Certainly one could investigate if you know the village." Her eyes go distant, considering the paths in the Void. "There are connections in the Void, but it can be amazingly hard to find and trace exactly this or that connection amid millions and millions of them. A bit easier, holding one end of a thread, so to speak." Her hand lifts, to indicate him, eyes focusing once more. "Have you wished to find them, despite life in the heart of Lady Doji's court?"

[Doji Hikaru]

There was a long hesitation before Hikaru shook his head. "I have sometimes been curious. But no more than that. And now I very much have other important things to attend to first."

He looked at her more sharply as he considered her words. "It sounds to me as though you have a connection to the Void. That is..." Hikaru frowned; likely she would say that they all did. "You are what the Crane might call a shugenja?"

[Ryoshun Yua]

Another slow nod. "What the Bat might, as well, though more specifically a Mystic as we study the Void almost exclusively, with only the least ability to interact with the elemental kami directly." There is a pause, brow furrowed slightly in thought. "Also, I do not believe most shugenja speak with the spirits of the dead, which is thing that spirit guides do. I suppose that is still just a different sort of shugenja."

"From the question, I am guessing you are not?"

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru shook his head. "I am not. I serve Lady Doji in her retinue. I am trained as a warrior, but also in the gentler arts, as any proper samurai of the Crane should be. Painting, music, poetry, many others. Although I do not consider myself truly an expert at any of them. That is the journey of a lifetime." Hikaru inclined his head slowly.

His forehead creased as he did his best to track his words. "Does that mean that you are a spirit guide, as Ryoshun Rei-sama is? She told me she sometimes has the task of laying disturbed spirits to rest. I... hope it is not often required." Mostly for the sake of disturbed spirits.

[Ryoshun Yua]

She inclines her head. "Not so accomplished as Ryoshun-sama, as might be expected when comparing those of divine vs. merely mortal heritage." There is a pause as she considers the task. "It is required more often than I would like, but no, it is not so often when held up against all the people who die." Which is, of course, every one of them. "Not all are entirely ready to find rest on their own. Some resist aid as well. But most? Most are willing to find their way, once it is shown to them."

Rest?! Eternal boredom. Gray nothing! Why anyone believes your lies of peace and propriety is beyond me.

Her slight smile fades to neutrality with a calming breath.

"Warriors seem inclined to just go, honestly. At least those who fall in battle. Death is not truly unexpected then, I suppose?" Again that slight shift of tone for a question. "It's admirable that you have the ability to dabble in so many arts. Conversely, my 'art' is most often used for weaponry, which feels far less gentle."

[Doji Hikaru]

Hikaru's lips shifted. "Perhaps I should find that a relief. But alas, I feel that there is so much I need to do in this life. By the time my wheel turns again..." He shook his head gently. Dislodged, his white strand of hair shifted about, seemingly disobeying the rest of his hair.

And he shook his head again gently, although this time with more purpose. "Art is self-expression. When people refer to the art of the sword, it may sound strange, but we are using the sword as an expression of ourselves. I have heard swordsmen say to treat the sword as part of yourself, but it is really part of your soul."

He inclined his head. "That is to say, I do not know that there is anything less gentle about forging if that is not what you put into it. No matter what the eventual use may be."