[Day 5, Mid-Morning] I Wonder as I Wander

[Daidoji Fuichi]

"Again, similarities outnumber differences. Marvelous." And he did find it so. "Saraswati, then? My people, the Crane, are usually recognized as artists, though the definition is broad. You surely practice an art, neh?"

[Rixy]

"Many, though few are with much skill, only pleasure." Soft laughter accompanied a self-depreciating shrug. "Best is the making of adornments." She slid all of her bangles forward, extending both hands, palms up, toward her guest. "These are only some. I make and remake them in a act of understanding of the cycle."

Upon close inspection, the bangles were worked with very delicate patterns, etched into the gold. Vines, flowers, geometric shapes, and even what might be script, no two the same.

[Daidoji Fuichi]

Fuichi nodded in appreciation. "They are beautiful. I work in wood myself, shaping statues for religious purposes for the most part. I am not the finest of artists, but I have received a compliment or two in my time."

"You mentioned the Cycle. What does that signify?"

[Volsung]

Yuo couldn't help but stare at all the bangles as they were displayed, though she was doing her best to ignore the conversation as any good Handmaiden should. And she was gonna be the best!

[Rixy]

"The cycle of life and death, birth and rebirth." As she spoke, the woman's hands formed a circle between them. "In making and then melting down my bracelets only to forge them anew, I show that I understand my own soul will be forged anew by each life I live until I achieve oneness with all."

[Daidoji Fuichi]

Fuichi nodded. "This is identical to our Kharmic Wheel." He paused, carefully considering. "I wonder, given the other similarities between our Theological systems, if you do not also have in your pantheon a deity who encompasses evil and destruction? For us, he is called the 9th kami, and his followers are hunted lest their corruption spread."

[Rixy]

At this the woman made a series of warding gestures and the guard shifted uneasily. "It is a name we dare not say, for she has grown powerful, very powerful. Her followers use dark magics and those they take are ripped from the wheel to make her more powerful still."

A shudder ran down her back at the very thought of it.

"We simply call her the Destroyer."

[Daidoji Fuichi]

"I understand. Then that is her temple shrouded in black? I also imagine that she has much to do with the state of the realm, neh?"

[Rixy]

Solemnly, she nodded. "It is unwise to use even that title for her outside of the houses of other gods who can offer some protection. We dare not destroy her house, for that would draw her personal ire to us. Too, in better times there was a purpose to her temple beyond that which it serves now...in destruction, there is new life. Those seeking to change their fortunes, to caste aside the ill of past acts, would often seek council within. For now, we simply try to stop those who would serve her, though they are crafty and difficult to know."

[Daidoji Fuichi]

"I understand." Ridiculous, you've already drawn her personal wrath! Tear down the temple, already!

His serene bearing never changing, he murmured, "In my homeland, the 9th holds sway over a large territory to the Southwest of the Empire. His demons are held at bay by the tireless endurance of the Crab from atop their mighty Wall. 1,000 years of war without end, waged so that other clans, like my own, may know peace, foster the arts, perfect the art of the sword or courtly speech. It is tragic, and yet truly noble."

He shook his head. "My heart fills with grief for the suffering of your people. It is my understanding that many other cities have fallen. Is there no hope for Lanka?"

[Rixy]

"Several Houses have already fallen."

Sawera's serenity flickered, grief showing for a moment before she smoothed her features again.

"My own House once numbered in the thousands. Now, we would be blessed to count a hundred of those of either kshatriya or brahmin rank. House Pandavah, from which line our Maharaja come, stood first to defend our people and have been all but decimated, for the servants of the Cult set out after them in particular for their part in the fall of House Rafiq. Those that remain were never vast and it is uncertain what we will do. Many who could do so have taken themselves and their households to friendly kingdoms with whom we are allied, hoping only to nurture our ways until the next age of this land. If there is hope, it lies with those pilgrims."

[Daidoji Fuichi]

And you wait here for the end. Yes, that is what we would do as well.

"If I might be permitted to tell you a story, I believe that it is apropos."
Now, Fuichi was no Sparrow, no Doji or Kakita. He was a cloistered priest with maybe four or five years left to live thrown out on the tide. But the Legend of the Seven Thunders didn't require a true storyteller to be effective.

He began slowly, speaking of the founding of the Empire, of the rise of the Kami and the bitter jealousy of the 9th. With his own emotive power, such as it was, he spun the feeling of despair as the tide of darkness swept back the armies of the Kami. The ember of hope in Shinsei's promise of the efficacy of the mortal man, to triumph even beyond the will of gods both beautiful and terrible, shown forth in Fuichi's conviction.

"...and so the Thunders died, but so did their Enemy. His mark was left upon the world, but his power was shattered for 1,000 years, his leaderless followers pushed to the edges of the Empire and held back by the hand of one clan where before several could not hope to succeed. Where there is life, there is hope. Where there is a will to defy the Enemy, there is hope. When the time comes, the Kshatriya and Brahmin of Lanka will shake the earth with the fury of their defiance of the Enemy. I know this as I know my own name."

[Rixy]

"We will fight, not only to preserve our life and our ways but because men must fight evil when it appears or they are worse than beasts, no men at all."

The young woman tilted her head, considering things, and then slowly shook her head. "I tell you true, I think we will fail. This Shinsei, if he is truly the Buddha, has long since wandered on from our lands. There will be no last wisdom, no miracle, for my lands. I have never fought a battle, have never seen one in fact. It will not keep me from trying to save my people, but I think truly that my time in this cycle will soon end."

[Daidoji Fuichi]

"Permit me to speak as one who knows the approach of death. It is known that I will not see my twenty-fifth winter. When I first learned this, I fell into despair. How could I not? I was young, fourteen. I did not know love, fame, or the subtle rewards of good service to my lord, and yet I was to have no future. And yet, here I am, one of the farthest traveled Crane in history. When faced with death, we live our lives as best we are able. This is the Way of Mortality."

He permitted himself a slow smile. "I think that your time on the Wheel will be brief. The world would weep without your strength."

[Rixy]

She frowned at him instead. 'What omens portent your death?" Sawera could do so little for her own people, but perhaps she might aid this foreigner instead.

[Daidoji Fuichi]

"No omen, just an imbalance of the Air that has settled into my lungs and stomach. It took my brother quickly, but, being favored by the Kaze-kami, I am granted the slow death. Fear not for me; I have accepted it. It makes every step that much sweeter."

[Rixy]

Her frown, instead of lifting, grew only deeper. "An...imbalance. This is a sickness? Forgive my presumption, but it may be we could help where your own doctors could not. After all, an herb of your land saved one of ours in years past...might it not be fitting upon the great wheel that some plant or remedy of ours of which you have no knowledge might then save a Son of Rokugan?"

[Daidoji Fuichi]

Fuichi cocked his head. "What manner of guest would I be if I were to take that which someone in the city may need? My life is not worth so much that another should suffer for it."

[Rixy]

The priestess, unaware of the existence of the Game of Refusals, looked very perplexed by his refusal. "Our world is dying. To take that which no one will exist to need is not greed, it is avoidance of waste. Perhaps, in some way, helping you will help your lands avoid the fate ours suffers."

[Daidoji Fuichi]

Oh, right, she's a gaijin. Duh.

"Then I shall defer to your wisdom, though I fail to see how one pacifistic priest could alter the fate of the Empire in the face of such a tragedy."

He bowed his head. "The imbalance saps my apetite, it gives me sleepless nights, shortness of breath, and, at times, a serious cough, sometimes accompanied with blood. My brother's lungs eventually collapsed from the strain of trying to breathe. There was little we could do except to make him comfortable. Or rather, as comfortable as possible."