Of Words and Names (D7, Mid AM, OPEN)

[Rixy]

"You do not teach to warn?" This, it seemed, did not please the woman at all. "How else do you avoid what has happened here to you? Especially if these dark things are, as you say, subtle?"

[Isawa Junpei]

"The knowledge, itself, is dangerous. To learn about the dark realm is to invite corruption into your life. Only those charged with protecting us from such dangers study it with any consistency or depth, and only under careful guidance."

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

Qian-Fan remained quiet, watching the exchange and Junpei carefully. His worst expectations were receding now, but he'd been taught that tsukai could hide within even the purest temple if others were not vigilant, so he sipped his tea and watched the lesson.

[Rixy]

The foreign priestess clearly did not understand.

"Knowledge, used badly, can be dangerous, yes, but surely no knowledge is of itself evil? Too, what do your people do if one of these specially trained ones is not about if a demon takes hold of someone, in a small village, perhaps, or in some place where brahmin are scarce? If not all know about demons, the poor people may not even understand the threat among them...surely it is wrong not to arm all with knowledge?"

[Daidoji Fuichi]

Fuichi seemed a little confused.

"That is a different class of knowledge. One need not know the intricacies of blasphemous magic to know how best to put down an oni or end a Maho-Tsukai."

[Rixy]

"Maho-tsukai?" Sabera rolled the words about her tongue. "These are Speakers to evil gods? Those who use their gifts to harm instead of do good for all people? And the words, themselves, are of danger?" The frown creased her brow again. "And, the words they are of import to teach. They cannot be used by normal people, true, but taught to guardsman they can aid in identification of enemies. This is only to the good, is this not so?"

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

Despite his intentions of just observing, Qian-Fan could not help making a typically Phoenix interjection.

"The problem lies that it takes a connection to the kami to persuade them to your will, while the corrupted kansen will serve any that shed blood for them. Too much knowledge is dangerous. Many have tried to learn with rightfully good and pure intentions only to fall to the corruption and become enemies of the Empire to be put down."

Too many Phoenix.

He didn't conceal the calculating look he put Junpei's way.

[Rixy]

Slow horror appeared on the woman's face. "These dark spirits...they will listen to...to anyone? Even She who Destroys will listen only to brahmin, though those who dare bespeak her are all too often twisted and evil of intent."

[Daidoji Fuichi]

"Hai, that is what makes them so dangerous, and also why the thoughts of many run toward paranoia."

[Rixy]

Sabera was silent for a long time, sipping her tea. Finally, she set her cup down.

"It is not a kingdom I would enjoy, one where any desperate person can claim such power. Still, it sets a baseline for our understanding." She drew a long deep breath and then let it out slowly. "She who Destroys has grown more powerful than any other in our pantheon. None of us know how. Those who have tried to ask the other gods have heard back only silence or have gone mad with what they learned. Her very Name now destroys because her essence has so infected it."

[Isawa Junpei]

"Of that, we are now keenly aware," Junpei's smile did not drop, and his tone stayed pleasant even as the bile rose in his throat at being kind to a woman who had, admittedly, only tacitly, insulted the Empire.

[Daidoji Fuichi]

"I am hesitant to ask, but why is her worship tolerated if her brahmin are such dark souls?"

[Isawa Junpei]

"I would not venture to guess, but perhaps it is something like our veneration of Lord Onnotangu, or in modern times the Obsidian Moon. The same for such Fortunes as those who reign over vengeance, plague, and earthquakes."

[Rixy]

The woman was quick to agree with Junpei's guess. "Because of the balance. The buddha teaches that good must have evil to oppose it to exist. Too, in better times, there was the sacred duality that made some parts of Her worship acceptable. She is the Destroyer, yes, but in the destruction there was rebirth. Those who wished to change their lives often sought her more gentle followers. It was only after the Cult of Rhuumal arose to power that Her aspect shifted so greatly."

Sabera sighed, sadly.

"It was also deemed best to know, to allow them to worship openly lest they be driven to underhandedness. One sees trouble more clearly in the full light of day, after all, than in night and shadow. Then the House of Rafiq, which was thick with them, was cast down and proved that the old wisdom had been right."

[Isawa Junpei]

"And you say you have no idea, whatsoever about how such a divine shift could have happened?" Junpei shared a look with Qian-Fan. Though it was hard to convey his exact meaning to his companion without arousing suspicion, this look seemed to imply that they perhaps needed to speak later about this.

[Rixy]

She shook her head, looking her age, which was not yet twenty, for a time. "The highest of my order sought the Goddess to ask. It took four Defenders to end her when the answer drove her to derangement."

The young boy, who had said nothing but who had listened with intent interest, started to tremble and she gathered him to her, letting him hide his face in her side.

"No one has dared ask since." She paused, then lowered her voice. "I likely should not say, but it can do us little harm with so few of you and our enemy closing regardless. We Speakers have noticed a weakening in the answers and responses we receive from our gods, as if they fade as She grows stronger."

[Isawa Junpei]

"We know the terror you must feel. Though we are too young to have been alive for it, during a time of great tumult, the dark Kami laid siege to Tengoku with Emma-O's....the Death god's spear, killing many Fortunes before he was expelled from the Celestial Heavens. This is not the same, but we know the religious upheaval that must be occurring among your people."

[Rixy]

"Your Fortunes may be what we name Gods, or very similar. I did try to read something of your ways and it sounded as if this were so. Perhaps we only call them differently, I cannot know. How did your cosmology recover?"

[Isawa Junpei]

"It has not, but the servants of the Fortunes, the kami, still offer their blessings on behalf of their deposed masters. In a way even with their destruction, the Fortune's influence is too great to be truly destroyed. Given our beliefs it is possible that one day the Fortunes who died will find their way along the Kharmic Wheel and will be born into Ningen-do, the mortal realm, where we are, and serve out lives of such greatness that they will ascend to the heavens once more. Even the Fortunes obey the wisdom of The Tao, the Way."

[Rixy]

"This is what you call your path as taught by the wise man Fuichi-san told me of?" The Crane was given a soft smile. "I found myself wondering if when he left his wanderings here if he did not go to your lands, for he was a young man here but the tale of your wise man say he was aged. I hope that my own Kingdom will rise as your Clan's namesake is said to do when She has finished with it, though it is hard to say. I shared that story after the woman of your House, a Defender I should think, came seeking council and shared it with me. It brought hope, which was why my order was pleased to offer our aid in education to your people in turn."