Sapphire Ambassadors

Last minute bits--and a commission as well--sent the Unicorn out to browse the stalls of the town. Her embroidered haori wards off the morning chill with heavy fabric and a riot of colorful flowers. This far from her own lands she expects to find things she hasn't seen much of before, while anything with a hint of the Sands is probably hard to find.

She gently stirs a tray of polished stones, letting them catch the light and show themselves.

Jakuchou was not one for shopping, but that didn't mean she lacked appreciation for the sights, sounds, and smells of a market. She handed off a single zeni to a food stall proprietor before taking and sharing a dango with a couple of street kids. When the kids saw she kept her pathetically light coin purse in the top of her kimono they seemed disappointed in their mark. So they let her go with her handful of change, deciding it wasn't worth upsetting a samurai and losing a hand over a handful of bu.

She nodded in pleasant greeting to the Unicorn as she passed by and took a look at the polished stones. She got a bit of a glint in her eye. "Ohh, those are pretty. One of these would be a lovely addition to my cairn back home."

Mirumoto Jakuchou wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 14, 2022 2:18 am

snip

LIfting a grayish stone with a bit of shimmer as she turned it in the light, she pauses and looks up to the woman. "Pardon, Dragon-sama...did you say cairn? Are those common in Dragon lands?"

"No. It's a word I learned from someone a long while ago. Don't even remember who anymore, my mind gets away from me. But he told me about them marking important intersections or something like that. So now whenever I travel away from home I bring back a stone to stack on at the intersection of my life," she says, blissfully unaware of if she had understood or retained any of what she heard decades ago.

"Oh. I...had heard of them in tales from our old travels. Intersections and graves." The stone is set aside as she picks up a very plain one with white markings that vaguely seem like a kanji, though it may settle on one clearly with some work. "Is it hard keeping little piles of stone from rolling downhill in the mountains?"

She pauses and shakes her head slightly. "Sorry...Horiuchi Sriyani, here for the competition." She steps a bit back from the table bearing stones to offer a bow.

"Mirumoto Jakuchou. It's a pleasure to meet you Horiuchi-sama. And fortunately for me, my cairn is piled on the monastery grounds by my cell so it's on level ground," she replies with a smile.

"I am also here for the competition, but I missed yesterday due to a minor illness. It happens from time to time in my advanced years." The smile never fades and never feels facetious.

Mirumoto Jakuchou wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 14, 2022 4:52 am

"Mirumoto Jakuchou. It's a pleasure to meet you Horiuchi-sama. And fortunately for me, my cairn is piled on the monastery grounds by my cell so it's on level ground," she replies with a smile.

"I am also here for the competition, but I missed yesterday due to a minor illness. It happens from time to time in my advanced years." The smile never fades and never feels facetious.

She nods, returning to her stones to be sure they don’t get stirred back into the tray. Sorry you missed the first bit, but it’s good you’ve recovered.” There’s a hint of a question, as perhaps it’s not really the kind of thing one recovers from.

“What sort of art do you focus on Mirumoto-Dana?” Surely someone that age deserves the respect of ‘-sama’

Horiuchi Sriyani wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 14, 2022 6:17 pm

"Thank you for your concern, it is appreciated," Jakuchou bows her head in thanks.

"I am a dancer. At the monastery, when a festival or ritual requires it I lead it or perform it solo. But i also like to dance alone sometimes. It is almost like meditating to me," she explains.

"Dance offers quite a lot to work with, very expressive art." Lifting a heavily veined slab of agate from another tray, she adds thoughtfully, "probably better suited to these abstract topics than some of our more visual arts are. Though I think the storytellers are really going to shine here."

"Are you also a monk then? Apologies if that's asking something odd. I'm just not very familiar with the families and schools of the Dragon."

"I look forward to the stories. I am a very enthusiastic fan of a well spun take," Jakuchou says, looking forward to the storytellers as well.

"And to answer, I am not a monk. I am a samurai, but I am devoted to a monk's ascetic lifestyle. In addition to my limited understanding of religious activity and ritual."

"Then you serve mostly as an artisan and ...hmm, shrine assistant?" These were roles she knew of among the Unicorn. "Sounds peaceful at least, though I imagine the mountains have challenges we don't see on the plains."

"Do you look for particular types of stones to bring back?" she asks, bracing the agate with a finger along the top, while flicking it with another to hear the sound it made.

"Mostly I'm a retired bushi," she says with a chuckle. "There is not much expected of me nowadays. Those in charge understand the old wounds and tired joints make it harder for me to do stuff. So I help out how I can and don't try to push myself too hard. Usually means standing in for training if one of the masters of the temple is out for illness or an important task. I don't consider myself a good teacher, but I can make sure that students stay on task for a short while while their instructor is away."

She nods, continuing to test slabs of stone. “Those who live to see your years have a lot of experience to share. At least I’ve found it so with our own elders.” The charms dangling from her hair ornaments jingle as she reaches to push a stray lock behind her ear. “Where did you serve in more active days?”

"All over the place. I was a part of our Emperor's personal forces during the early days of the Scorpion coup, and stuck with until he was recognized as the Son of Heaven. Much of my service was simultaneously unofficial and on behalf of the Empire and our Emperor, during the coup and clan war," she explains. "If you read tales of those periods you will be aware of the major battles I took part in, but a singular bushi does not sway a battle the way a singular commander with heaven's blessing does. If you asked about any battle that our emperor was at from then until about 20 years ago, I was likely there and could give my own firsthand account. But I was never a commander or advisor so the account would be similar to most other front line bushi too."

"What little I know of that time makes it seem very hectic and heroic." She pauses a moment, history not being her strong point. But even non-historians knew the broad outlines of those troubled times. "Did people really know...or sense that Toturi-shiryo was blessed to be Emperor before the final battle? It's hard to imagine. I've heard that just coming near the Empress one feels _something_ of her connection to the heavens. Was it like that?"

"I knew it the day I saw him," she says with a smile that suggested she probably felt more than pride and loyalty to him. Even has a slight blush thinking about him in his prime. "Not that he would be the emperor, mind you. We had a different emperor the first time I saw him and that thought would not have made sense. But you could sense his greatness, the touch and blessing from Tengoku. Everything about him suggested he was bound for greatness in service to the empires people."

Like most of the young, it was somewhat difficult for Sriyani to truly imagine the elderly had ever been the same. She notes the blush, filing it aside as excitement at the old memory. "When did you first see him? Meet him?"

It finally strikes her that the other emperor she spoke of was the last proper Hantei, and she feels strange. As if someone who touched that history should be...not this. Somehow showing signs that the world-changing events they'd touched had done something to them too.

And, as ancient as that history feels to her, she has to ask. "How old _were_ you?"

"I first saw him when he traveled to Dragon lands and trained with the Brotherhood. We had the same sensei... but at different times. I was around five years younger I believe, though I can't quite remember specifically," Jakuchou explains.

"That was how I first learned of him, and started hearing news about him. I ended up wandering my way to Otosan Uchi shortly before the coup, after I finished training. Caught up with him and his retinue and ended up helping during the coup.

The stones forgotten for the moment, Sriyani asks, "Wasn't that a ronin band then? Did people just walk off and join up?" A pause, "Oh! and is the capitol as marvelous as the tales make is sound?"

"Basically yes. One could say the group was more cobbled together. But under the leadership under the inevitable Son of Heaven we were quite effective. And some did forego their names when they joined, to protect the honor of their ancestors since we didn't know what would happen. But I never gave up mine."

She nods at the question about the capital. "It was beyond any scale I could comprehend, growing up in the obscure place I did. It was beautiful, until it was filled with skirmishes, blood and fire. But I feel like it also needed to go, as it was the home of the Hantei and the Toturi needed a new place to call home that did not carry the weight and concerns of their imperial forebearers."