The New Winds

This thread does not count toward your thread limit. Please post in here the various letters you are sending to other players in character.

Dear Aiichiro-kun,

I hope you're all right. It hasn't been too long, but I already miss your company. Unfortunately I couldn't find any scrolls about this number art you do, I would have liked to learn more about it. However the Sensei puts us under pressure to bring our dueling arts to maximum performance. And so I spend almost every day leading the katana better, which gives me little time to study incidental things.

There is something I wanted to discuss with you, but I never found the right moment for it. You were also in the barracks at that time, right? You know what I mean, it was no accident that I found Kazuko there.

I just wanted to tell you that I don't judge you and whatever is troubling your soul, and you are ready for it, you are welcome to share the burden with me.

Sincerely

Kakita Kenji

Dear Ginkarasu-kun,

first of all, I want to apologize to you. Unfortunately I found only little time for you during our visit in Hirosaka and I am very sorry for this.
I found it extremely difficult to find time for everyone between tests and training and I should have appreciated you more.

I hope your training is going well? Our sensei spurs us on to perfect the katana, which has a daily drill. I must admit that since Hirosaka everything feels easier than before, do you feel the same?

I also have one more question. Does your family also deliver their mochi to the Crane Lands? My sisters urge me to ask you to send us some, of course your generosity would be answered with a donation to the Wall.

Dearest regards

Kakita Kenji

Admirable Kenji-kun,

The letter arrived first than I did. The joys of traveling with the Yasuki. The "number arts" is named mathematics. Heimin usually know those better than most buke. I too have a lot of workload, and no, I am not in any relationship with Kazuko and I have no intention to do so. You don't need to have this kind of paranoia. As well, use san. Or domo, I don't know what other clans should use and have no time to research.

Sincerely,

Kaiu Aiichiro

Kenji-kun,

I sent your message to my family! I expect that they have arranged a way to share some mochi with your family, if they listened to any of the three letters that I sent with requesting it. I caution, it is not quite the height of deliciousness that my family's contract with the Emperor's Kitchen reaches, but the chance for the Yasuki to work peaceably with the Kakita and benefit the defense of the Empire, is surely not one that they will pass up.

If an apology is needed, then it is accepted, wholly.

There are some tasks that have become easier, although my sensei, and the other students, have responded by making sure my life is more difficult in compensation. I too have been heavily expected to perfect my skill with the katana, although I still believe that seeking perfection is less important then knowing when to use it.

I was sent to Clear Water Village for all my training. It's really different then learning on the road and occasionally stopping at dojos for more training. It is very intense. I am learning how to be very scary. Not like, Matsu charging at you with a nodachi scary, but more like, gunso telling you to do a thing scary.

Do you have any ideas on what they're training you to become? How they want you to serve your clan?

Your friend,

Yasuki Ginkarasu

Otomo Nobuko-sama,

Hi! I hope you are doing well. I included with this a copy of a song that my grandmother is said to have written years and years and years ago. I'm told it was for the koto. I hope you like it! My grandfather was a flutist and would accompany her during festivals. I'd mentioned you sharing your music to my parents, and they were so surprised that they told me all about how music was once a part of the family!

Do you have any suggestions on how to navigate a whole lot of jealous and angry people of equivalent rank as you, without making them all enemies? There's a lot of jealous people here, now that my family has secured a contract with the kitchens of the Emperor's palace. I mean, it was tough enough after they found out that I'd been trained by the Ruby Champion and they saw how quick I'd become!

I need to end the letter here, the messenger is going to leave soon and I need to get to them before they do!

Your friend,

Yasuki Ginkarasu

Dear Aiichiro-san,

I'd like to ask your forgiveness. It seems that I crossed a line that I should not have crossed and I am sorry for that from the bottom of my heart, but I assure you that I had never given any thought in that direction.

The communication via letters takes time, I hope your studies are going well?
I tried to study this "mathematics" at night, it still gives me a headache, so I understand that you don't have time for long letters.

Between your last letter and this one, I have thought a lot, and have decided to send a haiku. I hope you like it!

Respect, loyalty,
Honesty and commitment
Bridge true connections.

Your friend,

Kakita Kenji

Kaiu Aiichiro-sama,

Hi! You got promoted! Awesome! Are you in charge of the other students now? Or just making sure the classroom is picked up? How does it work in the Kaiu's dojo?

I hope the jug of apple juice made it alright! It was made with apples from the Isawa Mori, so the juice is supposed to be really lucky! Someone said the Kaiu students had a big test coming up and so I thought you might like it!

I put the rabbit toy into a really secure box, so no one accidentally destroys it during the rumbles we occasionally have. Sensei believes it is important for the students to always be prepared for danger, and sometimes that means getting hit with sticks in the middle of the night while you're sleeping. Stopping people hitting you with sticks means shoving them, since they think the training I got with the Ruby Champion that lets me hit real hard isn't fair.

I used to think they could hit really hard. But it's more surprising then painful now! So the training has worked!

Your friend,

Yasuki Ginkarasu

(Prescript month of the monkey when letter is written)

Kakita Kenji-San,

Greetings from Sanpuku Seido (Cliffside Shrine)! It has been about 8 months since I was last able to step foot here, but at long last, our bridge has been rebuilt. I hope this drawing from an associate of mine, Shiba Yoshimi, gives a better idea of what I am talking about. We did our best, but it's hard to get a good angle in this valley.

With my new promotion, I was permitted to start patrolling the valley just below the bridge. I am afraid that I will not be able to respond promptly. Not only will it takes days for your letter to get to a town near my location, but I will then only be there for a few days a month.

I hope to see the results of your training at the Topaz Championship come next spring.

Your Friend,

Kaito Haruki

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/l5r ... 0409063653
Imagine the drawing is like the above hyperlink, but not as clean?

Bayushi Kaidan wrote: Dear Cousin:
I hope this letter finds you in good health. It has been a while since we have exchanged words. We did a good job in Hirosaka, evenwhen I finished in the bottom of the pack. I was able to disguise my failure. Sadly, I cannot use the information we have from Agasha sama yet.

I hope your training is going well. I am headed to Crane lands to finish and touch up in my training. I hope we can meet in Tsuma or before the Topaz championship. Probably will go on that boat ride that Kokyou offered that last night. Harushi informed me of such.

Your cousin
Bayushi Kaidan

Bayushi Jiro wrote:...

Bayushi Kaidan wrote: Dear Cousin:
I hope this letter finds you in good health. It has been a while since we have exchanged words. We did a good job in Hirosaka, evenwhen I finished in the bottom of the pack. I was able to disguise my failure. Sadly, I cannot use the information we have from Agasha sama yet.

I hope your training is going well. I am headed to Crane lands to finish and touch up in my training. I hope we can meet in Tsuma or before the Topaz championship. Probably will go on that boat ride that Kokyou offered that last night. Harushi informed me of such.

Your cousin
Bayushi Kaidan

Dearest Cousin:

I am well, though my training has accelerated somewhat. Lord Bayushi has taken a personal interest in my efforts, which has rather pleased my father. I am rather pleased at the direction life has been taking, save for the fact the father has gotten in touch with the nakodo. I rather feel that it is all too soon to begin that kind of consideration, but then, what say do I truly have in the matter?

Regarding your concern over Agasha-sama's gift, I suspect that it is entirely prudent not to have made use of it yet. It is a pearl of great price, not to be cast away lightly. Do be careful when you are in Mantis lands. Kokyou is an interesting specimen, but to be on a ship with Mantis is to be under their power. Not that it would be altogether terrible to be under Kokyou's power for a short while, but I would fain be cautious around his clanmates. They have their reputation for a reason.

I will see you in Tsuma. Take care of yourself until then.

Your alternate self,
Bayushi Jiro

Kakita Kenji wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:23 am

Honored Kenji-kun,

Good haiku. I also accept your apologies. They are going... Quite hurriedly. Because all other students didn't stop when I traveled to the training. I brought my gempukku project with me and didn't work on it whilst there, although just gave it to my sensei and they called it acceptable, although they took me for a private talk. That I'm technically ready to be a samurai, but because of the championship I will only receive my name and daisho at the cerimony.
Still, I can have the personal seal and officers room in the barracks. She also told me that although my engineering was passable, that I could be much greater if I took effort on getting the lost disciplines. So now I'm doing bushi and weaponsmithing training, later to move to armorsmithing. Perhaps engineering won't be necessary since I passed my gempukku. I'm still thinking on what the design of the seal should be and where I should position it. Read on that imperial etiquette book those things were important. I'm sorry on how dry those letters are being. I'm too busy to ponder on them.

Your friend,

Kaiu Aiichiro

Yasuki Ginkarasu wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:36 am

Valued Ginkarasu-san

Some students are still on the dojo, about half of them. I'm already free from such since I sent my sensei my gempukku project before the letter was written, but I liked the juice anyway.
Being with a complete gempukku without ceremony, my position is a weird in-between. Some kuge children tease me as a child, but most normal students are hohei too scared to do that.
I gained permission to go up the Wall and anywhere my level of clearance allows me too, as well an officer's room, as long I don't stray too far from Shiro Kaiu. They said that in case of a minor attack, I would be requested to power the engines, which is something hohei aren't told. It is nothing, though. No wars on Shiro Kaiu are minor.
I have also been given minor tasks by my sensei, still, as she thinks my training would benefit from them. Currently I'm packing to go to the port study the iron turtles if I understood her sayings right.

Your friend,
Kaiu Aiichirō.

Yasuki Ginkarasu wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:18 am

Yasuki Ginkarasu-kun,

Thank you for the sheet music. It is not one I have heard played before and caused a rather interesting reaction from my Sensei and Kohai when I attempted to play it in free practice. I suspect from the style and motifs that it is not often showcased outside of Crab Lands. And, of course, I had no flute to accompiany me. I can tell that much harmony would be added to it, but I feel my own redition is currently lacking with the absence of the shakuhachi. With your permission, I would like to try and change the arrangement so that I do not need such for it to be complete. But I will not if you believe it would be a slight against your ancestors to do so, as it is their song and not mine.

Your dilemma with your kohai is saddening. My own were quite congragelatory at the news of my training and impressed by my growth as an artist. However, I would advise that you simply show them the kindness you showed me. Continue to treat them with dignity, honor, and compassion as Bushido demands, harden your On, and they will find shame in pursuing their anger and jealousy against you.

Be strong, Ginkarasu. You have far more worth than many I have met. Do not let such useless pettiness tarnish your feathers. Keep them shining bright.

Your friend,

Otomo Nobuko-chan

(Added in a hasty post-script)

I found this lovely pebble when walking my letter to the messenger post. My apologies for opening and re-sealing it, but I saw it and thought that you might enjoy having a stone that has sat inside the Kakita Dueling Academy. I do not know how long. However, it is still pretty thing and that is enough, yes?

Bayushi Jiro-san,

I know it has only been just a little over a week since we left Hirosaka, but I wanted to write you and ensure your safe return to your dojo. I have just returned to Tsuma and my rooms there, and already my kohai are gossiping about the rumors they've heard of the attacks we suffered. It seems word spreads very fast when it does not come from the lips of a person anyone can name directly.

I have never really been one for gossip. I prefer to judge others by their actions and words, not whispers that come from no where. No matter how complimentary they may be. But I have never discounted it outright. To do so would be folly. In truth, I have always had difficulty in figuring out where the whispers start, which makes learning the truth of them nigh impossible most of the time.

You were much better at confirming if any rumors spread were true or not and I wish I had some measure of that skill. I expect I'll need it in the coming days if there is already talk and incorrect names being dropped. And I have only had enough time to start unpacking and learn what studies I will need to catch up on.

I miss Hirosaka already. Is that strange? Even with the danger we should never have been exposed to, I miss it. The experience was like a breath of fresh air and I am only now realizing how much I needed it. The Tao of Shinsei says "you cannot live while hiding from life". We were not hiding from life there. And so... we lived.

Do you think it strange for me to feel as though I have been hiding from life within the walls of the Academy, now that I have returned? Our schooling is meant to prepare us for life. Not hide us from it.

Ah, but I am being far too somber. Do not dwell on my musings. Tell me that you have arrived safe and well. I have prayed to Koshin, the Fortune of Roads for your trip to swift and frought only with the eagerness to return home.

With highest regards,

Otomo Nobuko

Otomo Nobuko-san,

Your letter reached me in good health here in Kyuden Bayushi, perhaps because of your kind prayers on my behalf. I was very pleased to hear that you are well, in body if not at heart. Your words concerning rumors and ennui have put me rather at a loss, I am afraid. Perhaps some further information might allow me to provide some advice to finding the source of the specific rumors in question, which sound rather ominous.

As for your sense that Hirosaka was living...well, perhaps, but I suppose we shall find out rather more about what living entails after gempukku. It is all well and good to imagine that life must be terribly exciting and full of fresh and new things, but I suspect that it is not so for everyone. It will be up to us to make life as we wish it to be, or as we think it ought to be, rather than waiting on fickle chance to bring it to us a second time. If the Academy has begun to stifle, then perhaps it is time you spoke with your sensei. My own education has turned rather more intense in the time I have been back, and I am beginning to learn from new sensei, one in particular to whom my father defers. But it would not be so if I had not proven my skill and my will both were aligned to making me a peerless servant of my clan. A sensei cannot be expected to read the mind. Unless, of course, the Kakita have noticed your abilities and have not as yet decided what to do about them. They would not dare to hold you back.

I assume you will have heard, but Father has called for one of your cousins to come to Kyuden Bayushi to assess my brother and I for marriage, once we achieve gempukku. I confess that I have little idea what to expect from such an interview, and Father and Mother are being most distressingly coy. I don't suppose you will have had any experience with a formal nakodo? Enough to offer some advice, perhaps? I would be ever so grateful.

In the meantime, please do take care of yourself. I think I read a hint of distance between yourself and your fellow-students that troubles me, and I hope that you will find the means to bridge this divide, however subtle it is in fact. One's cohort is a precious resource, as we learned at Hirosaka. It would be imprudent to imagine that these Kakita by whom you are surrounded will not make fine assets in their time--and may even wield some agency within the courts. Of course, if I am mistaken in my reading of these feelings in your letter, please do not hesitate to tell me off straight away. I am developing a terrible habit of dispensing unsolicited advice, which Father tells me I must break soon.

Yours fondly,
Bayushi Jiro

Bayushi Jiro wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:34 pm

Bayushi Jiro-kun

Your letter reached me in good time and my spirits are all the higher for it.

The distance you read into my words was not entirely unfounded. There has always been such since I started my training here. Tsuma is where my Great Aunt lives and she is well known to those of the Academy. As such, many tried to curry favors with her by pushing their children to befriend me. Since the friendships were not true, as they often are not when one is barely seven summers old, they did not remain in place. I suspect some resemtment was fostered as well, but mostly it has simply left me without a confidont among my peers once it was clear my Great Aunt could not be moved in that way. They are not unfriendly. And I am certain I will be able to call on many for favors should I need to, of course. But they are not close.

Thank you for the insight into the Sensei. I shall ask if there is room for me to expand my lessons somewhat. I want to get better at riding and perhaps take part in some of the stretches and exercises those studying dance often do.

I am excited to hear that a formal nakodo will be arriving to speak with you soon. I have interviewed with four nakodos set to match me, each several times. Which is unusual. They always seemed to leave very frustrated for some reason. When I've brought it up among my kohai, they have often commented on how strange it is to have more than one interview, even when nakodo do not feel they are the correct one to find a placement. I also haven't been asked to attend any meeting between the families of potential candidates. My father does so alone. Another odd thing, to those I school with.

However, from my experience, you can expect the nakodo to be very thorough in the interview. To ensure a harmonious match, they will do everything they can to provoke the most honest reaction they can. Do be truthful. I always have.

May Hotei bless you in this and all things,

Otomo Nobuko

Yasuki Ginkarasu wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 24, 2020 2:54 am

....

Ginkarasu-kun!

I'm happy to report that your family's Mochi actually made it here! Our family would never dare to claim the Emperor's Mochi, but the Mochi sent here have quickly become a court favorite! My sisters could hardly get enough of it and also the other members of our court were enthusiastic about it!

I thank you for your forgiveness.

It is quite wise to know when to draw the katana. Hopefully these teachings in Clear Water Village will help you with your fellow students.

I was assured that I would be promoted after my Gempukku for my services in Hirosaka. However, I don't really know what I would be used for. So as a friend I ask you for your opinion, how would you use my abilities if you were my lord?

Your friend

Kakita Kenji

Kaito Haruki wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 24, 2020 3:58 am

...

Kaito Haruki-san,

I hope this letter reaches you, sooner or later!
I also hope to be in a position one day to see this miracle with my own eyes, but until then I will keep this exquisite drawing like a treasure!

My training at the moment is mainly about the way of the sword, I hope one day to be able to stand as furious as you in the midst of enemies! An achievement that I still consider formidable today!

But speaking of formidable, I never had the chance to praise you for your wonderful cooking skills on the last day, my thanks and respect are certain.

I hope to see you again in Tsuma for the championship!

Your friend,

Kakita Kenji

Kakita Kenji wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 25, 2020 5:23 am

....

Kenji-kun,

Very glad to hear that it is being enjoyed! I will make sure my family knows. Do your sisters have any favorite types?

A promotion! Congratulations! I've little idea. I mean, I've always dreamed of wandering the Empire with my charge, protecting them from danger. But I don't know if that is the thing a Kakita should do! How do you feel about justice? Or about the Asako's teachings? I can imagine that someone with your skill could be quite good at defending the common people of the land. But I don't know if travel is your dream. Are you more comfortable in a court then on the road?

I met a ronin who was going to Otosan Uchi, of the name Mari. Had a good stance, about your age I think. I wonder what kind of life it is to wander the Empire at our age. Not yet past gempukku, but having had to fend for herself for who knows how long. Still, it means some level of skill, right? It's a dangerous world to go it alone, and I bet it won't be the last I hear of her. Had that kind of feeling.

Is there anything I should look for in Tsuma? I've never been!

Your friend,

Yasuki Ginkarasu