The New Winds

Yotsuo had walked at a brisk pace, which was a leisurely for the Scorpion escort. He was happy to finally be able to get to a temple to see to his spiritual needs. He had been looking forward to this through his daily training and the peace of mind it would bring.

He was glad that the temple square was so close to the training grounds. It meant that there was nothing to distract from his purpose. He bowed as he entered through the torii arch, offering a short prayer. Then he looked around at the different buildings to determine where he might find someone that could help him, hoping to find a monk or priest that could provide purification services.

The shadowy scorpion woman followed a bit behind the Kuni, watching him with sharp eyes. When the two arrive at the temple, she begins the cleansing ritual on herself before she enters the threshold of the area.

"Come now, do not doddle."

He nods and moves with the sensei. "Of course."

She motions in a sweeping gesture to the temple grounds.

"You have quite the pick here, venerate and complete your duties as you need so we can return. The moon is growing brighter and is unpleasant on my eyes."

The young man seeks out a monk or priest that can perform a purification ritual for him. Asking the nearest available who could do so.

One of the priests are quite happy to perform the ritual, and it is done without any trouble.

After it is finished, the young kuni bows to the priest and thanks them before returning to Tomoe. "Thank you for bringing me sensei," he says with a bow.

"Every night from now until you leave, you will be under my care. Now, shall we return to the dojo, or did you have something...else...in mind?"

Her eyes twinkle behind her mask

Unfortunately for the sensei's eye twinkle, Yotsuo had been raised by strict Kuni master so he didn't really know how to get into mischief. Only how to follow rules and do as was expected of him. His only intention now was returning because that's what he thought was expected of him. However, his expression seemed like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. The same look you might expect a seasoned bushi to have after having survived a battle.

"I didn't have anything else in mind. But as I am in your care until we return, I will remain with you if you have anything you need to do before heading back," he says with a gentle smile.

She nods solemnly and turns to head back to the dojo.

"As far as your ability goes, none share your blessing among our cadre, so I advise you to be extremely careful if you do visit another realm, and by the heavens, stay either Above or Beside. Do NOT go Below."

"That is my intent. The only visits to spirit realms I do without informing someone are my nightly visits to Yume-do. Ever since my ability was discovered I've only visited other realms with someone overseeing me, except for the case where I traveled unintentionally during a fever. My master doesn't have the gift, but he was considered the most well versed in dealing with mediums and understanding how the gift works. I've also been taught about all the realms and basic dangers of them. I still have a lot to learn about them, but I know which ones would be the most dangerous. I do not want to do anything that would bring dangerous spirits to my location and endanger those around me."

"Sensible. Very good, Kuni-san. Let us return then. I look forward to hearing of what you may find."

"Well, I can tell you about some of the stuff I've already seen in the past too. Like Kurokazan," he says as he follows the sensei, returning to the compound with her.

"Kurokazan?"

Her voice is intrigued, though she does not look at him when she asks.

"The giant volcano in Chikushudo where Inari lives. Well, people think Inari lives there, I haven't been able to travel up the volcano to find out. But it's the biggest thing I've ever seen. It reaches above the clouds, but even the part that touches the clouds is bigger around than any mountain I've ever seen in Ningen-do. Not that it's always cloudy there, when there are no clouds you can see the snow covered top and it looks so far away."

"That sounds quite magnificent. I wonder though, if it has snow on the top, how could it be a volcano?"

"When I talked to people and learned about it they said it was dormant. That it hasn't erupted in a very long time," he says. "But I don't know how old some of those spirits are or if they were immortal. Maybe the volcano has been sleeping since before the empire, maybe even longer."

"It is possible. If it is as large as you say, hopefully it never wakes up, or Beside will become quite disturbed."

"Maybe, but it might just be part of a cycle there too. Could be inevitable that it wakes up, burns a bunch of stuff, then goes back to sleep. Or maybe it has it's own spirit and it only wakes up to defend the realm? Things are so different in Chikushudo and I saw things come to life that I didn't expect. Trees and rocks sometimes, though most stuff by far is animal spirits."

"Just be careful. Few know, but Chikushudo and Sakkaku are the same realm, just different courts there. You may run into spirits that are quite keen on tricking you."