The New Winds

Masuyo walked along the dirt street, eyes shifting back and forth. This district had a questionable reputation, and with good reason. This is where the Eta dwelled, the minor dubious fortune shrines existed, battered ruins and crematoriums existed.

The young dragon had every intention of exploring a ruin and maybe finding one of those dubious shrines. So off she went towards the nearest rock pile she saw in the distance.

Tanshin hurried past the dilapidated shrine, with his lowered gaze focused on the path ahead. Motion from a nearby alley stole his concentration, and the collision with a fellow student took the breath from his lungs.

"Oh! I am sorry... Uh... Miru.... Dragon-san-ma." He mumbled to the ground in an unnecessarily low bow.

The monk bowed back. "It's alright, Phoenix-san! This one is Mirumoto Masuyo. I am being trained by the High House of Light. Are you in training still, as well?"

"I am Tanshin … er.. .ISAWA Tanshin. I still have much to learn from my masters about the kami." He pauses.
"What is the High House of Light? Do they teach shugenja there …. are you . .shugenja?"

"The High House of Light is a monastery in the Dragon lands. People come from all over suddenly knowing they belong with the Dragon. It is quite an honor, apparently.

I am a monk of the Togashi Order. We follow the Tao and the Fortunes but not like the Brotherhood. We are also part of the Celestial Order and considered Samurai unlike most monks. Monks of our order have special tattoos." She turned to show off her back with a Carp tattoo on her lower right. "This one is not special. I have not gone through gempukku yet."

He reaches out a hand towards the brightly colored design before he remembers his place. "I did not know such a place existed."
"What were you … I mean … what was your life like before... you _knew_ you belonged with the Dragon?"

"I was born Dragon and Mirumoto at that. My mother's a niten duelist, you know, two swords!" Masuyo flourished her arms around mimicking roughly the style. "This my first time outside of Dragon lands."

"This is my first time outside of Phoenix lands as well. I am finding these many new places and ideas to be overwhelming at times. We both find ourselves in unfamiliar and uncomfortable surroundings, don't you agree? "

"I am curious to see what the Empire has to offer. Your lands neighbor mine so perhaps, someday, we can visit each other as full Samurai? Down here is pretty hot." She frowned at the difference of weather. "Would you like to look around here with me? I heard this area has shrines to the more dubious Fortunes. I am curious what people here worship. I will do my best to protect you."

"If I am able, I would like that very much. I do not yet know where the Masters and by extension the kami may lead."
Tanshin produces a rather plain fan from his sleeve.
"May I offer my fan? It's not much, but it may help."

"Y-you are comfortable... ... here?" Tanshin seems confused, and stops as he ponders the situation.

He looks at you curiously, before finally saying:
"You can't very well protect me if I leave. I'll go with you."

"No-no! I am fine, I promise." She bowed several times and blushed as she refused the fan. "I will be here with you, I promise. That way over there looks like it might have something to explore."

She pointed towards a narrow alley with a ruined building of some sort blocking the end of it. Though a tad dark, it seemed they alley itself was quite short and not more than a short block. The building itself was of cheap stone construction, but did not remotely match the surrounding architecture. Whatever, it had been, it was exceptionally worn.

Tanshin walked with Masuyo down the alley. He held one hand to his prayer beads whilst scanning the area for the common trappings of a shrine.

He did not notice a fountain, or even a bucket that a pilgrim could use to wash before entering a shrine.

Masuyo could hear him utter short prayers of protection as they neared the lop-sided doorway of aged stone.

The aged stone doorway looked ready to collapse. The wooden building was falling apart and in the back was a small, weathered statue. It too was as lopsided as the door, and at the same angle making it look as though some giant creature stepped on the building from one side. There were holes in the floor and cobwebs in the corners. Wooden masks depicting a purse-lipped minor fortune hung from the back wall.

A rotting, discarded broom lay unceremoniously thrown to the side and frayed shimenawa surrounded the statue. It appeared if someone had hastily attached ofuda where the ropes frayed. The ugly statue leered at them. It was no fortune Masuyo recognized.

Masuyo picked up the broom and made a disgusted face, "should we clean this place?" Without waiting for an answer, she began chasing a family of spiders from a corner and nearly tripped on the dusty floor.

A small masked figure baring the trappings of a Scorpion kid waved from a distance. A bellowing voice, maybe unnaturally modulated or altered by the feline mask, reached them from afar.

"Hiiiiiiiiii~! Minaaaaa-saaan~! Is this the way to the Kinjiren Tombs?"

Now, one would need to have zero sense of sensibility to speak casually of the burial mounds once disturbed by Iuchiban and then ostensibly ignored for their existence except when one wanted to spook anyone with a threat of something rising from a shallow grave... again.

Masuyo dropped the broom as she heard the voice and peeked out, "eto, you are going to one of the Tombs, Scorpion-san?" Masuyo was decent with her history lessons. She knew what happened at the Kinjiren Tombs. The dragon also was rather curious and lacked good sense.

"Why not? Feels like a remarkable spot. Palaces all around here it gets boooooring, that one can be different!"

The figure stopped shouting as it had approached, dropping into a mock martial artist posture they clearly were not.

"Besides... the mystery!" A dramatic shift to the pose that was meant to be spooky - perhaps - but seemed rather ridiculous, especially from someone with such small a frame.

"I don't know much of palaces, but it does sound interesting." The dragon saw the very weak attempt at a horse stance, and grinning, countered the action with a tiger stance of her own."Has anyone told you where it is? All we found is this weird old shrine that looks like it hasn't been touched in ages."

"I bet I can find it! I can find anything!" The pause after and a lean forward palpably indicated that there was some brow wagging underneath the mask. "You're a pouncy one, Mirumoto-san?" There was some regard for the tiger pose, obviously.

Tanshin took a moment to regain his composure after the startling introduction of yet another explorer. Had his sensei been overly prohibitive in their warnings of forbidden places for his caste?

"Masuyo-san, would you introduce me to your ... friend?"

"I have never met this Scorpion til now, but they seem friendly enough." Masuyo addressed the Isawa. "Should we explore with them, or dust off this shrine first then go?"

"This one is Masuyo of the High House of Light. I am learning any forms of Juijitsu as part of my training, but yes I do like the more bouncy stances." She nodded to the Phoenix, "this is Tanshin-san of the Isawa. I met him today."