Shrine Reading

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

He was off, again, to pray. The little Kaiu always did quite badly when he skipped prayer, but was thankful he went to pray today even if he was a little tired from the training. Maybe the social talking, too. There Aiichiro remembered of something a Kitsuki said when he was on the town — that you could read the room and know what happened just like a hunter reads a forest and knows which animal passed.
Interested, whilst he put a zeni on the space for shrine offerings and knelt, he looked to the sides, trying to deduce who passed on this room before him, analyzing what was here and why it was put here on that way, looking at the offerings and trying to see something other than a zeni.

[Otomo Nobuko]

There's no certainty about who may have left what, but a rather skilled and well crafted origami frog had at some point found it's way to the shrine.

[Iuchi Prashant]

The last few days had been mostly successful. Prash felt he had made some meaningful connections with some students - maybe even some friends. The attack on him and his comrades a few days ago has been a shock, but they dealt with it successfully, as a team, and the days since then had been nice and peaceful. He felt good about the sheathes he had created for new amulets, and felt confident that he might be able to create others in the future.

He meditated, read Shinsei's writings and said some prayers every night, but he felt it was time to take some time for prayers to express his gratitude to the fortunes, his ancestors and the guidance of Shinsei's words.

He approached the small shrine walking slowly, his hands clasped, then bowed at the entrance, whispering a prayer, and saw the Kaiu looking at the coins. He bowed to him silently, taking a step aside to kneel, take his copy of the Tao out, open it in front of him, then start some quiet prayers, a grateful smile clear on his eyes even while his head was bowed down.

From time to time, he looked at the Kaiu again.

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

He noticed the a frog where he usually put aside the things on his travelling bag when he went to pray. His eyes widened and he instinctively flinched by the surprise, before noticing it was an origami.
Very well crafted. He took it to analyze, noticing then the looks of the Iuchi. He knew there was another person at the shrine, but this one seemed to be suspicious of him.
Anyway. Could ask him, and try to see who left here the obviously targeted frog that was too out of place to be a gift or decoration, later. It was extremely rude to interrupt prayers.
So today he merely knelt at a respectful distance and started the prayers he repeated every day, and because of this knew them by heart.
He took a small wooden doll from the travelling bag he for some reason everyday brought to the shrine and put it where the usual Tao support would be. He knew it had no divine connections and was not the mystic type to believe otherwise, but it always helped somehow. Like feeling it was a presence. Always made the moment more mindful.
A solitary tear went down. Ah no. No time for more of this crying. He quietly passed his hand over the eyes and focused on prayer.

[Iuchi Prashant]

As the Kaiu knelt down, placing his statuette in front of him, and started to Pray, Prash focused on his prayers as well.

After some time, he thinks he notices the Kaiu wiping something off his eyes.

He'd seen the Kaiu boy a number of times around, and had heard quite a bit about him from other students.

Well, he was a handsome fellow.

He seems.... troubled, somehow?, he thought. But this was no way to approach someone.

He focused on his reading, whispering prayers now and then. As he finished, he slowly got up, bowing at the front of the shrine, then started stretching outside as he waited.

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

He finished his prayers as usual. Sometimes he would get to slow down on rhythm because he noticed that he was praying automatically without regards for the words being spoken.
He never knew how to leave shrines properly, so in the corner of the eye he watched how the shugenja did. Although taking an Unicorn for customs example was not a very bright idea, he noticed right after.
He guarded his things on the bag before getting up with it and kneeling, taking the origami crab with him, too, not expecting to see the shugenja waiting outside.
He nodded. He heard that the Unicorn didn't bow or nod for a greeting, but nodding seemed safer.

[Iuchi Prashant]

The Iuchi more bowed again than nodded. "Kaiu-san. This is Iuchi Prashant. I'm afraid we haven't had much chance to talk before", he says, keeping a gentle, brotherly tone to his voice. His face was not really smiling, but he tried to keep a welcoming look on his eyes.

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"I'm Kaiu Aiichiro." He noticed that the Iuchi knew him. "I don't see many people who go to the shrine. Most shugenja don't, even the Phoenix, and Yotsuo-san goes to an actual temple at the town everyday."

[Iuchi Prashant]

"I guess you're right. I think most people have been saying their prayers quietly by their own beds? I know I have mostly done that, although I have stopped by for a quick prayer now and then."

He looks at the shrine again.

"But I felt it was time for a proper prayer to thank the Fortunes for their blessings. There have been many here. Some trouble as well, but how would one know peace without trouble, ma?", he says, with a gentle half-smile.

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"It is possible. Or maybe they only pray in the praying exercises of the dojo. Half the time I come there, half the time I pray at bedside. I usually pray the same players everyday, more or less." He looks behind Prashant, as if distracted, rubbing his fingers. "This place is probably the nicest I have ever been too, and I don't think I'm returning here after the Championship."

[Iuchi Prashant]

"Oh", he says, looking around and at the shrine. "Do you mean the shrine, or the dojo?"

He looks around again, breathing deeply. "It... It is nice here, I guess. May I ask what your homelands were like, Kaiu-san?"

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"This city. Maybe this part of the Empire even." He looks around with a sort of nostalgia already. He got so used with this place in only six days. The time really flew by.
"The Kaiu lands in general are very different from Shiro Kaiu. Which one would you like me to describe?"

[Iuchi Prashant]

He thinks for a moment, seeing the shine in the Kaiu's eyes as he looks around.

"Well, I don't know either of them, so... Whichever place you'd more naturally call 'home', I suppose", he says, smiling gently.

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"Shiro Kaiu is strange. You need to understand its history to understand it. Basically it is one of the oldest Crab castles, of course, and was built before the wall came to be. The construction of the wall did not start there, but got finished earlier there. Partially because we used the Twlight Mountains at the north of the castle and the own castle as part of the structure of the Great Wall. So you can say that the castle is as large as the Wall, as wide as the Wall and as tall as the Wall. Or, to be less sonorous, the wall was built surrounding it. So it is inside the Wall."
He took a sip from his water bottle to regain energy. He looked directly at the Iuchi's eyes as he spoke again.
"The Unicorn is way up North. Do the Twlight Mountains reach it?"

[Iuchi Prashant]

"Oh! That sounds very interesting. A bit... Claustrophobic, maybe? But definitely ingenious."

He nods at the Kaiu's last sentence.

"Hai, our lands are on the northwest. West of here, I believe? And... I don't think the Twilight mountains touch on our borders, no. My homelands, the Iuchi lands, border on the northwestern part of the Spine of the World, so I guess that's be farther north than the Twilight Yama."

He has a friendly smile on his face again. "What you said earlier made me wonder... Do you miss your home, Kaiu-san?"

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"Northwest. West of here is Shinomen Mori, I'm pretty sure. Unicorn lands are very spread out. If I had a map I could point where anything was, bit for now say that the Unicorn is there." He pointed northwest. "And the Crab is there" He pointed southwest with another finger. "As a comparison, the north is here." He used his second hand to point out, noticing the smile and smiling back.
"My home..." He started to think a little. "I have been living in Shiro Kaiu since I entered the dojo, but my house was not far from it. I miss Shiro Kaiu a little, but I really, really miss my house."

[Iuchi Prashant]

"Hai... That's it! You're right", he says after the Kaiu's explanation.

He then gives the Kaiu a supporting smile. "I see... I guess I was lucky to see and travel with my family fairly often during my training. Would you tell me a bit about your house? I suppose it must be quite different from the way we live in Unicorn lands"

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"I don't know how to describe it... I think I can describe the differences it has in comparison to the tea houses we visited in the way. The shoji are more resistent but heavy, and it felt crowded in comparison to here. Less air running around too, but that was because..." After that much time, he learnt when those thoughts came and how to block them before it was too late. So Aiichiro took a deep breath and a sip from his water bottle. "Anyway, I see you are quite a curious one."

[Iuchi Prashant]

"Oh", the Iuchi said, looking down a bit, coyly. "I suppose I can be at times... I didn't mean to pry, Kaiu-san. It seems like what you miss also brings you... Well, I hope your prayers - and time - can help you ease that into peace", he says with a warm, supporting smile again, nodding.

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

"I didn't say it in a bad tone. I like it." He replies. "I wish the same thing for you, Iuchi-san. Let's return to the barracks together, or are you yet to do something else?"