Dark Edge Village

Feeling like he had finally shaken off the effects of the oni from the first night in the village, Taichi had decided to keep a bit of an eye on the Unicorn Clan's tents, so that they were not caught unawares again.

There was a surprising amount of activity for this time of night, although none of it evil. He had been under the impression that these yurts were all for the Unicorn clan members at the miai but he was clearly wrong, as evidenced by occasional members of other clans entering or exiting the yurts. They seemed to avoid him as well, which he found strange until he realised that they did not want to disturb him as he went about his self-imposed duty. He silently nodded in their direction as he moved quietly around, admiring their courtesy.

--Inside Saksaha's yurt--

She'd gone to sleep early knowing that it might force her body to wake early, and it had. No summer dawn-light shines in the open smoke hole at the crown of the tent roof, only stars and the waxing moon.

Saksaha lies on her pallet in her nightclothes a few minutes, wondering if this is really wise. In almost every way it's safer here than when she'd done this on the long ride, slipping sideways to watch the movements of animal spirits for their omens or gazing at the dreams of her family for telltale stains of lightless darkness. But at those times Grandmother had always sat beside her with a lamp, and the sleeping breath of her brothers and parents had filled the tent with its warmth and rhythm. Now she's all alone.

After a few more minutes of thought, she gets up and gropes around in the moonlight for her writing kit and a scrap of paper. Her Rokugani calligraphy is a bit ragged in the dark, but it will do. Clutching the bit of paper in her hand, she arranges her body on the pallet again.

I ATEN'T DEAD

Eyes open, she lets the aura around the edges of her vision grow as her body becomes heavier and heavier.

Aramoro had tried sleeping earlier, but the heat made it a difficult task. He took a slow stroll around the camp areas to see what the other clansmen decided to do to cooldown.

He noticed the athletic Unicon samurai observing the passerbys. He was slightly startled when Taichi's gaze fell to him, he realised his presence might seem conspicuous. What better way to dispel this suspicion than addressing it.

The Imperial moves up to the Unicorn-Bushi. "Goodnight Shinjo-san." He takes a slight bow. "Odd time to be about, ne? I cant really blame one, this constant onslaught of heat is becoming a problem for my tired eyes." He pauses for a second: "Seppun Aramoro, Imperial." He adds a slight nod.

He notices the Shinjo's armour((I assume since he is on guard)). "Peculiar attire for this time of night I must add though."

Taichi bows in return to the imperial, slightly deeper than it perhaps needs to be. "And greetings to you as well, Seppun-sama. After the fire some nights ago, I thought that perhaps having another pair of eyes keeping watch might help such things from happening again."

As his armour is noted he looks down briefly, then back up. Checking that even in the poor light he looked as majestic as possible. "Since I was planning on keeping a watch of sorts, I thought this suitable. My clan's journey to this point has perhaps made us a bit wary, and this way if there are any problems, I will be ready to assist." A short pause, perhaps realising that wearing armour to counter fires in hot weather is a little... strange... he adds "And besides, the heat doesn't bother me anyway."

Iuchi Saksaha wrote:Eyes open, she lets the aura around the edges of her vision grow as her body becomes heavier and heavier.

The world falls away as Saksaha falls into a trance, leaving her laying in the grass in a wide meadow of tall grass. The moon and stars shine overhead, and a cool breeze rustles through the grass, almost making it sound as if the meadow were sighing.

Mindshred wrote:The world falls away as Saksaha falls into a trance, leaving her laying in the grass in a wide meadow of tall grass. The moon and stars shine overhead, and a cool breeze rustles through the grass, almost making it sound as if the meadow were sighing.

It's beautiful. So bright!

She's tempted to just lie here and enjoy the breeze for a while. But she doesn't need to cross realms for that. And time passes here at the same rate as ever, usually; if she dilly-dallies too long morning will come, and the heimin servants might come in with a message or breakfast, and then there might be shrieking and long explanations...

Saksaha stands up. It's always a weird feeling at first; she's figured out over time that her body here only has its usual shape because she remembers herself that way, and sometimes if she thinks about it too hard she forgets exactly how gravity is supposed to work on her.

Brushing her dream-hair out of her dream-eyes, she looks around the meadow.

The plains seemed to stretch on for miles in every direction, with no sign of any structures or buildings to mar the landscape. A few small animals - most likely bats - flew past Saksasha's head, seemingly unconcerned with her presence.

Everything looks serene and... safe. That's good, definitely good.

Barefoot, she begins her own sort of patrol of the campsite, or where the campsite would be, unconsciously paralleling Taichi's nightwatch in the waking world. Out of an obscure sense of politeness she walks where her memory tells her the paths would be instead of through other people's yurts. That's where Dong-Ha's tent would be, there Amaya's, there the cluster of shiotome tents... though of course it would be far from impossible in this huge open space to get turned a few degrees off-true. She keeps an eye out for anything unusual or alarming, though not seriously expecting anything more than the small flying creatures she's already seen.

Eventually, growing a little more cautious, she makes her way to a spot that she thinks must more or less correspond to the site of the attack two nights ago. She wonders whether there will be any sign of the devastation she'd seen in the waking world--was Iuchi Tareef asleep when she died so suddenly, and even if she was, would it leave any mark here? Or was the land of dreams innocent of at least one of the terrors that haunted the waking?

If there's any sign of lingering corruption, Saksaha fails to find it. The grass seems healthy and undamaged, and the faint chirping of crickets indicates that the spirit animals don't seem to be particularly ill-at-ease in the area.

After inspecting the area carefully, Saksaha continues her patrol a bit longer. It's a solitary but not at all unpleasant thing, walking around the dreams of her people and finding them, for the moment at least, safe from harm or threat.

Eventually, if nothing worrisome or dangerous presents itself to her dream-eyes, she'll finish her circuit of the camp and return to more or less the place where she started, settling herself down into the cool grass to begin the process of mental concentration and centering that will allow her spirit to return to her body.

Other than a few curious bats, nothing interrupts the Iuchi's stroll!

Rather than recoil, Saksaha laughs as the bats flap nearby her head--a lucky animal, they were, at least to some of the peoples the Iuchi had met on their travels. Then, of course, she has to start all over again on returning to herself. This is always the hardest part. Leaving is all too easy, and coming back... less so.

But eventually, the crisp starlight of Yume-do blurs--

. . .

--and she is lying in her own tent again.

She sits up and rubs the numbness out of her face. The scrap of paper in her hand flutters onto her lap, and after half a moment's thought she shoves it under her mattress. Then she fumbles around until she finds a cup of water to chase away her incipient headache. As the wavery auras slowly clear from her vision, she can see that it's still full dark, but the waxing moon is very bright behind its thin screen of clouds, giving enough light for her to safely kindle a lamp from the banked, nearly-dead embers of the yurt stove.

So. No threats there. That is something. And the peaceful grassland had been soothing to her dislocated spirit, even if the anxieties she'd left behind are starting to creep in again now that she's back.

Sitting up taller in the circle of light, she straightens her clothing, finger-combs her hair and rebraids it roughly. Everything is still so quiet, but she has the feeling she won't be able to go back to sleep. Instead, she opens her traveling chest and takes out her divination set. It's one in the Moto style, like her grandmother's: a square of soft leather marked with a simple grid, and forty-one black pebbles, each of which she blesses meticulously before beginning the slow process of dividing, counting-out and arranging them in the nine grid squares.



D3 LN---Let's try some Divination/Int. Basic TN 15: 4d10o10k3 25

The Unicorn are strange, but impractical? I think not, who watches the watcher?

The Imperial leaves a few moments in silence to test the tension.

"I am certain the heimen are fully capable to deal with fires? Especially now that they are aware of it's prevelance."

He looks into the darkness.

"To be honest, it surprises me that they weren't able to stop the fire sooner, considering the amount of Rokugani with able eyes."

He gives a slight smirk.

"Perhaps if the heimen were armoured would the fire kami not have been so brazen."

He looks back to the bushi
"Does this Watcher have name?"

Me bows slightly in apology "Ah yes, my apologies Seppun-sama. Shinjo Taichi." He tenses at the comment about able eyes, thinking this is possibly a slight at his Daimyo, but giving the man the benefit of the doubt. For now.

At the mention of the heimin, he raises an eyebrow "Part of a samurai's duty is helping protect the heimin, is it not? During our travels, my clan learned the value of cooperation and the importance of contributing to the whole." He shrugs "This is one way in which I can fulfil that duty. I have no reason to ignore it."

He tactfully avoids the mention of the armour.

Out for a late stroll a pair of lions pass through the Unicorn Yurts two pair of eyes scan the darkness as three pair of feet pad the paths between tents.