(D3, EN, Open) - Nighttime Dojo

[Moto Khulun]

“If I stay with the Moto, I would serve my uncle as his banner woman and perhaps earn a place within Moto-dono’s inner circle in time. I was born to lead, in time.”

“If I were to leave I would serve hopefully as a warrior, is the role I think I would be best at. I do not know how well my horse would fare in Dragon lands.”

[Togashi Udo]

Udo nods and is quiet for a time. Then he comes and sits down next to Khulun.

"It is not easy, but who is to say who would marry into what family? Perhaps your horse would not need to do well in Dragon lands?"

[Moto Khulun]

“It is future, future is future. None can know such a thing, Do many Dragon monks marry?” she asks.

[Togashi Udo]

"Yes, if they are Dragon monks. Most monks give up their clan and family when they become monks. Not the Togashi, though. So plenty marry, yes."

"The future is the future. See? Now even you don't want to think on it." He smiles. "Dragon wisdom."

[Moto Khulun]

She closes her eyes and says, “I am sleep-dreaming then. Why do you meditate so much? What is the purpose?”

[Togashi Udo]

"It clears the mind. It focuses the thoughts."

"The more I meditate, the closer I become to myself." A pause. "You are familiar with archery, and that the arrow knows the way to go. We samurai are no different. We know the path; too much thought can lead us from it. Meditation trains the mind so it can make better decisions without thought."

"In battle, how much do you think? You train your body so it just does what it needs to. That is what meditation does for my mind..."

"...It is hard to explain."

[Moto Khulun]

“I never really thought about how I know to fight, it is just is… but it took time. Some say, little Khulun has gift for fighting but it is no gift, no one gave me this, it took many days… months… years and much blood and much pain. Tears until there were no tears, pain until there was no pain, and life until there is no life,” she chuckles.

“Such is the way.”

[Togashi Udo]

"Such is the way. You practice a thing until it is. It is the same for me... Though less pain," he says with a sad smile, thinking of her experience.

"But you are born to lead, no? Without your efforts, that leadership would be no good. Your blessings and your efforts."

"I am glad this night is peaceful. Last night chased the wind. Tonight chases the silence."

[Moto Khulun]

“These nights are good, much better than nights before we returned to the lands of green. Before was time of madness and shadows, now… we can lay out and watch stars with little danger,” she says honestly.

“It seems long ago, but still many morning wake and ready for battle. Perhaps always will be such.”

“Children will not have such dangers, but new ones will replace those that have come before,” she says honestly.

“Chasing Silence, sounds restful.”

[Togashi Udo]

Udo nods. "It is why we must always train. It is why we can't abandon duty."

Udo is quiet for a time. "If you are tired, you can rest."

[Moto Khulun]

"Is it hard to be monk and samurai?" she asks.

[Togashi Udo]

"Is it hard to be Khulun?"

Udo exhales. "I suspect I would find it much harder to be Moto than to be Togashi, but you would find it the other way." He stands up again and begins to move around the room. "Many look on the Togashi as if it is hard to be them. The tattoos, the dual nature. As if we are odd. I suspect this happens for the Unicorn, and has been for many years.

"But it is not hard for a rock to be a rock. It is much harder for a rock to be a river."

[Moto Khulun]

"I guess that makes sense," she says with a blank look that expressed anything but comprehension.

"It's like how a boy can be a father and a soldier? A woman a queen and a grandmother? I actually have no idea."

[Togashi Udo]

Udo chuckles (politely, of course).

"It is more like you no longer know how you fight like you do, you just do. It is not hard for a thing to be what it is. It is hard for a thing to change. To an outsider, it would be hard to be a monk and a samurai. For me, it would be hard to only be one of the two."

Udo begins to practice jiujutsu again.

[Moto Khulun]

"But we change through our life right, child to adult and then to old sad nag?” she says in response.