[D3 EM Saksaha's Yurt] Early Pony Catches the Charm

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"The Fairuz? He's, um, a he. But Kaiya does sound like a girl's name, does it not?" she says, saying the name with a Mekhem-ish pronunciation that does indeed give it a bit of a feminine sound. "I do not think he knew much more than we do about the dark spirits, but he said they could be called on even by people who are not shugenja." She leans an elbow on the table, flicking her long braid backward over her shoulder with her free hand when it slips forward and threatens to trail its end in her bowl. "I know what you mean. About Batul-san. She is younger than us, maybe too young for marriage? Clever enough, but very trusting. She was there, and seemed to me as surprised as I was to hear all this." Only she announced that fact to them all out loud...

"Fairuz-san did not speak to the fire spirit so casually as that--he used a prayer-spell to question it, one of those paper scrolls they carry. I did not pry into it--there were other things at hand, the time was not fitting. But the words sounded something like those old invocations to the elements we are all made to memorize before gempukku, I thought." The ones that were used often in rituals but had never seemed to do much of anything, even if you bothered to inscribe their key words onto a meishodo charm.

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Oh.. him. Sorry." Rokugani names kept throwing him off, especially when people kept picking names of their honored ancestors regardless of the gender. "I don't know, it could be? Kai as in sea... and ya is in the night?" (*) His fingers drew the characters against the surface of a free pillow. "Sounds pretty feminine to me, but not like I don't believe you." The hand that had 'drawn' the characters on the pillow 'brushed' them off as if to brush off the misunderstanding. "Soo... anyone could call the evil spirits. Brilliant." Dong-Ha rubbed the stubble growing on his chin.

"Well... I trust her family to know." he shrugged. "Then again, perhaps that is exactly why she is here." Dong-Ha gave her a marked look. Not like marriages never happened for ulterior reasons.

"So... you need a piece of paper to talk to the spirits, but anyone can talk to the evil spirits just like that?" he snapped his fingers. "Interesting creatures these spirits. You'd think the good spirits would show the same courtesy to people. This way worshiping the wrong spirits seems like all to easy."

"I guess... beyond talking to Moto-san and checking that Ide-dono knows, there is precious little we can do... besides walking in the footsteps of Iuchi-shiryo and trying to gleam information from the locals?" Waiting for her answer, he unceremoniously stuffed what remained of his flatbread into his mouth.






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(*) 海夜

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha can only nod along to Dong-Ha's comment about reasons for marriage. She has some vague suspicions this might apply just as well to herself, as willing as she'd been to come here.

"Yes, we must just learn as much as we can. I suppose this is nothing new," Saksaha agrees, getting up to ladle some more tea from the cooking pot into her bowl. "These evil spirits... yes, it is troubling. It sounds as if they are not everywhere, always, as the elemental kami are, at least? The blood magic calls them, or something." She finishes her business at the stove and sits down again. "Fairuz-san said the fire spirit told him the place where the oni was is safe now, for what that is worth."

Saksaha spoons more milk into her bowl and stares into it as the pale swirls disperse. "Do you think..." She shakes her head and looks up, a little afraid of sounding foolish. "Do you think, if we can't hear the kami yet by ourselves, we could still make them speak with our charms? One of the words of invocation to the elements?"

Or does this make her sound even sillier in her own way than naive little Batul, with her romantic fantasies of happiness with a rich, strong provider? She colors a little and looks back down at her tea.

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"So, at least the camp is safe for now." That was something, if not much. "This new world is... all kinds of confusing." Dong-Ha murmured, taking a sip from his bowl.

"Eh, I don't know. It should be possible, at least in theory? I mean, as much as the elements have to be independent from the spirits..." Otherwise the magic would have not worked outside Rokugan. "...the spirits here are attuned with the elements, so perhaps it would be possible to call for the spirits using the simplest words that in use to call for the elements." Dong-Ha laid his bowl down as he reached into his robes to produce a piece of carved hardwood wood that was riddled with meishodo runes. "I tried doing something like that the other day... I haven't dared to see if it actually works."

"I was thinking I'd try something simpler first, like an amulet that calls fire... to light a campfire or a torch. You would need to call.. command the very element into tight focus and hope that it would cause the desired effect."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Oh." When Dong-Ha reveals his piece of wood carving, Saksaha's expression clears, and she flips open her own waist pouch, taking out a round, dark wooden object about the size of a small egg covered in swirling, deeply incised arabesques. The style was different from his, but the intent clearly the same to a knowledgeable eye. "I haven't tried this yet, either." But it was reassuring to know he'd been thinking the same way.

"I have seen others do that on the trail, a few times--call fire. My grandmother could call water, enough to fill a cooking pot, if the land around was not too dry. I tried it once with her charm." And had missed the cooking pot entirely while giving the family sheepdog an unexpected and unwanted bath, but never mind that part of the story. She stirs her tea with her last bit of bread. "I've wondered... are these spirits really separate from our craft? Our ancestors believed they were part of everything, made up each piece of the world, and the people here still do. Maybe they were right, only outside this land where the gods walked, the spirits are... sleeping. Or we could not speak to them there because we are of Rokugan, and not of those places."

---

D3 EM--Lore: Theology sounds right for really basic knowledge of Rokugani-style animism: 4d10o10k3 37

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"It should be possible, right." Dong-Ha sounded determined as he looked down at the amulet Saksaha held on her hand. "I mean... it feel almost a waste to use materials for such a task... but still, think how convenient it would be." Starting a fire, or filling a pot with water by merely waving a trinket would make so many tasks easier. "As long as such thing doesn't upset the spirits, at least. It would be... unfortunate if such a thing drew an evil eye on us." he chuckled softly. "So... I think I'll wait until the priests here have an opinion about our magics."

"Exactly! Think how much safer our journeys would become if we didn't need to worry about finding water." Dong-Ha quipped, obviously excited. "And if it can be done once... it can certainly be repeated."

"Did you ask your grandmother how she came up with her trinket?"

"I have been taught that it is the elements that are part of everything. Iuchi-shiryo himself said that 'Everything is one, one is everything' when Tao was presented to him. That it was his realization that everything is composed of elements and so tied together." he practically lectured her. "That doesn't require spirits to be part of anything, really. And you know, if Iuchi-shiryo could call spirits at will, he would have had no reason to go to the City of Sorcerers, no?" Everyone knew that he had stolen the magics of the magi to grant the Unicorn some power to defend themselves in the otherwise hostile land. "I think that the Rokugani magics herd the spirits.. and spirits in turn, command the elements." Clearly he had his own opinion on the matter.

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha finishes chewing her bite of bread before answering, "I think Grandmother must have had it from her teacher. She... wasn't a woman you wanted to question," she adds with a smile born of memories that have had some of their sharper edges rounded off since the old matriarch took her last ride this year. "You could only wait for the answers she chose to give. But it was very good to have at times," she agrees. "Especially when the water were we traveled was scarce, or not good to drink, and there were little or sick children in the camp. I wonder also if a spell could be made to find water? That would be even more use to the camp, at times."

She drinks a little more tea and then, brushing her hands off on her skirt, adds, "I too learned that 'everything is one.' Why should that not include spirits? Iuchi-shiryo must have called to them at first, when he learned from old Isawa. Later, after the clan traveled far, they would not answer well--this we know. The stories do not say why..." she shrugs. "This place, Rokugan, is the land where the gods came to earth and the people learned how to make nemuranai, objects whose spirits are awake. Would it be so strange if the spirits of the land are awake here but insensate out there? To me, that would be less strange than if these spirits exist in Rokugan and nowhere else. But I too would like to learn what the priests here think about it."

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

Dong-Ha tilted his head to the side. There was a difference between asking and questioning. His father had always encouraged his curiosity, telling him to learn from his mistakes. If something did not work out, at least he had learnt that it didn't work. That too, was knowledge. On the other hand, his mother had strictly forbade all experiments. One did not experiment with medicine, but relied on the knowledge passed down, at least until one was experienced healer. "I.. see." However, even his mother had answered his questions when he had had any, though her lessons had usually guaranteed that he had long lists to memorize and had little time to ponder things beyond the range of his current studies. "Well, I mean, if spirits are tied to the elements, that could be possible, but... you'd think that spirits in muddy water are much like spirits in clean water. So, you would not know what you'd find."

"This is one of the places where gods came to earth... or this is the place where Rokugani gods came to earth, making it unique." he corrected her, sounding a little agitated. "The words creation... are not Rokugani, so it follow that there has to be a creator that is not a Kami we know, yes? Who has to say that this creator brought spirits, as he had the powers to command the elements themselves. Maybe the Kami blessed the lands with the spirits because... they needed intermediaries?" Some of Dong-Ha's thoughts were borderline heresy. "Not all Kami are the same."

Having spoken his mind, he laughed. "Not that we'll ever know. Unless one of us goes back." That didn't seem too likely. "Anyway, I think we could use our time more productively... and actually try to craft something. See if it works."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"The old folks' tales speak of Lady Sun and Lord Moon as the first ones to walk this world and name its parts," Saksaha reminds him, most likely needlessly. "Other peoples tell of Sun and Moon too, even in the Sands, but only Rokugan knows where their children came to earth..." she shrugs again. "There is too much we don't know. But maybe we will know more soon."

She smiles. "Your idea is sound. Let us learn by doing--I will get my things."

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"They do, they do. But the other peoples have their own legends and stories. Maybe Lord Sun and Lady Moon created the world... but if that was the case..." he tapped the amulet he had been holding. "This would derive directly from them... and I am not sure that is case." an eyebrow rose to indicate doubt.

"Good, I brought mine." Calloused hand reached to pat the packet he had brought with him. "Let's see if can get something done."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha clears away the bowls and breadcrumbs, then finds her own box of supplies and opens it on the table--small knives and picks, paints and brushes, and a collection of stone, wood, and bone blanks. She picks out a flat, slightly irregularly shaped wooden disk which looks like it was probably cut form the heartwood of a sapling or small tree branch. "Probably I should try calling Earth first," she comments, spinning the disk on its edge like a very wobbly top. She catches it as it starts to tip over. "It is the easiest element for me. Even if I cannot think of so many uses for calling it." There were pretty much always rocks or dirt around, after all.

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

Dong-Ha, for his part takes out a small hammer and chisel, laying them down to his left. Reaching into one of the many pockets lining his robes, he produced a piece of porous stone which he showed to Saksaha, holding it between his fingers. "From a fire-mountain." The young mystic had figured his choice of material would require no further explanations and thus offered none.

"Earth and Fire for me." Dong-Ha nodded in return. Every meishodo shaman seemed to have the strongest connection with Earth, while others could could claim some kind of connection with Water or Fire few could command Air as easily as they commanded the other elements.

"Now... the words ought to be easy. Something like ard or nar." he muttered, mostly to himself. "Of course, you would need the proper post-position glyphs to make the elements respond."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha raises an eyebrow at Dong-ha's choice of material--not for its origin, which makes perfect sense, but because it looks quite difficult to work. She's not sure she would dare to try it.

"Yes..." she agrees, biting her lip, as she picks up a small scraper and begins gently smoothing the surface of her bit of wood, running her fingertips over its grain after each stroke to sense where the knife should cut. "Something like calling the strength of the element, but more direct. More physical." She pauses her work for a moment to unloop one of her older, much-tested charms from around her neck--a circular amulet of dark gray soapstone, carved on both sides with intricate geometric relief designs which incorporate the secret words--and lays it on the table to compare.

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

Meanwhile, Dong-Ha braced the small piece of porous rock between his feet, taking the chisel to it. The stone was slightly too big, and he had decided to cut a piece off before he actually began shaping the amulet. The tradition decreed that stones needed to be smoothed down with sand and water. Dong-Ha, however, had other ideas.

"Yes." he muttered between the gentle taps of the hammer. "Something like that. Something very primal. Rudimentary." *tak* *tak* the hammer struck against the chisel. "You'd think that the elders would have figured this out already..." Dong-Ha looked up from the stone for a moment. "Or perhaps the are experimenting, just like us?"

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"I think that is likely," Saksaha says, her voice a bit muffled as she bends over her task. For the working she pictures in her mind, the wood should be silky-smooth, with no bumps or pits to distort the lines of the carving. "Teachers... teach. They will wait to know it well before they tell us what must be done. But then," she laughs a little to herself, "we want to know now."