[D7 EE] Redux [Open, Expecting]

[Shimizu Ryori]

'Lion don't negotiate much." he shakes his head "we make friends, once we do, we stay loyal, if the other party betrays us, we tend to not take it well, it becomes very hard to gain our trust once lost, and we always have our friends backs." he shrugs "it makes lion diplomats not really a thing.

[Ide Amaya]

"Where I come from," she intimates vaguely, "friends were a rare luxury and strangers our daily rice. It is by kind face and pretty words that the Unicorn made it to Rokugan without leaving a swathe of blood in our wake."

[Shimizu Ryori]

He nods "I see the point of such skills, and the benefit, in the time you have been absent those who practice such words most at home have proved they can be used for dishonorable purposes, and in doing so have done much to poison the well"

[Ide Amaya]

She presses her lips together, "that is most troubling. Honesty has been my schooling, and has previously worked in my favour. But it is said the touch of the Ki-rin can dispel poison, so there may be hope yet."

[Shimizu Ryori]

"We are also trained in honesty, unfortunately it makes us too trusting, and easily taken advantage of at times"

[Ide Amaya]

"Honesty and trust are virtues. We cannot look for vipers behind every word because someone once lied." That someone, she thinks, just don't be fool enough to trust them again.

"It would be exhausting," she adds as an afterthought. "Perhaps you'd like to hear how the Ki-rin purified the viper's poison? I think I recall how the tale went."

[Shimizu Ryori]

He rubs his chin and nods "My mother always taught me not to turn down a good tale"

[Ide Amaya]

"I was told this a long time ago, so some of the details may be lost." She begins, thoughtfully.

Long ago, before the Burning Sands were burnt, the animals came down to the pool to drink. But on the surface of the water was something green and oily, and the animals were afraid, for they knew the water to be poison. They gathered at the edge of the pool, and they were frightened, for there was no other water they could easily reach and without water they would all surely die.

The animals were solemn as they considered what they must do, though already the day was late and not all were willing to admit to themselves the direness of their situation. It was at twilight, as Lady Amaterasu's light was fading in the skies, that the Ki-rin came. They saw she was old, and that she stepped with caution, as though her very bones hurt.

Her eyes were milky, her body stiff and frail. She approached the edge of the pool and she lowered her head. One of the animals cried out, "do not drink! The viper has poisoned the water!" And it seemed that the Ki-rin nodded, but she lay at the edge of the pool and lowered her head all the same.

However, she did not drink, but instead she touched her horn to the water. And where her horn touched the poison it turned as blue as the sky. The colour spread until the entire surface of the pool appeared to reflect the sky at midday, though it was very late now. As she lifted her horn from the pool, the colour fade and the water was once again cool and clear and safe.

"Drink now, my friends," said the Ki-rin, and for a moment her eyes were also clear and beautiful. The animals did drink, gratefully. But when one approached the Ki-rim to thank her, they found that her last breath had fled her body forever.

---

Adapted from The Unicorn and the Pool, recorded by Jane Yolen, told from memory.

[Shimizu Ryori]

He smiles and even Kyra stretches and seems to yawn appreciably " That was a very good story Ide - sama, I am afraid I have never actually seen a Ki-Rin."

[Ide Amaya]

"I don't imagine any have, not any more."

[Shimizu Ryori]

" Why not did they all leave with Shinjo? Did none return with you?"

[Ide Amaya]

"True Ki-rin? I don't know what happened to them. I only know that they are spoken of in reverence, and the past tense."