[D1 LM] Visiting the Lonely Shrine

[Shinjo Monkhbaatar]

Monkhbaatar visited the shrine with Meushi in the morning. He had not ever been taught to be overly religious or to have any specific favor for Kakita-no-shiryo or the Emerald champions of the past... but he had always felt he owed his good fortune to the heavens. And since this was the longest standing shrine to one of the most important people in the empire it seemed like as good a place as any to offer prayers and thanks. He'd been coming out here for as long as he'd known about it and almost never saw anyone else there.

He dismounted and gave Meushi the command to stay before approaching and kneeling with a wine skin before the shrine to offer prayers to the heavens. He wasn't that great at this but he was putting his heart into it. He also didn't know that the heavens could hear silent prayers.

"Well... I guess today's the first day of the miai. I'm going to go to the opening ceremonies soon. You've been looking out for me for a long time and I appreciate it. Maybe I can help out with building a new shrine or something in the village if I'm still here after the miai... as thanks. I'm not really sure if that's what you want. Or who it would be dedicated to. This really isn't my area of expertise but if I'm lucky one of the easterners can help teach me a bit more about it during this event. I'd like that so I can show my thanks more properly. For now I guess I can offer a drink and say thanks."

He poured out a bit of kumis from the skin by the shrine before pouring himself a small drink. "Thanks!"

[Kakita Nanami]

The sun was already beating down; Nanami had long since come to dislike summers down in the lowlands, away from the cool breezes of the Dragon's mountain fastness. Even under the straw hat she wore and with her fan waving vigourously, the heat was almost too much. Still, to come all this way and not pay respect to the shrine most dedicated to her most revered of ancestors...

She stopped short upon seeing the horse - more truthfully upon smelling it, not that there was much else she could smell most places around the village, it seemed. Nanami frowned a bit, continuing to wave her fan, then composed her face and stepped away from and around the horse and towards the shrine.

"Oh," she spoke, "my apologies, Unicorn-san. I was not aware others would be here this time of day." Or in this kami-forsaken heat, she thought to herself.

[Shinjo Monkhbaatar]

He turns to the sound of the new arrival. "That's alright. I come out here pretty often in the mornings," he says with a smile. "Shinjo Monkhbaatar. It's a pleasure to meet you." He gives her a bow that's definitely not refined but there's no lack of effort or natural grace to it.

"It's the oldest shrine in the area. I'm not sure how all of the praying and honoring stuff works because I've never really been taught it, but I figured something as old as the shrine must have a strong connection to the heavens so I prefer to talk to them here and give my thanks."

He was apparently trying, but he really didn't get it.

[Kakita Nanami]

She snapped the fan up in front of her face to hide a sour look, disguising it with a wave to blow some fresh air in her face. Had the Unicorn fallen so far that they did not know how to properly revere the kami? Dragging her composure together, Nanami returned the bow, perhaps not as cleanly as most Crane would but still respectfully, "I am Kakita Nanami."

She gestured to the shrine with her free hand, "And this is a shrine to my oldest and most revered of ancestors, Lord Kakita himself. It is good that you would come pay your reverence here."

[Asako Yuki]

As a student of the blade, Yuki had learned all about the Emerald Champions. The famous duels, the actions of each great Champion in their time, she never expected she would ever be in a position to even attempt to become the Emerald Champion, but she respected it nonetheless.

So it was perhaps no surprise that one of the first places she went once her things were squared away was the small shrine meant to honor the Emerald Champion. Kneeling down, the woman began to offer silent prayers to the ancestors.

[Shinjo Monkhbaatar]

"That's what I was told. Kakita-no-shiryo and the Emerald Champions," he says with a smile and a nod. "A great man... the first among the empires people to be named to that position. Defender of the Emperor and commander of his armies. A truly great man from what I can tell."

"I only wish that I had some real training in how to revere appropriately. But I was born during the great ride and it didn't afford much opportunity for me to learn. I was too young to do much more than ride for most of it, and when training did start I had to learn to use a sword and bow to help with the defense of the clan. Now that I'm here I'm hoping that I can start to learn proper customs of the Empire from those that have been living here their whole lives. It's an opportunity the generations before me didn't have and I'm thankful for."

[Kakita Nanami]

Well, he had proper respect for Lord Kakita, more than she had expected of any of the returning samurai. She continued waving the fan before her face as she spoke, "Then today is as good as any to begin being taught." She gestured towards the shrine, "And no better place to begin. But I am surprised you were not taught how to appropriately revere your own ancestors - and what of Shinjo herself?"

The Kakita carefully folded her robes beneath her as she knelt before the shrine and removed her hat, carefully setting it aside to not disturb the others present.

[Shinjo Monkhbaatar]

Monkhbaatar did the same as Nanami. "Of course Kakita-san."

"Well, for the most part when it came to reverence of the ancestors I would have simply visited with a priest or participated in one of the rituals that were held on occasion. But those were not everyday occasions and I relied on the priest for all the ritual. It wasn't something that I was able to study or memorize."

He sits by and pays attention to the Kakita so that he can properly learn how to do what she was teaching.

[Kakita Nanami]

"Hm... so you have shugenja among the Unicorn then?" She frowned slightly. "I had heard your clan didn't practice the same forms as those of the Empire."

She glanced around, frowning, "Usually, I'd hope for incense or something similar to offer properly..." Of course leave it to these backwards rural shrines to not be properly equipped to truly worship those they were devoted to.

[Shinjo Monkhbaatar]

"I mean... I offered some kumis earlier. Not really sure if that helps. Especially since Kakita-no-shiryo likely never had any so who knows if he'd like it," he admits. "Though it's the only food or drink I have on me at the moment."

[Kakita Nanami]

"Kumis?" Nanami looked to the Unicorn curiously, "I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with this... kumis. Is it some sort of drink?"

[Shinjo Monkhbaatar]

"Yes. It's an alcohol. Fermented milk," he replies with a nod. He doesn't even wonder if that would be strange to her or not. He figured they must have it in the empire and she'd just never had it.

[Kakita Nanami]

"Fermented... milk?" She blinked, "I'm sorry, I don't know what that is. Though if it's alcoholic, it sounds like it might be something the Crab might enjoy."

[Shinjo Monkhbaatar]

"I will certainly keep that in mind," he says with a smile. "Well, during our travels we did not have rice available, but we found a different way of producing an alcoholic beverage." He holds up the wine sack to show the containers they used for it. "We put the milk within these sacks... along with any other ingredients one might wish to add, but you can use just milk. We tie them off above the doorway to a yurt, and anyone that passes into the doorway gives the sack a firm slap or punch to keep the milk from settling completely. Over a short period the milk ferments into an alcoholic beverage. This is how the Unicorn would drink for celebrations and the like due to no availability of rice. What rice we could get was too important as a food to be used for alcohol and distilleries are not mobile." He gives the basic explanation of how it works.

[Kakita Nanami]

"Hm." She wasn't quite sure she liked the sounds of this kumis... or this milk. She nodded politely all the same.

"I suppose Lord Kakita and the kami will understand given what little... material we have available as offering." She shifted her hand, withdrawing a small pouch with a sample of the spices she had brought with her and placed it before the shrine. "Now, like so." She bowed low before the shrine and began to utter a quiet prayer to both Lord Kakita and the kami asking for protection and guidance in the coming days.