[D9 - LE: Phoenix's Blessing] A Thousand Prayers (Open)

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

"I have seen two. They're distinctly different. One appears to be more or less a warrior, while the other is something... called a Vedic. Yes, that's what he called it. I can only describe what he said as somewhere between a monk and a courtier." It was impossible to understand the rest, and a few things bordered on blasphemies, but that wasn't ronin business to clear up.

Doji Monkhbaatar · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:29 am **Posts:** 231

"When I visited Benten Seido, one of the monks there said that she regularly went to court at Kyuden Doji. So, I guess it kind of makes sense if the Naga have their own version of that?"

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

"It... seems a bit more ingrained in them. More like it is normal instead of a not surprising exception. But yes, something like that? I do not know how to explain them. Another might." Somehow, despite where she'd grown up, she managed to avoid almost all of the Naga War.

Doji Monkhbaatar · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:29 am **Posts:** 231

"I'll have to seek one out and ask it some day. Seems like it would be a lengthy conversation," he replies.

"Have you traveled much then? I imagine so with how you described the ronin lifestyle earlier." The mention of Musha Shugyo meant pretty much nothing to him, so he didn't even realize that she had not been a ronin forever.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

"My pilgrimage causes me to wander a great deal, yes. I may settle for a time, but it is unusual for ronin to spend too long in one place. If loyal samurai to a lord defend it, and it is not a vast city, they have no need of our regular presence. We are usually found where samurai are not." forgotten villages, large cities where they could be conscripted in droves, that sort of thing.

It didn't even dawn on her that he might not understand a Musha Shugyo as opposed to a regular ronin.

Doji Monkhbaatar · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:29 am **Posts:** 231

"What is the focus of your pilgrimage? Are you seeing to visit all the temples of one of the fortunes? Or perhaps homes of ancestors?". He clearly had the wrong idea of pilgrimage.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

Perhaps he did, perhaps there were some out there who did the same. She shook her head soberly, her tone getting a little cool again. "Apologies. I should remember. Your people are new to these lands. The Musha Shugyo... it is a thing that you might have difficulty knowing or understanding," she said. "It is a warrior's pilgrimage. Ronin come from different walks of life. Born clanless. Fallen from grace. Their stories vary..."

"A Musha Shugyo is taken with the leave of one's lord. The person who takes it puts aside their clan for a time while they seek to better themselves and to bring back some form of wisdom from their journey. They don't often speak of their purpose. I seek to know my place in this world for the sake of my lord. Only when they feel my journey is done will it end and I return to their side."

Doji Monkhbaatar · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:29 am **Posts:** 231

"Ah. So a pilgrimage that is as much of the soul as it is of the land? While the Unicorn never became ronin during my time with them on the ride, it was not so infrequent that one might take time to ride alone to better understand themselves. Not quite so large an undertaking as a... Musha Shugyo," he says it, repeating it out loud more to remember it than to practice pronunciation.

"I am certain that when you finally make your way home, yor soul will have been enriched by your devotion to Compassion." She may have cooled her tone, and he didn't really know why, but he thought that such a pilgrimage was quite an interesting idea. He wasn't about to do something like that, having so recently joined his clan, but he understood a desire to cultivate ones own soul.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

She considered that to herself. Would compassion enrich her in approaching her final reward? A chuckle was stifled as she knew the answer. No, compassion was not what she walked the open road to search for, was it?

"It is a rarer thing, but yes. It is of the body, the mind and the soul. Unusual for a shugenja, but not unheard of. Far more ronin you will meet are simply clanless by birth or happenstance, eeking out a living in the meantime. Some will take coin for anything. Others have their pride, especially those once of a clan's ranks. It is a thing to gauge carefully, unless one is in a position of authority to conscript and hire more than one."

Doji Monkhbaatar · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:29 am **Posts:** 231

"I am thankful for the insight you've granted on the subject. It will undoubtedly aid me in the future. It wasn't the lesson i was expecting when I came to the temple, but it is one that I needed," he replies with a smile. "I've been trying to visit temples as frequently as is reasonable in order to learn more of the celestial heavens and the fortunes."

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

"Fukurokujin is known to strike at the oddest times when teaching a lesson, -sama. I am glad that I can help you in this." The alternative might have been far more embarrassing after all. Despite being a ronin, she carried a lot of old sensibilities at times. "This temple is good for that. You will at least have time with the Major ones and the popular minor."

Doji Monkhbaatar · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:29 am **Posts:** 231

"I can see that now," he says with a chuckle. "Perhaps he is pleased with my search for understanding, and is showing me the lessons I need before the lessons I want."

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

"I believe that is the way of the fortunes. They rarely tell us the things that we want to hear. They tell us what they feel we most need to hear." Pretty much always. Even Hotei. Sometimes especially Hotei. "... If you will forgive me, -sama, I should probably be on my way. I do not wish to further impact your own meditations this evening."

Doji Monkhbaatar · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:29 am **Posts:** 231

"Of course. I will not keep you from your devotions any longer either. I appreciate your insight, Mari-san. Carry the fortunes," he says with a bow.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

"And you as well, Doji-sama," she said, returning the bow before departing into her late evening's work. It was not quite time to sleep after all.

/exit

[D9 - LE: Phoenix's Blessing] A Thousand Prayers (Open)

Who is online