Momentary Peace (Day 12, Early Morning)

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

"There is always the opportunity - we are hospitable, as much as we are able."

She smiled faintly. "Though if you do come to visit, do be ready to hear our thoughts... at length."

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

She laughed a little, her eye sparkling some. "Oh... I remember that much. I saw the golden plains in my childhood. I picked up my love of yarn spinning from them. We just haven't had much good time for a good tale to be told here." Too much fighting for their lives to be honest. "I used to live in the lands south of the mountains. I miss the climate at times. Much less cold."

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

"Ah, you must have missed the valley in winter - it's a strange climate - hot summers, cold winter and spring. Maybe it's the wind."

A little shrug.

"So you spent time in Crab lands?"

Because she certainly couldn't have been further south than that. "You truly are well traveled, Mari-san."

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

She fussed a little and sighed. "No, no... I know the winters well. I used to live not far from the Sparrow's lands honestly. Though the windbreak of the trees did always help a bit to cut the harshness of the winters you felt on the plains." A shake of her head. "But my travels are really more one long sojourn. I've never been to Crab Lands in fact, never so far south. I just took a long road around to get where I am today."

There was a hint in there, intentional or not, about where her home might have been at least at one time.

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

Chihaya nodded thoughtfully.

"Do you intend to return to your home once this is over, or do you have further to go on this sojourn, before you do?"

It was a prying question, but open-ended, at least.

Retrieving her fan from her obi, she ran her fingers along the wood exterior, something to do with her hands.

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

She looked sad and glanced over at her quietly for a moment. "That place is no longer home to me, or to any of my kin, ever again Suzume-sama. What is done cannot be undone, and I cannot bring myself to see that place again in this life. It... would be too hard to go there." And if there was one place in the empire she wanted not to touch with her dark arts, it was the forest of the Kitsune. No, not until she was no longer in control of her actions anyway. There was a lot more than she'd usually say, but for all that she was a good liar, she was actually still a somewhat emotional, raw person.

"But... I would have loved to see them in the Spring again."

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

Chihaya examined the woman in silence, letting it draw out for a long moment, and then she nodded.

"I don't know what stalks you - what you must keep from your home, but I understand the feeling. I was able to put mine to rest, after seventeen months... I pray you find a way to do the same."

A faint smile. "Life carries us to paths we did not expect, and gives us roads we did not wish to walk. In time, however, we... and our fortunes... can change. I have seen great highs and lows, and I am not yet even a retired elder, much though I may talk like one."

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

For a moment, she thought about it. She sighed to herself and shrugged. No, she would rather be honest than have it seem that someone chased her. No one chased her, though she as too impure to return to that sacred place now.

"Mmmm, nothing chases me, Suzume-sama. I'm sorry for not being clear, but I cannot defy the will of the emperor, which is the will of heaven. The Kitsune Mori is no longer my home. It will never be so again." Her lips were twisted in a wry grin even if she sounded sad about it still. "I am, however, grateful that my daimyo was understanding enough to grant me leave to enter a musha shugyo." One that she knew good and well she would never end, that they had known.

"But who knows what will come in the future."

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

"I did not say a person followed you."

She fixed the woman with a knowing look.

"There is something which has taken you onto that path. You, and you alone, will know when it has been resolved."

Something about the way she said it spoke of experience.

"I pray you have such fortune, but if you do not... I pray the road rises to meet your feet, and you find fair weather as you travel."

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

"Mmm. Fair. And I wish you much the same, Suzume-sama. Fair travels and safe journeys. And... if the army marches south from here, and the Chrysanthemum truly does leave this place, I hope that you remain safe in the battle." She sighed some, the sadness bleeding away from her face and replacing with an old, quiet resolve. "But you're right. I and I alone will know when this journey ends. Fortunes willing, maybe we'll travel a bit of it again."

She rose and glanced over at the woman, bowing. "I think, however, that I should be on my way, if you don't mind. Until the armies depart, there's work to do, yes?"

Suzume Chihaya · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:29 pm **Posts:** 850

"Hai. Fortune's carry you, Mari-san."

She hoped whatever darkness walked with her... could be dispelled with time. Chihaya had carried her own demons... and had been forced to die to see them gone, kicked back by Emma-O.

It would not do, for everyone to have to experience such bitter teaching.

Momentary Peace (Day 12, Early Morning)

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