The Day of Thunder

“Yeah… prudent…” She looked at the woman with a crooked eye.

“So… if you don’t mind me askin’? How is it that one of the Ryoshun don’t know the name of one of his daughters? You didn’t appear to have any idea who Nao was… What’s your story?”

Yukara didn't seem offended.

"I was not born into the clan. It happened to take control of the land in which I lived. I was already doing my work, and so I was deputized. I am told there are increasingly more of us with the name, even if we are not his children."

A pause. "Was I wrong? I am afraid I still do not fully understand these new names and words."

She shook her head, “I get not knowin’ everybody… But… there are some names that everybody should know.”

She then tilted her head, “What is this ‘work’ you do?”

Yukara's expression hardened slightly.

"You understand the madness that is spreading in the empire. I attempt to stop it."

A pause.

"If I cannot, I contain it. By whatever means."

“What set you on that path?” She asked.

"Perhaps fate. I was there when madness took a village - and I could choose to end it, or to die."

Running one hand along the blade of her bisento, absent-mindedly, she continued, "I chose the former. I found two survivors, a day later. I took them to a new home - taught them to meditate. I have the ability to share basic discipline which might protect them, and have the will to contain them if all else fails. One... escaped. I still pursue it."

Her eyes narrowed, her expression truly cold. "My failure to slay it on that day allowed more innocent lives to be taken. More outbreaks of madness. I have the chance to intervene. To do nothing is not virtue - it is indolence."

“And you followed them here?” She asked with a look of interest as the other woman spoke.

Han-Hei slowly turned her head in the direction of the howl… Fully expecting nothing to be there but the fog…

The howl again drew Yukara's gaze with a snap turn, her gaze prying into the fog, searching every indistinct shape.

After a moment, she offered, quietly. "I was not sure if I would find it here, but Rock-sensei said I would find answers here. It seems he was not wrong."

“Rock-sensei?” Her head swung back to the Bat but now tilted at an angle.

Yukara trawled her recent memory, before offering, "Shinsei. He did not introduce himself, and the rock is very... distinct."

With a small shrug, she added, "I still cannot determine if the beast is here, or if this place is playing tricks on me."

It sounded as though she wasn't very happy about that ambiguity.

“If I had to bet… You’ll know soon enough.” She replied with a nod.

"Yes. I suspect I might."

Yukara did not sound particularly happy about that.

"The waiting is often the hardest part. You are always wondering if you have found it... and then quite suddenly you have an answer."

“Best to keep busy. A watched pot and all that…” She replied.

"That is an outlook."

Yukara chuckled. "So then, how do you spend your time, when you are avoiding looking at your cooking pot?"

“I’m out and about…” She replied.

“I’ve wandered around the empire for most of the past 5 years.” She replied.

“Always looking for trouble.”

"It does not seem particularly hard to find these days."

Running prayer beads through her left hand, she leaned on the bisento, seemingly balancing against it, in defiance of any sensible form of gravity.

"What do you do when you find it, miss fox?"

“Well… that depends on the nature of the trouble. But… ‘end’ it would be the short version I guess.” She shrugged.

“I tend to end things through violence more often than not nowadays…”