The Day of Thunder

[Otomo Akutou]

Having eaten decently and had an engaging conversation with the one Hisomu--Goju, decent enough feller even if he's sea-fond--Akutou has shouldered his pack again and headed out into the forest. Foggy and quiet, it's exactly the kind of thing a hunter could be expected to enjoy, and maybe there's something to be found in the dwindling light about what faces them here, what prompted the O-Iemoto to send him so far away.

Maybe there is something here to earn a place again.

[Otaku Xiaochen]

Warmed and re-booted after her pleasant morning with the headwoman, Xiaochen stalked into the woods determined to bring in an animal to repay her host's hospitality. She had the subtle bow-leggedness of one accustomed to the saddle, and none of the legendary stealth of the learned master Seppun or his wild-born spouse, but she knew her signs and spoors, and if the woods were unfamiliar to her, she showed no deep concern.

Catching sight of Akutou, she paused to offer a nod and friendly smile--she had read enough to learn how modulate the suspicious scowl of the jaded bushi into the mask a capital-L Lady was meant to wear. On had seemed foreign to her at first, but she had seen the advantages under the artifice. Her vocal technique would need work, though.

"Greetings, samurai-san," she said, the iron that a bushi's wariness has a tendency to inject palpable in her speech. Her hand was firm on her bow. "Enjoying your afternoon?"

[Ainuri]

In this dense forest
Where ferns grow tall
And cast deep shade on small game
That scurries through the undergrowth
I wander amid the trunks
And marvel at their thickness
Such trees don't grow where I come from
Only lichens and wild flowers
Struggling to survive
Before the ice returns

I want to feel good here
The spirits of the forest whisper to me
And seek communion
But there is disquiet
And I am unsettled
Whether the veil won't break
If I push too hard
And collapse into my dream

There may be bees somewhere
Oh the spirits, their buzz
How welcome it could be
Their stings don't bother me
This is a part of their nature
As is mine to seek their honey
I would mourn it fiercely
If they have crossed the veil
Without me

There may be foxes and squirrels
Maybe even a bear
I could sit down with
And talk about their shrouded home
Do they feel good here?
Or their lairs are not safe at night for their litters and cubs?
This is what puzzles me
As I look around
And can't see a friendly soul
Only haughty humans of this land

[Otomo Akutou]

Akutou turns slightly at the Otaku's hail, thinking there might've been a bit more game a few moments before, but he nods in acknowledgement and, in a low voice, replies "Not sure yet. Depends on how things go here."

He then gives a bit more of a bow and adds "Otomo Akutou" by way of introduction.

Hearing the tribal song, he is distracted from a further reply other than the cocking of his head and a subtle point in the direction of it, listening intently.

[Ainuri]

The song is in the minds of those who learn to listen
Said one voice who guided me through the tumbling ice sheets
They creaked under my step in different tones
And the voice belonged to my father

If the forest speaks to you as it speaks to me
Then you know you are not out of place
All the roots come together deep in the earth
They tangle with bones and rocks
And silently whisper
Perhaps this is what you hear

My ear is not to the ground right now
I see your attention but I don't hear your thoughts
They may be of the hare or the ounce or the elk
I have met them all
The bear crouches before none

[Otaku Xiaochen]

Xiaochen's reply is to nock an arrow and pivot to the new disturbance. She doesn't quite give the Otomo her back, though. Not yet. Not with what she's encountered on the road. She gestures with her head in the direction of the song to indicate her intention and begins to move that way by circling downwind.

[Otomo Akutou]

Perhaps it is merely the strangeness of the surroundings that bids Akutou think he has heard a song, but as he shakes his head slightly, as if to clear it, he realizes that there are no other sounds than the creak of a bowstring and the protest of its bow, footsteps both human and animal, the faint rustling of leaves and, somewhere, the sound of flowing water.

The O-Iemoto'd have my ass if he thought I'd strike without being sure of my target he thinks. But one hand does find its way close to the blades at his hip, in case there's need.

And I c'n be bait if'n I need t'be.

"Afternoon, there," he says. Game was already gone. "Come on ahead, then, and be reco'nized."

[Otaku Xiaochen]

Xiaochen stopped, cocked a smile and replied. "Otaku Xiaochen, of Lady Shinjo's people. The Otomo are Lord Hantei's, yes?" Her eyebrows rose slightly as she remembered the next step. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Otomo-san." Another pause as she visualized the page... "Have you had rice?"

[Otomo Akutou]

Akutou nods again.

"They are, yes'm, and I did. How 'bout you?"

An' how 'bout our other friend, here?

[Otaku Xiaochen]

She nodded once. "I have." Then she focused her attention on Ainuri. "And what of you, stranger? You haven't the markings of the settled lands, I see."

[Ainuri]

Is this rice that they so cherish
In this bountiful land?
The swamp plant against barley
A choice that puzzles me
Barley from the ear nourishes
But raw rice is poison

On hind limbs I step forth
As the strangers beckon
I say to them: "I am not settled."
For even before I left my village
I hadn't considered it home
My home is in the forests of the world

"Why ever settle?" I ask.
"You use up what is near
And have to move your home anyway
Or enslave others to bring you things from afar."
I thought of ice homes we built
And the tents we travelled with
We didn't build from stone

[Otomo Akutou]

Tribesperson, then, Akutou thinks. Not a whole lot of 'em left.

"Where're y'from, then?" he asks, "And what's got y' down this part o' th' world?"

[Otaku Xiaochen]

Blundering through conversations being a Ki-rin pastime, Xiaochen answered breezily. "I'm from the grasslands out past the mountains to the west. We move around constantly, we follow the herds, you see, so it is difficult to give an exact place." She shrugged. "What about you?"

[Otomo Akutou]

Keeping an eye on the tribesperson, Akutou responds to the Unicorn.

"Most recently from 'round Kyuden Hantei," he says. "Usually further inland, up the river. More use f'r hunters out'n th' borders than in th' more settled lands an' such.

"Diff'rent trees. Diff'rent rocks. But still trees an' rocks. Diff'rent game, I s'pose, too, but still game. Fog's clingier here, though."

[Otaku Xiaochen]

"So you hunt as well? That is a role I often provide for my clan! Almost always on horseback, though. When I am not hunting, I am tending horses. Or shooting people." She shrugs. "Not as often as when I was a girl, though."

[Otomo Akutou]

"Never did do much ahorse," Akutou replies. "Not a lot of 'em where I'm about. An' 'bout half the time, I get up in th' trees t' get better shots, so not much good there. Unless y'all've got horses as climb trees where you're from, in which case, I'd be interested.

"An', yeah, I've had t' put some folks down as needed killin'. Ain't happy 'bout it, but, well, some folks do need killin'. An' others don't leave a body much choice in th' matter, either."

[Otaku Xiaochen]

"I agree! That's a part of why I was so pleased my tribe entered Lady Shinjo's service. There's certainly been less call to raid in the past years. Mostly ritual stuff. Coming-of-age, like." She shrugged a shoulder. "But no, no horses that climb trees, sad to say. Not many trees to speak of, either. We get some mighty tall grasses and shrubs, but nothing quite like this," she said, gesturing to the woods around them.

[Otomo Akutou]

Akutou nods, keeping an eye on the tribesperson, just in case more would be forthcoming therefrom.

"Ain't got that kind of comin'-up thing back home," he says. "F'r me, was the O-Iemoto said 'You're ready to go out into the world in service of the Stag, now,' an' Waka-sensei stood a round o' drinks, an' then I got a patrol assignment t' walk. Done a fair bit in small towns an' all, but that's been the most of it. More action in th' past couple years or so than all th' rest put t'gether."

He shakes his head.

"Ha'n't been fun f'r anybody, I reckon."

[Otaku Xiaochen]

"I expect not." She sighed, then brightened back up quickly. "But then, that is why Otaku-ue and you and I have come here! We'll soon see things put right."

[Otomo Akutou]

"Wait, what?"

Akutou looks at the Ki-Rin.

"Whaddaya mean, 'things put right?' All I's told was some metaphorical thing 'bout comin' here. The O-Iemoto made mention of fruit, somehow, but never gave me any t'bring wi' me. Tol' me t' set out, so I did; I ain't about t' argue with 'im. Even odds, he's standin' behind one or t' other of us, ev'n now.

"Wouldn't put it past 'im."

Akutou's eyes dart about, seeing if the O-Iemoto is, in fact, there.

Because you never can be sure with sneaky old men.