The Day of Thunder

Where They Wander

Huan finds himself where he feels most comfortable... among the dead. Most of them don't expect or want anything from him. Sure, even among the dead there are some, but most of them are at peace and resting, gone from this world in most conceivable ways, and in almost every way that is important. Most times the dead only remain as a corps and as memories, never to have a direct impact again. And when that's not the case, it's part of his job to rectify such anomalous situations. But for now, he isn't seeing anything other than the small swarm that always follows him around quietly. The tribe of Chusu as best he understands.

He moves to one of the graves and reads the inscription on the small monument to it's resident, "Eriko, only 29 when you died. Too soon, Eriko, far too soon." He places his hand on the marker and lowers his head, whispering a prayer quietly enough that only Eriko and himself can hear it.

The misty graveyard filled with the soft sound of a woman's voice as she sang a slow, mournful song.

"Another turning point,
A fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist,
directs you where to go.
So make the best of this test,
And don't ask why;
It's not a question,
But a lesson learned in time.
It's something unpredictable
But in the end, it's right;
I hope you had the time of your life..."

The voices owner could be seen a little ways away as the fog parted. At first glance, one might think her a spirit born of the grave, with a dress decorated with strings of small bones that rattled gently against each other as she swayed with the music.

Her fingers traced a path against the top of a small monument at her side, but her eyes were closed, leavingly her alarmingly vulnerable in such a remote and desolate location. She didn't seem to have noticed Huan's presence yet.

Huan looked to the sound of the singing and noted the woman's outline in the foggy evening. It was a bit hard to see her, so he suspected she probably didn't see him either since he was not singing aloud. He took a few steps in her direction, slowly, to avoid startling her. People that hang out in graveyards tended to be there to grieve or were familiar with the dead that wandered there. He didn't want to provoke a strong reaction in either case, hoping not to surprise her too much.

He watched as the small swarm of ghosts around him responded to her song, but they weren't goin anywhere. He knew they weren't going anywhere, because they never left him despite the efforts of many specialists in dealing with the dead, including himself. They watched her, and they listened in fascination, but they still walked or floated within arms reach of Huan as always.

Finally, with the end of the song he spoke up, moving to a point where the fog would barely be preventing them from seeing each other. "You've caught the attention of my... companions. They seem to find your song quite engaging. And I agree with them," the Ryoshun Mystic says, his friendly words tempered by a respectful tone and a hint of some sort of tribal accent.

"I hope that I am not disturbing the grounds or any local traditions, if you are local to Blue Lotus Village?"

She turned toward his voice, somewhat surprised to see him, but not startled. "You are not a disturbance," she assured him, her own tribal accent still noticeable. "And I am not a local."

She paused to look past him, then refocused her attention on Huan and made a quick warding gesture. "You are traveling with ghosts? Are you a spirit yourself?" There was a wariness to her voice, and she was paying close attention to him, but she didn't seem to be preparing to flee.

"I am not a spirit. They have attached themselves to me for their own reasons, because they were related to my previous incarnation. They're harmless to others and simply do their best to annoy me on occasion when I do something they don't like," he replies with a shrug. "Or when they want me to do something. Would make it easier to deal with them if they spoke a language anyone I've ever met speaks."

"But I am alive and part of this world. For a moment I was curious if you might have been from the other side as well, but the sound of your voice carries on the air even if it sounds like it touches the other side as well. I get the feeling that we both have roles that deal with those that have already passed from life?" The last bit was definitely stated in a way seeking confirmation rather than assuming outright.

She watched him in silence for a long moment, then nodded once. "When I was a Shoji, I would sing to the spirits of the dead. It reminded them of their past lives, kept them... quiet."

"This - " She gestured toward Huan in an all-encompassing way, "- is something we saw from time to time. A spirit would cling tightly to one of the living. We would exile them to the depths of the forest, lest they bring ruin upon all others."

She fell silent for a moment before continuing. "If your spirits are not feeding upon you or others, you are quite fortunate. Appeasing the dead is... an unforgiving duty."

"That it is. I'm still new to it, but they don't always go quietly or easily to their rest. But the ones that are with me chose me because of who I used to be before I was born. They were related to them and stayed with the soul after it returned from Meido. So it's like they don't mean harm but are either watching over me poorly or expect something of me and can't communicate it. Frustrating," he says.

"So you were Shoji? Was that your tribe before being brought into the empire? I was Hoang Huan, but we were close with the Bat for as long as I was alive. When we were brought in I was already very familiar. We were hill folk and goatherds. Now I am Ryoshun Huan."

"Newer ghosts," she said, nodding in thought. "That might explain their docile natures. That frustration they feel, it builds over time, becoming violence and then mindless slaughter." After a moment, she smiled thinly. "Or so the priests claimed. I cannot claim to know for certain."

"The Shoji were my tribe, yes. We protected the world from the spirits of the dead, by keeping them contained within our forest." She snorted bitterly. "We should never have joined the sky gods. Generations of sacrifice abandoned because they claimed they knew better, and now, hungry ghosts walk the land and they say, how could anyone have prevented this?"

Realizing that she was starting to rant, Soju forced the smile onto her face and bowed. "My apologies. Shoji Soju was a foolish woman, and Haka Soju is trying to be better. I must endeavor to keep the former buried deeper."

"If it's just us, you don't need to worry about it. I didn't have a preference one way or the other, but I knew some in my tribe disagreed while others did not. All I know is that I've been made a samurai because I have something they can use. My mother and sister don't get to because they don't have my unique talents. I have my... reservations," he says, with a smirk that displays his understanding of that bitterness.

"Ryoshun ways are as familiar to me as the Hoang ways, but that doesn't mean I am a fan of all the traditions from either side. Though the Ryoshun did teach me to use some unique powers so I do appreciate that," he shrugs at the consolation prize.

"I just need to do my best and try to find a way of uplifting my family. If I can do that here or somewhere else in the future that would honestly be enough for me. But I imagine the empire is going to ask a lot of me in return before I can accomplish that."

"The empire is very good at asking and taking. Less good at giving." She let that linger for a moment before changing the subject.

"Ryoshun is the dead one, yes? Of the sky-gods, I mean. I only know of Bayushi and Shiba in any great detail. And the Spider-god that was pulled from the deep hole in the ground."

"Yes, Ryoshun died before the others fell, swallowed by their father," he says with a nod. "He lives in Meido, where the dead are supposed to go. That's why it's so important to the Bat to try to help the dead move on to the next world. They need to go to the next world so he can guide them on their path to their karma, their destination. It's less practical a reason than just keeping people safe, but we still try to keep folks safe. Seems like the Shoji would have probably kind of fit in with the Ryoshun more. Probably would have tried to learn about your traditions and practices to try and help the dead move on and protect the living from them." When he says we, either as a Hoang or a Ryoshun, it seems like he leans into either equally. Even with his minor compunctions about the empire at large, he seems to have some respect and sense of belonging with his family and clan.

"I don't know a great deal about Bayushi. He was not on the mission to save Hisomu. I'm more familiar with the stories of the Kami and their followers that were on that mission," he says. "He's the head of the Scorpion, and he's followed by Haka, Shosuro and Miyako. And a lot of the Scorpion in the capital wore masks. But outside of that I haven't had any lessons about Bayushi and the clan he leads."

"Yes, Haka. She was once a Shoji as well. It is because of her that so many of us went to the Scorpion. Perhaps in error."

There was a faint shrug. "I have never met Bayushi, and Haka has never spoken of him. The other Scorpion speak highly of him. As for the masks..." She makes a gesture to her unmarked face. "I am not very fashionable, I have learned."

"But..." Soju hesitates, unsure whether to continue. "...with regards to what the Ryoshun would have done, it is not too late. Perhaps there is another way, a better way, to keep the door closed."

"I can't exactly speak on behalf of my clan, but I can say that those of us that can learn to use magic of the Void also often learn how to interact with spirits and guide them to their rest. I think any method that can help with that is probably worth learning, even if it's from another tradition. I'm sure we wouldn't see any transfer of people from the Scorpion to the Bat, but maybe an exchange of students and knowledge regarding spirits could happen? Put that information in the hands of people that have similar goals and work together to fight these dangerous spirits?" he suggests.

"Do not involve the Haka or those who were once Shojj," she warns. "It is like adding rotten vegetables to a soup. A meal cannot sustain if the ingredients are rotten. Nothing we did in that forest should be repeated."

"Find a new way. The forest must be silenced, yes. But not like we did."

"Must not have been very good methods then, but that doesn't mean that you can't learn from knowing how they work. May not want to do those things again but we can possibly learn about the how the spirits react to different things from accounts from those that have actually used those methods. Potentially try to create new ways that have better results with better ways," he says with a shrug.

"When learning how to use a sword I had to learn what some of the wrong ways to use it were so that I didn't do those things."

Soju shakes her head. "Some things should be forgotten."

It was time to change the subject. She was already gripping the top of the monument so tightly that it turned her knuckles white. "The ghosts that haunt you. Can you tell them apart from each other?"

He nods with the topic change, "I can, but I don't know their names. The only thing I recognize them saying is 'Chusu' which is the name of their tribe. I made up nicknames for them when I was very young. They respond to them by giving me their attention, but they don't seem to be able to learn our language regardless of how much I tried to teach them, and they can't really teach me theirs. I think they're stuck in a state where they can't actually learn anything new and they don't realize it. If I could find someone that speaks their language I could probably figure out how to lay them to rest, but my understanding is that the entire tribe died decades ago and they didn't interact with others much."

"I have not heard of the Chusu," she admits. "There is a chance that one among the Clans may have belonged to their number, but many of the younger samurai have chosen to turn their backs on their roots."

Soju glances down at the memorial beside her and allows her grip on it to loosen. "Consider what may happen to the spirits upon your death. You would not want them to drag your spirit into the abyss... or worse, to become angry and turn on your loved ones that yet live."

"I do keep it in mind. It's a point of concern for me, not only because I worry over how they might affect others, but also because I would like them to find rest themselves. My hope is that I will be able to find some way to translate their words and find a way to help them move on naturally. But they have not gotten more malicious over the years either. I think that by allowing them to interact and earnestly continuing to seek ways to help them it prevents them from becoming corrupted or spiteful, and they simply feel the same frustration I do from time to time. I haven't given up, and I won't. I simply haven't found a good means of addressing the issue yet. And I don't consider destroying them acceptable," he says that as though he assumes he can or knows people that can.

"Right now, they can tell that I am speaking about them, which seems to make them feel comforted and calm. Almost like they appreciate the fact that they're not forgotten. It makes me think that they might attach themselves to, or find permanent rest, if I were to create some sort of monument or shrine to honor and remember them. But my problem is that I don't know what their traditions are or how to name them on such a monument or shrine to give them proper rest."

Soju listens attentively as he speaks. "I do not... like the idea of exposing others to spirits in such a way, but you seem to be treating your situation with great care. I truly hope that you find some solution to put the spirits to rest in a more acceptable place "

"If I encounter any of the Chusu people, or those who know their language, I shall do my best to place them in contact with you. Failing that, a monument in their homeland may be enough to anchor them in place."