The Day of Thunder

[Wu Dai Lu]

[this does not count as your second thread for D0.]

Chouri led them to her home, a relatively large dwelling. The entrance to the small stable with only three or four stalls was visible to the side, near a pathway that leads to up stone steps heading up the hill.

"Please, go ahead and get your horses out of the weather. The hearth is just inside the vestibule. You can come warm up around the fire when you're ready."

She gives a bow and heads inside to prepare tea.

[Otaku Xiaochen]

"Thank you, Chouri-san!" Xiaochen gives Zhanshi a pat and takes him into the stable--a task requiring some serious maneuvering for a horse that large and unused to enclosed spaces. She flashed an apologetic smile at Ohta. "I'm sorry, I ought to have let you in first. Won't be a moment." She gave the big fella a gentle nudge to get his hindquarters aimed at a stall, then clicked to signal retrograde. Zhanshi might be a little put-out by his tight quarters, but he still knew his paces.

"There," Xiaochen sighed, arranging his feed. "All set."

[Sukuna]

With no horse of her own, and out of respect to the samurai who had such majestic beasts as to not gawk at the large animals, Sukuna follows Chouri close behind, offering another bow to the samurai.

“Impressive place. I’m also impressed someone so young has achieved the status of a village head.”

[Reiko Ohta]

Ohta figured Chouri couldn't be any younger than herself... or maybe much younger than the monk himself, really. She briefly wondered to herself if Kinboshi here wasn't the oldest amongst the group of them; Her Ki-Rin mother had used the old horse when Riding to the tournament, after she was born. Which, if true, had to make Kinboshi at least twenty-three or twenty-four years old.

"Nonsense. Old Kinboshi here can wait a bit. I'm sure he's just happy not to have me sat on him with all my equipment."

Indeed Ohta had quite the amount of stuff with her, both a tightly packed bag strapped to her back, and a shoulder bad that faintly tinked and clanked as the Spider moved. With the Ki-Rin's horse stabled, it was a simple enough matter getting Kinbo into one of the stalls, the old pony happily laying down on the mix of grasses and straw.

[Wu Dai Lu]

With no horse of her own, and out of respect to the samurai who had such majestic beasts as to not gawk at the large animals, Sukuna follows Chouri close behind, offering another bow to the samurai.

“Impressive place. I’m also impressed someone so young has achieved the status of a village head.”

Chouri blushed against as they stepped in opened the door. There was a raised wooden floor in the room beyond and she stepped out of her sandals before stepping onto it. "Like I was telling Otaku-sama, it was more a matter of simply being the first here. I was an ascetic before, though not a monk such as those who follow the teachings of Shinsei-sama. I came to this place when it was still a ruin to meditate... More showed up soon after."

[Sukuna]

Following the example of the headwoman, Sukuna removes her own worn and dusty sandles and places them relatively nearby the pair that was there. “Still impressed. Plus, the locals that settled here must respect you. That’s hard to accomplish for most people.”

The monk rubs her chin contemplatively, however. “Ah, I would love to listen to you explain your philosophy to me at some point. And perhaps maybe a bit of the local herbs and vegetables.”

[Wu Dai Lu]

"They do. I've managed to help some of them." She sighed deeply. "This place seems to help ease people with troubled minds. And we did rebuild this village from a ruin and recovered some of their history here. We've accomplished a lot together."

"Vegetables I can help with, though with herbs, your best is Enrou. He's the local healer. He can't speak with the spirits, but his talent with medicine is second to none. He has a huge herb garden behind his house."

[Otaku Xiaochen]

Ohta figured Chouri couldn't be any younger than herself... or maybe much younger than the monk himself, really. She briefly wondered to herself if Kinboshi here wasn't the oldest amongst the group of them; Her Ki-Rin mother had used the old horse when Riding to the tournament, after she was born. Which, if true, had to make Kinboshi at least twenty-three or twenty-four years old.

"Nonsense. Old Kinboshi here can wait a bit. I'm sure he's just happy not to have me sat on him with all my equipment."

Indeed Ohta had quite the amount of stuff with her, both a tightly packed bag strapped to her back, and a shoulder bad that faintly tinked and clanked as the Spider moved. With the Ki-Rin's horse stabled, it was a simple enough matter getting Kinbo into one of the stalls, the old pony happily laying down on the mix of grasses and straw.

"Ha! Yes, I expect Zhanshi won't miss the packs much, either." She looked down at KInboshi in his stall. "What a sure and steady friend you must be, hm?" Then turned back to Ohta. "Such endurance in one of his years, Spider-san. An admirable sight! You must take excellent care of him."

[Reiko Ohta]

"I try my best. She belonged to my mother, Shinjo Wakana. She obtained him for the ride to Great Mountain City, back in the day. Been from one end of the Empire to the other, this one."

She patted his mane before standing up fully again, "Though I suspect you know more about horses than me, even if they're something that fascinate me. To bond so well with people... It's almost like we were created at the same time."

Ohta motioned to the door inside; She didn't care how "cheap" the tea might be, but she genuinely was looking forward to it.

[Otaku Xiaochen]

"Yes, I imagine we must have done. Zhanshi has a warrior's heart to match any in my clan." Xiaochen grinned, then noticed Ohta's hand. She required no further prompting. She stepped into the headwoman's house with grace.

[Wu Dai Lu]

Chouri smiled when Xiaochen and Ohta entered from one of the cushions around the hearth. "Please, take off your shoes and come in." She pours cups of tea for each person. "The local fog tends to make everything a bit chilly. I thought the hearth might be a nice spot after such a long trip in it."

[Otaku Xiaochen]

Xiaochen beamed as she stooped to remove her boots. "How kind, Chouri-san. I expect that the stones get quite warm, indeed." Resting her feet near the fire had long been one of life's chief pleasures on the wind-swept fields that defined her life, and she was looking forward to seeing if these permanent structures kept heat in better than the family yurt.

[Wu Dai Lu]

It was certainly nice and toasty inside, but not so much as to be uncomfortable. Chouri passed her the tea once she was settled.

"Would you be willing to share about your lands and where your trip passed through? It's been a good few years since I've wandered, and I do miss it."

[Otaku Xiaochen]

Xiaochen nodded eagerly. "Of course, Chouri-san! I come from the west, beyond the mountains for many days, where the forests end and grass stretches from horizon to horizon. We herd, mostly, and gather in what growing things we find, and live the lives of horses as well as samurai. All of this close-in business you have here is wonderfully cozy, but we move our 'villages' to keep our herds grazing. It keeps horse and rider tough and wonderfully alive!"

She clapped her hands together and chuckled in contentment, then leaned in a bit. "The rice farms down south were quite an education, I can tell you! Nothing like them where I come from."

[Reiko Ohta]

The term 'The Local Fog' sounded like something she should look into some time soon, while she was here. But not today certainly. No, she'd been riding all day.

So it was she had shoes on instead of sandals, soft topped things that bunched around the ankles and didn't fall off with your legs off the ground. Slipping those off she joined the other three and sat with her legs tucked to one side. It felt kind of odd sitting with strangers in her riding-hakama, rather than immediately changing into robes or finding an inn. But these were unique circumstances certainly. And she'd been through plenty of strange situations in the past few years.

[Sukuna]

Sukuna quietly sips her tea, the nice warmth and heartiness of the drink filling her with a sense of ease. It’s always nice to have a hot drink like this after wandering in the chill.

“Ah, yes. The rice from the South is beautiful to look at but when you have some of it, it is quite filling. I have had some kind villagers offer some to me with a fresh egg.”

[Wu Dai Lu]

"Oh, that sounds delicious," Chouri said with a smile. "We managed to get some rice for the feast in a couple of days. It wasn't easy up here, but I think it would be very nice. I'd have loved to see those fields. I visited the grasslands to the south a long time ago, Otaku-sama, but I would love to see how they've changed someday. Those rolling fields dotted with forests are beautiful. It seems like every region in the Protected Lands is beautiful in its own way."

[Otaku Xiaochen]

"Oh, that sounds delicious," Chouri said with a smile. "We managed to get some rice for the feast in a couple of days. It wasn't easy up here, but I think it would be very nice. I'd have loved to see those fields. I visited the grasslands to the south a long time ago, Otaku-sama, but I would love to see how they've changed someday. Those rolling fields dotted with forests are beautiful. It seems like every region in the Protected Lands is beautiful in its own way."

"It would seem so, Chouri-san. And I think it miraculously bountiful, in most places, provided one understands what one is doing with the land. Indeed, I would think the potential within the bonds of the Empire infinite, were it not that my son has bad dreams."

[Wu Dai Lu]

"It would seem so, Chouri-san. And I think it miraculously bountiful, in most places, provided one understands what one is doing with the land. Indeed, I would think the potential within the bonds of the Empire infinite, were it not that my son has bad dreams."

"Your son? Oh, that's terrible, Otaku-sama," she said with a frown. "What are they of, if I may ask? I understand if that's too personal of an question."

[Otaku Xiaochen]

She sighed. "He's still quite small, so he does not always tell the full story, you understand?" She paused, as though that were not a rhetorical question. "But things like getting lost in tall grass, and the sound it makes when it is growing. The true problem is that it can be difficult to wake him. My mother tells me this is not unheard of among boys his age, but given all that one hears..."