(D2 EE) What Do You Spy With Your Kitsu Eye? (expecting)

[Asahina Hoshiko]

After court and kemari, Hoshiko made her way to the Lion's House, rather than the Crane's and asked after Kitsu Shintaro. "I'm expected," she noted, resisting the urge to glance inside her satchel for the umpteenth time to make sure the wrapped letter was still there.

[Kitsu Shintaro]

Hoshiko is conducted into the delegation house, past the usual receiving area, and into a small room stuffed with papers and about 800 little notes crammed into loose bindings (sometimes stitched together with twine, sometimes just sitting loosely).

Shintaro looks up from one such note as Hoshiko is announced, his eyes wide with energy and excitement.

"Asahina-san! Yes, the one with the water-letter! Well, well, at last we can begin the journey! Although, I suppose you've gotten a head start. Don't worry, I will catch up!"

He peers at Hoshiko. "Where is it?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

She manages about half a proper bow for someone this far above her before stopping to pull the silk-wrapped parcel from her satchel to unwrap and pass over atop her palms. Eyes laughing as she maintains some kind of face for now, she adds, "not terribly far ahead I think, but...touch it first before reading. Ah...that is if you want the full experience."

"I did ask the spirits of water what they could tell me and it was just....like the deep parts of the ocean where the wind doesn't move and the bottom is still somewhere beneath."

[Kitsu Shintaro]

"Yes," Shinatro replied, "she's always had a dramatic streak." The light of pure joy in his eyes, he reached out his hand and took the paper, and each finger touching the page sounded like a stone falling into a lake.

That was when the letter began to flow, swallowing the Kitsu Daimyo's hand and lower forearm as he opened his mouth in shock and delight. Then it fell through his fingers to puddle on the floor, where it began to rise, soon lapping at their ankles, then becoming perfectly still.

"Don't. Move." Kitsu Shintaro seemed to vibrate with excitement as he looked downwards at the still pool of white water in which the two of you stand. "What do you see?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

"she...?" Hoshiko only starts to ask the question before things get strange...at least for this realm. He hardly needs to tell her not to move, as the water flows far too fast to outrun on mortal feet, and she's very suddenly unsure where her feet would land if she tries to move.

Eyes wide, she looks at the water beneath her feet, then all along the 'puddle?' "The white of clouds...underwater? " She swallows, a bit dizzy with something very like vertigo. "a shadow like the sea cliffs underfoot...no, more than one...." Her hands, still held out with the silk she'd wrapped the letter in, slowly drop to her sides.

After a moment of picking various demands for information that...really shouldn't be directed at a daimyo, she settles on, "What is this?"

[Kitsu Shintaro]

"Just a message," Shintaro replied, "and a mighty working," he added, growing slightly louder. "But meant for me, I am afraid, for I am seeing so much more...wait!"

His eyes widened, white with shock. "Look!"

And color began to drain from the pool, until it rested, blue and crystal clear, then shapes began to move beneath the surface. You see a figure--a woman--of red and gold turning her face away from a white city at the edge of a great bay. You see the lady move over the land, many thousands of hands above the tilled fields to sweep down and alight on a great palace where the wind whistles across the face of the cliffs above the ocean. And there she stops, waiting, as from the open windows of the palace comes the sound of an infant's joyous cry.

"Well, I see who has your vote," Lord Kitsu said.

And even as he said it, the pool churned, and then began to bubble. Steam rose from it, until all the pool had turned to vapor, which arranged itself into a great watery Phoenix which flew out the open window and into the darkening sky.

"Ha!" Shintaro cried. "What an artist the Empire lost when it turned its back on Isawa Sorami!"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

She's transfixed by the clear images and the regal woman. Of course air and water are best at showing what is or images of whatever one likes. Of all the things she had expected, or suspected, or wildly imagined....this was nowhere on the list. "The Master of Water? Sent me a letter...well for you, but how would she even think of me to bear it?" She's trained well enough not to stammer, but it's a close thing

"I think you know a great deal more of what she meant with the letter, Kitsu-sama." She pauses and adds, lest that seem demanding, "Um...as is proper. The letter seemed to indicate we have or would have things to share with one another? I'm, pretty mystified. Deep water, indeed, I think."

[Kitsu Shintaro]

He turned back to her. "Isawa-san undoubtedly sees a connection between your gift and my..." he gestured at the piles of paper "...projects. I confess that I am interested in the intersection, myself. There are many possibilities!"

His eyes seemed to gleam. "Consider the many things that we could learn! The many issues that we could solve! Yes, I think that will be of great benefit!"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

"I suppose I'm a bit surprised that word of my gift has reached so far. I'm only a few years into the courts, and only small Crane courts before," she gestures to indicate the room and the wider world beyond it. "All this."

Looking around at the treasure trove of paper surrounding them, she asks, "And...your projects? I apologize for not being as knowledgable as the Master of Water, but I've heard little about them way down in the Asahina provinces." She's torn between being excited, alarmed, or amused by his growing interest and excitement.

[Kitsu Shintaro]

"I counsel the dead, and in return they give me their wisdom. Most of them." He smiles, then turns around suddenly to throw his arms wide as though to embrace the clutter. "The secrets of nearly 500 years of individual lives flow through me and into the present through these notes. When my servants can find them again, that is. Ha, ha!"

Then, just as suddenly, he turns back to Hoshiko.

"But It cannot be too surprising that those of us with an interest in the next stage in the Kharmic Wheel tend to keep an ear out for those with a facility for communication with the same. I am not sure how you came to Sorami's attention, but I must say that I am glad that she put you in contact."

He edges forward slightly. "How does yours work?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

She'd known the reputation the Kitsu had for being in more direct contact with the ancestors, had possibly seen one visiting without knowing it. Somehow that had never translated to thinking of the massive amount of information someone could try to carry back into this realm. Her eyes are more than a little wide as she looks around. "Oh."

"How does my...? Ah.." The surface-skimming version is relatively practiced by now, for the sensibilities of those who want to hear or see as little as possible of anything truly touching those realms, as well as those whose interests are a bit too keen to be healthy. It's rare to find someone capable of actual 'shop talk' on the topic.

"It started as what I thought were dreams. My child mind didn't settle down enough for that kind of thing most times except the edge of sleep and waking. But meditation smooths that path. I'm told I still look like I'm sleeping, so I won't swear that it's not connected to that state. Or maybe sleep, letting anyone peek into Yume-do is related to this state of soul travel? A little bit chicken and egg, you know?" She looks around again at the walls crammed with paper.

"I don't think it's the same as your family's techniques...only because those honored ancestors of Yomi tend to get rather closed when realizing what I am there." Her brows crease slightly in thought. "I think it's because my soul...or whatever part of me is there in that realm...appears to denizens as some spirit that belongs there. I don't control that, but it feels a bit like a disguise, doesn't it? If seen from outside? So I'm not surprised that they would be distrustful."

[Kitsu Shintaro]

He nods rapidly. "Yes, the Blessed Ancestors are an opinionated bunch. Very Rules-oriented, on the whole. So you are not bound to merely Yomi, and we may have a connection to Yume-do" He taps his finger on his chin. "Interesting...Very interesting!! So where do you tend to spend your time? Meido? Chikushudo? Sakkaku?!"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

He nods rapidly. "Yes, the Blessed Ancestors are an opinionated bunch. Very Rules-oriented, on the whole. So you are not bound to merely Yomi, and we may have a connection to Yume-do" He taps his finger on his chin. "Interesting...Very interesting!! So where do you tend to spend your time? Meido? Chikushudo? Sakkaku?!"

"Opinionated...yes, that sums them up well." She pretends not to hear the quiet hmph beside her.

"Yes, I've been free to visit all of those. It seemed blasphemous to attempt Tengoku, and extremely unwise to look into the darker realms. But much of my time in such travels it through Meido and its court." After a moment, she asks "Have you heard of others with such a ...blessing? skill?"

[Kitsu Shintaro]

"Oh, to be sure, they are about. Never many, though, and not usually so well adjusted. Why, I remember this...well, I suppose it doesn't do to dwell on it. Messy. But I must commend you on your ability to mange what can be a very taxing blessing!"

He paused. "I...don't suppose you've encountered any spirits about, here, have you?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

She considers that a moment. "Only the one that follows me. The gift does not offer me any vision beyond the normal to see hidden ghosts or see through the disguises of tricksters and the like. When I travel, I see the spirits there...presumably much as one of them would? Or perhaps as a mortal would if they actually passed bodily into that realm?" Which her studies have indicated can happen in odd spots.

Considering the etiquette for a moment, she decides to treat this relatively normally, and indicates a space a bit off to her left. "I introduce Isawa Taeruko, my great-great...and possibly a bit more...grandmother, honored ancestor in search of her husband's soul in order to...guide him more closely along the path."

[Kitsu Shintaro]

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Isawa-san." Shintaro bowed formally, but then just as suddenly was almost on his tiptoes with excitement. "How exciting, to be able to play matchmaker on such a scale! Have you had any success as yet? Any clues? Signs?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

With a rueful smile, Hoshiko shakes her head. "All dead ends thus far. Particularly when recalling ones past lives is such a rare thing." Drawing out her fan, she opens it. "This was his. Isawa-san has me carry it, hoping for signs of recognition. Like those folk tales of a grandchild picking up an ancestor's helm or favorite ink brush and claiming to remember it."

"I have not built nearly the favors in the court of Meido yet to even inconvenience someone to search the records to perhaps narrow the search." Exciting wasn't really the word she had for the years of muttered demands. But it certainly would be a tale to tell one day.

[Kitsu Shintaro]

"Hmm...hm..."

He raised a finger in the air.

"I have it! We have an event--it doesn't matter what kind!--No! No, wait! It does! We will use the Banquet! It's an awfully long time to wait, I know, Isawa-san, but everyone attends the banquet. And we will make it some sort of dredged-up local custom or some other such nonsense to get people to touch the fan! Yes, it's the sacred fan of Taeruko!! And we will get them all to line up and handle the thing! And the person who receives the charge will...express that in some way, I suppose, we will figure that part out, but I can see it! A great line of samurai touching a fan one by one until we have checked everyone! It will work!"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

Hoshiko blinks, eyes a bit wide, she can just feel her grandmother swelling up at the idea of her sacred fan...

"That's..." crazy, but also the kind of wild that might work. "But I don't think I could offer it as a made up custom." Felt a bit close to lying. After a moment of thought, she adds. "Would Ikoma-sama go along with it? I don't want to overrun his plans for hosting the banquet either."

"Perhaps an event actually centered on the topic...a...a past life picnic? With a number of items to display and pass around. A bit like a moon-viewing party where everyone can look and write poetry for those that strike them in some way?"

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(ooc...absolutely dying here. and Credit to Shinnosuke for 'past life picnic' as a phrase that will be stuck in my head forever. But if GMs would like this at the Banquet vs. scheduled separately...that can happen.)

[Kitsu Shintaro]

"If Asahina-san is willing to risk not having *everyone* touch the fan, which is very un-scientific, my word, it is!, then I could see perhaps arranging a different event that is in keeping with her scruples. This court has been decidedly hum-drum anyway. Some new entertainment would be nice. Yes, yes, I find I like it more and more!"