Patterns (D11, ME)

[Jihen]

Jihen found himself in the same alcove he had frequented the night before last... at a similar time... and with a similar mental state.

Life is patterns... He thought to himself.

There was an event coming in a few hours that he knew he would wish to take part in... An opportunity to feed those people that were so often forgotten...

And so, with a pot of tea prepared... he sat and practiced his tale to himself softly as he glanced out the opening to the area beyond the tenshu...

[Seppun Sadako]

A Miharu precedes Sadako, and one trails her, as she moves in haste through the hallways, ever-present paperwork in her hand.

"Oh, Jihen-san," she says, recognizing him and giving a short bow.

"Rehearsing storytelling, I see."

[Jihen]

"Waiting, wairing, biding... Until it is time to work again." He said with a smile.

And yet another pattern had emerged... The Lady Seppun in the alcoves, with her paperwork, in the mid-evening... It appeared as consistent as the stars moving across the sky.

"Another busy evening?" He asked with kind interest.

[Seppun Sadako]

Sadako snorts a laugh.

"Is there any time not, anymore?" she asks, and as she does, the dark circles and drying skin become clearer.

"Nothing for it but to do it, though. Patrol rotations have to be shifted again, and rites observed. Investigation results from several fronts are forthcoming, so that will help. I simply do not have the personnel this really needs; valiant as my kinsmen are, there are only so many places so many eyes can see."

[Jihen]

"If it is eyes you need. Mine are always at your beck and call." He replied with a smile.

"To my great shame, I was asleep last night when the unfortunate events unfolded in the neighboring room of the temple... But while awake my senses can be of use and they are yours should you require them."

He offered, "I do not know if you are aware... but amongst the esoteric rites of my sect there are applications which allow us to sense the world around us in great detail. I am aware of every person on this floor and others who are within a sphere which my soul can perceive... I can sense hidden passageways, objects, people... things which one may have deliberately hidden."

He smiled, "I would have a hard time restraining anyone of ill intent were I to confront them... But if it is merely observation that would assist you. I would be happy to assist the Lady Seppun in any duty she would see fit to ask of me."

[Seppun Sadako]

"I have heard of such things," Sadako says. "Something about awareness in eight directions, if memory serves. You know this method?"

[Jihen]

He nods is head, "I do."

He points to the slit in the wall now behind him.

"The chirp of the Enaga tit you hear as it prepares itself for bed now comes from the tree out in the courtyard about 10 yards from where we are... Two-thirds of the way down the tree on an outer eastward facing branch..."

He continues, "Perhaps it calls for its mate which has not yet returned... I do not sense it as I did the night before last."

[Seppun Sadako]

Sadako gestures, and one of her attending Miharu pads over with surprising grace to look.

He nods.

"Impressive," Sadako says.

"Can you teach such a thing to others?"

[Jihen]

"All things can be taught... to the teachable." He replied with a nod.

"The problem of how quickly and at what scale... Varies on the soul of the person and their willingness to be taught."

He nods confidently, "The Tao is indeed more than clever sayings and trite wisdom..."

[Seppun Sadako]

"Perhaps one student," Sadako says, "who knows that the Tao is more than a collection of aphorisms to be quoted at people absent context."

[Jihen]

Jihen replies back with a nod and look into her eyes.

"Such a student would be desirable for any teacher. It would be an honor to share what I know with someone with such a sincere heart."

[Seppun Sadako]

"Where would such a student begin?" Sadako asks.

[Jihen]

"At the beginning of course." He replied with a playful smile.

He then tapped the ground next to him, offering a place for her to sit.

"She could begin where she left the night before last."

[Seppun Sadako]

Sadako takes the seat and resumes the position of seiza, her hands palm-up in her lap, the paperwork set aside.

[Jihen]

He finds a similar posture at her side and begins.

"We can start with what we are comfortably aware of..."

He then asks, "How do you know that I am here?"

[Seppun Sadako]

"When you talk, I hear you," Sadako says. "Well, no, not only. I can hear you breathe, hear the cloth of your robes move when you do."

[Jihen]

"And what carries the sound of my voice, the cadence of my breathing, the rustling of cloth to your ears?" He asks.

[Seppun Sadako]

"I would think it is the air," Sadako replies. Her brow furrows. "I don't know that I had considered it so closely before."

[Jihen]

"You would be right." He said with a nod.

"As a priestess you are undoubtedly aware of the voices of the kami that permeate our world. I would guess that you hear some more strongly than others and can commune with them with greater ease..."

He pauses, "It is however... our unbalanced perception of the world that makes us gravitate to one set of voices over any other."

He continues, "All the voices are there... They are in us and out of us. In our ears there is earth and water which catches the wind's whispers like a flute and turns it to reverberations we recognize. In us... our solid parts are shaped from earth... the malleable and wet from water... the cavities from air... and fire that burns from within and enlivens them all."

He posits, "If you were to reach out and touch my hand... you would feel warmth. Both yours leaving for my hand, and mine rushing to come to yours. Similarly, the ground we sit on is quickened by the fire within us... If we were to leave, it's resonance would linger for a time."

He finishes, "The elements all hold the resonances of the other elements. They move in and through each other in a harmonic dance... To say we 'hear' it is to privilege only one form of our possible awareness. To 'feel' is another form... To 'see' is yet another... Smell... taste... sense... and so on. Start by focusing on one... and when you are fully aware of all that sense has for you... try a second."

[Seppun Sadako]

Sadako attempts it, of course, and there is a palpable sense of sharpening as her Seppun-trained senses reach out into the world.

"It is a challenge," she says, "to focus narrowly on only the one sense."