Having spent most of the night at the dojo unable to sleep Haru returned to the Inn and cleansed himself. Now he sat before the shrine behind their lodgings seeking some kind of guidance or peace before the days tests began.

From the other side of sleep, Natsuko makes her way to the shrine for the small prayers that start the morning. Seeing another there already, she pauses a moment before approaching. While meditation might wait, she leaves a small black and white speckled stone before the shrine in offering.

She offers a nod of acknowledgment--hood shifting farther forward with the motion--but not the interruption that a proper bow would be.

Haru pushed his distracting thoughts aside at the appearance of the Isawa. He rose to his feet and bowed formally to the Ishiken.

"Good morning Isawa Natsuko-sama I hope this day finds you well."

He stepped aside allowing her an unobstructed view of the shrine, a pleasant smile on his face.

The bow is returned carefully. "It does, Shiba Haru-san." A pause, head tilting as she rises. "I think sama is too formal an address for me, though."

"I hope the fortunes have been kind to you as well."

"I am as well as fortunes permit." He said evasively. "I address you that way out of an abundance of respect, not only are you a priest with a rare talent you will also be my family soon. Do you have a moment to talk now, it would be a delight to get to know who the Kami have chosen to give me as a sister."

"As are we all," she says, not appearing to pick up his evasiveness.

"I have time. We are very lightly scheduled here, compared to school." She kneels far enough back to avoid obstruction to anyone else coming to pray. "I have no experience in the role, so you should forgive me if I am uncertain as to a sister's role."

Isawa Natsuko wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 15, 2021 7:47 am

"As are we all," she says, not appearing to pick up his evasiveness.

"I have time. We are very lightly scheduled here, compared to school." She kneels far enough back to avoid obstruction to anyone else coming to pray. "I have no experience in the role, so you should forgive me if I am uncertain as to a sister's role."

Haru knelt a respectful distance away from her. "Role?" He chuckled. "Sisters have no role, society and duty will have enough of those for you I will not add to them. Indeed you will be taking some of mine. My brother is very important to me, he is the other half of my soul, and as duty pulls us away from each other it is a comfort to know he will have someone by his side. If anything I owe you a debt I can never repay, if there is an burden i can shoulder for you I would do so happily."

Smoothing her skirts out with one hand as her brow furrows instead, Natsuko appears to take some time to think about that. She was unused to Shiba offering so much, rather than simply being the imposing guardians assigned to the school. Were the rest of them, at least the majority of them with no calling or gifts to speak with the kami, like this?

"I do not think I have burdens I can hand over, Shiba-san," she says with a small shake of her head. "The debt is to those arranging this, in any case."

"Were you able to train in the same place, then? That must have been a blessing." Obviously not training together, given what she already knew of their skills.

"Yes were both able to train at home, it was nice to able to return to each others side after a long and tiring day especially with Jiro's talents with a tea ceremony. I am calmer in his presence."

Haru considered his words for a moment.

"Did you have anyone you were close with at the temple?"

"Hmm...he did seem proficient with the ceremony. He had your entire family to practice with, I expect ./?" Her quiet voice bears little intonation. The words are complimentary enough, and the last bit could be statement or question.

To Haru's definite question, she nods, extending her injured left hand. "It took a while to heal, under the care of Asako Mie. She taught me a lot, She was very patient through that time." The smallest two fingers are cleanly sliced away, the scarring running into the wrist. The damage obviously runs farther up her arm, but is covered by her sleeve.

And there it was. Haru had promised not to ask about the hand but he had never expected to be presented it. He did not stare nor show any revulsion as he felt none, he looked at it and then back to her face as she spoke. When he spoke his tone was soft and warm.

"Do you care to speak about it? I will not take offense if the answer is no, it is likely not my place to ask but as I said I would help shoulder any burden you carry."

"Hardly a burden. I carry less this way than most," she says with that even tone that makes it difficult to determine if there is an actual joke in there. "Training accidents happen, and this one does not hamper my studies. Though I had to work a bit to catch up after."

Her gaze travels up and down the young bushi. "Surely there are some injuries when bushi are training?"

"Ah, yes there are many but they are minor next to yours, I've hand my left wrist broken twice and more cuts and bruises then I can count."

Haru couldn't imagine how someone who works with scrolls and prayers could lose fingers to a knife but decided it was impolite to ask. Instead he decided to ask another overly personal question.

"Our family has a long connection to the element of Void but neither I nor Jiro nor our parents have the gift.

...

...

What is it like, to see eternity?"

Pulling the hand back, and clasping both in her lap such that the sleeves hide them entirely, she notes simply, "it was an unlucky accident, and not so common at the Sanctuary as smaller ones seem to have been for you."

Dark eyebrows lift at the question. "It...hmm" A small shake of her head and almost a laugh slip out. "what is it like for a drop to experience the ocean? Too big, hard to focus. Sometimes, a bunch of nows overlaid on each other like trying to paint a dozen scenes on one canvas, sometimes flashes of specific ones, sometimes just this stretched out awareness that time is another plane of distance and trying to see tomorrow feels like trying to spot the walls of the capitol from the steps of Kyuden Asako."

"Don't think I've been asked that before. Was it your grandparents with those gifts then?"

"Our families connection to the Void is inconsistent, there have been Ishiken like yourself as well as Henshin and some who had no recognized gift but a deep personal connection."

Haru reached to his waist and displayed the old and word netsuke he wore, turning it over to show the repeated lines of text the read "All. Nothing. The strike has already been made."

"This was owned by a 6th century ancestor named Shiba Raijin, he was a masterful duelist who finished second in the Topaz Championship and later second in the Emerald Championship. It is said that he won several of his duels with his eyes closed, not out of arrogance but because he was seeing something else, he claimed he could read a person's intent. He bowed out of the final duel claiming that he had lost. This didn't go over well with some of the Elemental Council but it is said that the Master of Void simply nodded in agreement."

She nods. "The strike has been made, is always being made, is about to be made, was held back...everything exists at once." The even tone offers no sense of whether she feels any particular way about that. "I am told by those of my school who have put some focus into dueling that the clear moment of the strike touches the void in some way."

Head tilting slightly as sharp eyes travel from the netsuke to his own eyes. "Are you also betrothed too then? Or are they waiting on the outcome of this tournament first?" Unlike her, he probably had a chance to do well, which would allow for a more valuable match.

It was Haru's turn to lower his gaze, trying to hide but lacking a hood like Natsuko.

"No I am not, my parents have never even mentioned it in front of me. I suspect it is one of many aspects of my future that hinges on my performance here. Unfortunately I have become so distracted by those potential futures that my performance here is suffering."

"Are you afraid of a less harmonious or prestigious match if your performance does not meet someone's expectation?" Her regard is steady as she considers the balance of things. "Being here is an honor that weighs things, regardless of standing overall. In any case, Isawa already tied your brother into strengthening a bloodline connection to the Void, surely that means they should offer you something more advantageous."

Lifting his head Haru looked right into Natsuko's eyes, his own tinged with the red of grief though no tears formed.

"My brother...my brother is the most important thing in the world to me and with each day our separation draws near. I cannot begin to imagine a life without him by my side and I have hoped for years now that I could find a way to become his yojimbo; or yours when we learned of his engagement. But realistically the chances of that happening are so small that I shouldn't cling to that hope.

It is strange, I do not think I will find it difficult to find harmony with my eventual match but the pain of losing my brother risks poisoning that union. Controlling my passion has always been a struggle for me, where hold a balance of the Void that some have seen as disconnection I seem to have too much Fire within me. At least that is my amateur judgment of things. Forgive me if I speak in error.

In the end the WHO of my eventual match is far less worrying then the WHERE."

"I think yojimbo are often expected not to be too close to their charges, so I believe your assessment is largely correct," she says in that soft tone that offers no judgement.

Still, she is curious and somewhat confused, and watches closely as the young man borrows grief from the future. "Void is connection. It is also an ever-present absence." There is no contradiction apparent in the statements. "Few people contain all elements in equal measure, but a healer would offer aid if it were truly an imbalance. My fire is somewhat deficient and should be guarded against becoming an unhealthy imbalance."

"Meditation upon the change and flow of water might be wise when change must be navigated. Yes?" Intonation makes a mild question of it. "Or upon the void, which is simply large enough to contain all upsets."