[D8, EE, expecting] I heard it through the void

[Kuni Mitsuko]

"So long as you do not carry scorn for your spouse's failings onto your children..." Mitsuko whispers, looking down at her hands squeezed together in her lap. It is perhaps the smallest she has looked throughout her time in Tsuma.

She perks slightly at the mention of accomplishment. "I... All I did was apply myself in school. I... I had no idea it might lead here," she says, fully candid. "I, um... I guess maybe that's destiny? Finding yourself on a path you might not even have chosen, yet... It seems the right path anyway?" She looks at Natsuko questioningly, like the mysterious Phoenix should be able to confirm such things.

[Isawa Natsuko]

"Oh!" Natsuko shakes her head. "No, that would not be right or good for anyone or..." She stops, taking in the shrunken Kuni and letting the patterns fall together. "Ah...is that why you did not train with the Kuni?" She doesn't flat out say--because someone decided that lack of the Kami's gifts cast doubt upon her true parentage in some fashion, or downright proved some infidelity--but it hangs there, nonetheless.

Her hands continue moving without overt attention, packing away. "Sometimes I think destiny works that way. I have not yet seen people stepping fully into their destinies to know for sure. This is...a somewhat important tournament for many of us, but only a small element of our destiny for most, I think."