[OOC: I need to make up some Bushi, and I'm taking suggestions. I'll post them by the end of this weekend. But the Phoenix Yojimbo for Sorano is still with you.]

Normally, one would have expected Shiba Kimiko, the quiet Shiba Yojimbo/Clan Magistrate assigned to watch Sorano, to lead the way into Phoenix territory ... but these were not normal times. Her job, while ostensibly a bushi job, was really mostly political -- her job was to see to it that no one did something stupid to Sorano.

And by "no one", her uncle meant "no Phoenix".

So it was that the lone Phoenix was lagging while the group approached Phoenix territory, and allowed the group's leader -- Otomo Hoshi -- to deal with the Phoenix Samurai guarding their borders. The group had come up the coast, with mountains to the west and ocean to the east. The mountains would soon come to an end, or so they were told.

The Phoenix guards gave the small group just enough trouble to make sure that they were seen as properly doing their duties, but it was quite clear that they were more interested in seeing the party of Imperials (and whomever else was there) somewhere else.

Imperials were trouble.

They had traveled an additional half-day when something caught Kimiko's eye ...

[OOC: Perception/Investigation (Notice) please ...]

"It would present an interesting challenge," Akio began, gesturing with his hand to the grade of the mountains flowing in the ocean.  He continued discussing with Hoshi, "It might be a fun climb.  It would definitely be worth the view."

He paused for a moment, a hitch in his step as his eye caught...

Perception/Inv(Notice): 59

Hoshi is not a mirthless aesthetic creature, as one might expect a graduate of the Miharu to be.  She may not drink, but she does laugh, sometimes smiles, takes an interest in arts and entertainment and the like. With her sister, or Yuki, she is positively playful.  But, on the trail she is cantankerous, and there is a certain sense she hides even more discontent, for the sake of civility.

And so, by time they come to boarder guards, who might even be immediately deferential, there are sharp words and insinuations, lest she be delayed even a moment longer from reaching whatever passes for a city in the phoenix lands, or, as Hoshi imagines it, a library ajoining a temple, ajoining a monastery, ajoining a bare garden, without a sweet note of music or a delicious morsel for leagues of forest and mountain--and mountainous forest.

Hoshi peers from peak fo her campaign hat at great swells of land.  She snorts at the notion of a mountian being fun to climb.  She has, damp, cold, hungry, sore.  That is certianly not fun. "Mountains are for wolves and beggars.", definitively said by a woman whose own name references them.

"I think there's about twenty of them" Shiba Kimiko said, indicating some splotches on the mountains. "What would you say, Kitsu-Dono?"

"Most of them are trying to hid in the snow" Urako agreed.

The scouts watched the bandits upon the mountain, but there was little they could do directly -- horses and mountains did not mix well, after all. Still ... it wasn't as if the party was short Bushi. There were not many, but the ones that they had assigned to them were all quite skilled.

"They think they're out of bow range" Sakyo grinned.

"Not just yet ..." E-Ling said, "We have a third party involved ..."

"That's ...." Apparently Urako had seen it as well.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 17:26, Wed 29 May 2019.

The near-nameless Ronin didn't often speak -- it wasn't his place, after all -- and when he did, it was usually muted and concise. This time was no different. He turned to Hoshi.

"Orders?"

"As we do with all strangers on the road, Shido-san.  We greet them."

A comment aside to Sakyo.  "If those ronin come out of hiding, Skayo-san, feel free to do your thing.  Better, I'd think, if you led them away from us."  A nod toward where the white woman was.

Without any worry given to the ronin Akio started walking toward the woman and her wolves.

Sayoko grinned and withdrew her gigantic steed somewhat to the rear, bow in hand, and waited to see what the mysterious figures would do. Mirumoto Kedo, meanwhile, walked with his charge. If these Ronin attacked, they would find out just how dangerous a Dragon could be in the mountains ...

[OOC: Normally you would require an athletics roll for mountaineering, but with Kedo ... er, Mirumoto Kedo along we'll just consider it automatic.]

"I tired of killing bandits."

  Almost as if to prove Hoshi's jaded point, the world arranges itself.  Bandits might have their lives spared by indifference from Hoshi, who really wishes to return to civilization more than leave bodies for the carrion eaters.

  But then something even more annoying than wilderness happens: Akio preempts her command.  She raises herself up in her saddle and inhales the thin, crisp air in disapproval.  She does not countermand it, but nods to Shido.

 "This better be interesting."

There is an old Rokugani Curse: "May you live an interesting life." For a moment, things were dull and uninteresting. Akio moved up the mountain, both guided and guarded by Mirumoto Kedo. The bandits rose somewhat, seeming more interested in the Kitsu than anyone else. The bandits braced themselves and prepared to attack. Shido, bow in hand, focused on his distance.

Then things got interesting.

A sudden and fierce blizzard struck, of such power and intensity that no one could see more than a foot in front of them. Sometimes not even that far. Somewhere to the rear, a lone Kirin archer surrounded by snow. The core group quickly closed ranks, it was rather easy to hear each other with all the metal rustling and no attempt a concealment. Still, Shinjo-San was well outside of range ...

-------------- Secrets -----------------------------

The small group walked through the driving snow. Little Yuki was quiet, though she did remain close to her mother who was watching carefully. After what seemed like forever, Yuki gasped and pointed into the blizzard.

"Basama! That's not me!"


[OOC: Awareness/Spellcraft if you'd like.]
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 18:32, Wed 19 June 2019.

Akio didn't have long to think upon emerging - the confusion evident in not only Yuki, but the faces of others.

He glanced quickly at Kedo and dismissed him as a target quickly - Yuji wouldn't have two swords.

Needing to pick a shugenja for his device the corner of his mouth lifted in a subtle smile and offered an almost inaudible "Forgive me" to Otomo Urako.  Almost wordlessly he cast again.

Casting Sympathetic Energies: 51 (easy for a Mastery 1 spell)
Subtlety: 29 (+ raises from storm?)


Barring other intervention, Yuki2 was gone, replaced once more by Akio as he emerged from the storm.  If Yuki1 dared glancing to her side she would notice that her mother was no longer around, but instead replaced with Yuki3 - shugenja scrolls and all.  The affect of his earlier spell now transferred from Akio to Urako.  The appearance now that there were twins.  "Its for your protection, Yuki-chan."

Akio turned and shouted to the storm, "You should negotiate harder, white woman.  I'm worth double that."

OOC: Pausing incase anyone else wants to act, but Akio's fingers are reaching into his scroll case again, this time intent to attempt to counter and cancel the woman's storm.

"You misunderstand." The woman's voice was cold and came from all around, as if it was the blizzard. "I am not the one who put the price on your head."

Urako's eyes narrowed a little, but she said nothing -- yet. There would be time to discuss this later.


---------------------------

[After the attempt to counter the magic]

The Kami could not be reasoned with.

Akio cast his spell, attempting to reason with the Kami and bring them more in line with what was expected. This was the way that one countered a magic spell in Rokugan. But these Kami could not be reasoned with.

He had heard of such things of course -- all Shugenja whispered about how some of the magics of the "Unicorn" were strange and caused the Kami to be unreasonable. How the Elemental Masters themselves could not cancel such magics, even working in unison. Only those who specialized in countering Maho could affect it ... or so the rumor went.

But very few had actually seen it. Most who faced it had perished on the Unicorn's return.

The snow intensified for a while, and then ceased altogether. The Ronin were nowhere to bee seen. Snow laid all around, and would hamper their movement. But, then, the Ronin would be hampered even more should they try to track them.

[OOC: Counterspell does not work on this type of magic. There is one spell that does, but I'm pretty sure you don't have it.]

"That was... something."

Kitsu Akio looked about unsure of what just happened.  At first he assumed the storm would lead to ambush, but instead it was perhaps a warning?  Or an introduction?

"Sayoko-san, do you see where they went?"

Akio asked the question, but searched with his own eyes.  The snow might yield footprints, or depressions where footprints had filled in.
Investigation (Notice): 51

Sayoko was already looking at the mountain. With Akio's question, she pointed to a spot on the mountain.

"Pretty sure those large chunks of ice used to be them, but it's tough to tell at this distance ..."

There is nothing for Hoshi to do in these kinds of moment.  They crop up when one spends time around Shugenja.  An angered kami, a powerful ancestor, a dream made real, these things happen in Hoshi's experience.  When she was younger, it was terrifying to not even be seen or heard by such things (that is what Urako was for).  Now it is annoying.  This thing might be covering their enemy's attack, but Hoshi dares not remove the traveling cover from her saber, lest ice freeze it in its scabbard.  All she can do is wait, be ready for a dire fight come out of the blizzard, and ...

  It ends.  There is no battle.  "It is a screen.  It's aiding us," she speculates.

"They were here for me," Akio states, with more certainty than doubt.  "That's what she implied."

Akio takes a moment to gather his thoughts.  He had thought that they were together - the ronin and the white woman, but the blizzard convinced him otherwise.

"In the blizzard she mentioned that there was a price on my head."  He foregoes a thought that he should clarify for Hoshi that it was not hers to collect, but holds his tongue not wanted to offend the Otomo.

Seeing little point in examining the ice-cubes, Akio issues another order to Sayoko.  "She'll have left some sort of track.  Perhaps beyond the edge of the snow.  I think we should follow."

Little Yuki furls her eyebrows, but says nothing. Children should not speak in such circumstances -- even a four-year-old knew that. Sayoko, meanwhile, looked to Hoshi for confirmation of orders.

"There will be no footprints" Urako replies calmly. She gives a glance to her sister before looking ahead. "There is a monastery about a half-day's ride from here. We can stay there."

"She is already interested in us. We will hear from her again."  Hoshi glances to her sister, then to Yuki, then looks at Sayoko while addressing the group.  "Our enemy chose this as the battle ground.  Let us not be here. Our priority is to reach the monastery."

  As much as Hoshi is loathed to suffer scoundrels to continue living, this is not a military patrol. After setting the directive, she looks back to the small girl.  "What is it, Yukichan?"

Akio had no argument against continuing toward the monastery, but he couldn't help but consider Urako who seemed like she knew more than she was letting on.  The Kitsu knew better, however, than to ask the Otomo for her secrets.

"That wasn't magic... at least not the elemental magic that we practice.  What was that, Urako-san?  Is she a Ki-Rin?"

Little Yuki was only four, so trying to say "San" and "Sama" didn't always work out right -- such as in this case. Which is where the words "Chan" and "Chama" came from in the first place. Still, she wasn't quite sure what she should say ... she was four, not stupid.

"... Eto ... Obachama? Why did Kitsu-Chan make himself look like me?"

"No" Urako replied to Akio, "She's not Kirin. Unless I miss my guess, that was the Yuki-no-Onna."

"That was my thought as well," Akio replied to Urako before turning to Yuki.

"Which, Yuki-chan, is why I made myself look like you.  I suspected she was looking for you and was using her magic as a screen to separate us."  And take you, but those aren't words he felt like uttering to the child.  "I thought that if there were two of you, she wouldn't know who was real."  Again he thought it best to hide the true reason, that he hoped that the white woman would take him instead of her but the topic of kidnapping wasn't something he wanted to raise with a four year old.

"I realize that I shouldn't have impersonated you, Otomo-chan, but I feared for you," the apology recommending that his action under different circumstances might have been highly dishonorable.  "Will you forgive me?"

It was probably for the best that little Yuki was only four years old, because a fifteen-year-old Yuki would have lots more questions. As it was, she frowned and then nodded. If "Oba-Chama" was okay with it, she would have to be as well.

--------------

The monastery was a bit of a distance, but the small party arrived about an hour before nightfall. As they approached, little Yuki started to get apprehensive, but she didn't say anything. Urako smiled.

"I'm sure Toku*-San is still there."

Yuki brightened up, and she brightened even further when an old monk stepped out of the doorframe.

"Toku-San!" Yuki exclaimed. When the caravan stopped, she practically left off the pony, rushed over to the old man, and gave him a big hug.

"Aren't you going to introduce me, Yuki-Chan?"

Yuki introduced the party in order, starting from Hoshi and ending (as one might expect) with the sole minor-clan samurai. She did, however, skip Urako.

"Welcome"" Toku said, with the deepest of bows, "I hope you find your stay here pleasant."


[* This is not the Toku of legend. He's just a monk.]

Obachama.  That will take some getting used to.  Being how long Hoshi and Urako were on their 'pilgrimage', their plunge into adulthood can be as jarring as a dip in a mountain lake. She is not just an adult now, but fully an adult, without the adolescent transition.  The feeling is raw.

  After the social shock, Hoshi assures Yuki it was for the best and that she is alright.  She even uncurls her white, frozen fingers and pats the girl on the head.  But, there is still road ahead of them, and with one treachery removed, the snow has added another.  So, they should not delay.

---

Tied so closely to a Shugenja as Hoshi is, one might expect her to have some nostalgia for monasteries.  She can only manage proper respect.  On her mind is rough beds, spartan, bland food, early dips in chilly streams, and constant incense breahting sutras and recitation of lines.  And these things are fine, when there is a nice, warm comfy bed and a brazier and all civilised things waiting for her at the end of the day, where memories of how the beginning of the twin's pilgrimage does not creep out on legs of long shadows.

  The legionnaire smiles at the child's exuberance.  At the introduction, Hoshi glances at her skipped sister in the eerie way they share share something.

"Please grant us your hospitality." Hoshi bows to Toku in turn. "Might there be a chance at a cup of warm water?"

"Of course!" He motioned to some younger monks who immediately came forward. "These shall take care of your things, if you wish, and show you to your rooms when you are ready. Meanwhile, I have prepared a refreshing Winter Tea for you all."

"When ..." he glanced to Yuki-chan, who interjected with a hushed "Her new name is Urako"

Little Yuki remembered that the old monk already knew Urako, but forgot that he knew her as Chiyowaharu.

"When Urako-Dono was here she enjoyed it very much. I hope that her twin will enjoy it as much, but if not we have many other teas here."

"What is your pleasure, Otaomo-Dono?"

Hospitality is a bit different to a gift.  It is rude to refuse hospitality.  (What if she requests some specific tea from a highland estate tea, and the host is caught out?) Or so it goes to some ways of thinking.

  Hoshi nods to the old monk. "That will do nicely."  Then she stretches her shoulders back, shaking off the aches of the ride.  "And a brazer, please.  We had a chilly trip."  And food and proper entertainment and a warm bathhouse and--Hoshi forces herself to stop lamenting the return to rustic places.  She has a duty now, after all--granted by the Emperor himself as well.  It can not be all pageantry.

It would seem, then, that there were a few rooms set said for the weary traveler, and fewer still set aside for traveling Samurai (mostly of the lower rank, of course). All of these were sparse rooms, with not but a tea pot to add to the decor of the place.

It would come as a suprise, then, that there was a small wing marked "private" that the small party was led to. The wing was past sliding paper-doors that were not well used, although there were some few smudges and patched holes here and there, the doors were quite well taken care of. On the other side was a small room, barely large enough to hold the party, with paper-doors on the other side. An ante-room of some form.

Toku turned to the small party.

"Beyond here, other than a certain few of the monks, only those of Imperial Blood and their guests may pass."

"A certain few". It might be, though it would be rude to inquire, that these "certain few" were monks that were originally from one of the Imperial Families. Toku paused meaningfully before shutting the paper doors behind them and leading them through the other set of paper doors.

On the other side of the doors, everything changed. These rooms were well appointed, even by Imperial standards, and extremely luxurious by monastic standards. Brasiers, tea pots, blankets, and a few things to read. Art decorated the walls, and special caligraphy that one could mediate upon if so moved. One room was closed. A sign hung on the door that read "reserved" in a formal, imperial script.

At the end of the hallway was a small closet, about half the size of a human, on the floor. The doors were closed, and 'sealed' by string that had to be removed (most likely in some meditative ceremony).

Toku smiled and gestured toward a room as he spoke to little Yuki.

"Why don't you take your guardians to you room."

"I'm sure" he added to Hoshi with a bow, "that you will not be disappointed."

[OOC: Changed misleading article from "the" to "a"]
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:24, Sat 07 Sept 2019.

"The accomodations will do, thank you," he answered responsively, though his thoughts drifted to wonder at the utility -or lack thereof- of having this posh Imperial grade accomodations out int he wilderness.

The large Kitsu's eyebrow arched, however, when it was indicated - as he interpretted - that it was little Yuki's room at the end of the hallway.

"Just how often do you see Imperial visitors?"

Hoshi keeps herself polite while Toku, their host is around.  Hoshi is in a strange spot.  Certainly this monastery is known to her sister.  During their rushed training, when they were split, Urako went to many libraries and monasteries, or so Hoshi might imagine.

  But, this is unlike any monastery she can imagine, even in her most ludicrous dreams.  Finally, before Yuki can take them away, she speaks up.  "It's not exactly a meditation chamber, is it."  There is edge to her tone.  The Miharu are a reserved bunch.  No drink, nothing much in earthy delights.  Duty, honour, service.  These require strict discipline.  But then again, Hoshi is only trained by the Miharu, and is not exactly one.  Perhaps, one might gather, their sensibilities have rubbed off on her.

  "Yuki chan, what is this about your room?  Is it nice?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:07, Fri 06 Sept 2019.

[OOC: My mistake. The "small closet" is a Butsudan or Kamidana or some such, but I couldn't figure out how that would be said in "rokugani". More of a Kamidana, but like the closet-style Butsudan ... so I just called it a "closet". That little closet is not Yuki's room.]

Yuki took Hoshi gently by the hand. Okatama had, after all, seen it before. "This way, Obatama."

"My room is nice" Yuki continued, "but not quite as nice as the others. But it's where I was born, and where the First Hantei stayed on one of his trips to the Phoenix clan!"

"We don't get visitors very often at all" Toku said to Akio, "but when we do they are nearly always Phoenix or Imperials -- either from the Imperial Families or Imperial Magistrates. Sometimes both."

"Very few know of this monastery, and we quite like it that way."

[OOC: I posted the Monastery Build. It's pretty high point, but completely unknown with no reputation. On the other hand the library is ... amazing.]

On the one hand, "Yuki's room" was quite plain. The futon and rice-hull pillow hidden in the closet, a simple tea pot and tea cups over on one side, and a small number of zabuton -- meditation seat-pillows -- for Yuki and any visitors. There were bookshelves on one side with a number of writings, both children's writings mixed with some that were quite advanced. A ancient copy of the complete sayings of Shinsei and several equally ancient writings of the Kami crowned the small bookshelf.

On the other hand, it was quite large. So large, in fact, that it could easily allow the twins, their bodyguards (err, servants that would readily give their lives so as the cousins of the Son of Heaven should neither be stained nor scratched) as well as Yuki.

"They keep my toys in another room. I can't play with them until after my studying is done."

On top of the bookshelf was a statue of some form, a young woman who appears to stare at the party with distant eyes.

[OOC: My books are at home, not at my apartment. Which translates to "everything is by memory, so if I mess up a roll request ... sorry.

Optional Roll: Perception/Investigation (notice) and/or Awareness/Spellcraft

Also "person recognition" which is ... Awareness/Courtier?
]

Hoshi follows Yuki by the hand.  There is something odd about returning to a room.  When Kamewaharu and Chiyowaharu -- as Hoshi and Chiyo were known then -- returned to the family estate, Kamewaharu had no memory of it, not even the faintest impressions.  She has nostalgia for eating a melon by the side of a field, catching crayfish in a knee-deep stream or sipping hot water on a cold day by a small fire.  It is not exactly jealous she feels for her niece, but it is some sort of envy.

At least the smell of incense in the air is familiar.

"This is a good room.  You must have every kind of book you should need--it's no wonder you are so clever.  Today though, after we settle in, you may go play with your toys."

Akio's eyes peered into the room.  He entered only a few steps, enough to be in the room without being in the room.  He was warm with Yuki, but the fact that it was an Imperial's room (albeit a four year-old Imperial) gave him pause.  Magistrate or not, one observed Imperial boundaries.

His eyes drifted to the statue on the bookshelf.

There is a reason that the statue seems to be watching the party -- because it is. It is very, very old -- probably around the founding of the Empire -- and awakened. It seems to have taken a liking to little Yuki (which was probably for the best) and was watching the entire area carefully.

Then again -- was it for the best? Or was that part of the Monk's plan?

"Thank you!!!" Yuki said, lighting up. She quickly moved to one side of the room and pulled out a child's toy, one that she was clearly familiar with and began to play quietly. Whether it was "auntie" or being in the monastery, it was tough to say, but it was quieter than normal.

With her niece cum daughter sufficiently doted upon (as austere as a Miharu might be, Hoshi is still much of the indulging aunt), Hoshi returns her attentions back to the group.  Having squatted to meet the child's low angle, Hoshi looks up to Toku, and suddenly she remembers.

  Years ago, she was before this man like an recently washed field turnip.  It was Toku, with his expertise in family blades, that verified Kamewaharu's heirloom tanto was truly that of her mother, Okue, and that the wretches were indeed the lost twins.  It was a delicate time, as the Otomo were unwilling to ask the Seppun directly for confirmation, lest they be shamed by scandal in the event these two turned out to be imposters.  Without a discrete, impartial person to ask, the case may well have failed.

  Since then, Hoshi has had a few blows to the head.

  "Toku! I remember now.  How long ago was that, four years, perhaps.  Thank you.  Thank you dearly.  My sister and I are in your debt."

"Then your debt is to the Son of Heaven" the old monk said, "for the one that helped you no longer exists."

His eyes are sad, and for a moment you can tell that his retirement wasn't exactly ... voluntary. But, unlike others exiled to the monasteries before their time, he has accepted it.

He bows to the statue, which looks ... familiar somehow. And ... seems to be looking back.

It is a very old statue, though it is difficult to see that at first. In fact, it is so old that it probably dates to the founding of the Empire, yet it looks like new. These are properties that the party deems to imply that the statue itself is awakened. Though what an awakened statue would be doing in a child's room is anyone's guess.