After almost a month of continuous marching towards the east carefully avoiding the suspicious glances of the many manhunters and imperial patrols occupying the many roads in the Empire, you finally reach the place you heard would finally afford you at the very least a few days of respite from your arduous journey.

It was certainly not easy avoiding detection from the many enemies in literally every town you visited, once almost rousing the suspicion of an expert from the Divine Mantis sect. It was from that close call you resolved yourself to avoid well paved roads no matter how much they hurt your weary feet and you are even beginning to feel quite accustomed to walking on undulating, bumpy terrain.

Despite your overall weariness from trying to evade attention and pursuit, you cannot help but feel slightly better as your approach your destination of respite.

It is just a few minutes after the break of dawn, and the air in this secluded village of Boushima smells fresh and sweet.

As the sun's first rays creep through the gaps between the tall hills and mountains that surround the valley you are in, they reveal the slightly misty vistas of terraced paddies of rice and simple wooden homes and their tall thatched roofs. The sound of a nearby brook beside the rough beaten path whcih you traverse on grows louder with every step you make forward, and by the time you reach the entrance of this role model of a bucolic country village, the morning sun reveals at the top of a distant hill before you a small wooden monastery cloaked in a yellow manteau of autumn tree leaves.

A few of the village folk emerging from their wooden homes to begin work for the day notice your entrance are slightly surprised, but as they see your buddhist garments quickly understand the reason for you being here and continue about their work.

Upon exchanging a few greetings with some of the villages you hear a few rumors.

1. The village elder's son Gorou was attacked by wolves while he was out cutting wood and is currently being tended to by the old nun Kenmei in charge of the Suishou-in Verdant Pine Monastery.

2.  There are rumors of villagers seeing strange flashing lights in the forest to the southwest, along side very terrifying disturbing noises. Furthermore, recently, some dogs owned by the villagers seem to have gone missing which has troubled the villagers greatly.

3. The villagers are preparing for a small harvest festival to venerate the local deity Unmyou. There will be a fine feast and a ritual overseen by Nun Kenmei.

The one named Qianli made her way over the main road, to the side so as not to hog too much of the road for herself as that might be seen as a lack of proper conduct. She favored the Tao more herself, but both taught respect and, as such, did not need much getting used to. The air smelled nice, and so she stepped aside and off the road for a brief moment to inhale deeply, the sweet scent a more than welcome change from the dirt and mud of the past month.

A quick glance around her from her peripheral vision told her that her appearance did not attract attention, though she knew assassins would know better than to give themselves away. More importantly, she saw no guards being posted, or anything to show that her presence was thought of as a possibility, which meant pursuers were more likely to come from her back if they were not still patrolling the area she had just departed from.

When exchanging greetings, she kept her voice calm, gentle and level, years of lessons in persuasion and, ironically, the tea ceremony having instilled a good sense in her of remaining collected at all times and knowledge of the proper order of things that would not make her appear too forward. It was the well rehearsed voice of one that was where she was because she was supposed to, led by nothing but silken strings of karma.

There were several rumors in town. Rumors of wolves and disappearing dogs, the latter hinting at the former to be the one to blame, but what it told her was that it was unlikely that there was anyone hiding in the wilds, be it bandits or bounty hunters. Wild animals, for all the trouble they could bring to a peaceful village, felt as much a boon to her as did the air in the village of Boushima. For now though, she would need to make a good first impression as a Buddhist, rather than one simply wearing the robes of one, and so she headed over to the Monastery. It seemed they were quite busy, and she needed a place to stay that did not rely on coin the way an Inn would. They would be likely to offer room and board in return for her services, and in doing so even strengthen her cover as a traveling young Buddhist in the process.