Heavenfall

It was good to get a bit away from the hustle and bustle of Great Mountain City. So many people gathered together was still something for her to get used to, and she already felt she missed the familiar and quiet surroundings of the Ayakashi Valley... and especially the new home in the northern mountains.

And a small excursion to make sure they had everything they'd need for the trip was also a good reason to move along the riverside - a place where many animals might go, and many plants also grew. She put faith in the hunters to find game for the provisions, so Saruko instead looked to find herbs, edible plants, and hopefully some of those with medicinal uses too. So far, she had some luck with that.

"Southern lands are hot, but at least it seems to have lots of things growing here," she remarked as she pushed her hair back from her face once more. At least the air felt cooler by the river.


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D1 Packing for the Expedition. Gathering the Rest. Hunting/Perception. +1k1 Void. 1 raise. TN 25: 5d10o10k4 31

Nadare put his hands on his hips and looked off into the distance.
The wind tousled his hair. The sound of the river calmed his thoughts. The southern warmth caressed his bare torso. His toes wriggled in the rich soil.

"The land never lies."

With a smirk he looked back at Saruko. The large feline etched upon his chest seemed to be looking directly at her.

A deep intake of breath. He closed his eyes and felt the connection to all things. A hunter's senses filled his mind as Togashi's blood did its work. Provisions were quickly piled up between the two Northerners.

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Day 1. Packing for the Expedition. Gathering the rest: Hunting (Survival)/Perception. Lion tattoo for skill. Void for +1k1. 1CR. TN25: 5d10o10k4 28

She had seen the magic of the tattoos up close many times before. First on her husband's skin, and then on herself, and on Nadare too as one of Togashi's first disciples.

"The power of Togashi-Kami's blessing never ceases to amaze me," she said with a touch of awe in her tone, noticing the way the inked lion seemed to come to life as Nadare moved.

"Is this your first time so far south, Nadare?"

Stringing his yumi Nadare loosed an arrow that found a large hare. Grinning he looked back at Saruko.

"Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow. And so on." He started walking towards the kill. "When I first met your husband that was my furthest trip South. Since then I have enjoyed many firsts."

Kyosei had escaped the madness of the chaos in the courtyard. To settle his nerves, and perhaps help, if possible, he went out hunting. He noted a possible hare, when a hand seemed to sweep up out of nowhere, and yank it away.

Surprised, he kept looking, but could find nothing.

Then he heard some voices in the distance. So, he started to approach that direction.

She chuckled with a sense of understanding. Shirayuki had become Saruko, to begin a new path, after all.

"One does come to see the world with new eyes when life begins anew, yes." Saruko murmured a brief prayer for the now dead hare - paying her respects to the animal.

"All part of the cycle." He too said a few words for the hare before his eyes flashed towards the new arrival. "The most dangerous animal approaches."

Rising out of his crouch he raised a hand in greeting. "Hail fellow." The Lion seemed to shift its attention to Kyosei.

There was another dragon in the forest, one who sat still. On a fallen trunk, not so far from there Wu was meditating with his spear on his legs.

He was aware, yet not?

mediation LA: 6d10o10k3 22

As he moved towards the sounds, Kyosei noted the still man. However, he knew enough to know that whoever it was, was not threat. After all, he was trained to meditate too.

But, that was an aside. He continued to the direction the voices were coming from.

The warning of a dangerous animal approaching made her shift her grip on the staff she had used for support. In her hands it was easily a weapon as well.

"Hello there?" she said more questioningly to the approaching man, keeping a step behind Nadare.

"Greetings! You haven't seen any hare around, have you?"

She cocked her head, noticing Wu there as well.

"There was one," Saruko said thoughtfully.

"And did you, perchance, happen to catch it by hand?"

''There should be a burrow nearby'' said Wu nonchalantely, coming out of his meditation ''There were a few running around in the last hour...but I heard no other except yourselves. Although I could be mistaken.''

With that he rose and brushed the moss off his kimono

''Also...Good afternoon''

"Good afternoon. Kyosei, of the Isawa tribe."

"Togashi Saruko of the Dragon."

The woman looked to the so-far un-introduced man, then back to Kyosei again. "Arrow, not by hand. But one could say that the arrow was loosed from a hand."

Wu's eyebrow twitched hearing the name of the tribe but said nothing about it

''I am Wu of the Dragon Clan'' he said with a bow

"Could have sworn I saw a hare taken by hand - a real hand, not an arrow. But it was in the distance..."

"Perhaps you had a vision, Kyosei, of the Isawa tribe?" Nadare raised the hare in his left hand. "Or perhaps you see in metaphors?"

The animal tattooed on his chest seemed to shift slightly.

"I am Togashi Nadare. Greetings."

"I... don't think so. I've never been prone to visions before. Togashi? So, you are a follower of the little god, then?"