[Day 5 - LM] Make a Nanzi out of You

[Nanzi]

Jongwun practiced her stance against the Nanzi daimyo as the two worked on bettering their mastery of the divine dueling form. They had worked on their draw and strike for nearly an hour now with sweat beading on the older man’s brow even in the cool air.

Jigutsuji watched and took notes to review with his lord, later.

Jongwun was swift and getting better as she focused on her training and it was clear to Nanzi in time she would be the superior swordswoman in this new world,and that gave him some pride even if he didn;t like admitting she would be the better in time.

They continued their kenjutsu and iaijutsu training in the misty morning by the stream.

[Agasha]

Nearby, one of the people with the expedition was gathering water from the stream. Rather than gathering it in a large vessel, though, she was holding a small glass vessel in the water, then lifting and swirling it in front of her eyes thoughtfully. "Hmm..."

[Nanzi]

Nearby, one of the people with the expedition was gathering water from the stream. Rather than gathering it in a large vessel, though, she was holding a small glass vessel in the water, then lifting and swirling it in front of her eyes thoughtfully. "Hmm..."

With their training done for the moment and the man wanting a drink he walked to the stream and then noticed this young girl/woman. He said, “Good morning, how is the water this morning?”

Jongwun followed and knelt near the river but did not drink yet curious at what the woman was doing.

[Agasha]

With their training done for the moment and the man wanting a drink he walked to the stream and then noticed this young girl/woman. He said, “Good morning, how is the water this morning?”

Jongwun followed and knelt near the river but did not drink yet curious at what the woman was doing.

"Clear of problems... at least this water is," the young woman observed, never taking her eyes off the vial as she watched the eddies swirl within. "I can say the same of some of it elsewhere."

Finally, she peeled her gaze away and looked up. "Oh. You're... I don't remember your name, but you were at the tournament. You visited Tengoku with Shirayuki-san."

[Nanzi]

"Nanzi, Daimyo of the Nanzi family, you may know my humble wife, Lady Doji," he responded.

"And you are?" he said with a charming smile.

[Agasha]

"Oh yes... Nanzi-san. Thank you," she replied with a nod before tying leather tightly across the top of the vial and tucking it away. "I am Agasha. I am Ryoshun Nazo's adopted daughter. I was at the tournament."

She peered at him more intently. "Have you been near the swamps? Have you noticed anything strange about the water?"

[Nanzi]

"The honor is mine princess of the Bat. Nanzi has not noticed anything suspect of the waters, what have you seen?" he asked.

"The quiet one by the river, is Nanzi Jongwun."

[Agasha]

"I mean... I suppose? That's maybe more like Rei-chan, though," she mused looking upward. "Oh. Hello, Nanzi Jongwun-san." She finally remembered to bow to both of them. Yes, that was important, bowing.

"Most of the waters near the camp are just regular swamp water. Not something you'd want to wade around in, but full of life. They get... unpleasant the deeper you go. Darker waters, which would imply soil, but the life in it dies or becomes... different. I don't know how to explain it yet. It needs more research. I need to analyze the samples I took of the different sections of water. Could you let me know if you run across anything unusual?"

[Nanzi]

"Perhaps the waters are fouled by the evils of Jigoku?" he asked.

[Agasha]

Her eyebrows furrowed and she quickly whipped out a map that she had apparently copied at some point intently. Her frown deepened quickly. "But it's so far south from here! Something like that shouldn't be this far north already! And there's no swamp at all marked here. There should be, that's a pretty significant land feature, and I doubt the Unicorn and Shinsei-san and everyone would have missed it..."

[Nanzi]

"Lands that should not be, and yet they are. We travel into the unknown, it is not surprising that we encounter things that should not be," he said proudly.

"Perhaps this evil knows we are coming and works to impede us."

[Agasha]

She stared at him for a moment, the folded the map in half and started scribbling on it with charcoal furiously. "If it could... implies the realm is...other locations... hmm...."

[Nanzi]

If Nanzi understood the ramblings he did not say, he just waited to see where she was going with this.

[Agasha]

"This is a great breakthrough! Thank you so much, Nanzi-san!" She said abruptly, with zero explanation, and remarkably cheerfully for thinking about Jigoku.

[Nanzi]

"Nanzi is pleased to have been of service, what have you learned of the threat," he asked.

[Agasha]

"Oh! Yes, I didn't actually tell you. Well, it honestly didn't occur to me that a location could be conscious and self aware. Now I'm wondering if that applies to all spirit realms, or just it, or if something like that could occur in Ningen-do?" She mused, obviously getting back into her thoughts. "I mean, most things have kami, but that's not exactly the same, but if maybe they were particularly awake, or there was one big one, or... there are so many things can could potentially cause something like that, and it if locations can be aware, what about other inanimate objects?" She paused to take a breath. "I mean, there are stories about old buckets and things left unattended that become vengeful spirits and whatnot, and is that just a smaller scale phenomenon? And if it IS, there could be all sorts of applications for it and if it's not it implies a bunch of other things."

[Nanzi]

"There are little and big gods... the world is filled with such things," he said with a nod.

"It stands to reason that places could have gods as well, though Nanzi is no sage in such matters."

[Agasha]

"Hmmm... That makes sense. I wonder if there's a difference between the god of a place and the place itself?" She mused. "Or are they so closely related that it's impossible to make that kind of determination...?"

[Nanzi]

"What if a place changes... suppose there is a swamp, and then people drain that swamp and turn it into farm land, would the god remain the god of the swamp?" he asked.

[Agasha]

"... Or if a forest by a river were suddenly changed into a swamp..." She said, hopping up. "I have more research to do!"

She hurried toward the swamp, turning back and waving. "thank you again, Nanzi-san!"

With that, she ran off.

/exit