Heavenfall

He nodded

''I hope you will find a home amongst the scorpion''

She considered that for a moment and shrugged. "If I do, I do. I think it would be a place I could call home. What I wish? I wish to find a purpose for these old mill grinders," she said, patting the tonfa at her side. "I wish to find a purpose, and if it is at Bayushi's side, it is at Bayushi's side. I do not doubt I will approach him. But I am not so arrogant as to assume where I truly belong, not until I find that place."

''You attitude is sound. I believe Lord Bayushi would be making a mistake by refusing you.''

Wu had not reason to speak anything but this honest statement

In truth? he probably wasn't wrong. She was nothing if not a verbatim traditional scorpion in the making, with the exception of her fascination for beating people up with sticks instead of swords. So Bayushi probably wouldn't do poorly by adding her to the roster. But only time would tell.

"What drew you to Togashi, if I may ask?"

''His difference'' he began ''Togashi follows a different path then that of his brothers and sisters and ruling is not his ambition.''

"I have been told Bayushi does not wish to rule... but he is a leader in his own way. I assume you mean something even more profound than serving the ruler in the shadows," she said, tapping her lips. "What is his path?"

''Enlightment'' he said ''Enlightment is hard to describe...it is the serenity of one's soul as attachements are let go and the wisdom to see the hidden truths of the world.''

She stared at him like a soul who had no understanding whatsoever of what he spoke. "There are secret mysteries, but does one not find them with their own eyes? What is enlightenment but to see a thing you have not seen already?" she said, the confusion evident. "But I suppose I do not understand such things?"

''There might not be any true way to explain enlightment...it's like being able to smell colors. How can you explain the smell of the color blue?You can approximate the smell by giving references another could understand but that will always fall short.''

He paused

''But if I had to try I would say that the world we perceive is not all there is and we are more then we seem to be. Enlightment is the way to lift the veil and see what truly is.''

...

She kind of looked at him and shook her head, grunting and rubbing her head for a moment. "You sound like Shinsei a little, when he gets to talking about some things. I don't go around sniffing and licking colors to figure out what they taste like. What is in front of me is in front of me. If there's more there, I can't smell it." Or so she told herself. She liked to think of herself as a practical woman.

"But I suppose gods see things with different eyes."

''Gods and men are equal on the path to enlightment.''

"That so? Well, I'll admit that it's nice to imagine there's something out there that I'm equal to the likes of them in." She snorted and laughed at that thought. "Not that I'm anywhere near taking a first step on that path."

''And yet you could, if you tried.'' Wu replied simply ''But despite it being benign...many dread the path''

"I don't really dread such things. I just fail to see the purpose, truly. Maybe I'll ask Shinsei about it one of these days, but I think he gets that question a lot and he's probably pretty sick of it." A shrug. She was reasonably certain he was very sick, to an extent, of being asked for wise counsel. Or at least that was her inner impression. "Enlightenment seems like a thing for other people. I don't see why anyone would dread it."

''Because to start on it one needs to look inside of oneself...and not everyone wish to see what truly is there''

"Ah, now there's the answer," she said with a very clear, certain nod. "No. We do not like that. I do not like that. Lived on a rock in the middle of the mountains avoiding just that in the middle of my work. Fighters are doers a lot of times. I doubt many of them want to look within, to answer the cries they hear in the night. I dont' really blame them."

She wasn't getting as much a choice herself.