Tales To Pass The Time Away (D11, LA. Open)

[Seppun Dawei]

Dawei looks for another suitable piece of wood to start carving. A jungle should provide no shortage of such things--and, behold, t is abundant, even within easy reach (Hunting 33)

He collects it quickly, turns it over in his hands as he considers what image lies within it.

What he thinks, he keeps to himself.

[Seppun Chisei]

Chisei watched the hand motions curiously.

"Are these signs based on our language? I must imagine they would be."

He looked to Nanzi. "What about the divine language? Does it have different thoughts, do you find." He inclined his head. "If you'll permit my asking."

[Nanzi]

He looked to Nanzi. "What about the divine language? Does it have different thoughts, do you find." He inclined his head. "If you'll permit my asking."

"Nanzi finds that the divine tongue tends to reflect the perfection of Tengoku, it aligns my thoughts with the will of Heaven," he said after a moment of thought.

[Seppun Chisei]

"Does that mean you know what the will of Heaven is?" Chisei asked, his eyebrows going up curiously.

[Nanzi]

"Yes to build a more orderly society here on Ningen-do, by following the will of Emperor Shiba," he said with a nod.

"This language expresses that divinity into this world."

[Miyako]

Miyako sensed some sort of argument seemed to be afoot, but her mind was still on something from earlier. The tribeswoman shook her head before holding up her hand, a quiet interruption.

"Forgiveness, sirs, but the fault is mine to bear. I have spent many moons in practice to attend these lessons of sign, and some of whose faces at these lessons I remember, and some I do not, and it is now clear that some were not among them. As one might so translate the 'tongue of divine' to all around who would not understand it if it was spoken, I too should have done the same with those that know not the Sign of the Hand. The audience as a whole will be taken into consideration for next time rather than just the parts so that all might receive the message, especially since it had started a nice discussion on what was a wonderful story and all might want to participate in it," she offered in trying to smooth things over, a soft smile and a light nod of the head to try and show she meant no genuine harm.

[Nanzi]

"Nanzi is assured of your Sincerity, it is as if it never happened," he said warmly.

[Togashi Saruko]

"Perhaps there are more stories to share? Or poems perhaps?" Saruko inquired, now that it seemed right for a new topic.

[Nanzi]

Nanzi thought shortly and said:

"Dark rose, hot, thirsty,
Nourishing rain, sweet succor,
Remember your lips."

OOC: Poetry: 4d10o10k3 22

[Togashi Saruko]

A love poem, perhaps... of the loved ones back home. At least, that is what Nanzi's words made her think of, and her thoughts drifted in that direction for her.

"Eyes of divine light,
firm hands, gentle and caring.
I miss their guidance..."

She stopped... realising she had one syllable too many. A shake of her head, and chuckle. "I think I was thinking too much on the feelings and not enough on the structure..."


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D11 LA Artisan: Poetry/Awareness. 1 raise. TN 20: 5d10o10k4 18

[Seppun Chisei]

Chisei's head tilted as he studied the two... god-spouses, he supposed they were. He gave Saruko a hint of a gently sympathetic smile, but declined to say anything himself.

[Doji Kaze]

Kaze, having found his seat during the tale of swans, found his mind drifting to other concerns during the exchange of sign language. Now, as the love poetry came out, he found it was time to show that while the pining love of the married couples was adorable, it was hardly the only game in town.

"Wending southward now
Two jungle cats--strong and swift--
Move with supple strength

In deepest darkness,
Quiet lords of evening shade
Stalking without prey

Sharp ears catch what night has hid:
The soft tread; The beating heart."

Poetry, 1 raise=28

His eyes flicked to Dawei to see if he was listening, but he did his best to cover the tell by glancing quickly around the fire.

[Miyako]

Miyako nodded and smiled at Nanzi's warm appreciation, the matter put behind them all. She continued to ponder over a story she might share with them, thinking long and hard while the others shared their wonderful poems. At last, something had dawned upon her, and when the time was right she stood up, lightly dusted herself off, and gave the introduction to the tale she recalled.

"I have another story that I might share. The talk of word, of language, and of animals both had me recall a story I once heard from a wanderer that spent some time in our village once upon a time many seasons ago, one of the people of the mighty seas that in his many years had traveled all up and down the coasts and the shores and the mighty rivers and in his elder years wished to see as much of in-land as he could before he passed, and so found himself wandering the Chinsei Mori. This is the tale of a young man that sought to know the songs of the birds of the world, and in doing so got much more than he had bargained for..."

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Once upon a time there was a rich city of trade that was built between two mighty rivers at the point where they met with the sea, the boats from other cities that plied the rivers and the seas bringing much wealth to the city and its most opportune location. Within the city a particular merchant, one that owned many of the boats the went up and down the rivers and up and down the shores, lived there in a large house with his wife and many servants, and within his house other merchants and those that worked for him would come in and out at all hours of the day with business at hand, making his house a very lively one. Of his own stock, however, he had but one son, a dear, smart, and brave young man called Kichirou. On one fine summer morning when Lady Sun's light radiated and began to bring heat to the day, Kichirou sat at a very large table with his parents. Near a window in the same room hung a small birdcage, and a nightingale, a sweet-voiced gray bird, was caged within it. The nightingale sang its wonderful song to them in greeting every morning during their breakfast with high yet dulcet tones. Kichirou's father, the rich merchant, listened and listened to the song as he ate his breakfast at the table.

“Alas! How I truly wish I might understand the meaning of the different songs of all the birds of the world! I would give half my wealth to the man or woman, if only there were such a man or woman, who could make plain to me all the different songs of all the different birds of the land and the sea.” Kichirou took great notice of his father's words as he ate his own breakfast, and those words stuck to him like the sap of a mighty tree: no matter where he went, no matter where he was, no matter what he did, and no matter how much time passed, he thought constantly of his father's words and how he might learn the song of the birds.

Many weeks after this fateful breakfast, the rich merchant’s son happened to be hunting in a nearby forest. The winds rose, first a slight breeze, then a stiff one, turning into a mighty blow; Lady Sun's light, shining vibrantly through the treetops, became more and more muted as the sky suddenly became clouded, white and then grey, filling the sky, until no light shone through - a storm had suddenly brewed. The lightning flashed, the thunder roared loudly, and the rain fell in torrents all in but a few moments of time. Kichirou soon came near a large tree standing tall and mighty all by itself on a short hilltop in a small clearing, and looking high up its enormously wide trunk he saw a big nest in the branches. Through all the dark and the rain, Kichirou could make out four small birds that were resting in the nest - they were quite alone, and neither Father nor Mother could he see that was there to protect them from the cold and wet rain.

The good Kichirou pitied them, and though it took all his energy to do so, he climbed the mighty tree and covered the little ones with his own straw cloak, the rain rolling down and soaking his own shirt all the way through while the baby birds chirped and cried but otherwise stayed dry from the terrible storm. The thunderstorm passed by in moments, leaving almost as quickly as it had arrived, and when the sky had cleared a big bird came flying to the mighty tree and sat down on another branch near the nest. To Kichirou's surprise, the large bird did speak, looking into his eyes, calling out his name, and speaking kindly to him.

“Boy Kichirou! You have my thanks! You have climbed this mighty tree and protected my little ones from the cold and rain and I am in your debt. Give me that which you wish for, and it shall be granted in thanks for your good deed.”

Kichirou thought only for a moment what his wish might be, for the words of his father was always in his mind, and so he quickly and affirmatively answered: “I want for nothing, kind bird; my family provides, and I live in great comfort. I seek no Things, but I seek Understanding: teach me the song of the birds of the world, that no matter what bird I come across, I might listen and know and understand its song!”

The bird looked back at Kichirou, opened its beak a few times, and then nodded its head. “It shall be done, Boy Kichirou: in the forest you will stay for three days, with me you shall stay for three days, and at the end of that time you will come to know the bird-songs of the world.”

And so Kichirou diligently remained in the forest and with the great big bird for three days. He listened with rapt attention as the bird revealed all there was to know of the bird-song, and at the end of the three days he understood well the teachings of the big bird and returned to his home in the merchant city by the rivers and the seas. One beautiful morning soon after he returned home, another summer day in which Lady Sun's light did bless the city with not a cloud in the sky, Kichirou sat with his parents again at the table eating breakfast when the nightingale began singing in the birdcage. The nightingale's song was so sad, however, so very, very sad, that the rich merchant and his wife also became very sad, and their son, good Boy Kichirou, who listened very attentively to every note the nightingale sang, was even more affected than they, the meaning behind every note known, the song of sadness woven together in his mind and heart, and soon tears streamed down his face.

“Kichirou, what is the matter?” asked his parents. “Why is it that our dear, sweet, good son weeps these tears?”

“Oh, dear parents, if only you knew!” cried Kichirou in response. “It is because I know now the meaning of the nightingale’s song, and because this meaning is so sad for all of us.”

“What, then, is the meaning, Kichirou? Tell us! Please, do not hide it from us!” exclaimed the merchant and his wife.

“Oh, how sad it sounds! So sad!” replied Kichirou, tears still coming down. “How much better would it be never to have been born!”

“Do not scare us with such words!” said his parents, alarmed at what he had said. “If you really do know the meaning of the nightingale's song, tell us at once!”

“Do you not hear for yourselves?! The nightingale says: ‘The time will come when Kichirou, the rich merchant’s son, shall become Kichirou, the chieftain’s son, and his own father shall serve him as but a simple servant!'”

The merchant and his wife felt greatly troubled at this, and in that moment they started to distrust their son, their good Boy Kichirou. The nightingale stopped singing, and they comforted Kichirou, they consoled him, and when he felt better he thanked them and went about his day. However... his parents forgot not what he said, and their hearts and thoughts became dark with his description of the bird-song, and they plotted what to do. That night they held dinner around the table, a mighty feast to console Kichirou, and they ate and drank and were otherwise merry and forgetful of the morning - Kichirou was, at least, but his parents did not forget. They had plotted to give him a potently drowsy drink, and he had much of it and became mightily tired with sleep, and when he had fallen asleep from the drink they took him out of the house to a waiting boat on the shores of the wide sea far from the city of riches; with Kichirou placed in the boat, some hired servants rowed the boat into the sea way away from the sight of the shore, and another boat came and they got in it and left, and Kichirou was thus alone in the middle of the sea.

For a long time the boat danced and jumped and leaped and sprung up and down on the lapping waves and finally it drifted near a large merchant vessel which struck against it with such a shock that Kichirou quickly awoke from his slumber. The crew of this large vessel saw Kichirou and took great pity on him, a boy alone on a boat in the endless sea. The crew decided to take him along with them and lifted him into their boat, and they gave him food and water. As he ate and drank and gave them thanks, however, a gull came onto the desk of the ship and began to make its screeching calls. The sailors shooed away the bird, but Kichirou appeared to be quite scared.

"Never seen a gull before, boy?" a very large, burly, gruff sailors called down to Kichirou as he stood and cast a wide shadow over him. Kichirou nodded his said but quickly gave a warning to him.

“I have, and it is not why I am afraid! The gull says a great and powerful storm comes this way. We must set sail quickly, out of this sea, to the nearest harbor, the safest cove, anywhere but here or else we will be torn asunder by wind and wave alike!”

The burly sailor laughed and dismissed him outright and walked away, and Kichirou tried to warn any other sailor that passed by where he sat, but none paid any attention to his warning - the loneliness of the sea had gotten to him, they thought - and so they continued to sail as they were. In a short time, however, the mighty storm arose, the wind and the waves hitting the ship with terrible punches against the wood and coming from all directions, tearing the vessel almost to splinters, or so the worst was thought - but soon the storm did subside, and though the sailors had a very hard time repairing all that had been damaged, the wood still held, the ship still floated upon the sea. When they were through with their work, the ship was sailed closer to shore, and soon overhead in the skies above many wild swans flew above them, singing a loud swan song to one another.

“You, boy: you warned of storm last time the birds did call so noisily. What to these ones say?” inquired the well-weathered sailors, wary of Kichirou yet curious all the same given his cries regarding the storm.

Kichirou, still sitting on the deck, shuddered slightly as he listened to the swan-song. “Another warning. They say that over the horizon there are dastardly pirates, terrible robbers and criminals of the sea, many ships and crews in their horde. We must flee this place, sail out of these seas, find the harbor or the cove, or else the pirates will kill us and take everything on this ship.”

The crew this time was much more inclined to believe Kichirou, and they knew of a nearby merchant harbor full of ships that would love nothing more than to meet these pirates and take their revenge for all the ships they had robbed over the seasons. They sailed the ship into the merchant harbor, and they raised the alarm, and the merchant crews came out onto their ships and watched and waited. On the horizon did they see that the convoy of pirate boats sail by, and the merchants quickly set sail against them and they caught the pirate convoy unaware, and many ships were captured.

When the danger was over, the sailors left with Kichirou and sailed much farther still. Finally after many days and nights the vessel anchored near a town, large and unknown to the merchants and sailors, far on the other side of the sea from the city of riches that Kichirou had known. Kichirou and the sailors departed the ship to take their leave on shore, many of them, Kichirou included, finding themselves in a local seaside tavern. In was there that Kichirou learned that a mighty chieftain ruled over that town and was cursed to perpetual annoyance by three large crows, black as night, so dark the the fullness of Lord Moon in the night sky would not reveal them, and the three crows were almost all the time perched on the window of the chieftain’s chamber - the Crows of Three, as they had become known. No one knew how to get rid of them: every attempt to shoo them away ended with them returning, every arrow shot against them bouncing off their feathers, every harsh swing of the club bouncing off of them. No matter what anyone did or tried, the birds could not be killed, and the birds would not leave the chieftain's house.

Kichirou found in the tavern a copy of a notice the chieftain ordered be be placed at all major crossing of roads and on all the important buildings of the town, saying that whoever was able to relieve the chieftain from the noisy birds that pestered him unceaselessly would be rewarded by obtaining the youngest of the chieftain’s daughters for a wife; so short was the chieftain in temperment, having suffered for untold seasons under the cry of these birds, that the same missive warned that those that attempted to dispose of the birds but did not succeed in doing so would be beheaded! Kichirou attentively read the announcement, once, twice, three times, and once more after that. He stepped outside the tavern and went to the shore, made a prayer or two to Lady Sun for guidance and protection, and then went to the chieftain's house.

The servants were quite perplexed as to why the chieftain might have an unknown visitor of this sort, for none had answered the chieftain's notice in many a season, too many losing their head to a bunch of birds that none dared make the attempt. "Why have you come?" the servants asked from the entrance to the sprawling house, fingers wagging at Kichirou.

“I am Kichirou, here to confront the Crows of Three! Open the window: let me gaze upon these Crows, and let me hear their song!”

The servants obeyed, and Kichirou was brought into the chieftain's house and to the window where the Crows of Three did sit. They stared at him, cawed at him, and the servants watched as Kichirou sat there, saying nothing as the Crows of Three did caw for what seemed like hours before they stopped. And once they had stopped, Kichirou stood from the floor and looked to the servants that had taken turns watching the whole affair.

“Take me to your chieftain! The Crows of Three will soon depart.”

The servants took Kichirou to a well-decorated and enriched throne room where up many steps on a dais, and sitting in a high, rich chair encrusted with many precious gems sat the chieftain of the town, rubbing his temples as he waited for the boy before him to cross the room and properly greet him. Kichirou walked across the throne room, stopping well short of the dais steps where he took a knee.

“Mighty Chieftain! I am Kichirou, son of a merchant in a town across the far seas. For many years the Crows of Three have tormented you, and many have tried and failed to make them go away. I have heard the Crow-song, and I report to you thus: of the Crows of Three, they are a Family, a Father Crow, a Mother Crow, and a Son Crow. For many seasons, Father Crow and Mother Crow have argued over whether Son Crow must follow Father or Mother in learning the ways of the world. They have spent all of their lives in your town and your vast lands, and as good and wanting servants they thought it best that they might obtain one's royal decision over the matter. They have sung their Crow-song for many a season now, each day perching by the window, providing to you their petition. And many have tried to shoo them away, but still they come, and many have tried to kill them, and still they stand, for they offer only you deference and respect when it comes to deciding what is their most important matter.”

The chieftain, hearing Kichirou's fanciful tale, laughed heartily and mightily from his throne. “Dear boy! Kichirou of Who-Cares-Across-The-Sea! You come all this way to my town, my lands, hear the plight I suffer over these damned Crows of Three, and this is what you have to say?! Pray to the Fortunes, dear boy, for your head will soon be mine!" He cackled mightily yet again, but the guards in the room did move to take Kichirou away to the dungeons in that moment. The chieftain, amused at the words Kichirou had spun after hearing all sorts of blabber and blather over many a season, all for naught, stood from his seat, still rubbing his temples as he looked down the dais steps to the still-kneeling Kichirou.

"The tale you have spun of these Crows of Three was a new one, Boy Kichirou, and has amused me greatly! For that, before you are taken away to your Fate, I will amuse you in return with what my response might be, the last meaningless words you'll hear before you are taken to have your head removed! Son Crow, it is clear to any simpleton, must follow the ways of Father Crow, be mighty and learn the Crow's warrior ways so that one day it too will defend its children as Father Crow has done. Let it be known to all in this room: by royal decision, Son Crow will learn the ways of Father Crow!”

As soon as the chieftain announced his royal decision, and before the guards could descend upon poor Kichirou, the Crows of Three did sweep into the throne room from an open window, circling overhead a couple times before landing on the bottom-most step of the dais before the chieftain, all three of them looking up at him. The largest of them, Father Crow, hopped up a step, let out a might caw, and hopped to the left. Son Crow, the smallest of them, also leapt up a step, let out a quieter caw, and hopped to the left to be at Father Crow's side. The middle of the birds, Mother Crow, hopped up a step, cawed a higher-pitched caw, and then hopped to the right, away from Father Crow and Son Crow. In unison, the Crows of Three bowed their heads, and when they lifted them up Father Crow and Son Crow flapped their wings, circled again twice, and flew out the window, and then Mother Crow flapped her wings, circled again twice, and went out the window.

And it would be as Kichirou had said: royal decision made, the Crows of Three would never bother the chieftain again. Kichirou was invited to stay with the chieftain for a week's time so that it would be confirmed that the Crows of Three did not return, and after a week's time there was never a sight of them. And so relieved of the seasons upon seasons of torment from the Crows of Three, the chieftain wept, and as promised he gave his youngest daughter to Kichirou to be wed, and the chieftain promised to them on his death that half of the towns and the lands of his would be theirs, and a happy life across the sea from his home did Kichirou begin.

As time passed, and unbeknownst to Kichirou, his father across the, the richest of merchant of the splendid city of merchants, lost his wife, Kichirou's mother, and over time his fortune as well: the servants leaving his service and leaving him to his own devices, the other merchants and traders no longer coming to his house to do business, the townspeople paying no mind to the man all alone in his home too large for one man to fill. There was no one left to take care of him, and the old man soon lost his house, and his ill fortune continued to follow as the money gained from the house soon dwindled to nothing, and soon he went throughout the rich merchant city begging under the windows of charitable people. He went from one window to another until he felt so ashamed of confronting those that had known him previously that he could do so no longer, and he soon left for a nearby village to do the same, and so it repeated from one village to another, from one town to another, and soon he found refuge working decks on the merchant ships in exchange for passage so he might do the same in one land to another.

And it was thus that one bright day, many seasons later and with Lady Sun blessing the springtime blooms, the now-poor merchant came to the palace where he knew not that his dear sweet Boy Kichirou lived, begging humbly for charity. Kichirou saw him and, though many seasons removed from seeing him, the man wrinkled and thin and grey, his clothes ragged and tattered, Kichirou recognized his father. He ordered him to come inside, and gave him food to eat and supplied him with good clothes, and as his father sat at his large table eating breakfast Kichirou asked him questions, though he revealed not whom he was or said anything about recognizing the man.

“Dear old man, you have traveled far and wide to come to this kingdom, to find yourself in this home of splendor: what might I do for you?” he said to his father.

“Oh dear kind sir! My wife is gone from this world, my things are gone from my hands, my servants are gone from my service, my business is gone from my stewardship, my house is gone from my ownership, the city that has done me well over many seasons has left me with nothing and turned its back upon me! If you are a dear and kind and good sweet sir,” begged his poor father from the table, “let me remain here and serve your household of splendor and be your faithful servant, that I answer to all that you need and desire so that I might have a bed and a roof over my head once more!”

“Dear, dear father!” exclaimed Kichirou, shaking his head at having heard his father say these things and finally acknowledging whom he was. “All those years ago you did not believe me when I cried at the table over breakfast when I heard the poor, sad, true bird-song of the nightingale! And here and now, after all these seasons, after I know you and dear mother cast me into sea, after all that I went through hearing the songs of the birds of the land and the sea, after putting my own head on the line for the Cry of the Crow, after all you have lost, and all I have gained, it is here and now the the nightingale sings true!”

The old man, eyes wide as he realized that the strong and princely man in front of him was none other than his own dear Boy Kichirou, was at once frightened and joyous and quickly he bolted from the table and knelt before his own son, taking his arms and weeping before him. For all that had transpired, Kichirou the Man, Prince of Half the Kingdom Across the Sea, was good and humble as always: dropping to one knee, he took his father lovingly into his arms, embraced him, and together the old and young man wept over their sorrow. And so it was that Kichirou's father, rich merchant whom had lost everything he had ever known, was taken into Kichirou's household.

Several days passed by, and at the palace that he called his new home did Kichirou sit on a comfortable pillow on a balcony overlooking the sea, Lady Sun slowly dipping into the horizon as her journey across the sky for that day waned, rich yellows and reds and oranges streaking every which way as he he watched the spectacle unfold. Another empty pillow sat next to him, and soon enough his old father, now well-clothed and well-fed, stepped onto the balcony as well and sat upon the pillow next to his son. It had taken him some time to work up the courage to do so, but as Lady Sun's journey was in its final steps he finally asked a question to Kichirou.

“Dear, sweet Boy Kichirou... tell me, my son: all those years ago, that boat, that journey out to sea... how was it that you did not perish?”

Kichirou looked over to his father and laughed, quite happily and without hesitation.

“Dear father... it was not my fate to perish at the bottom of the sea! The bird-song of the nightingale, sad as it was, said all that you needed to know. My fate was to marry the chieftain's daughter, my beautiful wife, to have many wonderful children, to be a just ruler and steward to these lands... and to sweeten the old age of my dear father.”

At that, his father nodded and smiled, and the two of them looked out together upon the horizon, the last wave of Lady Sun shining upon them.

Perform: Storytelling w/ 1 Raise - 46

(a twist on the classic Russian tale "Language of the Birds" for your enjoyment~)

[Seppun Dawei]

His eyes flicked to Dawei to see if he was listening, but he did his best to cover the tell by glancing quickly around the fire.

The redness that springs out on Dawei's cheeks as he intently considers the chunk of wood he has grabbed up has to be from the fire, surely. And the smile on his lips, well, who knows what thoughts fill an artist's mind?

Someone who attends carefully as his knife begins to call the shape of a man out of the wood (Woodcaring 21) might have a guess.

[Togashi Saruko]

Saruko gave a seated bow to Kaze in appriciation of his wonderful poem. "I'll practice hard to become as skilled as you, Kaze-san."

As Miyako shared another story, she settled in with great delight to listen. At its conclusion, she gave a happy sigh, content with a fine story well-told. "Thank you, Miyako. You know how to tell a tale well."

[Doji Kaze]

Kaze returns the bow before he finds his seat for the story, which his wide smile suggests that he finds very enjoyable indeed.

[Togashi Saruko]

"Is Miyako planning to return home to sweeten the old years of her parents, like Kichirou did for his father?" Saruko asked warmly, as she was herself thinking of her own father-figure, and how she wanted him to live well and happily for many more years.

[Miyako]

She bowed her head with eyes closed at each of them in thanks once her story was finished, pleased that there was enjoyment over it. At Saruko's question, she thought for a moment before answering. "To do so for my Mother, at least. She is still a young and spry woman in her own right, however, and I suspect it will be many, many seasons before I might dare to suggest such a thing without immediately being shooed out of her hut in anger for thinking her an old woman like that. As strong and sharp a woman as one might find in my village, wise in knowing what she does not know: she accepts help and assistance when it is needed, but she also makes it very clear when such is neither requested nor required," she added with a nod.

[Togashi Saruko]

"Sounds like some people I know," she laughed warmly. Most elders she knew didn't like the idea of being treated as old. Except for when it benefited them somewhat, of course, like demanding the young'uns to pay respects.