Seeing the Forest for the Trees [D11 LM, Open]

[Miyako]

Since they were switching back to the spoken word, Miyako bent back over to pick up the tablet from her feet. "Certainly quicker for me to answer this way. Easier on my hands too, as I still need to do all this writing and sketching," she added, smiling as she took some time to think on the question.

"We are not a large tribe, but we are close-knit one. We are cautious, sometimes superstitious, and wary, but it has served us well, protecting us from danger by seeing it coming long before it can reach us, and our time hunting and stalking prey in the forest does well for us in warding off danger, striking quiet and true and with those that wish to do us harm seeing not what strikes them so. We are a spiritual people, our roots running deep like the mighty oak, our connection in the realm of Nature and in the forest strong: we know much of plant and animal alike, that both are gifts under our care, and we know much of the herbs to heal and the herbs to harm. And I would contend that, among the tribes of the lands, Chinsei bowmanship, both in the crafting of our sacred weapons and in our letting loose the rain of arrows with our sharp eyes, is without equal." She looked to her side toward the jungle and held out her writing arm wide to her side as well, and then drew the half below the elbow back upon her in a sweeping motion.

"Put all this together and you have a people with eyes like the bird, that know the forests but can know the lands just as well if given chance, bring down the mightiest prey from the farthest distance with the finest curved wood, with respect for the realms of Nature and Spirit both, carrying themselves with caution yet curiosity in many things. Chinsei do what must be done and what will be done, and we boast and brag to none about it outside the Chinsei, for that is not our way. That is what Chinsei is, and in big large group, that is what Chinsei be." And she put her arm back down and looked back at him.

[Jiyo Ayumu]

Ayumu nodded:

"You're selling yourself quite well. And I tend to think it's no huckster's talk but just the purest truth. You've definitely shown all these skills you now boast. And even if you haven't... Well, I trust you. Why wouldn't I?

What surprise me is that you haven't tried, as far as I know, to raise the stakes. Every clan would love to have you and your clansmen as allies, and none as enemies. Yet instead of abusing that advantage you've stayed mostly neutral until now.

I wonder why. Is that simply a natural consequence of your philosophy of life?"

[Miyako]

Miyako stood there for a good few moments, at one point opening her mouth to start on something before closing it again, and a few more passed before she did say anything.

"Perhaps. We have been as such for generations now, but I see now and know now much is occurring more quickly than in any generation past. Some of my cousins have already adapted, but it has not been easy for others in the villages, my own included, to decide on where our people should go. Already some fear that we will be split in many directions. The elders and wise ones... they are cautious as usual. I wonder if perhaps too much in this time." A pause.

"As for why I have not tried... it has not been my place. It is only in recent seasons that I am fully-fledged Chinsei, get my sacred bow, and be counted among those that might discuss and decide. My voice has been quiet. But I am learning to find my voice, use my voice, grow in my voice and my words and my knowledge and understanding. I hope that when I return to the Chinsei Mori, I might be strong in all those things: I talk, elders and wise ones listen, tell much of world outside, talk of cousins that already join clan-tribe, and then Chinsei decide."

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"If I offended you, please accept my most sincere apologies as it wasn't my intention."

He took a deep breath before continuing:

"I think I need to explain a few things about the Isawa tribe before anything else.

The Isawa is a big and rich tribe. But this prosperity is mainly based on one thing: Its many trade secrets. Through the years, the Isawa have been very creative in their agricultural and metallurgical endeavors, and very secretive about their most successful experiments. That allowed them to acquire a monopoly on some resources they were the only ones to know how to produce.

Then the Kami came and everything changed.

The current Isawa chieftain has refused to bow to any of the Kami, and, for all his flaws, I think he did so out of real concern for his people, not as part of a calculated move.

But a chief is not a tribe, and some of his flock flew to the Kami regardless. Each with some of the Isawa secrets in their head, that they gifted to their new clans for reasons of their own, maybe noble, maybe interested.

So now the tribe is in disarray. As the moment it's still strong, but its strength is bleeding out with each new departure, each secret that ceases to be a secret.

So there is an increasing pressure to negotiate a peaceful integration to one of the clans while the tribe is still in a position of power and can set its conditions, rather than wait and maybe be forced into an unbalanced relationship with clans that would have then become as technologically advanced as the Isawa.

And, well, some are tasting the water on that subject. There is nothing shameful about that. It's just about keeping as much options opened as possible. To have some spare strings to one's bow if I may use that metaphor.

Hence my awkward question. Once again, I apologize if it appeared to be insulting in any way."

[Miyako]

At that she shook her head. "If anything, what you describe of the Isawa sounds similar to the current situation of my people, though slightly different, and it comforts to know that we are not alone out there in that kind of struggle. Our chieftains and elders I think will want to make a decision, but they are being slow and cautious and deliberative in their decisions, and perhaps overly so for at least some of my cousins have made the decision for themselves already. That being said, however, unlike what I have heard of the state of other tribes that have dwindled to very few and may have no choice in the matter, and from what I can see with my own eyes as I walk from village to village in the forest, I think about half the Chinsei are still Chinsei. Though it dwindles like the falling of leaves from the trees of autumn, there is still time for the Chinsei to walk into this new world together." Pausing, she tucked the stylus under the thumb of her hand holding the tablet and used her now-free hand to scratch lightly at her neck, fingertips brushing against her necklace of feathers and bones.

"... but what I think you suggest is that, should it come to it, I be like some among my cousins and make the choice for myself. And there is no insult in that at all in suggesting that. It has... crossed my mind at least a couple times before, to be honest."

[Jiyo Ayumu]

Ayumu nodded:

"As an Isawa who joined a clan, I'm technically a sellout. I did not bring anything but myself, and maybe some cooking recipes, to Shiba and I'm still on cordial terms with my family back in Isawa lands... But it nonetheless puts me in a weird position when interacting with my kin. Part their flesh and blood, part traitor, part someone useful to know should things turn out differently.

It's often awkward. But I made my choice and I regret nothing."

Putting back back his writing tools on one hand, he pointed at the space, or lack thereof between two trees:

"Do you think any big animal can actually live in a vegetation that thick?"

[Miyako]

"It's hard to say. Perhaps they might be able to squeeze through if they tried? Or perhaps that which roams in this jungle is large enough that they might simply knock such a tree down. I... can't say what kind of creature that might be. Larger than the largest bear standing on its two hind legs that I have ever witnessed. And mighty powerful too if it had to do that to get through here." She started to sketch out the trees to show those reading the work in the future just how closely packed all this vegetation was together, ferns growing so many and so large they obscure the first foot and a half or so where the trunks are rooted to the ground. She focused on that for a little bit, but then stopped to once more look at Ayumu.

"You need not answer it if you do not wish. But I might ask: for what reason did you make the choice that you did?"

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"Oh, there is no secret to this story.

Once upon a time, I was but a simple artisan of the Isawa tribe. The Kami were already recruiting their first followers at the time, but I didn't really give much attention to that. I was happy with my modest life, and that was enough for me.

Then I got sick. Really sick. For months, I remained in the limbo between life and death, more of a breathing corpse than a real human.

And then one day, the disease just left and I lived on. But it had changed me. Physically obviously..."

He hit his bony chest with his bony fist as a demonstration.

"But also spiritually. I tried to return to my old life, my old routine. But I just couldn't. I felt like I was wasting the second chance at life a merciful divinity had gifted me. Especially as I was all too aware that I only managed to overcome that trial due to have been born in a family that could afford to take care of someone as useless as I was then for so long. I had been lucky, and someone in a less well-enough clan, or even in a less well-enough family, would not have made it.

I meditated on that injustice. And that's when I began to listen to the message of the Kami. They all offered to change the world in some way. But Shiba sounded both like the most likely to succeed, and the most likely to change it in the direction I was pushing for. A world where everyone could afford to be kind."

[Miyako]

"Well... I am certainly glad that you made it and are here today," she said with a soft smile, nodding her head along as he mentioned why Shiba in particular.

"When you made your decision, did you do so alone? What about the rest of your family - did they also hear the message of the Kami and come with you? Or are they still of the Isawa?" she asked with hints of curiosity in her voice.

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"My family is still within the Isawa and happy with it at the moment. They... Well, we're in good terms but...

Let's just say that when you've been dying for so long, people tend to plan the rest of their life assuming you'll be dead for real soon. It's only natural, and I understand perfectly. When I finally returned to health, they sill loved me, but more like the distant cousin that pops once in a blue moon, the one you don't really know what to do of when they stay more than a few days.

In a sense, I think my departure made everything less weird from everyone. Replaced the complex spiritual gap that have formed between us by simple physical distance."

[Miyako]

"So your leaving was a peaceful one, then, if not at least an accepted one. Such has been the case with most of my village cousins: some disappointment and anger here and there among families, but on the whole our cousins of Clan-Tribe Scorpion that wear sleeves on face still have family and home to come to when they visit and spend time in villages," she explained, taking just a few more moments after that to finish her rough sketch of the densely-packed trees and vegetation.

"You say one Kami called Shiba draw you in particular with their message. Were there others that appealed to you as well? Others that did not that make decision easier?"

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"Interesting question.

I had some hesitation about the Spider. Their cause was certainly noble in the short run, but I had no idea how they would evolve once they would have got their Kami back.

But my real conundrum was to decide between the Phoenix and the Ki-Rin. Shinjo's ideals of compassion do match mine a lot too.

The tiebreaker was practicality more than anything else. Several other Isawa wanted to go to Shiba, for varied reasons, and were already planning their trip to the imperial estate. Going with them was just more convenient than finding a caravan to the Ki-Rin.

Had circumstances been just slightly different, I'll be wearing purple right now. Sometimes, it's the smallest thing that decides the biggest."

[Miyako]

"Clan-tribe Spider is in a most interesting situation, having a Kami but elsewhere in the lands, the one that need rescuing. Clan-tribe Bat I hear do not have their Kami even in these lands, but they sound like they are very spiritual - Chinsei very spiritual people too, some Chinsei would likely find appeal in that. Same with Clan-tribe Dragon and mystery of the one called Togashi, though the mountain is much different than forest - I would want to see the mountains for myself, experience the wonders, but also find if I could even tolerate living there. Clan-tribe of one called Shinjo is as you say: I have met some of the Clan-tribe Ki-Rin and they have been kind, compassionate, considerate people. Of course, it is as I say: many village cousins wear the sleeve of Clan-tribe Scorpion and follow one called Bayushi, and maybe I would be happy being among my cousins."

She tucked the stylus under her thumb on the hand holding the tablet and started to run the fingers of her free hand on her cheek, the back of her hand brushing lightly against her feather earrings and causing them to sway just a bit.

"Mmm... but your words and many words of others have made me realize I need not necessarily join my cousins, that at least as things currently stand I have a chance to make my own choice in my own Voice, maybe even a chance to help the rest of the Chinsei in making either their own choices with many Voices or one collective choice where we are many yet speak as one Voice. I... I appreciate you answering these questions, Ayumu, silly as they might sound coming from a tribeswoman to one of the clan-tribes, one that serve one called Shiba the Leader of Great-Big-Clan-Tribe-of-Tribes. It has... it has given me much to think about in regards to my future after all this is over and I find myself on the road home. If what I want for the people of Chinsei Mori, then at least what I want for myself."

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"No question is ever silly, and you taught me at least as much as I taught you. Thank you very much for that. Before this expedition, I only knew of the other tribes as strangers, people I only had limited interactions with. Now what we've shared the same life for some time, I think I understand all of this a bit better.

And it's fascinating. The world is just so rich, so diverse, there's so much to discover, to learn, to share."

He looked back at the meager few lines he had written on the subject of the jungle until now:

"But maybe I should focus instead of getting lost in wondering if I want to have anything to share about this place in the end."

[Miyako]

"Ah, yes, there is still the jungle around! You will have much to share, certainly! So much to write of and so little time, like that fern for which I have never seen one that size, or look how the small mushrooms around that fallen log seem to be almost growing and leaning their caps into a southernly direction..." she pointed out with the stylus before she would get to work on scribbling out the information on the tablet. "Feel free to call out anything you want me to pick up: this should go quite quickly with two naturalists on the case," she added with a grin, her hand making wide flicking motions over the tablet as she started on the drawing of the fern.

/scene?