Na na na na na na na na na na.... (D13, EA, Closed)

[Jin]

(If Yamadono would have invited anyone else to see Matsu about the issue they're welcome but Jin would have approached alone).

He had attempted to meditate but his mind was too preoccupied with everything he had heard.

Rousing himself from his tent Jin made his way to that of Yamadono and Matsu and announced himself, "Yamadono, it is the one they call Jin, I had hoped to speak with you and your charge about this morning. May I enter?"

[Noriaki no Yamadono]

The pair were inside. Matsu was working with her whetstone, tending to the blade of her polearm. Her face was stoic, serious, focused on the task at hand.

Yamadono sat crosslegged, watching his daughter, his mind still racing from the encounter. Hearing Jin call, he looked over to the flap, waving the man in.

"Please. Enter." His voice was still a low growl, the bandit king in him reawakened from the battle.

[Jin]

"Thank you." The Ki-Rin speaks as he enters, "I hope I am not disturbing." He frowns slightly seeing such a young person prepare for battle but even his peaceful ways could not judge such a reaction after what had transpired. "You have grown much since I saw you last, Matsu."

[Noriaki no Yamadono]

"Not at all." The large man indicated for the daimyo of the Jin to sit, as Matsu set her weapon down. The girl seemed sullen, concern on her features. She looked to the newcomer as she scooted, leaning in against her father.

"Time has passed, sir. I'm just glad I can be of help to the quest." Matsu responded, grim determination in her voice. There was a sense of trepidation, still processing what had occurred.

[Nozomi]

(Entering after speaking with Yamadono.)

There was a second knock shortly after Jin had entered. A clearing of the throat could be heard, and a voice came through softly. It was a touch nervous. "Yamadono, Matsu... am I welcome?" She had to be careful. She'd refused to let Matsu come for just the reason that she'd been attacked in the first place, and she didn't want to assume right now, but at the same time she wanted to check on the girl and it was important to her.

But on top of that, she had other worries, worries that she couldn't put into words. They weren't going to go away anytime soon.

[Jin]

Jin slowly settles himself into a comfortable position, "Well it seems you have let us learn something very valuable indeed. I am just sorry that it came at such risk to you. I know... I know you are a warrior and risk is thus your trade but an assassin spirit when one does not expect it is asking much of anyone."

He silences himself at the knock.

[Noriaki no Yamadono]

Matsu was the first to react at hearing Phi. She bolted with a start, running and launching herself at the woman in an embrace. She would not let go, as she clutched at her with all her might. She barely even registered Jin's words, until she turned to look at him from her new position at Phi's side.

"We didn't learn anything though. I just keep getting called a Thunder, and that is just a word!" She spoke out. "And everyone after it happened just kept talking about me like I was something strange!"

Yamadono looked to her from where he sat. "Matsu. We will learn what this means. I promise."

[Nozomi]

Well, that was an answer wasn't it? She breathed a sigh of relief and slipped into the tent, Matsu very closely in tow, only sitting down once the girl was willing to join her in the process. She heard only what Matsu had just said, but that was enough to have an idea what was being talked about. She nodded over at Jin and then smiled at her.

"I think, Matsu... it means that there may be a great battle one day, and you have the potential to be a great hero," she said in a little, mild tone, giving her a reassuring grin that was far more visible than it had ever been, as she didn't seem to be wearing her mask anymore. "And... I could have told you all of that before we ever gave it a name. You will be a great hero, dear Matsu." There was a LOT more than that to this, and she knew a little, and Jin might know a lot too, but that in her mind boiled down to the basics.

[Jin]

Jin smiles softly at the reunion and waits a moment to reply.

"We learned that something fears you and what you can do or will be able to do. We also learned it could somehow tell this about you. That is more than we knew before. But, you are right, that does not make you something strange. You are the same person you ever were before this happened and if they cannot see that that is a failing on their part, not on yours."

[Noriaki no Yamadono]

Matsu didn't let go of her hold on Phi, but she listened intently to Jin. Yamadono sat up straighter, looking to the Daimyo.

"They're right, girl." He said, looking to his daughter. He nodded, offering his own smile. "You have the spirit and fire of your mother, the fierceness that was once what made the Noriaki tribe a terror to the others. You embraced Bushido, and I have seen you grow over the years with it." Yamadono looked on in pride.

"You wouldn't have stayed home if I commanded, because you knew that your duty wouldn't let you not do all you can to help save Fu Leng. Matsu, you are a hero. But it cannot change that you are my daughter, and how much I care for you, and how our friends care for you." The man looked to Phi, immensely glad she was there.

For her part, Matsu pursed her lips. "But I don't feel like a hero. I don't know why, or felt anything why it came for me. I don't know how that helps us at all to find anyone else it wants..."

[Nozomi]

She listened to them both, offering her support to the girl as they talked, nodding at the big man and then at Jin in turn. "I don't think true heroes ever really feel like heroes, at least not in any story I remember hearing." Which admittedly weren't that many at this point in her life. She wasn't entirely sure 'what' a Hero was, but the idea seemed close enough. "Unfortunately, Matsu, I don't think Jin or anyone else can really 'tell' what it is about someone that makes them special that way other than to know you are special. I've known for a while. You have a lot waiting for you one day, and you're going to surpass your teacher some day, sooner than she'd like to admit."

"You... have your father's spirit, and at your age you're doing a lot more than I ever did at yours. In time, a great deal may rest on your shoulders. As for the rest? I think... I would like to think destiny is something changeable enough that you don't 'have' to be anything, and they don't, so there will be Thunders when we need them. But you. I think you will be the Lightning that comes before that Thunder when the battle comes."

She glanced up and nodded again at Yamadono. It was good to see him beaming this pride down on Matsu, however the risk. Deep down, though, she had a feeling that Matsu would need to be held back in a couple days time, because she strongly suspected that she knew which of the four of them in this tent would be charging into the very pits of hell.

[Jin]

Jin nods for most of what each says, "A hero is the person who does what is right in the moment of need without fearing the cost to themselves. I have no doubt you will be a hero - some grand destiny or not." He looks over the girl again, "But if the spirit could sense whatever destiny lies ahead other spirits may be able to as well. That is why I came - to see, with your permission of course, if we could learn what it is that the spirits see when they look at you so that maybe we could use that to try and find these other Thunders it spoke of."

[Nozomi]

Phi looked over at Jin and her lips thinned in a line. there was a momentary clutch to Matsu that stilled a second later. She breathed in and remembered that this was her choice, and Yamadono's. But, still, she felt a need to say one thing. "It will not pose any risk to do what you are trying? If not... if I even have a right to object, I would have none. I just don't want to see her at risk again today. I already feel badly enough that we arrived too late to stop that thing."

[Noriaki no Yamadono]

"The choice is yours and yours alone, Matsu." Yamadono looked to his daughter. "I won't allow harm to come to you. But I cannot force your decision one way or another." The large man had a certain amount of trepidation as he spoke.

The girl leaned into Phi's clutch, and looked to her father. Then, she nodded without hesitation. "If you think we find the others before this adversary can... do it."

[Jin]

Jin smiles, "There should be no risk of harm to Matsu. I will simply be speaking with the spirits to try and see how they see the girl. If there were to be any sort of backlash or harm, as unlikely as it is, it would befall me."

[Nozomi]

"I think," she said to Matsu when she agreed. "You will want to disentangle yourself from me for a moment, if he's going to do this. So that you don't get yourself all wrapped up in my destiny as well. Mmmm?" She managed to chuckle, reaching back with her arms to stretch a little. Matsu could go back to clinging like a leech in a moment, but if they were doing this she didn't want to interfere with it.

She would definitely rather not find out what her own spirits said, though...

[Jin]

Assuming there are no last minute objections Jin stands, "I will be just a moment."

With that the one eyed man departs the tent and returns a few minutes later with a cooking pot filled with water in his good hand, smiling a little sheepishly, "Didn't see the use of lugging this all the way over if folks said no."

He places the pot in a central location, "You may sit, or stand, as you wish Matsu just so long as I am able to see your reflection within the water."

Once she is positioned, and he finds a comfortable space that allows him to see her reflection, he draws his knife - the blade biting into his arm in a practiced motion. Though his connection with water was strongest in his healing it was also the element of sight and knowledge. He carefully angled his arm so the blood flowed clean down it, not dripping in the tent itself, to eventually begin to drain into the pot of water. Though the droplets of blood send ripples through the reflection the water does not discolor. Instead of the red hue one would expect, if anything, it becomes clearer and clearer still.

"Spirits of water I call upon your vision and wisdom. Please aid me this day in seeing that which might otherwise go unseen."


(Commune - Success with 2 raises both for clarity of information, 2 questions. Taint check autopass thanks to Jade +10. Void slot spent for casting)

[Canary]

The water ripples in acknowledgement as if a drop fell in the exact center.

[Jin]

"Thank you, wise spirit, can you see the mark of destiny that rests upon this girl?"

(1 asked, 1 remains)

[Canary]

The water ripples quickly and then clears. The image of Matsu has changed from the young girl she is to a tall young woman holding a curved sword of silver-grey metal rather than bronze, dressed in armor emblazoned proudly with the symbol of the Spider Clan. She faces a dark figure even larger than she is, unclear in shape aside from the vague impression of horns. Matsu is poised in the still image, as though ready to attack. On either side of her are eight other figures, more vague, but there is an aura of destiny to them, as well.