(D9, EA, Open) The words that remain

[Jiyo Sora]

"Or just draw a symbol you like the look of. After all, it's meant to represent you."

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

"Hrmmm..."

Ryoko considered the full list, and then said, "How about the symbol to illuminate? I hope to help people see what is good about my tribe, so why not that one?"

It was as good an answer as she could come up with on the fly.

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"As you wish. You're now 亮子, child of light.

Now that this terribly conceited and complicated digression is over, I propose we focus on how to write it, such as you're able to sign your name by the end of this lesson."

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

"Pretty!"

Ryoko smiled, and then added, "I mean, I just have to memorize the shapes, right?"

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"If we were doing artful calligraphy, they'll be extra rules about the order and direction of strokes. But to heck with that. Just try to copy it in your style, as if it was a drawing, while respecting the forms and the blanks. It's your name, make it yours."

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

Ryoko blinked.

Artful calligraphy?

This seemed more complicated than expected.

Still, she knelt and started trying to copy the shape.

After she was done, she frowned. That wasn't right...

Trying again, she inquired, conversationally, "So, for writing, what sort of materials should I use... I assume not wood..."

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"Well, we do use engraved wood regularly in the imperial families, but it's more of a special case. Yuzuru, the imperial consort, is blind, so we must use a base material that lets us give some depth to the characters, so he may recognize them by touch alone.

Usually, for documents you intend to keep, it's ink on parchment and paper. Respectively soot mixed with glue, raw beast skin thoroughly cleaned and some sort of plant-based pasta that is dried out and pressed until it becomes like this."

He pointed out Sora's letter.

"For things you don't intend to keep, like drafts, calculations, memory-triggering notes, you can write with a simple charcoal, or anything that leaves a trace behind it really, on pretty much anything that has been smoothed and cleaned enough: bamboo, bone, wood, cloth..."

A sigh.

"I guess if you really want to do it the proper way, a brush, ink and paper are the way to go. Like a painting, except you paint words."

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

"That sounds time consuming."

Ryoko rubbed the charcoal off, trying again. It was closer to what he had done, but she kept making the lines wiggly, instead of straight.

"How do you keep from smudging it all up while you go?"

A grumpy huff, and she tried again. "Do you write often, to get so good at it?"

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"You don't. Scribes are often easily recognizable due to them having patches of ink on their hands and forearms.

And yes. It's a skill that requires regular practice. Like most skills actually. You weren't born good at music, were you?"

[Jiyo Sora]

"Once I started my learning, I was always at it. In my idle moments, I'd write in the dust with a stick."

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

"Well, no, I wasn't..."

Better than some, but still, she knew what he meant.

"I guess it just feels hard to keep my hands from smearing the symbols into a big smudge."

Cursing under her breath, she wiped it clean and started again, attempting to distract herself with conversation. "So, what in particular drew you two to Shiba?"

[Jiyo Sora]

"That... is a question I get often, and one I seldom answer completely. My eye?"

He gestured to the offending organ.

"Often shows me the future. At the tournament... the Kami were so powerful, the potential consequences of their actions so great, that I saw a myriad of futures around each of them. That informed my decision somewhat- something I saw in many of Shiba's futures, although I don't tell anyone what it was, because that could create an unfair expectation for something that may never happen. But I found it indicative."

He shrugged.

"But putting aside hazy oracular reasons, Shiba... listened. And given the difficulty I had expressing myself at the time, that was quite a thing. I talked with Doji for a small eternity, and the only takeaway was that we found each other impossibly alien. Hida... talked about himself. Shinjo... cared, and had Shiba not been there, I might well be wearing Ki-Rin colors now. But Shiba... did his best to understand the clumsily-worded, badly-expressed fears and hopes I carried. He may or may not have found a single one of them a valid worry, but he let me speak, and he didn't judge until I was done. He understood that he was dealing with a gulf in understandings, and he showed the patience- the forbearance- to let a ragged killer from the Spine of the World have his say."

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

Ryoko nodded, smudged her name, and sighed, trying again.

"That sounds like the first trait a compassionate, just ruler should have."

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"I feel like I already answered your question, though my response may not have been quite satisfying at the time. Let me elaborate.

I wasn't at the tournament. I only heard of the Kami later, through their followers visiting the Isawa lands. And honestly, at the beginning, I didn't care much. I had my small, tranquil life, and I was happy with it.

Then I got sick. Really sick. I went to face the gates of death and came back with two things. One, this lovely appearance."

He touched one of his most prominent bones with fake vanity.

"Two, the realization that life is short, easily shortened, and that it doesn't wait for you. That's something we all know on an intellectual level, but I had never truly felt it in my flesh with such an intensity before that time.

Then I healed. I tried to go back to my old life. It didn't work. I felt like I was wasting that second chance the gods had gifted me. And Shiba... Shiba was offering me the opportunity to change the world. All the Kami did in a sense, but Shiba was the brightest star of all."

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

Ryoko contemplated that for a whle, expression bland, drawing and erasing her name, over and over, trying to get it right.

After a while, she asked, "What sort of world do you want to change to?"

[Jiyo Sora]

That is the question, isn't it?

Sora had his own answer to that, but she hadn't asked him.

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"A kinder one.

I had a pretty lucky life. The best example of that is that I had a family that could afford to care for a sick, useless person for months. I hope to help build a world where people can all afford to care for each other."

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

Ryoko nodded, thoughtfully, and then glanced at Sora, the implied question... and you?

[Jiyo Sora]

"A world where the Empire keeps those within it safe without making them forsake all that they have been. Every sense we possess is an instrument for reacting to change- all things change in time. But change for its own sake, or to make people we don't understand conform to the ways we say are best simply because we say our ways are better? A trauma I would avoid. That's another reason I supported Shiba... he has been much less... aggressive about imposing the ways of the Kami on the tribes than many of his siblings would have been. In time, most people seem to find a Kami to gravitate toward, but loyalty is strongest when it is given freely. We must not tell people to join the Empire. We should show them why it's a good idea, and then let them decide."

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

Ryoko nodded, quietly, and then drew her name again.

It wasn't very good, but it at least was legible.

"Yes. I think the both of you are right... those are good dreams. I hope they both can come true."

Smiling faintly, she held up the tablet, and added, "If it can be negotiated, perhaps my people will join in those dreams."