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| Narianos • |
The sun was high up in the sky, indicating it was around midday. The salty smell of the sea permeated the coast of the Land of Earth on its northeastern tip. The air had a tinge of coolness to it, as Autumn was beginning to take its hold upon the continent. The port had other neighboring ships heading into dock, and the nearby village was slowly becoming crowded by seamen offloading and bringing supplies to and from the Land of Earth. Out of one of the ships was a man, fairly tall and regal looking in appearance. His name was Sora Hataya, hailing far from the northeastern continent of Naohani, a continent isolated from the troubles that plagued this continent. He brings with him a question that he can't answer, because he can't understand it, but what he could comprehend has brought him here, far from his home. It was a question that led to the tragic end of a lifelong friend and colleague of his, and he wants to find the answer to it to find peace for her. As he prepared his paperwork to send to the dockmaster, everything was verified and checked out, and he paid the fee to keep his ship docked for an extended period. He felt he was going to be on this continent for a while seeking this answer. The architecture of the Land of Earth was interesting; the villages were dome-shaped, with large, imposing walls surrounding the perimeter. Large water pumps seemed to wrap around the dome, giving the surrounding villages vital supply to water for drinking and for their crops.
Meticulously writing everything down in his journal, he took careful note of everything around him, from the flora and fauna, to the overall atmosphere of the Land of Earth. His primary stop would be at its capital village, Iwagakure, where the general atmosphere seems to be one of apprehension. He heard from the idle chatter of the port town that a war was looming, and Sora got the sense that this apprehension wasn't isolated to just the Land of Earth. Two guards stood before the gates of Iwagakure. One was a female, aged with a stern look upon her face, the crow's nest setting around her eyes, which gazed upon Sora with hues of grey. Her grey hair was unkempt, blowing freely through the wind. On the other side was a younger male, no older than perhaps his late twenties. Youth still dotted his face, with his eyes fully open and green. His black hair was tightly wrapped into a ponytail that drooped just below his neck. Both of them were wearing matching Iwagakure attire, consisting of a red, layered undersuit and brown flak jacket.
"Halt. What's your business in Iwagakure?" The woman asked. She had been part of the guard for twenty years now, and has seen many people enter and leave the village. Never forgot the faces of those who entered and left, and Sora was not one she remembered.
"Oh, hey there, name's Sora Hataya, real pleasure to meet you. I'm here from the continent of Naohani, here to get my bearings on this continent. Never been here, and I figured since the ship stopped in this country, I'd get acclimated with it first, maybe get some supplies while I'm here." Sora replied. Steadily shaking the dust off of his robes, the guard looked him over steadily. He was rather average in weight, if a bit tall. He seemed innocent looking enough, but she's seen plenty who had a similar visage and were evil to their core. But she could see he was well intentioned, and his manners certainly swayed her favor.
"Alright, you can enter. But remember; we're always watching, so keep your nose out of trouble, you hear?" The guard says to Sora, who nods and bows towards the guards respectfully. As the guards stepped away from the gate, it began to open. As the gates fully opened, Sora stepped into the village of Iwagakure, in awe of its size and architecture. The buildings were made out of stone, but carefully constructed into wonderful visages of artwork. He took his time to write down the strange but wondrous architecture of the surrounding buildings. His main goal was looking for supplies. He only had enough on him to get him through the naval journey towards the continent, and planned to stock up once he got to port. Asking for directions, he was pointed towards the nearest general store, where he began to gauge his needed supplies in comparison to his budget. He had about two thousand Ryuu on him, and he figured four hundred in supplies could last him a decent while if he kept things that were long lasting. So he settled for that much, getting it all put into a haversack to keep the supplies in neatly. As he exited the general store, he continued walking through the city, not really paying attention to what's in front of him as he found himself in awe of the architecture of the city. All of a sudden, he bumps into someone, knocking him and the person onto the ground.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. Here, let me help you up." He spoke, quickly getting up to his feet and grabbing the stranger's hand. As the stranger turned to meet him, his pupils narrowed, his eyes turning wide. It was like he was looking at his long-fallen friend all over again. It was Shikiri Magodeshi, disciple to Yoshitsune. Shikiri, whose hair was tied up in a side-swept ponytail with a series of rope, had a series of bangs hanging down her forehead. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of amethyst, just like his colleague's was. She was relatively well built, wearing a leather jacket that seemed to come down only to the sternum in length, with sleeves that stopped at the apex of her forearms, tied off by thick rope. The jacket was made of various types of leather, with hues of dark brown, light brown, and red adorning the jacket. Underneath, she wore a series of wrappings that covered her upper chest and forearms. Below the waist, she wore a pair of tan breachers with a blue sash wrapped around them. Over the breachers, she wore a pair of chap slacks, and a pair of leather boots with thick rope tied at the top, separating the slacks and boots. She was beautiful, and it left him speechless.
"Oh, thank you. I've never seen you before; are you new here?" Shikiri asked, getting up with Sora's aid as she patted the dust off of her. Sora found himself stammering, trying to collect himself from the sight that was before him, before letting out a quick exhale and cleared his throat.
"I am, actually. Hello, a pleasure to meet you. Name's Sora. Sora Hataya." He replied. He was a man of few words, but always did his best to choose the right ones whenever he could. So rather than try to fumble his words, he would just take his time, pick the right words to say for the situation. And his words definitely reached out to Shikiri, who found him to be quite the gentleman.
"The pleasure's mine. I'm Shikiri. Shikiri Magodeshi. So what brings you out to Iwagakure?" Shikiri asked as she walked alongside Sora.
"I'm from the continent of Naohani, very far to the northeast of here. I had just enough supplies to get me through the ship ride here, but I knew I would need some to keep me going after that. So I stopped by here to get some supplies." Sora replied, welcoming the company as he walked through the village. It was like being alongside his old friend all over again.
"Naohani, I think I've heard of that continent. It's really big on knowledge, right? Pretty much just people discussing things rather than waging battles. How I wish it was the same here." Shikiri mused, having heard about Naohani during her studies in the Earth Temple.
"We do thrive on knowledge, yes. But war isn't an unknown concept to us. We've waged war against each other for quite some time, mostly due to differences in intellectual opinion. Knowledge is important, and if any one side feels the things they know are threatened, they're often very willing to die on that hill. My parents were a casualty to a civil war years ago, when I was still just a child." Sora replied. Shikiri could see the hint of somberness upon his face as he delved into a subject that he wasn't particularly proud of.
"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm a Fabrication, myself, so I don't technically have parents. I was just raised by my sensei, who was killed some years ago, along with my teammates. I'm still processing the emotions while dealing with the loss of another. Death seems to follow me wherever I go, these days." Shikiri looked down at the ground, an equal level of somberness on her face. Sora couldn't help but look upon her in a gaze of pity. But he also felt death was a natural thing, not tied to some destiny put upon someone.
"Life and death are not bound by the concepts of destiny. We're not born by destiny, and it's never our destiny to die. Our destiny is to live our lives how we want to live them. Life and death are just the beginning and end of our story. But how we live it is what fills in the chapters of that story. Always remember that it's not your fault if someone you had cared for died. Never let their loss weigh you down. Instead, cherish the memories you have of them while they were living. Because those are the memories they'd want you to keep, not the ones of their passing." Sora replied. As Shikiri looked up to him, she could almost sense Kurotsuchi's voice coming from him, almost sharing that same level of wisdom that she did. And it helped get her spirits back up, a much needed boost to her lowered morale.
"Thank you, I needed that. You planning on staying long, or you heading out?" Shikiri asked. Sora couldn't help but stop for a moment to think on that decision, but it was a short one.
"You know, I could probably stay for a day or two. I could do with some catching up on the events of this continent, anyway." Sora replied. Shikiri found herself ecstatic that he was staying. She wanted to know everything about him.
"Great! Come on, I'll show you to my place." Shikiri said, grabbing Sora by the hand. Before he could say anything, he found himself tugged by Shikiri, who began showing him around the village proper before taking him within her own home. All of the sights of the village was memorized within Sora's vast memory, taking in every step. As the two approached Shikiri's house, she unlocked the door, letting Sora enter in behind her. Her house wasn't anything too fancy. It had all the necessities to make a home comfortable. In the living room were beautifully constructured chairs and couches made from a wooden base and comfortable cushions made from a very soft fabric. In the dining room, she had plenty of things necessary to cook, including a fridge to keep things cool, a cooking range, and every cutting utensil she'd need to prepare a well-cooked meal. Sora sat at the dining table, which was simple in construction, with a round base and a single, large base at the center to keept it held up. The chairs were made of a simple wood with a comfortable cushion.
"Would you like anything to drink?" Shikiri asked, getting a cup of juice for herself.
"Some tea would do just fine, thank you." Sora replied, sitting comfortably in the chair, taking in the sights of Shikiri's home.
"Okay, I'll get some ready. Reaching up into a cupboard, Shikiri grabbed a bowl of tea leaves and a kettle, filling it with water. As she dropped the leaves into the water, she set it over the range, waiting for the water to boil. As she waited, she turned to Sora. "So what brings you here, so far away from home?" She asked, curious as to why someone would leave a place like Naohani.
"I'm on a personal quest." Sora replied, taking out a letter from his coat pocket and looking over it. "A friend of mine, and a colleague of the university I live within died, and she had this in her belongings. It was addressed to me. She must have written it just before she died. It was written in a language I could barely comprehend as a question. Cross-referencing our library's linguistics section, it pointed to a language that dates back over a thousand years. If my maps are correct, there was once a settlement in what is now the Land of Fire that once held many scriptures from the people who spoke this language. I need to know what it says, and why it costed my closest friend her life." Looking down at the letter, he let out a sigh before folding it back up and putting it back in his pocket. With a look of remorse on Shikiri's face, she turned around, seeing the tea finished. As she grabs the kettle, she pours the tea into a cup and sets it in front of Sora. "Thank you, I always love a good cup of tea." Sora spoke, blowing the tea to cool it down before taking a drink, nodding in approval of the taste. Shikiri sat down next to him, taking a drink of her juice, blended from a variety of different fruit that grew within Iwagakure and the Land of Earth.
"Well, if you're going to be traveling, you should know that there is a war going on, and that a lot of travel routes have been closed to prevent further injuries and casualties. I mean no offense or disrespect, but you don't look like much of a fighter. Your stance suggests you don't get into fights all that much. Is there anything you're capable of to fight someone off?" Shikiri asked, concerned about Sora's wellbeing in traveling through such a continent gripped by war.
"I'm a cleric. I have access to many different powers that are granted to me by my Goddess, Zonjinokami. I can create a weapon that moves on my command, striking foes from a great distance, I can heal people by speaking towards them, I can calm my allies, allowing them to fight better in combat, and to break them out of genjutsu. I can also cure people of disease upon contact. I can temporarily make one ally invulnerable to harm by putting a barrier around them. And that's just a handful of the things I'm capable of." Sora replied. As Shikiri looked him up and down, she nodded her head.
"So you're more of a support specialist. Alright then, it's settled; I'm coming with you." Shikiri spoke, getting up from her chair with a determined look on her face. Sora was going to ask her if that's what she wanted, but he could tell on the look of her face that she wasn't going to take no for an answer. With a smile, Sora nodded, finishing his tea and getting up from the table. Shikiri quickly grabbed some supplies, a few perishables that she could cook over an open fire, a flask for water, and some changes of clothes from her bedroom. While she was in her room, she donned the robes she wears as per her Apparition alias. Stepping down back into the living room, Sora was surprised at the sudden change in apparel. "I possess very powerful abilities that are best kept secret, so whenever I go out, I always wear these robes to conceal my identity." Shikiri spoke, placing the mask upon her face. Nodding, she led Sora out of the house and followed, locking the door behind her. As the two left the village, they were ready to make their journey south to the Land of Fire.