A Shinya's Tale [Elhaym]

[Ophelia]

5th Summer, 511AV In a room on a stand there lived a sword. Not a nasty, grimy, dirty sword, that had clearly been through much and didn't mean anything in particular to the owner, nor yet a sparkling, sharp sword that never had been used and was just a sign of sentimentality: it was Sooyun Furuma's sword, and that meant style. The katana, for a katana it was, not merely a sword (a word which simply didn't hold the sophistication of a katana, as the reader will surely sympathise with) was elegance incarnate, and one of three - though Elhaym had taken to only using one for preservation purposes. The stand, simple wooden and carved, took prime place in the home of Dian Kota Hamado and Elhaym Furuma, a reminder of the great Shinya that she could become. -- What is a Shinya I hear the reader ask? Well, the Shinya are a great order ... but you already know all that. On this particular day - when I say day, the reader should keep in mind that this was Lhavit, and day means night and night means day (confusing bunch, the Lhavitians) - Elhaym Furuma woke up from a pleasant sleep on the soft down of her bed. The stars twinkled in through the shimmering walls of the Shinyama Monastery, and everything was normal. So far so good. Rolling out of bed, she began to get dressed in the pale blue robes of a Shinya acolyte, doing all the things one normal person would need to do to prepare for a day of training in the Shinyama Pavilion - but the reader does not need to hear all that, do they? Surely the majority of it is simply common sense. Suffice to say, Elhaym proceeded to get ready in much the same way she had any other morning of that year. She exited her bedroom that she shared with Dian Kota (quite the scandal that was amongst the more talkative Viraya!) and began to pass through the main room of their living quarters, aware that she had training today from dusk to dawn, and would be tired when she returned home. She went to the stand, ready to take her prized katana from it so that she could use it throughout the day, but she stopped still in her tracks - the most prized of the three, the one in the middle, was gone! Panic began to arise within her. Perhaps she had left it in her bedroom? Maybe Kota had taken it for the day? But Kota would never take it without asking, and there was something of a ritual in Elhaym's day when she placed the katana back onto the stand. No, the sword was most definitely gone and there seemed to be no explanation for such! If Elhaym took the time to stop bumbling around and worrying unnecessarily like an idiot, she would discover a note on the stand, a piece of paper where the sword had once rested. Looking closer, she would discover it had an interesting message for her ... When Zintila shines, I am present, Syna's escape leads to my ascent. I am nearer to you than you think, I sit at what is forbidden's brink.

[Elhaym]

"Good morning! Err… Good night…?"

Elhaym groaned as her mental alarm brought her back from the world of dreams. Oh Gods, what she would give for five more minutes. She grumbled as she turned over and threw her arm around… nothing. Kota was already gone. Figures. With a sigh she pulled herself upright and slid from her oh-so-comfortable bed. Her hair was a disaster, and she was pretty sure half her face was red from being planted against her arm all night. Pretty.

Foregoing a bath for now (What was the point when you were going to be disgustingly sweaty and dirty within half a bell?), she stumbled to her wardrobe and pulled free her sky blue robes. Casting off a nearly transparent shift, she swapped it for the somber clothes of the order. She would probably die if anyone knew she wore things like that around Kota. Less embarrassing was the one hundred strokes of a brush she ran through her hair before finally lacing up her shoes and flowing through the doorway into the living area.

She glided towards the mount that held her blades—they were hers now—while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Blindly she snatched at the sword in the middle. She caught air.

"Eh…?"

She snapped her head from side to side, trying to remember if she had moved it somewhere. The days all blended together. Let's see, last night she had dragged her sorry hide back here. She and Kota had eaten a delicious meal of wok fried rice and vegetables, and even enjoyed a cup of rice liquor. Kota had been talkative, until she remembered not being able to take anymore. She'd grabbed him by the hair and shut him up the only way she knew how, and then they were stumbling towards the bedroom and... ehehehehehe. No, she hadn't moved it last night. Where was it?

The sleep had faded from her eyes, and she snatched the note from it's precarious position on the sword mount. Reading it with growing irritation, she crumpled it in her hand.

"Kota! This isn't funny!"

Silence.

"Kota…?"

Unfolding the crumpled paper, she read it once again. What was this? Well, damned if she was going to wonder all day. She had a good bell before she had to report to the Pavilion. Surely she could figure this out and retrieve her property before anyone noticed she hadn't arrived early as usual.

Tucking the paper into her sash, Elhaym forced herself to merely walk briskly through the corridors of the Monastery. Once she was out into the open night air she broke into a dead run. Padded shoes slammed against stone as she ran past stunned Viraya and Shinya alike. She almost passed by the small building marking the entrance into the Monastery without stopping as she did every morning.

"Tanny! Sorry baby, Momma's got a lot to do this morning, okay!? I can't walk you."

Her dog had been waiting as usual on his haunches, and tilted his head as if he understood. After a few more pets, Elhaym tore herself away and plunged down the steep stairwell descending into the city. Halfway down her chest was heaving up and down. At the bottom, she was breathless and her calves burned. Not the most pleasant way to find out that all that stretching they had her do wasn't bullocks after all.

After a breather she resumed her run, formulating what to do in her head. Fighting was all well and good, but riddles weren't her strong suit.

Syna's escape leads to my ascent.
I am nearer to you than you think.

Those words chimed, and as her head lifted to the starry night sky it clicked. She veered through what little crowd there was—most stayed clear of someone in blue charging through the city—and set her course for the Temple of the Moon.

Stepping through the ominous entryway, Elhaym's eyes darted around the interior of the room. It was illumined by a pale blue glow, and eerily quiet. It never even dawned on her to be ready for a fight; she simpled craned her neck to see what she could find in this place. She'd never actually been here, though having stopped by the Temple of the Sun many times. Her stomach groaned as she slid within the interior of the building, searching for anything that could give a hint as to what was going on. Yet there was nothing, except...

Elhaym's head jerked towards the source of the room's gentle ambiance. There, next to a little bathtub was a neatly folded piece of paper.

"Oh!"

Elhaym perked up, quite proud of herself for having found it. She sauntered towards the pool, expecting to snatch the note and find out that this was all a joke from Kota and that her sword was waiting for her at the Pavilion.

[Ophelia]

The Temple of the Moon was always best viewed at night, and in that way, Elhaym was a lucky Shinya indeed to be viewing it for the first time now. Of course, if one asked Elhaym, she probably wouldn't have considered herself extremely lucky. Indeed, she would have gone on a very long rant about just how rude and inconsiderate it was for someone to steal her prized sword, and just what the talking to they would recieve after! (The reader should note those would NOT be her words, but we are taking into consideration decent folk may be reading this. Elhaym cannot be contained!). Nevertheless, on this particular night the moon beams streamed into the temple in much the same way they did any other night, and in much the same way as any other night, the temple was lit up in such a beautiful way with slivers of silver and a rich navy hue surrounding the young Acolyte. The pool of sacred water, where it was reputed one could see the very face of Leth, sat proudly in the middle of the rotund room, and Elhaym's eyes very quickly focused in on it. A small sound of pride and skill emitted from her lips, and with a jolt in her step, she began to walk towards the, as she had so eloquently put it, little bathtub. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING GIRL NO STOP THERE NOW STOOOOOOOOP!" Suddenly, an explosion of both noise and movement made its way towards Elhaym. A young girl, bouncing on the balls of her feet, her eyes wide and urgent and her hands flying around in the air as she tried to pause Elhaym made her way into her path. She was much shorter than Elhaym, and also younger, and her tiny ineffectual fists pushed ... well ... ineffectually against Elhaym's chest, getting her to move away from the sacred water! "You ... can't ... touch ... that!!" she panted out once she had gotten Elhaym to move back a step, as her hand had begun to stretch out to take the note. If the Chandra priestess had not made her way in time, Elhaym's fingers would have brushed against the sacred water, as the piece of paper lay on the edge of the basin. The top of the paper was damp, and it was clear the Chandra had not yet noticed it. "That's the sacred water of Leth, you dolt!" The Chandra had not taken into account Elhaym's rank in her flurry to preserve her god's water. "Don't you know anything?!" She stepped back, and set her glare on Elhaym. "Take a step back... now another one ... and another. Good. Don't go within three steps of the sacred water, you ninny!" With a huff, she spun on her heel and stalked away, shaking her head. Honestly, the IDIOCY of some people. Now Elhaym was presented with a problem, as no doubt the reader has guessed. Stuck with a three step perimeter away from the basin, there was still the trouble of the paper being WITHIN that perimeter. What a conundrum this presented! Clearly there was no way that this obstacle would be overcome. But, if for some curious reason, Elhaym managed a stroke of genius - which we suspect the reader thinks unlikely (this narrator does too) - she would find that the paper had yet another riddle. I see more than your skin when I look at you, I see your dreams, your thoughts, your emotions too. I am bigger than the others in only one way, We herald and honour the passing of day.

[Elhaym]

Elhaym flinched as the calm chamber roared to life, darting her head back and forth. She became aware of tiny fists beating against her chest, and while they weren't exactly knockout blows it did smart a bit. Elhaym stumbled backwards, folding her arms across her breasts and glaring at the little girl. How dare she hit her there! She had half a mind to… sacred water? Hrn... well, if this was anything like Syna's temple—which made sense now that she thought about it—then that little pool of water did indeed hold significance.

"Alright, alright..." she grumbled, watching the young woman's form meld back into the low ambient light of the chamber. Elhaym brought a finger to the corner of her mouth as she turned to stare at the note. Peering back at the woman, she leaned forward and made to take a step for it. She was met by bulging eyes and a rapid shake of the head. Elhaym grunted and straightened, turning on her heels and pacing around the chamber. There really wasn't anyway around it, she decided.

Clasping her hands behind her back as she had often seen Kota and Udasai do, she took a firm hold of her left arm with her right. Kota called this stage unsheathing the sword, but to Elhaym it was nothing to simple or easy. Figuratively speaking, it was like looking into a mirror and moving your arm, yet only the arm in the mirror moved. That was the unnatural sensation that crept through her body as her astral body shifted and groaned, oozing free from it's flesh and bone cage. Holding her limp left arm with her right, it wasn't obvious that she was wielding her astral body. For most it was a weapon, but for Elhaym it was barely effective enough to tickle someone. Yet, she knew she could snatch that note.

She waited with her astral arm hovering near her, gliding through the chamber as if she were examining the surroundings. No doubt that little girl was watching her. She had to be discreet. Letting out a sigh, she acted as though she had seen all she had come for. Spinning on her heels, she made for the large doorway leading outside. Her tracjectory took her only a few paces away from the pool of water, no doubt raising the heckles of it's pint sized guardian. She stretched out her ghostly arm, struggling to control it so finely when it was extended… so close! She nipped the edge of the paper, and her eyes nearly bulged out of her head when it began sliding into the water. Quickly she snatched it up, crinkling it and whipping it back behind her back.

Elhaym coughed, trying to cover having stumbled when she had botched her smooth retrieval. She took the paper into her right hand as her astral essence reluctantly slithered back into place. Elhaym let out an unexpected sigh. For just a moment she had felt a sort of regret, a hollow emptiness when she had relinquished her projection. Shaking her head as a fly had landed on her nose, she discarded the thought and brought the paper to her eyes as she approached the doors.

She blinked. It was another riddle. She stomped her foot hard, letting out a low pitched groan. She didn't have time for this. Her teachers were going to skin her alive. Inhibitions went to the wind as she marched towards the little girl. She didn't even let the young woman get a word out before she shoved the note so close to her face it near touched her forehead.

"Hey! What does this mean!?"

With one hand balled on her hip and the other shaking the note vigorously, she came off a more like an angry mother than a disgruntled warrior.

[Ophelia]

The Chandra priestess was NOT pleased to see the little wannabe Shinya march towards her. Had she not got the message that she was an unwanted piece of irritation? The Chandra priestess had a JOB to do, unlike the little Acolyte. Of course, if she said any of this, she would likely be skinned alive, as the fiesty little girl was a whole rank above her. She thought it though. She thought it very hard. Perhaps some of the negativity reached Elhaym, as she stood with her arms folded and her nose held high in the air, surveying the demanding girl with a sniff. "Well, I never. You're being positively rude. I hope you're aware of that." The Chandra took the piece of paper with a huff, aware that because of the differences in class, she couldn't deny the Acolyte anything. She had to go along with whatever Elhaym demanded. It didn't mean she had to be pleased about it, though. She watched Elhaym unblinkingly, a singular eyebrow raised, before slowly reaching up to take the paper the girl was shaking in her face. How rude. How uncouth-- ooooo, a riddle! All of the irritation melted away as the Chandra began bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. "COME WITH ME!" she squealed, and grabbed Elhaym by the wrist, gabbling as she went. "I love riddles, riddles are fun, I think people who can't solve them are stupid but they're fun to do so I'll help you, this is so exciting, what's your name, I'm Yatanu, don't you think this is fun?" She spoke incessantly as she ran to the back of the Temple where there seemed to be, hidden behind a corner, a desk piled high with random sheets of paper. Grabbing a quill and a piece of parchment, she began to jot down the random aspects of the riddle. Sees more than skin Emotional stuff! Big End of the day "Hmmmm..." she mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. An ink blot appeared on the end of it, though Yatanu appeared unaware. "Do you have any ideas? Of course not you're stupid." She began to spin around in a circle, gaining momentum, spinning faster and faster until she stopped, suddenly. "I HAVE IT! The Dusk Tower! Auristics, the tallest tower, dusk is the end of the day!" She grinned at Elhaym, waiting for her praise and thanks. "What are you waiting for?! Get the petch out of here! Go, go, go!" Once Elhaym had left the bipolar priestess, and arrived at the Dusk Tower, she would find a woman, all in black, milling around the entrance. Her shape would seem vaguely familiar, but any precise features were obscured by the black silk balaclava she wore over her head. It was odd, and yet no one stopped and questioned the woman in black. If Elhaym tried to ask her anything, she would ignore the questions, sticking to a seemingly pre-written script. "Elhaym Furuma?" she asked, her voice muffled by the fabric. "I was told to give you this." Her voice was sinister, and she offered yet another piece of paper towards Elhaym. There was no riddle on this paper, only a very simple direction. Look up, Elhaym. (And if you use Projection, the woman in black will hurt you.) If Elhaym did indeed look up, she would notice that there was a piece of paper pinned to the very top of the set of double doors. It was too high to reach if standing on ones toes, and she had been very explicitly told not to grab it using projection. Yet another conundrum for our less-than-genius heroine! When she managed to grab it, in whatever way possible, she would find there was yet another riddle scrawled along the parchment. It is here that you'll find your direction changes, A sanctum devoted to godly exchanges. A pot of food for you lays in wait, Do not go inside; the fish have not ate.