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Summer's Festival
Children of the Sun and Moon
Beginning of Time
I do not think I have ever celebrated the Chrysanthemum Festival outside of Dragon lands before. The people here in Scorpion lands, both samurai and otherwise, adopt a much more festive attitude than those in my homeland. I am more accustomed to treating the Festival as a time of introspection and thought. The difference is somewhat refreshing, and helps to put friend Ridachi's attitude and talents into perspective.
I find that I have been thinking much about bushido during the Festival, specifically chugo. A samurai must be able to show adherence to all aspects of bushido, or he begins to lose himself. I have tried to follow the path of bushido before, but only with the events surrounding the gaijin did I come to understand what chugo is truly about. While I wouldn't change any of my actions, if I understood then what I do now, I believe I would have been able to accomplish the task with a less troubled heart.
I believe that Kitsuki Shaiyan, the young Dragon shugenja who helped us recover the gaijin nemurani, has lost his sight of chugo. I fear greatly that bushido may no longer be a primary motive for him. When he left us in Otosan Uchi to pursue his "honor-bound task," I wondered that he had spent as much time with us as he had, if there was a task that superceded his duty to Lord Shiju. It was only after I returned to the lands of the Dragon, and inquired after his well-being, that I discovered that his daimyo knew nothing of his current location or task.
Shaiyan claimed in his letter to be hunting his father's killer, and I learned in Dragon lands that this killer is supposedly a bloodspeaker. When he was sighted near an altar to Fu Leng during the Festival, I could only hope that he was merely following a lead in the quest to avenge his father. I pray that he hasn't given himself to the very thing he hunts, as it would cause me great sorrow to be forced to either bring him home for judgement, or be forced to cut him down.