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Editor's Note: This travelogue grew over several days as a conversation between player and gamemaster.
Takehai watched Tadako out of the corner of his eye as he faced the field of skirmish. Tadako had appeared disappointed as he had walked off the field to rest near the dais. He knew she wished him to defeat all his opponents, but at heart, he was not a fighter, and he knew it.
He was weary from the mock battle, with more than just physical exhaustion. He had expended much of his spiritual energies today, in both the obstacle course and this skirmish. This was likely the reason that he had been eliminated so early from this battle. True, he had been taken out by Mirumoto Uriko, with the two-sword technique that her family was famous for, but he knew much about that technique, as he was also Dragon clan.
He glanced surreptitiously at Tadako again. He knew that Jinjiro and Marako had been hinting that he needed to do something soon about the relationship they saw between him and Tadako. He also knew that if he tried to approach her before today, she would have been excessively distracted from her duties hosting the Iris Festival Celebrations. What he had to tell her would be upsetting. It would be best spoken of after the celebrations had died down, perhaps tonight after the Feast.
As he thought about it, his resolution grew firm. Yes, tonight would be the best time. The interminable wait to resolve this would be over. He looked around, and saw a servant nearby, who did not seem to be as involved in the skirmish as the others. Takehai walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. The servant turned to look at him, and upon seeing him blanched as white as the snow of the mountains.
"M-m-may I b-be of s-service, Togashi-sama?" The servant managed to stammer.
Puzzled, Takehai nodded. "Yes, I need a few items from my rooms. However, I don't think I should leave just yet. Would you be kind enough to retrieve them for me?"
"Of C-course, Togashi-sama." Conflicting emotions of awe, fear, and pleasure that Takehai had asked if he would do it. "What do you require?"
Gratified, Takehai detailed what and where the items were. The servant ran off. Takehai turned his attention back to the skirmish.
Marako had succeeded in covering the brilliant light that Ishi had cast on her nose, and was now determinedly riding down the ronin shugenja, a look of pure outrage on her face. Amused, Takehai watched as Ishi ran frantically away from the Unicorn, robes flying.
Before Marako had succeeded in getting three touches on Ishi, the servant had returned, and Takehai gratefully accepted a writing board and two sheets of fine rice paper, one brightly colored. Taking the proffered brush, he quickly wrote out a note on the plain paper, then set it aside to dry. Now taking the colored paper (a gorgeously mottled purple and rose color) he began to carefully fold it, and crease it. The servant watched, fascinated, as Takehai turned the paper into a flower, styled very similarly to an Iris.
When he was satisfied with his creation, Takehai handed it and the note he had made to the servant, as well as the writing board and brush.
"Would you please make certain that Tadako-san receives this?" Takehai glanced back at her, but she was intent on the mock battle that was winding to a close.
"Wait until the Skirmish is over, however. Oh, and please accept this," Takehai dug out a coin and pressed it into the man's hand. He then turned his attention back to the skirmish. The servant stared at the silver coin in his hand, and then back at the ise zumi. Seeing him with back turned, he slipped the coin gingerly into his obi, and then turned to carry out his instructions.
Takehai sat impatiently in the Garden. He had appreciated the peace and beauty of the enormous place when he had set foot in it several days ago. This was the best place that he could think of to speak to Tadako. Especially as Amaterasu had painted the sky with so many vivid colors, a perfectly soothing backdrop for this meeting. At least, he hoped it would be soothing to her, for it wasn't for him.
She had not sent a reply back, which he hoped meant that she would indeed come. But, nonetheless, he worried that she had been unable to break away after the feast. He was also worried about her reaction to what he had to tell her. He stood and began pace back and forth in front of the fountain he had chose as their meeting place. The splashing water, normally such a tranquil sound, grated on nerves raw with anxiety and stress. He had tried to meditate, but his mind was too wound up to concentrate. The soft footfall on the path caused him to halt, and slowly turn.
She stood in the twilight, softly lit by the last rays of the setting sun behind him. She was dressed in a deep blue kimono, and her hair was pulled from her face by more blue ribbons, but loose down her back. Her pale face was colored by the light of Amaterasu, and her eyes were burning bright with their own icy blue fire.
Takehai swallowed heavily. This was going to be harder than he thought.
"You look beautiful tonight, Tadako-sama."
"Takehai-san. I have come as you asked." She smiled demurely. She approached him slowly, eyes intent on his. He stood, frozen in place by her eyes. Unable to retreat, he could only watch her as his resolve wavered under the force of her gaze. She stopped a pace away, looking up into his eyes, her smile still in place.
"Well? Was there something you wished to say to me, Takehai?" She waited patiently.
He swallowed heavily again, "Tadako-sama, I–"
"Oh, come now, Takehai. There is no need to stand on formality here. There is no one around but us and the flowers. And what is between us has no need for dreary protocol." She stepped up to him, running her hands up his bare arms to his shoulders. She then reached inside his haori.
Takehai jumped as her cool hands touched his bare chest. He had never expected this. He reached up and grabbed her wrists and pushed her away, shaking.
"Tadako, we need to talk."
"I should think so, Takehai." She reached for him again. He deftly intercepted her, and guided her to the bench facing the fountain. She sat, looking up at him with expectation in her eyes. Takehai took a deep breath.
"Tadako, I can not marry you."
She stared at him, shocked.
"I cannot inflict marriage on an unwary woman. I have other duties and vows I have to fulfill. And any woman who wished to marry me must understand these vows and duties before I could consent to marrying her."
She stood and glared at him. "Are you saying that I could not understand them?"
He sighed. "No, Tadako. That is not what I mean at all. Forgive me, but it is hard to explain this. All ise zumi make vows to seek enlightenment, and they leave their old life behind. To symbolize this, they take new names. They leave behind their old families, if they still have them, and take on the family of Togashi. This is the normal way one becomes an ise zumi.
"My name, Tadako, is Togashi Kitsuki Takehai. I was born as Kitsuki Takehai. I have told you that I am an orphan, that my Father and Mother are both deceased. I have not told you that I have vowed to reestablish my family line, that any woman I married could not be a Togashi, but would have to be Kitsuki."
She shrugged. "A minor detail."
Takehai shook his head. "No, Tadako, it is not. I could not ask anyone to do this without them knowing first what it is to be ise zumi. And I also must know if you would understand if I wandered from home as I sought after enlightenment. I desire to give everyone a chance at justice. Perhaps you have heard of the experience my companions and I had on the way here, and in Crane lands farther north and west. Those are things I would like to pursue regularly. This would take me away from you for long periods. Only someone who truly loved me could be able to wait for me as I did these things."
She was silent.
Takehai lifted her chin to look deep in her eyes. "Do you truly love me Tadako? Or do you love what I am?"
Her eyes met his evenly. "One cannot exist without the other."
Takehai gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and braced himself internally. He opened his eyes and gazed directly into Tadako's. "Then you must show me. Tomorrow I will leave with my friends, and I will go back to Shiro Togashi. Come to me there. If you can find me. If you can, I will judge that your love is truly of the heart–"
"I must prove my love to you?!" She pulled away from him and stared at him incredulously. "And to do so I must simply ride to the Togashi Castle? Perhaps I should be the one asking ridiculous things!"
Takehai reached out and grabbed a wildly gesticulating hand. He gently pulled her to him. "Tadako. I can't explain why this is so important. Suffice to say that this is the first step in understanding what it is to be ise zumi. I can tell you that this journey will not be all that it seems. It is different for each person who takes it." He smiled. "Besides, if I am to marry you, you must be presented to my Daimyo. I can only marry you with his blessing, and you presenting yourself to him will go a long way toward gaining that boon."
He clasped her in his arms. She held herself stiff against him at first, but slowly relaxed and lent herself to the embrace. After several moments he loosed his hold and looked deeply into her eyes again.
"Will you come to me at Shiro Togashi this fall?"
She looked down, and was silent for a long time. Takehai felt his insides knot up.
She raised her eyes to his again, her eyes moist. "I don't understand why I must do this. But something inside me says that this is right. Yes, I will come to you."
Takehai smiled at her. "Thank you, Tadako. Until then..." He leaned down to her, and placed a tender kiss on her lips. After a long moment, he broke away and walked back to the Asahina Temple.
Tadako watched him go, unsure if she had really seen a tear on his cheek, or if had been a trick of the light.