A Rising Tide

[Asarasa]

No stranger to the intrigues of court, Zoyu also raised her teacup and savoured the brew, though she obscured her lips more by positioning and an artfully loose lock of hair than with the delicate porcelain. She sighed through her nose, steam from her tea swirling before her.
 

On 2/10/2023 at 1:38 AM, SalmonMax said:

"And, all else aside, I am curious about how this time has passed for you. Lets catch up, since we have a moment where it's expected. How have you been?"

"Aimless, if this one is being truthful," Zoyu admitted with wry ruefulness. "Once, the path of destiny seemed so clear to me. Now, it has grown crooked, choked with brambles and hidden warrens to break ankles. With the injustice done our comrade - for something she did on my behalf - my honour prevailed upon me to give up my commission with the Emerald Magistrates. I sought to prove Rin's innocence - or at least evidence of mitigating circumstances - on my own..."

The striking Crane smiled a frown at her failure. "Not so easy as the cut of a blade. I traveled far. Into the Spine of the World and beyond. You remember the battle at Ryoko Owari? Our black-feathered ally?" Kamiko gave a minute nod of understanding and Zoyu acknowledged with a faint tilt of her head. "I spent some time with him, learning more of the sword."

Some time... When she had come back, she had been gone for a year. But it had felt much longer among the Tengu. Perhaps, it had been. Zoyu was not ready to speak of that time with others, as yet, not with someone who had not experienced what she had.

"When I returned, I continued my quest, but my last trail ended when Doji Retsu... perished." Zoyu arched the elegant brow over her topaz blue eye at the Scorpion. "And not so long after, you arrived, with revealing threats dire towards myself and Rin. What have you seen all these seasons since last we saw each other?"