IsleOfJade/SessionTen

== The Secrets of Master Li ==

(1) Yeled: Ayame, Mou-Shendu, Yukio, Tetsuko, and Kaimi, as well as Gao and Dawn Star, sit on mats on the floor of Master Li’s sitting room in his quarters. It’s been six days since the bandit attack, and although some minor bruises linger, most everyone has had time to heal their injuries from that day.

(1) Yeled: Master Li’s quarters are, as usual, Spartan and clean. On a low table resting against the side of the room sits a kettle of steaming hot tea, and each of you has been given a cup from which to sip. At the far end of the room are many bizarre and complicated ritual objects used for the study of astrology—Master Li’s hobby as long as any of you can remember. Star charts, long metal telescopes, models of the heavens, and a large abacus used to formulate equations are the most noticeable items. Other than these the room is white and bare. Not that you would notice if there was anything else to look at.

(1) Yeled: Everyone’s eyes are on Master Li, who sits on a mat of his own puffing at his long, curved pipe, and the golden sun disk that lies on the floor before him. It’s not glowing like it did the night the strange woman placed it into the ancient door on top of the hill, but it is a brilliant Orinchulum—a metal like gold but much more spectacular and magical. There are no markings on its perfect, circular face, although very clean grooves in its sides indicate the places where the triangular rays fold into place.

(1) Yeled: When Master Li summoned you, he gave you the impression that he wanted to discuss something of a very serious nature. His stern expression and the creases on his forehead do nothing to alter that impression. He waits patiently for you to settle in with your tea and grow calm.

Yukio sips his tea, trying to relax himself

Mou-Shendu waits in silent meditation, his legs crossed as he sits on the mat.

Sook sits patiently, something he does naturally

(1) Master Li: "The other day, when the bandits attacked," he begins without warning, "the Village of Two Rivers suffered a terrible tragedy. Good people were lost that day, and many children were orphaned. The village will mourn their loses for many years to come."

(1) Master Li: "However, thanks to all of you the losses of the villagers were not greater than they were. They have many struggles ahead of them, but they are not now insurmountable. The village will recover, and you can be proud of your role in seeing that this was so."

(1) Master Li: "In gratitude for your help, the villagers offered to provide the school with food and supplies into the foreseeable future. This was generous of them, but they can ill afford it now. Not with the so many dead and so much of the harvest likely to go unharvested. But so that I did not insult them I accepted, provided that they let us pay them for these essential supplies through the seasons of Water and Air, which are their coldest and most desperate."

(1) Master Li: "I also wanted to quickly discuss our prisoners. We are currently holding three people, as you know. You have taken turns watching these, and I thank you for your continued patience. It is important that none escape at this time. One of our prisoners is a bandit, and although he carries the blood of dragons in his veins he is of no consequence. The other two are Immaculate Monks from the Lotus Monastery in Yu. Cultivating them as enemies is a dangerous practice. Letting them return to their brethren to report our interference in their affairs would bring the whole of the order down upon us. But not, perhaps, for the reason you think."

(1) Master Li: "You see, when I went out to rescue Zan, one of the monks, the woman Sparrow, recognized me from a previous life. Mou-Shendou was witness to this, and to the quick action I was forced to take to prevent anything unfortunate happening in the aftermath of her discovery."

(1) Master Li: "I don’t pretend to understand the interest the monks are taking in the bandits who attacked Two Rivers. But I believe they had no idea I was here. Nor do I think they had any idea of what they would face by attacking a village that housed my school and my students. I believe this to have been a random coincidence. Had they known that I was here, the attack would have been much more severe and targeted at us. They will likely find out soon enough, when they come to investigate what happened. So I feel some degree of responsibility for your safety. But for now we hold the monks."

(1) Master Li: "Which brings me to you, Kaimi." He pauses and turns very deliberately to the mortal girl. "I had started to explain something to you when Ayame and Yukio brought news about Zan’s injury and the bandits. I want to finish what I had begun, but now feel it imperative to include all of my advanced students and not just your closest friends. It concerns them deeply. Especially Ayame. I will never be able to make up for what I have done to her."

Sook furrows his brow, confused

Kaimi frowns somewhat unhappy with the increased audience

(1) Master Li: "There are many things ahead of you, Kaimi. Things you must discover about yourself. I already told you that your destiny is deeply important to this Isle, and its return to balance."

(1) Master Li: "You came to me an orphan, but you were never abandoned. You were rescued from the Temple of the Water Dragon at Dirge. You’re mother was high priestess there; your father a devoted member of the Water Cult and a skilled martial artist. There is much of his talent in you."

Kaimi 's eyes widen and her jaw drops

Mou-Shendu studies the girl in silence as she takes in this news about her origin.

Kaimi has often told tall tales of her parentage, some quite improbable. The truth has obviously surprised her.

Ayame peers curious at her, especially her face

Ayame: [2d10] => [8,1] = (9)

Kaimi eyes flick toward Gao and Yukio then she turns to Dawnstar and Sook and grins triumphantly.

Sook returns her look, but is not jolly....he feels that the venerable master has something ominous and grim to tell them, and he fears it...this shows as a tight lipped frown on his face and a dark shade to his eyes

Kaimi winks at him then turns Master Li affecting a more solemn demeanor as she does so

Gao the Lesser doesn't seem impressed, and he merely sneers at Kaimi. He seems to find this whole course of conversation infuriating.

Ayame speaks in almost a whisper "Saffron Tears"

(1) Master Li: "To truly understand, and to understand why the Lotus Monks will be so interested in this school, you must know a little more about me. You all deserve to know, anyway. I was once the head of Lord Sun Hai’s army. I was known as Sun Li, the Glorious Strategist."

(1) Master Li: "I plotted the ruin of my brother’s enemies, which for about two decades centered on the last cult to hold out against the Immaculate Faith. The Water Cult, and the elementals and gods that made up the Court of Water on the Isle, had continued to draw worship from the people long after it was outlawed on the Isle and in the Heavens. I drew up the battle plans for Lotus Monks and Sun Hai’s soldiers alike, and one by one rooted out the cultists, gods, and elementals that resisted and choked off the land from the life giving waters."

Sook doesn’t react with surprise....such a thing is certainly something li is capable of being...but his look darkens, for whether they see him as deserter or lost savior, it isn’t good for the school

(1) Master Li: "Dirge was the last refuge of the cult, and was the seat of the Water Dragon’s power and her sanctum. As I always had before, I planned the assault that would lead to its ruin. It was a perfect plan, and the Temple was sure to fall."

(1) Master Li: "But before the plan was put into action, I began to have doubts. My brother in his rage sought to wipe out all the cultists from the Isle. In his mind that meant he would destroy them rather than convert them to the Immaculate Faith, and thereby bring peace rather than death. Then I was visited by Ayame’s sister spirit, Narsessa, who was known as the bearer of the deluge."

Master Li turns to Ayame.

(1) Master Li: "She was very like you; almost a twin, except for her trappings and her even greater aggressiveness. She threatened me with drowning if I did not cease my actions. But for all her ruckus and noise and beating of her chest, behind it I saw only fear and sadness. I knew what I had to do."

(1) Master Li: "I withdrew my support for my brother, and instead tried to rally the cult against Sun Hai’s army. But it was too late. My plan was drawn up too well, and even knowing it in and out I could not stop it."

Mou-Shendu sits back a little more, still taking everything in silence.

Sook closes his eyes and lowers his head....so he is more than deserter...he is traitor...a death sentence for the lot of them

(1) Master Li: "I fought with the Water Cult against the encroaching army on the stairs of Dirge. There were so few of us left, in the end. Sun Hai himself was preparing to walk right into the main temple, along with our youngest brother, Sun Kin, and Lord Sun Hai’s new right hand man and advisor, a mysterious being known as the Death’s Hand. Kaimi, your father launched himself at these three men in a desperate attempt to protect you and your mother, as well as the Water Dragon herself. At least two of them—my brothers—were exalted by the dragons. The last was certainly more than mortal. Your father never stood a chance. But he was skilled and he bought us a few moments."

(1) Master Li: "Kaimi, your mother got down on her knees and begged me to take you from the temple. You were a baby. Not even six months old. I wanted to stay to protect the temple, the goddess, and your mother from what I had wrought upon them. But the look in your mother’s eyes was so powerful, and I knew I was unlikely to defeat the three of them. I took you and hid while Lord Sun Hai, Sun Kin, and the Death’s Hand entered the temple. The goddess was no longer powerful enough to stop them. I did not wait to see what happened. I waited for an opening and escaped with you into the terrible blizzard that the water court had summoned to slow the army."

(1) Master Li: "All that remains of that once magnificent temple to the Water Dragon is a ruin now. The cult was destroyed, and the Water Court itself has disappeared. All except Ayame. I will not ask for forgiveness, for I do not deserve it. I am haunted by my role in this atrocity, and soon the world may join me."

(1) Master Li: "The Water Court had two major roles on the Jade Isle. The first you know well. Monitor the rains and the rivers that are the lifeblood of the Isle. The second is something that the people have forgotten. Even Ayame seems to have lost some of her memory of it, perhaps because this was never her own role and the duty no longer exists. Its almost like it was written out of existence. But I remember."

(1) Master Li: "The Water Cult believed that when the people of the Jade Isle died, their spirits would travel down the rivers to the great inner sea, where they would join the great cycle of reincarnation. The Water Dragon of the Jade Isle, who had a name that has also been forgotten, even to me, was to guide those newly deceased souls. Without that guidance, it seems that the spirits are becoming lost. They are lingering too long without direction and joining the population of ghosts that fall out of the cycle of reincarnation."

(1) Master Li: "The loss of the Water Court is not the cause of the underworld, or of the Shadowlands. But I believe it is the direct cause of the overwhelming number of Shadowlands that are encroaching on the Jade Isle. It’s almost as if the sheer number of spirits is causing the world of the dead to eat into the world of the living. I’m not sure if this process can be stopped."

Mou-Shendu shifts slightly to a more confortable position.

(1) Master Li: "Which brings us to what happens next, Kaimi. The stars show your destiny to be wound up in this thread of fate. Not just your past, but your future as well."

Kaimi has had multitude of expressions flashing over her face. This is a lot to take in.

(1) Master Li: "There is a tangle in your particular thread that I can’t make out. What I do know from my reading of the heavens is that you are somehow connected to what you students call the Cave of the Anathema. There is something in there for you that I think will make many things more clear. It is the presence of this cave, and my earliest readings of your fate that I performed when you were very young, that made me choose this site for our hiding place. We have waited long for the time to come for you to enter the cave; a feat which would have proven impossible if destiny had not just recently delivered the key to your entry and set it at our feet."

Master Li gestures toward the Golden Sun Disk that rests before him.

(1) Master Li: "We still do not know who the woman was that brought this to us, where she might have come across this, or how she knew to come here to use it. But fate has given us a gift, and I think it wants us to use it."

Mou-Shendu frowns slightly at his never-completed task.

Master Li exhales, as if a great weight has been lifted from him.

Gao the Lesser frowns, a look of disgust written all over his face.

Mou-Shendu regards the Master. He then slowly survives the faces of the others in the room. His own face is calm, though the corners of his mouth are turned down slightly.

Kaimi settles on the emotion that she has that is easiest to deal with: curiosity

Sook has slackened his face,he no longer holds the tight frown...his eyes are closed,and his head lowered,and what he is feeling is a mystery to any who try to see it on his face

Kaimi: "so I am suppose to open the cave? Now?"

(1) Master Li: "Now? No. Not immediately. But soon. When you are ready. We cannot afford to wait too long. Eventually the Lotus Monks will come to find out what happened here."

Kaimi looks as if she would be quite happy to get to the end of this mystery but leaves it

Ayame crosses her arms "Let them come"

Mou-Shendu: "Do you intend to leave, then?

(1) Master Li: "Not at least until this task has been completed. As for letting them come...it is one thing to defeat one unprepared monk who is not expecting to face a true martial artist. It is quite another to face the whole of them when they are prepared. I do not have to tell you what it is like to face the Wyld Hunt, Ayame."

Ayame scrunches up her face into a childish scowl

Kaimi: "If they come back what will happen to the villagers? The school? Even if Master Li leaves we still fought them. Will they want to get back at us?”

Mou-Shendu: "We are skilled, but far too few to stand against the entire Order of the Lotus in this way."

Kaimi: "Make an example of us or something...."

(1) Master Li: "It is difficult to say what they will do. They are not a vengeful lot, but they are pragmatic. If it is in the best interest of their faith, they may take drastic action.”

Ayame mutters "Fanatics"

(1) Master Li: "If it makes you feel better, Kaimi, I do not expect you to face the cave alone. I have prepared skilled martial artists with a range of knowledge and skills beyond fighting. You may take those with whom you feel comfortable."

Kaimi rocks backward. "What do you think is in there?"

(1) Master Li: "I do not know. What is important is that you remain in the cave for a number of days. The stars seem to indicate three, but I am not exactly sure of my reading."

Kaimi opens and closes her mouth a couple of times, then shrugs. “ok. The cave it is then.”

Kaimi looks around at the faces of her friends and rivals. "Any one who wants to come is welcome but I will be glad to go even if no one wants to come. I've always wanted to know what was in there."

A Challenge Issued

Gao the Lesser stands up suddenly, his body rigid and tense, and his hands clenched into fists. "I object!"

Kaimi grins from ear to ear. "Do you?"

(1) Gao the Lesser: "This is ridiculous! You expect us to care, let alone believe, this crazy story? A mortal, with the fate of the world on her shoulders. I could spit. Let one of the others be first into the cave. We are greater than her."

"Oh shut your yap" Ayame rolls her eyes

Sook: "nobody asked you, little gao..."

(1) Gao the Lesser: "If you had spent less time coddling your precious charge, and more time training true exalts, then imagine what you could have affected. Imagine what we would now be!"

Kaimi: "Well maybe all of you put together, I might have to agree with you there Gao. Maybe."

Yukio sits quietly, hesitant to join in the argument.

(1) Gao the Lesser: "You've got them all brainwashed, but I see through you, old man."

Mou-Shendu attempts to resume his meditation amidst the commotion.

(1) Master Li: "This is not something that can be affected by effort or exaltation, Gao. Her fate is written in the heavens. No matter how much stronger you are, you cannot take her place."

Ayame sticks her tongue out at Gao.

Kaimi: "Anyway, unlike you Gao, I think they are pretty fantastic already.”

Gao the Lesser shrugs Master Li's comments away. "I am exalted. I carry the blood of dragons. I am superior. A prince of the earth. If she is worthy of going over me, then she should be able to defeat me. I challenge her. I challenge her for the right to enter the cave."

Sook: "as i said...nobody asked you, little gao..." Sook opens his eyes and simply looks at gao.

Kaimi raises an eyebrow at gao and smirks.

(1) Gao the Lesser: "What are you smiling about?"

Sook stands,to his full, extreme height, and has his arms braced in front of him...he looks down on gao.

"I believe the school, as we knew it, is disbanded...therefore the rights of challenge no longer apply" Sook holds gaos gaze woodenly.

Kaimi: "I just didn't know you cared about me so much as to take on all the dangers inherent with this Gao. I imagine there are quite a few."

(1) Gao the Lesser: "I see. So you're going to hide behind this Oni bastard, Kaimi. That's pretty typical, isn't it? You're always hiding behind someone."

Sook: "listen to me, gao...i have known, as long as i can remember, that i had a purpose." Sook seems to be speaking a little more clearly. "This is my purpose....to help kaimi achieve her purpose.....you will stand aside, so that i may fulfill my duty"

(1) Gao the Lesser: "You will step aside, so I can kick your purpose's ass," answers Gao to Sook, his own smirk on his face.

Kaimi stands and steps right up to Gao "I don't hide Gao and you won't speak about my friends that way. And by the way, I have people willing to stand by me. Who do you have with all your talent and your ego?""

Mou-Shendu open his eyes, breaking his relaxed concentration as he turns his focus to the escalating dispute.

"Are you gonna talk, or are you going to fight? I'll be waiting for you outside." Gao the Lesser turns and exits the room through the sliding door.

Yukio: "Kaimi, do not think that because no one will stand with him, that people are in agreement with you. That would be ignorant."

Sook clentches his fists, and his skin begins taking on a brownish hue, and you smell pine....small,s pectral roots seem to seek for soft ground as they sprout from his feet

Kaimi: "Oh never that Yukio" says Kaimi, dripping sarcasm.

Sook glances at master li

Master Li is sitting calmly, almost meditating.

Kaimi: "Sook." Kaimi places a hand on his arm

Sook glances at kaimi

Kaimi: "Don't"

Sook: "i am under no obligation to follow him, but know i will be ready when we step outside"

Yukio: "I warn you Kaimi, I will not tolerate your mortal shenanigans today."

Kaimi: "Does that mean there are exalted shenanigans, too?"

Yukio stands to face Kaimi, a subtle orange flame surrounding him. "I am more than you will ever become, fate or no fate."

Sook turns to yukio,"Can YOU open the door?"

Yukio: "No, I cannot, however that ability does not change the fact that she is not an exalt, she is not one of us, and she will never be as great as any of us could be. SHE is a mortal."

Sook turns back to yukio,"that is not the point at this time, now is it?"

Yukio stands down to Sook

Ayame pushes herself to her feet and leaves

(1) Master Li: "I'll not have you brawling in the street like thugs. If you must prove yourself, do it in the ring as a proper test of your skills and under my rules. Gao will be obligated, then, to refrain from using his charms."

Kaimi: "He did challenge me, but on that note, today I am not sure that I care."

Sook turns his look to master li, though he keeps his body oriented to the door. Sook glances at kaimi, then back to li, "with respect, master....at this point, do you feel it is safe to trust gao with kaimi’s life?"

Kaimi: "Master Li if I fight him for this challenge it would acknowledge that perhaps he should go in the cave in my place. If I understand you correctly that is not the case no matter what."

(1) Master Li: "It is Kaimi's choice whether or not she will accept his challenge. You, Kaimi, do not need to defeat him to enter the cave. If you can accept backing down, then by all means do so."

Mou-Shendu: "If Gao does not use his charms, I am not so sure you will lose, Kaimi."

Kaimi: "I think I will replace his challenge with one of my own, if he will accept it."

Sook looks to kaimi

Kaimi heads outside. Sook turns and follows, trying not to let her get too far away for him to be of help in an ambush

(1) Gao the Lesser: "I see you have come to take your beating. You'll finally get what you deserve. I'm going to enjoy this." Gao the Lesser is standing in the middle of the sparring ring. Ayame is waiting off to the side.

Sook turns to kaimi, "you do not have to do this"

Kaimi: "Actually I have a challenge for you myself. It's a bit different but so are the circumstances."

(1) Gao the Lesser: "Oh, I see. Something cowardly, I'm sure. What trick will you be hiding behind this time?"

Sook turns back to gao, with venom in his eyes.

Yukio stands again, placing a hand on Sook's massive shoulder. "Let them go at it, if it gets too intense, you may intervene... For now, perhaps this will teach her a lesson."

Kaimi grins. "First let us agree that either way we both enter the cave. It would be foolish to divide ourselves at this point."

Mou-Shendu strides calmly down to the edge of the sparring ring, where he takes a seat on the ground.

Kaimi: "And agree also that whoever wants to follow may do so."

(1) Gao the Lesser: "No. I don't agree."

Kaimi: "Really? Well I think that some of the others might be a little disturbed that you have taken their decision from them. Perhaps you should fight them all?"

Yukio chuckles at Mou-Shendu, and begins to walk that way as well. He sits next to him."

Sook stands at the edge of the ring, at the spot kaimi entered.

(1) Gao the Lesser: "If you are not able to defeat me, then you are not worthy of entering the cave. This was never their decision anyway. You chickened out on deciding who to bring. That's all there is to it. But I don't care. I am first apprentice. I can fight them all, should I so choose.""

Kaimi: "Well we will leave that then…for now."

Sook brings his right hand up into his left, and crack his knuckles, disturbing sounds that all too well resembles breaking twigs

Kaimi: "My challenge then is this: Let us see who can open the door."

Sook allows a slight grin to rise at the right side of his mouth, not currently very visible through his hair

Gao the Lesser hesitates for a moment, as if taken aback by the suggestion. He looks like he will object, but stops. Finally he says, "I thought you would find some way out of getting destroyed. What kind of challenge is this?"

Kaimi: "A quite logical one. It would be pretty funny if we went through all the trouble of fighting each other over this just to discover that we cannot open the dumb door. Think of the jokes that would be made of us then."

Gao the Lesser narrows his eyes, shooting Kaimi a look of pure hatred. He seems to be looking for a way out of this.

Mou-Shendu: Even Mou-Shendu cannot keep a slight grin off his face.

Kaimi: "Kaimi and Gao, they fight huge battles, win some, lose some, but neither of them can master the task of opening a simple door. We would never live it down!"

(1) Gao the Lesser: "Very well," Gao spits. "I agree. But I will try first. I am of higher rank than you."

Yukio sees no humor in the situation, just a coward avoiding a beating.

Kaimi: "Alright. I have no problem with that."

Sook remembers that night, and eagerly awaits seeing gao in such pain

Kaimi grins at Sook.

(1) Gao the Lesser: "Let's go, then. I want to get this over with!"

Kaimi: "I will inform Master Li." Kaimi heads towards the Master’s quarters.

Mou-Shendu: "I will come with you." says Mou as he stands and follows her.

Kaimi: "Alright."

Master Li is sitting in his room where you left him. With the walls as thin as they are its quite likely he heard everything, but he makes no indication of such.

Kaimi: "Master Li?"

(1) Master Li: "Yes, Kaimi? What is it?"

Kaimi: "I have replaced Gao's challenge with one of my own. He has accepted. May we borrow the key to the door of the cave?"

(1) Master Li: "Do you plan to open it now?"

Kaimi: "Ah... Well you did say that we should not delay this too long. Is this too soon? I could always tell Gao that the challenge should take place on the sunrise of the third day or some such nonsense. I am sure he would eat it up.... somewhat."

(1) Master Li: "It is not too soon. But you must be ready. And so must your companions. We don't know what's on the other side of that door. We don't know what will happen when it opens. Do not forsake the forest for the trees. Do not look past the severity of your situation because of Gao's bluster. Remember, this has been twenty years in the coming."

Sook stays behind in the sparring ring until all have left, if they do.

Kaimi: "So we should get together our gear and provisions for three days before we attempt this then. After that I see no reason to delay. Better to get the task completed."

(1) Master Li: "I do not speak of gear or provisions. I speak of preparedness here," touches Kaimi's forehead and then her heart, "and here. And the same goes for those who will come with you."

Kaimi: " Master Li I want to tell you, win or lose this challenge I will enter this cave. I learn today that you not only raised me but you fought along side my parents at their end and saved my life. You say I need to go to the cave, I will enter the cave no matter what. And don't worry, I know that I don't need to fight Gao to prove myself. He's a jerk. I don't need to prove anything to a jerk."

(1) Master Li: "Yes. I know you will. But take your time with this. Only fools rush in. Consult those whom you would bring. Find out their thoughts. Make sure they are ready. And make sure you are balanced, spiritually and emotionally. I have placed a lot on your shoulders this evening. Come to terms with it as best you are able."

Kaimi: "Alright. I will go and speak with the others to see who wants to go and when. I will be ready and I'll do my best not to rush." Kaimi smiles with her promise.

Mou-Shendu nods very slightly and subtly.

(1) Master Li: "Return when you are ready and I will bring the Sun Disk to the cave."

Kaimi nods and heads back to the practice ring

Mou-Shendu stays behind, waiting a moment in silence.

Mou-Shendu: "Master", Mou begins softly, at last. "I want you to know that I do not judge you for your past. I know all too well what it is to become a different person. You have saved me from a future that I can only hope I would have regretted in the end."

Master Li smiles just a little. "I do not deserve forgiveness, nor to remain unjudged."

Mou-Shendu: "I will join Kaimi, if she will still have me. I have asked you about the cave many times before, but in light of new circumstances... Is there anything else about the cave, Kaimi or their connection that would be of help to us?"

1) Master Li: "Nothing is clear. It is obvious that the door displays markings of what the people of the Isle call the Sun Tyrant. He's there in all his splendor. His moon queen is at his side. There are sigils that I believe are the precursors to some used today by the Noble Houses. I don't recognize many of them but by their placement I would guess they belonged to Houses that are now lost to history. And then there's the warning about breaking the seal."

Mou-Shendu nods.

(1) Master Li: " I do not know, however, how the cave is connected to Kaimi. Nor do I know what lies inside. All I know is that all the stars point to this event in Kaimi's life. Its as if her path must pass through it. All that comes before points to it, and all that comes after follows directly from it. I have read these signs for years."

Mou-Shendu: "Kaimi has tremendous talent, but she cannot touch the Essence around her like we can. I would ask if you are sure she is ready... but as you say, fate has given us the means to enter, and at the same time, forced us to take action..."

(1) Master Li: "Yes. It seems we have little choice. On top of that we must decide what to do with the Immaculate Monks. We cannot hold them indefinitely. We are not a prison. Even if we wanted to our physical buildings aren't designed for it."

Mou-Shendu nods again, glad to hear this resolution. "You will have to go. You could move the school. Off of the Isle, even." He trails off as he begins to say, "But Kaimi's fate is tied to it..."

(1) Master Li: "Yes. Its tied to it. As for me, it seems wrong to abandon the Isle to the fate I have bestowed upon it."

Mou-Shendu: "I do see that. That's what all this is for..." he says, gesturing his arms wide to indicate the school ground.

(1) Master Li: "All of it. A cruel disguise, I know. I apologize for deceiving you."

Mou-Shendu: "Well, your deceit showed me how to open my eyes. We are all better people for it..."

(1) Master Li: "I'm not sure Gao is better for it. I had hoped to rub off on him, while rubbing his father off him. I don't think I succeeded. His father is grows on him like mold."

Mou-Shendu smiles. "Well, I wasn't going to mention that," he laughs. Mou pauses a moment, then says, "But, now I feel, my place is out there..." he beckons to the door.

Master Li nods. "Go do what you must do."

Mou-Shendu turns and goes to find Kaimi.

Kaimi: “Alright before we start this challenge Master Li wishes us all to decide who does and who does not wish to go. He wishes those of us who want to go to be prepare, both spiritually and emotionally, especially since we do not know what we might be facing on the other side of that door. When everyone is ready we can go to the grove."

Gao the Lesser scoffs. "Fine. Whatever. Stupid old man. Always trying to save his precious protégé. He's only delaying the inevitable. Let me know when you will finally go through with it." Gao storms off toward the hill.

Kaimi sighs as he leaves. "Jerk." she mutters and looks to the others for their reactions.

Sook begins walking up to the grove, not needing anything further said to sway him

Kaimi: "Sook."

Sook stops and turns to her

Kaimi: "Did I do right?" Kaimi asks softly.

Sook: "that is not for me to say"

Kaimi: "Maybe I should have just said I was going no matter what. I have to do this no matter the outcome."

Sook nods Sook: "you do. only you know if you are right or wrong"

Kaimi: "Master Li does not want me to rush into this... but you know me. I don't exactly waste time."

Dawn Star approaches Kaimi, some apprehension on her face. She smiles as she picks up the last part of Kaimi’s sentence. It’s warm, but cannot hide the concern on her face. "No, you never waste time, do you?"

Kaimi: "I have learned a lot today but in little detail. Some of it I don't know what to feel about. But truthfully it has little bearing on who I have become I suppose." Kaimi laughs

(1) Dawn Star: "Do you feel different?"

Kaimi: "Well not on anything important like a good adventure anyways."

Sook: "if you have a purpose, but do not fulfil it, then you are worse off than if you had never lived"

(1) Dawn Star: "I wish Master Li had told me about my past. I still know nothing. I have that dream sometimes, where the sky is red and the world is crumbling around me. I think it might be from my past. But that's about all I know. I envy you, for all the trouble you're in now."

Sook turns his face to dawn star, then back to kaimi, "the flower doesn’t envy the gardener her water, so i shall not envy kaimi"

Kaimi: "Well it's all very interesting isn't it? I think this is the biggest adventure yet. You two want to come?"

(1) Dawn Star: "If you'll have me, I would like to come."

Kaimi: "Of course! After all this time I cannot imagine having an adventure with out you two!"

Sook: "if i did not accompany you in this, then i would be denying my purpose. not to mention you are my only friends, and i won’t go off and leave you to die in some cave..." Sook gets a glint in his eye,a rare bit of mirth in the giant man

Kaimi: "Ah Sook thats sweet."

“We wouldn't want to die in a cave without you, Sook!" Dawn Star laughs out loud.

Sook glances both ways to make sure nobody else saw that

Kaimi: "One thing worries me though....You don't think Gao will be able to open the door do you? That woman couldn't. I could touch it. That kind of thing doesn't wear off does it? I mean all my cleverness will be just ruined if he manages to open that dumb door!" Kaimi winks and laughs.

Sook: "if you can open it...and i think you can....then it is because you are the one who is supposed to....what that means...i dont know. if he can open it, then let him charge to his death, or hopefully, worse..."

Dawn Star shrugs. "Well I have no idea. My only worry is that he's aspected toward the element fire. It burned that woman, didn't it?"

Kaimi winces.

(1) Dawn Star: "I'm sure it will work," says Dawn Star, realizing her mistake and hoping to make Kaimi feel better.

Kaimi: "Well we have to go in whether he does or not. If he tries to stop us we will have to knock him flat, just like we did with the village kids. We can handle it, though it will be a bit on the dishonorable side."

(1) Dawn Star: "Yeah. But he's kinda the village idiot. Do you know he's been trying to convince me that he can make a better life for me?"

Kaimi: "Huh?! Are you serious?! That's hilarious. Oh poor you."

(1) Dawn Star: "No kidding. He thinks his father's money can buy my happiness. I told him there isn't enough money in all the Realm to make me happy if I have to spend my life with him."

Kaimi: "Anyway listen, even if Master Li never tells you about your past, which I'm sure he will eventually if he knows, I promise that when this is done I will help you track it down. It should be fun."

Sook smiles at that, turning to dawn star, but his smile now seems oddly strained

Kaimi: "And good for you for knocking that oaf on his but already!"

Dawn Star smiles again. "Thanks, Kaimi." Then, without warning, she throws herself at Kaimi and gives her a big, friendly hug of gratitude.

Kaimi: "Whoa!" Kaimi grins and hugs her back

Kaimi: "Don't worry Sook, I won't forget you. If you want your past looked up, you can count me in.”“

Sook: "that won’t be necessary"

Kaimi: “I think I'm good as far as spiritually goes, I mean with friends like you both who wouldn't have a balance spirit? Course the mind we all know thats a different story..."

Mou-Shendu approaches the group from the direction of Master Li's quarters. Dawn Star disengages as Mou approaches. Kaimi laughs at her own kidding and then turns to greet Mou

Mou-Shendu nods a greeting to the group.

Mou-Shendu: "And how about your companions? I assume all of you intend to accompany Kaimi?"

(1) Dawn Star: "Yes, we do."

Sook nods to mou shendu, then looks to kaimi, then dawn star, then to hill...he then breaks off and begins trudging up towards the golden cave

Mou-Shendu watches him go for a moment. He turns to Kaimi and asks, "I will come too, if you will have me"

Kaimi grins "I did say anyone didn't I? I would be happy to have you along."

Mou-Shendu nods. "Speaking of anyone... If you can convince Gao to go with you, are you sure he would be an asset?"

Kaimi: "I'm not going to try to convince him of anything. He can come if he wants. If he causes trouble we'll knock him flat. Likewise if he tries to stop me we'll knock him flat. Sound good?"

Mou-Shendu: "That cavern... it could yield incredible dangers the likes of us have never faced before. It is both ancient and of a degree of magic beyond any of our experience. The group that goes in there must be committed to being a team, without arguing or infighting. We cannot tax ourselves battling one another."

Kaimi: "Do you want to tell him he can't go? And by the way if we are blackballing people how about Yukio? He's going to argue a ton. Nor is Ayame always a team player, though she is definitely more pleasant."

Mou-Shendu: "Maybe. I think Yukio will still be an asset to us. I don't see things coming to blows with him. I am not sure how things will go with him, but I fear two exalts and an elemental may not be enough"

Mou-Shendu: "Ayame, at least, you know you can trust."

Kaimi: "Course. I'm just saying, I think several of us will argue. Most of us don't like Gao but he can fight. We might need him. Besides I said anyone who wants to come can."

Mou-Shendu: "Very well. Master Li left this to your discretion, and I will not second guess him."

Kaimi: Look on the bright side: If he comes he has an even greater opportunity of falling into a deep hole."

"If we are going to be in there for at least three days we should get some supplies together. We will get hungry!" Kaimi mock solutes Mou then turns on her heal in the direction of the mess hall. Kaimi strides away without looking to see if anyone is following Mou-Shendu watches her go. He heads off to gather up his various odds and ends and pack them in his bag.

Dawn Star is left standing there by herself.