Dojo Raiden -Winter, 1501
The spray of the winter tides buffeted the coast. Sparkling, scintillating cascades of light were visible in the fading light of the dawn, forming rainbows that were there one moment and then gone the next. It was, in its dynamic nature, a scene of unparalleled beauty that would never be experienced upon the coast.
Sukishi gazed out from where he stood near the cliffshores of the rocky Mantis islands, gazing into the watery droplets. It was as if he was looking for an answer, for some sort of guidance, perhaps even a vision. It might have been that he had already found it, and the sight had merely captured him in its sway as he stood, stoic and statuesque as the stone he was perched upon.
The man who approached him was an attractive and roguish type. He was the sort that usually held the Otomo's attention more, and yet Sukishi did not move or turn, as if he had not noticed his arrival. The young sailor simply stood for a moment, waiting patiently.
Finally, Sukishi nodded and murmured something inaudible into the wind, shaking his head with what almost looked like the barest hints of sadness. Seeing the Mantis, he bowed properly, the fluid motion coming with his turning. It was the practiced act of a man who dwelt in the courts with ease, rather than here on the seacoast. An errant gust of wind whipped past the two of them as the Mantis returned his bow and pushed aside the course outer cloak that the courtier wore, showing a kimono in sea green and black, yet bearing the Otomo mons.
"You know, Otomo-san," the man said with an almost impish grin. "With the waves so captivating you, some daring rogue might have stolen up and pushed you over the side, had they the mind to do so."
Sukishi, rather than look offended, merely smiled a somewhat knowing smile. "Oh, I am quite certain of that, Yoritomo Kobe-sama. And yet, with men such as yourself in this place, I have never felt such safety. Let us consider it a testimony to my trust in our hosts, yes?"
"But of course, Otomo-san," he said with a bit of a knowing look to his eyes. "You have come seeking an appointment with Yoritomo Ogawa-sama, yes? I am told you have been waiting a week for the audience. I wanted to commend you for your patience."
"A humble servant such as myself must know his place, Yoritomo-sama," Sukishi said with a small shake of his head. "Yoritomo Ogawa is not a man graced with free time to spare. I will be seen when he has the opportunity, and that is all that there is to it."
Kobe nodded and made a small motion of his hand, walking on down the coast in the direction of a small shrine. Sukishi merely followed. The two proceeded, for the most part, in silence. This was not the first time he had been asked to wait in one place or another, as if to test that very patience. Of course, this was the first time he had seen Kobe since they had met on the high seas. Perhaps the coincidence would be fortuitous.
As they neared the arch that lead up the small cleft to the shrine, Kobe bowed back and chuckled. "I would join you, but the waves are calling to me, and I have business to attend to," he said, smirking as he stepped back towards the cliff.
"A moment. I have never properly thanked you for our first meeting, Yoritomo-sama," Sukishi began to speak, reaching for something in his obi.
Kobe waved it away with a shake of his head. "Now is not the time for that, Otomo-sama. You have prayers to make, and I have already made mine. Perhaps next time," he said with a bit of an enigmatic quirk to his tone before stepping backwards, off of the side of the cliff.
Sukishi watched impassively as Kobe seemed to fall for just a moment before a massive, inhuman head reared up beneath him and roared. The rider expertly slipped into place behind his head and bowed once in salute. The Otomo merely smiled a little in acknowledgement, bowing in return. The exchange, as the beast swam away, had been as brief as the last time that the two had met, and as eventful.
"It seems that you have not given me much of a chance to thank you, yet again, wave rider. It will have to wait until a third meeting I suppose. Perhaps one might even consider these your refusals?" he said, seeming amused. Why was it that sailors always felt the need to show off? They could be as bad as the mad monks of the Dragon at times.
Sighing and almost muttering something to himself, Sukishi turned and bowed before the shrine. Going through the motions expected of him, he prepared and then walked up the steep path towards the small enclosed stone building. A glance back showed the Dojo Raiden in its splendor. There, on the grounds, he could see a group of twenty students practicing in maneuvers in the early evening, the setting sun glowing over them. He turned forward and continued to the peak, a little winded at the crest.
The shrine was to Isora, not particularly the most opportune of omens. Bowing and casting a bu casually into the donation box, he clapped his hands together and gave a perfunctory prayer before walking over and enjoying the view as the sun set.
"There are a few who might call you tenacious," said a wizened, gnarled and crackling voice, coming from behind the shrine.
Sukishi turned and bowed low as Yoritomo Ogawa, the head of the dojo, stepped into view. The man was spry for his age, his movements easy and belying no infirmity despite being easily in the same realm of age as O-Doji Koneko. His face was like tanned and cured parchment, mottled with the spots and marks of a man who had dwelt upon the seas for many years. His hair was steel grey, like a katana, cut and tied into a proper top knot, severe as the seas beyond. And his eyes seemed to know everything as they looked into the Otomo's and returned his bow with only the proper amount of deference.
"There are some, Yoritomo-sama," Sukishi said as he rose from his bow. "Who would simply call me stubborn, obstinate and a busy-body." His lips almost, just barely, quirked into the beginnings of a wry smile, but stopped just before.
"In other words, you are an Otomo, Otomo-san," Ogawa said in a voice that, while it did not crackle with any displeasure, had a sort of dry wit to it that was almost viperous. "Yet, still, patience has its merits, and there are those who tell me that you have helped remind your family of our well wishes to the Emperor of late. What do you want in Dojo Raiden?"
"I have come to offer my thanks to someone," Sukishi said, showing no signs of being bothered or daunted by the man's mannerisms. "I owe my life to him, and to this day I have had no way to properly thank him for what he has done."
"This is not all, Otomo-san," the old man said with a frown. "You have gone to too great a length for such a thing."
"It is merely a gift, Yoritomo-sama, and one which would have been difficult to achieve otherwise, due to the nature of our meeting," Sukishi said, shaking his head slightly, his words nothing but sincere.
The old man looked him over shrewdly before nodding. "The one you seek is enjoying the view behind the shrine. Come with me," he said with a nod, walking ahead slowly. He took his time, clearly expecting the Otomo to follow.
Step after step drew the two nearer towards a young man in his late teens, looking out over the ocean. Leg propped up on a rock, he was looking up at the morning star. He turned and smiled a youthful and energetic smile. He was dressed in mantis greens and black, bearing the mon of a mantis on his right sleeve and a different mon on his left, the sight blocked by his overcloak. There was a vague look of recollection in his eyes, if a distant one.
Sukishi bowed to him deeply, remaining there long after the boy had bowed to him with only the barest of proper responses. "Have we met before, Otomo-san?" he said, a confused tone in his voice. "I am Yoritomo Isei, and I was told that you wished to speak with me… but there is something familiar to you."
"We have met, once," Sukishi said as he rose from his bow slowly, turning his eyes aside. "You saved my life, Yoritomo-sama. I have sought a chance to repay you for this act in some small way."
The boy's eyes lit up, seeming to suddenly recognize Sukishi. "You were there, that day! I remember you. I was with Kobe that day, wasn't I, on Wave Dancer!"
"This is true," Ogawa said with a grave nod. "He was on the Swan that day, as you recall. Your skills at recall are improving, young Isei." He seemed rather pleased about the young man's response, the memory of the event almost a full year ago or more clearly pleasing him.
Sukishi nodded in reply, giving the old man a wry look. He had mentioned nothing of the incident that had brought this meeting about in the first place. Then again, it was to be expected that he would know.
Reaching into his obi in a small pouch, he smiled softly, a look of something very close to relief in his eyes. He pulled a small, silk wrapped item out of the pouch and bowed once more, speaking in a carefully practiced tone. It was obvious he had been thinking of this for a long time from his tone, and yet there was no question of the truth and sincerity in his words, "Yes, I was, Yoritomo-sama," he said, extending the small package. "It is an honor that you remembered one such as myself. I am nothing more than a small ambassador to these lands on the behalf of my family. And yet, you have given me so much. I would ask that you please accept this as a token of my thanks."
"Your dutifulness is to be commended, Otomo-san," Isei said, shaking his head and smiling. "But I was merely doing my duties to the lords of the sea. This is not necessary."
"It is true that you were fulfilling the duties of those who guard the waves. And yet, still, what you have done was beyond what is expected. As you have helped to see me home to continue in my duties, I would ask to return the sentiment."
Isei quirked his eyebrow, curiosity riddling his face as he made the second refusal, "still, Otomo-san, here in the shrine of Isora I have the guidance of a fortune that returns me to my home. Though your sentiment is appreciated, I still must decline for I would not deny the lady her privilege."
Sukishi smiled softly, raising his gift up slightly, his delicate fingers pulling the silk apart to show a weather-worn metal compass that looked as if it had been carried for some time by the man and which had obviously seen much use and care by its owner. "You are correct, Yoritomo-sama. I would not deny Isora her right or privilege. She will see you safe to the coastlines of your home. And yet, all the world is a stormy sea in its way. Please accept this in my hopes that it guide you as it has me, bringing you homeward even in storms that might come far from the seas."
As Isei bowed in return and accepted the gift, looking at it with a curiosity born more for the giving than an item he had seen many times before, Ogawa frowned. The old man looked at Sukishi while he rose, his eyes seeming to pierce his very being. Whatever he saw in the courtier seemed to give the old sensei pause.
"I thank you, Otomo-san," the boy said with a nod. He turned and looked at his sensei deferentially, an eyebrow raised. When the old man sighed and nodded, his smile broadened and he continued. "But, honestly, we both know who I am. There is no more need for masks, yes?" As he spoke, the wind gusted and the chrysanthemum mon on his left was visible for a moment before disappearing again.
"As you say, Toturi-donno," Sukishi said with a deferential nod. "I will bow to your wisdom in this." And yet, even as he said this, it seemed he was taking Ogawa in with the nod.
"I take it that you have come to ask my favor then? After all, the truth is obvious now, is it not, what I will one day be?" he said, pride welling up in his youthful eyes, and perhaps even a hint of ambition.
"I do not have any business doing something so brazen, -donno," Sukishi said with a resolute shake of his head. "Favor is a thing which is both earned and given. I have done nothing to this day to justify such a thing. You are right. Many will come soon, who will do just as you have said. Many have probably already been. I am merely here to thank you, to show you that an Otomo does not forget his debts. After all, -donno, I owe you my life."
The boy laughed, smiling brightly and looking at Ogawa, whose frown had faded somewhat, but whose shrewd eyes never left the conversation. Turning and looking across the sea in the direction of an unseen coast, the lad made a sweeping hand motion, as if taking it all in and nodded. "Well, that's a new one, Otomo-san. Aren't samurai supposed to be bold?"
"You are right, Toturi-donno. I am a samurai, and I must be bold. However, to seize what is not mine to take, and to not have the strength to hold it, that is foolish."
The young man's voice was light as he replied with a nod, "Well spoken. And when you have the strength? What do you intend to do with it?"
"Only my duty, Toturi-donno. I am, since the day of my birth, nothing more than a servant, however bold. I live only to serve."
"I will remember that about you, Otomo Sukishi-san," he said, looking over his shoulder and then turning to bow. As his departing bow was returned, he began to walk away. "Thank you for your gift. I am certain it will guide me well one day."
Sukishi remained bowed until the boy was out of sight, rising, he turned to the old man who waited, frowning darkly. The eyes of the sensei bored into him, looking for something. "We will speak again, Otomo-san," he said in a gravelly tone. He sounded neither pleased nor displeased. Only pensive and thoughtful.
"I expected as much. I am at your disposal," Sukishi said, bowing to him. He was alone by the time he rose from the bow.

*************

"What do you think of him, Hizatoru-dono?"
The young Imperial prince peered out of the shrine at the retreating Otomo. "He seems very loyal. He'll be... useful, won't he, sensei? I will need men like him to plead my case in the courts, if the Crane or the Lion try anything."
"Indeed," the old man murmured. "But let us hope that will not be neccessary."