Practitioner

((Jimnote: Was wondering how I could set this up in-game, but I figured it out. Just make a selection button on Day 3 for "Wake up early". 8D))

It was still a little difficult to get out of bed, especially what with the newly sore muscles, but I was feeling spritely today. I threw the comforter off me, and it made a satisfying 'punfu' as it hit the ground. My body felt like I'd thrown off an suit of plate. I turned to my roomate and-- oh. He was out already.

"When the hell did he get up?"

In any case, I stretched, did my morning ritual, put on a walking robe, and started to head out. Oil was rationed to us for the night only, so there really was no point in staying in a darkened room.

I opened the door... and found Master Arihitsu sitting right across from it, reading yet another scroll from his never-ending basket. He'd looked up from it as soon as he heard the rattle of my door, which meant that he was looking right at me before I could even get a look at him. I recoiled, but managed to not cry out.

"Give thee a good day, Mr. Shitetsu." He smiled and stood, leaving his basket on the floor. Even in the gloom of the unlit morning, I could see that he was dimly beaming.

"Ah, give thee a good day, Master Arihitsu." I held my breath for a moment before continuing. "I suppose that when you were people-watching just now, you were watching for a particular person?"

He smiled. "You would be correct, Mr. Shitetsu."

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your appearance, Master?" I remembered to give the light body-bow this time. It was a new experience for me to have a monk that was not of my temple associate with me in this way.

He gave a bow in mirror of mine. "Be not so formal, Mr. Shitetsu. I feel that such distance lessens the connections that I could be building with people. You are 'owed the pleasure of my appearance' because I heard-tell that you are are a practitioner of the Seven Bands of Life. Is this true?"

I... I was taken back a little. From the first moment that I'd seen him atop the stairs to the second floor, I knew from his robe what religion he stood for. But what with my mind full of practice and my own little thoughts, I'd never had the chance to ask him about where he served. A flush came to my face.

"I, ah, am, Master!" I shook myself out of that snap of boyish excitement. "We can see You/In the band-light/You together/And You apart."

He gave the medium head-bow but also parted his hands, pushing them out and pulling them in. Our feelings shared, he continued. "I am so glad to meet a practitioner, since we have so few here. Do you know of our temple?"

"It was one of the reasons that I wanted to come here. I have not yet had the chance to visit, but I will be doing so soon. It is on the road to Tetsumei Village, as I recall?"

He smiled. "The very same. Do not wait too long, Mr. Shitetsu. We all wish to see you, as well as any other Valandists that you know of. Now," and here he cricked his knuckles, " I have a proposition for you."

I nodded a few times. "Please, go on."

He nodded in turn. "You would do me a great boon if you were to come with me tomorrow to collect alms from the village. I know that you have a myriad of obligations to deal with, so if it is too much trouble, it is no dishonor to refuse."

Do you wish to go with Master Arihitsu early tomorrow morning?

~No.

*~Master Arihitsu's smile bent into one that had been beaten into acceptance and quenched.

"Forgive me for imposing, Mr. Shitetsu. If there is anything that you need to ask of me, please do not hesitate. Let us meet again." He bowed, took his books in one hand, and left.

Something hidden within his formal language chilled me. I sighed and headed back in to think a moment, and maybe to sleep again.

~Yes.

*~Master Arihitsu's dim beam became a mirror catching the sun. "Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful. I am sorry to make the imposition, but my partner from the shrine is feeling ill and I was going to miss his conversation and his bag. I shall come before the dawn breaks, so please get a bit of rest before then."

"What else could I do, Master? If the temple is in need, it is my obligation." His smile was infectious. I caught myself grinning, but figured that there was no need to keep cool here. We chatted for a while about the temple in Hoe and about whatever it was he was reading until it came time for us to part.