Day 16 -  Shinsei's Shrine

The land is empty, the temple lit by only a few flickering flames. Deep in the forest, near its heart, is a glade of yellow grass and an open shrine with no monks to tend it. It is a holy site, a place of dreams.

The light of the eternal candles shines like dark stars beneath the night's canopy, and where no monk should have been, a man walks from the shrine's heart toward Hitomi.

"Will you follow me?" She asks him, simply.

He smiles, and a black crow lands on the monk's broad shoulder. "A favor for a favor. For you followed, once, when you had nothing to gain by doing so. We know our purpose upon the land, and if we can bring you peace, our path will take us to your side." Almost recognizing the monk's smile, Hitomi pauses to contemplate his words. Then the sense of familiarity is gone, and the crow flies over an empty woodland beneath a moonless night.

Source: posted to www.wizards.com/l5r on 2/6/00