Day 3 - Shrine of the Ki-rin

Releasing the golden bridle, she watches as the colt leaps and kicks, free to the air and the wind. "Find them," Hitomi whispers. "Bring them home."

The cold frost littering the ground burns away at the touch of the Ki-Rin's tiny hooves. Behind her, Hitomi hears a soft sound. A man kneels at the edge of the clearing, his skin chilled from the touch of the long night's passing.

"I beg a question, honored traveler," he says.

"Speak."

"How can a samurai regain what has been lost?" The enigma stands between them, and Hitomi looks back at the ronin's covered eye. His horse stands in the nearby woodlands, weary from long journeys and wasted days of revenge.

"By claiming the death that is his right," she says. "Either his own, or that of the one who has wronged him." The ancient words of bushido come easily to mind as the golden colt leaps toward the high heavens. Yakamo . . .

Dairya looks up, images of the Crane who took his eye passing quickly through his mind. He nods. "My quest has been for this. His words exiled the Scorpion; his blade took my eye."

Hitomi turns away and leaves his thoughts behind. For ten years, hers had been the path of revenge. Now she lives for her clan, and for the Empire.

Let another walk those dark shores.

Source: posted to www.wizards.com/l5r on 1/24/00