Quiet Night; Dusk To Delta

After a period of time on foot, the Yojimbo with Tama Tamura on his back, would depart from the realm of the Dusk and enter the transitional plane of the 'Crystal Nexus.' He knew his way along the bridges and did not need the assistance nor guidance of Tinasanti. He would make it on his own.

Tama stirred occasionally, visions of her past and her inevitable future, awoken by her father, were causing her small bouts of psychological turmoil. It wasn't anything serious, it was just a lot for her to shallow and she was struggling to do so. She would survive this, she knew that she needed to. Her father loved her, and entrusted her with the means necessary to carry out a job that he could not. She would not put a hold on the job that she accepted from Tabrith that time, but this took precedent. It was family business.

She finally return to consciousness once the party reached the crystal bridges, and Tama's eyes fluttered open when she felt the warmth of another and that her body was in motion. Reflexively, she leaned back and pushed herself off the back of the stranger carrying her with a kick. Once airborne, she used the momentum she had gathered from kicking off his back to flip backwards, in order to carry herself further away from him, and landed on a part of the bridges adjacent to him, but far enough away for her to feel safe.

"What are you doing." Her expression was stoic, and her stance showed she was ready for confrontation if it came to it. She briefly surveyed the area, gauging where exactly she had been taken and how far away she was from Dusk City, the last place she remembered being. There were still feelings of fatigue, it showed in how shaky her stance was, but she was still ready.

Eventually, simply because the two of them had breached the terrain of the Crystal Nexus, as a helpful hand, the Veritas itself would speak out to them.

The Yojimbo wasn't expecting her to awaken so soon, and to his surprise, as feisty as she was upon awakening. He turned around slowly, having not been shaken by her sudden come to a stir nor kick from his back, and held his hand up to her. "Peace, young one," he said in a gruff tone, "I am merely escorting you to a safe place for you to replenish yourself." His seasoned eyes grazed her body for signs of weakness; a skill of those always looking, yet noticing for a sake other than absolute destruction of the target before him. "... Your knees are still trembling." Fatigue, shock, revelation, fear; all such things that may have contributed to her current condition at the time, and all of which proving her unfit for a battle... At least, for one with the old Yojimbo.

Suddenly, he heard a voice echo all around him, seeming to be the planet itself speaking to him, somehow. He still wasn't quite fully aware of how this place worked, but he was more than understanding that this world was conscious and alive and that's all he needed to know in order to respect and respond to it... Even if he didn't know how. "No," he said decisively, "I thank you for your concern. I know where I am going."

Hiding her fatigue was definitely harder then it normally would be, and she figured that was because of the feeling she had in her gut. When she was touched by her father's light, his energy, she felt something inside of her begin to shift and change. As unfortunate as it was, she knew that she wouldn't be up to full power any time soon, and it seemed like fighting this person would be an error in judgement. He was able to identify her knees were weak, there was no telling what else he could tell was going on with her.

She dropped her guard slightly, loosening up her stance and normalizing herself. "...Fine. You weren't really doing anything suspicious..." She whispered reluctantly, feeling herself falling to her knees as she lost the strength she had found to escape his clutches. "Shit." She spat, slamming her fist against the ground and feeling her vision blurring. She was beginning to slip in and out of consciousness again and, before long, she was already out again.

He knew that she wasn't prepared to wake, yet. The stress of it all was too great; it was apparent from the moment he caught sight of her in the Dusk all the way to the moment she passed out. She was pushing herself much too hard, though he could understand why, considering how strange everything was. In all but a few blurred moments, she'd been assaulted, met her father, undergone a life-changing experience, departed from him and been left in the care of an unknown stranger adorned in a black robe with a crow-like mask on his face and samurai's hat atop his head. It was only natural for her to react the way she did.

"Hmmm..." He made his way over to her slowly, grasping her again as she'd fallen to her knees and back into slumber, "... She needs much rest." In one swift motion, he propped her upon his back again, halving her weight to make the strain less on him, before returning to his trek up the Bridges. His hope was that no creatures spotted them and gave him any trouble. He could handle them even as he was, but he did not want to put the girl at risk. "... When we get to my rest area, I will make us some tea; a special brew that will soothe your spirit and ease your fatigue..." He was more speaking to himself than to her, knowing she was unconscious, but still the direction of his words was to her. He missed the taste of tea, especially being tipped from a bamboo shoot; a special design he'd made for himself that was usually used on special occasions, due to its relative complexity in design. Just the memory of it and his old home made him all the more eager to return to his peaceful abode.

Slowly, but surely, the Yojimbo trekked up the crystalline bridges as though a staircase to a new, yet old world he was itching to return to. Every step felt like one inch closer to his tranquil abode in the sanctity of the Bamboo Jungle, where rarely anyone entered and where no one knew, for it resided at the very center, where the thickness of the stalks were most dense. He could taste his tea now.

He'd been walking for a while, having made it about halfway up, by now. It wasn't like it was a very difficult walk, since it was a clear-cut path, but it was relatively long without any of the supernatural means of transport, such as flight or teleportation and the like that most others were capable of. Though convenient for things like this, he saw them as a crutch to one's own most basic power, which was what he utilized in battle and always found himself victorious with... And if not, then at the very least, alive. That was all he needed was his life. He was still just as old fashioned as ever.

The man remained pensive, as he usually was, during the final stretch up the crystal bridge. He thought of the past and those experiences he shared with others, as well as the current status of the young one upon his back. From what was inferred in the conversation with the strange, nameless ghastly man, she was of the same lineage as the one to whom he referred as his 'son,' which only made him feel bonded to her through him... As if their blood were reacting to each other. He was much more in tune with everyone and everything around him than most who harbored such simple capabilities thought possible, for he had trained all of his senses to be heightened to be as sharp and keen as his hand with his edge and the blade itself. Many normal people were not aware of how much they were capable of just by honing the basic senses alone, which in turn, made them seek greater powers beyond the ones they were gifted. He was happy with what he had, and always would be. He was not greedy nor hungry for power, but solely his dedication to his beliefs and traditions. To uphold that, the Way of the Sword, he only needed the 5 senses God gave him.

"We're close..." he said, finally nearing the end of the crystal nexus, "... And fortunately, this path leads straight to the Blossom's Steppe, where my old home is." Though he was as diligent and persevering as he was, this didn't mean that he didn't get tired nor that he wished for hard work all the time. With this came the relief of knowing that they were almost there... To a place where they could both rest easy... The Bamboo Jungle.