Jie Bao's Story

For many in Lósénji Island the old ways have persisted despite the encrouchment of progressive ideas and innovation. Tradition had fought back and thus where other places would have been steamrolled by the attempt to force modernization at the detriment to culture and religion. Tiānshì City had prospered and though in a limbo of certain modern luxeries snaking through, others had been refused. They still believed in the Old Gods and practiced ways that many scoffed and mocked at in the modern world. This was Jie job, she was a Shrine Maiden or Miko for the Siyùna Shrine, with four acolytes to help in her duties of protecting and maintaining the shrine. Performing ceremonies and giving the offering that were offered from Tiānshì, Yōsái, Jikou, Naséni and finally her birth place and home, Yan'Xin. A small village very close to the Shrine and the main devotees. The other places came at times, but her home was the only place which actively offered daily offerings to the deities.

When not doing this she cleaned and polished the monuments, religious paraphernalia and when not doing that she taught the other Shrine Maiden's educating on simple maintenance of the Shrine to how to perform the offerings in respectful way. Jie was young, but already she was highly educated and wise. Secondly her age was no barrier to respect, she always came across humble and never raised her voice. Jie understood her duties and did them to best of her ability.

In secret she sometimes doubted herself worthy and even at times the stress became too much and she cried herself to sleep. She wore a mask so no one would see her devotion falter. This was the way of things and though she longed for more than this. Longed to be more than just a servant and be free, she could not forsake this place. For her, she would grow old and die this way. That was the way of things, yet her heart despite being pure in most senses, was lonely. And sometimes she even struggled to push herself up to continue the duties.

Of course she never told anyone, to everyone else, she was a diligent worker who understood her duties.

In the very distance there was a dull roar, if anyone looked out and to the sky they would see many trails of white streaking across the sky, going up into the distance and some stretching out into the horizon.

Something was happening.

Wandering through the Naséni Forest, Toh would walk the path leading to the shrine. Today he wanted to pray for a blessing from the gods so they may offer him some luck. It had been awhile since he had visited this shrine, although he would often visit the shrine to offer his forgiveness. Now he was coming her to ask for some luck, perhaps today would be a nice day.

As Toh continued to walk, he would hear a dull roar in the sky. It sounded like a projectile, but as he looked into the air he could faintly see past the trees and leaves that there were white streaks in the sky. Something was happening but it sounded like it was far away so there was not much reason to pay to much attention to it.

Toh would soon continue on the path to the shrine and soon climbed some old stone steps to reach the shrine. As he appeared on the top of the hill he would look at his surroundings making sure to stay silent and to not disrupt the routine of the Shrine Maidens. He would walk up to the offering box and placed a handful of currency into the box, he would then carefully get on his knees, closed his eyes and placed his hands together in a silent prayer to the gods.

At first she thought she imagined it, but as she heard a roaring, her gaze followed the sound to look up at a jetstream of what appeared to be missles. Fortunately it appeared far away, but it was a reminder that while this Island was isolated, the outside world still persisted. The price of peace with the Taiyou. So distracted she did not realize someone had approached until she approached the shrine. Immediately she adopted the diligent face as she recognized them, "Greetings Mr Shirong it has been a long time since you made this journey. If you require anything just speak to me or one of my girls." she nodded before leaving the enclosure and returning to the other shrine she had been cleaning, gently brushing the dust away while also putting fresh offerings within the baskets and removing all burnt scent sticks and replacing it with fresh ones. Normally she could expect about five people a day. On really busy day she could expect twenty which meant she generally had to clean shrine's twice.

Fortunately this appeared to be a quiet day, brushing away at the dust, she found herself thinking back to the missle. Of course she knew the world was different outside of this Island. In fact there was places that had completely abandoned the Gods or where buildings that were not only temples were completely imposing. Explorers had spoken how the world is so chaotic and there were so many cities all over the planet. They even said that where Jie lived was archaic in terms of the places they seen.

As Toh finished up his prayer, he had heard a familiar voice greet him but before he could talk to her she left the enclosure. As long as he was there he might as well catch up and talk to her. Once he left the enclosure, he made his was over to the shrine maiden who had greeted him. "Sorry for not greeting you sooner Ms Bao. It has been a long while and I should have said my greetings first, but now that we are on this topic I would like to say that it is nice to see you again." He spoke giving an apologetic bow.

His thoughts soon turned to the shrine. "I see that the shrine looks well, so how have things been? And if possible is there anything you need help with?"

Jie nodded with placid and polite expression never wavering as she spoke, "The pleasure is mine Mr Shirong and there no requirement to greet any of the Miko here, after all we are merely serving a duty to both the Gods and the Citizens. It would be impetuous to trespass on people's time with their ancestors and thoughts. We are here on hand if you need us, but you are never by any voiltion required to speak to us." pausing she went on, "Nonetheless I am sorry for interrupting your time and hope you will not feel I tarnished meditation or other such things." still she gestured to nearby chair so he could sit, "So brings Mr Shirong to this place today if it you don't mind me asking?"

Of course it was in reference what they both seen, but there was a decorum to these matters, "I just suspected after seeing the missle up above and hearing it, no one would dare come today. So imagine your journey here is pretty serious and you would not otherwise endanger yourself if you did not feel that it was a requirement. I imagine after that, there will be hardly anyone today, you may well be only arrival." pausing she exhaled so she could collect her thoughts, "Our alliance with Shintenchi while beneficial is of course tense at times being we are archaic compared to them. They are like the older, stronger sibling, any time they could view us as merely cattle and slaughter us." coughing her gaze turned down as she quickly added, "But... Mr Shirong I speak haughtily of matters I don't understand, please forgive me being frank... I just worry for my Maiden's and I as well as the whole Island."

Toh gratefully took a seat on the nearby chair and gave a polite nod of thanks in her direction. "The reasons behind my journey here are not serious at all, I just came here to ask for a little luck for the future. And I was already near the shrine when I saw the missile so it was better to just come here than waste a journey." He replied to her question, rather unfazed by the events going on.

When Jie began to talk about the Shintenchi, and how she thought they could turn of them at any time they wanted, Toh decided to speak up. "Its true that that they could attack us at any time, but why would they wait for years to attack a place knowing that they have very little means to protect themselves? I mean I am certain that if they have been guarding this land for years then they must have good intentions. Even if they planned on something like that, I promise that I would give my life to help protect everyone on this island." He stated with a determined smile.

Of course Jie was skeptical hearing this reply and it was difficult for her to keep the general respectful pose, nonetheless she did manage to begin with, "I see most would had been alarmed by the missle and chosen to make the journey another day. I am surprised someone of your station would throw caution to the wind." there was rebellious spark coming out again in full force, she immediately added, "With all due respect of course Mr Shirong, I just am not used to such foolhardy actions to merely pay respects at the Shrine." again she bit back her tongue and tried again, "Sorry, Mr Shirong, this whole thing just making incredibly anxious as you may well imagine..."

Of course her composure was further tested by the absurd claim, "No offense Mr Shirong, but I very much doubt you could stand up to the force and size of the Shintenchi Shogunate, strong and confident you may be. But it is reckless to think you could one handed protect this place. The audacity while admirable is foolish." face-palming she sighed long and hard, "I promise Mr Shirong I shall try keep such opinions out of our conversation... I am just tense and stressed. I shall endevour to be less frank and blunt and instead just exercise an air of clarity and respect."

Toh laughed when Jie face palmed herself, it really was a foolish statement but he actually meant it. Although he could feel something suddenly changed. "Yes I know I have no chance by myself against an entire military, but that does not mean I can't lose hope. But however something does feel different, almost as if whatever the military was fighting suddenly vanished. Maybe the gods did offer me their luck this day." He soon stood up and looked at the sky.

"Well, if you would like I can make some tea for you. If you are tense and stressed then you should rest for now, must be hard keeping up that facade of clarity and respect with all that is going on."

It was an admirable if utterly foolhardy attitude and she herself had her own flaws. It would be wrong to be critical of this man despite how utterly stupid he was in his claims. After all she herself lived in what could be largely called a prison of her making. Duty over anything, duty over happiness. Duty over everything. That was the way, but at times her composure revealed cracks or weaknesses despite her best attempts to stem or revel in her impotence. In reality she could easily forsake this, but everyone had to make sacrifices. This was the way of her society. Duty came first always, leisure merely a secondary part of this whole struggle. Nonetheless she managed to keep this facade up high. No matter how she truly struggled.

Of course she had noted that the their was eerie quiet now, it seemed the worse was over, "Perhaps you are right. But in the end I feel we are living on borrowed time and some of us would have regrets if we were to be snuffed out now. Regrets though matter little when it comes to ones duties." pausing she then added, "I would appreciate some herbal tea. Let's speak no more of the masks we wear. I have accepted what I must be, there is no question about anything else, in my view."

"Agreed, now please wait a minute while I get this ready..." Toh spoke as he reached inside his clothes and pulled out a large wooden box decorated with designs of dragons on it. He the sat on the ground an opened it up to reveal a large kettle pot, a set of tea cups, and small bottles of herbs and spices all neatly organised in this box, a pair of flints, another smaller box labeled firewood, and a small stand to set the kettle on so he could light a fire underneath it. This box was a gift from long ago to which he uses quite frequently.

Toh placed the kettle on the stand, grabbed a bottle of water from under his clothes and poured it inside the pot. He then opened up the box with the label on it and placed the firewood under the stand. He then grabbed the two pieces of flint and lit the firewood on fire. And he was doing this all inside the box.

Once the kettle finished boiling, Toh put out the fire and began to,place different types of herbal herbs inside the pot and mixed them together before pouring it into one of the tea cup and handed it over to Jie. "I always come prepared for a break."

Jie merely nodded and took a sip relaxing somewhat as the herbs started working on her mind and body, "I don't often get time to take a proper break usually so anything like this is greatly appreciated Mr Shirong." pausing she decided to elaborate, "Normally I am busy during free time training the other Mikos as you can likely imagine, after all being the oldest means I must make sure they learn. Fortunately it's not difficult it merely just demanding in terms of how much time I spend to myself." taking another sip she closed her eyes savouring the taste before placing it back down, "This is very good I admit, as I have stated usually so busy very little time to relax myself thus moments like these though rare are appreciated."

"I see...Sacrificing your free time so that you can train the others. I am available anytime to help around and I would be glad to help around. Everyone should take the time to rest, I know this duty is important but if you need time to yourself then take some time for yourself. Although I do not know the duties of being a shrine maiden so excuse me if I said anything displeasing." Toh spoke as he took a ship of his tea and began to pack up most of the equipment in the box.

Jie gave a slight shrug before saying, "Everyone has duties they must obey whether they want something more. Mines is simply quite demanding one. I wish there was another way, but the old ways must be taught. Traditions must be kept alive by the older so though the offer is appreciated with your knowledge on this Mr Shirong I do sadly feel you would be very unsuited here and that your help while noble in the idea would confuse more. Although..." she finished her tea and handed him the cup, "I have likely spent too long in rest so if you don't mind Mr Shirong I will return to my duties of preserving this place of worship and helping others learned. Be well Mr Shirong. Be well."

With that said, she stood dust herself off and gave a formal bow of respect before heading back in to continue the cleaning and other myriads of jobs required.

Toh took the cup and packed up both cups inside the box. "Thank you Ms Jie, I wish you well for the future. I shall begin my own journey and explore the universe. I believe its time to find a new purpose in my life. If you ever need help just ask, but I also bid you farewell." He spoke as he placed the box back inside his uniform before standing up and giving a bow of respect.

With all that said, he turned around and began to leave the shrine, prepared to begin his new journey across the stars. "A new purpose...I wonder how those two are doing? And how my old allies are doing?"