By The Water's Edge

[Takeda Katsumi]

Children. How strange, to hear a demon speak so sweetly of her former spawn, how strange to think that it was a fate that Katsumi would never know. When she had still drawn breath she had always assumed, at least superficially, that she would one day whelp the next descendants of the Takeda clan, though they would not have borne that name. It was expected, an eventuality as immutable as the coming of the rain.

How foolish those expectations had been.

"There is no shame in feeling sorrow for those who are lost to us," Takeda replied, ignoring the Fox's question for now. "All things come to pass, and it is right to mourn them, but without their passing we would not fully grasp how precious they once were. It is the fact that they die that makes them lovely."

Mono no aware.

While many thought of the cherry blossom as the most artful expression of this empathy for transience, the petals precious because they are so fleeting, though it was not rose petals that Takeda thought of. To her, there was nothing in the world that represented the concept better than brilliant arcs of scarlet splashing across a field of snow, a silver line of steel finishing a graceful arc, a single moment of utter perfection, lost the moment it was born...

Her fangs had slid free again, and Katsumi had to remind her beast to quiet itself. To distract herself, her mind wandered back to the Fox's question.

"Still water does not hold the same essence, in my mind, that a river or the sea does. It is its nature to flow, to change, to adapt, but more than that, to purify."

[Niamh Sionnaigh]

"I've heard many platitudes in my life." Niamh begins, twinning blades if grass between her fingers. "And I'll hear many more before I'm gone for good, but that's one of the only things I've heard that actually sounds like you mean it." Niamh perhaps blunders into saying, a cudgel rather then a blade. "It's lovely, morbid yes. But lovely. Thank you for saying it."

Niamh holds the peace until Takeda speaks again. Politely ignoring the fangs, not wanting to know what the haunt was thinking to bring them forth. If it followed the conversation and it were the thought of child-flesh splitting under them for the orental to drink her fill, well there won't be much left of her for anyone to find.

"Is it just the water then? Ritualized purification with running water..." she says, easing in. "I've heard that there's others who..worship the water, or something in the rather....it's an....interesting divergence of thought." was it the interuption of her meal, the water, or this chance meeting, that had her risking exposure

[Takeda Katsumi]

Takeda sighed as the Water Demon declared her wisdom to be a simple platitude, but she supposed that it was the fault of the teacher if the student did not learn, and truth to tell, Takeda had never been an able teacher. Her students had gained more bruises than they had anything else, much to her family's chagrin.

Perhaps, when next they spoke, she would be better able to reveal the wisdom of mono on aware. As to the question of ritual, though, that was something Katsumi felt more confident discussing.

"Ritual is important. It transforms meaning and allows us to process change. Without it, our lives would be hollow. So yes, it is ritual. For me, it is not just about the idea of washing, or cleansing, it is about focusing upon the river itself. The river flows, no matter what it must pass through, above, or under, it flows. At times it is a rushing torrent, more violent than an enraged tiger, and at others it is so calm it appears to sleep. That is life. Life flows. So, too, must we, or else we shall simply be dragged along and drowned in its current. This is what I wish to remember, and this is why I've come here.

"But you, Miss Fox," Katsumi continued, opening her eyes and turning to stare at the dripping Water Demon, "came here for a very different reason. You chose to eat here, and I am curious, what did you wish to get from such an experience?"

[Niamh Sionnaigh]

Niamh sits, and Niamh listens.

First to the pitter patter of her...everythibg as it hits the ground sround her. Then to the river, and then to the women.

"I apologies then. For polluting the river. Or the moment, rather. more then she had polluted this river and more will come after her as well.

"We did come here for very different reasons." some truth was needed as the vicious eyes, and murderous manner seemed, not lessened but tempered by the river side. But not the whole truth. Never the whole truth. "I was drowning in the North Atlantic when I died. I lost all my boys. One to panic. One to the water. And one...one to my clan." in front of her eyes, torn in two. Offered up to the Mother she will not claim. "Perhaps I was trying to offer new pleasure to new waters. Equating life with death. Or instead if death. Or perhaps I was just punishing my own damn self."

[Takeda Katsumi]

"If I had announced my intention to visit the river here, tonight, then perhaps I would accept your pardon. Perhaps, it is actually I that should offer apology to you, Miss Fox, for having disturbed your meal. Unless, it is as you say, and you are actually relieved to have been interrupted from your chosen self-punishment. You do seem to carry much guilt."

Katsumi let the statement hang in the air, partially because she wished to see how the Water Demon would react, and partially because she wasn't sure what else to say. She was used to Demons reveling in the ashes of their past, not lingering so closely to the ghosts of their departed. A memory stirred as that thought crossed her mind: a body lay swathed in white, a haze of incense wafting through the air as silently weeping men and women waited their turn to say farewell...

"Perhaps," Katsumi began tentatively, "perhaps that is because you were never able to give them a funeral. There was no ritual to say farewell to their souls."

[Niamh Sionnaigh]

Niamh nods, eyes of muddy water focusing on a distant point past the river.

"Aye. Is that so surprising to you? I carry guilt. I couldn't save my children. A mother's supposed to protect them. It was my idea to go to New York. I badgered my husband, I got my boys do excited...then I let them all die." muddy eyes find murderous twin orbs, "I didn't meet the sun, I didn't do anything to my sire nor his cult...and I didn't even have the decency to due when I was nearly killed."

Neither women had the false breath of life, but the scraggly blond still appeared human. Not nessisarily alive. She didn't blink, or fidget, the only breath she took was that which she needed to speak, nut there was humanity about her that belied the Beast within.

"They're not at rest. None if the souls on that godforsaken ship are. I never got to-yes. You're right Miss Takeda. But if I did some sort of ritual here. It would only be for my benifit, not for theirs." the Irishwomen pauses, "Unless you've a rite known to your culture that might help?" there was a strange mix of emotions tangled within those muddy waters.

[Takeda Katsumi]

Katsumi considered Miss Fox's, trying to imagine what it would be like to have such soul wrenching loss tearing at her. How fragile was she, truly? Had her suffering eroded her soul and made it brittle as glass, or had it honed her like the edge of a blade, ready to strike once given guidance? Katsumi was no priest, she was no spiritual guide, but she wondered if, just maybe, she could be a different sort of guide. She was, after all, walking the same path, even if Ms. Fox didn't realize it.

"Rituals only work for those who have belief in them, Ms. Fox," Katsumi replied, her hostile gaze at odds with the mellow tone of her words, "so perhaps I misspoke. Perhaps it is not ritual that you need. Perhaps what you need is a purpose. In life, your family gave you your purpose. You tried to improve their lives, to give them what, perhaps, you never had. Your intentions were pure and singular to your purpose. That they died was no fault of your own, or of theirs. The world is cruel. Accept this.

"Then," she continued, "accept that you need to find a new purpose. Your time as a mother is done. Grieve and remember your family, but lingering in your guilt will not help anyone. The only question is, what purpose will you seek, and will you allow others to help you find it?"

[Niamh Sionnaigh]

"Aye." Niamh nods and remembers a Drowned Goddess she has on faith in, "I just hoped..." what she hoped was plain for all to see.

The predator within stirs at the continual focus of Takeda's intent, but Niamh had years to grow not close, but used to the monster within her breast.

Niamh is quiet, unmoving, muddy waters gazing onto nothing outward.

To some it might seem as if the blond wasn't listening or paying attention, but Takeda could see the thoughts swirling around in the dark orbs across from hers.

"You're right. I am a mother no longer. I will not become one again." she isn't a prize or a puppet anymore either. "I ache for them. My grief and my guilt have been my bed fellows for far longer then anything I've known....except my rage."

Even if her mien was an unfortunate aspect of her blood, Niamh had a feeling that the Japanese Haunt knew rage.

"I have been aimless, nomadic. Coming to Sacramento has been the first true decision I've made on my own in a ling time," Niamh admits, "To have a purpose instead of languishing. Lamenting. A half step away from becoming a banshee...." she shakes her head.

"I'm not arrogant enough to assume I can do everything all by my lonesome. Not am I witless enough to accept what may come next blindly,

What purpose would you propose for me?"

[Takeda Katsumi]

What purpose, indeed? Who was to say what determined such things? Was it something that was forged with the rebirth of a soul, or was it something shaped and refined by the culture and experiences that brought shape to the soul? Even for herself, Katsumi couldn't say which must be true, for even if all souls were merely travelers in Seishi, the wheel of life and death, previous lives still influenced the present through inga oho, the laws of karma.

"If I were wiser, perhaps I would be able to tell you," Katsumi answered, "though perhaps even if I were so wise, it would still not help you to hear it. Some things are only learned when it is their time to be learned. But I can propose to you this: I will help you find your purpose, if you wish. We are both strangers here, and everyone is strange to us. It would be advantageous to change that."

[Niamh Sionnaigh]

"You know? I more in favour of this uncertainty from you then if you had a strong option. This is the first we've spoken at length." Niamh says after a moment. "I won't say I'll welcome your help as many might. As you say, people are stuborn and sometimes contrary. You might see something and I might not. You may suggest something and I might show my bullheadedness.

"But I will accept your help. We are both new as you say. Starting on even footing." some might say that wasn't true, there was a Savage Prince, and so far Niamh hadn't seen a Haunt in a position of power, and yet Niamh was Unaligned while Takeda shared a Covenant with not only the Prince but her Hound. "Though tonight I'd say we're already stepping towards, not friends yet. Acquaintances surely, and strangers no more."

"Though I've been blathering about my own self for far to long, what was your home like? And if I may ask, why did you leave?"