Kyuden Shika

As part of her duty, Oubaihime visits the local temple to see how she can help. She saw a broom and instinctively picked it up. The girl started to sweep. She hummed as the floor dust was swept.

Hikimasu was on his way back to the inn for cooling off after training but took a detour, which eventually found him at the temple to this strange unmentionable fortune he didn't know much about.

He thought he'd ask the monks, but there was only miko. He was suddenly caught with indecision. He should ask, but if he did he'd say something...something...Benten would have her price from him no matter what he thought he was doing. So find out about the temple and the ancient fortune, while possibly being arrested for indecency with a miko, or...keep walking, have that bath and move on...

He stood there, considering the situation. Which just meant it seemed as if some creepy scorpion were staring intently at a fair maiden.

Oubaihime looked up from her sweeping, to see the Scorpion looking at her. She gave the man a nod and smiled. "Good afternoon, sama." She stopped her task.

He'd taken too long, it seemed. Unsurprising. Well, at least she was being polite and not giving him that weathering glare he was accustomed to.

He nodded, then bowed, seeing she bore the Kaito heraldry.

"What is Phoenix doing here, sweeping a temple for the Shika?" he asked. Is it some sort of punishment? He wondered.

She blinked a few times. "I guess it is force of habit.Every little bit helps." She smiled. "What brings you to the temple?"

"Until now I believed musubi to be food", he said straight faced.

The girl covered her hand to hold a giggle. The Kaito priestess shook her head. She moved closer to the Scorpion and smiled. "Oh Scorpion sama... Maybe it is a food... for the soul or the heart." She looked at the cherry tree. "Perhaps for those who seek that life is not as ephemeral as we think." She gave a bow to the tree, then to the Scorpion. "This one is Kaito Oubaihime... it is an honor to have you here."

"Shosuro Hikimasu", he returned the bow, then also regarded the cherry tree, better to not have to look at the miko. "I think life is ephemeral no matter you view it, even a legacy ends one day." he shrugged, not seeming to mind the impropriety, or maybe forgetting it. "I'll eave here in a few weeks, probably engaged, that ends a part of my life. Sure, something new begins, but it isn't necessarily a great fortune, what if I like how things are now?"

The Kaito tilted her head. She took the broom and drew a circle on the floor. "Life is full of cycles, Bayushi sama. This cycle ends to start a new one..." She drew another circle that crossed the one she had draw. "Sometimes that cycle intertwines with another cycle as they continue to intertwine... new cycles are made. Some are better some are worse but we learn and go back to our original cycle." She explained. "Lives are connected... for good or bad... but we learn... we flow."

Obviously they teach that in Phoenix lands.

"Certainly, right now I eat food. When I die I am food, whether for some beast or some grass or worms", he shrugged again. "I prefer to do the eating, as I said, what if I like where I am now?"