Originally Posted by
grampagen
As the group forged ahead through the hissing, knife-edged foliage for what seemed like hours, Ochazuke walked at the front of the group. His broad frame pushed forward tirelessly, chasing that long-forgotten path in these wilds where it lay consumed by time. For a long moment he neither spoke nor gazed back, his focus on maintaining the subtle sense of Kyokushin Keihatsu, grasping to seize any figment, any hint, as the living aura that pulled them to earth's embrace continued it attempt to hold him out. Time was of the essence.
Auroc's Eye is ever watching, claiming supplication and calling it love. Yet even he knew the name of Zxu'ro.
In so brief an exchange, the lengthy question railed within Ochazuke. How long had his gaze fallen upon this world, and what had he found there in those times unknown? The voice shook him from within, and he had shuddered to behold it, those mocking words of praise, cast from a view to kill. Could he not stand before that veiled Eye, only fall before it when it came time to protect what mattered most?
What had his journey been for?
So resolved to find the answer, the vision begotten to them in the Great Glacier by the Wolf Spirit Mara burned hotter in his memory than the rank airs that assailed them. His pace quickened, flattening brush underfoot as he moved to it.
Even after this tumble out of the sky, Zaofan's spirit was willing, yet still concerned with raising spirits though comfort.
"Heh, have you forgotten your training already, Zao?" he chuckled, "Fire cannot burn a Dragon, only return to it in kind."
Nor those that walked with him. Even as flight was denied to them, the memory of training to channel the Dragon's Endurance remained with him, and the spectal aura of Karura no Kaen swept over Ochazuke. The fire of his will gave him the strength to endure.
"Compared to the kitchen, this should be a pleasant breeze."
The condensation of the thick air remained, perfusing inescapably as they walked deeper into its dark maw. Long ago he had chased after a Tiger across a likewise knot-rooted swelter, and in the echo if his mind he could still see some figment of her gazing back.
It was a sentiment nearer to his heart, for as their group marched forth to uncover another lost art, Ochazuke was all but guarded concerning the man he walked before. Master Balon was the last thread to one entire school thought lost just a scant year ago.
If any peril should befall him, it will be swiftly cut down, he thought to himself, extending his senses as they marched ever deeper toward the Shrine's silent snare.
When he rejoined Zaofan on the Lookout, his martial brother was all too ecstatic to bring another one into the fold. The unexpected ally from the Tournament long ago, she was anything but hapless and had proven herself.
The legacy of Crane, Turtle, Dragon, Snake and Tiger had little issue where Horses were concerned, housed on this planet or where they trepsed in the starry fields elsewhere.
Ochazuke suddenly paused, casting a long look behind him. At first it seemed it was to to ensure they were all accounted for, but he seemed to look right through her at something near the canopy above before resuming the march forward.
Even if it was a fanciful sojourn, for those who had roots even besides that legacy long lost, perhaps in the experience they would learn something.