Day 4 LA - The Festival of Remembrance (Open/Event)

[Toritaka Hanatsuko]

Kuma now perched himself on Hanatsuko's shoulder.

Protect me from these fiends. I am tired of them trying to pull my feathers.

Hanatsuko looked at the flute trilling Crane and chuckle lightly.

"Asahina sama, would you tell the children a story. Perhaps that would calm them a bit."

She looked at the horse who looked now properly braided. "Satuma looks like quite dapper. May be as a thank you for their service."

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"As you wish, Masao-ue, Toritaka-san." He nods his head and turns himself to the children. It was a rather popular Crane story. Children being children, he got interrupted sometimes. "On a village, there was a girl named Urashimako who lived off the sea. Not the waves of the ronin, but the ones of a fisher. Yes, yes, there are ronin on the story. One morning, she got her bucket and her rod, and went to the beach like every day she did. However, this day, there were many ronin by the sea. See? I said there were wavemen.

You see, Urashimako was ever a curious one, and approached behind a rock to see what they were talking about. No, she can't beat them, she is a heimin. And she saw, much to her shock, that they were laughing because they were kicking and beating a creature of the sea. But, you see, Urashimako was ever a brave one, and ran between them to save the little turtle. She endured some blows, but it being only a turtle, they let her run away. Far, far from them on the beach, she set the turtle free on the ocean. She eats fish, not turtles!

Next day, a great turtle appeared on the sea and stretched on Urashimako's shoji. She let the big turtle enter, and the turtle said. "Oh, child of man, I could not be more grateful. For I am a servant of the Sea King, Suitengu-sama, Fortune of the Sea. and you had saved his only daughter. He wants to see you, and thank you for what you have done. Please, let's come in the sea. Go on my shell, and fear not the water."

Then Urashimako sat on the turtle's shell as they traveled to the Sea Palace of Suitengu. There, the cobblestones were made of gold and the underwater trees grew leaves of silver, like on Kyuden Morehei. A Crane castle of old. By a feat of Air Magic, Urashimako and the other people could breathe there. There she met with Suitengu and his daughter, the little tortoise, who was now a pretty princess who wore ten layers of kimono that never got wet. She entered there as a guest of honor, and, day after day, there was a party hosted on her name.

Urashimako was happy there and liked all parties, but started to miss her friends and her parents. She asked then to Suitengu if she could return to the shore. He agreed, but before she went, the little turtle princess — she is not a turtle anymore — ran to her and gave her a little box, saying: "On this box, there is happiness. Please only open it when you are old, Urashimako, and with white hair."

Urashimako then walked to the shore. There, she found when she arrived, to her horror, that everything had changed and she knew none of the people who were there. Even her house was not in the same place anymore. Yes, her lord allowed her to build another house, she wouldn't live on the street like an eta, no. She started to ask around if people knew of a fisher named Urashimako, and people replied that they had heard that name, and it was of a girl who disappeared a long, long time ago. This is how Urashimako discovered that 300 years had passed since she left.

Taken by a great sadness, she went back to the shore, waiting again for the turtle so she could return to the Sea Kingdom. However, the turtles did not appear. Day after day, Urashimako fell in despair, and she had more need for happiness inside the little box. She, still young, one day opened the box. You'll see what was inside it! A white haze left it and coiled around her, and it turned her into an old lady with white hair. Her body had turned into an old and wrinkled one, and the weight of her years she carried on her curved back.

And, from the sea at last, came the tranquil and sweet voice of the princess. "I had told you not to open it... Inside the box, there were all of your years." The box had eternal youth, and Urashimako, not knowing its value, had let it go forever."

It was a rather long one. Should have them occupied for a while.

Day 4 LA - The Festival of Remembrance - P: Storytelling / AWA fluff roll, +voice: 4d10 18