"Kisha, out!"
She holds her thumb and two fingers of right hand extended, palm forward, smiles and winks, signing off.
The camera-light darkens, and the production lights fade, leaving Kisha sitting in her rooms at Natsuzora. She's already gotten word that Dento-no-gimu has been retrieved and made ready for her next journey. The pony seemed pleased to have learned where they would be going, perhaps more than Kisha was pleased to have been able to make it happen.
Rakuen, the Blessed World.
Evidently, the Family believed what she told them about the visit she had received. Evidently, too, some of the Children of Shinjo also believed it; rarely had Kisha seen the paperwork for her travels pushed through as quickly as this sheaf had been. That the Family would consider her exercise of options expended for a good long while after this was a small enough price to pay.
Kisha takes a deep breath and sighs it out. This has been a good place. It will be a good place. But it is not her place; no one place, really, is or can be.
It's time to move on.
~~~~~
The ship enters orbit, and Kisha looks through her small viewport at the gleaming blue and green world beneath her. Even from this height, it inspires awe, and Kisha feels her heart leap in her chest. Breathing deeply, she focuses inward, recalling the lessons the shisha teach, and she suddenly knows a piece of this world deep within her, understanding blooming suddenly. It welcomes her, loves her already, and her eyes well up with tears at the certain knowledge that she is doing both as she wants and as she ought.
Her mind returns to a beach under the stars.
~~~~~
The shuttle doors open, and Kisha leads Dento down the ramp. As soon as their feet and hooves are on the ground of the world, Kisha bows deeply. The direction does not matter; holiness is found at every compass point here.
She holds the bow for a heartbeat, three, five, seven, and rises. Then she mounts Dento, pats the pony's neck, and begins to ride.
The direction does not matter; what she will need to find will find her at every compass point here.
~~~~~
At no point does Kisha record anything, whether by holodrone, by densai camera, by handwritten note. This time close to the ancestors is for her alone. Well, her and Dento, anyway, but the pony's not talking.
There remain only memories afterwards, and good ones. Kisha is not the only pilgrim riding the rolling verdant plains of this paradise, after all. Meals are shared and stories, news of home and ways of caring for horseflesh, tents and maybe a bed.
Of the visions that emerge from such travels, of a white-clad rider on a white horse shining silver-flaming in the sunlight, and of other things, only they can speak who have seen them, and only those who have no need for the words can hear them clearly.
~~~~~
A rider approaches from the south, and Kisha stands up from beside the small fire she has kindled. Squinting, she recognizes the horo on the rider's back, and she sighs. The time has come; the Family has need of her, even now, even here.
The rider approaches, slows, raises a hand in greeting, halloes the camp. Kisha raises her own in return, and the rider draws closer. She walks toward him, bowing when the distance between them closes to a respectful one.
The rider dismounts and returns the bow. "Kisha of the Miya, Shisha of the Empire?"
Kisha nods and replies "Yes."
The rider pulls a scroll from a pouch at the hip and offers it in both hands to her. She accepts it, bowing again, and invites the rider for tea. A nodding head accepts the offer, and not long after, the two ride off together.
~~~~~
As Kisha returns to the ship sent to ferry her on to her next assignment, having seen Dento to the stable-room where she will be pacified for the journey, her densai dings with a message received. Kisha taps the device, checking the sender, and she smiles just a little bit as she sees who the message is from.
Opening it, she sees
Still smiling, the Miya settles in to read.Kisha chan,
I have decided to stop pretending I am “casually thinking about writing to you,” as this deception has fooled no one, least of all me. So. Here I am.