Letter 11

(Clan Dragon)

Although she cannot hear us, I know that Hitomi would be proud.

We served with honor as she fought the Shadow before the others knew the danger it posed. We stood beside her, aiding her as she guided us forward into honor. Though some reviled our path, decried our Lady and our choice, we knew its worth. We stood firm.

Ours is a true honor, not dirtied by ignorant scorn nor swayed by those who cannot claim to understand.

Hitomi turned to me as she left for her final battle and gave me these words to pass to you: "Each path that is true is dangerous. If there is no one to bar your way, no challenge to overcome, then you know that the choice is honorless. To you who have stood beside me I owe more than my own life. I owe you the future." With that, she stepped into the heavens, and we turned to rebuild what had been lost.

A monk, one of Hoshi's, asked me what our struggle had gained, and I pointed to the dark heavens above. Where the moon does not shine and Onnotangu does not look down in scorn on his children's children, there we stand. And we are ready.

I know that Hitomi will challenge Onnotangu.

If she wins, it will be because we have given her strength.

If she is victorious and the Moon is destroyed, then Onnotangu's evil will be purged, and only his shadow will remain. Without the strength of a god, the Shadow can be defeated. It will have only two weapons to fight us -- Adorai and Shosuro. And we have captured a Thunder once before.

Before she climbed to the Refuge of the Three Sisters, Hitomi met with a woman I do not know. Her flesh was covered with tattoos like feathers, shimmering around her eyes and down her shoulders: the mark of Shinsei's crow. The Lady of the Dragons stepped forth and touched the woman's heart, then her belly. "Hoshi?" she asked, and there was no answer.

"His name will be Togashi," Hitomi smiled.

I know not what she meant.

We are the New Way.

We are the light of truth.

We are the vision of the future.

We will know she is returning when the Moon falls from the sky.

Mirumoto Uso