Way Of The Warrior – Character/Self Control

Chapter II of Way Of The Warrior
{Denise gracefully hosts Six Sentence Stories, where writers unleash their magic under one simple rule: in no more or no less than 6 sentences.
This week’s prompt word is : SILK }This is the second installment of Way of The Warrior, a story I started writing back in July 2022.
Here are the links to the 1st chapter – Loyalty , and to an Introduction to the characters.

Although the entirety of the story, all nine chapters, will be under the Six Sentence format,
I will not be linking the remaining chapters to the hop.
Two reasons:
1) I am not even close as good of a writer  to manipulate the story around the weekly prompt words, like Chris or Liz are (among others) with their serial stories. Especially with a theme so specific as the world of Way Of The Warrior is.
2) I do not have the patience to wait for suitable prompts and then publish each episode.
I need to finally get this story out in the world.

I hope, Denise, you will forgive me for doing so.
It has been and will continue to be an honor to be a part of the Six Sentence Stories community.

To my readers from the SSS: if you are inclined to read the rest of the chapters, I will kindly ask you to stop by and visit my blog.
Every week I will be publishing a new chapter.
There is also a dedicated page Way Of The Warrior, where all the episodes of the story can be found.

Thank you.

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WAY OF THE WARRIOR

II

CHARACTER / SELF-CONTROL

Notes

¹ uguisubari : Wooden floors specifically designed to chirp at the slightest pressure, thus warning the inhabitants of any approach. Usually found at castle palaces and some temples. Their nickname nightingale, stems from the sound they make, resembling the song of uguisu, a common song bird in Japan.

² kimono : the traditional garment of Japan

³haori :  is a Japanese traditional jacket with a loose fit.. Men’s haori, which generally have been used in formal situations, are found in plain colours , often feature beautiful hand-painted artworks on the lining.

⁴ Kaze : wind

⁵ Winter Solitude, by Matsuo Basho : he was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. Today his name is synonymous with the greatest mastery of haiku (a form of short poetry from Japan).

 

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«Impossible, my Lord…no one will be able to approach you or your sister at a distance closer than 20 steps without making their presence known» , proud at seeing the smile on Lord Shigenobu’s face, the master carpenter Junpei was also proud of the uguisubari¹ , it was beautiful, with handpicked planks polished to a mirror finish; he knew any attempt to traverse it silently was futile for the quieter one tried to walk on it, the louder this Nightingale floor would sing.

 

Growing up together, Naoki & Haruko tried repeatedly to defeat the uguisubari; taking turns, each would sit in the middle of the chamber, blindfolded, while the other tried to approach with stealth – the floor always victorious but that did not deter the boy (soon to become first samurai of the Zen Ryū clan), and the girl, (soon to be the beloved and revered Lady Haruko), from bonding, unaware what the Fates had already decreed.

 

With the passing of each season, came also one more layer underneath the silk kimono² of the first lady and beneath the haori³ of the first samurai; the two, well versed in the boundaries imposed by hierarchy, in spite of their silent desire to explore uncharted territory between the plains of logic and the seashore of unattainable, understood it was a feat tantamount to walking silently on the Nightingale floor.

 

Naoki was never one to look down at people, extracting superiority from Lord Shigenobu’s favor; it was this quality, the lack of pretense, that persuaded Junpei to reveal the secret of the uguisubari to Naoki the day before the ceremony where he would receive the ancestral sword of the clan as the Keeper of the Dragon: a sequence of steps marking a unique path…”in case the Keeper of the Dragon needs to tread where others cannot.”

 

The night before the ceremony Naoki stood at the threshold of Haruko’s chambers; silently he began to follow the secret steps inward, their eyes remained fixed on one another, illuminated for the miracle they were witness, realizing they were about to disembark upon the shores of the impossible…as dawn’s first light filtered through the small stained glass window near the bed where they lay, Naoki deftly slipped from Haruko’s sleeping embrace, her breaths now deep and steady, he did not wish to disturb her and so bowed to her in a moment suspended above the sea of impossible, then retreated from the shores of the once unachievable.

 

There was one last gift from that ceremony, it was that gift, years later, Naoki was now caressing; speaking softly, he gently ran his hand over her smooth dark skin, his heart bursting with love… Lady Haruko had bestowed upon him the most beautiful black mare, with a mane unrivaled among any horse in the kingdom, “her name is Kaze”, Haruko offered, then silently placed a scroll in his hands:

” Winter Solitude

A world of one color

The sound of Wind ” ⁵

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Lyrics of the song Lovers, sung by Kathleen Battle:
“There was a field in my old town
Where we always played hand in hand
The wind was gently touching the grass
We were so young, so fearless
Then I dreamt over and over
Of you holding me tight under the stars
I made a promise to my dear lord
I will love you forever
Time has passed
So much has changed
But the field remains in my heart
Oh, where are you?
I need to tell you I still love you
So I reach out for you
You fly around me like a butterfly
Your voice still echoes in my heart
You are my true love
There was a field in my old town
Where in spring all flowers blossomed wide
We were chasing butterflies
Hand in hand ’til close of day
Your voice still echoes in my heart”

 

 

By The Company Of Warriors I Keep
Spira / Nick © March 2023

_HBDMF

 

 

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