Our Continuing Days - Day 5, Part 4.3

[...] —I see… I'll try to keep it simple, then. Those three stages refer to what is considered the test of a Path Seeker before they are able to complete their vows, though they are never officially declared by any of the Greater Ones. Understanding simply refers to the process of reaching compression regarding the specific goals of the Greater Aspects, alongside their norms for operation and general purpose for the Sisterhood. Recognition refers to learning which aspects of the Path appeal the most personally to you, and Resolution refers to turning that which has been recognized into vows you are capable of living by. In this case, we're fully focused on Understanding, since it's where Senshinzako is stuck. The main problem shouldn't need much discussion, at least. 

—It is quite evident indeed, even without the context of lord Nalfimiria's commentary. The Lady Kalfisnar that inhabits Senshinzako's descriptions of her is one I've never heard of until I met him, and it wasn't due to knowing little concerning her. 

—Not shocked to hear that. I'm pretty sure that Kalfisnar doesn't exist anywhere else. It takes a lot of effort to remove the crazy energy from the Kalfisnar, and as if that wasn't enough it barely even sounds like he is aware of it. Anyone who's ever heard those statues talking would immediately be weirded out with the way Senshin describes her. 

—Especially so given Lady Kalfisnar hardly hides the fact her unhinged image is entirely intentional. Trying to filter it wouldn't simply be futile, but in defiance to the will of the Dreaming Star directly. His understanding of the sisterhood, and the function of Path Tracers also seems to be inaccurate as well, based on how he seems to image the role. In a sense, lacking comprehension here is almost as much of an issue, as far as the sisterhood is concerned. — Said Chiaisei, while pulling another issue into the talk. Really made me glad to have someone better at this type of smarts sitting around the table over that conversation. 

—Based on Nalfimiria's words, it seems the role he aspires for isn't that far from the usual for soldiers bound to a nation. Yet an obedient warrior is hardly what Path Tracers are expected to behave like, as their functioning in itself often demonstrates. Just take a moment to account for all the structures present within normal armies that don't exist within the sisterhood. A hierarchy barely exists, they rarely operate under strict orders, there is no separation between commanders and typical Path Tracers… Actually, there barely are any separations within their various functions as a whole, or any literal obligations they have to follow. Most personal decisions are left to a Path Tracer's own choices and devotions. This is why calling them an army has never been entirely accurate. A soldier's rigid mentality wouldn't function in this environment. The Greater One's haven't simply made this explicit through their words, yet also created an order that clearly reflects that position. — I probably couldn't have compared things as nicely as Chiaisei, but this whole matter wasn't particularly hard to notice when you stay in contact with a Path Tracer frequently either. As an example, I noticed a pretty long time ago that the concept of shifts was completely a suggestion when it came to temple work. That they function so well within that situation just sort of showed the difference in mentality they were trained under. 

—It's a point that's always astonished me as well. Sustaining a force as large as the sisterhood of ideals is in itself an inconceivable feat. That each of the Path Tracers can be this independent and stay cohesive among each other only makes the matter all the more stunning. It is truly a worthy feat for a Greater Aspect. — Sowanar said. I guess it would look that way for someone on the nearly opposite side of the spectrum. 

—That sounds a bit over the top to me, but let's leave that aside. This could lead to a whole tangent, so before that… Any clue on how to help? I guess learning more about his view on Kalfisnar would be helpful for now, but… Nalfimiria did say he was likely sent here to get in contact with clashing views over this, right? Now that we know what's up, how do we offer that without just spilling the whole deal? — I never liked the idea of ignoring others' issues, and even that sounded a bit complicated in this case. It looked like some amount of interaction would be needed in this case, and it wasn't like just sprinting out of a room whenever Senshin said anything vaguely connected to the sisterhood was a sane choice either. 

—I suppose there isn't much to do but wait. Responding to the occasional question likely won't be an issue, but the sister did say she could handle this herself, hasn't she? Leaving it to the specialist is likely our better option. 

—I get that Chiaisei, but… I just wish she was here to listen to all of this, in that case. At least knowing what I shouldn't be doing would already help out a lot. — I said, while looking out of the kitchen's window. 

—Isn't expecting an answer out of her much of the same sort of issue Senshinzako is going through? — Chiaisei said while grinning slightly. It seemed like I earned myself that one. 

—Hey, come on. We're different types of lazy, at least. 

After that, we decided to get back to a more usual topic, before continuing with the things we would need to do still, be it in regards to house work, studying or training. At some point Sowanar and I also found the time to tell some stories to our juniors about our previous work experiences, after Senshin had calmed down a little. Finarkzir also joined in the talk, even if most of her own experience came down to fighting others one on one. Our friendly bird seemed to like this kind of discussion. Around an hour before noon, Nalfimiria popped up in the house again, and some of us worked as assistants to help her cook. We had lunch around 14 'o clock, and after resting for a bit, we helped Nalfimiria prepare dinner as well, seeing as she wouldn't be home after the later half of the afternoon. 

We got that done, trained a bit more, discussed some of the stuff some of us had been reading. For one, Chiaisei told us a bit about her previous research topics, and how the current one gave her the push to conduct that bit of interviewing she had done that day. Her main field seemed to surround societal and cultural history, though according to her pursuing those areas often implied dabbling in all sorts of social studies. We also took the time to bring up or explain things we were into that didn't involve magic. Sowanar studied poetry in his down time, as an exemple. He even shared some of his experiments with us, which were all crazy cryptic in nature. I hadn't figured him to be the introspective type up to that point, but I figured some of that might apply in this case. 

At some point I had even decided to drag Senshin into the conversation, to ask if he had any non practice related hobbies. He struggled to resist, but it was futile. After beating on his head for a moment that anything related to work couldn't be called a hobby, he mentioned that other than reading reports and stories involving magical fights (because of course that was his main interest in reading), he liked checking up on his equipment frequently while meditating. I thought about decking him for a moment for ignoring my restrictions, though before I could he mentioned there was something relaxing to him about looking after his things, even when he knew there were other people who would have done it for him. Things like verifying the state of the quills in his physical arrows, or testing how sharp his sword and daggers are, or how sturdy is his bow at any given point. 

After convincing myself not to deck him either way, I let him go, which caused our boy to immediately flee into meditation once more. Also should add, Nalfimiria got to stick with us through part of these conversations, though ultimately other than the small comment she made about her past, she hadn't gone in depth into much of it as of then. I mean, the two of us more or less had been sustaining the group's conversations on our own for the first few days, so we had heard a lot about her up until that point. This kinda also made me appreciative of the fact our first task together appeared to have made the group more willing to interact as a whole. Maybe it was the slight tension of sharing a battlefield, maybe it was the emotional spiel each of us gave at the end of the job. 

Either way, it felt like some progress was being made. Based on the general dispositions of everyone else, I figured there was still more we could do to get better used to each other, but I also imagined things must have been developing pretty quickly as they were. And I'll mostly leave you with that for that day. Or rather, I would leave it now, though first I wanted to add in here some thoughts I had to myself about Senshin's situation, in a moment we were more or less left to silence, past the point Nalfimiria had left. "The questions being tossed at us are pretty different in nature, but… Maybe I've been evading mine as well. Guess my break and your task aren't all that different in cause. We might be similar types of idiots as a whole, then. Thinking of it like that only makes standing aside feel worse though. I'll be sure to try harder too Senshin." With that final melancholic note, I'll leave you until the next one. See you.