"Hey," Ananias dryly greeted as he slowly approached the prince of Chon'sin, who was calmly and patiently awaiting his red clad friend as he situated himself seiza-style on the ground with his eyes closed and an expectantly smug grin on his face, in front of two large rocks with two large pieces of parchment spread out evenly across each one as well as an ink bottle and an ink brush sitting beside each one. When Ananias' greeting reached his ears, he opened his eyes and turned toward the direction of his friend's emotionless voice and smiled in such a way as to silently and subtly return his friend's greeting with one of his own. "You wanted to see me?" Ananias asked.
Tan'bay nodded his head approvingly. "Yes, I did. News certainly reaches your ears quickly, doesn't it my friend?"
Ananias simply and nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders before answering, "How am I supposed to know? All I know is that if someone needs me, I should make it a point to get to that person as quickly as possible."
Tan'bay held his chin while letting out an impressed, "Ah", and saying, "How punctual you are my friend! A fine trait for a loyal samurai to have!" He then folded his arms, smiled arrogantly to himself, and nodded his head smugly. "Truly, I have chosen the perfect candidate to bear the title."
Ignoring all of the praise Tan'bay was currently directing towards himself (which was, quite frankly, something Ananias and every other Shepherd should've gotten used to by now), Ananias, as politely as he could, loudly cleared his throat to get the prince's attention, and asked, "Um, so, yeah, what was it that you asked to see me about?"
Tan'bay frowned and shook his head disapprovingly. "Ananias, please, show some manners!" he cried. Upon witnessing the confused look on Ananias' face, he let out an exasperated sigh before indicating towards the grass directly in front of Ananias and saying, "When a samurai addresses his master, he must get down on his knees, bow his head, and address his master with respect!"
Upon hearing this, Ananias raised an eyebrow in surprise before innocently asking, "Like how a knight gets down on one knee and bows his head to their lord or king?"
Tan'bay impulsively and uncomfortably flinched a bit before catching himself in the middle of the act, biting his lower lip, shaking his head, clenching his fist, laughing uncomfortably in an attempt to hide his discomfort, and painfully muttering to himself, "I had honestly thought that we had let that particular ship set sail long ago." He then took a moment to recompose himself before silently offering Ananias a sit next to him in front of one of the rocks with a long parchment spread across it and an ink bottle and an ink brush placed beside them. "Forget it, just… take a seat?"
Ananias curiously eyed the display as he took his seat next to his friend, careful to imitate his him as best he could (as he was not exactly comfortable sitting in the seiza position) and asked, "So… what am I taking a seat for?"
Having finally completely recomposed himself, Tan'bay cleared his throat a bit before indicating towards the materials before them and proudly explaining, "This," he took a moment to pause dramatically, "is your first lesson, organized by yours truly," he indicated towards himself haughtily, "to help shape you into becoming a proper samurai warrior."
Ananias' eyes widened a bit in mild surprise. "Really?" he asked dully.
Tan'bay nodded his head. "Indeed," he answered. "For you see, not only are samurai warriors experts in combat, but they are also experts in the arts as well."
Ananias nodded his head as he took a moment to absorb this newfound revelation. "Interesting. Don't exactly hear knights being required to be artistically masterful."
Tan'bay's face noticeably lit up as he heard his friend say this. "Yes, precisely!" He wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulders and asked, "Do you now realize the uniqueness and the superiority of the samurai warrior, my friend?"
Ananias pondered over it for a moment before emotionlessly asking, "Wait," he nonchalantly pointed towards the parchment, "do samurai warriors do this on their free time, or what?"
Tan'bay's face immediately fell upon hearing this. "Well, I suppose this is more of an activity they perform in their leisure when they are not using such exercises for training…," he answered cautiously.
"Ah," Ananias said, "so it's like a hobby -"
"May we please refrain from unceremoniously comparing knights and samurais for the rest of the day, please?" Tan'bay asked. "I wish to start the intended lesson today rather than tomorrow."
Ananias nodded dutifully. "Yeah, sure, sorry."
After clearing his throat in an attempt to recompose himself a bit more before starting the lesson proper, Tan'bay took a deep breath and calmly asked, "Tell me, Ananias, what are we doing as of now?"
After raising an eyebrow in mild surprise at the unexpected question, Ananias quickly surveyed his surroundings before uncertainly answering, "We're sitting?"
"W-Well, yes, but, what else?"
"We're… talking to one another?"
Tan'bay heaved out an exasperated sigh as he irritably pinched the bridge of his nose. "Forget it, I'll just tell you." He took a deep breath before stretching his arms out and answering, "We… are doing nothing."
A brief pause came between the two of them before Ananias simply said, "I guess?"
Tan'bay grumbled a bit under his breath out of frustration before continuing, "And as we do nothing, we will no doubt be more aware of the subtle happenings that take place around us; all of the phenomena that we unfortunately take for granted are made clearer to us." He then indicated around the two of them to exemplify his point. "For example, do you feel that small breeze passing by us?" He patted the ground. "Or the softness of this very grass that we are sitting on?" He opened his eyes and pointed towards the sky. "Or the blueness of the sky above us?"
Ananias took a moment to examine all that Tan'bay had pointed out to him and nodded his head understandingly. "Yeah, I guess I do." He then turned to his friend and gave him an impressed look (or, at least, as much of an impressed look as Ananias could usually muster). "I had no idea that you were such a fan of nature."
Tan'bay nodded his head as he closed his eyes and let out a haughty chuckle. "Well, if mere samurai warriors are asked to be observant and revere nature, then it is only natural that the prince of Chon'sin, a man who should exemplify the best of his country, should be just as observant and respectful, if not more."
Ananias let out an exasperated sigh. "Of course." A brief pause before he asked, "So… what do we do now? Do we just sit here and just take it all in, or what?"
Tan'bay wearily shook his head as he let out an equally weary sigh and gave the bridge of his nose an equally weary rub. "For gods sakes Ananias, of course not," he muttered, too tired and too used to his friend's unfortunate obliviousness to really get mad at it anymore. He indicated towards the materials before them. "Obviously we are meant to paint whatever we see or feel down onto these parchments!" He gave his friend an incredulous look before wearily demanding, "What else would we possibly use all of these materials for?!"
Ananias simply shrugged and answered, "Writing what we see or feel down?"
Tan'bay heaved out a heavy sigh as he opened one of the ink bottles and dabbed one of the brushes into it. "Honestly, if I didn't know you any better, I would honestly think that you were trying to be smart with me," he muttered under his breath. Before he got started with his painting however, he noticed that Ananias had not yet followed his lead and asked, "What is the matter now my friend? Not too confident in your artistic ability?"
Ananias thought about it for a moment before giving Tan'bay an acknowledging nod and answering, "Well that, and… well," he took another moment to reconsider what he was about to say, "is… this it?"
Tan'bay's eyes widened in surprise. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.
Ananias anxiously rubbed the back of his neck before answering, "Well, I mean, this is all nice and all, but… did you really call me out here just to paint some pictures with you?"
Silence. "Of course not," Tan'bay said. "Have you not been paying attention to what I have been telling you? Have you already forgotten?" He indicated towards the parchment resting in front of him. "This is an integral part of being a samurai warrior, and as chosen to be a samurai warrior by yours truly," he indicated towards himself, "it is therefore my duty to properly teach you on how to become one!" He folded his arms, obviously taking offense to Ananias' audacity. "Just what are you implying my friend? Are you saying that me and my country's customs and kindness are beneath you?"
Ananias, upon realizing that he had unintentionally hit a nerve, despite his best efforts, raised his hands up in an attempt to calm his Chon'sin friend down and explained, "It's not that, it's just… how long is this going to take exactly? I mean, I've kind of got a busy schedule, and this being last minute and all, I couldn't exactly work this into my schedule properly, so I've kind of got to go for something else, you know?"
Tan'bay pondered over Ananias' words for a moment before nodding his head, acknowledging that his friend had raised a somewhat good point. "Well, these things can certainly take a while, depending on what type of person you are. And I suppose this WAS a tad last minute, so I guess I could allow you to leave a samurai lesson early just this once…."
Ananias raised his hand up sheepishly, signaling that he had another question that he wished to be answered at the moment. "Also, is… every samurai lesson going to take 'a while'? Because if being a samurai is that type of commitment, then I should really start to reconsider this whole samurai thing."
"Or," Tan'bay quickly suggested, "you could begin to reconsider relieving yourself of your other responsibilities to focus on becoming a samurai full-time." This earned him a somewhat suspicious and surprised look from Ananias due to just how quickly and suspiciously Tan'bay had given the suggestion, which caused Tan'bay to look sheepishly down on the ground and murmur, "Well, obviously I'm only suggesting…."
A brief pause came between the two before Ananias slowly got himself up and said, "Yeah, I'll think about it."
When Ananias was well out of earshot, Tan'bay heaved a heavy and weary sigh, rested his head onto one of his hands, tossed his ink brush to the side, and muttered, "Of course you will."
