Forming of the Court and the Wu

All five of them were now gathered in the back room of the little teahouse this evening. Shinigami, Tatsuya, Gosankyo, Wei Wei, and Akane. All were seated around the tea table, all were dressed traditionally. It was raining outside tonight, a peaceful patter of the water drops could be heard on the roof above them, and against the windowpanes in the other room. It was then that he came…..

He appeared to be in his middle age, a man of Chinese Descent, wearing a large Straw hat, dressed in flowing yellow robes, with white clothes beneath. He had a white beard, and his pupils were creamy milky white as well, as if he were blind. He had with him an old gnarled walking stick, and a duffle bag slung over his left shoulder. As he entered the room, he removed his wooden sandals, and stepped in. He bowed to those gathered, and spoke in English, so that all could understand, in a calm soft voice “I am Su Yan Chen, of the Eastern Courts, Mandarin of the Way of the Resplendant Crane. I travel here from the New Promise Mandarinate, having spent time there after my arrival to the barbaric lands, and have heard deeds from this region. I come to find you five gathered here tonight, and will perform the ceremonies proper to forming you as a Wu. Your Father will be this man…. This Thousand Whispers, who I charge with the responsibility of guiding this Wu, and the new Court that is forming in this place tonight, in all of his manifestations“ and with that, he pointed with his walking stick to Shinigami. “He is from this moment on, the Father of the Wu, and Ancestor of this court. I deem this court ‘The Court of the Most Harmonious Way’. Shinigami, as you are known in this manifestation, what name do you give your Wu? Remember, this Wu is your family now, you will guide it in all times, dark and light”.

Shinigami rose at this, and bowed to the mandarin, responding calmly “I dub our Wu ‘The Wu of the Western Emissaries’”. Su Yan nodded, and one after the other, he bid the others to stand, and properly introduce themselves: Name, Dharma (including rank in it), Wu, Court, Sifu. Once this was done, he began the ritual, which took hours, enveloping the entire evening. The five meditated, and as the ceremonies were conducted, they felt the sacred Guanxi, the mystical binding of the Wu, the family ties in spirit…..

Soon, it was over, and the next memory the five of them had, was slowly coming to, the stranger, the guest in Chinatown, the Mandarin, gone now, as if having faded from existence, leaving only the scent of strong incense in the air, and his words of wisdom “grow strong as a family, and overcome all hurdles. You are now one, be one”.