Tajhana Saha

𝐓𝐀𝐉𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐀 𝐒𝐀𝐇𝐀 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐑 'i am my own sacred space' owner of tajhana tea house, gifted with the ability to see into futures written across time and space.

[madkingmerry]

"Imagine?" Merry echoes the word back to her and then hums and laughs, clapping, "Oh you speak in riddles. I love riddles!" Merry clears his throat and speaks again, voice lilting, "For it's a marvel, by the rood, to my mind, what causes dreaming either at dawn or at evening," he tilts his head to the side, crown of bells chiming, "and why truth appears in some and from some shall never come," he gasps and clutches at his chest, "Why this one is a vision, and that one a revelation," he points with a crooked finger in the air, at her, not at her, near her. "Why this a nightmare, that a dream... and not to every man the same. Why this a phantom, why these oracles I know not; but who of these miracles knows the cause better than me." He's been stepping around her in a circle, in a dance, each step lighter than the last until he ends again in front of her. "Is this what you mean?"

[tajhanasaha]

Tajhana watched him attempt to distract her, and she wondered if maybe himself, from what had been asked. The new King began to play with his words the way that he had on stage and play with his form, dancing about her in a theatrical manner that he had clearly done time and time again but Tajhana did not move. She could be softer with people, people she felt needed it, but even if he did his position now where Tajhana was less inclined for such generosity. The woman had been in Destarin since it had been brought back from the ashes of war and had always known the prophecy she needed to fulfill would be there, she just hoped it was not one of the town's demise at the playful King's inexperienced hands.

"No," Tajhana answered, plainness to her eyes that lacked amusement. "Should you experience revelation in nightmares or visions in dreams, you choose to act in this world and it is how you act that condemns you. I would warn you not to play as though it is a crown you were made for and recall what men who imagine themselves entitled to such power can do to those around them." Tajhana, of course, spoke of the rulers of the other courts, sure he had experienced pain at one of their hands.

"It is not you who will suffer if you indulge in dreams or nightmares, your majesty. It will be the people in this hall."

[madkingmerry]

Lilting laughter chimes from his throat at her bow. Everyone has been bowing to him lately, it's wonderful. No one has ever bowed to him before, it's only ever been he who has been doing the bowing and he can't the reflexive urge to do the same and so returns the gesture, though his bow is done in jest, for his own humor and so it is a silly one that tilts to the side. "It is indeed, isn't it?" He lightly touches the crown at his head. "I was made for it, wouldn't you say? Not the other way around. Everyone has a crown made for them but certainly, I was made for this crown in particular."

[tajhanasaha]

"Do you imagine that is a righteous way to view it?" she asked. Tajhana had not spoken to Merrymock before, did not know him as much more than a tormented performer that seemed to amuse and delight all he came across. There was no basis for her to gather that perhaps the intense way she could speak with people might bother him. "All Kings imagine they were made for crowns, do you think that attitude suits them when it comes to their Kingdom's?"

[tajhanasaha]

"Congradulations, your Majesty," Tajhana gave an elegant bow. Of the visions she had for Destarin's future she was not sure this was the one she liked being in but she knew the jester had good intentions... "The crown is a good look for you."

@madkingmerry

[shadowandbonecentral]

AMITA SUMAN Make-up by Olly Fisk

[tajhanasaha]

Do you believe you will find love one day?

"I find love often. I just do not feel a need for an extended love as many have, I enjoy temporary loves. To enjoy someone for a time when your souls connect and you know it is fleeting."

[ueharahiro]

Perhaps it is her own keenness, but Hiro is silently grateful she seems to catch on to his unspoken request for secrecy. Whatever public front he shows must maintain his role as his family's heir, even if he doubts any of his coven members are observing him, there is never any certainty that they aren't. His coven is, after all, incredibly mistrusting. It is how they had grown so strong. Through blocking themselves off from forming attachments against others and focusing instead on a strict regime that emphasized results, it is only natural that even their own heir would be subject to the same scrutiny. Hiro has never felt the gentle touch of favoritism.

As the pair make their way to the back room, Hiro passes by some of the other volunteers, avoiding their gaze but feeling them on his back. Once they are situated at a table and the room they're in closes off, dulling the soft noiseless chatter from the room they'd just left, he finally responds, "Yes."

As she would know, his coven did not necessarily approve of mind magic. It is why he has always been so skeptical of her own abilities as a seer. Then he considers his response and adds on, "In part. The other reason I don't trust him is because he is... well... himself." Hiro can't help but survey the room, dark eyes passing over everything in a languid manner that appears as if he is only casually glancing around idly but in truth he is accessing everything for threats. Every dark corner could house a listening ear. The rafters could house a body. "Have you ever met him?" Hiro asks as his ink dark eyes land on her.

[tajhanasaha]

Tajhana didn't much take it as a slight he answered 'yes,' perhaps because she didn't view her abilities as wholly within her control, or perhaps because she new whatever she saw any specific manipulation on her part would have to be through charisma or conviction as opposed to any sort of actual magic. In the end she didn't presume he meant her magic, even if he had. In the end her magic was also quite useful in certain times, as his Grandfather had experienced.

Tajhana adjusted some of the food with her fork, eyes on the sauce absorbing into the rice before scooping up a small amount. It is both to feed herself and to consider what he means. Distrusting someone because they are themselves... In a way she could perceive the threat in that. Had she desired certain things perhaps she would have been a threat to his Grandfather's will and unlike Hiro she suspected he'd have solved the problem of that is a different sort of way than what she had seen Hiro resolve it with, or, at least, his grandfather more readily would have sort more immediate results.

The woman is less concerned than Hiro with their surroundings though, putting some food in her mouth while still keeping her eyes to her rice when he asks if she's met him, a small nod answering him while she chewed. Once she swallowed her gaze lifted and she answered. "Not privately, or with any depth," she clarified first of her nod. "Sometimes those reaching their adulthoods within the coven think it a test to come and try the teas, to see who can be under the influence of prophecy and keep their mind hidden. Most fail, perhaps that is why it is so fun for them."

Tajhana knew there was only so much she could do for these boys. Some had left over the years, some killed in the process or dragged back in, but unless she saw a real chance she didn't ever intend to endanger them with her aid. "He came in with his Uncle, it was not a gentle display of family." Could Hiro even conceive of a gentle family? "Otherwise I have only occasionally seen him with the young coven members around the town. I would say if anything in terms of how you might differ he was raised for a collective, not for a name. The boys there are taught the coven comes first, the purpose of it matters above themselves, while you are taught your family name is first, and so you must excel as an individual."

Tajhana's gaze fell and rose with her thoughts, trying to both observe Hiro but not call him out with any sort of direct observation of him. "Maybe that is why he is more himself, collectively he is lost but maybe alone he is more aware, but you...do you know who you are?"

[ueharahiro]

His cheeks warm at her gentle prodding, wordlessly and dutifully filling the offered bowl with a portion of the food from his pot. Regret in bringing up this topic clings to the corners of his lips, making them tight. "He is the one you saw," flat, calm, measured, no hint of emotion visible in the line of his brow. Though the internal pounding of his heart betrays him and it takes an extra second of mental fortitude to calm this down to something reasonable and unaffected.

There is not much he can say, not much that is safe. His words must be chosen carefully and precisely and be without emotion as if he were simply speaking about any other encounter.

"There is a lot that makes him interesting," he balances the wooden serving spoon across the top of the pot so it won't fall in, "and he is persistent." Hiro turns the jet black of his eyes that betray nothing onto her, "An interesting rival.. I can understand why my coven dislikes his so. His magic is.. invasive."

[tajhanasaha]

It does make Tajhana smile somewhat to know that at least Hiro perceives the person she saw as the person he is thinking on. With little specificity between them it shows once more that Hiro, to some degree, knows his own heart, even if he feels pulled in an opposing direction by duty.

"Persistence can be appealing," she acknowledged, her hand holding out the bowls so he might place the food he had before him inside. There was certainly a line with it that needed to be drawn, but in the instance of Hiro, and perhaps this man, it read as less of a persistence against the other's desires as it was against the environments both were in. He seemed to focus his wording however, eyes on her, in a way that suggested her use of appealing was maybe a step over, not because they seemed angry at her but because his own words lacked the same romanticism.

Each bowl in hand Tajhana stepped away from their station, a suggestion they perhaps eat away from prying eyes and listening ears, to take a seat in one of the back rooms. She doubted anyone in his family would be concerned with him being alone with her, either through an awareness of her history that would rule out any interest in Hiro, or an awareness on their part of who Hiro himself was, even if this aspect of him went unspoken.

"The invasiveness of his magic is why you don't trust him?" she asked, doubting that someone from the Uehara coven would be concerned with someone besting them in any skill they could match.

[ueharahiro]

Chae thought it was interesting when she commented that most people weren't unique. He felt similarly though never really vocalized on it. It always seemed to make others feel like he was looking down on them when it was only, what he perceived to be, a universal truth. No one person was truly unique, in the end, everyone at their core were similar. It was a bit refreshing to hear she felt the same and reminded Chae of why his grandfather must have chosen her as a companion.

The rest came as a surprise to him, though the expression was kept internal and not present on his expression save for a lingering of his gaze. "Is that so?" Her mind was predisposed to connect to his. "You two must have been very close," he read between the lines. It was something he'd garnered from their initial meeting but getting to know her more was slowly making him realize how true that was. It made him wonder, if his grandfather had been less inclined to follow his duty, would Tajhana be his grandmother. But she wasn't. His grandfather had chosen to have some freedoms during the war and then after it all, came back home to fulfill his duty. Even he was not swayed by the temptations that now tempted Chae. Perhaps, he could do the same. Afterall, he did not think less of his grandfather now knowing this. Perhaps the same could be said for his own future grandchild.

"I met someone interesting," Oh Chung Ae began to say, testing the waters of this foreign thing called friendship.

[tajhanasaha]

Tajhana's head tilted, the line before them now practically a scattering of one personal occasionally, and wondered what Hiro had perceived of her connection with his grandfather upon meeting. A short consideration in her mind to ask him but also a desire to not upset him further about his own familial connections. The woman's own were long gone, it was not normal within her family to live as long as Tajhana had and she had never desired offspring, so she was, in truth, alone, but she did remember being loved by her family, even when they desired her to excel as Hiro's family obviously wished for him.

The woman softly smiled at the notion of their closeness though, picking up a small bowl for herself and another for Hiro and resting them to the side. "In the past, I imagine I wouldn't know the man at all now." People could fall back into old patterns, maybe both would make reckless choices in each other's presence, but they had not stayed in contact and the way Hiro was so afraid to seek his own happiness Tajhana did not believe she could ignore as much as she could back then, back then his choices had only affected him, now they were hurting his grandson.

"Interesting is an amusing description," Tajhana smiled, aware that most interactions of romantic interest were described typically with some heightened emotion or physical attraction. Proceeding with her dishing out food for them to offered each bowl to Hiro, so he might put in some of the food he had been handing out. "What makes them interesting?" she asked, bangles knocking against the edge of the bowls.

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

Vanathi, still slightly lost in thought, nodded. The experience so vivid she could barely believe she was the only one who’d gone through it. She gritted her teeth as she made sense of the stream of images that had flicked by. “They were like fixed moments in time, all passing by my eyes one after the other. I saw things that I feel like I’ve seen before, and things that were similar. Moments of blood and guts and death, and moments of drink and company and merrymaking.” 

They shrugged. “I don’t think I saw a baker's boy anywhere in there,” Vanathi admitted. “Though it was all going very fast. I can’t say what was past and future, but it left me mostly… excited.”

She sighed. “Probably not,” she agreed. Though there was of course another way she could be saved, the distress and danger didn’t have to be that big. Just to be swept off her feet would be enough. 

The Vaanii smiled at the offering of a sympathetic smile, it was rare for her to talk about her status as a demi-god at all, to speak of their past. “You assume they’re going to be angry and jealous?” She took a deep breath. “I want to hide for a while,” she said. “To be someone else, it’s probably wrong, to wish I could pretend, but I do enjoy being someone else.” 

She thought, anything that had stood out to her. She tapped a finger to her chin. “There was a dragon, and a soldier before the flames that I did not know,” she said. “I also saw a huge crocodile, moving through the harbour at great speed.” She shrugged, that was all that had stood out to her. 

[tajhanasaha]

Perhaps a disappointment to the demi-god that they had seen nothing of their dream conceptualisation of someone, though to Tajhana this was good. People were broader than concepts, more complicated than simple nuances and Tajhana did not think that a 'bakers boy' would have truly made the demi-god feel as she hoped they would.

"I believe that someone who can not understand death would be envious of immortality," she clarified of herself, why she felt a bakers boy would not understand her the way another soldier might, or simply someone who understood the overwhelming pain of watching those you loved die. Tajhana understood, her long life was something people could covet but they did not see things as Tajhana did. So many of her lovers were now wrinkled and on death beds, some already having gone. It was not why she was single, of course, but she did not think even if she wished to be with someone she could be with another who did not understand that immortality was not a gift but a curse.

"You could pretend, if you really wanted, you did not have to come here as yourself," Tajhana pointed out to her. Illusions existed that could hid their appearance and beyond Tajhana herself she wasn't sure who would even have recognised her.

"Sounds as though even if you are not in for a great love you might be here for a great battle. A large crocodile...very curious," she acknowledged without saying any of her own thoughts on the matter.

[ueharahiro]

The edges of his lips tightened as Tajhana spoke more on his grandfather, "He taught me how to fight," came his simple reply for what was shared between the two. His life with his family had been studious from the moment he was old enough to walk and talk, being taught how to hold a blade and the proper movements to perform magic, this was the sole connection he had with his family. He had never known the softness that others had known, didn't realize it was something he had missed out on until he saw it in others.

His eyes lifted when she assured him of their friendship, thoughts suddenly filling with the prospect of potential other friendships. He couldn't help but wonder if perhaps what was happening between himself and Hastalik could be considered friendship. This felt too complicated though to be classed as simply friends and it inadvertently brought a frown to his features, a single wrinkle appearing between his brows. "Why does it feel like sometimes you know what I'm thinking?" He inquired, a brow lifting with an almost accusatory tone that was only light and playfully meant but feigned with the aura of seriousness. "I'm beginning to think you've planted yourself in my thoughts. I'd ask that you please remove yourself, it's not polite to peek in without asking."

[tajhanasaha]

The simplicity of what he claimed his grandfather had given him, despite whatever rigorous effort Chae had put in, indicated to the seer that Oh Chung Ae had not see his own softer side to his grandfather, or felt much connection to the man. A pity. Not for his grandfather's sake, but for Chae's, to have been so absent connection for so long, since Tajhana had to imagine his father had replicated the same emotional access.

"Because people think the same things for the most part, you're not all so as unique as you imagine," Tajhana asserted. She did not exclude herself in this thought process. No, she did not desire what Chae did, but when it came to other's who held the same intentions as her their thoughts were always relatively aligned, differing in context or culture, but ultimately very alike.

Tajhana smiled as he intended to jest, looking back down at the food. "I don't intend to pry most of the time, sometimes, yes, but sometimes it simply happens. It's easier with you, I looked into your grandfather's future so many times trying to predict battles or injuries, the end of the war, elements of you were hidden amongst those futures, and so my mind is already somewhat predisposed to you. "

[jiutiandaiyu]

"Perhaps I did," replied Daiyu airily, as if it didn't matter to her either way, her gaze loitering around the tea house to bypass vaguely at her surroundings and the overall atmosphere. The youth she saw could have simply been of no importance, just a handsome young man from that region that tickled the essence of a memory. If she hadn't noted the knotted norigae hanging from the youth's waist which identified him as an Oh witch, perhaps he could have been no one important. For now, she kept this to herself. It would be far more amusing later on to surprise Tajhana once more.

When prompted to drink as the brewed tea was ready, Daiyu returned her attention to the cup and sipped the contents. Her eyelids fluttered as her vision clouded, gaze becoming unfocused on what was now before her so she set the cup down delicately without seeing the table's surface as the vision induced by the brew began to unfold.

[tajhanasaha]

Tajhana did not like that she could not determine the meaning of Daiyu's response. People could be relatively easy to read, but nobility and gods tended to be harder. Those who had lived as long, or longer, than Tajhana used their emotions and their thoughts in different ways than most, and frequently not at alike. Someone like Daiyu, a risen deity that was worshipped would hold her opinions, goals and feelings in a way so very differently from someone like Notelaih, who had lived longer than he knew and his intention was not status. The youth were easier, their desires tended to manifest in similar ways even if they differed.

Regardless, Tajhana did not interfere with the actions of the tea while it affected Daiyu. She could be angry at the intentions of the goddess, as many could curse those in such positions, but she did not actively wish the woman harm, and she would certainly not intervene with something she did not completely fathom the results of. Instead Tajhana simply stood, ready to catch the woman were she to faint, or to help her were the tea to have any sort of adverse affect, her hands resting on the back of the woman's chair, not intending to touch her unless needed, frustrated she could not see into Daiyu's mind as the magic worked its way through her.

[ueharahiro]

Oh Chung Ae wasn't looking at her when she spoke and offered her smiles and food to the people who approached. He listened while he kept himself occupied on his own task, methodically going through the motions. It was simple work that didn't require any thought so it was quickly done with little effort, just serving out food to anyone who approached and this late in the day the amount of people coming for more food were growing fewer as bellies were being filled. He wasn't sure how he felt when Tajhana gave her response and when he felt her turn to look at him, he turned to look at her back.

He tried to picture it, an image of his grandfather in his youth, looking battered from the battlefield but still cutting a proud but heroic figure. This was the image he could picture in his mind but as he tried to imagine the other parts she described, of him happy, of him idling with his fellow soldiers and playing games, this was a side of him he had never known and so could not picture it. It filled the young witch with complex thoughts. Perhaps there was more than just doing his duty. Perhaps he could do his duty and still have some parts of him that were separated from his family.

"I'm realizing," Chae started to say thoughtfully as he prepared another bowl of food for the next person, "That you probably know my grandfather better than I do," and was that supposed to mean something? Was it supposed to make him feel something? Certainly family meant something different to him than it did to other people. He'd seen families here in Destarin, so close and amicable, smiling and laughing together, it was a dynamic as unfamiliar to him as a foreign land. The young witch hadn't expected to feel culture shock like this when he came here. It made him realize how very cold his own family's house had been.

"Tajhana," he spoke up again with a solid but quiet voice, looking into the bowl of food as he handed it off again, "I'm realizing a lot of things since coming here." He looked over to her, "I'm realizing I don't think I've ever had a friend and I don't know how to get one."

[tajhanasaha]

Tajhana smiled at his notion but didn't quite see it in the same light. In many ways she knew she had rose coloured glasses on for the man, she had not needed to see the fullness of his duty, the parts of it that were represented in society, in how his family was to be perceived in decent times. She had got to see his duty represented in war and his freedom away from family. "In a way, the version I saw of him was as...halved as your own. Just as I see you now is not how you are to others, the way he was to me is surely not as he was to you. You know a man I did not see, and while I know you are all quite duty bound I would hope some part of him was willing to share with his grandson things you two could share." Unfortunately, as much as she could hope Oh Chung Ae had known a part of his Grandfather that made him feel loved and seen she also, in part, doubted it.

Tajhana paused her own work for a moment with the strength of Chae's quiet voice, listening to his confession. "We are friends," she assured him, perhaps not an indication at the skill of attaining friends since Tajhana was connected to him in such a strange way but she liked him regardless and she knew she wasn't obligated to simply because of their connection. She placed down her spoon and laid her hand softly on his shoulder. "It is not easy to make companions, you are not alone in your insecurity, but you do have me, and we need not always meet for visions or deep conversation. You are a resilient and determined person, admirable traits that once seen in genuine ways will surely mean more friendships."

Tajhana allowed her hand to fall, to return to her work, not wishing to push Chae's boundaries as he did not seem like much of a physically affectionate type. "I think friendship is a lovely focus though, if other...realisations are perhaps too confronting."

[ueharahiro]

Oh Chung Ae gave a slow and singular nod as Tajhana detailed the dish. It made sense. Wars were expensive and the risk of famine grew higher so it was important to make meals quickly that were hearty but still cheap enough to be mass produced. "Did my grandfather have this during the war?" He asked her as he offered up a dish of the same to another resident who approached. Chae thought this person looked familiar but didn't think on it too deeply. If they were hungry enough for another portion they probably needed it. "He never really spoke much of how it was," none of those who had experienced the war had spoken much of it.

[tajhanasaha]

Tajhana nodded, gifting the young man a smile. The seer could fathom how it would both make sense in his mind that during a war his grandfather would have been obligated to such meals, but that, also, it was unlike what would have been expected of him to eat. "I am sure if he could have dictated his meals it would not have been top of the list but sustenance was more important, to be ready for battle," she commented.

At the note his grandfather told him little, and with the arrival of a returning face, Tajhana was silent for a moment, simply giving the resident another spoonful of the dish and offering them a smile. A smile alone was not worth much to the hungry but she figured in these moments it was a kind gesture, especially as she had yet to see Oh Chung Ae offer the same. The silence itself was to contemplate her response however. To be honest, and cloud how Chae moved forward in his own life, or to lie, and risk sending him down a bad path.

The truth won out.

"To my observation, during the war, his focus was on maintaining your familial legacy," she began, another spoonful and smile given to another who approached them. "No part of him wavered in what was his duty. I saw only two paths for him, a rarity to have so few options laid before someone. It was simply death, or returning home a decorated hero and marrying your grandmother." There was, maybe, a hint of sadness to her words, but the smile she wore did not fall from her face. "Each time he was injured it was a great shame to him. I am sure me finding him in such a state brought him a great deal of humiliation, but he healed, he always did, and in the end he went home as he had intended."

Tajhana paused her work to look at Chae. "But I think he had been happier at war. Not in battle, and not injured, but in hours between when he might simply keep warm company and play strategising games with the other soldiers." Would he have had such freedoms when he returned? She didn't know. She didn't even know if those things had made him actually happy, just that she recalled they seemed to. Not enough to renounce duty. She hoped for Chae that would be different.

[thevaaniiofcrirtha]

Vanathi looked back at the cup, then to Tajhana, then the cup. They thought about it for a moment, but given everything they’d been through… it wouldn’t be that big a risk to try and see their future. If it was much of one. 

So she took a sip, relishing in the delicious taste for a moment, before awaiting the future to roll before her eyes. And then it hit her all at once, images that quickly passed before her eyes, some she could make sense of, some not at all. It was, in fact, overwhelming. It was also much tamer than she’d braced herself for. Not too many images of blood and gore and guts. More so meetings and people and drink. The things she did enjoy. However, no baker’s boy either, or maybe it went all too quickly to find him. 

She sucked in a breath when the images disappeared and she was back in the teashop with Tajhana. “You… see this type of thing always?” she asked.

Vanathi chuckled. “Maybe,” she admitted. “I kind of want to be the damsel in distress for once,” she added. “But you’re right, I would also like some acknowledgement. Maybe I ask too much of my sweet baker’s boy.” But she could envision them, had been dreaming of them for years now. An escape, a way out, a different life. Yet she was also not ready to give up on her past memories. To bury the Vaanii. 

“I… not poor memories, no,” they stated. “I’ve simply seen too many of them perish, even the ones I grew close to. I’ve always felt indebted to them. They would die while I remain, and they’d know the outcome, and still accept it. I’m afraid of being with someone who’d know what I am, and accept that, and fear their life would be one day snuffed out for association with me. So I wish to escape it all.” As she’d been doing. Hiding in plain sight in Destarin.

[tajhanasaha]

Tajhana could not tell what Vanathi had seen, if she had seen anything, or how it had come to her. Certain teas were designed to focus in certain areas, to be more easily consumed, but one could never tell how a person would take to them, and love was an especially complex sort of future to seek. People could have many, or none, and some could be positively heart breaking.

When Vanathi seemed to disappear into herself for a moment Tajhana simply waited, patient until Vanathi spoke once more and seemed to find her mind in the teashop again. "I can't say if how you saw things is how I do," she answered with a light rising and falling of her shoulders. "What did you see?"

"I am not sure a bakers boy would have much ability to save you, were you to be a damsel in distress," Tajhana commented. Tajhana herself did not think she would be able to do that kind of thing. She had no magic or strength, she had survived by isolation and usefulness alone.

Tajhana offered a small sympathetic smile. "I think that is a fair way to feel," she offered in an attempt to comfort. "All you love will likely die regardless of status, would it be easier to watch someone die who could not fathom the meaning of what you are? Who would be angry and jealous?" Tajhana posed the question if only for Vanathi to perhaps process some of her feelings, to see them from another light.

"Did you see anything that stood out to you?" Tajhana then asked of Vanathi's vision.

[jiutiandaiyu]

Daiyu accepted the tea with a polite inclination of her head and reached for it with two hands, she inhaled the fragrance as she listened, allowing the tea to first envelope her senses before she would drink. She noted how Tajhana spoke of the witch she had been fond of. It was very brief. Very factual. It brought a smile to the demigod's features which were now partly obscured by the lifted cup, smile visible now only at the edges of her eyes. In a way, limiting details was also providing ample details. It told her that Tajhana likely did not want Daiyu to know more. She was protecting him even now. "I do not have need of him," she tipped the edge of the cup and drank. Then closed her eyes as she set the cup down unseeing, to allow the tea and its properties to take hold. "I merely saw someone who reminded me of him, that's all," she responded casually, as if it truly were nothing.

[tajhanasaha]

Tajhana almost let out a laugh, the gesture sitting in her throat, having caused her to lean forward but she preventing anything from escaping. Chae did look like his grandfather, but not in the ways that Tajhana cared for, and, as someone who could gaze into the future, it was harder for Tajhana to recognise much of Oh Chul Moo in his grandson. They may have held similar features but personality? Perhaps without the context of Chae's secret desires one could say they were similar but not Tajhana.

"Curious," she spoke once she had swallowed her amusement. "Perhaps you simply saw a handsome warrior in a hanbok, not so uncommon around Ashharren," she commented, though she knew better.

Fingers touching the edge of the tea cups base and pushing it closer to Daiyu now that it had brewed she waited to see what would happen. "You should drink," Tajhana insisted. However someone such as Daiyu would react was unknown to her, but she had hopes that considering the volatile nature of the teas vision, Daiyu would have much success with it. Perhaps what she saw would guide her away from the Oh witch, any anyone else Tajhana was looking out for.

[ueharahiro]

The task of handing out food was handled very dutifully by the young witch heir. He took great care to pass out the food to every one who was waiting, even offering some kind words of patience to those getting agitated by the wait and overall was generally pleasant. No one would likely suspect that a task such as helping the poor and less fortunate was very frowned upon by his family and coven, no one would likely suspect the tinge of disdain he felt in his bones for aiding those like this. It was something he couldn't help feeling and would have perhaps never before questioned had he not felt himself begin to change since being in Destarin. Now, he felt guilt alongside his disdain and this only agitated his thoughts and made them very complicated.

He had offered his help purely because he was trying to cultivate a positive image of himself. The Oh coven prided themselves on their reputation. Their secret dislike for the impoverished could not be known publicly. They must be seen to care for the public and be perceived as selfless. A coven that could be sought after to offer aid when it was needed.

As the night deepened and the amount of hungry people lessened, there came to be more time to be idle. He could feel his own hunger gnawing at his stomach but such a feeling was pushed aside to be ignored for now. The food was not meant to him and he was content to have his own food prepared for him later on so when Tajhana broke the comfortable silence by suggesting that perhaps some of the food could be left for them, he was surprised that that he hadn't even considered this. "Oh, I did not think we would be fed," he commented softly. This was meant to be a volunteer task, one that he hadn't expected any recompense for so the thought that they might be fed afterward hadn't crossed his mind.

Because he hadn't considered the food could be for them, he hadn't let himself pay much attention to it and only now let himself smell it with interest. He sniffed a few times in the air and gave a slight nod, "Yes, it does smell nice," though he was unfamiliar with it. "I have not had this dish before. Does it have a name?"

[tajhanasaha]

"I don't see why not if there is food left, better to not waste it," she responded of his surprise. If the food was gone, of course, then she would happily return home or direct herself to one of the restaurants nearby, but if it was not then they were also too hungry people and worse to throw it away simply because they could afford their own.

"You haven't -," Tajhana cut herself off. Of course he hadn't. From what she recalled of the way his grandfather ate there was a lot of specifics to the diet, both from a standpoint of health, but also for appearances. Food that was covered in sauces and species that could potentially, and very easily stain ones garments, eaten with ones hands was not going to go over well with the Oh coven.

Tajhana adjusted her words, dishing up some of the meat in front of her in a bowl extended her way by a waiting resident. "It's Thurcha Chicken Curry, it's an old old soldiers meal, long before the forty seasons war. I expect it was chosen because it's a fast dish, has a lot of cheaper ingredients, very filling but also very delicious."

[jiutiandaiyu]

At the question of the cause for the next war, Daiyu simply gave a casual shrug, "It matters not what I think. Mortals love conflict," true enough even for other demigods and deities such as herself. She very much believed it was simply part of nature. Though speaking on war reminded Daiyu of something and as she watched Tajhana pour the brew into her cup questioned, "Last we met like this was during the war, was it not?" Rhetorical, not expecting a confirmation or response. "I do not recall seeing your love among the fallen," it was a common task for Daiyu to collect the souls of those fallen during war times. Fragmented souls such as those belonging to soldiers were powerful and dangerous, they could easily spread blight throughout the surrounding areas if they were not prevented. "What was his name?" The demigod tapped her lip as she tried to recall his name, "Oh?"

[tajhanasaha]

As Daiyu expected Tajhana did not answer, continuing to work on the tea for the woman instead. She watched as the flowers and herbs soaked into the water, shifting it's clarity to a transparent red hue, vibrant but the base of the cup still visible when she withdrew the strainer, placing it off to the side so the leaves might come to some other use.

"Love is an exaggeration," Tajhana noted. Both true and not true. If love by the standards of others, it was an exaggeration, as people would presume the Oh witch leaving her to marry his wife would have left her heartbroken and it did not, it was the only outcome she saw for the man, his mind not half so wide as his grandson's, and yet... Tajhana's fondness for him had been stronger than most. Perhaps because both knew it would end it had been easier to attach than with those who sought more from her, the twisting paths always overwhelming, or maybe there truly had been something. Regardless she had cared for him enough to be protective.

"Oh Chul Moo. Correct," Tajhana nodded, pushing the tea towards Daiyu. "We were war time companions, he was always to be married, and is. He had a son," though Tajhana kept her lips quiet that his son had a son and that son was here. "So, yes, he survived and fulfilled his future, which was my main desire to protect. I am contented with the outcome." A lie with enough of the truth she felt it believable. Had part of her hoped he might visit? Yes. But his work would not be done until he died, obligation would reign even if he had an heir, even if that heir took over, even if his wife passed. He would be an Oh witch until his headstone was weather worn and unable to be read.

"Do you have need of him?" Tajhana asked, unsure if that was the purpose, or if she simply wished to cause strife between them if he had joined her in Destarin.