Balance of the Soul
9th of January 2007 A.D.
"Sure Though I should warn you that the people here are incredibly curious about the outer universe. If you're not careful you'll end up with a bio pic playing on holo-sets across the planet or something." The words are said in good humor, but not lightly. In a more serious tone you continue: "Would any more of your order be interested in visiting, and maybe hosting some visitors of their own? The Courts can't stay isolated forever, and it would be good to for them to introduce themselves - and be introduced - to the world at large among friends" .
The old man sighs, not in sorrow, or maybe not
just in sorrow, more bittersweet recollection. "This is not something I expected to share so soon but..." he motions to the city, advertisement and entertainment writing itself in luminous form, at times punctuated by the membranous wing of an agile flier. "I had not expected to be here when I awoke this morning. My 'order' as you so politely put it is not a power abroad in the world, it is a gathering of those for whom the life of a shih, the life of the envoy and the hunter, has grown too burdensome. Teachers we are, of man and sometimes of shen, guardians of holy places and the things held therein. We claim to keep those things that would otherwise be washed away by the river of years and that is truth, but not the whole of it. Of those skilled in the Bridges of the Spirit most come climb the mountain seeking to lull to slumber the shadow-self, sometimes called the Po. Some would say such men make a poor fit for a place where the dark runs so deep and strong.."
"But you're fine," you point out simply.
"I am old," he counters with a shake of the head. "I know, shocking, I am surprised by it everyday." There is no bitterness to the laugh, only a kind of quiet acceptance. "Twenty years ago you would have found me less 'fine' and, I am sad to say, more willing to jump to conclusions. Now you put me to a hard test Miss Carpenter. Do I send the young, interested in this... information superhighway, in the dance of data spirits and the potential of new weapons against the Yama Kings and their puppets, against the encroaching Red Court working their way into the graces of Thrashing Dragon Elders among the Wan Kuei even as I know they will be tempted to cut corners? Or do I instead send misives to the old and willful, my peers, my seniors. Filled they are with an understanding of themselves, but also suspicious, likely to take a long time to learn and teach both."
"What are you concerned about? Implants? I could see that no one gets anything..." The thought of what some of the SUTRA implants would do to a Earth-born human takes no pondering and it it a grusome thing indeed.
"To learn a new martial art from one of the shen one must change the style or change the self. For meny of by brothers I fear the latter would be far easier than the former and yet... and yet..." For a moment he seems lost in thought. "You did not come to be as you are now by accident, nor by the straightforward unfolding of dharma. The world is moving faster and faster beneath our feet. Is there any time left for caution?"
The question is not asked of you, not really, Brother Divsimar is wondering aloud if he has the heart to put more of his order, perhaps his former students through another windowing of the kind all too familiar to those who follow in the steps of Yu the Excelent Archer, this time risking not that they would burn from within, but that they would fall to the darkness of Sanctuary of... you. Whatever signs he has seen or movements he has guessed at your teacher seems to be leaning that way, but now you wonder too:
Is this a sacrifice worth making?
[] Yes, let what shih might wish to come do so, the more prepared all of you shall be for what's to come
[] No, advise that he be more prudent. For all the world is moving swiftly too much haste can still make one stumble
[] Write in
OOC: No rolls for the offer itself, he already trusts Molly enough... well enough to have this concersation with himself in her presence. 
