Pripyat had truly settled into the Abbey. For months he and Arye had scoured Ichika, looking for the perfect home. Once he had thought he found it, but by then it had not mattered. After taking up Eika it seemed only natural he would spend more time at Gampo Abbey. It was there he stored his seasoned wood, for the ritualistic bonfires, for family meals when the Ichikans cared for them, and for his own personal use. And it was here he could seek silence within the walls of the temple, and without in the gardens kept neat and tidy by the other Abbey residents. And so he had claimed for himself one of the small rooms of the lodging area, content within the bare walls with no possessions. A home of his own, or even possessions aside from his flint and other fire making tools now seemed frivolous.
That the smoke colored man spent so much time at the Abbey it was no surprising it was often he who would come across those that came to visit. Sometimes they came for the Reiseki's consul, or simply for some peace themselves, and often just because they were passing through. Pripyat would often leave them alone, for their business had little to do with his, and he kept busy enough gathering wood, scouting the borders and doing the tasks of ranks that were yet unfilled in Ichika. So when he was coming home and found yet another Ichikan in the gardens he almost passed by her and on into the Abbey, and yet he paused long enough to truly study her face.
It was a look he would sometimes see in the others of the Herald class and less often in the faces of the others, but he was always envious. Only when he was deep in trance in front of a flame did he perhaps have such a peaceful expression, but even then he was not sure. Demons and ghosts sometimes would come to him in such states and it was not often with tranquility he met with these specters. That he had been standing and staring for some time before he was again aware of his actions caused his ears to fall back in embarrassment, and surely by now the woman had noticed his gaze. So simply he clasped his hands in front of him and bowed low, his voice rough and stony and no longer awkward as it had been in his youth. "Namaste sister." And that was enough, because that was all that was required of him to another Ichikan, unless that Ichikan asked for more.
<style type="text/css">
.pip-sdb01 b {font-weight:bold; color:#ffee77; letter-spacing:1px; }
.pip-sdb01 .ooc { font-style:italic; padding:0px; font-family:verdana, sans-serif; font-size:11px;}
.pip-sdb01 p {text-indent:25px; padding:5px 10px; margin:0px;}
.pip-sdb01 {margin:0px auto; width:400px; background-color:#918d66; background-image:url(http://i.imgur.com/aIKI8.png); background-position:bottom center; background-repeat:no-repeat; border:1px solid #665566; padding: 10px 0px 235px 0px; font-family: georgia, sans-serif; font-size:12px; color:#ddcc99; line-height:16px; letter-spacing:.5px; text-align:justify;}
</style>
[/html]