Kanko-Cho nods in agreement.
"Hai, Gensai-san. I can try to ease our way and calm the kami of the water a bit down, but I'd need to rely on your help for a while longer", the young Asahina says.
The Shugenja then pulls out a kanzashi of her hair.
Come to think of it, she wonders how so many of those were still in place.
She looks closely at the hair jewelry to remember the design, so she won't recreate it.
Kanko-Cho then starts to pray, her voice loud enough to be heard by the kami, but low enough to not disturb any Samurai around her, without the intention of whispering or being secretive. She just does not want to break their concentration.
Her hand, which is holding the kanzashi, softly strokes the surface of the water, while she starts to speak in a calm voice.
"Oh mighty kami of water, we feel your anger and it pains us to see you so agitated.
Oh generous kami of water, please allow me to help you calm down a bit.
Oh ever moving kami of water, please take this humble token as a symbol of our respect for you.
Oh eternal kami of water, please allow us to get to a safe place, so that we may honor you.
Oh pure kami of water, please accept my promise to never recreate this kanzashi I offered you as a token of our respect.
Oh gentle kami of water, please ease our way to the roof, so that we may pray to you."
The Shugenja starts speaking, but after a while she changes to singing. Her voice modulated in a way so that the prayer sounds like a calming lullaby. After finishing the prayer, she places her hand on the surface of the water and sets the kanzashi free, so that the kami may take her offering.
But the Shugenja does not stop her sung prayer after this.
She repeats the process, pulls another kanzashi out of her hair, looks closely at the jewelry to remember the design, so she won't recreate it, repeats the song and sets the kanzashi free in the water.
When Kanko-Cho tries to grab another jewelry she realizes she doesn’t have any left.
But the young Asahina feels like this is not enough, so she shortly thinks about what else she has with her and can be offered to the kami. Aside from her clothing, only the scroll satchel and her wakizashi are left. Neither would be an offering, which would not end up making trouble for her. So the young Shugenja tries to think of things the kami of water like.
Movement. Life. Perception. Change. Senses. Health. Purity. Renewal. Rituals. Growth. Travel.
"The kami are already in movement, so breaking a dam or similar might not be enough to stop them or ask for their help", Kanko-Cho thinks,
"I could offer to forfeit my sight, which is a bit extreme, or offer to not use my sight for an amount of time. Or help rebuilding the shrine dedicated to the ronin or travel to a nearby village, I do not know the villages here, or maybe help recreate the gardens here or promise to take care of all the wounded or take care of the funeral rites for the dead. Yes. I will offer this."
She repeats the prayer song and offers her help with the funerary rites, as soon as the waves withdraw from the land as a third sacrifice, still willing to offer more, if the kami were to demand anything else.
“The wind moves with such subtlety, you do not even notice your own breathing. Be aware. Only a fool knows the wind is empty.”
Tao of Shinsei