Chapter 3: The Gaze of the Dragon

[Muskrat]

Mei-Li shakes her head. "I don't think we can change his mind. He's determined to rescue his parents and who can blame him? I think we have to decide whether we should help him or not." She pauses and then says to Anming, "You might want to apologize to him. I know you meant well, but he pretty clearly took that the wrong way. He's a soldier. If we're going to convince him there's a way to deal with this that doesn't involve killing people, we're going to have to do so by example, not words."

[Shurijo]

Anming looks at Mei-Li and then turns to look outside where Fei stormed off to. The monk has spent his entire life in the area of the monastery, so words and stories are how he was taught. He stands and bows to Mei-Li and then follows Fei outside.

Looking at Fei, he says, "I apologize, if I insulted you. I do not believe violence can end violence. I know you suffer. I know your parents suffer. I also know, your parents would not want you to die at the hands of their oppressors. If the Dragon is to be stopped, it will require more than the remarkable fighting feats of a few men and women."

[TetNak]

Fei is outside, pacing about, angry. When Anming follows and speaks to him, he looks like he might retaliate in some fashion but instead shakes his head. "I know that. Tell me how to be rid of the Dragon and rescue my parents without raising arms and I would be glad to do so. I am no warmonger, but I am sensible, and not everything can be wished away with your meditation and doctrines." The man stops pacing and rubs his face, "I apologize for taking it out on you, I am ... frustrated ... but, even still, I must do what I can to free them, violence or not."

[Shurijo]

Anming nods and says, "You must be clear headed. If you take action without thought, then it will not help matters. You must be patient and contemplate, like the Prince. When the opportunity arises, then seize it. Rushing off to battle would have ended the story with the Prince dieing at the hands of the king's guards. But he worked hard to secretly befriend the King and eventually, he became a trusted friend and was given the opportunity. I cannot condone violence."

[TetNak]

With an expressionless gaze, Fei says, "Condone it or not, violence is coming." With that, the man walks off toward the babbling brook behind the hut.

[Muskrat]

Mei-Li stands in the doorway of Master Po hut and hears Fei's words. She sighs and says, "You know, he's right. There's going to be violence on the part of the Red Dragon and we do have to find out how to stop them. It would be nice to win them over to the way of the Buddha, but in the old legends, sometimes the xia had to use force. And it's not like we haven't inflicted some injuries ourselves--we just refrained from killing people. Remember that assassin we left back there, paralyzed from the legs down." From her voice, it is clear that she is still uneasy with that decision, even if she also still thinks it was the lesser of two evils.

She pauses to think for a moment and then says, "I guess if we feel like we should help Fei, if he's willing to have us along. But we may be more harm than help--we're going to disagree whether killing people is necessary. And my father's obsession with capturing me may put him in more danger, not less. If we go with him, he should know about that." She says the last awkwardly, running her fingers through her hair, clearly embarrassed at the prospect of trying to explain her bizarre family history to Fei.

[Hayabusa]

"I like to help Fei," Xun-Wen says. "But his destination is one where we cannot or should not follow. We would walk right back to the men who are hunting us and your father will still be looking for you there as well. I do not know but I think Fei will be more successful to enter Quon Da alone but when it comes to violence then he will he hopelessly outmatched, just like we would be. In any case, even if we leave now and move as fast as we can, we will not be there in time." The young man sighs. "Violence is still a last resort and I do not want to use it pointlessly. But I think the path of Tong Fei is another one than ours," he says.

[Muskrat]

Mei-Li is silent a long moment, then says slowly and reluctantly, "I suppose you are right. We would not work together well and my presence may be more danger than help. I just like him and his family and hate to see him walking into such danger alone." She looks at Anming to see what the monk thinks.

[Shurijo]

Anming considers the diverging paths and when Mei-Li looks to him, he's surprised they are asking for his input. The young monk shrugs and says, "I would hope to help all and I cannot turn away from Fei, because his thoughts are clouded. I hold little hope in changing his path from violence, but there is still a chance. Our destinies are uncertain and we do not know what lies at the end of either path. Yet, we sometimes must cut off the hand to save the arm. It is a hard decision, but if allowing Fei to continue on his path will allow us to do more good elsewhere, then I cannot argue with your decision."

It's clear to the others, that the monk continues to waffles on making a decision and has avoided the responsibility of making the decision on which path to take.

OOC

I'm okay with either path. Anming doesn't feel right about letting Fei go on his own, but if the other path provides a chance to help the many over the one, then he'll be okay with it.

OOC: I see the Fei path as being more difficult and risky, but potentially more favorable if we can save parents (then we'd gain more allies), but that's really up to the GM and story, if we could even get there in time and if Tet wanted to change the story in that direction. The other path (scroll, wizard) seems to be more direct and potentially even furthering the primary plot a bit more.

[TetNak]

Fei remains outside, over by the brook, rinsing off his face and chest. Po is inside, cleaning up, listening to the xia but not commenting.

OOC

I'm happy either way