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[14:39] Yawen-An Zhenlin says, "Hello young Maple "
[14:40] Epona is counting through her coins, a familiar voice calling out to her. "Hello part..." she pauses "Actually do you mind telling me your name?" seemed she felt it disrespectful to keep calling him partner at this point.
(Epona Maple)
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[14:41] Yawen-An Zhenlin says, "Hmm I am call Yawen-An Zhenlin young one"
[14:42] Epona Maple asks, "Greetings Yawen~! Did you sleep well?"
[14:42] Yawen-An Zhenlin asks, "It was a fine night young one how was yours ?"
[14:44] Epona Maple says, "It was.. Hrmm.. kind of uncomfortable, my parents kept squishing me between them, but still it's better than the bench is."
[14:45] Yawen-An Zhenlin says, "That is true young one"
[14:51] Epona Maple asks, "Do you have any plans for the day Mr. Zhenlin?"
[14:51] Yawen-An Zhenlin says, "I had planned to spend the day in a bit of meditation young one and prehaps listen for a storm."
[14:54] Epona Maple asks, "Could i join you for the meditation?"
[14:55] Yawen-An Zhenlin says, "It would not be a problem young one come sit and we will meditate "
[14:58] Epona skips her way over towards Yawen, sitting herself on the cobblestone, crossing her legs in a manner that would mimic his Yawen's stance.
(Epona Maple)
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[14:59] Epona Maple asks, "Like this?"
[15:03] Zhenlin turned his head slightly to look at the young one before he spoke taking in her position. reaching out and bring her hands to the middle of her lap before he turned back to the square.

"Hand together in your lap young one let the fingers touch. You want to complete the circuit."
(Yawen-An Zhenlin)
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[15:09] She thought for a moment that she nailed it first try, but much like it had been during her first training session there was always room for improvement. Yawen reaches out to move her hands into her lap, following it up with a bit of guidance.

"Hmm..."

Epona tries to figure out her positioning, the back of her forearm now resting on her thigh, fingers individually coming into contact with one another. The difference in that alone was palpable.

"Is this any better?" While mentioning that, she is trying to focus on her breathing, while at the same time listening out for the critique.
(Epona Maple)
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[15:36] "Good that is much better the position is to help allow the air to flow through you much easier and let the things that cloud your mind simply bleed away."

Zhenlin correction his position as he turned to lookback over the square as he took in his breath. It was a slow and steady activity more in the timing of the breathing then in the action of breathing. The breath will always come, it comes naturally.

"Now what are the three most important tenant of the faith young one?"
(Yawen-An Zhenlin)
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[15:49] Epona gives Yawen a very wide smile, proud of herself. Even if the task wasn't enormously difficult it was still something to feel good about.

"That explains a lot" truth be told there were little things that an eleven year old had that would cloud their mind, however, she did feel far more at peace and relaxed than if she were simply to walk about the area.

Every thought process she went through was appropriately coinciding with her breathing. It was in these moments of clarity that Yawen asked her the question, perhaps if she wasn't in the 'zone' it would have taken far longer to respond, but instead the words rolled off her tongue as easy as breathing came.

"Duty. Perseverance. Loyalty"
(Epona Maple)
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[15:54] Zhenlin let his eyes drift over the square and at the empty sits that once was filled with people it seemed that the city had lost what had once made it unique but that was something for another day.

"Yes that is correct young one and do you recall with one of those was said to be the most important to us?"
(Yawen-An Zhenlin)
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[15:55] Dan von Rhin asks, "where should we go now?"
[15:55] Brii2 asks, "I dunno...maybe head back to that spooky forest?"
[16:01] While remaining in her position she is able to hear the myriad of footsteps and voices that accompany them. Her mind wanders off a bit and for a moment she is deeply immersed in the machinations of her own thoughts.

"I can't.. quite recall which is most important" Epona takes a moment to contemplate it, she went with what she believed to be the most logical.

"Perseverance?" she inquires.
(Epona Maple)
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[16:08] Zhenlin looked at her as he kept up with the timing of his breathing intaking and emptying himself with each breath. He let the footsteps wash over him as he simply turning into a noise that he was able to ignore.

"Yes it is perseverance the ability to with stand and to move forward. Yet if looked at from a view of a follower of another path of the Five they might say loyalty or duty. Do you know why we hold perseverance for the highest?"
(Yawen-An Zhenlin)
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[16:17] Epona had to put a lot of effort into this task, stilling her mind and removing the sounds that were of little importance did not come easy in the slightest. Even so, she was able to keep maintaining her focus while lining up her breathing. Deep inhales which would allow her chest to expand, with slow exhales as her lungs collapsed allowing the air within to retreat.

"To withstand and to move forward..." there's a brief pause as she gathers her thoughts allowing Yawen to finish speaking.

"Is it because that is what the first to make the climb up the mountain had to hold closest to them? Having to go forward despite the odds?"
(Epona Maple)
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[16:26] Zhenlin pulled in another breath as he felt it travel around his system before letting it back into the world around him. Breathing was one of the most important actions that came to a follower of the faith the Divine do not act with out needing to but there are time that action is what is needed. Cause that needed to be fought for and breathing allowed them to pull more from the body to push it and in turn be more than they could be.

"Yes those that started what we are of the Shenlong blessed took a pilgrimage of great distance and stress to reach the divine dragon. We look to them and there ability to continue through all they suffered and draw inspiration from that perseverance. What do you think comes after that through duty or loyalty?"
(Yawen-An Zhenlin)
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[16:37] It wasn't quite so obvious what was the cause of this, but for one reason or the Epona fell out of her meditative positioning, legs sprawling forward as her arms braced herself behind her, an exaggerated exhale being brought forth from her lips.

"Damnit" she dropped her balled up fist to the side of her, visibly a little upset that she wasn't able to maintain her state for a little longer.

She was already attempting to get herself back into position, folding her legs back over one another, however, she pauses to listen to Yawen once again, he also had another question, one with which was a little trickier than the rest.

Epona rests her hand underneath her chin, contemplating how best to answer this.

"Loyalty? Because without loyalty there can be no duty?" It was a shot in the darkest of caves for Epona, hopefully Yawen would be able to shed some much needed light on it.
(Epona Maple)
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[16:47] Zhenlin turned to look at the young one but did not break the timing of his breathing after all the fall was mostly due to her lost of concentration but she was not harmed from the action. He had been in her position when he was younger so he had an understand of what she was going through really. Meditation was not easy in the beginning as many people thought it was harder that to sit still than to keep moving.

"It is fine young one you are doing fine return to the position and return to your breathing."

He took a second as he considered her question it was not an easy one to answer and one that had taken him a years of thinking out the culture of Haungzhou and how it might have shaped the rituals that are practices in the faith this day.

"This second is loyalty young one while Duty is important it is not the end all be all for us. It is what we are called to do and to act and the drive in us to see it through. Then the first were blessed by the Divine they could have done anything they wished for the blessing was given and they were changed but most chose to stay. To take up position around the skywarden's fortress as guardians."
(Yawen-An Zhenlin)
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[16:59] Epona quickly finds herself back in the position she was in earlier, fingers making the same connection as before as she now continued to focus on her breathing. Each breath was smooth and had a familiar rhythm to it, her thoughts were less cluttered and scattered and felt far more easy to decipher, as if to say what information did float about in her mind was very easy to obtain so to speak.

Still very much focused and in tuned, even as she listened to Yawen recant her on the question he asked originally.

"Oh, so it's like...Uhm… doing the right thing even though no-one is watching you to make sure you're not doing bad things?" That was as best as she could interpret it for her own understanding. That, however, lead her to a question for Yawen.

"So wait... some of our ancestors and others like us are still up in those mountains to this day?" That came as a surprise to her, she'd never imagined anyone would keep making the journey there, let alone set up residency.
(Epona Maple)
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