Excalibur, Caliburn and the King of Knights

[Amaterasu]

Amaterasu "hmm"-ed and looked at the little shrine when Arthuria spoke, though her ears were turned towards her at all times and she was intently listening. "Interferring in the world of mortals is... difficult, Saber. There have been debates between the kami as to what we should do... many a time these debates have resulted in violence amongst each other. Do you know why? Because some of us believe that if we interfer in the world of mortals, we are not helping them in the long run. We are making them dependant on us." She reached up and pulled the Prayer Beads up until they were around her neck. "Sometimes it's true - we do grant guidance or perform what mortals call "miracles". We intervene. Those are the times where that side wins the debate... if the situation is so dire that we have no choice. But we cannot be the benevolent mothers who wrap their children into their loving arms when they get injured and solve all their problems for them, not if we want those children to grow up some day." She dropped to her knees, which caused several blades of grass to sprout around where she touched the ground, spreading out from where her feet were already resting against the surface. "Perhaps your gods are different, Saber, but the kami from my world never are indifferent to mankind, because we once were like them, and may turn to them again one day. But if we were to grant too many wishes, the pleads and begging would soon turn into demands and requests - we would not be kami anymore, but tools. And if we stopped our guidance, if we stopped working our miracles and intervening, what do you think will happen?" She looked to Arthuria, smiling but with her eyes looking sad. "The same as if you suddenly throw a child that has never learned to fend for itself from your home. They wouldn't know what to do, and plummet into chaos and death. That, Saber, is why we can only intervene in the darkest hour, when mankind cannot solve its own problems, or when we bring upon mankind a problem that is ours to solve. Yami, the akuma I defeated, was one such problem - mankind could not hope to defeat a beast like him. That is why I was brought down to assist mankind that time, and save them." She sighed and stood up, causing the grass blades and flowerbuds to rapidly dissipate into little glowy green energy which in turn dissipated to thin air. "You carry a big burden with you, and I would like to hear about it some day, Saber. But I think that the time for you to tell me is not today - it will be when you choose so, and I will not inquire about it until then."

Arthuria's next words however caused Amaterasu to raise an eyebrow, then shake her head which sent her lengthy hair waving behind her. "You are no tool to anyone's goals, Saber. Not even if you believe yourself to be such, for you are still a human, capable of emotion and independant thought. You have a tamashii. To underline her point she tapped her chest just above her cleavage. "I know not what this Holy Grail you speak of is, but it has no meaning to change my point. For no purposes can you be a tool. You can only be treated as one, and the person who does so is a bad one."

"I must admit... your story is becoming more and more intricate by the minute. You were betrayed by someone who named themselves a knight, as you say? If they are anything like the Samurai breaking their word is a great infringement, and this person has lost their honor in betraying their rida. Arthuria might just understand that last word without requiring a translation. "I suppose that being a Heroic Spirit, as you say, would have allowed you to travel back in time? To fix the mistakes you committed?" She asked curiously. "Though it pains me a great deal to tell you so, Saber, it is not a good idea to change the past, as with all its mistakes and wrong turns it still is what shaped the present. If a man travels back in time to kill a young boy who in the future would become a tyrant Shogun, cause a local uprising and cost many a people their lives, who is to say that among the victims of the civil war there could not have been another child which would have risen to become a tenno that brings even greater sorrow over the entire land?" She approached Arthuria and pulled the Prayer Beads over her head, then held them out so that Arthuria could slip her head through them and wear them as a necklace. "The kami are not always just, and much less are they always right, Saber. But I want you to know, they are there watching over you." She smiled comfortingly. "You can wear these for a while. On my journey I found them comforting when I felt desperate, their weight around my waist reminded me that I was not alone. Don't worry, if things were to get ill I could take them off your neck at a moment's notice, they will not impede you." She would only put it around Arthuria's neck if the knight allowed for it, of course, otherwise she would put it back on herself. "There is nothing to apologize for, Saber, or do you see me offended? It is good to allow your emotions out, rather than bottling them up. Ill thoughts and worries are a greater burden than the heaviest sack of rice."

Tamashii: Soul
Rida: Leader
Tenno: Emperor