The White Rose of Chireiden

[Alfred F. Jones]

She could almost hear the smirk crossing the face of the woman on the line.

?I suppose you know who I am.?

Her mouth was dry, but she nodded, then realized that there was no way the person on the line could see her nodding.

?Y-yes. Even in Chireiden, we know the name of Yakumo.?

What youkai didn't? Yakumo Yukari, the legendary youkai sage of Gensokyo, rumoured to be the most powerful of all youkai in existence. Stories featuring her as the heroine or the mastermind that favoured minor heroes were standard bedtime story fare in Chireiden. She was a living legend, and Satori reacted accordingly: by feeling her heart race in panic.

Upon hearing that name, Sumire's eyes widened, and Kasumi only nodded with her jaw still hanging open.

?Good, so you are not entirely uncivilized.? The woman on the line chuckled. ?Let's get to the point, shall we? We're both busy women.?

?Y-yes.?

?Prima di tutto. Congratulations on your ascension to the throne.?

Satori's mind blanked.

D-did she just speak in her language?! In the language of the satori?

?G-grazie.? Well, what else was she supposed to say? This woman had a way of knocking her for a loop with only a few syllables! Truly, she was as whimsical as the legends said she was.

Another chuckle. ?And second, I have a deal to offer you.?

Her mind reeled. Yakumo Yukari, the greatest of youkai, had sent a phone down here through one of her gaps to speak with her? Out of nowhere, with no warning or notice!

She put her hand over her heart to steady it, and took a deep breath in, a deep breath out.

?I am listening,? she replied.

?Komeiji-san, I know that your city-state of Chireiden and those of us here up on the surface have not always been on... the best of terms.? A giggle. ?A polite way of putting it. But I must say, I truly admire how you have been the first to formally throw off Shinki's empire. Most impressive, for such a small city as yours to provoke such a large empire. It's gutsy. I like that.?

Satori's mind brought up an echo of the satori screaming to death as they burned. She was sickened at the idea of that somehow being described as "gutsy". She didn't think it was a great idea to say this to the woman on the line, though, so she stayed silent.

?Allow me to express my gratitude by offering you a most magnanimous deal.?

Somehow, the pink-haired girl understood that this would be an offer she would be wise not to turn down.

?And your deal...??

On the other end of the line, she heard a sound that must have been Yukari clapping her hands together.

?My offer is this. I will redirect your freshwater pipeline to a new source of clean water, a supply that won't be threatened for the foreseeable future-- oh, about a thousand years or so. I will also send down my subordinate and her associates to assist in the rebuilding efforts of your city. And as a bonus, I shall also send ten caravans of grain to be ground up and baked into bread, to deal with your current food crisis.?

Satori dropped the phone in shock.

She blinked for a moment, then her knees gave out too and she fell backwards. Hard.

?Oof!? she exclaimed, the sudden pain dispelling the shock from her mind. She caught herself before she hit her head on a rock or something.

?Satori-san!? Sumire exclaimed. The captain took three steps forward, offered her hand.

But Satori was too dazed to respond immediately.

Where was this generosity coming from? What would Yakumo Yukari want in return? It had to be something big.... but the offer was so generous that she wasn?t sure if she would be able to refuse.

At some point she became aware that Yukari was still on the line. The phone was hanging from the gap by its wire, swinging back and forth. She stared at it, then noticed that Sumire was standing right in front of her.

?Are you okay, Satori-san??

It was strange to hear her name with honorifics. Or maybe she was the weird one.

She shook her head to get rid of the distracting thoughts. Yakumo would not want to be kept waiting.

?I am fine. Can you pass me the phone??

Sumire nodded, and reached over and pulled over the phone. Rather than more cord coming out of the gap, the gap followed along with the cord's fixed length.

What a strange power Yakumo Yukari had. Satori took the phone.

?My apologies. I dropped the phone.?

She heard her own voice echoing this time. How odd. Satori heard a small ?ah? of surprise and the sound of a button click, and then Yukari's voice came through loud and clear.

?I see you're back. I thought something like that had happened.? A chuckle. ?I take it you are interested in my offer??

?Your offer... does interest me,? Satori said, wondering how careful she needed to be. ?What is your price??

?My price? Well...?

Satori took a breath, watching Kasumi and Sumire's faces. Kasumi looked both stunned and confused, while Sumire's facial expressions mirrored the anticipation in her thoughts.

?Normally I would ask much, but because of your position, I am aware you do not have much to offer me. However, these are my terms. At some point over the next week, after you have put out the fires in your city, I will send my representative down to visit you.?

?Representative?? That got Satori's attention.

?Yes. I shall send her down to oversee the establishment of the spellcard system.?

?The... spellcard system??

Another chuckle. Satori wished she had this woman in front of her so she could hear her thoughts.

?Yes, the spellcard system that we are installing throughout the surface world. It is a way of combat that is non-lethal, but... oh, hold on, let me just read it to you.?

Satori heard a rustling of papers. She turned her attention from the phone briefly to gesture at Sumire, trying to convey her confusion. Sumire just shook her head and shrugged too, while Kasumi held her hands up in front of her, as if to keep the phone away from her.

?Ah. Here we are.? Yukari cleared her throat, and Satori turned her attention back to the phone.

?'Spell Naming Law: With each fight between youkai, there is the fear of collapse...' yadda yadda... ah, here we go. 'Therefore, I propose the following contract for the allowance for duels.'

?'Concepts: That youkai can easily cause disasters. That humans can easily resolve disasters. That use of one's full abilities is to be denied. That there are no things superior to beauty and thought.'?

Satori listened and nodded along. The third one was particularly appealing. She appreciated the idea of such a limiter on particularly powerful people. Like Shinki. But then she considered that Shinki would probably never agree to this. Her cousin, however... she guessed that her cousin would have approved. And she liked the sentiment of the last concept.

?'The laws of the spellcard system: Each spell shall be given a beautiful and meaningful name. The number of named spells to be used shall be announced beforehand. Attacks relying on physical strength are not to be repeated. Do not attack without reason: Reason becomes its own power. If all your named spells are defeated, you are defeated, regardless of your remaining strength. If victorious against a human, you may not kill them.'?

Satori didn't think those last two really applied to Chireiden, because there was no human population here that she knew of-- in fact, it occurred to her that she had never actually met a human before. But she approved of the idea of reduced bloodshed on basic principle. She had seen enough of that in the past few days to last her a lifetime.

?'The name of the spell shall be recorded on paper in the same form as this contract. As a result, all of the aforementioned regulations become absolute. This paper will be called the "spell card". A concrete method of dueling may be discussed later with the shrine maiden.'?

?Who is this shrine maiden? The Hakurei maiden??

?Indeed,? Yukari replied over the rustling of papers. ?What do you think??

?If I understand this properly... you are phasing out battles based on raw physical or magical power and replacing it with a sort of stylized fighting.?

?You have the right idea.?

Satori scratched her chest. She really needed a shower. She was beginning to realize how sore she felt.

?Well, I must say, that... doesn't sound unappealing. It's not lethal, is it??

?Not at all. It satisfies the youkai who wish to test their skill and it protects the humans who fight them.?

Satori opened her mouth, intending to ask why Yukari cared about installing this system down in Chireiden, which had no human population to speak of. But then she remembered how generous Yukari was being. If she wanted to install something nonsensical and unnecessary like this 'spellcard system' she was talking about in exchange for fresh water for a thousand years and food to feed her people, she was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

So she did not say anything about that subject.

?Good. I have had enough of very lethal fighting to last me as long as I live.? Satori sighed. ?Is that all it does??

?It does a few other things. We're also including basic flight for all creatures who qualify for the spellcard system. Oh, and to qualify, all you need to do is have enough magical power to create a spellcard. That's the only requisite.?

?Basic... flight? You can do that?? Satori recalled seeing her sister fall off the roof of the Palace of the Earth Spirits, and all the satori who had burned to death rather than jump through the windows to the hard ground below. She shuddered.

If they had been able to fly...

?Oh, yes. That part is easy. But we do need to build several magical constructs under the streets and buildings and whatnot to support the form of flight we have in mi--?

?Done.?

?Eh?? Yukari's voice seemed surprised.

?If that is your price, I pay it.? Satori found herself gritting her teeth a little, remembering her sister's last genuine smile. ?I won't see people falling to their deaths in front of me ever again.? And I won't force anyone to die in my place that way again.

There was a moment's pause. ?Then the deal is made.?

Satori nodded. ?I agree to your terms. I'll wait for your representative to visit us.?

?Do you care if I send a human or a youkai??

The queen paused. She hadn't ever met a human.

?Send whoever can hold their own. I can't imagine that anyone here would attack a representative of Yakumo, especially since we have so much on our hands to deal with right now, but...? she pondered. ?Actually, it would be a good test of the spellcard system if you only sent humans. Wouldn't it??

?That can be arranged,? Yukari replied.

?Send a youkai now, but only humans from here on out. I've never met one. I'm quite curious to see what their idea of beautiful combat would be.?

?Done.?

?Is there anything else??

?Nothing that comes to mind. If I have anything else, I'll tell you through my representative.?

?All right. Thank you very much for your call, Yakumo-san.? Good, she'd remembered to use an honorific.

?You're welcome. Goodbye.? A click, and then the line went dead. Satori knew that must signify the end of the conversation, and she let the phone go.

It fell for a moment, but then the gap opened up and pulled the phone up by its cord, then sucked the phone in, closing the gap with it.

[Alfred F. Jones]

Kasumi blinked. ?That's the strangest thing I've ever seen.?

?How did it...? Satori stopped what she was saying. ?Never mind.? Some questions were better left unanswered. Sumire looked at Satori's face, then turned to her fellow general. ?Kasumi-san, would you please go check on the fire brigade??

?Yes, general,? Kasumi said, and the two exchanged salutes before Kasumi hurried off.

?You could tell I wanted to talk to you alone,? Satori observed, her Third Eye trained on Sumire.

Sumire shrugged. ?I suppose it was a lucky guess.?

Satori didn't think that, but she had never met a fairy before Sumire, and while she guessed that Sumire was much smarter than the average fairy, she had no real point of comparison.

She set that thought aside. ?Sumire, have you ever heard of the spellcard system??

?Hmm... yes, I have. Eiki-sama and a few other youkai were discussing a draft of it some time ago, I believe. Why??

?Because Yakumo Yukari just called to ask me if they could bring that system here,? Satori replied. ?In exchange for bread and water.?

Sumire looked surprised. ?A good deal!? Then she blinked. ?... how much bread and water??

?She said she would send 'ten caravans'... I'm not sure how much that measures out to. As for the water... fresh water for a thousand years.?

Sumire paused.

?I agree,? Satori said.

?It's too good of a deal,? Sumire confirmed.

?Will she want more from me?? Satori asked.

?Hard to say. Youkai can be fickle about a few things, but I'm not sure this would be one of them...? Sumire stroked her chin. ?There's also a second possibility...?

?Conquest?? Satori shook her head. ?I hope not!? But then it occurred to her that maybe other forces would try to take over her country. She scowled inside. That would never happen. Yakumo was being too generous, so she would keep quiet for now, but she reminded herself to tell her representative later that in the name of Chireiden, she would never permit youkai to come down here after the installment of the spellcard system.

Chireiden would never be subordinate to an outside power again.

?And a third I just thought of,? Sumire put in. ?Maybe Yakumo-sama felt bad for you.?

?Felt bad??

Satori was about to argue-- but then she remembered the pause that had come after Satori had spoken of death.

?I suppose... it's a possibility.?

?Sumire-sama!?

The fairy general of Higan turned to see. ?Kasumi-san? What is it??

Satori turned to see as well, wondering why Kasumi would have returned so quickly.

Kasumi ran up to them, panting. This time she didn't salute-- she was too excited.

?Water,? Kasumi said, pointing in the direction of the great pipeline. ?Water began gushing down! The fire brigade has more than enough water to combat the fires now!?

Sumire and Satori looked at each other.

?It appears that Yakumo-sama is a woman of her word,? Sumire observed.

?Indeed,? Satori replied, hoping that she hadn't just stepped into a trap.

She set that thought aside. ?Kasumi-san, may I accompany the fire brigade to the west districts??

?Oh? You're not going to help with food distribution?? Sumire asked, as some subordinates began to arrive with their baskets of fruit.

?I trust you to distribute it well,? Satori replied. ?And besides, my place is to keep my people safe. As far as I can, no one here will die from fire ever again.?

Sumire smiled. ?All right. I shall do my best, Satori-sam-- er... Satori.? She saluted the queen she was informally serving.

?Thank you, Sumire. I will pray that Eiki recover soon.?

Sumire's face had turned unusually grave, but she tried to wear a smile. ?I hope so too.?

Satori made a note to herself: after the fires were put out, go talk to Eiki. The bits and pieces of Eiki's thoughts she had managed to overhear were... disturbing. Something had happened to her sense of self on that battlefield, something to shake her to her very core, and it hurt her to see the woman who had saved her and Koishi and Utsuho and Rin to be in such pain.

Then Satori had gone off with Kasumi, to oversee the waters-- which were indeed gushing. Satori hoped the pipeline would be able to take the pressure. She didn't know how old it was. It bothered her that she didn't know all these things about her city.

But she wasn't the sort of person that would wallow in self-pity. She had a job to do, and people relying on her. And there would be no letting them down.

If she stopped now to feel bad for herself, the pain, the images burned into her mind, the pain of losing the people and the world she had known-- if she stopped to think of them now, they would catch up with her. At the same time, she wouldn't run from them-- she just had to set them aside for a while longer. She would save the self-pity for a bed alone in the dark so she could cry herself to sleep without anyone else noticing.

With that resolve, she set off to the western districts of the Ancient City to help with the fires.

The fire brigade's carts with their water tanks reminded her of their own fire-fighting team, and she wondered where they were. Later she found out that the carts had been rescued from fire themselves, and eventually they joined the brigade, with Chireiden's own fire-fighting forces joining Higan's. But that didn't happen for several hours.

Satori made herself useful, rushing into burning buildings where people were trapped inside. It had been hours since the initial invasion, so at first she was confused as to how there could still be citizens inside their homes, but as it turned out, several neighborhoods had been holding out against both the invading Makai army and the encroaching fire, and while Makai's forces had pulled out a few hours later, the fire had continued, until people could not escape from the ring of burning buildings all around them.

She had the ability to find them where they were, by listening to their thoughts, their screams and pleas for help and cries for mercy.

Sometimes they were cut off before she could reach them, but sometimes they lasted until Satori arrived with a bucket of water in one hand and a fire axe in her other as she cut down the fallen wooden planks and doors that obstructed her path.

?Come on! Let's get out of here!? She was also good at figuring out what wall was best to cut down as they made their escape from the building. In this way, she saved many people.

At one point, a burning plank of wood fell across her arm. Hissing in pain, she reached into the remaining pocket she had and pulled out the spring essence she had grabbed earlier when one of the ghost captains had fallen to Yumeko?s knives. She pressed it to her arm, and felt better immediately, but the blossoms lost their glow.

The cherry blossoms had floated up and away on an unseen breeze. Satori tipped her head to them and went back into the fire to save what she could.

?Who are you?? she was asked at many points by the people whose homes she saved.

?Komeiji Satori,? she replied, listening to their thoughts as they finally seemed to notice the distinctive Third Eye of the satori nobles.

?You saved us! Thank you!? Even if they didn't always reply with that level of enthusiasm for a member of the hated satori, they did always nod respectfully to her and thank her from saving them from the threshold of death.

There was something about being saved by a member of a class they despised that seemed to change the way people thought. It wasn't a complete change, not remotely-- but she was planting seeds of doubt. She remembered the looks of surprise as she had moved on from one burning building to the next, saving who and what she could, along with the citizens of the city who were finally getting over their shock at their world turning upside-down.

?But you're a satori,? one tsuchigumo had asked, confused.

?Yes,? Satori had replied, taking a drink of water that a member of the fire brigade passed her.

?Why are you doing this?? he asked, still lost.

?I have a lot of experience finding my way through burning buildings,? Satori laughed, but then her laughing turned to coughing as she choked up ash and smoke. She was lucky that she had a youkai's endurance, or the smoke inhalation would have killed her hours ago.

?But... you're a noble!? he protested.

Satori shrugged. ?My cousin Miyani wouldn't have liked it if I had used that as an excuse not to help people.?

At one point, her clothes had completely burned away. She had had to stay out of the way for a while until one of the Higan fire brigade fairies had brought her a spare uniform. She wasn't at all cold, but she did take the time to observe her various burns and cuts and scrapes, and somehow someone had managed to get a pair of tweezers down here, so she pulled out a bunch of splinters from her feet and arms while she had the chance. She also took the chance to notice the clothing of the refugees who had trickled back to the city and were hoping that their homes hadn't burned down. They were all dirty and most smelling of smoke, too.

She was doing this for a selfish and a selfless reason. Selfish: because she wanted her people to think well of her, as they had thought well of her cousin. Selfless: because she really did think it was the right thing to do. And she was under no illusions about her two motivations.

Besides, it was always interesting to see how people reacted to her rescuing them. Some of them returned to being in shock; quite a few had their minds largely unchanged, but a seed of doubt had taken hold; and some of them even started to reconsider their dislike of the satori.

It was fascinating to be able to listen in on their minds as their thoughts turned from ?it's one of those selfish satori nobles!? to ?... even if that is true, I like this satori.?

She even detected the faintest bit of sympathy at times. After all, the Palace of the Earth Spirits had been burned down with most if not all of the satori population inside, and now with their own homes burnt, they knew how that felt. Some of them blamed the satori themselves for bringing the wrath of Makai down on them, but a larger segment of the people she met hated everything to do with Makai and counted the burning of the Palace as an insult to the entire city.

It was a surprising comfort to not be hated by absolutely everyone on sheer virtue of bearing a Third Eye. Satori smiled, wondering how long that would last.

Then more fire brigade carts would turn up with tanks full of water, and they would move on to the next section that needed water to combat the fires. As the hours dragged on, Satori found that not even the whispered ?thank you?s and the quiet thoughts of approval would make her feel better about the images and screams she heard echoing through their minds, and into hers through her Terza Occhia.

But she kept fighting the fires, because her heart simply would not stand for the idea of other people having their families taken away the way hers had been.

Never again.

[Alfred F. Jones]

To that end, she refused to take any kind of break except to breathe and drink water. Several times she received genuine requests to replace her, sometimes from the people whose houses she had saved.

She smiled, taking the time to sound like the dignified leader she wanted to be. ?Thank you, but this is my duty. Rather, make sure your family has food and water. The army of Higan is distributing it at their camp, on the shore of the Hell of Blazing Fires.?

Most of the time, the youkai she saved would look at her with an expression of surprise that even sometimes turned into a smile. ?Yes, Satori-sama!? Less commonly, they might even join her in the fire line to pass buckets down to the flames until they had to leave. She liked both responses.

She had been at it for hours and hours by the time Rin had found her.

?I've been looking everywhere for you!? the kasha exclaimed, hugging her master tightly.

Satori wheezed. ?Rin... too tight,? she choked out.

?I'm not hugging you tightly...? Rin replied, but she set Satori down. ?Satori, how long have you been here??

?Uh... I lost track of the time.? Satori replied, pointing to the southwest. ?That's where I started from. From the shrine to the Yatagarasu down those streets.?

Rin knew where that was, and how much time that distance would equal in terms of fire-fighting.

?You've been at this for hours! It's a miracle you haven't died!? Rin waved her arms in a panic. ?Satori, you need to stop and rest!?

Satori leaned down, rested her hands on the handles of her two buckets of water. Her arms were sore, her spare uniform burned almost to tatters. She was surprised. She hadn't noticed just how long she had been here until just now.

?But there aren't replacements,? she replied. ?We need all the hands we can get at containing the fires before they spread, and putting out as much as we can.?

?But Satori, you've--?

?Oh my gosh, what's that over there?!? Satori had shouted, pointing behind Rin.

?What? Where?? Rin turned around, and Satori picked up her buckets of water and ran to fight the next fire before Rin could figure out she'd been tricked.

Satori ran into the burning building, aware that it was at great risk of coming down if they didn't put out the fire soon. She was glad that this one had gotten all its inhabitants out safely.

She swung her buckets of water as she went, with other fairy members of the fire brigade alongside her. They put out the fires that were snaking across the ceiling and across the walls, and sent their empty buckets back down the line. They got new buckets soon enough, and Satori stayed in that relay line, feeling ashes and embers landing on her clothes and in her hair. She doused herself over the head with water, then continued to fight the fire.

She had done this since she was a child. She wasn't about to stop.

The water on her quickly evaporated, but soon the fires were being beaten back. Another success. The fire brigade pressed on into the house, putting out all the fires they saw. The home was a charred mess, but a few rooms had been saved, and it could be rebuilt.

The brigade of fairies left the house, too exhausted to cheer, but with smiles on their faces. The family that had lived there thanked them, even her. Another reaction of shock at Satori's identity as a noble, and another approval. She smiled with relief.

Then Rin came up behind her and threw her into her wheelbarrow.

?Rin!? Satori exclaimed as the determined kasha kidnapped her. ?I'm f-fine, see?? Satori coughed and hacked, and realized that maybe she shouldn't have said that. ?I'm alive, see??

?That's a baseline! That's not something to be proud of!? Rin shot back as she pushed her cart past the fire brigade and the crowds that were following them.

?It's good to be able to be flexible in your goals,? Satori pointed out as another coughing fit shook her. ?I need to k-keep helping out, Rin.?

?You've been fighting the fires for at least the past who knows how many hours, Satori! You can't keep this up! You need to sleep!? Rin's yells were turning a few eyes towards them.

Satori was about to argue, but she started coughing again. ?I--? She started again. ?I need to...? Another cough. ?I need to find the oni. I-- I need their help with something,? she said. In particular, she needed to speak to Yuugi Hoshiguma, the oni she had met in person some hours ago, during the invasion.

?You're on the verge of collapse! No way! Not until you sleep!? Rin shouted, and she took a running start before she started running through streets and over the roofs of unburnt buildings, so she wouldn't crash into the refugees that were trickling back into their neighborhoods with food for their families.

?How is the food distribution g-going?? Satori said, finally realizing how dry and sore her throat felt-- as well as the rest of her. ?Is everyone getting enough to eat??

?I got a basket for us earlier,? Rin replied as they soared through the air. ?Where's it all coming from, anyway??

?Sanzu River's shores. Wild fruit picked by the fairies... say, I just realized, the elderly will need people to b-bring them food and water! I should--?

Rin leaned over her cart to fix Satori with a glare and said, ?I'll take care of it. But you need rest, Satori-sama, and if you don't come willingly, I'll tie you to a bed to make sure you get rest.?

She was half-tempted to point out that there was precious little rope available in Chireiden for the purposes of tying up obstinate rulers, but she was too tired to argue. What little energy she still had for jokes was spent; she was relying on Rin's energy to buoy her now.

Those were the past ninety-six hours of Satori's life, from the time of the invasion to the present. It would have been longer, but after nearly passing out from exhaustion and smoke inhalation in Rin's cart, Rin had made her promise that she would get some rest.

As it turned out, she was staying in Rin's family's house tonight. After the fire some years ago, apparently the kasha had gone out of their way to make the vulnerable outer walls of their houses stone rather than wood. Satori decided that she would insist on stonework for the rebuilding of the city as soon as the fires were put out. She was put into the guest room.

As soon as she had walked into Rin's home, her mother Irene Kaenbyou had taken care of her. Now that she was no longer fighting fires to keep her adrenaline levels up, the exhaustion of the past few days caught up to Satori and hit her like several bricks in the back of the head, and she could barely stand on her own two feet. Rin supported her as she walked down the stairs to Rin's room as her mother went off to find clothes that would fit their guest.

Satori was wearing not much more than burnt rags at this point, so she accepted the gift of one of Rin's old nightgowns with gratitude. She realized then that the fire axe she had been given earlier was still in her hand, and quickly set it down on the ground so Irene could pull the gown over her shoulders to see if it fit.

?I'm sorry we didn't have anything better to fit you, Satori-sama,? Irene said.

Satori shook her head. ?Your generosity means more to me than you know. Thank you so much.?

Irene smiled. ?You are an honoured guest in our home, Satori-sama. It is only fitting that we show a visitor the greatest hospitality. Please get some rest.?

Oh, how she loved it when people spoke honestly from their hearts. The satori maiden bowed to her host. Here, she was no queen. She was her daughter's master, and she showed her respects to the woman who had raised her best friend.

Satori longed to bathe, but she was so tired she bet she would fall asleep and drown in the bathtub. Instead she decided she would wait until the next day. For now, she needed food and rest. Rin and Irene went further into the house, with Rin promising to return with fruit and water for her.

Satori nodded, and then stood, wavering for a moment before she centered herself and looked at herself in the full-length mirror next to her bed.

Her eyes were red. Her eyes were normally purple-pink, but the sclerae were red from ash and smoke. The same applied to her Third Eye. She was grimy and dirty and her hair had been singed and burnt. It would take some time to grow out to an even length again. She sniffed her arm and recoiled. She smelled like smoke and ash and sweat. Before she even had breakfast tomorrow, she was going to get a bath one way or the other, even if she had to walk all the way to the pipeline for it. But by now the water should have found its way through the pipes that ran beneath Chireiden's streets.

So much had changed in the past few days that she could barely comprehend it. She was a bit afraid to, in all honesty. For the safety of her own sanity, she had closed the doors on understanding, focusing only on what was in front of her at any given moment.

If she opened them up again, even just a little, it might all come flooding out, bowling her over and submerging her, maybe even threaten to drown her.

She wasn't afraid... but she did decide that she should get a good night's rest before she confronted the new world she had been plunged into. It was the least she could do for herself.

She looked at the door. She didn't hear mother or daughter coming. She could turn her Third Eye in that direction to find out if something was going on, but she was uninterested. Instead she lay down on her bed, stared into space up at the ceiling, and after a few moments she closed her eyes.

[Alfred F. Jones]

Her muscles and limbs and her mind were exhausted, so by all rights she should have fallen asleep instantly.

But she couldn't.

The echoing screams of pain and agony from the refugees all around her prevented that.

Oh, they weren't actually yelling. Not with words. They were in her mind. Normally there was simply a background noise from the city, as unnoticeable as a little rock by the side of the road, but the collective, shared emotions of the refugees united to make a clear sound in the background. The thoughts of grief and loss were a great burden to her mind.

And if she was honest, her own thoughts only added to that burden.

Her mind replayed the most important moments of the past few hours. The meeting with the civil servants-- she realized, belatedly, that most of them had been male, which was really unusual. Like Makai, Chireiden was a de facto matriarchy-- a system also shared by the greater Gensokyo area up on the surface. Men were not barred from inheriting, but there were simply so few of them among the satori that a male king of Chireiden was highly uncommon, from what Satori understood of the satori rulers of the past. Though, she didn't know much about the many other races of youkai who lived in the Ancient City. Maybe they had more balanced gender ratios. And it was entirely possible that the invasion had managed to kill off most of the heads of those departments (who would have been satori) and their assistants until these men had been left in charge by process of elimination.

In a way, this made Satori feel a little better. At least her competitors for power were less experienced with the machinations of city politics than she had been led to believe. And they were sill quite willing to help with the hard task of building Chireiden back up from the ashes, so she was inclined to think that they had just been trying to intimidate her. She had heard lots of resentful thoughts at that meeting, even seditious and treasonous thoughts, but none she could call truly malicious to the point of killing her-- maybe kidnapping her at best. But no killing. She could rest easy on that front.

As long as she had her life, she was going to succeed.

Though, she would probably need a weapon, besides the fire axe she had accidentally brought along. She made a note to acquire a proper weapon as soon as she woke. Satori had never gotten along well with the rapier-- that was her sister's talent, not hers. But she was passably good at archery. Surely someone in the Higan army would have a spare bow and quiverful of arrows she could have. Maybe also a knife for close-quarters safety, even if that was more Koishi's style.

... her sister. Just where had she gotten off to? She had said through Utsuho that she was never coming back. If she had been captured by Makai's army, she...

No, there was no way she had been captured by them. She would have heard it if they had. Shinki wouldn't have resisted bragging to her about it. Even if she had, her thoughts would have given that away.

She had to be on the surface by now. Somewhere.

She lay in her bed, trying to get those thoughts out of her mind, trying to give herself enough space to rest her thoughts.

But the echoes of the city reached her.

She heard the echo of a cry of grief reach her Third Eye and breathed in and out to calm herself. She heard another cry, with more agony in it, and squeezed her eyes shut. A third cry, more like a shriek, and she covered her ears with her hands.

Hadn't she seen enough death for herself for a lifetime? Didn't she have enough grief herself in her heart? Why did this Third Eye have to let her hear the pain of others, too?!

She curled up on the bed, one ear against the bed, the other covered by her hand. With her spare hand, she moved on instinct to her Third Eye, wanting to pull down the lid so she could cease to hear the screams. ?S-stop it... Stop it!?

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder.

?Satori?? Rin asked, shaking her. ?Satori-sama, are you all right??

?Orin,? Satori breathed with relief, turning to her and opening her eyes and ears. On impulse, she hugged the kasha tightly, resting her head against her waist.

?Satori-sama....? Rin hugged her in turn, rubbing her back to comfort her. ?Are you okay??

Satori didn't respond. She hadn't realized until just now that she had been crying. Instead she buried her face in Rin's chest, grateful for her warmth.

?Satori-sama, what happened?? Rin asked, sitting on the bed next to her master.

?Don't call me that,? Satori said, her voice muffled. ?It's okay when t-there are other people around, but...?

?Satori... please tell me.?

Satori looked up at her slightly taller servant... no, not just her servant. Her best friend. The only link she had left to her old life.

Rin stroked Satori's hair, burnt parts and all.

?Orin, can I sleep with you tonight??

The redheaded girl blinked.

?But there's not enough room on my bed. The guest bedroom is nicer than mine, anyway--?

?Please,? Satori begged, tears threatening her eyes again. She took a breath to steady herself. ?I don't want to hear the thoughts... the screams....?

Rin paused, and Satori could tell that Rin had figured it out, even without a Third Eye.

?Oh,? she said. ?I didn't realize... You can hear all of that??

Satori just nodded. Rin shuddered, seeming to understand the implications of that.

?Come on, then. We'll eat in my room and go to sleep together.?

Right now, Satori was no Queen of Chireiden, and Rin was no menial servant that a gracious master had adopted and raised to show off how generous the master had been to rescue her.

Satori clung to Rin as if she was about to be swept out to sea, or plunge into an abyss, and Rin was the rope that held on to her.

No, that did Rin a disservice. She wasn't an inanimate object. She was the one holding the rope on the other end, pulling Satori back in. She put her arm around Satori's shoulders as they left the guest bedroom and walked past the rest of Rin's family on their way to Rin's bedroom.

Satori knew that Rin's younger siblings must have wanted to talk to her, but she was just too tired to feel much of anything right now. Rin seemed to share the sentiment, and she waved to her mother, making some quick gesture with her hand that Satori couldn't recognize, and the two headed downstairs to Rin's room.

Rin's room was a relief. It wasn't as nice as the guest bedroom, no. It was tighter and had less walking space; Rin had a room of her own, separate from her other siblings, but it came at the price of it being a rather small area of the basement.

Satori didn't mind. She already noticed that down here, the echoing thoughts from the city above were muffled, and for that alone she was grateful.

?Here,? Rin said, coming up to the bed. Satori slid from her side and half-sat, half-slumped on Rin's bed. ?I told you it wasn't very big.?

?It'll do,? Satori replied. ?And you have no reason to feel that way.?

Rin flushed, seeing the Third Eye's gaze on her and realizing she'd been caught.

?The palace is burned to ashes,? Satori said, fighting off the sudden urge to yawn. ?I'm not going to pine for it. Your hospitality means more to me than any rough fabrics.?

The kasha smiled. ?I know that, but sometimes it helps to be reminded.?

Satori pointed at the apple Rin had brought down with her. Rin gestured that she could have it. Satori bit down on it eagerly, and Rin left for a moment to bring back a jug of water.

?It tastes really weird to eat something so sweet when you're tired,? Satori said, musing as she turned the core of the apple around in her hand, chomping away at the fruit. ?It tastes almost sickly-sweet.?

Rin nodded. ?I think we should try and get more fruit down here once we've gotten back on our feet. I'd love to be able to eat these more often.?

?I agree.? Though the diet at the Palace of the Earth Spirits had been more high-class than what the commoners ate, thanks to the satori nobles' access to nicer food from the surface of Makai, it still didn't deviate much from some combination of rice, meat (usually fish), and a root vegetable.

Food from the surface of Makai... Satori groaned. ?I don't even want to think about where I'm going to get my hands on a good supply of food after this is all over.?

?Hey, don't worry about it tonight. Just get some rest.? Rin sat next to her and let Satori lean against her side.

?You're right, of course.? Satori picked the seeds from the inside of the apple and lay those on Rin's desk. ?Just in case.?

Rin laughed and offered her water. Satori drank until she was satisfied.

?What did you do to get us water again, anyway?? Rin asked.

?It's... a strange story.? Satori sighed. ?Can I tell you about it tomorrow instead??

?Sure. And in exchange...? Rin sat up and pulled off a blanket that had been lying over some things on the floor.

Satori gasped.

?I thought you were going to be sleeping in the guest bedroom tonight, so I put these here before scavengers could get at them,? Rin said. ?I didn't expect you to see them.?

?Do they have locks?? Satori asked, coming forward to feel the top of the chests. They were covered in ash, but they were not burned one bit, thanks to the asbestos lining over them.

?Not that I know of,? Rin replied, ?but you shouldn't open them tonight. Worry about that tomorrow.?

Satori took a breath. ?I have a lot to worry about tomorrow.?

Rin shrugged. ?O if morgen zol Got zorgen." Let God worry about tomorrow... Rin always defaulted to her native language for proverbs. Satori smiled. At least that hadn't changed. Even if everything else had.

Rin moved back to the bed. ?Is there anything else you need, Satori??

?Be right back. Need to use the bathroom real quick.? Satori left Rin's room to use the bathroom they had in the basement. Once again she found herself grateful that the kasha had learned from their earlier experiences with fire to use stonework for their homes now. It meant that the indoor plumbing had survived with no issues in this part of the city.

When she returned after drying her hands, Rin was already in her own nightgown. She pulled down the blankets of her bed and turned to Satori.

?I'm sorry if it's small,? she said in a quiet voice.

Satori yawned. ?That's okay. It's quieter down here.?

?You mean...? The satori nodded. ?Ah. Okay.?

The nightgown was comfortable, rough fabric or no. It gave her Third Eye enough room to breathe, in any event. The cords relaxed, unwinding; they had constricted themselves during Satori's fire-fighting adventures. She lay down on Rin's bed, and the kasha wrapped her arms around her.

?Is this okay with you?? Rin asked.

?I don't mind which form you take,? Satori replied to the stated and unstated question. ?Just as long as you stay close.?

Rin smiled, and stayed in her humanoid form as Satori's eyes closed and she tried to relax.

The muffled cries of agony made her tremble for a few moments, with her hand moving again to her Third Eye's eyelid, until Rin pulled her in, and Satori released her Third Eye and rested her head against Rin's breasts, hearing her heartbeat.

?Koishi,? she murmured to herself. ?Please be okay, wherever you are...?

?Utsuho... please come back to us someday,? Rin said in a low, quiet voice that threatened to break at the end of her sentence.

Satori wrapped her own arms around the redheaded girl as Rin, after many hours of staying stoic and strong, finally allowed herself to cry. Satori joined her, crying until she finally fell asleep.

Both young women mourned the other half of their family that was lost. But at least they still had each other.

As long as they had each other, Satori thought as she slipped into dreamless sleep, they would be all right.

She hoped.

-----

[Alfred F. Jones]

?All right. Thank you very much for your call, Yakumo-san.?

?You're welcome. Goodbye.?

Yukari hung up the phone, and pulled the other receiver in after a moment to ensure that the person on the other side had let it go. She closed the gap behind it, and hung that phone up too.

She sighed. ?Why did I do that again, Yuyuko??

?Because,? Yuyuko replied, her tone cheery as she played with the Queen on the chessboard in front of her, ?the difference between abusive chessmasters and smart chessmasters is that the latter category makes sure that the pieces come out intact, just in case they are needed again in the future.?

?Ah, yes,? Yukari replied. ?That, and it would not do to have underground-dwellers coming up to the surface due to chaos in Chireiden. Not to mention, it's just good form to be nice to your pawns.?

?Indeed. They served as a useful lure to get Makai's army out of the way so Yuka-chan and the others could save the Hakurei maiden,? Yuyuko said, setting down the queen and turning her attention to the peeling of a tangerine. ?So of course you have to be generous with the compensation. Think of it as payment for services rendered.?

Yukari nodded. ?Thus, we extend our support to the rightful ruler, Komeiji Satori.?

Yuyuko snuggled further into the kotatsu. ?So, who are you going to send down there??

?Ran will be fine this time. But after that I'm going to have to use humans.? The blonde youkai swiveled on her desk chair, stroking her chin. ?I haven't figured out who, exactly. Have I used the Meimu persona down there before? No, wait... she would just read my thoughts.?

?Maybe you could use Hirano again,? Yuyuko suggested.

?She will be incapacitated for a while after her mission, though... it all depends on how soon I have to send a representative to the underground again.? Yukari made a face. ?I'll make sure to tell Ran to do a good job, so that doesn't happen.?

Yuyuko made a tsk noise. ?Why do you dislike those satori? I think they're adorable.?

?They can't help but broadcast the thoughts of the people around them,? Yukari frowned, pulling her dossier on the satori nobles off the desk. ?As well as their own. Like tengu, but in person rather than in print. It gets very irritating, very quickly.?

The ghost giggled. ?Only if you're not okay with having everyone know what you're thinking~?

?The only person I'm okay with entrusting with that knowledge is you,? Yukari replied, and Yuyuko grinned.

?That said, this particular satori seems better about it than most. The rulers all do, but this one, more so.? Yukari passed the dossier to Yuyuko. ?See, check the entry under the Komeiji family.?

?Hmmm...? Yuyuko opened up the folder, went up and down the list with her index finger. ?Ryugasaki, Kitaoji, ah, there you are, Komeiji... Ah, I see. Some signs of depersonalization disorder in the family, but that can?t be proven to be hereditary...  Oh, this must be... Here, this is what you were talking about, right? 'Definite signs of a genetic predisposition to chronic depression, most likely through the mother.' That explains a lot, actually, now that I think about it...?

?You can see what I mean,? Yukari said as Yuyuko handed back the dossier. ?This particular family of satori are pretty terrible at expressing themselves. Satori-san seems to be the exception to her family's rule, but even she knows better than to let everyone around her know her thoughts or those of the people around her.?

?For someone in charge the way Satori-san is, learning to keep one's thoughts to oneself is a valuable leadership skill.? Yuyuko nodded. Of course, she preferred the variation on that route-- misdirecting everyone else as to what she was thinking, and covering it with a joke and a smile.

?Hmm... remind me at some point to move the remaining satori living as hermits in the underground and on the Youkai Mountain to move to Chireiden. And also the ones who moved to more remote territories, redirect them back down to the underground... Actually, let me just write all that down before I forget.? Yukari pulled out a mechanical pencil and did so. ?Otherwise their population might completely die out.?

?I thought you didn't like them??

?I don't, but we need at least a few just in case I ever need their services. And they're needed to keep Chireiden functioning in some form or other for the immediate future.? Yukari tapped her pencil against her chin. ?I do hope some of them spontaneously appear thanks to the outside world's disbelief... though, I think I'll make sure some information comes down Satori's way. That Komeiji girl is going to have enough work on her hands to waste her time worrying about propagating her species, especially since her sister is now unreliable. I'll reduce the birth rate restrictions so that they can help get Chireiden up and running again.?

Yuyuko nodded as Yukari wrote down her thoughts in the margins of her dossier. When it came to long-term goals, Yukari was the best at micromanagement than any living being alive, save perhaps for a handful of Lunarians in isolation on the moon, and the Yagokoro woman. And herself, of course. Yuyuko approved, but she sometimes wondered if Yukari didn't take it too far.

Well, that was what she was here for-- to keep her friend's priorities straight. And also because Yukari was the best companion for pulling pranks on Youmu she could ask for.

?Anyway, what's next?? the ghost asked, cheer in her voice. ?We still have some time while Youmu-chan and Ran-san are making dinner.?

Yukari responded while she put the dossier back into a file folder and closed the cabinet, then dropped the cabinet into a convenient gap. ?Well, right now Hirano-san and Yuka-san are visiting Sayuri-san in prison. They should be done in a few hours. I can't do anything about that, though. I can barely open gaps that deep into Makai, and definitely not through that barrier that surrounds Hokkai Prison.? Yukari hummed to herself, swiveling around in the chair again in that way that Yuyuko knew she only did when she was both anxious and comfortable enough to express it.

?Hmm... I guess I should place a call to my insiders at the Ministry, start pulling strings.? She bit her lip. ?Though, it's more like placing calls to people who have links to people who have links to the Ministry and owe me favours...?

Yuyuko sighed, finishing peeling the tangerine. She threw the rinds into a gap that appeared by her side and disappeared just as quickly. ?In the end, even something like the Ministry of Right and Wrong is still made up of the most easily manipulated people heaven and earth have to offer. Bureaucrats.?

?Better. Hereditary Celestial bureaucrats. Most conceited aristocrats on the planet. Well, I'm not complaining. That makes my task easier.? Yukari snickered. She motioned to get the phone, but then hesitated, and instead took a breath. ?Actually, before we do that, is there enough time to get in a quick game??

?Hmm. Five minutes?? Yuyuko asked, setting the peeled tangerine to the side and taking half of it. She was pleased that Yukari understood herself well enough to know when she needed to take a break, take a deep breath to re-orient herself. Or maybe it was just instinct on her part, and Yuyuko was the one who put it out in such terms.

?Sure.? Yukari sat down from her desk chair to the kotatsu, and took the other half of the tangerine. She pulled off a slice and devoured it.

The pieces were already set. Yuyuko was White, and Yukari was Black.

Yuyuko looked at the chess set and shook her head. ?No, that won't do. Black is the defending colour, and we can't say that after the past few days, and definitely not after today.?

Yukari nodded. ?You're right. Alea iacta est, as they say...? A slow smile crossed her face as she spun the board around, switching the colours. ?Today, Gensokyo abandons the facade of compliance and goes on the offensive.?

?Today is the beginning of the end for Shinki's Gensokyo empire,? Yuyuko replied, a similar smile on her face. She devoured a slice of tangerine. ?And it tastes oddly like citrus.?

Yukari grinned and pulled up a chess timer via gap, and hit the button on top to start the count.

?King's pawn to E5.?

-----


How does that chess match go? Yuyuko is the better player; Yukari just uses chess for the metaphors. She prefers card games.

If Iced makes it through this update far enough to read that, he should know that the last line is a reference to A New World! Which everyone should go read, by the way, it's a fantastic piece of fiction.

The new fighting game just got announced yesterday! I look forward to having this story be contradicted by canon. Again. Goddamnit.

Anyway, that's it for now. God, writing is getting so much easier now that I'm doing it more constantly.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

holy shit that ending what

I-I'll get to that after my thoughts on the stuff preceding it, however.

This was an update that was very heavy on the heart. Now everything that has just happened is starting to sink in, and... ow, my heart.

I'd just like to give Utsuho a big hug right now. I'll admit that abandonment is one of my absolute worst fears, and she's experienced it in the worst way imaginable. Seeing her suffering in this was is just painful. ._____.;

Also aaaaa more of Satori's story! I've been looking forward to seeing more of her-- and there was so much happening this time, as well. It really must be terrifying to be her right now. A young queen who takes the throne in emergency and tragedy, who has to not only rule, but keep people alive as well-- so much to take into account in a very small time. Seeing Yukari come into the mix concerned me, as well (rightfully so, it seems!) but it's good that with her help, people in Chireiden won't die from lack of food or water. And Satori isn't entirely alone, either. She has the one character whose sanity seems fully intact so far on her side-- and that's Orin, who not only saves her from working herself to death (Pushing yourself so hard will not end well, Satori-- and you're of no help to anyone if you're injured or dead.), but holds her close as they cry in each other's arms at night. Satori has it very, very rough and she will need to grow up very, very fast. But she can do it.

That said, being able to hear the anguish in everyone's minds must be so painful. -___-


However, beyond all this, holy shit what the fuck did I just read

* Momokasuri Oginome flails.

Yuyuko and Yukari are behind all of this?! This is just a game to them, and they're manipulating everyone? This just went from worrisome to totally intriguing (and terrifying). Just what are they up to? What are they planning on doing? I absolutely must know... but at the same time, do I want to know what they're going to do to everyone? Shit just got even more real. o__________o

A-anyway, excellent update! Looking forward to seeing more, as usual-- and it's great to hear that this is coming along so much easier for you!

[Hanzo K.]

Near as I can tell Matsy, Shinki's running everything with an iron fist, and not the good sort either.
And our girls Yuyuko and Yukari are setting machinations in place to free people from her.

Sure, she's been shown to be relatively 'human' herself, but consider what she's done in the name of ruling.
She's attacked people who merely wanted to be independent and live how they chose.

If anything, she's what tropes would call a 'Well-Intentioned Extremist'. She has her motivations, possibly good ones at heart, but the way she's attempting to go about things paints her as a villain of sorts.
But losing Yumeko, and realizing that Okuu's having a hellish time of things herself, is slowly making her realize that she should change how she does things.
...Maybe.

[nintendonut888]

Sounds like Satori's enjoying the ~Trauma Conga~ Great detail on her thought processes, but that's normal for you.

 And holy crap all this was Yukari's doing? o_o Well...I guess it's the kind of thing she'd do.

Looking forward to more, as always.

[Alfred F. Jones]

Note: I'm still not done rehauling Act One. It's taken me weeks of rewriting to do, mostly because I decided not to stop with rewriting Yumeko and simply decided to start trying to bring Act One more in line with Act Two. Hopefully I'll be done soon.

In lieu of that, though, let's keep going!


?Huh? Oh, interesting.?

?What is??

?Your cape has pockets.?

Byakuren pulled a plastic-wrapped granola bar out of one of the various pockets on the inside of Yumemi's cape.

Yumemi had been in the middle of trying to figure out how to tie Byakuren's cape around her neck when Byakuren had made her discovery. The scientist blinked as she saw the granola bar.

?Oh. I hadn't realized those were still in there. You can have it if you want. It's your cape now, after all.?

The prisoner nodded. Her hands found another disguised pocket and pulled out a flask.

?You can have that too. Oh, it's just strawberry juice. It's not alcoholic, in case you're wondering.? Yumemi shook her head. ?It'd be silly to get drunk on the job.?

?The job?? Byakuren asked, pulling out another granola bar.

?Yes. Researching in general... Until a few days ago, when I was asked to come along to rescue Hakurei-san over there.? Yumemi realized then that she hadn't paid much attention to that other prisoner. ?Actually... I wonder if she would like food and drink.?

?I'm not sure. She might throw it up.?

Yumemi turned to meet Byakuren's gaze. ?Is she sick??

?A few days ago... well, I guess it's been a few days-- she began complaining of a pain in her abdomen. It was dull then, but it started becoming sharper and sharper. Then she started feeling nauseous and throwing up what little food she could eat.? Byakuren shook her head. ?She stopped eating, and that made it better for a while, but then she started feeling feverish. This is actually the most lucid she's been in a few days. I know she's sick, I just don't know with what, exactly...?

As Byakuren spoke, the redhead looked back in the direction of the imprisoned shrine maiden and searched her memory for anything that could help Hakurei Sayuri.

?I... I'm not a doctor, but that sounds an awful lot like an infection of some kind, maybe even appendicitis, but those symptoms are just too generic to narrow down without running tests...?

Yumemi's gaze strayed, and met Hakurei Reimu's. She was startled at the clarity of the girl's gaze, and turned her head away.

?Her mother is dying,? Yumemi said to herself, looking down at her hands. ?How do I comfort someone like that??

Byakuren lowered her eyes.

?By being by their side, and easing their pain-- by helping them die.?

Yumemi looked up.

?Hiziri, do you think you could do the same thing for her you did for me??

Byakuren looked up again.

?Do what??

?Increase her pain tolerance.?

?I...? She winced. ?That hadn't even occurred to me. Yes, I could do that.?

?Then let's do that.?

?But...?

?Is it your chains?? Yumemi asked.

?N-no, not that. I can take these off relatively easy, like I said... It's... something else.?

The professor frowned, but then she noticed the odd look on Byakuren's face.

?What is it, Hiziri??

The nun didn't reply, but instead she closed her hands into fists in her lap.

?To be around the dying...? There was a certain tremor in her voice.

Yumemi chuckled. ?To be human is to be dying all the time, isn't it??

She realized too late that she had touched a nerve.

?T-that's...?

Yumemi didn't notice anything wrong, until she realized that Byakuren's nails were drawing blood from her palms.

?Hiziri!? She wasn't sure to be scared or shocked. ?What's--?

Byakuren shook her head.

?And I said earlier that I didn't want to be a hypocrite... but...?

Yumemi reached out again and put her hands on the prisoner's shoulders.

?Hiziri, please...? The professor tried to steady her friend's shaking shoulders. ?Calm down, and talk to me.?

?T-that's why I became a magician, a youkai,? Byakuren said in a low voice. ?Because I was afraid... and that fear...? She shook her head again. ?I became everything I once hated-- full of fear.? Byakuren released one hand, touched her chest. ?And it's still here. Even in the middle of this living death, I'm still...?

?Afraid of going near humans.? Yumemi finished for her.

She had always seen it as smug self-assurance on the part of youkai that they would live so much longer than mere humans, and she had considered it insulting. She hadn't ever personally considered what it would be like to be on the other side of the equation. But she had read enough fantasy novels as a child to guess at it. The feeling of always being left behind... And maybe a bit of relief that someone else had gone first-- mixed with disgust at the self for thinking it.

?Afraid of death,? Byakuren confessed. ?And humans are always closer to death than youkai are.?

?Are they??

The nun paused.

?.... why wouldn't they be??

?Well, they might have longer lifespans than humans like me, but even if one road is longer than the other, they both have to end, right??

?Yes, I suppose that is true... It's a road everyone has to walk down. Humans, youkai, gods.?

Yumemi tilted her head.

?Gods? Gods can die??

?If they don't receive faith, they are forgotten. For a god, that's the same as dying. In a sense, gods and youkai are the same.?

The scientist rubbed her forehead. This was a little too metaphysical for her, at least right now. And religion was too much of a sore spot for her at the moment. But she couldn't say that. Byakuren might take it too personally.

?Comparing gods to evil youkai of legend... only in Gensokyo.? She laughed, then she saw Byakuren freeze up and waved her hands. ?No, I don't mean it that way! It's just that... the woman who raised me would have found that a wonderfully subversive idea. Especially coming from someone who shared her profession.?

Byakuren relaxed. ?Shared... profession??

?Yes. She was a nun like you. A different religion, but still a nun.? And you remind me a lot of her. But she didn't say that part aloud. ?And like you, she would have told me that we have a duty to the sick to ease their suffering, to help people die in peace.?

?To die...?

Byakuren put her hand over her heart. And it occurred to Yumemi then that perhaps the rhythm she had internalized, that thump-thump of a heartbeat, may have been Byakuren's only way of knowing that she was still alive in the tomb she'd been sealed into.

In the end, she couldn't be harsh on the prisoner. Maybe if she had been in Byakuren's situation... maybe she would have done the same. All of it. Even the bit about giving up her humanity, in a very literal sense, in order to achieve her goals.

The thought worried her, but a part of her that she had repressed, the part of her that was absolutely fascinated by the idea of all things occult-- that part was starting to jump up and down like an excited schoolgirl.

She had to distract herself from the contradiction, so she decided to try a different tactic.

?Hiziri, I don't know all that much about Buddhism, but isn't a big part of it learning impermanence??

?Annica. Yes.?

?But in the Buddhist concept of the world, even death does not cause humans to disappear.? Yumemi's eyes flickered. ?So if that's the case, then why are you afraid of death? You're strong, Hiziri. You know that youkai eventually can die. And you know that death doesn't have to be the end.?

Byakuren looked down. ?I guess... remember what you said about how the vulnerability of humans to the fear of youkai attacking them was the real problem? Not even the reality of being attacked, but the gnawing fear of what's out there... the fear of the unknown.?

She touched her hand over her heart again. The blood on her nails had dried by now. ?I still... I talk a lot about how awful fear is, but there's a part of me that's...?

She closed her hand into a fist again, looked down. Her hair fell over her shoulders to mask her expression in shadows.

?I'm afraid of... ending up a slave to fear again. And yes, I know that sounds redundant and stupid, but... I'm afraid of fear. It worked on me once and it can work on me again. What if I don't see it coming until it's too late? And I know I've already strayed from the path to enlightenment, and I'm afraid of just ending up further and further from it, and I know that that fear is itself the problem, but even so...?

[Alfred F. Jones]

?Hiziri.?

Byakuren stopped, looking at Yumemi, who spoke with a pained expression on her face, with her voice unstable.

?I...? Yumemi's hands were shaking. ?I... think you were vain and selfish for protecting youkai only for your personal gain, at least at first, but I want to hope... I want to believe that your motivations for getting into a situation don't matter as much as your motivations for staying in that situation. I try not to hold past sins against someone.?

Except myself. But let's not go there...

?And you've paid for your crimes many times over by now. So, please...? She clenched her hands into fists. ?I want to believe your ideals. I want them to become reality.? She realized what she was saying, and laughed at herself. ?I might even end up believing them more than you do. I'll believe in you more than you believe in yourself, at this rate. What you're saying... is something I didn't even know I wanted to believe in, until you said it.?

Yumemi actually felt her throat go dry in anticipation of crying, and she was shocked. She had no idea that these sentiments existed in her.

Then she realized that she had. This was exactly the sort of thing she had wanted to hear addressed to her, when she spoke of her theory of magic at the university back home.

She wondered if that had happened to Byakuren. If she had gone before everyone and spoken of her ideas, and been laughed at, jeered, ridiculed, and thrown out of the one place she had hoped would listen...

She felt tears sting her eyes. That had been one of the most humiliating experiences of her life, and she would have given anything to have someone reach out to her then and encourage her to persevere.

But Byakuren's dream was too beautiful to be dismissed that way, and she wouldn't stand for seeing the nun cower. Not the way she had. Her ideas deserved better than that.

She felt herself shaking, echoes of cruel laughter in her ears, but she stopped herself just short of crying. Some reserves of strength were opening up, and she was able to keep her voice even.

?I know I'm going to die. Maybe tomorrow, maybe many decades from now, maybe next week. And I'm not sure if this is courage or foolishness or both, but I choose the path that all humans have to face. And I know that this is definitely just my arrogance talking, because you've lived over a thousand years and I'm just a child next to you, but I wish you would listen to what I'm s-saying and see that I'm not afraid of dying, and learn that you don't have to be a-afraid either--?

Her voice was breaking, but Yumemi held up a hand to stop Byakuren from hugging her. She had to get this out, and she knew that if she didn't say it now, she never would.

?... because the world you want is a world where death isn't the end, where we all just move along in a cycle of d-death and rebirth where we can finally be fr-free of suffering.... or as my Grandm?re would have said it... 'death shall be no more, nor m-mourning, nor crying, nor sorrow shall be any more, for the f-former things are passed away.' And damn it, I want to believe that a dream that beautiful can come true.?

She looked up at Byakuren, saw tears in Byakuren's own eyes to match her own, and reached out to wipe them away. ?S-so don't you dare be afraid of death, okay? Don't be a-afraid of anything ever again. Not death, not f-failure, not isolation, not anything. Or else I'll s-spring out of my grave and c-come all the way here to punch you in the f-face.?

Byakuren laughed, tears coming down her face. ?I-is that supposed to make me not want to bring you back??

?Ahahaha, I j-just realized how that c-came out wrong.? Yumemi laughed too, despite her tears. ?But I'd be disappointed in you! S-so don't do that.?

She felt herself embraced by Byakuren's strong arms as the youkai sorceress pulled her in for a hug. Last time, it had been her comforting the prisoner. Now the prisoner comforted her.

No, that was wrong. They were comforting each other. She wondered if Byakuren had guessed at her own weaknesses, her own insecurities. And there was a part of her that wanted to spill it all, right here and now. But those wounds were still too raw, and she had only so much time to talk to her down here. Her own problems could wait. Byakuren needed the encouragement more.

Someone always needed the encouragement more.

?Then I won't,? Byakuren said, her voice shaking but growing firmer. ?I promise. I'm weak, and I've strayed far from the path to enlightenment... but I'm not going to be afraid of anything anymore. I promise.?

In Byakuren's arms, it was harder to hear the echoes of laughter in her head.

?Y-you have to lead by e-example.? Yumemi hugged her back, her voice muffled, but Byakuren could make it out. ?You can't use v-violence for violence's sake, so when you get out of here, you have to show h-humans and youkai that your way is... is possible, is viable, even if it's slow, even if it's just you... So you can't ever become a slave to fear. Never again.?

?I promise you, Okazaki Yumemi, I will never again be afraid.?

If Byakuren could do it... then surely, she too...

Yumemi closed her eyes, letting herself shake and tremble and cry at the echoes of that cruel laughter, and Byakuren held her.

?I wonder...? she murmured.

Yumemi's heart jumped at that. Had Byakuren figured it out? ?Wonder what?? She asked after a moment, wiping her tears away with her right hand.

?Well, I was wondering... well, first, if I'll ever get out of here. But even if I did make it out... I don't like that my existence, even in imprisonment, relies on fear.?

Oh, what a relief. She was just being paranoid. The professor could distract herself a bit longer by focusing on Byakuren's problems instead, as long as Byakuren didn't figure that out. She was too kind and had too many of her own problems to deal with to have to deal with Yumemi's own.

Or at least, that was how she was determined to rationalize it.

Yumemi pulled out of the hug after a moment, settling down next to Byakuren. She deliberately sat in an informal style, on her knees with both folded out to her left side. She had already made herself emotionally vulnerable to the magician, and it seemed silly to try and deny that.

She had already made a fool of herself enough times by denying the reality in front of her.

?T-there's nothing you can do about that, though, is there? Not from in here.? Yumemi wiped away a last tear. ?You can't feel bad for your own existence. That would be nonsensical. It's not something you can help.?

?I suppose that is true...?

Byakuren looked up at the ceiling, and Yumemi wondered how she must see things. Could she see perhaps things she couldn't see with her human eyes, like the barrier that sealed her into the ground?

?Oh well. It's not something that can be helped right now.? Byakuren sighed, and smiled a little. ?For now, though, I have to focus on things I can help with, things I can fix.?

She nodded in the direction of the other prisoner. ?I was trying not to go near her, to be honest. Even though I knew she was dying, it scared me to be that close to death. I say this in the past tense, because...?

Yumemi rubbed her eyes, and watched the smile on her face with a look of amazement.

?You say... you've been alive for over a thousand years... but you can change your mind about things so easily.?

Byakuren looked at her, blinked.

?Do I??

?I wish I could change my mind about things as quickly as you're capable of.? Yumemi looked down, with her left hand in her lap. ?I know I've held on to stupid ideas longer than I should have, just because I wanted to believe in them. Because I was afraid of what would happen if they were true. But they were true, the whole time. I didn't want to accept that.? She frowned, remembering some things. ?And there are some ideas I just can't let go of, because they have to be true, and I have to prove that they are. I'm really bad at changing my mind, for good or bad...?

?Maybe there's a balance.? Byakuren reached out, put her hand on top of Yumemi's. ?I want things to change, but if a youkai were to accept too quickly, I suppose it's possible that they could endanger themselves, if they weren't fulfilling their roles anymore...?

?You mean, by losing their niche in the environment around them by no longer fulfilling their role, instead of adjusting it slowly??

Yumemi was ever the scientist. Byakuren smiled a little.

?Something like that. Their idea of self has to change slowly. Aren't humans the same way? If you pull out a rug from under someone's feet too fast, that person will fall. But if you pull it out slowly, and let the person take steps so that they keep their balance, eventually you will succeed.?

?Slow change...? Yumemi sighed, turning her hand so that her hand was holding Byakuren's. She could see the blood under Byakuren's fingernails. ?Fast change is too drastic, and no change is unacceptable.?

?There's no need to be afraid of change.? Byakuren gripped Yumemi's hand, but with a light touch. ?I refuse to be afraid of something inevitable. We're all temporary, after all. Aren't we??

?Always changing... but what if I want to get to the end already? What if the journey is too long? What if I'm sick of being where I have been, of not being able to change myself to what I know I want to be??

Yumemi wondered if she was saying too much about a situation she didn't want to talk about. But Byakuren's response soothed her, even if the nun didn't know the full context of what Yumemi was alluding to.

?Then the ending wouldn't mean anything, would it? The ending only has meaning in the context of the entire journey.? Byakuren smiled. ?I know I would not be able to appreciate your words if I were still free, not imprisoned. To that end, I suppose, perhaps I should be... not happy about being imprisoned, but... accepting. I was able to listen to your words, consider them, change my mind, even in here, where I had long since resigned myself to stagnation.?

Yumemi was surprised. ?You...? There was a look of pain on her face again. ?And I, too, if I hadn't come here, I wouldn't have had the strength to change...?

Byakuren squeezed her hand a little tighter. ?That's what I was wondering earlier. I wonder if a god, or some force, didn't send you here... or didn't set me up in here so that you could run into me. We were put in each other's paths for this moment.?

?That's a little too metaphysical for me to believe... at least, in those terms.? Yumemi laughed at first, but then she gave it some thought. ?But I suppose... by you being imprisoned, by this prison being created, by the Hakurei shrine maiden being locked in here, by my being sent to retrieve her... all those variables, in that order and combination, had their inevitable, logical outcome in an encounter between me and you.?

The prisoner raised an eyebrow. ?In the end, didn't you just say the same thing I said, but longer??

?Hah!? Yumemi chuckled. ?And our encounter wouldn't have meant anything if all that stuff hadn't happened beforehand, would it??

?You're... a very strange human,? Byakuren replied. ?But I like that.?

?And you're a strange human too. But I like that.?

?I'm not...? Byakuren interrupted herself. ?Well, maybe there's a part of me that's still human. But I stand for a path that leads to a bright future for both humans and youkai.?

Yumemi nodded, finally hearing the faint echoes of laughter fading back into her memory. She sighed with some relief, and looked at Byakuren.

?Let's split the difference, and say you're a strange person. That counts for both humans and youkai, right??

?That sounds okay. Everyone is a person, after all.?

The two women exchanged a smile, and then Byakuren pulled back her hand.

?For now, though, I'd like to extend my hand to the sick,? Byakuren said. ?I may not be able to hold back her death, but I can ease her suffering.?

?Me too. I cannot do anything scientific for her. I'm not the surgeon she needs. But I can be by her side.?

They looked at each other. Then Byakuren's hands went to her shackles. Closing her eyes for a moment, she appeared to pray or cast some sort of spell. Then she pulled the shackles off her wrists with what appeared to be great ease.

Yumemi blinked. ?I know you told me you specialized in spells that increased your strength and vitality, but I still sort of expected, like, magical flames on your fists or something.?

?Magical flames? I could do that.? As she snapped the shackles on her ankles, Byakuren's eyes strayed to the cape that Yumemi hadn't been able to put on, and had just left folded on the ground. ?But first, let us ease the suffering of the dying.?

Yumemi nodded and stood up first, extending her hand to Byakuren. Byakuren took it, even though she didn't need it, and Yumemi realized belatedly that she had done it from sheer force of habit. Or that's what she told herself.

The professor picked up her cape in her other hand, and went with Byakuren to the sick woman's side.

[Alfred F. Jones]

Shinki might have had a difficult time of tracking Utsuho from the start if it hadn't been for the orange rinds she had left behind. Their bright orange colour stood out against the dark ground, nighttime aside. Her vision only wavered at sunset; now that red had given way to a beautiful black night sky, she could see just fine.

She had her wings out. Flying in Makai, just as in Gensokyo, was restricted to those who had the anatomy to pull it off, though people with the power and the skills could use tools for the same purpose. In this, she had been pleased that Utsuho had wings. She wondered, though, why she did not hide them with a basic spell. Surely the hell ravens of Chireiden had aptitude for magic... but she realized that she didn't know much about animal youkai. In fact, she realized, she'd never thought about them before Utsuho came into her life.

She stayed below the tops of the trees, to better make out the sight of orange rinds that served as her trail to Utsuho. It was a good thing, too, because it meant that Utsuho didn't see her coming.

So when she heard the screams of rage the hell raven hurled at the heavens, she was caught by surprise.

Utsuho screamed for several minutes. Shinki wondered if she was aware that all around her, the nocturnal wildlife was waking to her shouts, and it was irritated. But Shinki was more stunned than anything. She had never heard anyone this... frustrated and angry before.

Well, there was that one time... but that had been her. She'd never heard someone else do it.

She repressed her sudden impulse to go over and comfort her. It was an understandable impulse, given that part of her divine virtue was as a mother deity, but she knew that it was not the time. She knew that Utsuho was angry, at her and at her old master and at the night sky.

She hid behind a tree trunk and watched, wondering what Utsuho would do next.

After a few minutes of crying and murmuring to herself, Utsuho eventually got up from the branch she had been perching on and flew off. Shinki followed her.

She wondered why Utsuho did not take on her hell raven form. Perhaps she was just really attached to her humanoid form? But if that was so, then why the wings?

If she continued in this direction, she would find her way to the city of Esoteria in short order. Hokkai was the most sparsely populated province in Makai by a long shot, despite being on the border with Gensokyo. There was also a major fault line running along Hokkai's border with the main continent of Makai, and it was prone to getting fussy whenever Shinki tried to tie Hokkai more firmly to the continent. If there were a major seismic event, it was (in theory, at least) possible for Hokkai to physically break off from the empire and be tied to the Gensokyo territories instead. Not that Shinki would lose much of significance to the empire at large if that happened. She would lose Byakuren's companionship, yes, but that was not important to the whole empire, just to her. Of course, that alone was enough of a reason to keep Hokkai attached.

The only settlement of any significance in Hokkai was the small, rural city of Esoteria in the middle of the mountains, which also served as the provincial capital. And the prison, of course. Most people in Esoteria were old or infirm citizens of Makai who wanted to go somewhere where the miasma was less thick, and the altitude of the mountains ensured that this place had the thinnest miasma in the empire. Even humans could stand it here for a few weeks if they were careful not to strain themselves, though they'd probably turn into a youkai if they stayed too long (or they just died). Those same mountains also cast the rain shadow that made the area immediately to the west into a desert over the past few centuries.

It was a nice place in the winter, however. Great skiing.

Utsuho made her way there, and after a few moments, she flew down to the ground level and entered the outskirts of the town. These would be the slums. The slums of Esoteria, as in all the cities of Makai, were some of the safest places in the city. Though the growing power of the trade unions and reformers working on a local level had made the average citizen better off, Makai's organization was still primarily based on a demonic power hierarchy. Though social mobility was improving in many parts of the empire, especially so in the capital city of Pandemonium, social power inequalities deliberately built into the system did not fade as quickly as the reformers hoped.

All of this combined meant that the demons living in the slums were generally the weakest of the city's residents, and thus more likely to avoid getting into scrapes, especially since an improved social safety net ensured that even the lowest, meanest demon didn't have to fight for scraps of food. Still, she wondered if Utsuho would be okay if she left the slums to go to the rest of the city. As an ordinary hell raven, she was not very powerful, and Shinki knew that. If she didn't have the magic to hide her wings in her humanoid form, she couldn't be.

Speaking of wings... she concealed her own wings with a quick spell and wondered how she would enter the city, if she was going to keep track of Utsuho. She settled on changing her robes' colour scheme to blue with some light blue mixed in. She also pulled all her hair back in her hair tie. Her distinctive ponytail hairstyle would be too obvious.

With that done, she followed Utsuho at a distance.

------

Utsuho found herself a little bit unnerved by the maze-like structure of the slums. They turned, twisted, curved, and veered off in different directions seemingly at random. She kept going in the direction that she hoped would lead to the city center. She was also looking around for stray blankets or abandoned cloth to put on. She could always dumpster-dive, but she didn't want to stink to high heaven until after she'd gotten something to eat.

She started to become aware of how she looked next to the residents of the slums. They looked a bit on the grubby side, yes, but she looked toasted and grubby. She hadn't gotten new clothes on the trip from the caves that led up from Chireiden to Hokkai, after all. Her clothes could charitably be described as ?crispy? right now. She was decently healthy and built, but on the short side. That's what hell ravens got for missing their first growth spurt. Combined with her wings and the blanket over them, she looked like an incredibly strange traveler-refugee, or someone who had gotten dressed by pulling clothes out of a burning closet at random. She felt very much out of place here, but that could only be expected.

She heard some kind of trumpet blast in the distance, but she didn't know what that was for. But it was probably from the city center, so she re-oriented herself in that direction. She looked down as she walked. The streets were paved. Maybe the slums were poor, but even this was a step up from the desperately poor areas of the Ancient City. She frowned at this.

She climbed a set of stairs and walked through a stone doorway. On the other side, she found a bunch of kids playing, and cats lying around. The cats reminded her of Rin. Dear Orin. But none of these had more than one tail; they were probably just ordinary animals. She nodded in the direction of a woman sitting on her doorstep who was probably the kids' mother.

Utsuho kept climbing up, through narrow streets and across more open spaces. She noticed that the walls and houses were becoming nicer as she walked. She was still on the lookout for stray clothes to wear, and considered for a moment taking on her hell raven form and just flying to the city center, but she found that she had been enjoying the walk. She'd gotten some weird looks, but at least no one had bothered her.

She went down a street-- literally down, since it was a bit steep. It all reminded Utsuho of the times that Koishi wanted to explore the Ancient City incognito, hiding her Third Eye and having Utsuho by her side to protect her. Except this time there was no Koishi by her side.

There was an empty part of her heart that hurt, but she grit her teeth.

?I promised myself I was going to try and live without her. I'm not going to feel bad over her, damnit. I'm not.?

She wouldn't feel sad about Koishi anymore. She refused to.

Utsuho took a breath, and found a welcome distraction in that. There was a certain spice to the air here in Makai that she'd noticed for a while, but it was actually thinner here than when they'd been on the plains, traveling in the direction of Hokkai. She could still breathe fine, so it wasn't a big deal, but the mere presence of it intrigued her. Chireiden's air was dry and hot thanks to the presence of the Hell of Blazing Fires, and after every day out on the town, you had to clean off the fine layer of soot from your clothes.

She wondered where the spice in Makai's air came from. The mountains, maybe? No, then this city would have thicker air than the plains... hmm...

The question preoccupied Utsuho's mind, and before she noticed, she had managed to make her way to the city center. Or at least, that's what it looked like. This was an open area, a plaza, all hustle and bustle with citizens of Hokkai everywhere. There was a raised pavilion in the center where some kind of party was taking place, lit up by lampposts around it. There was a building off to Utsuho's left with tall spires that some people were exiting, but more importantly to her, there were food carts everywhere. Some restaurants as well, with small areas in front of the buildings for customers to eat. There were also fountains where couples were relaxing, and a thoroughfare down one side for carts to drive on and drop off their passengers and pick new ones up.

It wasn't actually the main city center; it was one of the smaller plazas in Esoteria, where the working class mingled. The trumpet blast Utsuho had heard earlier (actually an erke blast) was the nighttime call to prayer, and the people leaving the building were leaving the temple of the Most Holy Mother of Makai, the God-Empress Shinki. Most of the citizenry attended the morning call to prayer rather than the nighttime one, but everyone who was working in the mornings would of course have to go to the second instead.

But there was no way Utsuho could have known all of this. Most of that detail faded into the background after she smelled the grills all around the plaza, anyway.

The only thing she'd had in the past few days was the orange Shinki had given her. She chuckled, some bitterness in her tone.

?Damn, I guess I go back to starvation mode real quick...?

She remembered what it had been like to slowly starve to death as a child. As she saw it, no one had truly begun the process of starvation until the gnawing hunger had become as close to them as their own neck veins. Even after getting something to eat, the familiarity with the sensation of hunger creeping close never quite went away.

Her stomach had been rumbling the whole time, but she hadn't even noticed.

Still, she was at least in a position where she could do something about that. She walked up and down the food stalls; she figured it'd be easier to offer her help in exchange for food at one of those than in a restaurant where they might turn her out for her ragged refugee's appearance.

The evening was the time for half of the working-class families of Hokkai to relax. The other half, of course, was working now, some of them in the restaurants, some of them in stores, some of them as carriage drivers. Esoteria was a very self-contained town; there wasn't much contact here in the mountains with the rest of the continent. If Utsuho had continued past this area, she would have found the proper city center where the better-off half of the city enjoyed their evening accompanied by an open-air concert, but she found that she was enjoying the much more casual atmosphere of this plaza. It reminded her a lot of the festivals in the ghetto that Rin had sometimes invited her Palace family to.

She walked past a large, open-air brazier and paused for a while to heat up her arms and wings while she continued to look around. She warmed up in a few moments. Humming along to the music, she followed her nose and found the stall that smelled the nicest. The stand owner had set up his food-cart in such a way that the tables were at a nice distance from a fountain.

She looked up at the list of dishes and prices, and realized she knew what the prices were. As part of Chireiden's recent independence, Miyani had switched the city to the Gensokyo currency of ryo, but of course Makai continued to use the empire's currency, the one Utsuho had grown up with.

She was lucky. Just as she got there, the nighttime prayers were ending and people were only slowly trickling out of the temple, and there also wasn't much of a line. She made it to the front in short order.

[Alfred F. Jones]

?Evening, and what can I getcha, young lady??

Utsuho was slightly taken aback. This man was rather... boisterous. She took it in stride, though. ?Nothing right now. I was just wondering if I couldn't work for you for an hour in exchange for a meal.?

He blinked and gave her a second look. He looked her up and down, and winced. ?Young miss, ya just come out of a fire or something??

?Yes,? Utsuho replied. He blinked again. He must not have expected that answer.

?I see...? He looked at Utsuho's wings, and at the parts of her clothes that were singed and scorched or otherwise damaged.

?Yeah. It was a big fire.? Utsuho wondered if she could say where she came from.

?Cute accent...? He seemed to make up his mind. ?Well, this is a weekday, so I don't expect to get that big a crowd...? he rubbed his forehead, and Utsuho noticed that he had two stubby horns on it.

He clapped his hands together, his cheery attitude returning. ?Better! Ye're a newcomer, right??

?Yes,? Utsuho replied, wondering what he was getting at.

?Then ye'll eat free tonight! Enjoy the hospitality of Esoteria's finest street food, Naosuke's Homestyle Grill!? He laughed, and the hell raven was very surprised. In a good way, but still taken aback.

?T-thanks,? she muttered, her face reddening with some embarrassment. ?I didn't... are you sure??

?Sure I'm sure!? Naosuke was already cooking, squeezing some sauce out of a bottle and throwing some food onto his grill. ?Ya look plenty hungry, and I'm feeling nice tonight. Just be sure to tell all yer friends about how great my stand's food is, okay??

Utsuho nodded, still a little stunned by the generosity. ?O-of course.?

?Great. Feel free to take a seat while I whip this up!?

Well, that was unexpected. But after a moment she smiled at her first stroke of luck. She took a seat and waited for a few moments.

What Naosuke had said got her thinking. What friends could she possibly tell about this grill? Koishi... no, that wasn't going to happen. Satori and Orin? That was also out of the question.

How about Shinki, then?

Wait, was she counting Shinki as a friend now? Utsuho found some of her earlier anger returning. She had found some common ground with the goddess earlier, sure, and she seemed nice on a personal level... but how could she reconcile that with the fact that this was also the same woman responsible for countless deaths?

Still....

Utsuho was jolted out of her thoughts by a plate being set down in front of her.

?Okonomiyaki! Fresh off the grill, served Esoteria-style!?

She jumped in her seat, then remembered where she was. She looked up at Naosuke and bowed her head a little. ?T-thank you for your generosity, sir.?

?Don't sweat it! Bein' nice to travelers is something our Mother smiles on, after all!?

Our mother...? They weren't relat... oh! He was talking about Shinki. Made sense.

She nodded. ?Thanks again. I'll be sure to tell my friends.?

He seemed quite pleased at that and went back behind the grill to tend to the line that had started up while he had served her. She turned her attention to her food.

There were three dishes in front of her: okonomiyaki, what appeared to be a dish with fried rice, and a small bowl with an egg sitting in it. There was an empty glass; Utsuho assumed that she was to pour from the pitcher in the center of the table next to the napkin holder, and did so. Huh, it wasn't water. It was some kind of golden drink. She sipped, wondering what it was.

Apple juice! Very uncommon in the Underground, and Utsuho had only ever had some because of her position as Koishi's pet in the Palazzo, and Koishi's own status. She remembered liking the smell of it. She held it to her nose and breathed in. Yes, it still smelled great.

Her stomach rumbled, and as other people took their seats at the tables around her to eat, she tore into her food with great enthusiasm.

Her eyes widened as she ate. Huh, Naosuke hadn't been exaggerating. She was hungry, yes, but she was quite sure that even if she wasn't starving, this would have been delicious to her. This really was excellent food. She savored the taste as she devoured it, wondering what friend she would tell about this place.

On to the next dish. It was grilled chicken mixed with fried rice and some other things, covered in a sweet sauce she couldn't identify. She'd never had this before. She wondered if she could bring herself to eat another bird, but then she remembered all the dead bodies that were standard hell raven fare down in Chireiden. If she could eat that, then she could certainly eat this.

She was halfway through that plate when another customer took the other seat at the table.

?That tastes better with bread,? the newcomer said. A woman's voice. She was wearing a dark blue hood, and the closest streetlamp was behind her, so Utsuho couldn't see her face.

?Hm?? Utsuho asked.

?Don't talk with your mouth full,? the newcomer said.

Utsuho blushed and downed her mouthful of rice and chicken with a swig of apple juice as the newcomer opened up the container on the table and handed her a flat, thin piece of bread.

?Here. Try it with this.?

The hell raven did as told. ?Hm... that does taste a bit better!?

?The dryness of the bread complements the juice in the chicken.?

?Hey, young miss, enjoying yerself, I see,? Naosuke said as he brought over the new customer's plate.

Utsuho hadn't noticed his accent earlier. Still, he spoke clearly enough. ?I am, thank you!?

?If you need a map to find yer way around here, the people at the temple can give ya a hand and a place to stay if you need it.? He pointed in the direction of the building with spires Utsuho had noticed earlier. ?Hope to see you around more, miss!?

Utsuho waved as he went back to his grill.

The stranger nodded. ?And there's always the tourism office, but that's further into the city.?

?I thought this was the city center of Hokkai,? Utsuho said to the woman in blue robes. She had a different tenor to her voice that Naosuke didn't have. More refined, somehow.

?No, no. This is just one of the plazas. And Hokkai is the name of the province, not the city. This is Esoteria.?

?Oh, I see,? the hell raven replied, blushing. ?My mistake.?

The woman shrugged as she picked up her knife and fork. ?You're from somewhere else in the empire, aren't you? You can't be expected to know everything.?

?I suppose...? Utsuho flushed. ?Ah, don't let me interrupt you. This food is delicious.?

The woman nodded. ?I guessed as much.?

Utsuho thought there was something weird about the way she said it, but the woman had started eating and she didn't want to interrupt her. Instead she focused on the rest of her meal, pleased that her hunger was receding.

She finished her second dish and looked up. The woman had neglected to pour herself some juice. Utsuho decided to pour her glass for her, while humming along to the music the musicians were playing somewhere else in the plaza.

?Oh, thank you, Reiuzi-san,? she said.

The hell raven nodded, completely missing the hint, instead continuing to hum along. ?You're welcome.? She turned her attention to the final plate, paused in her humming. ?An egg??

?Indeed. It's the traditional final dish in southern Makai.?

Utsuho had never had this before. She wondered if she was to eat the hard shell. She held it up, wondering if she was supposed to do something. But the woman's hand reached out and grabbed hers, then pushed it down so that the shell broke on the side of the bowl.

?Ah! Thank you, ma'am,? Utsuho replied.

?Don't mention it,? the woman said, withdrawing her hand with her manicured red fingernails.

Utsuho broke off the rest of the shell and devoured some of the egg. She covered her mouth in surprise. ?This is delicious!?

?Is it??

?Yeah! This is really yummy. If I ever go back, I'll totally make sure I bring some of these back with me!?

?Oh? Back to where?? Inside her hood, the woman raised an eyebrow, while Utsuho put some ketchup on her egg to try out the taste.

?Back to... Chireiden,? Utsuho said, her voice getting softer as she said that name. ?My... home, I guess. That's where my family is... well, what's left of it.?

?Sorry. I shouldn't ask questions like that.?

?No, no, it's okay.? The hell raven waved it off. ?I guess it isn't really my home anymore. I have to live here now.?

?In Esoteria??

?I don't really know... wherever my new master decides she wants me to be,? Utsuho said, eating some more egg with salt on it, this time. ?I guess.?

?Your master??

?Yeah...? Utsuho wondered if she could mention Shinki's name. She decided against it. ?She seems pretty okay, it's just that...? She thought for a moment about how she could explain it. ?She's nice in person. And I... kind of want to like her. But...? she sighed. ?She did some pretty mean things to my family.?

?I see.? The woman paused to take a drink. ?So what would it take for you to like her??

Utsuho was thinking too hard about other things to notice the woman's obvious prodding. She sighed and leaned back in her chair, eating the last bit of boiled egg. ?I... I'm not completely sure. She seems really nice, like I said. But... I guess...?

She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. The good food brought back wonderful memories of the time after she had been saved from a slow, painful death of starvation, running through the halls of the Palazzo with Koishi by her side, laughing as they liberated food from the kitchens. Then, eating in Koishi's room, with Satori and Rin dropping in to share Rin's own haul, and everyone sitting around the table, enjoying one another's company.

She remembered Koishi by her side, dipping a piece of bread in tomato sauce and feeding Utsuho herself, and then laughing together.

Utsuho was glad her eyes were closed, as she closed her hand into a fist, feeling that emptiness in her heart again. The emptiness that matched the empty sky.

Those times.... were never coming back. And it scared her that her life was now dragging her along to a new place and time she had never known before, away from everyone and everything she had grown up with.

Even if it was weak of her... she wanted to have that kind of comfort again. Even if it wasn't with Koishi. As long as it was with someone whose company she could enjoy.

?I think... I'd like it very much if I could... share meals with her.?

The woman froze. Utsuho didn't notice. Instead she looked down at her glass of juice, drained to the bottom.

?Sharing meals... is something I used to do with my family. Getting to experience that again...  that would make me like her more.?

The woman in front of her didn't reply.

?Oh, I'm s-sorry,? Utsuho said after a moment. ?I didn't mean to ruin the atmosphere.?

?It's okay. I have to be somewhere right now. Thank you, Reiuzi-san.? The woman was up in a flash, leaving a handful of coins on the table.

The hell raven nodded. ?You're welcome, then,? she said as she poured herself another glass. The woman, meanwhile, dashed off behind Utsuho, in the direction of the temple.

[Alfred F. Jones]

She found that she was still hungry. To distract herself, Utsuho wondered for a few moments how she was going to find Shinki again, when she suddenly heard a murmuring crowd. She turned to look.

Shinki herself was coming from the temple, and behind her, a crowd was gathering in amazement and worship. A manifestation of the Goddess in the rural city of Esoteria was very uncommon, and some of the citizens had never seen Shinki in person before.

Naosuke, who had just come to Utsuho's side to pick up the bill from the other customer who had totally not been Shinki in disguise, could do not much more than grab Utsuho's shoulder and point.

“Whoa, holy... it's the Mother Herself!”

“Yeah, I know. I've seen her before.”

Naosuke was too surprised to ask. Utsuho just sipped her drink in casual defiance.

After a few moments of blessing the crowd, she walked towards the plaza and to Naosuke's grill. Utsuho found herself getting annoyed. She still hadn't wrapped her head around the idea of Shinki as a goddess, so instead of falling down in worship, she just rolled her eyes. Wonderful, now she was in for it. At least she had had a good meal first.

But instead of coming up to her and shouting at her or punishing her in any way, Shinki came up to the chair she had just left behind and stood there for a moment.

“Reiuzi.”

Utsuho was slouching, to try and show her just how little she cared. Meanwhile, Naosuke gaped.

She glanced up at the Empress of Makai with a frown on her face.

“Come to drag me into some kind of prison cell, then?”

But instead of slapping her like Utsuho had kind of hoped she would (or, y'know, smiting her), Shinki did something completely unexpected.

She sat down at the table with Utsuho.

Some of the more delicate people in the crowd fainted then. All of the other customers who had been sitting down at their tables had stood up; Utsuho was the only one who hadn't. And now the crowd saw the Most Holy Mother sit down with her.

Utsuho blinked. She was starting to get an idea of how strange the entire scene was. “Um... Shinki... san?” She added that honorific with reluctance. “What are you--”

“Get me two plates of okonomiyaki!” Shinki ordered, and Naosuke jumped.

“R-right away, ma'am-- er, Mother!” he stammered, dashing off.

A hush fell on the square. Utsuho was annoyed.

“Great. Now the music is gone.” She knew she was being petty, but she wanted to irritate Shinki some more. And how had she known that Utsuho was here, anyway?

“You there,” Shinki said, pointing at a random person in the crowd. “You, go tell the musicians to play.”

“Yes, God-Empress!” she stammered, dashing off. A few seconds later, the music was back on, though it was more jittery than before.

“What are you even doing here?” Utsuho asked, arms crossed.

“I... I wanted to find you,” Shinki replied. She rubbed her forehead. She had forgotten how irritating this hell raven girl could be. She was just like a rebellious teenage daughter, with all the frustration that entailed.

But she also wanted this girl to like her.

“Hmph.” Utsuho took another drink.

Shinki sighed. She was so much more at home commanding armies or appearing in shrines to bless people than she was actually trying to relate to people. She didn't want to admit it, but she was really awkward around ordinary people. And it was unfamiliar, this feeling of wanting to come off well in front of someone else. Normally they just gave her their admiration-- or in the case of some people like Yumeko, utter devotion.

But she didn't want admiration or devotion right now.

“S-so,” Shinki began, then closed her mouth immediately. She couldn't stammer, damn it. She was a Goddess. It was unsightly to stammer. Why was she so awkward when it came to things like this?

Utsuho raised an eyebrow. The goddess was starting to feel very anxious again.

“D-do you like boiled eggs?” Shinki asked, a nervous smile on her lips.

“... Please don't tell me you came all the way here just to ask that.”

Thankfully, a distraction came in the form of Naosuke reappearing at their table, with two heaping helpings of okonomiyaki for the two of them.

“H-here you are, M-Most Holy Mother,” he said, his arms shaking as he set the large dishes in front of them. “O-on the house.”

He looked over to Utsuho with newfound shock in his eyes. She was confused. She'd never been looked at that way before.

Shinki saw both gazes, and couldn't help but grin as he dashed off. “He probably thinks you're my herald.”

“Herald?”

She was relieved at having something to talk about. “Yes. The one who goes before someone of importance and announces their arrival. His stand is going to have tons of visitors after we've cleared out. And these chairs will probably be carved up into relics, icons to be sold to people who want favours from their Most Holy Mother. And all because you came before me.”

Shinki tried not to think that Yumeko would have normally been the herald instead. But then again, Yumeko would have never stormed off in the first place.

Utsuho frowned, but her hunger was calling to her and she instead turned her attention to the meal in front of her.

“I don't want to be your damn herald.”

Shinki felt that increasingly familiar conflict inside of her. She was torn. On the one hand, Utsuho was incredibly disrespectful to her. She barely used honorifics for her at all, much less the respectful ones. She was rough and unrefined and looked like she'd just been through a grill herself, and she had no sense of propriety or respect for questions of class.

But on the other hand...

She thought back to the caravan, where the tied Utsuho had looked at her with her fierce red eyes, where she had cut the ropes that bound her, where she had had her arm around Utsuho's shoulders, and how she had woken up to find Utsuho still there, crying in her sleep.

It was a strange feeling for the God-Empress of Makai, to want someone to like her. Everyone came to her, not the other way around, and it was strange to feel the urge to want to do that for someone else. She wasn't sure she liked it very much.

But if that was the price of getting this compelling, angry, rebellious, prideful, and... incredibly passionate girl to like her, then she would try. After all, that's what Yumeko would have told her.

Oh, Yumeko...

Utsuho wasn't at all like her.

Yumeko was devoted, devout. To a fault. Too many times, Shinki had walked in to a room to surprise her, only to find that Yumeko had not been doing anything more than staring at the wall. She had only ever come to life around Shinki, and to a lesser degree around Alice, but Shinki had always thought that Yumeko believed that her life revolved around her master's, and there was no other purpose she could serve. No other point to her life.

She had created Yumeko as the ultimate servant. Yumeko had been the ultimate servant-- and nothing else.

Sometimes Shinki thought that she had been too good at creating her.

She looked at Utsuho, eating without using her knife or fork. She wasn't elegant or refined in the least. If she could see this, Yumeko would have fainted on the spot, or more likely killed her.

Yumeko was fanatical; Utsuho was disinterested. Yumeko would listen to everything Shinki said and obey it to the letter; Utsuho would purposely provoke her.

Yumeko was the Lady Campeadora, the Lady of the Battlefield, and she hadn't even liked that title because in her eyes it had implied that she was a master of something that Shinki was not. She had disliked Saifullah so much that she'd even managed to force it onto Luize instead. Utsuho was so unimpressive that she was a servant without title, no fighter or champion. A beloved pet, no more.

They were as opposite as opposite could be. Except for one thing.

They both had loved their masters.

And from Yumeko's example, different though she was, Shinki could tell... Utsuho felt empty inside. Empty as the sky she had screamed her fury at earlier.

Empty as the sky... She wasn't sure how her name was spelled, but it occurred to her that the character for Utsuho's name was incredibly fitting. Or maybe not. Utsuho had more passion than that. But even so... it was uncanny.

Shinki realized she had spaced out. Utsuho, on the other hand, was finishing her okonomiyaki. Shinki blinked, then realized that she ought to do the same. At least it gave her an excuse for being tongue-tied.

She hadn't realized it, but she had been quite hungry too. She finished in short order, making sure to make her use the fork and knife visible, so that the man who owned this stall could melt them down and use them to make relics. He had said that it was on the house, but this was how she would pay him for the meal.

“How the hell do you eat like this?” Utsuho muttered as Shinki ate.

She wiped her mouth, swallowed before she spoke. “Eat like what?” Shinki asked.

 Utsuho jumped. She must not have expected that Shinki could hear her.

“Eat with... everyone staring.” The hell raven put her hand on her face and looked away from the crowd that was watching them. “If I hadn't already eaten, I'd be losing my appetite.”

“You get used to it, or you don't eat in public. One of the two.” Shinki shrugged.

“Guess you're used to it, huh,” Utsuho remarked, growing irritated again.

“Not at all.” Shinki shook her head. “I never eat out.”

The hell raven frowned. “Then why are you doing that now?”

“Because you were here.”

A blink.

“But why... why didn't you just, like, drag me back to the governor's mansion? Using some of your weird god powers and all.” She moved her hands and her fingers to emphasize the point, a bit on the mocking side.

Utsuho was incredibly irreverent. If Yumeko had been here, she would have put a dozen swords inside her for that comment alone. If Shinki had told her to.

Shinki wouldn't have told her to.

“Because...”

The goddess looked at the table.

“I wanted to... share a meal with you.”

There. It was out there. Shinki waited for the response.

Utsuho's eyes went wide.

“Share... a meal.”

Shinki wondered. If Utsuho became part of her household, she'd need to learn some situational awareness skills. Twice she had dropped Utsuho's name earlier, and twice the hell raven had completely failed to take notice.

Though, right now, in a situation where it wasn't life-or-death, it made her kind of... cute.

The goddess realized after a moment that Utsuho was crying.

“Reiuzi, are you...”

“It's f-fine.” The hell raven wiped her face with her sleeve-- or tried. It was too charred and dirty for that. Instead she ended up wiping her face on her napkin. “It's n-nothing.”

But when she removed the napkin, she was smiling.

Shinki was relieved. Her gamble had paid off.

“Thanks for the meal, Shinki-sama.”

“You don’t have to use that honorific.”

“Eh?” Utsuho looked up from her second boiled egg.

“You told me you never used it with your previous master, did you? And that was normal for you? So you can call me what you like.”

She saw the look on Utsuho's face as the hell raven realized what she was doing, and teared up. She looked down so that Shinki wouldn't see her.

“T-thanks.”

Shinki looked over to the fountain for a moment and then closed her eyes and let the music of the plaza fill her ears. This had been a worthwhile night, even if it was a one-time thing.

She still wished Yumeko were here, but at least the sting of the hole that had been left in her heart was less painful than before. It still wasn't a happy day, but she now had someone by her side who could sympathize with those feelings.

Someone unlike any servant she'd ever had before-- and someone she was actually going to try and keep by her side instead of letting her wander away. She wouldn't let what had happened to Yumeko happen to anyone else she cared about, ever again.

But for now, she would just enjoy the rural city's nightlife with someone whose company was more than welcome.


Shinki that's sweet and all but you need to get Utsuho some new clothes, because yikes!

Everyone who knows who Yumemi's talking about needs to shut their lips. That means you, Donut.

Before I forget: The city of Esoteria's streets are based on what I remember of Tangier (namely, the cats everywhere) and the plaza is more or less identical to how I remember the main plaza in Apizaco. Last time I was there I was at a small restaurant packed with tons of people where there was only one meal available and it cost like three pesos. It was also really great food.

Writing a state religion is so weird. I haven't ever lived somewhere where there was a state religion, and certainly not one where the god was also the Empress and had flesh and blood (and wings), so I'm making up my own on the fly. Yaaaaaaaaaay!

On updates: I might be getting a temp job that will leave me with very little time for writing, mostly so I can raise money so I can visit my best friend's wedding in Missouri. If I do, the next update will probably be shorter, for the sake of my own sanity. Or I'll just post that I finally finished rehauling all of Act One and call it a day.

Not much to say this time around. Hope you enjoy the update!

[MatsuriSakuragi]

Oooh, so much storybuilding this time around-- and indeed, writing a whole new religion seems very fascinating.

But first, I have to say oh my god my heart I just want to hug Yumemi and Byakuren so bad ;_____;

Like, dear god, I can see them having such a fantastic relationship in this story and I love it. Seeing them both open their hearts to one another and deepen their understanding of each other was so touching. It was also surprising to see Yumemi begin to break down-- even if she was so calculating and confident before, Byakuren broke through that. It makes me wonder what else is on Yumemi's mind.

Byakuren, too, is interesting here. She takes what would be enough to drive anyone out of their minds-- the sound of her own heartbeat over a thousand years of solitary confinement-- and instead, it is a check to her fear of death, as her beating heart reminds her she is still alive. It's also pretty incredible that she could break her restraints so easily-- I'd have thought they were made of stronger stuff, even if she is stuck where she is for other reasons.

Shinki, you amuse and confuse me. I find it funny how she has a tendency to befriend her servants and prisoners, but still manages to be awkward among her own people. But also kind of endearing as well-- as if she wants to not so much punish her prisoners, but be a motherly figure in their lives. Despite how many people she has killed. But she's also sweet and loving to those she cares for, no matter how disrespectful they are.

Which also is bringing more curiosity. Since the deity of this religion is very much alive and among the people, how do things work? What rituals do they follow, if any, and what is and isn't taboo to them? It's all very fascinating.

Finally, Utsuho proves herself to be oblivious to a fault, but still in an endearing way. She has to come to terms with something that breaks her heart, but if she can, she still wants to be in an environment that's at least similar to what she had before. What she didn't know is that she was telling all of that stuff to Shinki to begin with... heh. I do wonder how things are going to go now.

A very interesting update! Congrats

Also, no worries on the slower/shorter updates. You've been working really, really hard on all of this lately (as well as revising act 1), so even if you weren't going to be busy with work, a breather would be totally understandable. You deserve it.

Good luck with the job, too!

[nintendonut888]

Everyone who knows who Yumemi's talking about needs to shut their lips. That means you, Donut.

Fiiiiiine.

* Donut pulls a zipper across his lips

Wonderful reading, as always. Utsuho and Shinki's relationship is so adorable~ And of course, Yumemi and Byakuren's talk was interesting, too, though I wonder just how long those sutras are that Hirano's reciting.

[Alfred F. Jones]

I wonder just how long those sutras are that Hirano's reciting.

They are literally as long as I need them to be for the plot to keep going.

Oh gosh I last updated in October? I am A+ writer. :persona: Right, that just won't do. I still have to go back and retcon/update a ton of stuff, but screw that let's keep going. Oh, and one of my readers (you know who you are) should be reminded that Utsuho has an appointment in Samarra that she can't possibly be late for.

I would post this on Wednesday but there's an examination I have to go in for tomorrow, very early in the morning, so meh I don't think I'll see much protesting for updating on Tuesday rather than Wednesday. :p

Today's theme: scenes I didn't want to write because I thought they would be boring and then found myself enjoying too much to let go of. Darn you, Rin and your potential for relaxing domestic scenes!


Satori was sore when she woke up. She tried to move her arms but found that her bicep muscles throbbed with pain when she moved them. It was manageable, and it wasn't excruciating, but the pain was still there.

It continued to tingle with pain as she moved her arm to stroke the fur of the cat curled up on the bed next to her.

The cat purred as she scratched behind her ears. Satori smiled as the pain subsided.

She wondered how long she had been sleeping. As if there was any real way to know what time of day it was. The great clock of Chireiden had gone up in flames along with the rest of the Palace of the Earth Spirits. Makai wasn't around to re-synchronize the time, either. So maybe Satori had gone to sleep at sunrise, and woken up now at sunset. Maybe longer. She had no way of telling. Not that it mattered in the underground, but she had...

Ugh. Satori groaned as it all came rushing back.

Yes, she had a lot on her to-do list. She wouldn't get to rest for a long while yet.

Suddenly she became reluctant to wake up. So she kept stroking the cat's head.

After a few minutes, Rin slowly opened her red eyes.

“Morning.”

“G'mornin', Satori...”

Satori smiled. Rin closed her eyes again, and after a sigh and a faint red glow, she shifted back into her youkai form.

“You know, I can't believe I never noticed this before,” Satori said, still a bit drowsy.

“Noticed what?” Rin blinked away sleep.

Satori reached out and touched Rin's cat ears, then her youkai ears.

“You have two sets of ears.”

Rin giggled. “So I do.”

“Is there a reason for it?”

“Nah. Not that I know of. I guess I could magic them out of sight, but...”

Satori shook her head. “No, keep it. They both look cute.”

The redhead smiled and pulled Satori in for a hug.

“How long have we been asleep, d'ya guess?”

“No idea. I was actually thinking I was going to ask you that.”

“Well, I have no idea. But I guess it doesn't matter. Oh, wait...”

Rin trailed off. Satori heard the gears in her head click and the memories coming back.

“Yeah...” Satori said in a low voice. Rin didn't say anything for a moment, but hugged her tighter, pressing her head against Satori's stomach.

“We're in... for a long time of hard work, aren't we, Satori?”

“We?”

Rin looked up at Satori.

“What do you...”

Satori looked away from her gaze.

“What I mean is, you don't have to stay if you don't want to. It'll be... a lot of work. I can't force you to stay by my side, can I?”

“I don't...” Pain flashed on Rin's face. Satori gave a start.

“No, I don't mean it that way. I don't want to drive you away, Rin. But... do you understand what this position means now? I have all of Chireiden riding on my shoulders. And when you became my pet, you... it was a different time.” She rubbed her forehead, trying to get out the right words. “When you came into the family, you were my pet. The pet of a simple satori girl living in a castle who wanted a pet to be by her side. But now...”

“I would be serving the queen of Chireiden. Is that what you mean?”

Satori smiled. “Good, my words made sense.” She nodded. “And that's just not what you signed up for, is it?”

“I guess that's true...” Rin stroked her chin. Satori finally noticed that after shifting back from her cat form, her braids had come undone, so her long red hair fell over her mostly bare shoulders.

“So... should I thank you for letting me stay here, and then let you stay with your family?”

Satori's words were advancing faster than her brain. She knew she wouldn't be able to bear it if Rin left her side, too. This task of leading a country-- she was beginning to understand how crushing it would be. How much work. How much pressure, how much danger, how much time and effort and blood and sweat and tears.

She knew she couldn't handle it alone.

But she also knew that Rin didn't have to put up with it alongside her. She still had a family that wasn't taken away by the fire. She had a mother. She had siblings that were still around.

Satori felt it was beneath her to keep Rin by her side if she wanted to stay with her family.

“... no answer, huh.”

Rin's thoughts were roiling. She seemed to be thinking along the same tracks that Satori was. On some level, Satori was disappointed, and fearful. She would be going it alone.

“But maybe, you know, I can always stop by your house for tea or somethin--”

“No.”

“--g like that... eh?”

Rin shook her head.

“No, it's not what I signed up for. But I'm staying anyway.”

The honest and selfish side of Satori's heart skipped a beat. The part of her that was trying to be noble spoke up.

“B-but, Rin... this is going to be really, really tough. And you're not bound to do it the way I am--”

Rin shook her head, cutting her off. “That doesn't matter to me. I understand that ye're trying to give me a chance to bow out gracefully, but I'm staying with you.”

“But... why?” Satori asked, mystified. “I'm not your mother, or your siblings. I mean, that time when I saved your mother, you promised you would serve me, but I consider that debt paid.”

The kasha frowned. “Do you want to see me gone that badly?”

“NO!” Satori cried out, then stifled her own shout just in case it had woken anyone else up. Even she was surprised at the force with which she'd said that.

Rin's ears were standing on end. Satori sighed.

“N-no. I don't want to see you gone. In fact, that's the last thing I want. I...” the pink-haired girl-- no, woman now, whether she liked it or not-- raised her right hand to her face to cover her eyes so that she wouldn't see Rin's face.

“I'm trying to be fair about it. I don't... I...”

She was stumbling over her words. She took a breath and formed the words she wanted to say in her mind, and then said them.

“I don't want to take you away from the family you already have.”

She winced. She didn't want to see what Rin's face said, didn't want to hear what she would decide on in her mind.

She concentrated so hard on her own unwillingness to hear that she almost didn't realize it when Rin pulled her hand down and kissed the back of it.

“But you are part of my family.”

Satori wouldn't admit it, because it was a selfish impulse, but she felt a deep relief come over her as she heard that.

“... thanks, Rin.”

Rin smiled. “So don't try and drive me away like that again, okay? I'm not going anywhere. I promise.”

Satori frowned. “Don't make absolute promises like that.” In the back of her mind, she remembered that Koishi had disliked those too.  It seemed wrong, somehow, because every satori knew how fast the minds of some people could change.

“Well, I promise. I want to stay with you, Satori.” Rin rested her head against Satori's stomach again. “So don't do that again, okay?”

The satori scratched behind Rin's cat ears.

“All right.” She paused, then: “... thank you, Rin.”

The kasha wrapped her arms around Satori's waist. “You don't mind, do you?”

“Not at all.” Satori sighed, brushing some hair out of her eyes. “To tell the truth, I'm really nervous about getting up.”

“I'd imagine.”

After a moment of thinking about it, Satori replied. “If I stay here, hidden away, then maybe... I know the world will go on without me, Rin. But... yeah, I know it's a silly idea. But still...”

Rin's tail flicked.

“... I guess there's no way out, is there?”

“None that are worth taking, Satori.”

The pink-haired young woman nodded.

“I think this is the first time I've ever thought about it, though. When I really think about it... this was bound to happen sooner or later. We were the heirs to the throne. Me and Koishi. And since I'm the older one...”

Satori raised a hand up into the air. The light in Rin's bedroom was coming from one of Rin's ghost lamps up in the corner, casting a faint golden light over the two.

She clenched her hand into a fist.

“I never realized before how much I hate that word. Hate that idea.”

“What word?”

“Fate. What a monstrous concept.”

“Fate?” Rin looked at her, confused. “Why was this fate?”

“I was born noble. I was born as a potential heir to the throne. Even if Shinki hadn't decided to kill us, eventually Miyani's mother would have died, and eventually Miyani would have died, and then I would be queen anyway. In other words, I never did stand a chance of living a quiet life, did I?”

Rin's brow furrowed.

“Sorry. I know you don't like me being negative. And you're right. It's not a good idea to indulge in self-pity.” Satori sighed. “But still.”

The kasha winced. “I didn't mean to think of it in quite that way.”

“It's okay.” Satori smiled. “I prefer hearing it from someone I know cares about me.”

Rin moved herself on the bed, moving up so she could hug Satori eye-to-eye.

“Hey, Rin... Thanks for everything.”

“It's okay, Satori. I love you, you know that.”

Satori suddenly had a mental image of Utsuho's face with her empty eyes, after realizing that Koishi didn't love her back anymore, and tightened her grip on Rin's arm, suddenly glad that she was the one who could hear thoughts and not the kasha.

“... yeah. And I'm glad you do.”

Rin stroked her hair. “We can't stay down here forever, you know.”

“Right, right.”

But Satori didn't move. Rin sighed and pulled them both up to a sitting position on her bed.

“Come on, Satori. We can face the world outside together.”

Satori nodded, looking down at her hands.

“Yeah...”

Rin put her hand over Satori's.

“Together.”

It snapped Satori out of her trance. She looked up and met Rin's red eyes, and nodded, mustering up some confidence.

“Yes. Together.”

Rin squeezed her hand, and then got up to grab some clothes.

[Alfred F. Jones]

A few minutes' searching through Rin's closet found no clothes small enough to fit Satori.

?Ah, sorry,? Rin apologized, over and over. ?I passed all the clothes that didn't fit me anymore to my sisters... sorry.?

?That's not something to feel sorry for,? Satori began, brushing her hair with a comb. And then she realized something.

?Hey, Rin,?

?Yeah??

?What are your sisters' names??

Rin blinked.

?I'm interested because I just realized I never asked,? Satori replied to Rin's thought.

The kasha blushed. ?I guess that makes sense. Well, there's me, the eldest. Then there's Ruki, and Riou... then...? Rin was counting them off on her fingers. ?Then Risai. That's it for us sisters, anyway.?

?Oh, right, you have brothers too.? Satori kept brushing her hair. ?How many total siblings do you have, anyway??

?Eight of us total. First there's me, then Ryuuren, then Ruki and Riou, then Reishin and Ren and Ryuuki, and finally Risai.?

Satori's eyes widened. ?So many!?

?Yeah,? Rin laughed, scratching the back of her head. ?There's quite a few of us.?

?Is that, um...? the pink-haired young woman searched for the words. ?Is that common, among the kasha??

?Sort of. We don't have one or two kids like the satori do, but we are still over the average. Usually four is quite enough for anyone.?

?So, why eight??

Rin laughed. ?Love, combined with a complete lack of family planning.?

Satori giggled. ?Well, I guess there could be worse reasons. But I guess that means it's hard to raise them all.?

The kasha nodded. ?And I'm not sure how we'll manage, now.?

Her friend furrowed her brow at that. ?Why??

?Well, I did get a nice salary from your father for working in the Palace as your servant,? Rin noted as Satori nodded. ?But I don't think I'll be pulling in those figures anymore, I think.?

Satori heard what she said and then slowly dropped her hand to the bed.

?I'm destitute,? she realized, and it was the first time she had said such a thing aloud. And admitting it made her want to cringe. Rin had sworn loyalty to her, even though she had nothing left to give her.

Somehow, some way, she would get a salary for Rin again.

Rin nodded. ?Well, mostly destitute, anyway. Those asbestos chests are really valuable, even now.?

That was when Satori remembered that they were there. She looked down at them, still stacked neatly on Rin's floor. At some point she must have brushed away the ash and soot they had been covered in.

?Why don't you open those while I get you something to wear?? Rin asked, adjusting a dark blue dress.

Satori nodded. ?That sounds good.?

Rin left her bedroom, leaving her friend alone with the chests.

Satori knelt down to them, still wearing only bedclothes, and put her hand on the top of one of the trunks. Then she tried to pull up the lid.

It didn't budge.

?Hm. Looks like it'll need a key,? She rubbed her chin. ?I wonder if Rin saw a key there... no, she would have grabbed that if she had seen it nearby.? Besides, who would leave the key with locks they don't want opened?

?I wonder...? Satori raised it to her eye level. It wasn't particularly heavy, and she wasn't sure to feel worried or pleased at that. She peered into the lock mechanism. It was strange. There was no keyhole, but somehow it remained closed.

?What kind of lock is it?? she asked aloud. She turned the lock over and found some sort of interlocking pattern of numbers. ?Ah, I see...?

Rin returned a few minutes later to find Satori on the bed, turning the numbers.

?You can't get in?? Rin asked.

?Not yet, at least. It doesn't have a keyhole.?

Rin set some clothes next to Satori, taking in the information. ?No keyhole? Then how are you going to open that??

?It's a literal mind game of a lock,? she replied. ?A combination lock. You have to know the code to get in.? She looked over the other chests. They all had the same lock. Hopefully they would all  respond to the same code.

?I could brute-force it, but I don't think I have the time. I'm barely on 054. No, it would have to be a three-digit code that Miyani had on her mind. But I can't remember her fixating on any numbers.? Satori sighed. ?But if I broke into them, I would ruin their value... I'll think about it.?

?Maybe there's something really useful in them,? Rin offered.

?I hope so too.? Satori nodded. ?Anyway.? She set it down and turned her attention to the clothes by her side. There was only a skirt there.

?My mother is looking for a good blouse that would fit you,? Rin said.

?I appreciate it. Really.? She gave her the warmest smile she could manage. ?Thanks for everything.?

Rin hugged her arm. ?You're welcome, Satorin.?

Satori put on the skirt, wearing only one of Rin's old undershirts as a top. She didn't have enough in the way of a chest for it to be a bother, so she didn't care much. She hoped Irene would have something with long sleeves, though.

?All right. I think that's it.? Rin nodded to Satori.

?Beyond this door is the rest of the world.?

Rin turned to see Satori. Satori gave her a pained smile.

?I'm not sure I can handle it. Sure I can't just stay here??

?I don't want a dead body in my bedroom!? Rin exclaimed. ?I'd prefer it in my cart.?

Satori laughed. ?I guess even in death, I would be fed to Chireiden to keep it running.?

Rin's face fell. ?That's not how I meant it...?

?It's okay.? Satori shook her head. ?You were just trying to make me laugh. But don't worry. I'm going to make sure everything turns out all right.?

Satori reached out her hand. Rin took it and squeezed it.

?I can't let you down, after all.?

Rin smiled. ?You won't. I believe in you.?

Satori gave her a wry smile. ?I get the feeling I'm going to need to keep that in mind.?

Rin laughed, and opened the door. Satori straightened herself out, and walked out and up the stairs to the Kaenbyou household, and her city.

-----

The psychic cries of pain in the background had subsided a little, Satori thought. Or at least they had calmed down over however long she'd been asleep. There was still a lot of angry grief in the words, but it wasn't overwhelming like it had been when she collapsed.

Well, that was only to be expected. Intense emotional pain did fade over time, even if the wounds went deep. She was glad that it was decreasing, if only slowly.

She looked to Rin after she reached the ground floor again. But before either of them could get a word out, Rin's sisters swarmed from out of nowhere.

?Good morning, sis!? One of them said. Rin laughed and pet her hair, and Satori held in a giggle. These sisters had red hair too, but lighter shades of red, and one of them was wearing a head covering. It covered her cat ears too. They looked to be around the same age.

?Let me guess,? Satori said to Rin. ?Ruki and Riou.? (Okay, maybe she cheated with her Third Eye a little.)

?Yep!? Rin said. ?This is Ruki.? Rin nodded to the girl with her hair in a ponytail. ?And this is Riou.?

Riou smiled, her amber eyes sparkling a little. ?You are Komeiji Satori??

?Indeed I am. And I'm in your sister's debt.? Satori smiled back. Ruki was taller than Rin, but Riou was shorter than both of them. Satori and Riou were about the same height.

?Don't listen to her. If anything, I'm the one who owes her.? Rin waved it off.

Ruki and Riou nodded. ?You're the one who saved us from that fire a while back,? Ruki said. ?So yeah, we do owe ya.?

?I'm just happy to see that my best friend's family is safe from this fire,? Satori replied.

?Oh, certainly. As soon as we heard the alarms go off, we evacuated to our shelter as fast as we could.? Riou pulled off her headscarf to adjust it, revealing hair that was more copper-red than Rin's deeper, darker red. ?Just as we practiced. I used to think that all those fire drills were very silly, but I shan't think that ever again.? She flipped the headscarf back onto her head and re-tied it. ?So we were spared the worst, really.?

?I'm noticing that,? Satori said. ?Makes me wish we had been as prepared in the rest of the city.?

?Well, anyway, good morning,? Ruki said, cutting in front of her sister. ?Want something to start your day, Komeiji-san??

?That I would.? Satori smiled. ?Thank you for your hospitality.?

?All right! Riou, please get us something to eat, and something to drink.?

Riou nodded and went off into the house as Ruki led her sister and her sister's friend to the table, pulling open the chair for her.

?Where are the others?? Rin asked Ruki as she sat down.

?Mameh is looking through our clothes. Risai and Ren are asleep. Um... Ryuuki went out to get some more food from those Higan Army people. Ryuuren is, uh... oh yeah, he's helping rebuild some of his friends' homes and taking bodies to the Hell of Blazing Fires when needed. And I don't know where Reishin is, to be honest.?

?I see, I see.? Rin nodded. Riou came out from the kitchen and served her sisters and their guest a glass of juice. Rin and Ruki sipped, and Satori felt it polite to do the same.

?Well, what happens now?? Ruki asked, turning to her older sister. When she saw that, Satori felt a sudden, quick pang of loss, but couldn't quite pin down the reason.

?Reconstruction, I guess,? Rin replied. ?We should go and help out, I think.

?Mmmm... if that's the case, we should at least help out the hashihime.? Ruki nodded.

?Why the hashihime?? Satori asked.

?Well, they actually deal with us. Whenever there was a fire or some kind of accident and our community didn't have enough to fix it, the hashihime were willing to sell us what we needed at a discount. We should at least return the favour.?

Ruki nodded. ?Though they probably don't need our help. They have money.?

?Still, we owe them a debt,? Rin said. ?And they can't touch their dead bodies themselves. You know how their religion works.?

?Oh, good point. Then yes, we should go over and help them.?

[Alfred F. Jones]

Satori stroked her chin, thinking.

Riou came out from the kitchen with a bowl of pieces of small, circle-shaped bread and set it down in the middle of the table. Then she took her own seat at the table, next to Ruki. Unlike her sisters, though, Riou closed her eyes and Satori heard her think a quick prayer of thanks before she ate.

“Interesting.” Satori wiped her mouth after a bite of bread.

“What is?” Rin asked.

“The taste of this... bread. I've never had it before... what did you say it was called?”

“Ah.” Ruki paused for a moment, and giggled. “It's not bread.”

“I guessed as much... potatoes aren't usually found in bread,” Satori replied, turning a little red. “What are they?”

“This isn't bread. They're called latkes,” Rin answered. “They're little fried potato cakes.” Very simple to make in large quantities, and filling, which is good if you have a big family, her mind added.

Satori nodded. “I see. Well, they're quite delicious! Did you make these?”

“Mamah just made a pretty big batch of them, actually.” Riou said, and for the first time Satori noticed that she laughed and giggled as much as her sister-- it just wasn't as obvious, because her headscarf hid her cat ears from view. But they still twitched, under the cloth.

“Where is she, anyway?” Rin asked, but her answer came from just around the corner before Riou could respond.

“I am right here, now that you ask,” Irene Kaenbyou said. Her hair was tied back in a headscarf like Riou's, and it swung as a long plait down her back. Satori was happy that she had never wanted long hair; she would never have to tie it back or braid it to keep it out of her way.

She got off of her chair and gave a slight bow. “Good day to you, Kaenbyou-san.” Satori found herself using an honorific and blushed. Her cousin wouldn't be happy if she were here. But she needed a way to show Irene her respects. And it was only -sama that had been forcibly discontinued, so the others should be fine... “Thank you for your hospitality in taking me into your home.”

“Ah, are you... better? Better feeling?” Irene asked, pausing to figure out the phrase in the language she didn't often use. Satori blinked. For all the stress she must have been under, Irene's thoughts gave off a warm cheerfulness that she found herself envying.

Satori smiled. “Yes. Thank you for allowing me to get some rest.”

“Ah. You are most welcome! It is a blessing for us for guests to feel welcome under our roof,” she said. “Please, take seat at the table a-and, uh....”

Irene trailed off. “Rin,” she said, and then said something quickly in the language of the kasha that Satori could not understand.

Rin nodded. “She says that she'd like you to take a seat at the table and keep eating while she tries to find some clothes that would suit you.”

“I-I am sorry, my, uh, speaking is not great...” Irene blushed.

Satori realized what was going on and waved her hands to defuse Irene's nervousness. “Not at all! Your grasp of the language is quite good. Please don't worry about me not understanding you. I have my Third Eye to help me there.”

“I'm better at understanding than speaking... ah well.” Irene laughed as Ruki tugged on her sleeve and leaned up to kiss her mother on the cheek. Irene returned the kiss, and Riou kissed her too. Satori noticed they only kissed one cheek, but she and her sister had greeted people with kisses on both.

Oh, that's right... there were no other satori to kiss anymore.

Feeling a slight burning in her throat, Satori sat back down and drank some juice. If Rin noticed her sudden shift in mood, she didn't think about it consciously.

“Ah...” Riou began. “Mamah...”

As Riou spoke, Satori realized that if Irene was willing to learn the main language of the city, then she should try to learn some of the language of the kasha in turn. It was annoying to be left out of conversations around you. Her Third Eye gave her an advantage in that she could at least get a grasp on the moods and tones of words she didn't know, but that meant nothing if she couldn't pick up on important information.

“No, I haven't,” Irene replied. “Rin?”

“I haven't seen Reishin either. We thought you would know, actually.”

Dear Rin. She was replying in a language Satori could understand, for her sake. Rin glanced over at her, her thoughts confirming it. Satori gave her a small smile.

Irene bit her lip and sighed, again saying something Satori didn't understand, but she could guess from the imagery that she was saying to keep an eye out for their brothers' return. The girls nodded, and Irene went into another room, nodding to Satori on her way out.

“Aaaaah...” Riou stretched, her tail standing on end behind her before it went back to swishing. “I should take a nap. It's been a long day.”

Ruki nodded. “I'll clean up and when Ryuuki comes back, I'll wake you.”

Her sister nodded. “That sounds good. Rin, will you be heading out?”

“Yeah. I think Satori and I have a lot to do.”

Riou's eyes were drowsy after eating. She looked at Satori's third eye while Satori nibbled on another potato pancake to fill her empty stomach. Riou held up a finger. Satori's third eye followed it as it moved left and right, left and right. Then it went back and forth a bit more quickly. Still the terza occhia followed, while Satori herself didn't react; she just kept going on with her meal.

Rin didn't notice what was going on until Riou was making circles in the air with her finger. “Sis, what are you doing?”

“Ah...” Riou blushed, and was unfortunate enough to have to yawn at the same time. “I was just...”

Satori giggled. “She was just playing around.”

“Ah! So you did notice?” Riou asked, leaning forward, curious thoughts reaching her conscious and increasingly drowsy mind. Next to her, Ruki started to pick up dirty plates and cups.

“Of course I noticed. My Terza Occhia is as much a part of me as your tail is, Riou.”

“I thought it was kind of separate,” Riou said, her ears twitching through her headscarf. “Tercha...”

“Terza.” Satori pointed at her left eye. “Il primo occhio.” At her right: “Il secondo occhio.” She pointed to the floating eyeball on cords. “La terza occhia. It's feminine.”

“Your language is weird, Miss Satori!”

“Yours is weird too,” Satori said with a laugh. “Well, how would you say one, two, three?”

“Ayns, tsvay, drei,” Riou replied as Ruki picked up her dishes.

“And you say my language is weird,” the pink-haired noblewoman replied, a sly smile on her face.

Riou laughed and yawned again, then settled down with a giggle. “Ruki, I'm going to take a nap.”

“All right.” Ruki turned back from stowing the dirty dishes into the wide stone sink, and hugged her sister, kissing her on the cheek.

Riou shuffled around the table, passing Satori to give her eldest sister a hug too. Rin kissed her, also on the cheek. “Get some rest, sis.”

“Aaaaye.” Riou yawned again, nodded to Satori, and went off into the house-- her mind conjured up an image of a cat sleeping next to a fireplace, and she had to admit that it didn't sound like a bad place to nap at all.

“Are you finished eating?” Rin asked.

Satori was torn. On the one hand, she was still a bit hungry. On the other hand, she didn't want to impose on the Kaenbyou family's hospitality. But what if she cleared her plate and they took it as an insult? “Well, that depends...”

“Hm? On what?”

“Would it be rude to clear my plate? Or is it better to leave food on the plate?” she asked.

“For you, that doesn't matter,” Rin replied. “No one is watching you but me.”

It didn't really answer her real question, but Satori had been too embarrassed to ask it anyway. “All right, then. Let's get going.” Satori finished off the latkes she had been gnawing on, and nodded to Rin. She wondered if she could take one for the road for a moment, when suddenly Irene came back in.

“Komeiji-san! I found something!” She said something further to Rin, who translated for her. “She said she found some clothes that would fit you more or less well,” Rin said. “Come on.”

“Ah, you don't have to...” But then she looked down at the charred, burnt clothes she had slept in. “Well, maybe I should impose on your hospitality a little bit more.”

Rin laughed as she and Satori went down a short hallway, leaving Ruki to wash the dishes. The lights were dim, since the hallway's only lighting came from inside the rooms. Satori followed Irene to what appeared to be her own bedroom, with a slightly larger bed than Rin's.

“Ah...” Satori only needed one glance to see that she recognized the clothes. It was one of Rin's old dresses.

Irene, for her part, called her daughter to her side and murmured something in her ear, and again her Third Eye was pretty useless when it came to thoughts not thought in a language she recognized. Rin muttered things back, and Irene nodded. She picked up the dress and gave it to Satori.

“You are taller and bigger than my girls,” Irene said. “All I could find for you was this.” She held it out, and Satori took it in her hands.

“I am very grateful, Kaenbyou-san.” She meant it, too. Rin's clothing was hardly unwelcome in her state, since she was all but destitute now, rich only in title.

“I know it must be rough next to your own clothes,” Irene murmured, and her thoughts betrayed an inner embarrassment at having so little to offer in the way of finery to their high-class guest.

It was. It was homemade, and the linen was much coarser than the silken yukatas she had worn up until just a few days ago. But Satori was long past caring.

“It's homemade,” she said with a smile, latching on to Irene's memories of sewing it at the fireside for her eldest daughter in preparation for her working at the Palace of the Earth Spirits. This was the most valuable fabric they could afford, she realized. “And I can tell that it was made with much love for your daughter. I am truly honoured to accept it, Kaenbyou-san.”

She made sure she was respectful to her host, and it paid off. Irene smiled and gave her a generous bow. “You are an honoured guest in our home, Satori-sama, and I thank you for all that you have done for me and for my eldest daughter.”

Satori bowed her own head in turn, but less. “Thank you for everything.” She looked down. “Ah... should I put it on right now?”

“Please do. We should make sure it fits,” Rin replied.

Satori nodded, and pulled off her dirty, torn rags, and found herself quite happy to have them off. Once she was down to undergarments (which she was not getting rid of until she could find completely new ones) she pulled Rin's dress up and over her head, pulling it down and pushing her arms into the sleeves. She adjusted, stretched out her arms. Rin fixed her collar.

“I think this fits me fine,” Satori said. “Thank you, Kaenbyou-san.”

Irene smiled, then blinked. “Ah. I should keep cleaning. I have things to do upstairs.” She clapped a hand on Satori's shoulder on her way out. “You are most welcome, Satori. You know, my daughter would do well to learn how to respect their elders like you.”

“Hey! I'm an upstanding role model!” Rin objected, and Satori had to stifle a giggle at her expense.

Irene made a tsk-ing sound. “Hah! Be a better role model for your sisters. Riou is taking after you too much.” And she quickly moved out of the room before Rin could voice further objections.

“Oi, seriously, the nerve...” Rin shook her head and sighed.

Satori was laughing but she stopped suddenly, wondering if something was wrong. “Did she really mean that, Rin?”

“Nah. It's just how mamah is.” Rin shrugged, and moved behind Satori to help her button up the back of the dress. “I guess this is what they would call a cultural thing?”

“I don't understand...” Satori frowned. “Why would she make you lose face in front of me?”

“She didn't actually mean it. It's, uh...” Rin stroked her chin for a moment before continuing to help Satori button up. “Well, I have heard it said that among our people, children do not actually have any good qualities of their own. Whenever they are good or do something that is admirable, it is because we take after our parents. The children are never good enough, so they should learn to be obedient like that boy or polite like that girl. And even they only have good qualities because they took after their parents so much. Does that make sense?”

“Hm... yes, I think I understand. How strange, though.”

“It's just how we are.” Rin laughed. “Actually... I do remember being confused when your father actually said good things about you two, when I first started working for your family.”

“Hah! Really?” Satori adjusted her headband, and the Third Eye's cords began winding up to be closer to her chest. “What did he say?”

“He said that your drawings were very cute. It struck me as a weird thing to say about one's child, especially right in front of them. I couldn't figure out why it struck me as weird until a while later, though.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“By what?”

“When you said 'especially right in front of them.'”

“Oh. Well, the idea is to prevent your kids from getting swelled heads from too many compliments...” Rin laughed. “Though I'm afraid that I gave my sisters a bad example by being kind of a brat when I was younger.”

Satori smiled at Rin. “Somehow I can't see you as a brat. You've always been nice to me.”

“Well...” Rin glanced off, and Satori raised an eyebrow.

“You should have told me I was acting like a brat, then!” she pointed out, and Rin's ears stood up.

“I-I was too nervous to! I'm sorry!” Rin clapped her hands together in supplication.

Satori laughed a little. “I didn't mean it quite that seriously.”

Rin blinked, and then started to laugh herself. “Well, it's okay. You were never really that bratty.”

“Your words say one thing but your mind says quite another.” Satori tapped Rin on the nose. “Well, it's too late to do anything about that now. Though I apologize if I ever was rude to you.”

The kasha smiled at first, but then her face fell, and Satori blinked.

“Yeah, I guess you're right...” she said with a much fainter smile. “At least I enjoyed it while it lasted, huh?”

“Satori...” Rin murmured as Satori hugged her arm.

“I can't be a brat anymore, can I?” she asked, but Rin didn't think she was asking her so much as she was just vocalizing the question.

The kasha shook her head. Satori nodded, and took a deep breath.

“I should go. If I think too much about the past, I'll burst into tears again. And I don't want to keep reminding myself of reasons to cry.”

Rin nodded and turned to go, but when her foot moved to head out of her mother's room, she found herself being held back.

“Satori? What--”

Satori was holding her by the waist of her skirt, resting her forehead against Rin's back.

“Those latkes things... they tasted really yummy.”

Rin furrowed her brow. “I don't understand what that has to do with—”

“I just... I just now realized that I'm never again going to be able to eat any food that my father prepared for us with his own two hands in my life.”

The kasha's protests died on the tip of her tongue.

Satori laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh.

“Not that he did it very often. But he did it sometimes. He liked cooking. He just never had the time. He was always off doing something or other. He never had time for Koishi and me.”

“Satori...”

“He did save me at the end... but, you know, just because he's dead, it doesn't make him a good father. Your father was a good father, right? Irene still remembers him. You told me that your parents loved each other.”

Rin felt the warm pressure of Satori pressing her head against her back, and nodded. “Yes... they did.”

Satori sighed.

“My father wasn't a good father. Dying didn't change that. But... for all his mistakes...”

Her voice lowered, becoming a little huskier.

“I still... really wish he had lived, y'know? Maybe if he had lived a little longer, he would have actually become a better dad.”

Rin looked down at her shoes.

“I....”

“You don't have to say anything. I think I just wanted to get that off my chest.” Satori's voice was low. “T-this is the last time I'm indulging myself today. I promise. So please don't turn around. I would be embarrassed if you saw me like this.”

“... all right.”

And Rin stood there for a moment longer while Satori shed her last few tears into her friend's back.

Rin focused on the sound of her sniffing until she couldn't hear it anymore. Then Satori released her dress, and she felt the pull on her back cease.

“Sorry. I'm messing up your clothes, aren't I?”

Rin shook her head. “You're not messing up anything.”

Satori paused for a moment, then hugged Rin's side.

“Thanks. It means a lot to hear you think that.”

The kasha was a bit surprised, but she smiled at Satori's reaction and ruffled the shorter woman's hair a little.

“I mean it. No matter what happens, I'll be by your side, Satori. I promise.”

“... I know you mean that. Thank you, Rin.”

Satori released Rin, and Rin found her hand and took it in her own.”

“Are you ready?” the redhead asked, a bit of worry creeping into her tone.

Her master-- her friend-- took a slow, deliberate breath, inhaling deeply and exhaling.

“I have to be.” Satori closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she had hardened her face and its expression to be more serious, more regal. “I have to look like I know what I'm doing. I have to stay strong. My country needs me to be.”

Rin grinned. “And don't forget, I'm here for you.”

When she said that, Satori's brain involuntarily turned to thinking of her sister.

Koishi. The one she had most expected to say something like that. Now she was who knows where, far from Satori's side...

Satori indulged the lingering pain a little longer, then put it away in her heart.

She wouldn't close her heart, but for her own sake, she had to file some pain away for later, for a time that it would be safe to feel it. That time would come.

But for now, she had to lead.

Wherever you are, Koishi... I'm not going to think of only myself. That's part of what drove you away from me. You thought I wanted you to die so I could live. And I did. Your big sister is very selfish, Koishi. But I promise that I'll make it up to you.

Satori put her hand in a closed fist over her heart. She straightened her back and took another breath.

I promise... I won't make you feel disappointed in me again. When you return, I want you to be proud of your big sister. Until then...

Satori opened her eyes, hoping that her expression conveyed the resolve in her heart.

Until then, I continue the fight.

[Alfred F. Jones]

“Let's go, Rin.”

Satori walked out of the room, with Rin on her heels. The kasha was looking at Satori's back, but Satori's mind was focusing on other things than her thoughts.

In the dining room, Ruki was drying off the last of the dishes, and Satori saw two people that hadn't been there before. A much younger girl than any of the Kaenbyou sisters she had seen so far, and a young boy, who was the first Kaenbyou brother she had met.

“Ah, you're awake,” Rin nodded to her sister. “And when did you get back, Ryuuki?”

Satori had been about to go out the door, but she stopped and waited for Rin to greet her siblings first.

“Just a few minutes ago,” Ryuuki replied. “Are you headed out?”

“Yeah. I have to help Satori get everything straightened out. So I don't know when I'll be back.” Rin reached over and grabbed an orange and an apple from the woven basket that Ryuuki must have gotten from the Higan army.

“A-ah, all right.” Ryuuki gave his big sister a warm smile. “See ya later, sis.”

Rin paused to ruffle his hair and kiss the top of her youngest sister's head. “See ya later, Risai.”

The tall redhead walked past the table again, to where Ruki stood after just drying off her hands, and gave her a hug.

“See you later, Rin,” Ruki said, handing her a flask. “Here, some juice just in case.”

“Oh, thanks, Ruki.” Rin took it. “Ah, do me a favour and tell mama that we'll try to get something to eat out there, since we're probably going to be out for a good long while.”

Ruki frowned. “Do you want to take some latkes? I can pack them for you real quick...”

“Ah... sure, I guess.” Rin glanced at Satori. “I guess we could use the snack.”

“Here.” Ruki opened a cabinet and pulled out a large white handkerchief, and put in about four of them before she wrapped it up and tied it closed. “Do you have something to carry it in?”

“Yeah, I'll just grab my bag. Thanks, Ruki.”

Ruki smiled, then turned to Satori and bowed a little. “Good luck to the both of you.”

Satori hesitated for a moment, then smiled back. “Thank you.”

Rin paused to grab a large green bag from the coat hanger next to the door. She threw it on over her shoulder, put in the handkerchief and the fruits, and waved one last time to her siblings. “See you whenever.”

She opened the door for Satori, who stepped through without any visible hesitation, and Rin closed the door behind them, nodding to a small case on the doorframe on her way out.

“Now, where to?” Rin asked. She walked over to the side of their gated front yard to fetch her cart.

“Well, we should check on the Higan Army, and now that I'm rested, I really should talk to Eiki Shiki.” Satori wished she had a piece of paper to write this down on. Her memory liked to organize things in list form. She counted off the items on her fingers instead, looking up as she thought. “Then, we should make sure that all the fires in the city are put out and the dead taken care of-- that should improve morale.” She closed her eyes to think as Rin brought her cart over. “ Oh, and at some point we should try and track down that oni we met during the crisis, Hoshiguma Yuugi. I want to talk to her about something...”

“Track down Yuugi? Well, I can help you with that.”

Rin and Satori both jumped. They had been too distracted in their own affairs to notice the person standing right outside the gate.

“My apologies for the surprise. Kisume told me she had seen you two from above, several hours ago. I guessed you were tired and desperately needed sleep, and I wasn't sure when you would be awake again. I'm lucky I caught you on your way out.”

A blonde was standing outside the entrance.

“I might have been able to pay someone to wait for you, but I wanted to see you myself.”

From around the converted stalagmite that served as half of the front gate, a young youkai woman in brown and black nodded to them.

“Yesterday was an extremely long day for everyone, but I trust you remember me?”

“I do,” Satori replied. “Kurodani Yamame.”

Yamame gave her a short bow. “Do you have time to come with me? Just a short walk.” There was a smile on her face, but Satori recognized it as a slightly cynical one compared to the dark images in her mind. “There's really only one thing I would like you to see with your own eyes. Afterwards I shall go find Yuugi for you, and you can do as you like.”

Satori pondered the offer. Yamame had some really strange images in her mind that she couldn't quite place. Repetitive patterns-- hexagons and pentagons and other such things. Interesting that she thought more in terms of geometric patterns than words... but there wasn't anything sinister about her thoughts. She wasn't planning to stab them in the back or anything. She was really just asking Satori to walk with her to see... something.

Satori nodded to Rin, and then turned to Yamame. “I can certainly do that. We have things to do today, but no set order to do them in, so lead on.”

Yamame smiled, and the dark imagery in her head dispersed a little. “I'm sorry if that sounded a bit ominous. I didn't mean for it to come out that way.” She stood back as Rin opened the gate and let the two young women out.

Satori looked up and down the street. She hadn't really paid attention when Rin had brought her here last night-- she had been too sleepy. But now that she was awake, she was pleased to see that their quarter of the city was up and running, with brown-haired and black-haired and red-haired kasha at work carrying wood and stone and other assorted bits of rubbish in their signature carts.

Yamame continued, drawing Satori's attention back to her. “I do mean it, though. It occurred to me and Parsee that you wouldn't know where to start with clearing the rest of Makai's detritus from Chireiden, so I decided I wanted to show you.”

“Clearing out Makai's... what?” Satori could tell Rin had no idea what Yamame was talking about either.

Yamame gave her a rueful smile.

“I didn't think you would know, so I decided to lead you myself.” The blonde tsuchigumo walked ahead of the kasha and the satori, and looked over her shoulder with a smile.

“I need you to see the biggest problem you overlooked until now-- one that has the potential to cause even more devastation than already has happened, if you don't figure out a way to deal with it, one way or the other.”

She nodded to the bustle of the street.

“A problem that has the potential to destroy even this small recovery so far.”

Satori and Rin looked at each other with a look that was half shock, half fear, and walked a little bit faster after Yamame.

And right after getting out of Rin's house, the problems begin... I sure hope Yamame is just exaggerating a little....

I really, really hope so.


Credit where credit is due. The bit about not being able to eat any more of a parent's food struck me as the most unexpected and heartbreaking part of this, which was part of the congressional testimony after the Gurdwara shooting in Milwaukee. I don't wish to trivialize this very sad story, but it struck me as something that I, who has never lost a parent, couldn't have thought of myself.

I've actually eaten latkes all my life, but I've never called them latkes. My family is Mexican, and we're not Jewish at all. But a co-worker of my mother's (who is Jewish) pointed out that the little potato pancakes we like to make are basically latkes in all but name. In retrospect I would not be surprised that some parts Sephardi food has worked its way from Spain to Mexico and into my family's cuisine.  (And that's why they're eating latkes on an ordinary day instead of waiting for Hannukah.)

For that matter, while the kasha are not meant to be exact representations of Judaism*, I won't deny that like the satori were based on the southern Italian immigrants who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, the kasha are based on the young Russian Jewish girls who died in the same fire (which is the incident that traumatized me enough through a history book that I had to start writing this fic in the first place). Though, because my area of study was Spain and Latin America, I base them more on Sephardi than Ashkenazi Jewish people, by far. And yeah, Rin's family has a mezuzah in their doorpost-- the kind that I saw in the Jewish ghetto of Cordoba when I visited Spain last summer. Lovely city. Everyone should visit it.

*Since all customs and cultures change over time, and they're not monolithic to begin with. Thus the kasha are based on Judaism but they are not meant to be exact representations.

That was surprisingly informative for one of my author's notes. I should take note to be more tight-lipped and ambiguous next time. Until later!

[MatsuriSakuragi]

Oh gosh, Satori petting Rin is the cutest. <3

I especially liked the casual explanation for why she has two sets of ears. She just does and that's just fine! Though, I wonder if her cat ears are more sensitive than her human ears are, or if they function separately based on her form. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but it's fun to think about!

And it's just so especially special to see the bit where it's mentioned that Rin obviously doesn't have to put up with all of the stress on Satori's shoulders, but does anyway. I love the relationship between these two.

The acknowledgement that Satori is no longer a girl, but a woman, now stands out to me. It just emphasizes how fast she has to grow up from here on out, now with the nation resting on her shoulders. But she's still not alone, since Rin won't leave her side, seeing her as family. And that's just really wonderful. .____.

Also, because it bears associating:

?I never realized before how much I hate that word. Hate that idea.?

?What word??

?Fate. What a monstrous concept.?

?Fate?? Rin looked at her, confused. ?Why was this fate??

I started listening to this from here on.

?It's okay.? Satori smiled. ?I prefer hearing it from someone I know cares about me.?

Rin moved herself on the bed, moving up so she could hug Satori eye-to-eye.

?Hey, Rin... Thanks for everything.?

?It's okay, Satori. I love you, you know that.?

God, this is so sweet. :blush:


Also wow, Rin has so many siblings.

?I'm not sure I can handle it. Sure I can't just stay here??

?I don't want a dead body in my bedroom!? Rin exclaimed. ?I'd prefer it in my cart.?

I can't help but smile at how they can joke around. Even if Satori takes it a little more personally than Rin would have wanted.

Something I am noticing is just how wonderfully peaceful Rin's room is, and how comfortable Satori is near her. Outside is the rest of the world, but right there, right then was shelter, comfort. A place to go to escape the terrifying place Chireiden must be right now. I do hope that in the future, they can at least find that same comfort in each other as time goes on.

Also, getting to meet some of Rin's siblings here, as well as the lovely Mama Kaenbyou, and how close to Rin they are is almost painful to see, since Rin will be leaving them to join Satori. But at the same time, she's fighting for their sake, too.

?I'm better at understanding than speaking... ah well.? Irene laughed as Ruki tugged on her sleeve and leaned up to kiss her mother on the cheek. Irene returned the kiss, and Riou kissed her too. Satori noticed they only kissed one cheek, but she and her sister had greeted people with kisses on both.

Oh, that's right... there were no other satori to kiss anymore.

Ow, my heart. ._____.;


I like how you added more about how Satori's third eye works, as Riou plays with it. Though, I am wondering if its following her finger was voluntary, or involuntary? Also how her third eye is not useful when it comes to reading thoughts in languages she cannot understand is fascinating, as well. Perhaps she can understand moods and tones from them, but she'd have to learn a new language to have a deeper understanding of what she is hearing.

It's also interesting to learn more about the Kasha culture in all of this, as well, as Satori tries to learn and understand it from Rin and her family.

Also, oooh-- I see Eiki being mentioned again. I am interested in seeing how things have been going on her end for quite some time now. It will be interesting to see her again. And Yuugi, as well! She hasn't really shown up since way early in the story, has she?

What Yamame is taking Satori and Rin to feels quite ominous no matter what way it is presented, especially since she says that it can cause even MORE devastation than what has already happened. Just what could get even worse than how things are right now? I wonder what is going on with all the geometric patterns and stuff in her mind, too. (Yet another thing the third eye can do-- not only hear thoughts, but see mental images, as well!)

It's also neat to see you post your notes at the end, too. Though yeah, that Gurdwara shooting was... sigh. I can't even imagine. It's still awful to think about, and seeing the same thoughts from Satori is just... well. .____.


This was a very interesting (and adorable god I love Satori and Rin so much) update. Congrats on the update, and keep up the fantastic work. It is incredible how you can fit so much substance and emotion into this-- especially when you consider that all of this happens in a relatively short span of time-- waking up, eating breakfast, getting dressed, and leaving. And there's still so much going on in those actions and between the lines. I love it. <3

[OverlordChirei]

...and we get additional insight on both Satori and Rin's families!

The portrayal of Satori's upbringing shows that once again, royalty isn't all it's hyped up to be, but it's a good thing she has Rin to bail her out of that mess. This makes me wonder what Koishi thought of it, but I guess we won't find that out unless she recovers herself...

The challenges are certainly piling up, can't wait to see how everyone else is dealing with theirs this point.

This is a great start to the first update of 2013. Let's hope the world doesn't end again before the next part!

EDIT: Reading over the update a second time, are the geometric patterns somehow a take on spiders having multiple eyes?

[Hanzo K.]

Could also be a nod to the complexities of web-spinning. You ever seen one of them do that? I have. Fascinating.

[Esifex]

EDIT: Reading over the update a second time, are the geometric patterns somehow a take on spiders having multiple eyes?

Or a spider's web. For the most part, they are geometric and logical - unless there's some part of the environment it's being built in that makes it a little tricky to maintain geometric symmetry. Or other outside stimuli interfering with their web-building.

[Jq1790]

La lala lala-wait new White Rose!?

As always, a captivating read here.  I'm with Matsuri, it's really impressive how much you manage to fit into such a short timeframe.  Eagerly awaiting more from the other story threads as well!

[Bluebeholder]

Just a little check to see if this story is dead. I hope not.

[Yoshiquest]

I was just wondering whether this story was dead or not. (I really enjoyed it!)

It's just that it's been over 2 years since the last update, and I wanted to inquire as to whether or not it was still being worked on, was forgotten, or if you have entirely lost interest in writing it. Thanks in advance.