Two Interludes
The evening of June 7th, 1583Funitsu wandered down the corridor, Yukiko beside him and Panda walking behind them both. They heard a familiar voice up ahead: Reiko's soprano voice, answered by a male voice. The Lady tipped her head and held up one of her hands, and the other two stopped. She stepped into the room next to the one the shaman's voice was coming from, the open door of both rooms allowing them to hear quite clearly the conversation.
Panda murmured in Funitsu's ear, "I mislike this." The noble shrugged and inclined his head towards Yukiko, who was listening avidly. She lifted a warning finger to her lips, and turned her attention back to the conversation.
The male voice was speaking. "Yes, possession often ends badly for the shaman possessed. In your case, though, I think it might be different. You know what your name means, do you not?"
"Spirit Child, or Belonging to Spirits. They originally called me Mei, but when it became obvious what I was..."
"It also means Soul Barb. And that is what you seem to be. Most of us are accompanied by the spirits of our ancestors, but most of yours don't seem to be related to you, at all. That's unusual, and it almost always indicates that the shaman is of nonhuman blood. Humans need an affinity with a spirit somehow before it will become curious enough to become attached to them. Many nonhumans, however, are much closer to spirits themselves, and as such sometimes host spirits that are in no way related to them."
A pause. Then Reiko's voice again, soft and troubled. "But I am a human. If I weren't, wouldn't I know it by now?" Another pause, and then a soft, sorrowful question. "If I am not human...what am I?"
The male voice said, "I cannot tell you that, Reiko. If you don't know, now that you're an adult, that you have nonhuman blood, then it may be that you are simply an unusual human."
"That's it, then. I've always been different, strange, like we all are before we are trained." Her voice was hopeful. "But do you know how to stop the possession from happening? I want to keep Zhane from whatever it is she wants to do to me."
"For that, you have to know which spirit is possessing you, and why. Are you sure its this gaijin spirit who's the real trouble? It could be another one, and she could simply be trying to help."
"I don't know...she's the only one who speaks English, as far as I know, and she was the one shouting. But I was asleep when it started. And the next night, I woke curled up on the floor, cold as anything."
As Reiko continued to speak, Yukiko motioned for Panda and Funitsu to follow her. When they got out of earshot, Funitsu asked, "So what was that all about?"
Yukiko smiled, her intelligent eyes gleaming. "Our shaman is not what she appears. I've known this ever since she arrived in my husband's household, but she never gave any indication of what she might be hiding. I've suspected that she simply didn't know what she is for some time, and that conversation confirmed it for me."
"What is she, then?"
"I have a few theories but nothing definite. Watch her, though. Perhaps you will see the same things I have seen."
Panda coughed lightly. "My Lady, I know that it isn't my place, but...I am not certain that eavesdropping is entirely honorable, truly."
The Lady raised an eyebrow at her. "No, Panda, it is possibly not the most honorable of actions. But it is the most correct in this case; sometimes the correct action and the honorable one are two different paths. Funitsu knows this, being Scorpion Clan."
He nodded. "We Scorpions accord honor to the course that will cause the best result, not the course that follows bushido most closely. We are far more concerned with right action than right thought. If eavesdropping helps one understand a colleague better, so that we know where she is strong and where she is weak, then that is a better course than remaining ignorant of her nature, which may put both her and the rest of us in grave danger later."
Panda looked unconvinced. Funitsu shrugged. "I do not expect bushi from another clan to understand us. But, I believe, Lady Yukiko is a sister to our Clan in spirit, if not by family."
Yukiko smiled. "Such a compliment from a Scorpion. I am honored. Panda, you have never been a Lady in a great house, so I cannot expect you to understand. But we live such circumscribed lives, woven around with the spider's web of privilege. We are expected to know little and say less. My Lord is most unusual in the amount of freedom he allows me, and I am aware of how fortunate I have been. But a Lady has her ways of gathering information, so very softly. We listen to whispers and gossip, and the way the breeze blows tells us much about where the wind has come from. And now is the time when we must learn all we can about our allies as well as our enemies."
Panda's dark eyes looked around, uneasily. "I--I will follow your orders, my Lady. You are, in Akechi's absence, my liege." She left silent her doubts, but they were clearly visible in the way her hand clenched on the scabbard of her katana.
"And I will attempt to keep from compromising your honor, samurai. But I think this situation will only be half solved on the battlefield. The other half of the solution may very well come from the whispers we hear." Yukiko looked into Panda's eyes for a long moment, and then, apparently satisfied with what she saw there, nodded. "I believe it is nearly time to retire. Panda, with me, if you please."
They walked down the long hall towards their rooms, silent, all lost in thought.
The night of June 8th, 1583
The griffon woke. Why had he woken? There had been a noise...there it was, again. A muffled half-sob, coming from the place where Reiko slept. She was moving restlessly on her mat. He wondered what she was doing, and soundlessly rose to take a closer look.
He cocked his head, black eyes studying her. Her eyes were closed, and she was shivering, which he thought humans only did when it was cold. Perhaps they also do it when it's warm? She had both of her forepaws raised to her head, clenched as if she were holding her skull together by main force.
Griffon must have made some soft sound, because the woman abruptly woke, looking at him with sudden terror, rolling away from him into the wall. "Ow! Griffon!" She shook herself and pulled herself upright. "You startled me." Her face was paler than he remembered it being, and there was a sheen of moisture on it.
Griffon said, "Noises. In sleep. Why?" As long as he'd woken the shaman, perhaps he could get a explanation of this new facet of human behavior.
"I'm not sure, Griffon. I was asleep. Perhaps I was dreaming. Or..." Her face contorted and she pressed one arm across her abdomen. "Ah. I understand..."
Griffon blinked. "Why? Ill?"
"In a manner of speaking. Ah!" She was silent for a moment. Through gritted teeth, she said, "It's nothing, kittycat. Just my body demanding something I can't have right now. It comes and goes. I'll be fine in the morning."
The griffon was even more confused than he had been before she started speaking. That often happened when he was talking to the shaman. He summed up his puzzlement with a single word. "What?"
"It's...ah. Complicated, kittycat. I don't understand it well myself. How to explain it so you'll understand...I've had many mates in my life, of all types. They never stay long, for some reason. When I go for a while between mates, I sometimes will feel ill during the night. It's a sort of hunger. And it's been about a month since the last, which is about when it starts."
Griffon considered this. It seemed there was a very simple solution. "Take a new mate?"
"Believe me, I've been thinking about it. But...not yet. Grandmother Lin says I should consider Funitsu, but I think she likes his title, not him. She's always wanted me to marry well, and she believes "well" means "into nobility". Not what I want for my life, but she's constantly haranguing me about it."
The griffon put his head down on his paws. Human society made his head hurt. Reiko had explained the concept of nobility and why everyone followed the orders of the egg-bound female, and why she was friendlier to Funitsu and Panda than the rest of them. It made some sense--it was like the pecking order back home--but it made no sense that one could be born to power rather than earning it. And how Funitsu could be counted as more powerful than either Reiko or Panda was beyond him. After all, the females were the powerful ones among the humans. It should be Reiko who could grant Funitsu power, not the other way around.
Or...he considered. Perhaps Funitsu's friendship with the Lady caused him to be higher in the pecking order than Reiko or Panda? That must be it. The Lady's protection meant that he was favored and thus earned him status.
He opened his beak to share his conclusion with Reiko when he realized she was no longer on her mat. She'd crossed over to the door and was rattling it, now throwing herself against it bodily. The griffon mantled in surprise. She would injure herself if she did that any more! He shoved himself between her and the door, pushing her away from it, and she fell back on her mat. Her amber eyes gleamed, and she hissed at him! A look of confusion came over her face, and she whined softly. "Out...out..."
He put a paw on her chest and pushed her down. He would not allow this Lady to harm herself. This was very odd behaviour indeed, and since it had gotten her locked in, he was beginning to think that perhaps this wasn't normal for humans. Under his paw, Reiko relaxed, her eyes closing and her head falling back. She shivered once, and then opened her eyes again, asking in a soft voice, "Kittycat, why are you standing on me?"
He shook his wings in the griffon equivalent of a shrug. "Needed." He lay beside her; from head to tail, he was almost as long as she was tall. He draped his tail over her legs. "Sleep."
Reiko, confused and frightened but not willing to argue, curled against the griffon, matching her breath to his, and despite the pain she was feeling, slipped slowly into sleep.
Only to dream of Zhane, screaming.
Had she been able to understand, she would have heard Zhane crying out, "Not again, not again, I'm not going to let it happen again, never again..."