Tomika's Letters, 7/28 - 8/6: Rivers of Fire
7/28/1583
Skyhome
Dear Lady Yukiko,
I am glad to hear that your Lord told you about your child in advance of my letter. Of course, the fact that he refuses to say who the father is is still distressing, but I am glad he's to blame for that distress and not I.
Most interesting discussion today. Reiko had gone out last night, hunting with Ito, and came back as we were breaking our fast and discussing what to do next. Her asepect was extraordinarily troubled, and she was still without Ito. I find it odd how used I've gotten to the male kitsune being her (tall, redheaded) shadow, so quickly.
She looked around, and said, "Um, I think we have...a problem."
It transpired that she and Ito had gone out hunting the night before as a sort of graduation exercise; she's been training him in control, so he doesn't automatically kill everyone he sleeps with. But when their prey had fallen asleep, and he'd thought Reiko had fallen asleep as well, something had taken him over. And he went straight to Akemi, one of the people on the other side; more worrisome, she was the mage who was in charge of making another crystal to control the Thrykreen.
He told them everything he knew--which was quite a bit. Including where you and Akechi are, I am afraid. (Not that this is surprising to you, as i know we sent a message as soon as we knew.)
Reiko didn't want us to kill him, of course; though she claimed no particular attachment, I could see her playing with that little white ball that she fiddles with when she's nervous. She'd left Ito on the ship and come back to Skyhome alone, probably to keep us from doing something foolish.
There were arguments for killing him, of course; Reiko, seeing him as a possible solution to her race's current nearly extinct state, argued for taking him to the Demonbane and seeing if he could do anything with the male kitsune. She said, "I don't want to kill him until i know what he's for," and I somewhat had to agree with that.
There followed a long philosophical discussion about the role of immortals in the world, and whether a male kitsune was a good idea at all. The general consensus was no, but the consensus also was that we should take Ito to someone who knew more about these things, that person being Lord Takumi, your father.
It was fascinating to watch the different personalities in the discussion. Hiroshi was arguing for keeping Ito with us; Panda, having an apparent fit of crankiness, didn't care if he lived or died, but said that because he's betrayed us, he can no longer be allowed to run with the retinue; Tadaki couldn't quite see why we didn't just kill him, considering that he's a demon. Reiko was asked why it was that kitsune should be allowed to live, and was unable to come up with an answer other than, "We have always been, and we will always be. That is why! Why allow hengeyokai to live? Why allow humans, for that matter?"
Panda just shook her head and said, "Hengeyokai don't eat people, though."
We kept arguing, and finally Panda, who was short-tempered and seemed fed up with the whole thing, said in response to the kitsune protesting that foxes don't normally kill the people they feed on, "Look. Reiko. You're a nice kitsune. We like you. And how many people have you killed?"
Reiko dropped her gaze. "Ah...many."
"And you're a nice one. As far as I know, most kitsune aren't nice, Reiko. Who's to say this one will be?"
The vixen muttered a response and turned away, her cheeks burning as if Panda's reminder of her past had been a slap.
We elected to keep Ito unconscious with sleep potions and head north. Funitsu needed to go that way anyway, and there may be much to learn from Lord Takumi.
By the way, happy news--Panda is indeed pregnant! We all suspected, what with the craving for picked ginger, but she confirmed it for us today.
North for a week or so, now, to Sapporo. I will convey your greetings to your father when I see him.
Warmest regards,
Soshi Tomika
7/4/1583
Sapporo (sailing towards Okushiri-to)
Dear Yukiko,
Fine wind blowing quick
the salt spray beckons the gull
toward the fire island.
Alas, I am not very much of a poet, but thank you for the copy of Sei Shonagon's work. (Poetry is the one art in which I have never excelled; my father was most disappointed when he found I have little talent for it.) I have been remiss in writing, I know, but there has been very little happening for the last week; Panda has been cranky, the kitsune has been scarce, Funitsu appears to be oblivious to all of my attempts to flirt with him, Haku has been silent, and Tadaki has been restless. The only two who don't seem to be somewhat discontent are Gryphon and the librarian.
Who is, at this point, not much of an archivist. He'd knock stacks of scrolls right over without even thinking!
We pulled into to Sapporo's harbor this morning and requested to see Lord Takumi. He granted us audience. I saw a brush of a white kimono patterned with summer herons, moving quickly out of a doorway on the other side of your audience chamber--your mother, the Lady Takumi, perhaps? I regret to say that I did not see her other than that one flash.
My husband talked for a time with Lord Takumi, discerning that the most likely place for the Scorpion samurai to be is Okushiri-to, an island off the southwest corner of Hokkaido. He also said that Akemi, who is working on making another Thrykreen control crystal, is likely on that island, as it's where he went to make the original control crystal, four hundred years ago.
After that was settled, he asked if there was anything else, and Reiko stepped out from behind Gryphon and said, "I have something. A request."
He fixed her with his piercing glare and said, slowly, "I will listen to you for Lord Soshi's sake. Speak."
I do not know if anyone else noticed her hands shaking. She is indeed terrified of your father, and for good reason. I noticed, for the first time, the similarity in them. It is less anything physical than it is in their eyes. They have the same gaze, unnervingly direct. And they were dressed as mirror images of each other, seemingly on accident; his kimono gold with designs picked out in red thread, marvelously subtle, and her habitual scarlet silk, shot through with yellow and gold.
She explained the situation with Ito, and Panda brought the sleeping kitsune in and laid him on the floor. Lord Takumi said, "Yes, I had a hand in creating him. Why?"
"What is he for? We might kill him, but not before we know what he was made for."
He chuckled, a little. "He was a trap, kitsune. A trap laid for not you but others. Though he seems to have caught you, right enough." Lord Takumi, the man known as the Demonbane, shrugged. "It was a project I was working on with the old Emperor. There are tales of two kitsune who have ten thousand tails apiece; it's probably more like a hundred, but they are the oldest of the kitsune. They are the kitsune gods, more or less. A race never dies until its gods are also dead. He was to find them, bed them, and kill them in their sleep. Then, it would be only a matter of time until the rest of the race was extinguished."
"He has been somehow changed by the other side. I was hoping you could fix that."
"Perhaps. And then what? I cannot release him as he is back to you."
"Then what can you do?" The kitsune and her father were sparring, back and forth. I got the impression that neither was truly winning this match, quite yet.
"I could change his body to match his spirit. He would become a she. But again, I could not release him as he is back to you. I am, after all, sworn to eliminate kitsune."
Panda spoke up at this point. "Change Ito like you changed Reiko. Give him a conscience and the ability to feel guilt."
Reiko said, a bit plaintively, "Death would be kinder, I think. But, if you gave him the choice, if he decided of his own will that he would rather live crippled than die..."
"I can do that. Reiko's humanity was a side effect of my linking my own life force to hers, but I understand how it works now. Give him some humanity, make him into one like Reiko, and change him to a female. If that is your will, samurai. For you and for the Lord Soshi, I'll do this."
The kitsune was glaring at her father. I believe the two of them define the term "dysfunctional relationship".
Panda tilted her head. "Your life force is linked to Reiko's?"
He smiled. "I am very, very old, and I do not die. Did you wonder why? My own immortality is linked to hers. And if she dies, I die, as well. She has the power to end my life in her hands...yet I notice she has not done so yet. And for every year I live, more of her kind die at the hands of my Thrykreen."
(Yukiko, I am sorry, but your father seems to be a very cruel man sometimes. Brilliant in that cruelty, but still cruel. Though the kitsune is a demon, somehow his torment of her seems...excessive.)
He rose and walked over to Ito, looking down on him, frowning. "There is something different about him. We did not bind him like this."
Panda handed him her orb, through which one can see the true nature of things. He took it without comment and peered through it at the male kitsune, muttering to himself. He handed the orb back and said, "I'm going to have to take a day or two to unravel this. Someone has altered him, and I don't know why right now. Lord Soshi mentioned that you have an errand to run; by the time you return, I should have him changed."
We agreed, and then filed out, leaving Ito sleeping on the floor. I saw Reiko look back over her shoulder briefly, shudder, and then skip forward, catching up with Gryphon and putting her hand on his back.
Off to Okushiri-to this afternoon; we should be there tomorrow morning, it's that close.
With much affection,
Tomika
8/5/1583
at sea, between Okushiri-to and Sapporo
Dear Yukiko,
Okushiri-to is a foul place, smelling of sulfur. We sent the ship Shrike away for the day, and sent Tadaki in to scout for us.
He came back, saying that there was a tunnel leading into the volcano itself. Down the tunnel was the missing samurai, and what seemed to be a Scorpion general, which meant that these were our group of people. Into the harbor we went, taking over the one ship in the harbor, and then went into the lava tunnels, the heat and the stink increasing as we headed further into the volcano.
On the way in, we passed some decomposing corpses that were lying near the entrance of the tunnel. Funitsu asked me to make one of them talk, and I raised one and made it dance for me. Tadaki, who was standing near me, muttered, "That would be less disturbing if you didn't look so cheerful about it."
The corpse had committed seppuku rather than follow what he considered a dishonorable command--to break a stone seal, behind which was all manner of terrible things. Another of the corpses had broken the seal and had been burned to death by lava flowing from behind it.
We crept down, and saw the general and the Scorpion samurai building a bridge over a river of lava, towards a stone wall that had a large hole broken in it. We estimated that they had another four hours before the bridge was done. We definitely wanted to get there before they did, because that general was controlled by a piece of the twilight spirit, and as such was likely up to no good.
With that in mind, the librarian, Haku, and Funitsu used their swords, the ones so sharp they cut holes in reality itself. We gave them a minute and then went through the doorway ourselves. We didn't know where we'd come out, but instead had to trust the three who were leading us.
The doorway opened into a crystal city, and before us there were two wu jen, both looking a little singed (Tadaki's new favorite spell is Fireball), and one was bleeding from the librarian's sword cut. One was holding an orb that looked much like Tadaki's--only this one was a full orb, rather than the half of one that the Sparrow has. Before more than a couple of minutes passed, they took down both Reiko and the librarian, and the one with the orb, who we found later was named Akemi, took over the Thrykreen we had with us, commanding them to kill us.
And the Thrykreen attacked us. One of the enemy wu jen--Kumiko--had gone down, but we suddenly had our hands full with the mantids. Jeron, the one who leads the rest, reached down and picked up Reiko, and--was feeding her a healing potion? Surely my eyes were mistaken. He is a mantid, why would he help the creature who his race was meant to kill?
The remaining wu jen collapsed, her throat cut--but by who? Tadaki had her orb, sudenly, and the Thrykreen stopped attacking us. The Sparrow looked pleased with himself, and we surmised that he had stopped time once again. And Reiko opened her eyes, looking very surprised indeed to find herself being held by Jeron. He set her down, and she thanked him.
It turns out that he is the only one not bound to the orb, but bound by honor to Tadaki himself. Evidently, under our noses, Reiko and Jeron have been striking up something that is tenatively like a friendship. Her curiosity is often enough to overwhelm her fear, or her common sense. Perhaps both.
Off the two wu jen, we took a number of vials, a cloak, a wand, and the aforementioned orb. My husband decided to "test" the cloak by putting it on the librarian. It didn't seem to do anything to him, at least at first.
Then we had to figure out what to do next. We explored the crystal city a bit while we talked. Funitsu said, "Hm. There seems to be something here--ah, the corridor is an illusion."
And as we each wrestled with the illusion in our minds, the real corridor shimmered into view.
It was lined with what looked to be statues.
There are a few things that touch a primal fear in us. Even without knowing exactly what they were, we knew that they were to be feared. Perhaps a racial memory of ancestors killed by these things. They were huge--eight or nine feet tall, seemingly made out of crystal, and almost as wide across as they were tall--and they lined the corridor looking like nothing so much as sleeping death.
They were Warresh. There were perhaps a thousand of them.
A set of carvings in one of the corridors told the tale. The Dark Son, the sprit who is currently possessing Arenro, was given the Warresh by the gods in the great long ago. He set them with the task of serving humankind. Unfortunately, they escaped control, and went mad, killing countless humans.
The Bright Son then created the Thrykreen, who were tasked with destroying the Warresh. The Thrykreen overwhelmed the Warresh by sheer numbers, slaughtering them by the thousands. In the end, the Dark Son took the thousand who were left and sealed them in here, for a future use.
From what we could tell, there were about a hundred missing. We do not know where they went, not yet.
One of the Warresh woke. The librarian seemed to be speaking to it, and it spoke back. The Thrykreen were keeping a very wary eye on it, but under Tadaki's control, they did not attack, though I could tell that they sincerely wanted to. The librarian seemed to have firm control on them, though they still made us all nervous.
And a plan was born to take back Funitsu's samurai without spilling a drop of blood.
Once more with the sword's door, we appeared on the bridge before General Katsuro. Funitsu was in the lead, and he was backed up by two of the hulking Warresh. He snapped out, "Katsuro, surrender the samurai to me."
The two men stared at each other. Katsuro was a tall, thin man, his face dripping with sweat from the heat. He looked at Funitsu and said, slowly, "Lord...Soshi? I did not hear your brother...."
"I am. And you are ordered to give over your command to me." Calm, implacable, in that moment I came closer to loving Funitsu than I have ever before. The potential for steel in him finally showed itself.
Reluctantly, the general assented, nodding. Then Funitsu said, "Let us drink, then, to victories won."
In his hand was two vials of the true source. He handed one to ghe general, and both drank.
Katsuro shuddered and staggered, almost falling as the spirit fled his body. He opened his eyes and said, "Lord...Funitsu? Where did you come from?"
My husband asked, "Do you remember anything of the last three months?"
"Not much. Flashes. Movement. I--" He shook his head, and straightened. "Lord, what are your orders?"
Funitsu thought. "We'll send you to Kyoto, and from there you can march south. We have a method of travel that is quick, but you may find it strange. You're needed to fortify Miyazaki; the Crab is readying its pincers. I'll tell you what I know, on the way."
We loaded up the three boats we now have--the Benevolent, Shrike, and the third, as yet unnamed, ship--with the samurai, and as I speak we are sailing towards Sapporo. Before we left, we finished the bridge, put back four of the six Warresh that the librarian had with him, and sealed up the crystal city once more, destroying the bridge behind us.
I am glad to be away from the stinking island. I certainly hope we never have reason to go there again.
Much affection,
Tomika
8/6/1583
Sapporo
Dear Yukiko,
A few more details today; I am confident we will see you soon, so I am merely writing this down so I can be sure you have a full report. We returned to Sapporo in the middle of the day today, and went to see your father, Lord Takumi. Mostly, we wished to see if Ito had decided that living was worth being afflicted with conscience, regroup, and decide what to do next.
Again, we were ushered into the Phoenix receiving chamber by a pair of unsmiling samurai. The Phoenix Lord said, "Ah, I see you've returned. Victorious, I assume? Good. The kitsune elected to live--I'll have her fetched, now. It seems she was bound magically to someone named Akemi, who died yesterday. Your work, I imagine. That tie needed to still exist, so I bound her to Reiko."
The Lord's visage turned once again severe, and he looked down at Reiko. "I've bound her to you as a daughter. One of these days, kitsune, you may discover what that means."
The former Ito was brought in, walking unbound between a pair of guards. She looked nervous and perhaps the slightest bit awkward.
I am sure you will meet the new kitsune soon enough, Yukiko, but she is exceptionally lovely to look upon. Skin flawless as a white jade cup, hair the same depthless black as Reiko's, falling to the backs of her knees. She was smaller as a female than a male, still almost head taller than Reiko, eyebrows like willow leaves and graceful, long-fingered hands. The only thing that was the same about her was her eyes, the startling light green of spring leaves, looking warily at us.
Reiko went to her, clasping her hands, speaking to her in a low voice. They briefly rested their foreheads together--startling, the intimacy of that one movement--and then returned to the rest of us. Reiko looked up at her father, amber eyes unreadable. "Thank you."
"May you have joy of her," he said, and it sounded not like blessing but condemnation. "After all, I have had such joy of my own kitsune daughter."
At those words, he pushed up the sleeves of his kimono to show Reiko--and us--his arms. Scarred to the point where there was more scar than skin, his arms were a record of pain, written in his skin.
The kitsune lifted her chin, and unexpectedly, shoved up her own sleeves. On them were long cuts, perhaps eight or ten of them--some of them nearly healed, others still raw and scabbed. They were obviously self-inflicted.
Why did none of us know she was doing this to herself? I remember the shock in her eyes when Winter told her of Lord Takumi's habit of cutting himself whenever she killed someone. But it seems unthinkable that she would follow in his footsteps.
Silence had fallen over the chamber, and into the silence Reiko spoke. "I meant to tell you, father. I pay for my own sins." And she turned and walked out. The newly female Ito hesitated and then followed her out.
Awkward silence was left in her wake. She tends to do that. No manners at all, and little sense of propriety. Funitsu picked up the thread of conversation, and after smoothing the incident over, we took our leave.
Tonight, I believe we will see you as we transit the Scorpion samurai to where they will be more useful. I hope, anyway. We all miss you, Yukiko.
Today we have triumphed, but it seems to be a very thin thread indeed.
Warmest affection,
Tomika
Quotes:
"And she's sort of cranky, too."
"I'm not cranky! I'm NOT CRANKY AT ALL. WHY DO YOU THINK I'M CRANKY?"
--Reiko and Panda
"I've been praying to the wrong ancestors. Fuck me!"
"That's okay. I forgive you."
--Panda and Reiko
"Graham...what are you doing with the cleaver?"
"Nothing..."
"Don't lie."
--Bryan and Graham
"There's a fine line between hostility and worship, sometimes."
--Funitsu
"So do you want my considered opinion?"
"Sure, Mr. Barbarian."
"I think they're trolls."
"I never would have thought that."
--Hiroshi and Funitsu
"It's not Funitsu's fault that a quarter of a mile is 440 yards!"
--Derek
"We figured you were pregnant. All that pickled ginger."
--Tadaki (as I recall. The reason this is funny is because Laura, who plays Panda, loves pickled ginger.)