Tasakeru

BOOK V, CHAPTER 2

25 Aug 2010 2 Comments

by BHS in 2nd Volume: Night and Day, Book V: Nightfall Tags: adventure, animal, anthro, drama, exile, fantasy, fiction, forest, furry, hanami, japanese culture, kemono, mammals, nightfall, outcast, Tasakeru, web fiction, web serial novel, zero

CHAPTER 2

Complications rise

As do old prejudices

Power at a price

 

“-THE MOST HOLY RECORD OF THE SILVER ORDER-

YEAR 1549, S1

 

“Our efforts to quell the rumors surrounding the pillar of light from the black tower are proceeding, albeit sluggishly. Per our suggestions, the scroll-writers of the press have reported it as the result of a freak lightning strike. Investigations are still underway. The Outcasts are no doubt involved yet again, and this time I shall bring the full brunt of the Order’s migt down upon them, Drake or no Drake.

“However, there is still the matter of the funeral arrangements for those killed by the Soulsnatcher a month ago. Only now have the last of the bodys been identified, thanks to diligent work by my little one. We must send them to the Beneath with the proper rites before we make any more excursions to Tasakeru.

“I hope that we shall find some evidence as to the fate of Naole Takaichi when we do venture out; if she is still alive she must be returnd to the Order’s caer as quickly as possible.

“Thank you, my dear Hollis, for being such a comfort to me in these troubled times. Whatever would I do without you?

 

-        Lady Lily of the Silver House, 52^nd Grand Mistress”

Nadeshiko smiled grimly at the corpse, which stared back up at her impassively. At long last, this grisly job was finished. The herbs were applied, the visible wounds were stitched, the bodies were embalmed, the families were notified and consoled; all that was left to do was to perform the rites. She stood, and her back creaked in protest from being hunched over the dead hobferret for so long. Sighing, the skunk flexed her supple body, working out the kinks in her aching joints…

“Damn.” She clapped a hand to her left shoulder and grimaced. The twinge again… the Healers had assured her that the wound the Soulsnatcher gave her was fully healed, that apart from a small scar there would be no lasting effects. Yet the twinge still plagued her, reminding her of that night even though the visible traces of it were all but gone.

“Lady Nadeshiko? Are you all right?” The timid face of a black-haired white rabbit peered around the door frame to the mortuary.

“I will be fine, Persephone. It always passes quickly,” said Nadeshiko, rubbing her shoulder ruefully through her robes.

“Perhaps you should have another word with the Healers, Milady. It shouldn’t be hurting still, should it?”

The skunk had to smile at her concern. Persephone had been the first of the Soulsnatcher’s many victims. Upon waking, she had immediately set about tending to the others that the wolf had targeted, refusing all help and counseling for herself. There were whispers among the Knights that she was obsessive… Nadeshiko knew otherwise. It was simply Persephone’s way of exorcising her demons.

“If this continues, I shall have more than a word with them,” said Nadeshiko, balling her hand into a fist. “I may appoint one or more of them as practice dummies for my sword training.”

Persephone’s hands clapped over her mouth in horror.

“Wooden swords, Persephone.” Nadeshiko sighed and shook her head. “Try not to take things so literally.”

The jillrabbit bowed so low that the tips of her long ears nearly touched the polished ebony floor. “My apologies, Milady, that’s just the rabbit way…”

Nadeshiko crossed to the door where she stood. “Come with me. The preparations are all finished. I must bathe before the rites begin.”

“Understood, Milady.”

They walked in tandem down the corridor to the baths, their footsteps echoing off the many marble pillars as they passed. Neither spoke for a while as they passed by other members of the Order going about their duties: polishing the floor, adjusting hanging tapestries, replacing torches in their sconces.

“So, do you know what Lady Lily is going to say at the ceremony?” Persephone looked up at her superior, having grown uncomfortable with the silence.

Nadeshiko’s face twitched almost imperceptibly. “Lady Lily is not conducting the ceremony. I am.”

Persephone halted in mid-step. “You, Milady?! I thought it was the duty of the Grand Mistress to-”

“Lady Lily is indisposed,” said the skunk in clipped tones. “She has requested not to be disturbed. I am more than capable of performing the rites myself.”

“But Milady…!”

Abruptly Nadeshiko pulled her aside into an alcove and dropped her voice. “May I speak to you in confidence, Persephone?”

The rabbit was too baffled to do anything but nod.

For a moment, Nadeshiko’s stern demeanor faltered. It struck the rabbit just how weary the skunk looked, as if she were much older than her fourteen years… Her startling bright green eyes were heavy-lidded with exhaustion. “In truth, I’m… concerned about Mother. She’s been unwell since the attack.” Her voice was low, almost a whisper.

Persephone stared. Lady Lily, unwell? The idea was absurd; the Grand Mistress was far too strong and powerful a figure to be struck by something as trivial as an illness. “But why doesn’t anyone know, Milady? This is the first I’ve heard!”

“That’s my doing,” Nadeshiko sighed. “The only people to know are myself, Iris, and now you. I surmised that if word spread about Mother being sick this soon after the Soulsnatcher’s rampage, morale would-”

“Plummet,” finished the rabbit.

“Exactly. Now, again, I tell you this in strictest confidence. No matter what, you must not let anyone else know, is that clear?” Strong hands squeezed Persephone’s shoulders.

“Clear as glass, Milady. If you don’t mind my asking…”

“Go ahead.”

She shifted her weight from foot to foot as she spoke. “This isn’t the Outcasts’ doing, is it? I’ve heard the scholars talking about Lady Lily’s suspicions…”

Again, Nadeshiko looked troubled. “I don’t know, Persephone. I want to believe they’re innocent. I pray that’s the case.”

Persephone’s expression darkened. “Wasn’t the Soulsnatcher an Outcast, too? The wolves said they had exiled someone close to his description.”

“I am aware of that,” said Nadeshiko, cool and placid once more. “I hope that his behavior is an exception, and not representative of the Outcasts as a whole. Now come with me, we have much to do.”

Ashpaw crossed the den’s sitting room in three long strides, knocking aside an end table. With each step he cursed himself for believing that Zero would simply sit back and accept his temporary confinement. Ashpaw, you hopeless optimist! He admonished himself as he barreled around the corner into the hall leading to the main bedroom. A locked door and a lecture aren’t going to stop a God!

The scene that met him when he stopped in the door frame was somehow both better and worse than he had imagined. Zero was still there, at least, but he lay face-down on the floor, his face twisted in agony. The buck’s gleaming new sword was wobbling slightly where it stood, its point embedded in one of the floorboards.

Ashpaw fought back a groan and extended a hand to his friend. “You tried to transform again, didn’t you?”

The squirrel grimaced as he tried to push himself upright. “I did… for a second…” He only succeeded in flipping himself onto his back. Deep red stains were spreading steadily through the bandages on his face, arms, and stomach. He tried to wave Ashpaw away as the badger lifted him to his feet, but it felt as if lead weights were attached to his body, and his arm gave only a feeble jerk in Ashpaw’s direction.

“I was afraid of this,” said the badger, shaking his head and pushing Zero into an armchair. “Using that power puts a tremendous strain on your body. See, your wounds have reopened…”

Zero blanched. “So no being the Shogun until I heal up, then. He could have told me.”

“Zero, just what did the he tell you? What exactly happened between you and the Time God back there?” Ashpaw regarded him gravely, and Zero could tell that he had held back this question for days.

“Been wondering that myself,” said a voice from the door frame, startling both of them. The old white wolf leaned forward on his walking stick, the curiosity plain in his bright russet eyes.

“I thought you wanted no part in this,” said Ashpaw, completely failing to hide his surprise. “Didn’t you say you thought the Gods abandoned you?”

“They did,” said Drake flatly, “but I want to hear the explanation as much as you do. So go ahead, Takaichi. Explain.”

Two pairs of eyes stared at him expectantly, and Zero fought the urge to squirm in discomfort. Do they have to look at me like that? You’d think I was a two-headed goat or something… “Well…” He swallowed and closed his eyes. “I made a… sort of a contract.” It sounded bizarre when said out loud, perhaps even a little silly.

To his credit, the badger didn’t laugh. He didn’t even smile. “A contract?”

“I asked the Gods for help, and the Shogun… he answered. He told me that he would give me the power to save Hanami if I would agree to become his keshin.”

“Keshin?” Drake scratched behind one tattered ear. “That sounds like Old Standard.”

Zero pressed on, trying to get the rest of the story out without any more interruptions. “He told me that by becoming the keshin, I was entering into something called the Cycle of the Gods, and that I would have duties to perform… and he warned me that there would be trials ahead because of it.”

“So essentially, you’ve been given a destiny.” Ashpaw looked over his shoulder at the wolf, then back to Zero.

“Well, no.” The squirrel fidgeted in the armchair. “I asked him about that, when he was telling me how to call on the powers. He said, ‘Destiny is only for those too blind to see the many branching paths before them.’”

Drake snorted. “All that damned riddle-speak is one of the things I always hated about the Godlore. You’d think a God could make himself clear…”

“It seems very clear to me,” said Ashpaw. “By becoming the keshin, Zero is obligated to take part in this Cycle… but his choices in how to go about it are his own. As are the consequences of those choices.”

“That explains why he didn’t warn me about the backburn, then.” Zero glanced down at his bloodied bandages and scowled.

“Exactly,” Ashpaw nodded. “It was a mistake that you had to experience firsthand. I assume you were trying to visit Hanami without us knowing?”

Zero’s ears flattened.

“Of course he was,” said Drake. “That’s the only thing on your mind right now, isn’t it, Takaichi? It just didn’t occur to you that you’d only make things worse by showing up as a God on her doorstep.”

“That wasn’t all I wanted to do,” said Zero bitterly. “I wanted to find Naole, make sure she’s all right.” Silence fell over the den at those words. It was several minutes before Zero spoke again. “I agreed to become the keshin to save Hanami. But if I can use this power to protect both her and my sister… why shouldn’t I? If I can’t keep them safe, what right do I have to be part of the Cycle?”

“Which brings me to another question,” said Drake, shuffling forward. “What makes you think you deserve this power in the first place? Being chosen as the keshin for a God is an incredible honor… what makes you worthy of it, Takaichi?”

“Worthy?” Zero stared down at his hands for a moment, then answered as honestly as he could: “I’m not.”

He expected a sarcastic response to that, but to his surprise the wolf remained silent, a deeply thoughtful expression on his lined face. Without another word, he turned on his walking stick and left the room, the clunk of its blunt tip against the floorboards echoing down the hall.

The squirrel blinked. “What was that about?!”

Ashpaw shrugged. “Perhaps you touched a nerve…”

Two figures walked down the shady forest path in the late autumn sunlight. They were a distinctly odd pair; a doe squirrel in frayed and patched green robes, and a very strange, grey-furred male that only wore a goatskin loincloth. The girl appeared to be having an energetic conversation with her companion, despite the fact that he made no sound at all.

“… and that was when we felt the ground shaking,” said Naole. “Onii-chan went outside to take a look, and half an hour later he came back and told me about the tower. It turned out that a jackal made it, can you believe it?”

<Jackal?> Legion mouthed the word and tilted his head in confusion.

“Oh, right! I’m sorry. Jackal,” she repeated slowly, tracing the outline of a sharp, angular snout in the air with her fingers. “A jackal is sort of like a wolf. They used to rule the world, but they’re all gone now.”

<Gone? Where?>

She shrugged. “That’s a good question. Anyway, how about another lesson? Since you’ve already learned one new word today.”

The hybrid’s enormous tail wagged back and forth with such force that it stirred the leaves overhead. <Yes! Lesson! Lesson!>

“Settle down, settle down!” Suppressing the urge to laugh at his enthusiasm, she scanned the expanse of trees and bushes that lined the path. “So, what’s that one?” she said, pointing at a bush with pointed leaves.

<Holly,> Legion signed, his long fingers working gracefully. <Prickly. Berries no good.>

“That’s right. How about this one?” She patted the bark of the nearest tree.

<Maple! Sweet sticky stuff inside!>

“Right again! You ought to remember that one.” A smile spread across her face as she remembered a recent morning upon which he had woken her up all smiles, signing frantically about “sweet treasure”, his entire face a morass of sap. It took her the better part of three hours to wash it all out of his fur, during which the both of them got thoroughly soaked in soapy water.

<Another?> Legion tapped her eagerly on her shoulder, shaking her from the memory.

“Sure, of course. Let’s see… You’ve been really good at learning plants, how about rocks and stones?”

Legion pointed at the pebbles and stones dotting the ground in rapid succession. <Pumice. Granite. Basalt.> His finger paused over an apple-sized rock with a lumpy brown exterior. <Don’t know. Ugly rock?>

Kneeling down to it, Naole took the rock in her hands and brushed some of the earth from its surface, and a tiny glint of violet within a crack caught her eye. “Not exactly. Can you break this open?”

Eagerly the hybrid snatched it from her fingers. Naole watched as he carefully set it on the ground, the crack facing upward. She was about to search for a larger rock to help split it… when the flat of his hand descended like an axe upon the crack, breaking it neatly in two before she could blink. The squirrel clutched at her heart and stared at him. “Where did that come from?”

One eyebrow arched as he gave her a very cocky smirk. <Badger blood.>

“I guess so! Remember to warn me next time you’re going to move like that, all right? I’m not so good with being startled.”

The smirk slid off his face, and his ears drooped and swiveled backward. <Sorry! Legion forgot.>

A slender hand patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Now look…”

Legion’s yellow eyes widened as she turned one of the split pieces over. The inside of the half-sphere was filled with nodules and spires of brilliant amethyst crystals, growing inward from the rough and mottled exterior skin at bizarre angles. Fascinated, he watched as Naole tilted it to catch the sunlight, casting a faint violet glow onto her hands. <Beautiful…>

“It’s a geode,” said Naole as he reached out to touch the crystals. “See? It’s ugly on the outside, but pretty on the inside.”

<Geode,> Legion mouthed, his eyes still following the light caught within the spires. After thinking for a moment, his hands formed a new gesture: a mixture of the signs for “beautiful”, “ugly”, and “rock”. <Geode!> he mouthed again as he repeated the signs, obviously pleased with himself.

She grinned; it consistently amazed her how such simple things could give him pleasure. “Do you want to keep it, Legion?”

The hybrid’s fanged smile seemed almost too wide for his face. <Keep! Yes!>

Laughing, she handed the geode to him, and spent several enjoyable minutes watching him turn it over and over in his hands, now and again holding the crystalline side up to the light at different angles. Being lost isn’t so bad, really, she thought as she sat on the forest floor, tucking her knees underneath her chin and letting her tail droop lazily. Aria’s given us food, clothes, and a place to sleep… There’s no Order assigning chores and busywork, no house to keep clean… We have all the time in the world to just play and learn together. It’s almost perfect.

Except… Zero must still be worried sick. The thought sobered her, and she frowned to herself. He doesn’t know that I’m safe, that I have Legion and Aria. I have to let him know, somehow. “Come on, Legion,” she said aloud as she stood, brushing leaves and twigs from her robes. “I know you’re having fun, but – What’s the matter?”

The hybrid’s black nose twitched rapidly, his long ears standing up. Tucking the geode into the pocket of his loincloth, he signed without looking at her. <Someone near.>

“Aria?”

<No. Someone new.>

“Careful now, we don’t really know who else lives here, apart from onii-chan and his friends… Hey, wait!”

Legion tore off down the path with astonishing speed, little more than a grey blur. The doe squirrel cursed under her breath and ran after him, ready to chastise him for leaving her behind… but then he stopped only a short distance away, staring at a dark, unmoving shape in a bush that she couldn’t quite make out. Naole’s bare feed trod carefully, avoiding fallen twigs and dry leaves as much as possible. Legion was now sniffing at something, a slender branch… no, an arm…

Her stomach lurched as she threw caution to the winds and ran the rest of the distance. Spots danced in front of her eyes as she came to his side, fighting to catch her breath. “Legion, what… oh my Gods!”

A vixen lay sprawled motionless in the bush with her limbs at awkward angles, her head lolled to the side. Naole had never seen her face before, but she knew immediately who it must be, Zero had described her often enough over the years. The vixen’s bandolier and the vivid red bow in her auburn hair were unmistakable. Naole’s blood ran cold; she could tell by the way the branches were bent around her that Faun had been there for hours at least. And she was lying too still to be merely asleep…

Legion signed next to her, looking more baffled than concerned. <What happened?>

“I don’t know…” Trembling all over and wondering how on earth she was going to explain this to her brother, Naole pressed her fingertip against Faun’s neck. A wave of relief washed over her as she felt a steady pulse. “We should take her to Aria, she has to have some medicine or something… Legion, come on, help me!”

The hybrid nodded and curled an arm around the vixen, hauling her out of the branches. Once extricated, he shrugged her onto his back, wrapping her limp arms around his neck. <Friend?> he mouthed to Naole, whose eyes were darting from trunk to trunk as if she expected something to leap out and attack them. She didn’t seem to notice him; he nudged her with his foot and mouthed again.

“What? Yes, she’s our friend. Sorry, Legion, I’m just scared. I’m the one that faints, not her…”

<Bad thing make vixen faint?>

“Very bad,” said Naole, wringing her hands.

Legion’s expression turned somber. <Naole not be scared. Legion protect Naole and vixen from bad thing. Yes?>

She gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I know you will.”

Faun thrashed as is she were underwater, her movements tired and sluggish. No matter which direction she turned, it led to another alleyway, another dead-end with a ragged shape crouching against the far wall. She was so tired… It would be easy to just stop fighting, to follow the alley into the shape’s embrace, but her every instinct told her that that way led to nothing but pain, pain and bitter regrets… She had to keep moving, but she was exhausted, weighted down…

Strong hands clamped onto her shoulders, and in a blind panic she struggled even harder. No matter what, she had to keep moving. Keep…

“Faun!”

“AUUUUUUUGH!” The vixen screamed and batted away the hands, her every hair standing on end.

“Faun, calm down, you’re safe! Legion, let go of her, I think she’ll be all right now…”

Faun blinked. She was sitting upright and staring at a pair of faces, one strangely familiar and the other completely alien. Afternoon sunlight streamed down through branches of a pleasant little grove, which was silent save for the gentle trickling of a small nearby stream. For a moment the vixen was deeply confused… she had left Woodhaven at night, hadn’t she?

“You… are all right, aren’t you?” The familiar face was crinkled with concern.

“Yeah, other than being creeped out, I’m pretty much savvy. You’re…” The realization hit Faun with such force that it shook off the remnants of the dream. “Holy Gods, you’re Takky’s sister, aren’t you? You look so much like him…”

Naole nodded. “And I know who you are. Onii-chan’s told me all about you in his letters. Faun Reinaka, right? Nice to finally meet you.”

Faun bowed, observing the custom, and Naole returned the motion, her strange companion following suit a second later. “I’ll have to thank Takky personally, then. He’ll be thrilled to know you’re all right.” The vixen then stared at Legion, taking in his bizarre and mismatched features for the first time. “Um. Did I hit my head, or is that a- What is that, exactly?”

The hybrid made a series of motions with his hands and fingers that Faun couldn’t decipher.

“That’s Legion,” said Naole. “He’s my friend, we escaped together. He doesn’t talk, but he says he’s very pleased to meet you.”

After goggling at him, then at Naole, then back at him, Faun let out a low whistle. “Don’t tell me you made friends with Stalker’s monster!”

“He’s not a monster,” said Naole, her ears flattening. “He’s kept me safe for all this time.”

“Right, not a monster. Damn, kitto…” She gave the hybrid a closer look. In truth, she had expected some sort of hulking monstrosity, but Legion was… almost cute, in an ungainly way. He showed a mouthful of alarmingly large fangs as he smiled at her, but there was clearly no malice in his strange yellow eyes. “You can talk to him, then?”

“He understands me, yes. I’ve also been teaching him to sign.”

“That’s what that finger business was! Talking with your hands… I never thought of that! Hot damn!”

Naole bit her lip to stop herself from laughing out loud. She had just remembered something Zero had once written in a letter: Never, ever believe Faun when she says she’ll keep a conversation short. Sometimes I think she’ll die if she stops talking for more than ten minutes.

The vixen looked at her strangely. “You all right, kitto?”

“Fine,” choked Naole, her eyes watering.

“Huh. Well, I suppose for what he is, Legion’s not too bad. He seems like a good listener, at least. You thirsty, Legion?”

“Er.” Naole mouthed Say no! at the hybrid, who shook his head.

“Suit yourself. I think I need a drink.” Faun reached into one of her bandolier’s many pockets and withdrew a flask, drinking from it greedily. When she had finished, she wiped her lips on the back of her glove. “Yeah, definitely needed that. Especially after that thing…” She broke off and shuddered heavily.

“What thing?”

The vixen looked at Naole, feeling inexplicably calmed by her presence. Something about the doe made admitting what she had seen a less frightening prospect… Faun decided to tell her the truth. “I… I saw my mother in the forest.”

“So? What’s wrong with that?”

She shuddered again. “What’s wrong is, my mother died in Shinboku ten years ago.”

Naole’s face fell, and she took Faun’s hand in sympathy. “Oh Gods, Faun, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know! What do you think happened? Was it a-”

“Not a ghost.” She sighed and looked up at the sky, barely visible through the canopy. “I could smell her, I could feel her… she was just like she was on the day she died… And she was talking to me.”

“What did she say?”

“She… she told me that she loved me.” Her vision blurred a bit. “And then I passed out. I don’t know what it… what she really was, but it wasn’t a ghost, sure as I’m sitting here. It was Ma.”

“Based upon what you describe,” said new voice, soft and melodic as the stream, “I believe I know what it is you saw.”

Faun stood up and turned around to greet the stranger… but as she caught sight of the face beneath the cloak, of the steel-blue fur and hair and sad grey eyes, her stomach clenched itself into a hard knot.

Naole and Legion stood as well, both smiling in recognition. “There you are, we were starting to get worried about you!” said Naole, bowing briefly to her. “Aria, this is Faun-”

“What,” said Faun in an acidic tone, interrupting her, “is that doing here?!”

It took Naole a moment to realize that Faun was talking about the wolfox. “F-Faun, she’s our friend, she gave us a place to stay!”

The vixen’s face had contorted into a sneer. “She’s a stain.”

The squirrel gasped in horror.

“Come on, Naole, you shouldn’t be hanging around with crossbreeds, they’re-”

“And yet the girl’s trusted friend is a hybrid of all species,” said Aria, whose expression hadn’t even twitched at the use of the epithet. “Besides, I believe that in Tasakeru, we are all Outcasts, are we not?”

Faun didn’t answer, but her ugly sneer persisted. A dreadful chill had settled on the little grove. True, the wolfoxes were shunned by society in general and the foxes in particular, but Naole had never imagined that Faun, whom her brother spoke so highly of, could be so hurtful to someone she had only just met…

Feeling the situation spiraling from her control, Naole moved between the vixen and the wolfox, keeping them apart. They continued staring at each other, Faun with undisguised contempt, and Aria calm and placid as ever. “Now look,” said Naole, motioning Legion to come between them as well. “Faun, I know there’s bad blood between foxes and wolfoxes-”

“That’s an understatement,” she growled.

“I was part of the Silver Order, Faun, I get it! But I swear, Aria’s a good person! She helped me make the medicine that woke you up!”

“And I have more that may interest you, in fact,” said the wolfox.

“Yeah? All right, go ahead.” Faun sat down on the ground, crossing her arms and legs protectively. “Just don’t try slipping me any more of your potions, witch. I know how you people work.”

“I certainly shall not.” Smoothing the folds of her white cloak, Aria sat down upon a flat rock. “Though I must say that your information regarding our kind is distorted, to say the least.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Faun sniffed. “Sit down, Naole. Sooner I hear what she has to tell, the sooner I can leave.”

Naole and Legion sat, a bit apprehensively.

“First of all,” said the wolfox, “the creature that attacked you was not your mother.”

“Oh wow, what a great insight!” Faun put her hands to her face. “Next you’re going to tell me that the sun rises in the east every morning!”

“Faun…” The tone of the doe’s voice made Legion growl quietly.

“It is fine, child. She has a right to speak her mind.” Aria sighed and continued. “That creature was a Shroud, a spirit of the dead. Normally the Shroud exist to guide the souls of the departed to the Beneath…”

“You know, I think I heard of those things,” Faun mused, her face softening just a bit as she looked away. “But they’re only supposed to appear when someone dies, right?”

“Correct,” said Aria. “They appear to the departed soul in a form that that soul will recognize and trust implicitly, to ease the journey to the Beneath. The fact that a Shroud has shown itself to a living person is… very troubling, to say the least.”

“It was supposed to take me to the Beneath… but it must have left after I passed out,” said Faun. “Maybe it can’t take someone who’s still alive?”

“I do not know. But that is not the only thing we must discuss, Faun.”

The vixen looked up at Aria again, her expression hardening into a scowl once more. “Yeah? What’s that?”

“The Shroud appeared as your mother, Morgan Reinaka, correct?”

“Right, I said that already. Wait…” Faun stopped, coming to a belated realization. “How did you know Ma’s first name?”

Aria withdrew a small golden harp from the folds of her cloak. Her expression was strange, almost pitying. “Because your life and mine and hers are inexorably intertwined,” she whispered, her fingers playing over the harp strings. “Because I am Aria Reinaka Trailpack, child of Morgan and Ara of the Trailpack, and you are my half-sister…”

Hanami was worried. It was late afternoon, and Faun had not come by yet. For the past few days she had been a permanent fixture in Woodhaven, no matter how Hanami had insisted that she would manage perfectly well alone. For her to be gone for most of the day without any notice was definite cause for concern. Maybe she just had other things to do today? That thought did little to comfort her. Once more she sat by her window, nursing a cup of tea that had gone stone cold, hoping to see some sign of orange fur coming down the path.

The squirrel blinked; someone was coming down the path, but it wasn’t Faun. Her heart gave a great leap as she made out black robes lined with red, and she pressed her hands against the cool glass of the windowpane. “Zero…?”

A million questions whirled in her mind with a million emotions. He had come to see her, and had probably slipped by Ashpaw with no small difficulty in order to do it. Some small, selfish part of her was glad that he had gone against the grain for her sake… He clearly just wanted to make sure she was safe and unharmed.

She knew he could see her in the window, he was looking right at her. So why did he seem so somber, then? Why wasn’t he smiling? Why was he now stopping six feet from her door, just standing there in the fading afternoon light? Why didn’t he come forward and knock on the door? A gnawing sliver of uncertainty began to eat away at Hanami’s joy at seeing him again. As much as she wanted to ignore it and run out to greet him, something unknowable was making the fur rise up on the back of her neck. Something inside herself was sending her a message, quite clearly: This is wrong.

Zero stood staring impassively at her through the window, making no attempt toward the door. As she watched, paralyzed by doubt and confusion, he lifted one hand and very slowly beckoned to her.

END OF CHAPTER 2

Author’s Note: With this post, I’ve completed my goals for WeSeWriMo 2010: Two new chapters and over 10,000 page views by the end of August! It’s been great fun participating, and I’m definitely taking part next year!

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