They walked along quietly, she and him, each thinking their own thoughts. Or he was thinking his own thoughts; she might have been just concentrating on walking, for all he knew. Not that he doubted his ability. He did wonder at how much sentience someone who was infused with his own Rinki could have; sooner or later her own personality might clash against it. Not that it was any loss to him if he had to be rid of her.
They finally arrived; the detour he'd taken passed through this spot, which afforded them an amazing view down at the structure; unusual since the place was so high up.
"Rinju Den," she breathed beside him. In her voice was suitable awe; he enjoyed the view himself, though his main purpose was to show it to her. "…It's so...empty."
He turned. "You know it?"
Her eyes remained on Rinju Den a moment more before her gaze cut across to him. "I knew it."
Past tense noted, Rio turned back for one more look at the fortress, and then headed back down to get to the only entrance to Rinju Den proper.
She followed him without hesitation, though what else she could do under the circumstances was laughably questionable. And what was he expecting? If she hadn't attacked him by now, she probably wouldn't. Though, he admitted to himself, if she was just a pretty face without a brain, he would be disappointed.
An outrageous climb of stairs was a perfect, yet subtle test of one's mettle. Those who looked at the stairs and turned back were the weaklings of the earth. Those who only made it up halfway with no energy left for either the rest of the way up or back down were left there to die. Those who made it up the stairs and died were kicked off the side of the mountain. Only those who could make the climb up without meeting his death was worthy of even stepping onto the grounds of Rinju Den. Whether or not this was something the Kenma had anticipated and implemented was hard to say. Rio just liked it.
Behind him, her footsteps neither slowed down nor faltered. As they plodded on, he was aware of a slight change in her ki: she was withdrawing a little from the world, falling into a meditative state to draw out her Rinki.
As she meditated and gathered her Rinki to augment his, her steps became quieter, smoother, less clumsy, until he couldn't hear her footsteps at all and could barely hear her breathing. A moment later, her stride and the shape of her Rinki changed slightly, and he knew that she had donned her Jyujin form. He was careful not to tense, because that would be weakness. But she didn't break stride, either, and after a moment in which he could only assume she was stretching her muscles, her Rinki changed subtly again that meant she'd returned to her human form.
Despite himself, Rio smiled.
The Main Hall, when they entered it, was a little dusty. Rio found himself a little irritated at that; he'd meant to clear the dust but had somehow never got around to it. Or, more accurately, he'd never got around to making time for it, but that was a technicality fools nitpicked at and which no one else cared about.
The relic that was the reason this room had been made the Main Hall rested above the raised alcove, almost like an altar before the mark of the Kenma, the mounted statue that rested flat on its wall and yet emitted a sense of powerful Rinki. The founders of Rinju Ken. The legacy of the Kenma was not stuck to that wall by nails, or by any means considered normal. It just was. Much like Rinju Den and even Juken itself.
She'd stopped short of the altar, at right about the center of the Hall. When he swept around to face her, he was surprised when she performed a salute and knelt.
"This vassal is at your service," she said quietly. There was a note of wariness in her voice that Rio didn't know what to make of. Of course she had reason to be wary. You didn't become a good Rinju Fist by trust. But she'd followed him here, had held her hand when she might have attacked. And, more than that, Rinju Fists didn't serve others. Not when they didn't know who they were serving. Not when she didn't know what he'd resurrected her for.
He wasn't going to admit that he didn't quite know, himself.
After a considering silence that seemed longer than it really was, Rio descended the three steps and held out a hand to her, a mirror of what he'd done what seemed like a long time ago, now. The motion of her head when she looked up seemed tentative. He led her up slowly, as if unsure if a sudden motion might break her.
"Your name?" It came out more gentle than he'd intended, more gentle than he'd heard his voice be for a long, long time.
Her gaze traveled across his face in faint, faraway surprise. He thought she was considering whether or not to tell him when she said, "What do you wish to call me?"
He resisted saying that he'd asked her her name. After considering the shape of her Rinki for a minute, he said slowly, as if tasting the syllables in his mouth, "...Mele."
She didn't laugh, didn't even repeat it. Simply nodded, in simple acceptance of such an important part of a person.
But maybe to her it wasn't so important.
He was still searching her face for signs of...anything, when something...glimmered, and threw everything off balance. He suddenly realized how ridiculous it was that he was indulging in what amounted to an intimate conversation with a reanimated corpse. There was no place for kindness in a Rinju Fist. He realized he was still holding her hand and dropped it, and mounted the three steps of the dais.
"Mele," he said, when he'd had a moment to collect his cool and get over his embarrassment. He turned to her again, "We are the harbingers of the return of Rinju Ken. Make preparations. We're taking over this world!"
Her face split into a smile, the first he'd seen from her (and, a rebellious, sneaky portion of his mind hoped, not the last), and knelt again. "Hai!"