"You mean, by using their power, they shorten their lifespan?
-Exactly.
-So this means… This rasetsu turned to dust because his time was over?
-Indeed."
The wind blew the ashes of the rasetsu away under the eyes of Saitou Hajime. The captain of the third division felt a shiver going down his spine as he imagined this could have been any of his friends who had turned into a rasetsu.
"I have to go now. Please inform your companions who became rasetsus. It seems there are certain people within the Shinsengumi who let themselves get blinded by their thirst for blood."
Amagiri Kyuuju bowed respectfully to Saitou and left. He was fully aware that Sannan Keisuke had watched the entire scene. He had spoken as much for Saitou as for him.
He hadn't had the opportunity to talk directly to Sannan Keisuke, but he had heard much about his research on the Ochimizu. In truth, although he disapproved of his attempts at creating more rasetsus, he felt a deep respect towards the secretary general.
Amagiri sighed. He hoped Saitou Hajime would never have to drink the Water of Life. Saitou reminded him of himself when he was a younger.
The red-haired oni stopped and looked at the red moon. He disapproved of Kazama's actions towards the Shinsengumi, but he had to obey. What a pity. There were so many brave warriors there… To him, they were the perfect example of what a warrior should be.
What a warrior should be…
He resumed walking. Some memories of his youth started to surface in his mind. He remembered learning how to hold a sword when he was growing up in Europe, how to dodge attacks, how to fight using only his fists. He also remembered a smile. Her smile.
Amagiri belonged to a medium sized clan of Western Oni. He was the youngest of three brothers. One day, tired of the rivalries and territorial wars between European Onis, he took a boat and left to the New World.
There, he pretended to be an adventurer looking for work. Thanks to his strength and hard work, he easily signed short-term contracts in the colonies. He learned many skills, going from trapping to canoeing, fishing, snowshoeing and hunting. He was eventually recruited by the Hudson Bay Company as a coureur des bois. He enjoyed his new life, made of travels, companionship and hard work. He built some solid friendships with fellow Hudson Bay Company employees. Amagiri quickly became an accomplished business man who excelled in both solitary work in the northern forests and diplomacy with trade companies. He was also a very fast learner. He learned Cree, Anishinabemowin and Chinook in order to converse more easily with the Indigenous people he met along the way, who were his guides and helped him to survive.
But he was always hungry for more adventures. He wanted to go further, explore more lands. He had an insatiable hunger for pushing his limits. In 1843, he had reached the West Coast, and founded Fort Victoria. But this was not enough: five years later, in 1848 he founded the fort of Yale.
What changed his life forever happened the following year, in 1849. He had made friends with a Coast Salish man, who had been his guide for his travels along the Coast. He knew him only by the Christian name a Prussian missionary had given him: Rupert. For some reason, Rupert had never wanted to tell him his real name. Together, they travelled to the very North of what would become a few years later Vancouver Island. They had arrived there by canoe, which was one of these massive, twenty metres long cedar canoe, painted in red and black.
All of a sudden, appearing at the edge of the horizon, Amagiri saw the village his friend had told him about. Totem poles marking the entrances of the cedar houses, all arranged from left to right along the coast, facing the sea, seemed to be piercing the sky. But they were different from the totem poles he had seen elsewhere along the coast: their embossed designs were bigger, larger, and incredibly complex. The giant beaks of the carved ravens could open to become a ceremonial entrance for ceremonies, Rupert explained. The Salish man added that the figures carved represented the crests of each family. The front of the large houses were painted as well. All around the village were growing cedar trees taller than any trees Amagiri had seen before. The oni was stunned by so much beauty.
They were greeted by a man who came to them in an imposing red and black canoe steered by several men. The man was carrying a carved stick with the crests of his clan, wand was wearing expensive furs, abalone shell jewelry and a conic hat made of cedar. Rupert explained to Amagiri what he had to do in order to follow the protocol.
They were then led to one of the houses. Rupert explained that the houses belonging to the higher ranked na'mima, or extended family units, were located at the centre of the village, while the lowest ranked people were living on the margins of the village. Amagiri guessed he must have been invited to the house of someone of high rank. The inside was full with artwork, expensive blankets and coppers. Amagiri thought that by many extent, the Kwakwaka'wakw men living there could easily have competed with any European nobility in terms of prestige, influence and artistic accomplishments.
The oni told his Salish guide to express to his guests his feelings of gratitude for being welcomed. Rupert also translated in Kwakwa'la Amagiri's intentions to found a trading post there. The Kwakwaka'wakw men and women seemed to be used to trading with traders from far away. Amagiri was surprised to notice in the room some objects that seemed to be coming directly from China and Japan, such as porcelains, and objects coming from South America. He thought to himself he would have to ask them about that later.
On that day, Amagiri felt something new: he wanted to stay there.
After finishing his daily tasks at the trade post, he started sitting next to Elders a bit every day. He pointed to objects, trying to learn some words in Kwakwa'la. He tried making himself useful, trying to find something to do. One elder sent him to learn how to build cedar baskets with the women. Amagiri felt as if he was treated as an adult who had forgotten what it meant to be a grown-up, but he tried his best to learn. Eventually he learned enough to understand that the Elders were jokingly referring to him as the "White little child". It did not take Amagiri long before realizing humor was such a central component of this culture, as a learning and healing tool.
He soon understood that he had to find something to do in order to earn the right to stay there. He was big and strong, so he decided he wanted to learn how to build canoes.
Once he finally managed to build a bent box, he tried approaching the carver artist again. This time, he accepted, but told him it would be a long process before he would be able to help him to carve a canoe.
A year passed, then another. Amagiri had named the place "Fort Rupert", in honour of his Salish guide, who had since then returned to his homeland further south. There were however some tensions. Missionaries were coming, denouncing certain ceremonies and dances, like the Hamatsa ritual, or the Potlatch. The inhabitants protested, but the missionaries influence was growing each year.
Amagiri on the other hand, was appreciating more and more the artistic genius of the people living there. But this was not the only reason of him staying there. He had fallen in love.
She was strong. Grounded. Independent. Proud. Devoted to all her relatives. She was not of very high rank within her group, but she had qualities Amagiri had never seen in another soul before. Her name was Axuw.
When he was trying to learn something new and fail, she would gently laugh at him and show him again. She was very patient with him. She showed him the forests and beaches surrounding her village. Sometimes she would get angry at him, mostly for being disrespectful of her customs or, more often, for lacking humility. For instance, she had been upset when he had chosen a new name for the place, disregarding the Kwakwa'la name of the village. She was not afraid of voicing her opinions, and this is something he admired.
Yet his newly found happiness was not meant to last. In 1862, a smallpox outbreak killed half of the native population of the west coast. Among the victims of the disease was Axuw.
Broken hearted, powerless to do anything and crushed by the guilt to have brought European men and so indirectly, the disease to Axuw's village, Amagiri decided to leave. Some of the crests of his clan were coming from Japan. Not knowing where else to go, he decided to go there to try to forget what happened in Fort Rupert.
In Japan, he met other Onis, among whom Shiranui, who introduced him to Kazama. He saw in the blond-haired Oni the flaws he had seen in himself, and in other European traders: excess of pride, lack of humility, desire to always get more than he had, lack of respect for others. In an attempt to atone and expiate what he saw as his sins, Amagiri decided to try to bring Kazama back on the right track.
Disclaimer:
Amagiri, Saitou and Sannan do not belong to me, but to Idea Factory.
I used the name Axuw for Amagiri's wife. Axuw, also called Agnes Alfred, really existed, but any resemblance between the character of this story and the real Axuw (other than the name) is purely coincidental as I am not talking about Agnes Alfred in this story, but about a fictional woman. I only wished to use a name who could have been used in a Kwakwaka'wakw village. You can learn more about Agnes Alfred in Paddling to Where I stand, by Martine J. Reid.
Fort Rupert was actually named after Prince Rupert, the first governor of the colony, not after Rupert, Amagiri's Coast Salish guide.
I tried to remain as historically accurate as possible. Please correct me if you notice any mistake/anachronism.
I hope you enjoyed this story.