Late afternoon found Rin picking his way through narrow, twisting streets no human had set foot on in decades, following Haru's form a few feet ahead. Though the fae had done all they could to ensure their enclaves did not warp reality irreparably, there were always these lost places in any city; little hollows between worlds that both had left unclaimed and untended. Rin had never seen one for himself of course; these slivers of Elsewhere tended to hide things that wanted to be forgotten, and they did not care to be disturbed.
Haru seemed perfectly at ease, nostalgic even, the ghost of a smile hovering about his lips when his gaze fell on a straggling weed pushing its way through the broken cement path or smears of dull paint upon the walls that might once have been murals. Rin could still see him watching, relaxed but never off guard.
"How much farther?" He was struggling not to see the shadows that occasionally darted and flickered at the edge of his vision. If he looked too long he suspected they might lead him down a more sinister path.
Haru's tone drifted back to him, patient and soothing. "I don't know. Stay close."
He hissed when Rin took him at his word, treading on his heels clumsily. "Not that close."
"Something's off here." That was putting it mildly. Rin's skin wanted to crawl off his bones and away from this place. If it was a place. It felt almost like a thing, breathing and moving and stalking him-
Haru snorted, "I couldn't just leave it lying around for anyone to find, Rin." He glanced back over his shoulder, raking his friend with an assessing look. "I told you we should've waited until tomorrow. We can still turn back?"
"I'm fine." Rin snapped, bristling at the implication that he was anything less than hale, hearty, and strong. His pride had taken enough of a beating to last a lifetime without staying in the hospital for another night. There was no need anyway, his skin fairly glowed with new fire. He feared some of the faces he saw in the shadows might be drawn to it and if Haru's tone was anything to go by, he suspected the same.
"How the hell do you even lose your pelt anyway?"
"It's not lost." Haru wasn't snapping, but Rin thought he could see a hint of temper in the set of his shoulders. "It's forgotten."
"Ah, okay. Now I understand."
Haru smirked, "Good."
Wonderful. He was traveling with the Sphinx of Thebes.
"How do you forget something this important?" Rin pressed, shivering when he felt the wind plucking at his shirt. It was the wind. Definitely just the wind.
"Very, very carefully." How Haru could laugh at a time like this Rin did not want to know, but he heard its echo in every word. "We're almost there. Only a little longer, I think."
Rin barely stifled a heartfelt groan. He was no coward, but this place didn't recognize him and it certainly didn't want him poking around too much. The feeling was mutual.
"Here we are."
Rin wasn't sure what he had expected. Legions of grim spirits, a river of fire, perhaps even a fallen god or two had topped the list. At first glance the scene before him was unassuming, frightening only in the sense that it was unexpected.
Walled in on all sides by the brick buildings around them with leaves and refuse swirling in the air with only the failing light to illuminate it stood a torii. Cracks spiraled along its wooden pillars, but the lacquer and paint were still a vivid black and red, the gate obviously kept up by some mindful custodian even as the world around it fell apart. That didn't set him at ease in the slightest.
"No." Rin said firmly, but his feet remained stubbornly planted. He wasn't leaving without Haru.
"In and out, Rin. It won't take long."
He couldn't know that. Not in a place like this where all the fae's precious rules applied only when they cared to. The Elsewhere already warped reality, placing this ticking time bomb in it-
"Have you done this before?"
Haru slanted him a disbelieving glance. "At least once."
Of course. If a Selkie was going to abandon his pelt where better than a place even the Eldest would think twice before entering? No Human could blunder their way here, and no fae would be stupid enough to pursue anything save the most coveted of treasures beyond such a clearly marked boundary.
"All right. Let's go." The words came easily enough, though his throat suddenly felt dry and parched. His feet once again refused to move and Rin refused to glance down at them, half afraid he might find something staring back up at him.
Haru linked an arm with his to pull him along until at last he moved of his own free will. One foot carefully in front of the other, hand clenched white on Haru's arm.
"Don't let go. Not even when we're on the other side." Haru cautioned needlessly. It would have taken a crowbar to separate them; Rin's grip was unbreakable.
He forced himself to keep his eyes open, willed his flames to stay banked though he thought perhaps the warmth might have comforted him. No need to make them a beacon for any passing predators.
There was no gut-wrenching sense of being displaced, but Rin could not have mistaken this place for anything but an Elsewhere even were he blind and deaf: it was night beyond the gate, he thought. Tongues of fire danced gaily ahead of them but barely penetrated the all-consuming darkness with their frail light. He looked away instinctively, leery of anything offered freely. He thought he might have heard the thin sound of a child laughing or maybe a cat's wail when he forced himself to turn away but from the corner of his eye he could see the lights still dancing there, waiting to lure the unwary traveler.
Before them stretched row upon row of wooden buildings: grand, multi-storied affairs with their shops' curtains in shades of cerulean and royal blue, smaller shacks that hardly seemed like they would fit more than two grown men sandwiched between them. Music drifted to his ears, loud and hectic as though it could banish the pall that nevertheless hung over the scene. The scents… mouthwatering aromas of savory dishes, but a tang of sweetness beneath that reminded him of death and sickness.
As though reading his thoughts Haru spoke again, voice finally betraying an inkling of the trepidation Rin felt: "Don't look at anything too long, don't listen long enough to hear the songs' melodies, don't touch any food or drink that's offered to you, and don't offer our names to anything."
Anything? Rin only hummed his agreement, fighting the urge to look at the flames again. They danced next to him at eye-level, teasing, welcoming. They sensed his magic, he knew that much, but what they wanted with him Rin didn't intend to find out.
Haru began walking, long strides that ate up the ground, not glancing at any one building but taking them all in with a sweeping glance. He seemed to settle on one in the distance- one of the grander buildings; no curtains hung in its entrance and Rin's straining ears heard no music, joyful or otherwise. He caught himself nearly humming along with another tune and quickly changed it, wincing at Haru's vicious pinch.
He matched his strides to Haru's, eager to be out of this place. Finally he had clued in to what that nagging sense of something not quite right had been trying to tell him since they first stepped through the gate: there were no stars, no moon, and no way he could pretend it was only the clouds blocking their light. All that hung above them and before them was an infinite blackness.
"Ha-" A vicious elbow in his gut cut him off, Haru's glare taking on a very fiery quality for a creature of water. Rin growled at him, annoyed that Haru thought him so careless, doubly annoyed because he wasn't sure if perhaps Haru's name had been about to trip off his tongue either. "Have you noticed there's no moon?"
"Yes." Haru said shortly, breathing a sigh of relief. "Not here anyway."
Odd. Most of the fae tied to water nearly worshiped the moon. Their festivals gave thanks for the tide, for the glint of moonlight on the water to light their way… once they were safe he resolved to ask Haru about that telling remark.
They stepped into the establishment Haru had settled on, swallowed up by a chill unlike anything Rin had felt before. His magic quailed from it, unresponsive when he tried to call fire to warm his suddenly frigid fingertips. His teeth began to chatter uncontrollably, nails digging into his palms with the effort of holding back a fit of trembling.
He glanced to Haru, working his jaw to see if he could ask whether it was meant to be like this, how long it would last-
If anything Haru looked hot. Sweat was gathering on his brow, exposed skin tinging pink as though he had been too long in the sun. He was swallowing convulsively, wetting a parched throat as he resisted the urge to tug fitfully at his smothering clothes. Just as quickly as the chill had set in it left him. Haru was panting softly, forehead creased with lines of strain. He didn't call his water, and Rin took his lead though he wanted nothing so much as to call his flame and burn this whole damned place to the ground.
"Ah, friend! Forgive me, forgive me." A beaming older man stepped forward to greet them, never touching, always keeping a careful distance between them. Once the spots had cleared from his eyes Rin glanced around in open-mouthed astonishment; in contrast to the eerie scene on the streets outside, this little place looked downright welcoming.
Fire, true fire, burned in a pit placed in the center of the establishment. If the creatures seated around them were definitely not any semblance of human, they at least were absorbed in their food and drink, some few whispering together with no regard for the strangers in their midst. There was no cloying scent of death here, no haunting music or will-o-wisps to lead them astray. No darkness either, the shadows banished to the furthest corners of the common room.
The floor beneath his feet was wood worn thin by generations of feet, scuffed and warped in places but well-kept and waxed to a dull sheen. The smoke from the fire hadn't dimmed it any, escaping through a hatch in the roof. Still, the scent of that warm blaze was enough to set him at ease; a reassurance that there was light and life here, even if it was hidden away. Rin began to breathe normally at last, giving silent thanks for a brief respite. It hadn't been as bad as he had expected; all that was left was to collect Haru's pelt from the smiling gentleman and they could be gone.
Haru was asking for a quiet table, something in the corner, one of the few tables with candles, and water for himself.
"What are you doing?" Rin murmured, "Grab it and let's get out."
"I need a drink first." Haru said firmly, leveling him a meaningful look. What exactly it meant Rin couldn't puzzle out, but he had seen that look often enough to know it was deathly important Haru get his drink.
"I can offer you something stronger." The old man chimed jovially, allowing them to make their way to the table Haru had set his eyes on. "Is there anything I can bring for your friend?"
"Nothing for him. Water for me." Haru repeated.
"Do you have-" If glares could kill a man the one Haru leveled at him likely would have stabbed him in the heart several times over and left him to bleed out all over the thin cushion he settled on.
The keeper was still smiling pleasantly, hovering at his elbow. Rin eyed Haru once more, silently demanding an explanation he wouldn't have until far later and waved the old man away. "Never mind. I'm fine."
Finally the old man drifted away as Haru sank onto a cushion, allowing himself to spread out over the table bonelessly. He didn't look up as he muttered "Same rule here. Don't take anything they offer. Not food or drink. Nothing."
"Right. Nothing." Rin echoed dryly, "Except apparently the water. Which I suppose I'm also not allowed to have?"
"Yes." Haru confirmed on a deep sigh. "The water is for me."
"Drinks!" A familiar voice boomed above them, curiously loud for such a frail old creature. He lowered the tray, setting a crystal glass before Haru filled to the brim with pure, unassuming water. With a twinkle in his eye the old man offered a second cup, clay and unadorned. Sake.
Rin waited until the man's back was turned before deliberately pushing it away. Here of all places he didn't want to cause offense, the memory of that winter's breath biting into his bones until they ached even now held him in check. Yet tired as he was he suspected if he didn't push it away he might steal a thoughtless sip. Haru's pallor suggested that was the last thing he wanted to do. He couldn't help wetting his lips when Haru downed that first sip of water, sighing as though a great weight had just been lifted off his shoulders.
"This place seems nice." Rin offered, trying to break the silence, wary of a trap he sensed he couldn't see.
Haru smiled but it was a sickly imitation of his usual expression, a dead man's grin. He took another sip, careful that not a drop escaped his mouth, and reached out to snuff the candle between them.
Rin nearly leapt across the table in his surprise. The comforting inn-like atmosphere was gone: the table beneath his hands was rotting, eaten away by time. He dared a glance at their fellow patrons and blanched: most of them had simply vanished, but those few that were left stared vacantly off into space, unseeing and unmoving. He watched their chests for any tell-tale sign of breathing and found no sign of life.
Yet everything the light of the small fire touched remained unchanged, alive, or life-like at least.
The master or keeper- whatever the hell he was- drifted to them, slanting Haru a disapproving look. He, at least, remained unchanging, all except for his clothes. Gone were the simple, muted colors of a moment past. Now Rin could see a robe spun of vibrant copper and scarlet shades, symbols of rank woven into the cuff of his sleeves so intricate as to leave no doubt he had centuries on both their lifetimes put together and then some. The keeper raised his hand, to do what Rin didn't know and wasn't about to find out. Hurriedly he called his fire and lit the wick. He didn't hear Haru's gasp of shock, didn't see the old one's eyes open wide in disbelief before he lowered his hand once more and moved placidly away.
"What the hell was that?" Rin whispered, eyeing their fellow patrons once more, relieved to see they all looked somewhat normal once more.
Haru shook his head as though banishing an intrusive thought, but he didn't take his eyes off the flickering candle as he replied. "You know better than to trust your eyes here. This is a sanctuary of sorts, but it's not untouched by this place."
Rin nodded, wanting nothing so much as to make his way to that pit of fire and warm himself once more. He had the feeling he never could after this. Not entirely.
Haru finished off the last of the water, grimacing slightly. "I know where we're going."
Nervous, tired, and half-convinced he was losing his mind Rin snapped "You didn't know where we were going? Did you honestly bring me here for a drink and a sick joke?"
"What? No." Haru shook his head, pushing the crystal glass toward him, not a drop of drink left. "I needed to remember. Now I do. And we need to leave."
Rin glanced at the glass, back to Haru and again to the master tilting his head to listen to a customer's request in the far corner.
"Sounds good. Where to?"
"Just a little farther."
Which told him less than nothing but Haru was already moving for the exit, leaving on the table behind them no more than two tarnished coins.
The memories still didn't fit quite right in Haru's mind, too long abandoned and eager to be forgotten once more. With every step they became more clear though, woven through with snippets of the same repetitive music that assaulted his ears even now. He glanced worriedly at Rin, trying not to let his concern show too plainly on his face. Rin was unnaturally drawn to this place. Haru mentally kicked himself for not expecting it; he had brought a fire elemental with him to a place where only the essence of things could remain untouched. Fire in its purest and more primal form flickered in every lantern, in every half-safe shelter.
And Rin had lit the candle again. Haru's skin prickled with unease. This place devoured shades, and what magic the elemental guilds wielded was a frail imitation of its true form. Except Rin's apparently. Haru wondered if that too had been a gift from Makoto or if his friend had always had such depths. Whatever it was Rin himself seemed unaware of it, but it was little wonder the creatures here all marked his passing with watchful eyes.
They marched out of the makeshift 'town' and into the wilderness, neither one muttering a word of complaint as they found themselves picking their steady way through a marsh. They were safer here than among the gathering, certainly but not by much. Haru picked up his pace, relieved that they hadn't encountered any real trouble.
Somehow it seemed tamer than the last time he had ventured here or perhaps that was because Haru himself had lost some of his wildness.
"Those little flames are following us." Rin whispered, fire gathering at his call once more.
"Corpse candles. Don't chase them and we'll be all right."
"I guessed that." Rin muttered dryly. "But when will they take the hint and leave?"
"They're harmless. Leave them alone." He shot a quelling glance at Rin, who tried valiantly to pretend he hadn't been considering fighting fire with fire. At last the frail light of his markings died, though he still looked vaguely rebellious.
Silently giving thanks that their destination was so near, Haru tugged him close. "See the outcropping ahead? We're close."
Rin hummed noncommittally, still watching the damnable corpse candles from the corner of his eye, scanning the blackness around them for any threats. Haru would never admit it, but his skin was prickling too. To have come this far without even a hitch was unusual. There was a reason so few of the fae ventured this far; it was the very same reason Haru had stashed his pelt with one of the guardians: only the very desperate, the very ill or the dying ever came here.
For the rest of their steady march he didn't speak a word, and if Rin found the silence unsettling at least he had the good sense not to break it.
Haru's memory of the rocky outcropping was crystal clear: the prickling, stinging sensation of glass shards digging into his bare feet, the whispers of faces he could never see no matter how he strained his eyes though the voices seemed to come from just over his shoulder, the wind that blew soothingly through his hair, ruffling it with a mother's tenderness until suddenly it tried to pluck him from the gray rock face and dash his body to pieces on the jagged rocks below.
Tonight the wind was still, and the only voice he heard was Rin's muted grumbling as he reluctantly took his shoes and socks off. He tried not to think of what this might mean for the safety of his pelt. Surely he would know if someone had stolen it away?
When at last he set his bare foot on the stone, Haru was surprised to find there was no jagged spike of pain. Nothing but smooth, unblemished rock slightly cool to the touch. His eyes widened until they were as big as saucers in his pale face while Rin looked on with mounting unease.
"We need to hurry." It came out on a choked breath, a second away from pure panic. Thankfully Rin didn't question him- they darted nimbly up the rock face, scrabbling for purchase in shale and dirt until at last they came to darker volcanic rock. He could breath again, the feel of the moon's pull as soothing as sunlight on his skin. It was still here. Exactly where he had left it. Haru heaved a sigh of relief, forgetting his gnawing nervousness and discomfort in the space of a second. His pelt was here, and its guardian with it.
"Are you all right?" Rin barely bit back his name, Haru could hear it in the peculiar hesitation just before he spoke. Here more than anywhere else it was vital they keep those to themselves. He nodded reassuringly, leaning into the rock to bask in its coolness for a moment.
"It's here. We've found it."
"Good, then let's get the hell out. What d'you need my help with?"
Haru chuckled, eyelids fluttering shut with the fatigue of being overwrought for far too long. Before he turned his pelt over to Makoto's keeping, he would wear it once more, though after so long he suspected it would feel alien and foreign to him.
"Hey-"
"I need you to witness a binding."
"A what?"
Already climbing again, Haru couldn't spare the breath to answer.
!
!
Haru couldn't have said for a certainty how long they climbed. Without light or even the facsimile of it he had no way of knowing whether minutes or hours had passed. By the time they reached the small alcove, panting and sweating, he was wondering what the hell had ever possessed him to hide his pelt here.
Then they stepped within and he remembered.
The space around them warped, much like the gate that had led them here, but this was a wrenching he could feel down to the marrow of his bones. The torii was meant to exist. This hiding place was not.
Rin followed cautiously behind him, biting back a gasp of surprise at the scene that greeted them: stars. Millions upon millions, more than he had ever seen in the night sky even before the advent of street lamps and sprawling electric cityscapes. And presiding over them, a full moon whose brilliance hid the stars around it.
The moonlight washed over the trees that surrounded them; a veritable forest with every kind of plant, some small and warped while others had grown tall and strong. Even flowers dotted throughout, the smell of night-blooming jasmine tickling his nose with its sweet scent. Were it not for the black volcanic sand crunching beneath their feet and the heavy silence that blanketed the picture, he could have believed himself in any of a dozen other forests. It had always been the silence that wore on him though; no birdsong, no chirp of crickets or the scuttling sound of life in the undergrowth. In the clearing ahead of them he could see a lake, water lapping against the shore as though moved by the tides. The only life in this place resided in the water.
Haru's breath left him on a shuddering sigh, his bare feet dipping into the cool kae with a muted splash. He could feel his pelt here, and with that knowledge came a sense of peace such as he had not felt since he downed the water of Lethe. He wouldn't take it though, not without offering his thanks to the guardian that kept it. Courtesy was more than a suggestion when dealing with a fallen god.
"What is this?" Rin whispered behind him, ill at ease and no wonder since he was quite literally out of his element. Haru flashed him a reassuring smile but no sooner had he opened his mouth to respond than the moon's reflection in the water began to ripple.
The man that pushed himself out of the water without disturbing its smooth surface was thoroughly unremarkable. If one discounted the unearthly glow of his skin or the striking aquamarine gaze that caught Rin in its focus and refused to release him. He forgot how to breathe, lost in a maelstrom of the vicious pull of riptide and rushing water-
The man blinked, turning his eyes to Haru for one precious second and at last Rin could gulp desperately needed oxygen.
"Has it been that long already, Nanase?"
All the warmth vanished from the creature's expression as its eyes raked Haru's form.
"I need it," Haru answered simply with an unapologetic shrug of his shoulders.
"You must have paid the toll." It wasn't unfriendly exactly, only Rin didn't know what to make of that tone. Haru wasn't answering it, though. "And you brought another for my keeping?"
Those eyes turned back to him again, mercifully not stealing his breath away this time. Rin shifted uncomfortably, not sure what to make of the dedicated scrutiny.
"No, he will leave with me." Haru answered at last. He shifted slightly, almost as though he was trying to draw the being's attention away from Rin.
The creature smiled, an expression stiff with disuse that sat oddly on his solemn face and stepped out of the water gracefully, not caring that the dirt smudged his bare feet. Haru walked forward boldly to greet him at the water's edge, passing him to dip into the water and wade out to the moon's reflection where he had first risen from.
"Hold up." Rin chimed in, nervously approaching the water. His fire wouldn't do him any good here. Not with the water's influence so strong. Why Haru had brought him this far he couldn't begin to guess.
"Stay there." Haru offered, remembering Rin's presence at last. It was easy to lose himself in the past here, memories of the past overlapping seamlessly with the present. "Stay with Sousuke."
The man at his side- Sousuke- seemed to bridle a little at the casual tone, but he didn't correct Haru. Rin barely bit back his questions. Who the hell was Sousuke? Why had Haru left his pelt here of all places? What was this… thing? Of course Haru didn't think to answer any of these unspoken questions, he was hardly a mind-reader. Instead he drew a breath, smiling wide and recklessly at his old friend before he threw himself into the reflection with perfect abandonment, leaving Rin alone with Sousuke.
It was the first name he had heard since he had first set foot here, and despite himself Rin began to feel slightly more comfortable.
Sousuke sighed, "This will take time. You should make yourself comfortable." He gestured around the space- artificially contrived ledges carved into the rock around them the better to rest on, the sable sand that seemed disconcerting given the darkness without, the pale moonlight all around them that by rights shouldn't exist. How could there be a moon here?
Mentally Rin resigned himself to a state of permanent confusion. His dismay must have been apparent from his face because Sousuke chuckled softly, leaving Rin to his own devices as he made his way to one of the smaller pools of water scattered throughout the unnatural forest. Rin followed thoughtlessly, intrigued and wary all at once. But Haru had named this man, had left his pelt somewhere in this sanctuary. That had to count for something.
"So how do you know Nanase?" No harm in saying that name if Sousuke had said it first, surely. Rin tried not to make his uncertainty too obvious, compensating for his wide-eyed nervousness with a charming smile that had won his way out of more than one corner.
"Haruka and I go a long way back."
Rin relaxed a little more, unbending enough to sink down next to Sousuke on a discrete bench fashioned to look like part of their natural surroundings. He chose not to dip his feet in the pool of water as Sousuke did, recalling Haru's warning that elements here were true to their nature and entirely undiluted. He had already been a tad too intimate with water little more than a day ago and had no desire to repeat the experience.
"More to the point, who are you? A friend I assume if Haruka brought you here willingly."
"Have you ever seen someone force him to do something he doesn't want to do?" Rin muttered. "He dragged me along before I knew what was happening."
"This is not the sort of place you should be without a firm intention."
There was enough of a bite in Sousuke's tone that Rin couldn't help snapping back defensively "My intention is to get out of here as soon as possible, preferably in one piece. It's very firm, trust me."
Sousuke smiled again, genuinely amused but ill accustomed to it. "Haruka wouldn't leave you, and I'm sure he wouldn't have brought you if he wasn't certain of his ability to take you out again."
"Then I have nothing to worry about, do I?" Rin huffed, leaning back against the rock. While the stone outside had been punishingly cold, he could feel the warmth of this place seeping through his shirt and into his skin. Tired as he was it was a battle to keep his eyes from falling shut, but his mind was buzzing with questions and for the first time he had found someone that seemed both qualified and willing to answer them.
"Where is 'here' exactly?" He tried carefully, tongue nearly tripping on the words. Admitting there was something he didn't know had always been a challenge, and this was no exception.
Sousuke's eyes widened slightly, obviously perturbed. Rin glanced up as a smattering of stars scattered, streaking across the sky above them.
"It's a place for lost things, I suppose. Things that didn't fit in the new world, that couldn't survive there or prefer not to. We're banished here."
"Banished is a strong word."
Sousuke shrugged, "Not strong enough." There was a tinge of bitter melancholy in his tone that Rin couldn't help responding to. He turned slightly, taking the time to really look at his strange companion.
The preternatural glow to his skin echoed the pale moonlight that lit the scene; his features were common though appealing in an earthy and very tactile way, a mouth perhaps a little too big, drooping eyelids giving the mistaken impression of fatigue. Rin's eyes scanned over what he could see of him, what wasn't hidden beneath the thin bathing robe he wore.
He hadn't noticed the freckles at first speckled down Sousuke's neck and arms, a few dotting the back of his hand. Rin wondered if he had seen sunlight at all in the past century or if they were naturally occurring, conveniently arranged to match the visible constellations above them.
A sneaking suspicion took hold then, one he did not dare voice aloud. It was too outlandish to be true anyway.
His inspection ended on Sousuke's face, startled to find those unsettling bright eyes watching him again, darker in shade now. He couldn't read the thoughts behind that impassive gaze at all. It was unusual for a fire elemental not to sense the emotion underpinning every glance, but Sousuke's eyes were as still as the pool before them and reflected nothing back at Rin save himself.
"Who are you?" The question fell between them as heavy as a gauntlet, but Sousuke lifted it gamely.
"I? I'm the man that doesn't even know his guest's name." Sou slanted him a pointed look, but in his preoccupation Rin hardly noticed it.
"I meant what are you?" Rin rephrased, gaze flicking unconsciously to the moon.
"Ah." Sousuke shifted slightly and Rin jumped nervously, "I am what you suspect."
"Not the sky." Rin snorted.
"Not the sky." Sousuke agreed affably, "Only one of its aspects."
What. The. Hell.
