Author's note: Sorry for the late upload...I just found out that my grandmother had cancer. So...yeah.
I'm still going to do my best to update on time. I get the feeling I'll need the distraction.
Sorry, enough about me. On to the story!
Chapter 9: Beginnings
That night contained a lot of firsts for Hina.
It was the first time she had ever tasted cooked meat…indeed, cooked food of any kind. The ice maidens did occasionally eat meat, but they served it frozen, never heated. There was no fire in her land, so they never cooked their food.
She'd carefully balanced the plant on her lap with her good hand…and then realized that she had no idea how to eat it. She'd had to ask the person next to her—a woman whose name she'd missed—what to do with it.
It was strange.
Strange, but…not bad. The flavor was completely different from anything she had ever tasted, and the entire concept of eating foods warm was alien to her, but still…it wasn't bad.
Remembering to be a polite guest, Hina offered her last chimi, as well as the few other items she still had, as her contribution to the feast.
Most of the camp members tried a little, with varying reactions. Kirin said it was "interesting", but perhaps not his favorite. Koyu, though…when he bit into the pungent sweetnessof the chimi, his eyes went wide.
"This…this is amazing!" he cried. Hina agreed, but told him, with a twinge of regret, how they only grew in the iciest corners of the Makai.
It was also the first time she had ever met more than one person at once (barring, presumably, her infancy).
She was introduced to everyone in the camp that night, though it didn't take long for her to completely lose track in a blur of names and faces. She met Shizuku, the one Koyu said had bound up her ribs, who turned out to be a friendly, spirited kitsune with an affinity for water. She kept her red-brown hair tied back, which made it look like a second tail, and she couldn't seem to stop prowling, moving back and forth and making sharp gestures and twitching her ears as she spoke. Despite the woman's friendliness, Hina felt like taking a step back the entire time she was talking.
Then there was the huge winged demon who had been helping Kirin with the cooking. His name was Juhi, and he turned out to be the quietest one of the bunch…which Hina found refreshing, whatever her reservations had been at first. He had simply said his name by way of introduction, shaken her small hand carefully in his huge, clawed one, and turned back to serving the food.
And she met Ryoko, who Kirin introduced as his younger sister. She could see the resemblance at once—Ryoko had the same reddish-black hair, though hers was almost waist length, and she had similar features, though hers wore a look of untempered fierceness. With a fleeting sense of unease, Hina wondered what Kirin would look like without his carefully cultivated civility.
But even with all her fierceness, Hina didn't get the sense that it was directed at her, and Ryoko's greeting was friendly enough. Indeed, once Hina looked closer, she realized that there was a lot more going on in her eyes than she'd given her credit for.
There were other names, too, names she couldn't yet connect with a face: Imahara and Yochi and Hyoujin and Aijou and Sachi—though that last one meant "happiness", and she had a vague impression that its owner hadn't looked particularly happy. She could also remember plenty of faces and forms, surely some of which went with the names she'd caught, but she had no idea which name went with the older woman with graying purple hair and the lines of wisdom in her face, or the grim-looking man whose lowered antennae she had at first mistaken for bangs of his long black hair, or the cheerful girl with the braid almost as dark a green as the evergreens of her homeland.
Between all of the introductions and the feast and the general atmosphere of triumph, the dinner was already shaping up to be a celebration, but when Hina had agreed to stay, it had turned into a full-blown party.
It was the first time anyone had ever thrown a party for her. Birthdays were acknowledged among the Koorime, but not an excuse for a party (and parties among such reserved women were much more sedate than what was shaping up here). For the most part, the only time a party was thrown with a guest of honor was when someone had her first child.
So the beginnings of music amid congratulations took her completely off guard. Why were they reacting like this? Why weren't they suspicious of her motives? Or were they? Did they just want to keep her off guard? But…why? If they meant her harm, she was still weak and would be completely at their mercy. But that left the possibility that they really just did welcome her, which went against everything she'd ever heard about the outside. But then…hadn't she already decided to disregard Koorime customs and assumptions? Could she even shake off those assumptions, even if she wanted to?
While she was wondering all this, though, the music had gotten into full swing, and she realized something else was going on.
It was the first time she had ever seen people move like they were now.
"What are they doing?"
Kirin was sitting by her for the moment, after having been up and around performing various tasks and introducing her to people.
The people were moving, that much she could tell…but why? There seemed no point to their activity. First they circled one way around the fire, then, on some signal that she couldn't fathom, they turned and went the other way. Some jumped or kicked, others spun and gestured wildly. One man spun so fast that his incredibly long ponytail had nearly sliced through the flames, much to the amusement of his compatriots. The green-haired girl Hina had noticed earlier took up doing cartwheels around the circle, at least until she tumbled into one of people in it. A few members had taken partners and were moving in a similar fashion just outside the circle, though they had to keep moving to avoid being run into. Apparently everyone involved found the whole process enormously entertaining.
But for the life of her, Hina couldn't figure out what they were doing.
Kirin gave her a look of mild surprise at her question.
"They're dancing."
Hina's brow furrowed. The word rang a bell in some distant part of her memory…
"Movement for the sake of movement?" she asked.
Kirin nodded. "That would be a passable definition."
"But…why? Why do they waste their energy on such a pointless activity?"
Kirin laughed. It was an unexpected sound…was it really so odd a question?
"Is it really pointless?" answered Kirin with a question.
"Isn't it?" countered Hina.
"That depends. What is a 'point'?"
Hina remained silent, waiting for him to continue.
Kirin sighed. "There are purposes to it. The unity of movement builds camaraderie. The movement of body builds strength. The ritual of celebration may well help them accept you as one of us."
He turned more toward her.
"Yet I cannot say that any of these captures the 'point' of dancing. I don't know if I could ever explain it to someone who doesn't already know."
Hina tilted her head.
"But why would you need to explain it to someone who already knew?"
Kirin chuckled.
"Sometimes people know things without knowing that they know them."
Hina almost retorted that that was ludicrous, but sudden memory stopped her.
Herself, finally coming to the conclusion that she would never have children. Herself, suddenly realizing that not all ice-wielders were female. Herself, abruptly comprehending how foolish she was for showing a hiruseki pendant in public.
She had known all these things before she realized them.
If she, herself, had done what he said, how could she call it ludicrous…even though it was?
Instead, she stared past the dancers, into the fire, letting its hypnotic flames pull her thoughts in various directions. The strange fractal not-patterns reminded her for a moment of the ice-plants of her home.
Her home…
All of a sudden, she was overcome with a wave of longing. She thought of Rui, and, for the first time, she wondered if her friend missed her. Rui should have been relieved not to have to pretend to enjoy her company any more…but…
Why? Why had Rui pretended to want to spend time with her? No one else had. They had always been friends, true, but who could possibly want to spend time with…an outcast like her? And yet, it made less sense for her to pretend…would she have faced ridicule for remaining friends with her? For the first time, Hina was able to pull back from for own troubles enough to wonder.
But there was no use wondering about something she would never know the answer to.
Hina pulled herself out of the trance and realized that she was feeling much better. The hours of sleep and the large meal had restored her energy quite a bit, enough that she felt ready to tackle healing her injuries. She brought the familiar blue glow to her good hand, but then stopped and let it fade away.
"Where is Koyu?" she asked Kirin.
He raised his eyebrows. "Over there," he said, pointing. "Why?"
"I promised to teach him what I could about controlling his healing ability."
Kirin nodded slowly, not saying anything, and gestured to Koyu, who came over and joined them.
"He's all yours," said Kirin, rising. "As I'm sure you don't need me, I believe I'll join the dancers now."
With that, he slipped forward into the circle of dancers, joining the throng of shifting bodies as if he'd always belonged there.
"What was that about?" asked Koyu.
"You wanted me to teach you about healing…"
"Oh! Yes!"
His face was once again transformed into that uncomfortable fountain of eagerness and gratitude, so Hina just looked away and started talking.
"I can show you how I do it, and perhaps even explain what I'm doing. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I can do."
Koyu nodded vigorously.
Deciding that the lack of her right arm bothered her more than the stinging in her side every time she moved, Hina formed the gentle blue glow and directed it at her shoulder. She closed her eyes and concentrated.
"Can you feel it?" she asked Koyu.
When she focused her energy on her shoulder, she could see the bone and muscle in false-color in her mind's eye.
"…feel what?"
Hina paused and looked at him. "Focus on my energy." When Koyu leaned closer and squinted, she shook her head.
"No. Don't look at it. You need to…feel at it." Even the Koorime didn't have a proper word for it, she noted, and briefly wondered why.
Koyu looked puzzled, but closed his eyes. After a moment, they shot open in surprise.
"It's…there! Your energy! Even without seeing it, I can…see it!"
It was Hina's turn to be surprised.
"You mean that you didn't know how to do even that?"
"But…isn't that…what you were trying to tell me how to do?"
Hina shook her head.
"I was…" she paused a moment to consider her words, "I wanted you to use that, but to look…closer." She touched her left hand to her right shoulder. "Try to 'see' what's happening inside."
Koyu's eyes widened. "I can do that?"
"You should be able to."
Koyu was concentrating hard, but after a moment, his expression melted into one of awe.
"Whoa…"
That was all he could manage at first, but then the torrent of words broke free.
"It's…I can see all of it! Flesh and bone and…I don't even know what some of that is!"
All of…that? What was there that he didn't recognize? Sinew? Ligament? Did he really lack even the most basic knowledge of anatomy?
"This is so cool! I can even see your blood going through your veins! Only I can't really see it and…it seems almost blue!" He paused. "Your blood…isn't really blue, is it?" He sounded like he couldn't be sure if he was asking for confirmation or simply asking.
"No. It's red. That's the false-color effect…you'll get used to it. Although," she frowned, "I think you might be picking up on my youki, instead. It runs through channels that are closely connected the bloodstream."
Koyu nodded slowly, but didn't respond. Instead, he focused once again on her arm.
Now that he was finally doing as she wanted, Hina brought her healing power out for the third time and finally brought it to her injured shoulder. She let its soothing touch simply linger there for a moment while she focused on where to direct it.
She closed her eyes to better take in the false-color impressions. The sound blast had caused microfractures in the upper part of her humerus, so she passed her energy over them, sealing them back up. The rest of the damage was subtler, and therefore trickier to handle, but not completely beyond her. She wrapped her hand around her shoulder seeking out the pressure points she's been taught and flooding her arm with energy.
After a few minutes of this, she tapered off the flow and opened her eyes, only to find Koyu staring back at her.
"I got what you did with the bones," he said, "but the other part—I've never seen anything like it before in my life!"
That was to be expected, given the level of knowledge he'd displayed. Still, Hina had to wonder how he could be so ignorant of things that should be so basic for an ice demon. Or were they only considered basic among the ice maidens? Perhaps healing was considered irrelevant to more combat-focused outside demons? But it should be even more useful to them…and he hadn't even known how to sense energy.
Hina flexed her shoulder. Better. It wasn't completely healed, but she'd come to the limits of what she could do, and she could easily let time do the rest.
"My ribs should be easier…you said you could do bones, yes?"
Koyu colored. "I…uh…I said I saw what you did…but I'm not sure if I could do it too."
Hina nodded. "I think I can help you. Put your hand here," she said, indicating her side, just under her left breast.
Koyu went even redder.
"B-but…" he trailed off.
Hina furrowed her brow. Did he not want to touch her? Granted, she had had a similar reaction at first, but there was no way he had been raised in an all male environment, so why would he react like that?
Still, after a moment, he nodded sharply. "I said I wanted you to teach me," he said, but it seemed directed more at himself than at her.
"Here," said Hina, indicating the spot again. He flushed even deeper, but complied.
She showed him again how she had healed the bone on the first broken rib, and then had him join his power to hers on the second one. On the last one, she removed her hand and let him try it on his own.
He was so nervous that he accidentally jiggled the edges further apart, causing Hina to grimace.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I said I'd just make it worse! I knew I shouldn't—"
Hina took her hand and put it back on his before he could draw away.
"It's fine," she said, through only slightly gritted teeth. "Try again."
On the second try, he healed it without causing any more damage, and Hina nodded her approval.
"I told you ice demons could do it," she said.
Honestly, he probably could have figured it out without her—though whether he would have had the courage to try was anyone's guess.
Still, these people had saved her life, and she thrown her lot in with them. The very least she could do was make herself useful, and show them that, even though she hadn't met them on the best of terms, she wasn't useless.
She would prove herself worthwhile, no matter what the ice maidens thought.
