They were driving through fields of crops and of grasses when Jack spoke over their comms. "Today is Midsummer Day. It would be good for us to join the festival, I think."

The women did not immediately answer. Then Ashi spoke. "We should pull over. I think we need to talk." And they did, drawing their bikes up in a loose grouping on the broad shoulder, and removing their helmets.

It was the Priestess who first spoke. "In the Temple, this is the Brief Night, a time of mourning, prayer and fasting, when we pray fervently and give offerings to strengthen Aku that he might make the nights long once more." Her daughters nodded. "Celebrating it seems… strange. It is the way of things here, and yes, I have turned from Aku, but many of your ways are as strange and disorienting to us as the Temple's ways would be to you." The girls nodded to that.

"We've had months in the greater world," Aki said. "Our first Solstice was wonderful, but… you remember what we told you about the Long Night ceremonies," and Jack confirmed that. "We have no idea how to celebrate Midsummer. Honestly, we're still having trouble with idea of celebrating holy days, there are no celebrations in the Temple."

The Priestess looked down and away. "We have our ceremonies, our high holy days of Night's Rise, Night's Ebb, Brief Night, and Long Night is the highest of our holy days. But we have no celebrations: our holy days are times of more than normally extensive prayers and services, of offerings both material and abstract. We must look to you for guidance in this."

Jack smiled. "It is not hard. Midsummer is a time of joy, a time to take pleasure in the good things of life. There will be games of chance, games of skill, at which I do not doubt you will excel, feasts and dances and music. Though I think we should head deep into the forest to make our camp tonight."

Ashi frowned slightly. "Why?"

"I do not wish spend coin for lodgings, and in this area, as the sun grows low on this day, the younger people pair off, and go into the woods to do the things which lead to babies. It would be very rude to be close enough to watch them." And the girls nodded in understanding. Their mother actually blushed a little.

"So, what should we wear?" Aki asked.

"Your normal clothing," he said. "And withdraw your darksuits."

They nodded to that, and donned their regular clothes before they withdrew their sheathes. Then Ashi manifested a glove, and drew from it a number of coins, passing them around to her mother and sisters before she put some into her front pockets, and withdrew her darkness again. "We'll need some spending money." Jack smiled, and they went to enjoy the festival.

The High Priestess split off first, feeling out of place and awkward among the others. She simply took the first path to the left, then the first to the left, and found herself overlooking an archery contest. She manifested a long glove, then drew out her bow and quiver before withdrawing the glove and going down to join. She paid her entry fee, and with no track record was placed first among the novices, mostly children. Three shots each, and the novices were ranked. Three shots and she was raised to the next rank.

Apprentices shot from a greater range, and among them, she was again raised, to journeyman. They fired at greater range, and again she was raised. Finally, she was ranked among the master archers, who shot at smaller targets. The shots began, the half-dozen whittled down to only two: herself and a fellow slightly shorter, with a thin moustache, a beard restricted to his chin, and hair level with his jaw.

Clad in brown and green, he was clearly a strong fellow, as a bowman had to be. After two draws, he looked to the officials. "The target's a deal too close! Can we have it removed to a fit distance for real archers?" And he smirked at her. "When I win, I'll claim the golden target. And a kiss from my lovely opponent."

"Such a bold claim!" she said with a mocking laugh. "I'll put you over my knee, boy."

He replied with a jaunty grin, then fired at the target. Dead in the gold. Ten points. Another gold, another ten. A blue, eight more. The woman would need three golds to win, and that, he was sure, would not happen. He was right: the round was a draw, and the official declared the arrows would be removed, returned, and they would proceed to sudden death: the first to land a shot outside the gold lost. The Priestess shot first, then the man, gold and gold each time. The gold was starting to get crowed. The man saw her hit the gold dead-centre, an impossible shot to best. Unless… He drew, aimed carefully, released, and watched the arrow fly straight and true, right for the black arrow's nock, and glance off. His shaft then spent its energy in ricochets and grazes before falling to the ground. The woman in the metallic clothing collected her arrows, then the prize, and walked away. He wasn't sure how to feel about that: on the one hand, he hadn't been spanked. On the other, he hadn't been spanked.

The High Priestess smiled in pride as she went to collect her prize from the young woman in the extremely short dress. That worthy presented her with the miniature golden copy of the target, then hesitated.

"Um… usually, I give the winner a kiss," she said, "but usually the winner's a guy. Do you want one?"

The Priestess considered briefly, then shook her head. "But thank you for the offer," and she went on her way. She needed to get something to eat; surely they'd have some normal food somewhere.

Avi was the second to split off, along with Aki and Ami. So many things to see, to try, to try to comprehend. What in the world was a photo booth? Booth was a word she knew, but photo? And the sellers of goods were equally baffling, to her and her sisters alike. Some were clear, like the cheap jewelry, but others, like the weird little spinners, seemed of no use whatsoever. They eventually came to an area with larger challenge setups, and found her eyes drawn to a tall shaft with a bell at the top. She watched, and quickly determined that this was a strength challenge. She smiled a bit, and after paying her fee, hefted the hammer. Granted, she knew her strength, greater even than Ashi's, came from being only part human, but there were plenty of non-humans trying the challenge. So she swung down with all her might, and the bell rang loud and clear. After collecting her prize, a strange, somewhat man-like plush animal with extremely long arms, almost as tall as herself and far larger, she turned to see what her sisters were up to.

Aki and Ami had waited for her, watching her performance, and smiled a bit at the sight. Then Ami walked over to a challenge that involved walking along a rope ladder stretched almost horizontal, then ringing a bell. She read the rules carefully, paid her fee, and quickly scuttled up the wobbly ladder, rang the bell, and dropped onto the mat below. The many-tentacled thing running the concession waited until she'd chosen her prize, a circular plush toy spaceship slightly wider than her shoulders, then reached out with several limbs to remove her from the play area, his actions slow enough (to her) that she didn't feel threatened, especially since she'd seen it pluck other players out after falling from the ladders.

"Most impressive," it said in a strange voice, somehow breathy and sepulchral at once. "Enjoy your prize," and it waved several tentacles at her.

"Thank you," she answered, and she and Avi went over to Aki, waiting for her turn at a shooting game.

Aki used her time to study the game. It seemed simple enough: point your gun at the targets, hit as many as possible. The more you hit, the faster the targets moved. Frankly, the players before here were awful. Had they never held a gun in their lives? Compared to even the least of the Temple sisters, they were hopeless! Finally, her turn came. The first target was practically stationary, and easily hit, and soon they ramped up their speed and numbers to the point she was actually being challenged. A little, anyway. Soon, a crowd gathered to watch the barely-dressed gun girl in white clear stage after stage, while the booth's proprietor, a creature somewhat resembling a four-legged, four-armed, four-eyed upright oil barrel, gloated. This girl was the best draw he'd ever had, he'd be raking it in after this!

Five minutes later, the targets withdrew, and bells and light went off, along with a recording of "Grand Prize! We have a winner!" The proprietor gestured to the top shelf. "Any prize you wish, young lady," it said in a booming voice. Aki chose a plush of a very, very odd creature indeed. It seemed to have no body at all, only a pointed head with many tentacles, and it was longer than her torso. The three went back on their way, holding their prizes in utter delight.

Ashi, Ari, Adi and Aji remained with Jack as they walked down a row of booths filled with odd contraptions. "Jack," Ashi asked, "what are these for?"

Jack pointed to one with a large vertical wheel. "They are games of chance. Many people find it exciting to take risks on uncertain odds. These games always favour the person running them, but it is possible to win at them, with self-control and some amount of good fortune. For this one, you need only place a small coin on a symbol on this board. The operator spins the wheel, and when it stops, the pointer shows which symbol has won. If that is your symbol, you get back your money, and a bit more. If not, you lose your money."

The sisters nodded. Aji looked at the symbols and the board. "You're much more likely to lose than win, aren't you?" Jack confirmed that, but explained that the payout, if any, was very much larger than the initial bet. The four conversed briefly in that odd language of theirs, then kept walking. A lifetime of learning to throw the odds as heavily in their favour as they could had left them extremely averse to the idea of playing a game they were sure to lose sooner or later. Jack smiled at their decision, and they continued to wander, enjoying the sights, sounds, and sometimes, flavours of the festival. Eventually, the other girls found them, and the High Priestess.

She found Jack with four of her daughters, and after showing them her trophy, they told her of the games of chances and their decision not to play them. "A wise choice, my daughters. I am very pleased," she said, her tone soft and face entirely sincere. Soon, the other three came up to them, and she frowned. "Where and how did you get those… whatever they are?"

Their smiles didn't dim as they told her of the games they'd played to earn them, and Jack explained them to the Priestess. "What will you do with them?" he asked. "We cannot travel with them, and I doubt they would be welcome at your temple." Their mother shook her head and agreed with Jack's assessment. He considered, then smiled. "I have a suggestion. We will leave the festival, find three poor houses, and leave them there to delight the children." That suggestion brought smiles to the girls, and an approving nod from their mother.

The task was depressingly easy to accomplish; Aku's influence might have lessened, but there was still no shortage of poor and downtrodden. But by mid-afternoon, they were back at the festival, visiting stages. The girls asked Jack the Priestess to stay were they were, then suddenly dashed off. A few minutes later, they retuned, and gave the two directions to a stage that sat in deep shadow. Then they vanished again, and the two watched as the little venue slowly filled. Wen it was full, a tall, thin man in a shabby tuxedo stepped out to address the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I am proud to present an act unlikely any other you have seen before. From parts unknown, from darkness and danger, for one performance only, I give you… the Scaredy Cats!" And the curtain went up.

The audience murmured in puzzlement at the sight of an empty stage. Then a voice with no source began. "The Scaredy Cats… hate to fight," it sang, "and the Scaredy Cats… don't like light. But when the sun… goes down today, the Scaredy Cats come out to play." And from seemingly nowhere, all over the stage, seven figures in white masks and black bodysuits stalked on all fours into sight. Seven figures, seven verses, seven "Scaredy Cats" described in rhyme by the other six while the described cat acted according to the verse, a repetition of the opening verse, then at the last word, the "cats" pounced at seven children near the front, children who shrieked and ran in gleeful terror from the vicious monsters, who suddenly vanished into the shadows of the woods beyond the stage.

Only Jack and the Priestess remained, and Jack greeted them with a broad smile. "You learned the song at the theatre?"

Ashi shook her head. "We learned it during our early practice in reading, and set it to a simple tune. Of course, our theatre experience helped with the staging. A lot." Then she looked stricken. "We didn't really scare the children, did we?"

Jack shook his head. "You delighted them. It can be fun to be scared, when you know you are actually safe." They nodded to that, and the little group went back to their tour of the festival, until the sun started going down and they needed to get to the deeper woods.

After they undertook their daily practices, the nine gathered around a small fire. "Samurai," the Priestess asked, "which is nearer, the Temple, or your friend's castle?"

He considered a moment. "Your temple. Why?"

"I think we should go there first. I must speak new law, prepare the sisters for a great change. If we can defeat Aku, the entire faith will need to change. And if we cannot, there are still new laws I must speak."

The girls looked down at that statement. "We'll need to get back in practice, Jack. But we'll do that well away from the camp," Ashi said.

Adi and Ami turned to face their mother. "Are you sure you can do this?" Ami asked gently. "Without… falling back, I mean."

Adi spoke next, voice soft, freighted with worry. "I remember how hard it was for me. We don't want you to return to truly worshipping Him."

The High Priestess looked to them both. "If I did this on my own, I almost certainly would fall back. But with your help, and though I cannot believe I am saying this, the Samurai's, I think I can do it. We need to plan out what we will do when we return, and we must practice that."

The daughters nodded in unison, and Jack frowned deeply. "I cannot argue against this, yet I cannot approve it at all. The girls took a great risk in returning to your temple for even a single night, and this sounds much more difficult, and more dangerous."

The woman smiled. "Not so much as you think. I am still High Priestess, Blessed Mother, Aku's most favoured servant and graced by His direct touch." She stood, and sheathed herself in darkness, crown to sole, her eyes turning to white circles as she grew a foot taller. Then she reverted to her normal self. "I hate that. To draw upon the full power He brought forth is chilling to even my soul. And I once took comfort in the spiritual coldness to be found in meditation before His idol."

Ari agreed. "I was and am the most able at reaching the empty stillness, and I too took comfort in that cold darkness. But the power Aku brought forth, there's nothing comforting about it. It's not something that will tempt any of us, Jack."

He relaxed slightly, but it was still a restless night.