Kanae scrubbed her way to the corner meeting Etsu who scrubbed her way over along the wall. Standing up, they wiped their sweaty brows with the back of their wrists.

"That's done," Etsu said with a tired breath.

"For now," Kanae agreed. Carrying their buckets of dirty water over to the large sink, they dumped them, then used a hand pump to get a bit more water to rinse them out.

"What I wouldn't give for a faucet," Kanae grumbled.

Lady Hama appeared and clapped her hands sharply. "Ladies! Follow me, quickly!" she then turned and left.

Kanae dropped her bucket and ran for the door, Etsu close behind her. They caught up to Lady Hama. Lady Hama stopped before a door and held her hand up. Running feet announced Kuri catching up to them.

Lady Hama said, "You will go through one at a time. Do whatever it takes to get to the far door. Lady Kanae is first." She opened the door partway and barked, "GO!"

Kanae went in and the door was shut behind her. There was no light. She did sense two other presences in the room with her. Slipping a mind hand out in front of her, and another along the floor, she stepped carefully forward. Where the floor dropped away in front her, she stopped. She felt something was in front of her, but it wasn't solid. Swishing her mind hand back and forth, she heard splashes. OK, it was a pool of water. Reaching down, she found the bottom. Carefully, she stepped off the floor and slowly walked on her mind hands holding herself up above the water.

Several mind hands shot out at her. Kanae blocked these and tried to move faster. Using five mind hands to block, she send another out to search for the wall and kept a pair close by her. Her searching hand was slapped down. Then more mind hands went under her and smacked the mind hands she was using to walk with. She sent another pair down to hold herself up, and continued to walk as she sparred with the unseen White Robes to her sides.

Mind hands came at her from all sides as well as the thin-hand attempts to numb her. By where they were coming from, Kanae got a good idea of where the women were. The attacks were becoming more frantic, attempting to make her drop herself in the water. Judging the distance of the women, and their positions, she shot mind hands at them, thinning her mind hands as they went.

Her bluff worked. As they blocked her mind hands, the attacks slowed long enough for her to find the far wall. Gripping the edge, she yanked herself across the pool, making the latest mind hand attack meet nothing but air. This gave her another brief moment to search for the door. She slid her mind hands along the alls, and felt nothing but rock. Going lower on the way back, she didn't find a low door either.

More mind hands came at her. Kanae returned to blocking these while she used her last two mind hands to search for a door. High and low along the entire wall, she couldn't find an opening. All she found was a pair of sconces for the oil lamps. She thought about her instructions.

Do whatever it took to go through the far door. She wasn't going to find that door in the dark.

Every lamp she had seen here had a 'starter wheel' of flint and steel. She felt the lamps, found the wheels and spun them. A few sparks flashed in the dark, then the flames grew to show her the room. Kanae saw the White Robes sparing with her. She also saw this wall was a solid as she had felt. A bit of glimmer above caught her eye. There was a hatch with steel strapping in the ceiling. She moved over to it and the mind hand attacks increased. They were not going to let her just lift herself up.

Kanae had an idea. Cupping two mind hands, she hit the water with them at an angle. Water flew up at the White Robes. Instinct of anyone was to stop something from coming at them. They both moved mind hands to block the water. Kanae turned the knob and opened the hatch as she pushed herself up. The room above was lit. She rocket up through and shut the hatch behind her. She landed on the shut hatch to see Lady Azami watching her.

"I'm impressed," Lady Azami said with a grin.

"Thank you, Lady Azami," Kanae replied with a bow.

"Get off the door, dear, someone will be coming behind you."

Kanae moved over beside Lady Azami. They waited for a while before the hatch bumped up once, then flew open with a soaked Kuri shooting up through the opening.

"Well done," Lady Azami told her.

Kuri thanked her, then came over by Kanae. In a whisper she asked, "How'd you get around the water?"

"I went over it. It's not that deep, I just walked with my mind hands," Kanae explained.

"With them attacking you?"

"When someone attacks as fast as they can, they unconsciously set up a rhythm. Find their rhythm, and you can use one mind hand to block two of theirs," Kanae explained. "Distractions work well also. I splashed water at them with my mind hands. They blocked the water, which tied up their mind hands and let me get up through the door."

"Lady Kanae, you are a genius!" Kuri said cheerfully.

"Not a genius, but Lady Kanae does think quickly," Lady Azami said.

A long while later, the hatch blew apart,making them shield themselves from flying debris. Etsu appeared to flop onto the floor and crawled away from the opening as she panted in gasping breaths. Sopping wet, she got up and asked, "Lady Kanae, did you dry off already?"

"Congratulations, you did it," Lady Azami said.

Getting to her feet, Etsu bowed to her and thanked her.

"Now that you're all here, I do have a special training task for the three of you," Lady Azami said. "You remember the room where insults were cast at you?"

They nodded, none of them could ever forget that.

Looking at them seriously, Lady Azami said, "That very well may happen for real. A local church in Sapporo has been very unkind to us. They recently acquired a holy man we suspect may be here to help inflame that effort. I am going down into the city to one of their services to see if this is true. You three will accompany me. We will not be warmly welcomed, so we will all be in disguises. I will meet another White Robe there who has been watching them. If we are discovered, it could turn ugly. Take your preparations seriously and when we get there, do not draw attention to yourselves. Your task will be to watch and learn. Go see Lady Hama, return the way you came."

.

Raku squeezed her eyes shut as the massive wall of water hit. Cold streams of water poured down over her. The shock of the cold made her snap her eyes back open. In front of her, she was looking underwater. It was like being at an aquarium. The waterline was way over her head. The 'glass' was not truly anything solid, but what looked line translucent arms that came from Nana and the women around them to run parallel in a maze right in front of them. Looking back at the sea wall, she noted they were high above it, even in this dip. A heavy salt water rain poured down around them. She looked up to see water falling from the sky.

Another truckload of water poured down over them as the mass of water found the top edge of the shield and spilled over. Raku felt the sand loosen under her feet at it was washed away. Struggling, she kept her footing and kept Nana in place.

"The sand is washing away!" a woman cried.

"HOLD IT BACK!" Lucy screamed in reply.

The line of women and the shields held. Raku saw the waterline drop down almost as fast as it had risen. As the water was sliding back down the hastily build ridge, Raku saw another very tall wave coming at them. This time, the bay was overfull, and this wave was much farther over their heads. Their piece of ridge had lost enough sand that they had dropped a meter or two. Raku hugged Nana, knowing this wave would finish them.

"Kouta, get behind Lady Himari!" Mariko yelled from behind Raku.

Lucy snapped her head and yelled, "Mariko, Kouta GET BACK!"

Even as Lucy yelled this, women and older children were landing on the ridge to stand beside them.

"And let you drown, Mama Lucy? NEVER!" Kouta junior replied just as loudly. Staring up, he added, "Everyone, lock your hands together, we can do this!"

"We WILL hold the water back !" Mariko announced.

"Yukaita, give us strength!" a girl farther down called out.

Raku noted all their faces were set in concentration. She watched the mountain of a wave approach. The water in front of them got sucked back to the normal shoreline before it charged them again. With the force of what had to be a locomotive, the wave slammed into the invisible barrier. Solid water shot up five meters over her head. The large cloud of spray rained buckets down on them again, eroding more sand away. The water on the other side dropped again.

Raku felt herself drop. Before she could react, she was on her knees. Yelps filled the air as many women were taken off their feet, and water shot out from underneath the shields. The solid wall broke apart. Water that was even with Raku's head raced at her. It felt like she got a full body punch as the water hit them, slamming Nana back into her.

The world tumbled in a churning roar. Raku felt her limbs wrenched about. Water surrounded her. Disoriented, Raku desperately tried to find 'up' as the force lessened. Seeing light to one side, she swam with numb arms towards the light. The breath knocked from her body, her lungs ached sorely for air as she struggled. She desperately wanted to open her mouth to take a breath.

A shadow appeared between her and the glow. Someone was floating right above her. Raku swam up and grabbed a handful of hair and swam for her life as her lungs demanded she breathe. She could see wavelets right above her.

Suddenly she broke the surface. She sucked in a lungful of air and water. She was lifted up as she choked. Raku then found herself hacking away, lying on solid ground. Getting enough breath to marginally satisfy her lungs, she looked around. She was on the sea wall, the water line was just below her. Others were choking and coughing nearby, but there was one person she didn't see.

"Nana!" she croaked as loud as she could. She hacked again and crawled to the railing. "Nana!" she managed to yell. Fearing for her daughter, she pulled herself up on her knees to scan the water trapped between the ridge and the sea wall for any heads or bodies. "Nana!" she screamed.

Hands grabbed her. "Back here, Mama Nana is OK!"

Raku turned as a soaked Mariko helped her up. Searching, she found Nana sitting beside Lady Himari. Lady Lucy was patting Kouta junior on the back as he hacked and coughed on his hands and knees. All along the sea wall, this scene was repeated by many other sect families.

A line of flashing lights announced ambulances coming down the road toward them. Raku looked back at their ridge. Many parts had been eroded down, but still high enough to hold the long strip of salt water lake between it and the sea wall. Beyond the ridge, large waves were still crashing against the ridge. The dip had a waterfall pouring through it. A few women launched themselves over to hold back the water and quickly seal the gap. Farther down the beach, more figures made impossible leaps over to plug another breach.

Raku laughed in relief at being alive. They had done it, they had stopped a tsunami! With Mariko's help, she limped back to sit by her daughter and Lucy. "That was ... incredible!" she cried happily.

"Nana, how did you know that tsunami was coming?" Lucy asked.

Nana looked down at herself, then frowned at Lucy as she asked, "Why did we go swimming at night? That's not very safe."

.

By the time they reached the church, Lady Azami had successfully frightened the apprentices into not even showing their faces any more than they had to. The cooling weather helped, they stayed deep inside their heavy coats and large hoods as they followed along with the crowd headed up to the doors of the church. There were a lot of people heading in for services.

A large sign on the church lawn read :

Sermon this week

Do YOU have a nose?

By a guest speaker.

"Odd thing to give a sermon on," Kanae said quietly.

A woman walking in beside her said in a hushed voice, "I hear this priest is going to tell us what he plans to do about those Mountain Devils."

Kanae listened to conversations as to what the reference to 'having a nose' might mean as she followed Lady Azami up the stairs. Someone thought it may mean the ability to 'sniff out' evil. Another man guessed that maybe Mountain Devils smelled funny. Beside her, Etsu stayed quiet and close to her. They entered the church and followed Lady Azami and Lady Midori to middle row seats.

Lady Azami wanted them to sit behind her. Kanae was about to sit and hear a familiar voice in the next row back. Upon seeing who it was, she quickly turned back and sat down. The girl from the plane, Sachiko, was here with her family.

"Kanae?" Kuri asked as she noted Kanae's suddenly fearful expression.

Kanae leaned close and said, "I know that girl sitting behind you. Switch seats with me, I don't want her to see my face."

"That could be bad," Kuri agreed. Kuri got up so Kanae could slide over.

The service began with the normal prayers and songs Kanae had heard at the church in Kamakura. The Priest then announced, "I would like to introduce Brother Junso from Kamakura, who will give today's sermon."

"Brother Junso?" Kanae asked in a gasp.

"Shhh!" Kuri warned.

From behind her, Kanae heard a quiet question. "Kanae, is that you?"

Kanae turned slightly to see Sachiko looking at her. "Hi, can we talk later?" Kanae asked with a wince.

"Of course! What did you do to your hair?" Sachiko asked.

"Greetings everyone," Brother Junso announced as he strode up and took the center of the platform in front of the alter, instead of the box that the priest stood behind. "For today's sermon, I have a story I would like to share."

"Is that your Brother Junso? Ohh, he is handsome!" Sachiko said quietly.

Someone hissed for Sachiko to sit back and be quiet. Kanae was thankful when she did. Kuri eyed Kanae suspiciously, as Etsu did from her other side. Kanae felt her face warm.

'There was once a family of farmers," Brother Junso began. "These farmers had been farming their land for as far back as anyone could remember. They were a decent sort. They lived, laughed, and sang together as their ancestors before them had. This happy farm family had one oddity to them." Covering his nose with a hand, he said, "None of them had noses." The way he said it made chuckles rise from the congregation. "For some reason the good lord chose to take their noses away. They did not have a flat spot where one's nose would be, but oval openings like their noses had just fallen off. Since everyone in the family was nose-less, this didn't seem odd to them. They even made flute like instruments to play with their nose-less faces."

Kanae listen as Brother Junso strode across the platform, telling his story.

"Although he had taken away their noses, the lord DID give this family one gift that helped them greatly. He gave them the ability to talk to and control plants and water. As you can see, this made their lives as farmers much easier." Motioning with long sweeps of his arms, Bother Junso said, "They go down to the lake, tell the water to go up and soak into the ground so the plants could be watered. Harvest time was much easier than with other folks, also." Clapping his hands, Junso announced to one side of the congregation, "All right, it's time rice! Come on over here, bang your husks into this bin, then go jump over there on the pile." Walking to the other side of the platform, He announced, "Soybeans! Come up here and get on this truck."

Smirks and grins peppered the crowd.

Brother Junso then paused briefly to walk back to the center. "However good their life on the farm was, there was one boy who wanted more. He wanted to see more things, to meet other people. He'd heard about college, and city life. He wanted something different," he said as if mulling it over.

"So this boy decided to leave the family farm. He said goodbye to his parents and siblings, and to the flowers that he helped grow, and knew so well. He packed his bags and headed for the city, to see the dazzling lights and get an education. Maybe even to bring some of what he learned back to the farm to help his own family."

Holding up a finger, Brother Junso said, "One thing strange this boy noticed as he came into the city. Everyone here had these weird protrusions on their faces! He was wondering how these people managed to breathe very well. Obviously they couldn't play a flute!"

More chuckled rose as Brother Junso paused.

"This boy wanted to ask them these questions and many more. Unfortunately, the people also saw he was different. To their eyes, he was some kind of mutant. They avoided him, no one would speak to him. Children would stare, women would look at him in disgust and men would lead their families away from this ... monstrosity. Instead of friends, the boy found only a great sense of loneliness. It became worse as people cast rude comments his way. Rude comments led to more hateful remarks. In a garden, where the boy went to find solace in the only friends he could find here – the plants and trees, a group of men and boys came to attack him. The boy did the only thing he knew how to defend himself. He called on the bushes and trees to keep the mean people away from him. The bushes tangled up the mob, the trees swung their limbs down to block the mob's approach. This shocked and frightened the crowd who had come to hurt the boy. One man announced..."

Holding a fist up and speaking in a booming voice that thundered through the church, Brother Junso said, "You see now WHY we cannot allow this mutant to live among us! He has a strange satanic power over the land. He is a danger to us all! We MUST be rid of him. HE IS A DEVIL"

The church was quiet except for the echoes of Brother Junso's voice. Brother Junso then spoke more quietly. "The boy managed to flee the city. Unfortunately, it was not the way he had come His family and farm, everything he knew that could give him comfort, lay on the far side of the city of people with noses that hated him so much... for absolutely no reason other than he was different than they were. That is what the people with noses did to this innocent boy."

Brother Junso then scanned the congregation and said, "Out front on the announcement sign, there is a question. I ask that question to for you to ponder. Do YOU have a nose?" Brother Junso then bowed, and returned to a side seat.

Kanae wanted so badly to stand up and applaud. Her heart was ready to burst with pride for the sermon Brother Junso had just delivered.

At the end of the service, Kanae tried to sneak to the outside isle with the rest of her clan. Upon reaching the end of the row, Sachiko was in front of her, smiling broadly. "Kanae, wasn't that a wonderful sermon your Brother Junso gave?"

"Yes it was," Kanae agreed as Lady Azami eyed her.

Looking back at the doors, Sachiko said, "Ohh, he's right there, let's go say hi. I want to meet him!" She then grabbed Kanae's hand and towed her towards the door where Brother Junso was talking to people as they left.

"but.." Kanae complained weakly. She had wanted to see Brother Junso, but not here, not like this when they were suppose to be hiding their identities!

"Brother Junso!" Sachiko said happily as she approached. "Kanae told me all about you! That was a wonderful sermon you gave."

Brother Junso bowed. "Thank you," he said with his pleasant smile. "You know Lady Kanae?" he asked.

Pulling Kanae closer as she tried to hide, Sachiko said, "She came to see you!"

Sheepishly, Kanae smiled at Brother Junso and said, "Greetings, I loved your sermon."

Brother Junso's face opened up into a bright smile. "Lady Kanae! What a pleasure to see you here. That is a most ... interesting color for your hair."

Without thinking about it, their hands had clasped. "Thank you, Brother Junso. It was ... necessary to color my hair," Kanae offered.

"You are here and that is all that matters," he assured her. "Perhaps I have made some progress in showing you the light."

Kanae's smile weakened as she said, "Your sermon was something I would have loved to have said myself. As always, Brother Junso, you are correct in many ways, but not all. It is you who need to be fully enlightened."

Casting a glance at all the people looking at them, Brother Junso said, "Your complete devotion is one of your charms, Lady Kanae. How is your family, are they all well?"

"Except for Mama Nana, she is getting worse," Kanae said with a wince.

"I am terribly sorry to hear that. If there is anything I can do, please call on me," he said sincerely.

Behind Kanae, Lady Azami whispered, "We should be going now."

Kanae glanced at her, then said, "Yes. Brother Junso, it has been a great pleasure to see you here. I thank you for your words of enlightenment."

"Does Kanae really have four mothers?" Sachiko asked.

Both Kanae and Brother Junso winced. Brother Junso said, "Although it is ... not in God's law, that is true. I am sure her family is a special circumstance."

His words irritated Kanae enough that she said, "Brother Junso, I have explained at length why our families are formed like this. I do believe Lady Himari also explained it to you."

The people around them that had been ready to go out the door were now standing in a thick circle, listening to them. Lady Azami and the other two apprentices were looking down and trying to slip towards the door. Everyone in Japan knew who Lady Himari was. The people around them were so packed, they couldn't move.

"Dear Lady Kanae," Brother Junso said firmly. "You can never convince me that such arrangements are beneficial to all. Would you be satisfied with another woman sharing your house?"

"It cannot be otherwise," Kanae told him just as firmly.

"So let's say that we were in love and wanted to be married. You would actually want me to find another wife before I married you?" Brother Junso asked curiously. Waving a hand randomly, he motioned to Kuri. "Say, that woman there?"

Kanae looked over and shook her head. "No, you would have to pick a woman who is not a White Robe." Right after she said it, she heard Kuri gasp.

"All right," Brother Junso said in a huff. "Would she be acceptable?" he asked as he motioned to Sachiko.

"Yes, but I would have to get to know her better," Kanae replied. "After all, we'll all be living in the same house."

"It would be more than that," Brother Junso said pointedly. "You would be subject to me, your husband, being intimate with her as well. Can you honestly tell me your feelings would not be hurt knowing I was cheating on you?"

"What cheating?" Kanae asked with a frown. "You'd better be intimate with her as well, she'd be your wife too! If you didn't love her and show her affection, you'd have no business marrying her in the first place."

"But honestly, how would you feel about that?" Brother Junso asked.

Throwing her arms up to the sides in frustration, Kanae said, "Like it was normal! Brother Junso, you seem to think that women are strangers to each other. Most of my friends ARE other women. AS I told you , if she is already my friend, and we can agree to live with your ... stubbornness, then why would you have a problem marrying both of us? Are you telling me that your heart is so small, you can't love two people?"

Turning to Sachiko, Kanae asked, "If you loved Brother Junso here, and we were good friends, would you have a problem with having me as a second wife?"

Sachiko blushed. Behind her, her father said, "I would never permit such a thing!"

"Father!" Sachiko said loudly as she turned around to gape at him. "This is Lady Kanae, a White Robe who helped bring the plane down safely and saved my life! This is Brother Junso, a devout man of the church. Surely you could trust me to them. I know they both have only my best interests at heart."

Sachiko's father opened his mouth in anger, then something passed over his face. He grew a smile and said, "Very good, Brother Junso!" Pointing a finger at him he added, "You give a fine sermon about acceptance of people with strange customs, then set up a fake argument to test how we will respond." Coming up to Brother Junso, he shook his hand and said, "I am impressed! Your points are well taken, Brother." he eyed Kanae and said, "Let me guess, from what you were saying, this is Lady Kanae, and she is a mountain devil?"

"Yukaita sect," Kanae said, correcting him.

"Ahh, yes, the Lady Himari reference," he agreed with a nod. "And what is this white robe thing?"

"I am an apprentice White Robe. My duty is to enlighten people, help and heal them," Kanae explained.

"Ahh, a religious figure from ... the sect then?"

"Yes," Kanae said evenly.

"Ohh, that is perfect! You played your part very well." the man said happily. He bowed to Kanae, and Brother Junso. "Thank you for the sermon, and the demonstration. I shall be attending church more often, rarely does one find a point driven home so effectively. I shall work hard not to be a 'person with a nose'."

Kanae gapped at him as he left with his family. Other people also praised them on their performance as they filed out. A few mentioned that by how they argued so effectively, they would have guessed Junso and Kanae were already married.

As Lady Azami passed by Kanae, she offered a smile to Brother Junso, then said firmly as her eyes bore into Kanae, "We shall be going now."

Kanae said goodbye to Brother Junso and followed Lady Azami out. Once they were walking down the street away from the crowd, Lazy Azami glared at Kanae and asked, "Lady Kanae, what part of 'do not draw attention to yourself', did you not understand?"

.

On their way home Sachiko's father said, "That was a very good performance, wasn't it, dear?"

"Very realistic," her mother agreed. "When did you get a chance to rehearse it?" she asked Sachiko.

Sachiko eyed her and asked, "Rehearse what? I saw Lady Kanae there, and we went over to say hi to Brother Junso."

Her father laughed and said, "That couldn't have been real. Mountain devils in our church? Impossible!"

"Father, you do remember I told you about the plane crash. That WAS the Lady Kanae who saved us, and she is a White Robe of the Yukaita sect. They are not devils. Her best friend IS Brother Junso." Sachiko told him. "I met her mother, Lady Lucy, at the hotel. Those clothes I had on when I came home were the ones Lady Lucy had brought."

Sachiko's mother eyed her. "You are telling the truth, aren't you?"

"Yes!"

"That means..." Her father said as he gapped at her.

"Lady Kanae is real, and the Yukaita sect did come to our church," Sachiko said. She then mussed, "She dyed her hair black. I think it looked prettier dark brown with the strands of pink in it. I hope she comes back again, I do need to get to know them both better if we plan to marry."