LITTLE MOTHER
Growing Up With Companions
Chapter 11: Summer's Work
The next morning those who hadn't gone to the shrine were waiting for those who had at the gathering place in front of the main house. The change that had come over them was rather remarkable, much like the greatest changes from before, or more. Tessal swallowed. For some, like the ones in her group, it wasn't a massive change, but even they walked with more confidence and calm.
Su Dou and Abedúl immediately walked up to the space right in front of the porch where Shikun and Obäsan stood. They went down into very formal bows, one knee on the ground and a hand as well, their heads bowed over their raised knees. DongTang, Tanov, Josey, Arin, Cahyo, and Shokin all lined up behind those two and took the same highly respectful pose. The other boys filed into their usual places. Tessal glanced at Tadesse, Adi, Randi, Mattias, and Claus as they reached her and their spots, but they stayed respectful and sober, so she didn't distract them.
"We have remembered the Caretaker, the Guardian, the Master Strategist, and our role and place in the world, as well as the skills we'll need to perform our duties," Su Dou said solemnly. "We will be obedient, learn what we can, and report."
Tessal thought there might have been a soft sigh of sadness. Indeed, both Shikun and Obäsan had tender sorrowful looks on their faces as they looked at the eight oldest who would be gone for a very long time beginning today. "It is enough," Shikun said softly, but firmly.
"May we ask, why have Adventurers been forgotten?" Abedúl asked respectfully.
"They haven't been, in the strictest sense," Obäsan answered, teaching. "This place is very out of the way, and each of you were born in similar places. However, it's also because when the Adventurers died, their children at best were known as Heroes. Stronger than People of the Land, but still of that race.
"The People of the Land wished to forget Adventurers had come, and desired for their own Heroes to be the strength of Theldesia. It's been many hundreds of years. That's plenty long for Adventurers to be the stuff of legend."
"But, still," Su Dou protested in agreement with Abedúl, "surely that was enough time for Adventurers to be born, to remember who they are, and for it to be knowledge in the world again?"
"Well, you would think so," Obäsan agreed with a slight wry smile. "However, Inari desired for there to be time for the world to heal from the Third World Fraction before any Adventurer remembered that's what they were.
"Likely there's a lot of experimentation going on as to just how much and how fast things can be remembered by those who are such souls, without destruction and chaos being the results again. Consider it that you have all had that long to vacation."
There was impolite scoffing in that group and Su Dou complained, "As if being unconscious of anything during that many years means we even knew it happened."
"You were given the option to play and didn't take it, Su Dou," Shikun scolded.
Su Dou heaved a sigh of perhaps regret. "Okay. I did need the rest." He went back to formal.
Obäsan looked at Su Dou a little longer, then relented. "Well, perhaps you did, in the in-between, and aren't allowed to remember it yet. Even now it's unlikely you've remembered any more than the basics so that you can complete the current need. I've been watching the Master Strategist. He is required to remember everything. From the moment he is born, he's aware and learning."
The eight boys stiffened. "He must remember it all upon birth?" Shokin asked, horrified.
"No. It is a progression, but he'll never really ever be a child again, even as an infant," Obäsan said sadly. More than one in that group shuddered. She smiled warmly. "Remember, he's of a stoic nature. It comes as naturally to him as learning the information necessary to piece together the plan that must be followed. He's doing well so far." They relaxed a little.
-:-:-:-:-
After breakfast and Tessal's rather fast lesson on poisonous plants in the animal pen during clean-up time, they all gathered up again in front of the main house.
"You've already been given your orders," Shikun said formally. "Abedúl and Cahyo, come receive your supplies."
Abedúl and Cahyo walked forward and stepped up onto the porch. Shikun handed a pouch of coins to Abedúl, then hugged him. Obäsan hugged Cahyo, then handed him a pack of foodstuff. The two traded places so that Abedúl received a hug from Obäsan and Cahyo one from Shikun.
The two stepped down off the porch and moved to the side of the house from which they would leave the compound. Shikun called for DongTang and Tanov second. Shikun gave a hug and the coin to DongTang as Tanov received the food pack and a hug from Obäsan. Again they traded and received hugs from the other. Then they were joining the first two.
Tessal watched those four as they stood waiting. They would be the ones to walk the farthest, the least likely to return for a very long time. She couldn't stand it and finally ran to them and made each of them hold her for a very long time. As they arrived with that group, she also made Arin and Josey give her hugs, then Tessal was looking back at the porch.
Tessal's eyes went very wide. Su Dou was giving Obäsan a hug while Shokin was getting his from Shikun. Su Dou even still had stayed at arm's length from Obäsan until just now. Whether it was the visit to the shrine or because he was leaving all the responsibility for Shikun on Obäsan's shoulders, it was the greatest change Tessal could imagine (other than empty buildings).
As Shokin arrived, since Su Dou stayed back to talk quietly with Shikun and Obäsan, Tessal got her hug from him and looked up into his eyes earnestly. "You'll remember, right?"
Shokin smiled and rubbed her head. "I will," he promised, but it didn't look like he'd learned anything about Kishi-Mujin in his lessons at the shrine that night. Obäsan had said they probably hadn't learned everything, and hadn't been sure before that Shokin would need to know about the emotion goddess this time. Still Tessal wanted to know he would at least remember that he could call on her, too. Kishi-Mujin wanted him to remember it, too, because the sprite showed up to sit on his shoulder and rub his head, a slightly worried look on her face.
Another warm body was with them and DongTang was leaning over Tessal to look eye to eye with Kishi-Mujin. "Sooo, why can I see you now, now that I'm leaving?" DongTang asked.
Kishi-Mujin had frozen, her eyes locking onto DongTang's. Then she was in flight and holding on to DongTang's neck very tightly as she shivered. Tessal was a little surprised to feel she was close to tears. "She's very happy you have," Tessal said for her. "She'll come if you call for her, too," Tessal told him. "Don't forget her when you have a need."
DongTang frowned a little at Tessal as he put hands up to wrap them gently around Kishi-Mujin and pull her off of his neck. Tessal was surprised he could to that. "Why? Is she like the Caretaker?" He looked between Tessal and Kishi-Mujin, not letting go of the sprite - not that she cared much. She'd grabbed the thumb that was closest to her arms and was hugging back.
Tessal rolled her eyes away to not look at either of her two older brothers. Shokin shifted to fold his arms at Tessal and glare at her. "Sort of," she admitted weakly. All of the older brothers were glaring at her then.
Tessal slumped. "She called me into the shrine when I was desperate to talk to Sensei about the cow dying, and helped me talk to him. But I had to promise to serve her again this time, too."
They all blinked at her, then slumped in defeat or sighed at her. DongTang glared at Kishi-Mujin. "Then you see Tessal is well cared for. And if she gets into big trouble, come get one of us." Kishi-Mujin gave him lots of very firm nods. DongTang accepted the promise and deposited the sprite back on Tessal's shoulder.
Su Dou, Obäsan, and Shikun had reached them by then, with the rest of the boys. Tessal got her hugs from Tadesse, Adi, and Randi, then they were moving as a family away from the compound, headed for the trail to the village. They all walked together for a long ways, until the youngest half of the boys needed to work out their worry and sorrow. They ran with the three who would be on the farms, giving them one more run in the trees of their home.
Then they were gathering again just inside the wood, where the farmer was still standing by his horse and wagon as if they hadn't left it yesterday. They had all had one more day to live together, but now it was time for their brothers to go. The eleven bowed to Shikun, Obäsan, and Sensei one more time, then were walking out of the wood.
The barrier between dissolved. Those inside the wood, hiding to not be seen as anything not foxtail, watched the busy atmosphere as the boys climbed up into the wagon. The villager climbed back up on his horse and got the wagon turned around.
Shikun walked out of the wood in his foxtail form. "Please see that the farm families treat our sons well. We'll honor the agreement to come harvest, but if we hear they've been abused during this growing season, we won't after this year." The villager bowed his head and promised it.
Then they were watching as the cart pulled away and got ever smaller to their sight. As those left in the wood turned back for the compound, Yasuke nervously asked, "What if that villager is taking them, looking like humans, to the soldiers right now?"
Both Sensei and Shikun shook their heads. "We know him from long before," Shikun said.
"That is Reii's father," Sensei said quietly. "He's grateful we've kept his son alive and are raising him as one of us." Tessal looked back over her shoulder in surprise.
"Besides," Obäsan said kindly but practically, "they have Cahyo with them. He can make them look like foxtails again if it happens. They might have to live out their spy and information gathering months as foxtails, but I think they might just enjoy it. It's unlikely at this time; however."
Her head turned towards the direction of the port city, and even farther the king's castle. She sniffed the air and half-closed her eyes. "The king's spy is on his way here, but they'll be on the road and in their proper places by the time he arrives here. It won't be difficult to keep him wandering confusing paths until we're ready for him to find us."
Obäsan smiled a fox's smile, and Tessal remembered that foxes and foxtails were said to have confusion magic. She sighed to herself in relief, then wondered what was in store next for herself and these brothers with her.
She'd walked with the others quite a ways before she was struck by a thought. She ran up to Sensei and took his hand, looking up at him. He kindly looked back at her. "I didn't think of it. Would Reii's father have wanted to see him, to know that he was growing well?"
Sensei smiled. "I think he might have liked to, but that's a dangerous thing to do, if we truly want to keep Reii. The father very well may have demanded we give him back."
"Why didn't he when he got here, then?" Tessal asked, surprised.
Sensei's smile turned very soft for Tessal. "Because I'd already told him that we'd found a mother for Reii. An infant like that needs a mother more than a father. Maybe he'll ask for his son back when he's your age and can begin to learn the work of a man."
Tessal could understand that, but she frowned. "We won't, though, will we?"
Sensei squeezed her hand gently and reassured her. "No. And it would be best to let Reii believe we're his only family. By the time he's that old, his blood father will have remarried, and that wife will have her own children. It will be too difficult for her to have one more mouth to feed and one more child to tend. It's sufficient as it is."
Tessal gave a firm nod. She knew exactly how difficult that was. She also wasn't going to give up her brother that she was the mother for, not until they were told it was their turn to go do their work out in the world.
Even then, she fully intended that the two of them would once again stand to protect Korin, when they had to go and fight. Shikun had already asked the three of them to defeat the demon king. They would do it when they were all strong enough together.
-:-:-:-:-
The milk in the crock lasted into the warm part of the spring. Reii grew, and so did Tessal. She was relieved when the next wagon from the village brought another crock of milk to replace the empty one, and she made sure the cleaned empty one was on the wagon when it went back to the village.
All of them worked hard to plant the seeds they'd been given from the village. They had food from the village, but it was still very minimal, since everyone in both places had to grow more food before they could eat any. Obäsan's little garden had vegetables first. Those tastes delighted Tessal and made the meager meals more lively. They also worked hard to continue to harvest from the wood. Both tasks were made more difficult because they were fewer in number, but they'd already begun to learn it when the older boys had been out plowing the farmer's fields.
Just because they had those tasks to do didn't mean that they were allowed to slack off on lessons. Those were now even more focused, with many of them worked together in the open areas, but individually as they tried to perfect their own personal skills and strengths.
Tessal learned a new attack or defensive move at least once per week. She was always careful to listen to the voice inside - her older self - and work slowly at first to really understand the new move until her body understood it. She loved those moments of meditation through movement.
She was allowed to go out once every other week for training in her turn against the monsters that were low enough level for her to win against. That way she was able to learn how each new move really worked. Sometimes she was surprised that it worked differently than she thought it would. A defensive move might actually be an offensive one. Those lessons were very helpful.
Obäsan would sit and watch Reii during those kinds of lessons. On their return from those lessons Shikun would make the rest of them be very quiet, just so he could watch Obäsan mother Reii without her knowing. They let him, knowing that they needed to do their part to help Shikun not miss or worry overly about his sons he'd sent out on their duties. At least, for a little while. Then they'd be too hungry and make him go in so dinner could be made.
Tessal always made sure that after dinner she had Shikun watch over Reii and play with him. Usually she gave the excuse so that she could help clean up from dinner, or something similar, but even she liked to watch Shikun be father to Reii.
She caught Obäsan watching in hiding, too, one day. Obäsan had shared a knowing smile with Tessal, then taken her by the hand and walked them into the main room. Tessal wasn't expecting it, but Obäsan pulled Tessal into her lap.
They talked about many things until Shikun was jealous and made Obäsan trade children. Tessal had greatly enjoyed that, even if Shikun had ended up tickling her until she could barely breathe. It had been a peaceful, happy, and warm evening of just being a little family.
The night that Shikun ordered Luka and Kadek to visit the shrine to be prepared to leave the next morning was exciting to them all. It meant that their own wagon would be arriving in the not too distant future. Tessal hoped and wished for a cow and calf, too, if at all possible. The crock was almost empty again. It would still have to be replaced one more time by the villagers, most likely.
They all saw Luka and Kadek off like they'd seen off the oldest before, then had to be back at that day's chores quickly. Tessal was extra careful that day and over the next weeks to pull any weeds from the animal pen that might be poisonous.
Tessal was hunting in her part of the wood for food when the whistle came to gather. Sensei's whistle was very distinctive and was heard through the woods rather well. Almost better than the bell on still days like this one. Summer was on and the heat could be felt even beneath the trees.
"That must be them, Reii," she said, excited. He made baby noises at her, excited because she was. Tessal collected up her finds as she raced back to the lane that led between the outside and the compound. She gave her little sound as she neared it and was answered from closer in to the compound, so she headed home. The wagon was already in the open area and hands were arriving to help unload it.
The treasures would be wonderful to count and see, she was sure, but her eyes looked for the thing she and Rei needed most. She was rather disappointed to not see even a goat. She paused before she rushed in, taking a deep breath to push down her disappointment. There was still one more wagon and things to bring in when they were purchased and sent on.
Tessal arrived next to the wagon to be hands, grabbing Luka in a quick hug to welcome him home. He smiled and rubbed her head and pat Reii's since bright eyes were looking at him over Tessal's shoulder. "Randi, Su Dou, and Arin send their hellos and love," he said to her.
"Thanks!" she said with a smile. "I hope you gave them mine when you saw them."
"Of course," Luka teased her, then turned her towards Kadek, who was coming from farther in the compound. Tessal thought he just wanted her to greet Kadek, so she did, but Luka pushed her forward and Kadek waved her over.
Tessal went and gave Kadek a hug. He returned it briefly, then took up her hand with a grin. "Come on," he urged her. She followed him, mystified.
Kadek led Tessal to the animal shed, then beyond it to the pen. As the pen came into view Tessal's eyes went very wide. "Wow!" she whispered.
In the pen were not one cow and calf, but two of each. "They said that they were able to get a bargain from a man who didn't want this set taken by the soldiers. His sons had been conscripted and he was getting old enough he couldn't take care of all of the cows he had without them, particularly once they calved and all needed milking."
Tessal walked to the pen and leaned over the rail, enthralled to see that much more food for later, as well as now. "They also figured more milk for all the growing people here was better than not." Tessal glanced up at Kadek to see his proud look. "If we breed them each year, we'll have plenty enough milk and then meat. Enough we might even be able to make butter and share if we all have to starve again."
Tessal grinned back at Kadek's excitement. "I'm so glad they were able to get us this extra blessing," she said softly, her own excitement making her voice harder to use. She wanted to just stand there and stare at the cows and calves all day, now.
"Do you want to be introduced now, or when we collect them for the evening milking?" Kadek asked.
Tessal watched the cows for a bit, then said, "Later. Let's let them rest and get used to this much new for now." Kadek gave a nod, put his hand on her head, then walked away to let her enjoy her blessing.
"Look, Reii," Tessal said, turning enough that Reii could look into the pen. "Two cows and calves. You won't go hungry for a long time. I wonder if we can even drink it all, even with sharing?"
The two calves came over a little timidly towards the two children. The calves had been exploring the pen, which seemed a little extra small now with that many large animals in it. Tessal spoke quietly and in a friendly voice, like she'd learned to do with the first cow and calf they'd had.
They weren't ready to get too close in this new place yet, but they settled enough, dipping their heads to nibble at the grass and other woodland plants that Josey had said cows could eat well enough. Tessal decided that the calves had grown enough to begin to try to eat like their mothers. She hoped the milk would continue to flow if she continued to milk them twice a day. She would have to talk to Sensei again to make sure.
Eventually, Tessal turned back for the main house. She danced as she went, careful of Reii, and hummed. When she reached the kitchen, where Obäsan was inventorying things and putting them away, Tessal hopped up on the porch. "Did they tell you, Obäsan?" she asked, still so happy and excited.
Obäsan looked up and gave Tessal an understanding smile. "Kadek said you'd just been handed your personal piece of heaven and I shouldn't expect you for a while. Have you seen your fill of them, then?"
"Enough for now," she really couldn't keep her happy down. "They're going to make too much milk. Can you teach me how to make butter?"
Obäsan sat back from her work and blinked a bit. "Well, I suppose I can figure it out. You might want to check with Korin and see if he learned on the farm he was on first. Sensei might know, but it's usually woman's work at the tents while the men watch over the animals in the field where he's from, so he might not."
She thought a little longer, then looked back at her work, giving a little laugh. "In my world, where I came from first like you did, such things weren't done by hand anymore except for interesting school projects. That was done in small glass jars with lots of shaking of them to keep young children busy and use up their energy. That isn't how it's done when one is serious about using butter for real in a world like this one.
"I understood the concept and know what a butter churn looks like, but actually making butter isn't something I know, no." Her hands were busy again, this time lifting something that made her eyes light up, like Tessal's had to see the cows.
Tessal actually got a little excited for this new thing as well. They hadn't had flour for breads for a very long time. She joined in with helping inventory and putting things away. It was so fun to get to see the wonderful treasures her brothers had found and sent home for them. She chatted to let her happy out, and Reii joined in with her in his babble.
-:-:-:-:-
It was nearing fall, closing in on the harvest time, when Shikun spoke to them formally at dinner time again. "The next wagon should arrive soon at the meeting spot," his eyes were on Luka. "You and Kadek will go tomorrow.
"Find out without notice how much firewood the villagers are going to need this year. We harvested a lot this past spring, but we'll have to be sparing with it or none of us will live through the winter again. Last year was very difficult. We won't be able to harvest more firewood until the food harvests are in, both outside the village and here."
There were concerned looks. The fields were already very large for the few of them. "Look to see if their fields are more ripened than ours are. They should be because they get the full sun. Our hope is that we can have their harvests in before ours need to come in, and that the trees will protect our crops from the early light freezes.
"I've recalled all of the boys to come help with the harvest so we can get it done sooner. They say the soldiers are sounding like they'll come out to the farms to get provisions for the winter. If the same squadron comes this way as last time, they'll come wanting to see if they can affect us again.
"The goal is to have enough hidden away by the time they get here that it doesn't look like the village farms had any outside help. Those coming back will be able to tell us what that looks like. Many farming communities were raided just as terribly as ours was last early winter."
Tessal scowled. It really wasn't right for the king to just let the soldiers steal foods and things from the villagers who made the food, but then not leave them enough so they could make more the following year. "This time we won't let them steal our wagons," Shikun said firmly. "We'll wait to take the firewood to the village until after the soldiers leave it. If we take them firewood before then, the soldiers will wonder where it came from and come here for sure."
Tessal nodded along with the other boys. The soldiers definitely would. Randi raised his hand. "Would they come here anyway, looking for more firewood for their own winter fires?"
Shikun considered the idea. "Perhaps. That would be a test to see if we were still alive or not. If we met them at the border and fought with them to keep them out of the wood, they might do worse this year than last year." He looked at Obäsan and Sensei, then Boab and Claus, asking silently for ideas on how to face such a thing.
Tessal raised her hand. "Could Obäsan confuse them with the confusion magic? They could be allowed in to harvest firewood, but not be allowed in very far, having their feet carry them back out to the edge again?"
"Maybe," Shikun drew out the word as he rubbed his chin with one hand.
Obäsan agreed with him. "I don't know if they'd think it was fox magic left over from when we'd been here before, or would think it enough proof that we are still here, watching them and preventing them from reaching us."
Claus raised his hand. "Could we use the villager's rumors that the wood is cursed? They could be encouraged to warn the soldiers again, and to make anything the soldiers bring to them as evidence of that cause."
That made the adults a little more hopeful. "Both of those together could be useful," Obäsan said. She got a very evil look on her face. "Those who insisted on pressing forward into the wood could be trapped in a circular walk for hours. Those are common traps in cursed woods."
"And if they have a strong magic user with them this time?" Shikun warned. Obäsan gave him a withering look. He only continued to look at her with concern. "And if they send another middle to greater demon? Would that one be able to break through such a trap?"
Obäsan blinked and considered the points. "We could set up a trap specifically for any demon that came in the wood within a soldier. If we set the traps to capture them, or even kill them, they might think we set them up last fall."
Sensei gave a nod. "We'll discuss the details further later tonight, then."
-:-:-:-:-
Three weeks later Sensei and Shikun took most of the boys out of the shinobi wood to go and harvest the fields of the villagers. Both strong backs would make the work go that much faster, and made six that went. It wasn't much, but added to the eleven already outside the wood it was as many as they could afford to send.
They left behind Tessal, Obäsan, Korin, Yasuke, Claus, Gregor, Samir, and baby Reii. They needed to have as close to one third in reserve held back as they could. They also wanted the youngest boys to be able to show up in a later year as the next generation of foxtail boys. Those left behind also included those who couldn't leave the forest without the strongest shields on them - the ones they were protecting the most.
The clan was getting nervous. Their own fields might be ready to harvest before the others returned. Tessal kept a close eye on them every time she went out to milk the cows. Ever so slowly the stalks of the wheat, corn, and rice close to the ground were yellowing, every day that yellow rising up the stalk. When it reached the heads, they would only have a few days until they would have to harvest. Many of the other vegetables were already being harvested each day, as the children walked through those fields to pluck up the ripened ones. They didn't want to have any go to waste.
Obäsan was very busy every day with the produce from her garden. The tomatoes had come on all at once, it seemed. She was boiling them and putting the sauce into jars, the thick liquid glopping out of the ladle into them about as fast as the sweat ran down her brow from having to work so close to the hot fire in the hottest time of the season.
Tessal helped when she could, and she and the boys all harvested the newly ripened ones every morning after breakfast clean up. They'd drop them off by Obäsan's workstation - moved out of the kitchen to not make the main house beastly hot - then head to the larger fields for the next harvest.
They practiced their skills while harvesting, if they had the energy. Right after that harvest and a quick lunch they had to be out in the wood, covering everyone else's places and their own. Even the wood was giving them a bounty of harvest they didn't want to waste.
The tree nuts were on and falling. The tuberous herbs were ready to dig up from the ground and bring back. The birds were flocking, getting ready to fly to warmer climates, and the larger eating birds had places they stopped to rest on the way.
The children had learned how to capture those without scaring the whole flock. They didn't take all the birds at once, but they did try to get three to five from each flock. As much meat as they could gain from outside the wood was very important.
Obäsan had been very concerned that they'd been eating the forest clean. There might be nothing to harvest meat-wise at all the coming winter, save the few moles and mice that always seemed to reproduce regardless. She was hoping that when the flocks went through the other direction in the spring they could capture a few living and keep them for the eggs that could become meat the following winter.
Tessal's food sack was getting full towards the middle of the afternoon. Sometimes recently she had to go back twice to empty it. She was digging up the tuberous edible roots when Reii began to fuss on her back. Tessal paused and looked over her shoulder at him. His face was scrunched up as if he had a stomach ache, or as if he was trying to soil himself and was having troubles.
Since Tessal already had been traumatized by that once, she frowned in concern. "Let me finish getting this one and we'll go back," she said to him and turned back to her work. She suddenly felt like she'd also eaten poisoned milk and she dropped into a crouch to put her hands over her belly, her worry spiking. Had she allowed a poisonous plant to go unseen in the busy schedule of the harvest?
She felt Kishi-Mujin with her suddenly, the worry of the sprite joining in with her worry. Then just as suddenly, and very frighteningly, there was a very large anger that swirled around behind Tessal: the anger and even killing intent of the emotion goddess.
Tessal whirled around, staying crouched, one hand closing down tightly on the mouth of her harvest bag. Twenty feet behind her was a man. A man not of the clan. She could escape, but he'd already seen her, had probably been hunting her for not even Kishi-Mujin to have known he was there until she got worried.
For him to have entered the wood at all, and then to have found her regardless of the wandering traps Obäsan had set, he had to be a very high level magic user. And then she remembered when she'd felt like this before - and Reii, too. When they'd fought the greater demon in the port city.
Tessal's fear went to panic. They weren't ready to face a greater demon, not without anyone else to help them. If they killed Reii again, that would be another year they'd have to wait. If they kept killing him, year after year, would they even be able to get rid of the demon king? She begged Kishi-Mujin to hide her.
Instead, she heard Claus' voice order in her ear, "You're the bait. Distract."
Tessal shivered with her panic. What could the weakest of the clan do against something like this? Reii was whimpering even more in fear and discomfort to have the man be this close to them.
The man had stopped moving when hit with the goddess' strong emotions, but the fear on Tessal's face said that it wasn't her it had come from. He'd done a scan of the wood and not seen anything, or so Tessal could only assume, because he focused on her again.
She picked up her bag and stepped back away from him. He raised a finger and her feet were bound to the ground. He seemed to enjoy seeing the fear on her. She tried to see in the place she could walk. The man didn't have a demon shadow on him, but when he moved again, her stomach wanted to heave the lunch back out.
She'd seen it then, too. The man was the demon and the demon was the man. The demon had to have been hiding completely within the man to have gotten as close as he had. Now they both wanted her afraid and the demon's energies were larger.
Reii did retch, but Tessal couldn't spare him or that trouble any attention at the moment. The man paused at that, and the calculating look that came on his face was one Tessal really didn't like. Was it unusual for most humans to react to demons and evil like that? Had Reii just given himself away because he couldn't do otherwise?
"Humans aren't supposed to be in the woods," the demon-man purred. "Yet here are two. The weak left behind while the rest go to help the village. Starving wasn't pleasant last winter was it?" Tessal scowled at the man. It hadn't been.
"I think we'll be sure to take them this time. The weak will surely starve when the strong are fighting for the king's army, hmm?" The man stepped closer to Tessal and she moved to back off again.
She nearly fell over for having already forgotten her feet were bound to the ground. Her fear of having the demon-man touch her made her scowl more.
"Foxtails can't transform into humans," the demon-man accused, threateningly.
"They got to have fun playing human again," Tessal immediately pouted. "I made them illusion me, too."
He smiled a very evil grin. "That would have to be a very strong illusionist, then, to fool me. And they did the baby, too?" he taunted her.
Tessal shook her head. "A villager left him during the cold. His mother died. We almost died, too, but we were blessed." The emotion goddess swirled a stern warning at the demon-man and he paused again, a faint wrinkle appearing on his face as he was reminded that there was something else in this wood besides the three of them.
He glanced around at the trees again, both at ground level, and then above. Tessal moved to get his attention back on her. He did glance at her to make sure she was staying put. She scowled as she wished very hard to have her right foot freed from the ground and pulled.
That got more of his attention. His eyebrow raised in elegant mild surprise. "Really? You'll work that hard to escape, will you?"
Tessal gave him a dark glance, then ignored him. She took a deep breath and tried again, focusing very hard. A knife was suddenly in her hand, the blade at the palm of the demon-man who had moved very quickly to grab her before she could actually break free.
The man had stopped moving and was staring at the knife with almost fear. "Where did you get that?" he demanded, the fear in his voice. "Where did you get the Wind's Knife?!" his voice had risen in tone and volume as he nearly screamed the question and backed off three stumbling steps.
Tessal couldn't see any damage to the man, but he held his arm and hand to himself as if she'd cut him. She didn't know this knife, but she held on to it and found it just as familiar a companion as her short sword. It had to have come from the same place as the other weapons.
She kept the knife in front of her in a defensive position, her eyes telling the demon-man of her hatred and anger for him even coming into the wood. He was suddenly not moving himself and there were two other presences with them.
The black foxtail Yasuke appeared next to Tessal's off-hand side and took her upper arm in his hand. White-haired Obäsan appeared between Tessal and the demon-man, but where she would be out of the way if Tessal attacked the man again. She was small and old in how she looked this time, like her true age. (Sometimes she would look younger for Shikun.)
"In this wood, we can," she said threateningly to the demon-man, and transformed in front of his eyes to the white-headed red foxtail, wearing simple clothing. "Just because foxtails have gone into hiding doesn't mean the changes of the world aren't also affecting us. You have tread where you don't belong." The man was struggling to move, like Tessal had struggled before.
Tessal suddenly had her feet back under her and Reii off her back. Yasuke had taken him and disappeared. Tessal only needed the very small push from the very angry emotion goddess. She was over the demon-man, attacking with her knife again. The anger of the emotion goddess flashed through Tessal's arm and her blade into the demon-man. Again, she saw no damage on his exterior, but he screamed and writhed.
"Two more," Obäsan said quietly as Tessal crouched at her feet. Tessal gave a brief nod and was attacking again, then again. Obäsan's attack spell went off, but she was just boosting the spell written by the other boys like before. The man disappeared in iridescent bubbles.
Tessal felt the emotion goddess swirling around, making sure the demon didn't escape only wounded. It would have to die to not give them away to the demon king. Obäsan's magic swirled within the emotion goddess' swirl, cleansing the woods in this area, even chasing off in several directions as if chasing down lesser demons to quell them as well. Then the wood was quiet and feeling calm again.
Tessal's knife disappeared and she slumped just a little, still crouched at Obäsan's feet. Obäsan went back to her usual human form and crouched down to put an arm around Tessal. "Korin, come restore Tessal's strength," Obäsan ordered.
Korin arrived with them from the trees and cast a spell on Tessal. They waited a little while, and then he cast it again. Tessal felt like moving after that and sighed out the knot in her belly.
She looked up at Obäsan. "The demon was hiding inside the man. He was stronger than your magic?"
Obäsan paused before she answered. "It's important right now that they believe we must work hard to win against them. We wouldn't have been able to do that properly if your knife hadn't come out. I know it took a lot to do that, but it was essential we use that gift when we had it. They'll worry more about entering the wood again, knowing that blade protects us."
"Is it my blade?" Tessal asked, a little surprised she would carry a named blade within her.
Obäsan smiled. "It came to your hand in your time of need, didn't it?"
Tessal considered that, then gave a firm, grateful nod. If it could protect them from even the greater demons she could not worry quite so much.
"Climb on," Korin had turned his back to Tessal. "You need to sleep. I'll continue to practice my spell on you to get it stronger, but it's still too weak when you've used up that much all at once."
Tessal's eyes went to her harvesting bag. Obäsan picked it up and held it. Tessal thanked her softly and climbed up on Korin's back. He carried her piggy-back the whole way home, but Tessal was asleep before they made it there. Her last wish was that they wouldn't have any more invaders while she couldn't protect them all.
-:-:-:-:-
Tessal slowly walked back to awareness to hear speaking. She was still weary so she just lay where she was, listening. She was hearing Obäsan's voice speaking, but not the voice of the person she was talking to.
"...based on what the man said, he could have been Adventurer. He knew that then foxtails couldn't transform to human form. I told him it was part of the many changes since then and proved it to him."
There was a pause as the other person spoke, then Obäsan answered, a frown in her voice. "I don't know, but I think in this case the king would have had some kind of spy spell on him, just in case we did kill him. How can they learn anything if we keep killing the precious few high level demons, and when it takes one to even get into the woods?
"We played it as if he did anyway, just in case. But...," Obäsan sounded worried now, "Tessal's purification knife came out and the spy recognized it, calling it the 'Wind's Knife'." There was a brief pause, then, "Umhm. At the very least reborn Adventurer who'd remembered that dungeon. If any of the others are like that, they'll suspect who Tessal is and who might be here in the woods."
"No," Obäsan quietly answered a brief question. "I'm concerned about it, but what can we do? It's better for them to turn their attention here for now, thinking that, than to keep looking where he really is.
"I don't want the children to have an even harder winter than last year, though. ..." Obäsan paused even longer, then said very sadly, "I'm looking for another place for us to move to. If the soldiers are too difficult this fall, then we must. If they believe he's here, they won't relent."
Tessal's heart fell. She didn't want to have to move. Here was home, perfect for their needs. Here was close enough for her oldest brothers to come home to help them in the winter while still being spies outside of the army. If they moved, Shikun would have them join the army for sure.
But it was Obäsan's next soft and very sad words that chilled Tessal to the core. "They'll come and take them all, hoping to find he's among them. If they aren't all just killed outright, they'll be tortured until they see the one clue they'll be looking for to know it's him."
Tessal sat up and looked to find Obäsan. Tessal was in the corner of the main room. Obäsan wasn't in the room. Rather, she was in her bedroom, the walls closed. Surely she was talking to Shikun, perhaps through Mattias. Tessal wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling them up close to her chest.
If that happened, the soldiers just coming and taking them from the fields or the wood, then they would have to leave soon. Maybe even before their own fields were harvested. How would they carry all of the food with them? Where would they go? Could they go far enough?
Obäsan's next words were unusual, confusing. "Yes, I could do that. It would be the simpler solution, but I would need the power and strengthening to do it. To move the whole wood like that..."
Obäsan answered. "Okay. I'll tell them here at dinner. Please let me know right away if you hear of the soldiers coming early, and run. Bring all of them here. Don't leave any behind." There was a long, sad sigh on the other side of the wall, a pause, then soft steps coming towards the wall.
As the wall panel was being slid open, Tessal was up on her feet. She had her arms around Obäsan by the time the woman was through the gap. She buried her head into Obäsan's softness and shivered, her tears wanting to come, but not. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"It's not your fault, Tessal. I told you, we needed your attack in the moment, and that first one saved you. We weren't quite ready, so we also needed your attacks to give us the last bit of time.
"Remember, when we're in battle we can only do our best. Any consequences after that must be dealt with as best we can, as well." Obäsan pushed Tessal away just enough she could crouch down and look Tessal in the eye, but she kept her hands on Tessal's shoulders.
"I'd already been considering the move even before. I didn't expect the king to be satisfied when this spy finally made it in. I already knew we'd have to kill it. He'll send the soldiers either way, and will likely order them to not back down from bringing the boys in."
Tessal bit her lip as Obäsan earnestly searched her face. Very quietly Obäsan said. "He's desperate to have the Master Strategist in hand. He hasn't been found in all of the army yet. Because we keep killing demons, he would have demanded our sons be brought this time.
"And now that blade has been seen. It's the blade that has always stood at the side of the Master Strategist, to prevent anything from reaching him. The king will exult and nothing will prevent him from breaking through. He will even burn down the whole of the forest if he can be rid of the Master Strategist for it."
Tessal shook with the fear, loss, and despair she felt. Obäsan took Tessal into her arms to hold her and very quietly said into her ear. "And we will let them, because if they believe they've killed him while he's still young, then we can win with a surprise attack earlier than they're thinking, for all it will be at the right timing for all of you to be old enough to do it."
Tessal stiffened. "Let them?" she breathed out.
Obäsan nodded, her head brushing against Tessal's. "Remember my magic that let us have the extra day for the older boys to go to the shrine?" Tessal did. "I can do that again, take us out of the space of the world. But I'll need to do it in a very big way this time, so we can be safe for a long time, until you are all grown. I'll need everyone's help."
Then Tessal understood the last of the conversation. Even the boys on harvest would help with their wishes, too, to keep their home safe and each other alive long enough to win in this fight. She put her arms tightly around Obäsan's neck. "We'll all help," she promised, already wishing with all her heart those so very important wishes.
"Thank you," Obäsan was smiling. "I know you will, to keep our happy home for even a little longer." Tessal nodded firmly.
Korin brought in a fussing Reii, then, so Tessal let Obäsan go to close her wall panel. Tessal took Reii from Korin, but Korin didn't leave them. Instead he hovered, worried. Tessal looked up at him solemnly. "Will you go get the cup of milk while I change him?" Reii had wet himself and was hungry, but otherwise he looked recovered from their encounter with the demon-man.
Korin went, and Tessal did her task, but with a bit of a frown on her face still. When she was settled and feeding Reii, Korin sat next to her. "Are you okay, Tessal? He didn't touch you, did he?" Korin fussed at her now.
Tessal shook her head. "The knife prevented it. I didn't actually cut into him the first time. I think it's a purification blade and the intent to cut into him made the purification cut the demon. That's why he was scared. But the other times I did cut him. Why wasn't there blood?" She looked up at him, looking for an answer.
Korin pulled out his long curved sword. "These do that," he said. "Arin said that the very first time it was in his hand, he saw in that funny way and there were words. It's a blade that does purification if we intend it to, so some of the others say, but in those words it also says that it does internal damage, not external damage."
He looked back at her solemnly. "And the words say that if it's held by an Assassin, it does extra damage. Everyone's already agreed you're an Assassin. If your knife is like this, then it's a very strong knife in your hands against demons." His blade disappeared.
Tessal considered those words as she watched Reii sip and swallow the milk slowly pouring from his cup. She'd been letting him help her. He'd finally gotten good enough to not spill, but she still held it steady just in case.
"It wasn't just that, though," she said. "The emotion goddess also helped. She poured her strength through me and into the blade to do far more damage than little me could do alone." She looked up at Korin again and whispered, knowing Obäsan was back at her harvest kettle again, "Obäsan knew she was helping, too, because she knew just how many blows I needed to make before it was sufficient for the spell to work. They worked together against the rest of the demon after the man was gone."
She pursed her lips and almost glared at Korin. "What is she? What is Obäsan? Is she also a goddess, to be able to work with one?"
Korin hesitated. "Do you know what an Oracle is, Tessal?" he asked. Tessal shook her head. "An Oracle is one who can be entered by a god or goddess, who can hear their words, be their voice, or even house them for a short time although that makes them very tired."
He looked down at his clasped hands and his thumbs pressed against each other. Quietly he said, "Some say that she is an Oracle of Inari, some of the Caretaker, some that she is one of many - the one from the foxtails. But ...in my memories from before, there was only ever one Oracle."
He closed his eyes and tipped his head up as if looking for something in the far sky of his memories. "My heart remembers that Oracle as if she was my mother, my guide through darkness, one who loved me and all of us. My heart wants to say that the Oracle is Hahaue, that Obäsan is the Caretaker." He whispered the last reverently, then fell silent.
Tessal looked down at Reii again, but she wasn't really seeing him or her chore. Instead she was feeling again what she'd felt as the emotion goddess and Obäsan had worked together in the wood to keep them all safe from the demon-man spy. Her ears remembered the words Obäsan had whispered to her and the slipping of her strong wishes out of herself and into the arms that held her closely.
She finally gave one nod of confirmation. The three of them weren't the only ones being protected from being found yet. Obäsan also couldn't be found. It wasn't time yet for the Caretaker to come face to face with the demon king.
They were her children, these were her beloved sons. Those who'd been to the shrine before being sent out had learned it. Su Dou had hugged his mother - Hahaue - having learned who she was while he was there. Tessal sighed a sad sort of sigh and let it go. There was still a lot of work, growth, and living ahead of them.