The next day, after another weird meal, the girls collected their stake, but it came in the form of a piece of paper they didn't recognize. Ashi looked to the slender, grey-suited functionary who gave it to her. "What do we do with this?"

That worthy, with his slicked-back grey hair and pinched expression, groaned in a slightly nasal manner. "You take it to a bank, put it in your account."

"We don't have one," she said. "We've only been in the city a day, and we grew up in an isolated temple."

He groaned again. The bosses said to play nice and be helpful, and that was looking to be a full time job.

.oO()Oo.

The bank teller was wondering yet again why she'd been saddled with this. She was the newest staffer, she had no idea how to set up a bank account from zero, that was a manager's job! She could feel tears welling up in all three of her eyes, partly from gloomy certainty she was going to get fired unless she did some very major grovelling. At least. But she'd been given this job, and she was going to get it done as best she could. "So, we have… a joint savings account. I have your names, and your current address. You each need your own sticks, right?" The supercilious fellow who seemed to be their handler confirmed that, and she went to work on the terminal, fighting her way through the extremely unclear options, and having to restart every time she made a mistake, with the shadow-covered girls looking increasingly restive. And giving her a demonstration of what looked far too much like martial arts forms.

The girls had been schooled to patience. Not the patience of minutes, but of hours, even days. They had learned to keep themselves alert with simple physical actions, moves drilled in to the point they took no attention at all. This entire procedure had been both confusing and boring, so to keep themselves alert, they'd fallen back on that training, slowly entering into a meditative state of relaxed awareness. They did wonder why the three-eyed girl was starting to look scared. Granted, they had little experience with facial expressions beyond each others', but fear was something they'd seen many and many a time, and they speculated in their own language.

Oh powers of light, whatever you may be, please stop the crazy girls' gibbering, the teller prayed within herself. Still, she pressed on, checking and double checking and triple checking every single key stroke. The worst part was the ID for the sticks. Facial recognition was out, they didn't have fingerprints, DNA was out because of those… wait. Wait just a second. That was it! Maybe. "Ladies, would you please pick these up?" she asked, and passed them their sticks, each the size of a large pen. She sent a command to the sticks, and there it was: a distinctive chemical signature. Whatever those shadows were, they had molecular structures, and they varied from girl to girl. A second command, and the sticks beeped. Her elation almost overcame her fears, and after they made their first deposit (that was a lot of money…) and filed out of the bank, she withdrew to the break room and collapsed into a sobbing, gibbering wreck.

.oO()Oo.

Outside, the girls looked to their guide. "Where can we get some food?" Ashi asked. "Anything will do."

Well, at least they had that much sense, the man thought. "Follow me," and he led them to a large building. "This is a shopping mall, a place to buy all sorts of things, including ready-made meals. But I should warn you, it's quite expensive. You'll do better buying basic ingredients and cooking them yourselves," and he opened a large door for them.

They filed in, then pressed themselves against the wall as they looked about, wide-eyed at the bizarre sights of the "mall." The people, the places, the objects, it was just a swirl and a blur of incomprehensible things. They couldn't grasp it at all, beyond the most obvious "path" and "chamber" levels, and for the first time, clung to each other in fear and bafflement, breathing growing shallow and fast. It was too much, and they sprang up, column to column to skylight across which they scurried to be close again, clinging face-down by their feet and fingers while they did their best to calm themselves, searching for a quiet-looking area. There! To what was now their left, what looked like a refuge! They again sprang, and took refuge in the narrow, quiet corridor, slowly calming themselves.

"Let us pray," Adi said, and the seven knelt, hands on the floor, then prayed fervently, desperately, for strength of spirit. They had no altar, no offerings, no idol, not so much a single patch of shadow to which to direct their prayers, but they had to hope they would be heard despite the lack. Eventually, they stood, and Ashi looked to the others. "We must face this. The greater world is strange beyond all imagining, but we have no Temple to… to…" and she broke down sobbing, and the sisters fell against each other, sobbing as well.

Their handler caught up to them in time to see them sobbing against each other, but chose not to disturb them; who knew how they might react? When they finally broke apart, they turned to him. "We still need a meal," Ashi said. "I think we can cope with this place, for a little longer anyway."

.oO()Oo.

The meal had been enlightening; their ignorance seemed unfathomable, and as they'd said, they weren't picky eaters. Though they did have very good table manners, to his pleasant surprise. Granted, they were ignorant of utensils, but there was enough finger food to make that not a concern. "You girls absolutely need to learn to read," he said in his usual, slightly condescending way, after they'd discarded their trash. "Fortunately, the local library has frequent classes, and they'll be starting soon. Follow me," and he led them out to the street.

.oO()Oo.

The girls finally managed to relax once they entered the library (a strange name for a temple, they thought). It was still strange, very, very strange, but it was filled with things they understood or had come to understand: chairs, benches, tables, books on shelves. In a side room, the girls sat on the floor; the other students, about a dozen, used the chairs, but the girls just couldn't sit that way comfortably, it was just so weird! The priest drew the signs, and explained their meanings, and took them through examples. Avi, the one with her hair in a pageboy cut, frowned in intense concentration, and the others focused their attentions as well. Yet the moment they grasped the concepts, it all came together quickly, and by the time the sun was going down, Aji had mastered the secrets of the god-signs and the rest were well on their way. They hurried to a suitably oriented window on the second floor, and added to their normal devotions a thanks to their Lord Father for His generous gift of insight.

Their guide was already there when they turned around. "It's time to go back. You and the manager need to talk," he said in his dry, oddly accented voice. Lacking better options at the moment, they chose to follow him back

.oO()Oo.

In the office, the girls faced the manager. "You're off the fighting circuit, you're too good."

They shared a baffled expression, and Ashi replied. "How can we be too good? That doesn't make sense."

The manager sighed heavily. "This business runs on excitement, tension, uncertainty. There's no tension or uncertainty with you girls, you'll trounce anyone we send against you. So I'm putting you on a different circuit. What do you know how to do? Everything, no matter how obvious you might think it is."

Ashi thought carefully about his question, ignoring the nonsense that preceded it.. "We know how to fight unarmed, or armed with a variety of weapons, up close or at range. We know how to dodge, how to block, how to run, leap, flip, and roll. We can swim and dive, and we know how to dance the sacred dances and to sing the songs of praise." She watched his expression shift to something she'd not seen before, then when she was done, he spoke again.

"I know just the thing. You're going to be dancers and athletes, we'll call you the Dark Stars." He looked to their guide. "Take them to the monkey bars." That worthy gathered them up by eye, and they went along with him. Ashi's curiosity was engaged, and the others saw no reason not to go along.

The monkey bars turned out to be rods of a strange substance, clear when not glowing with colour, somehow hanging in midair, no two at the same height or the same angle. "This is the set for a popular challenge. The rules are simple: each team has a trophy. The competitors leap from bar to bar, and when both have gained their trophies, the game ends. The highest score wins: from a start of thirty points each, one point is lost for touching a bar that is not lit, thirty more are gained for gaining the trophy, and one point is lost for every second by which your opponent beats you to the prize. It is not permitted to attack members of the other team." He removed a flat device from his jacket, touched it several times quickly, then returned it. "You'll get fifteen minutes of practice."

And strange sounds and the beat of a drum began to sound. "Oo, ee, oo, aa-aa," they heard as the bars began to light and darken. The sisters sprang for the nearest lit bar, then realized that was a bad idea, and as one dropped. "Aki!" Ashi said, "you lead. Then me, Ari, Ami, Adi, Aji, and Avi in that order. We each go after a bar no-one else is on or leaping to." The others nodded, and again sprang as the bars lit. The grey-suited man almost seemed to be smiling.

.oO()Oo.

After their practice, the girls had a few minutes to catch their breath; they didn't require the rest, but did appreciate it, and took the opportunity to drink a little. They took up a starting formation of three before and four behind, and watched their opponents file in. The other women were taller than they but shorter than the elder Daughters, far less curvaceous than either, and dressed, like them, in tight sheaths, but unlike them, their sheaths were green-blue and looked metallic, with bits of decorative fringe at the wrists and ankles and neck. The new arrivals waved to them, and Aki walked up to them, and waved back. The apparent leader approached her, and with a smile, held out her hand. Aki did the same, and the girl grasped her hand, not too firmly. Aki returned the action, and the girl smiled.

"Dark Stars. Cool name, we're the Leaping Waves. Let's both do our best and have fun. Talk to you later, 'k?" And she and Aki went back to their teams.

Aki looked around to the others. "Did that make no sense at all?" she asked, and the others nodded. Wishing an opponent well? How bizarre could the greater world be? It didn't matter. They had a battle to win, even if it was a weird battle, and when the music began, they moved, black-clad arrows leaping from bar to bar, watching their opponents doing the same, reaching their trophy only barely before the Daughters. Chimes rang, the two teams dropped to the ground, and the announcer broke down the scores, with the Daughters losing 57 to 21. The girls hung their head in shame, and their faces tightened in fear as the winners approached them. Then the Leaping Waves put their arms around the Daughters' shoulders, and held them close for a few heartbeats.

"Good match," the leader of the Waves said. "Looking forward to the next one," and she smiled before both teams withdrew. The Daughters followed the the Waves, and found their way to the canteen, where they purchased the least strange of the foods on offer. They ate in stony silence, then their handler took them back to their room.

"Tomorrow, you need to find an apartment of your own," he said. "And that's part of my job," he didn't quite sneer. "We begin after breakfast," he said, and departed.

In the darkness, the girls spoke softly. "I think we're missing something basic," Ashi said. "Something very, very important about that kind of fighting. Why were the Leaping Waves so… I don't even know what to call what they were. They almost acted like we'd been raised together." The others murmured agreement, and they moved on to analysing why they'd failed. In time, they satisfied themselves, and went to sleep, the faint sounds through the door reminiscent of the chanting of the Temple.

.oO()Oo.

Their breakfast was another weird meal, mostly grain based, but soon their guide was taking them to see various apartments. That worthy had drawn up a simple strategy: show them the worst apartments first, so as to lower their expectations and bring them to accept a cheaper place than they might otherwise demand. Their first stop was in a district not far from the Dome, but in his view that was its only virtue. Run-down, covered in graffiti, the few marginally livable places not fit for even a junkie long term. The girls looked about with evident trepidation, drawing together, weapons out, and he was pleased. "This is our first stop," he informed them as he led them down a staircase to a basement apartment, a large but otherwise thoroughly miserable rat-hole in concrete, with a pathetically tiny bathroom and a kitchenette not much larger, the cabinet and interior doors long gone to who knew what. Some eccentric former occupant had painted the concrete black, and the two small windows red; nobody would want to live here, not if they were anything remotely approaching sensible. The girl spread out, and spoke softly to each other in that odd language of theirs.

The Daughters of Aku examined the offered living space. Black stone, red light, cooking area, niches for storage, hygiene facilities simple but sufficient. "We can put the altar over there," Adi said and pointed to the long wall opposite the door.

"If we have to make a hasty retreat, we have the windows, they should be big enough to slide through," Ashi agreed.

"And we can learn cooking on those things," Aji said, indicating the kitchen fixtures.

"There's plenty of space to practice and spar," Aki agreed.

The girl turned to their guide, their bright expressions taking him completely aback. "It's perfect!" they said in chorus in the public language, as they thought of it, and his face fell. He would have to come to this area now. What was wrong with these girls, that this place was so perfect?

"Very well. You'll need a few things: a refrigerator to hold your food, some towels and soap and toiletries, cooking implements, beds and beddings. Let's get to it," he said, and let them back to the van. "Oh, and you'll need to sign an agreement with the owner of the building, one that says what he's required to provide and what you're obligated to give in return." Ashi nodded to that, and he called the landlord, saying he'd found a tenant for the basement. A few moments later, an agreement came up on the screen, which Aji read as carefully as she could before signing it carefully; her sisters signed it afterward. Then he drove off, taking toward a shopping centre until Aji said, "The library first. We'll want to read about cooking before we actually buy things." He sighed, and did as asked.

At the library, the girls asked the attendant priestess where to find the books on cooking, and after careful searching, Avi found just what they needed: Cooking From Nothing. It detailed everything they needed, and needed to know, to cook. Aki took the book, and went to the attendant priestess, before whom she bowed deeply. "I, we, would like to ask a great favour of you: is there any way we could take this with us for a few days?"

The librarian looked at the strange girls, baffled at the question. "Of course," she answered slowly. "Let me help you get a library card." And she slowly and carefully took them through the process. By the end of it, they were staring at their new cards as if they were made of pure gold.

Ari checked out the book, and vanished it behind herself, then they returned to their waiting guide. "Take us where we can buy these things," she said to the man, showing him the pages with the pictures of the objects they would need.

He looked them over, and drove back to the mall. It was oddly satisfying watch them tremble, then visibly steel themselves for the passage. He was kind enough to take them to the right department of the anchor store before cutting them loose, though continuing to watch. To his near-complete lack of surprise, they went to the knives and cutlery first, warbling at each other intently as they examined each blade, then set each aside. Finally, the peak-haired girl who seemed to be their leader spoke to him.

"None of their knives are truly good. They're made from poor steel at best, won't take a decent edge or hold a decent edge, the handles on many are too short, and their balance is terrible. Show us where to find good knives." Her face was hard, her eyes cold in a way he'd not seen before from them, and he nodded to her.

"I know a much better store for knives, every sort," he admitted. Oh dear, these girls certainly knew their knives. If they were as demanding will all their shopping, this could take the entire rest of the day!

It did, and by the end of it, the poor fellow was worn to a frazzle. They might not have known much about kitchen utensils, but that peak-haired girl and her sister with the curiously rounded bangs certainly knew a lot about asking questions. And some of their choices! That frying pan must have weighed a good two and half kilos, yet the tiny girls could sling it about like a fly swatter. Then the one with the curved bangs spoke up. "We need a refrigerator. A large one," she said, and after a trip to an appliance store, a good one, he was treated to the sight of two little girls carrying with ease a refrigerator than weighed more that both them combined! At the least the trip to a wholesale grocer was straightforward, even if the space in the van was non-existent afterward. But they unloaded quickly, stowed everything where it needed to be, and were back in the van before the locals worked up the nerve to do anything beyond taunt and intimidate him. He started the van again, and took them back to the Dome.

The girls lost again at the monkey bars, but less badly, only 54 to 25, then went to the practice areas to maintain their combat skills in the only way they could: sparring against each other. Then the athletic equipment, the pool, and to their utter delight, they found an area set aside for exactly the sort of combat at which they most excelled: stealth and ambush. Again, they had to practice against each other due to lack of other suitable opponents, but such was the way of things.

.oO()Oo.

Back in their apartment, stretched out and piled up on the concrete and each other, Adi spoke into the slightly red-tinted darkness. "Is this really our best choice? Aren't we just wasting time? We should be hunting the Samurai, and looking for her."

"Yes," Ashi said. "We should. But the Samurai travels in places like this, and finding him will take time, and so we need to learn how to survive in these places. Tomorrow, we start the hunt for him. And for her."