The next morning, Ari took up their borrowed book, and after reading the relevant parts very carefully and thoroughly, prepared, with great care, their first meal in their new home, however temporary a home it might be. It was a very, very simple thing, just sausages and slices of fruit crisped with quick immersion in the grease, with water of course. That was a true delight, to have water just by moving a lever. The cooking was edible, even flavoursome, and that was all they needed to count it delightful. The washing up was also simple and quick, and soon they filed out.
"We'll need to spread out," Ashi said. "When the sun starts to lower, we'll each head to the learning temple." And they nodded to that, then split up.
Ami managed two blocks before she had to find a place to sit and gather herself. It tore at her in a way she'd never imagined, being separated from her sisters, not having them within earshot at the worst, and so she ducked down a narrow space between two buildings, then scuttled up the wall to the roof, where, after looking around carefully, she sat down and keened in pain, rocking slightly back and forth. Bad enough to show weakness; to be seen showing weakness? Intolerable. Eventually, she managed to gather herself, and though her heart still ached, she returned to the street, and began to wander, though for what she looked, she had no idea.
Aji turned down a little lane, barely wider than her shoulders, alert for ambush as she went along. The opening ahead would be a perfect spot, and she reached into the darkness at her thigh, touching the handles of two kunai as she stepped out, glancing in all directions. She saw only ordinary people, and little shops, and stepped into one with bright cloth hanging in the window. She stared as she drifted through the little space, little but crowded with incense burners, statuary, hangings, an amazing place. Oh, how Adi would love to see this, she thought. An entire store dedicated to temple furnishings. She looked slowly about, and wandered, and in a little nook, found what she truly sought: an idol of Aku. It was small, only as tall as her forearm was long, and made of black metal. But it stood on a black stand that put it at the right height for worship. So perfect it hurt. She had to buy it, had to put it in place in their apartment. Her sisters would certainly approve.
Along a street near what looked like a palace, Adi turned into a building called a "museum." She didn't know what the word meant, but Ashi wasn't the only one with curiosity. Within it, she found many floors and many galleries, places and people from all over the world, a dizzying array. Finally, she found her way into a gallery filled with scenes of torment, Aku's stern justice against those who transgressed His wise and just laws. The fires, the tools and furnishings, made her both shudder in fear and smile in satisfaction. It was good to see that people both honoured His law and feared to break it.
Ashi walked the streets of an area only slightly less bad than the one in which she and her sisters lived. Seeing a long line of men (and some women) outside a door, she went up to a barely clothed, underfed-looking woman with grey-brown skin. "What is this? What are you waiting for?" The woman told her the place was called Helping Hands, and if someone didn't have any money, they could get a meal there. Only once a day, and only three times a week, but better than no meals at all. Ashi thanked her, and moved on. It was good to see that people honoured their benevolent Lord Father by helping those in greatest need.
In a different street, Avi found a store with a bed in the window, and turned into it. Looking around slowly, she caught the sales girl's attention, and she explained her situation: how she and her sisters had just found a new place to live and wanted some sleeping things. The girl seemed a bit dense, given how long it took her to understand that yes, the woven straw mats, thin pillows and light coverlet were more than enough.
Ari managed eight blocks before she needed to compose herself. She'd seen nothing in the store windows that seemed to hint of their quarry, only many things that both intrigued and baffled her, and chose to turn into a store than sold artwork. Within, the store was somehow both dim and well-lit, and she looked around slowly, turning the great page-like frames that held artwork of things she couldn't even begin to identify, working her way further back. The subject matter became less weird to her: dark forests, caves and caverns, scenes of carnage. Then she saw it. Incredible, impossible, yet there it was: the Hall of Worship, the very place where she had prayed so many times over the years, to the very life! The idol, the torches, everything, in every detail! The only thing not exactly right was the women's lack of attire. She knew the Daughters of Aku never went nude outside of the bathing pools. But the rest, only she could have painted that. So Ari turned to the man at the counter. "Can you tell me who made this?"
He walked over to her, and looked at the piece. "I can't remember, but the artist is local, I can find the agent." While he printed off a copy of the agent's card, he wondered if the black-clad girl was in some way connected with the artist. He passed it to her. "Here you go. Hope it goes well."
She smiled a bit to him. "Thank you. Are there more like this painting?"
Well, that was something to work from, maybe. "Yeah, she puts them out regularly, twice a year. Does other stuff, but those are her main thing. They sell pretty well, and rumour says she's going to have something really special next time."
"I look forward to it," the girl said, and sounded sincere.
"Come back any time you like," he said, hoping he sounded friendly rather than creepy. Her thanks was cool, but not cold. Or at least he hoped it was.
Back on the street, Ari looked at the little card. By now she'd come to understand the concept of addresses, and she was fairly sure of her location relative to the learning temple. Having never written anything down in her life, her memory was well-developed, and she quickly found her way there, and to the upper floor, to the strange, soft chairs and low tables. Neither first nor last, she took a seat around the set of tables the others had assembled, sitting on the floor, balanced on knees and toes; the others arrived soon enough, and shared the news of their days. Adi's eyes lit at the sight of Aji's find, though her face remained mostly still. A new idol, how wonderful! Ashi and Ami both smiled at Avi's purchase; a little comfort in their sleeping arrangements wouldn't go amiss. But it was Ari's news that brought the strongest reaction: the others came to full alert, and Ashi immediately rose. "We must find that address. The under-priestess will help us," she said with certainty.
Aji took the lead in this. "We wish to find an address. But we don't know the city very well, can you help us?"
The assistant librarian smiled to the girl, and said she could. The first step turned out to be even more basic than she'd expected: explaining what a map was and how to read one. Whoever had raised these girls seemed to have neglected their education almost completely; she was starting to be surprised they could even talk as well as they did. At least they knew how to pay attention, and they did learn very quickly. It would be easy for them to get a map of their own, since every service station sold them, and she said that much.
The girls bowed to her. "Thank you," they chorused, and Aji added. "You've been most helpful. Lord Father bless you." And with that, they departed, leaving the librarian to wonder just who or what their Lord Father was.
.oO()Oo.
Once they'd set up their altar, then managed to find a service station (it turned out to be a place where people did things involving vehicles and hoses, and bought dubious-looking foods) and purchase a map, they were able, with effort, to work out where the agent's office was. A glance at the sky told them it was too late to go there; they needed to return to the Dome, and another attempt to win at the monkey bars. This time was to be different: something called a round-robin tournament, in which they'd face three other teams: the Leaping Waves, the Flying Sparks, and the Laughing Waters, and they needed more practice to have any chance of winning.
"Ah, early I see," their trainer didn't quite sneer. "Good. The prize purse will be a percentage of the gate, plus half of all the teams' current stakes, and will be divided on the basis of final total score. Try not to lose too badly," he said, and started a song they didn't know, or even understand.
They tried to follow the song, and tried, and then Ashi dropped halfway through. "Everyone down, we're starting over!" The others did as told, then looked to her in evident puzzlement. "We've been thinking about this wrongly, it's not a battle, it's a dance. We can ignore the others, just move with the music. It's not much like the temple dances, but it's the same idea. Now go!" and they went.
Took them long enough, their handler thought. Well, they were going to need wins if they wanted to earn a living. He simply watched; his job wasn't to teach them theirs; they'd have to do that on their own, or ask others for help. Still, it was amusing, watching their fumble their way into improvement.
.oO()Oo.
The Flying Sparks had red sheaths, and the Laughing Waters deep blue, with fringes in red and green respectively. The Sparks were the Daughters' first opponent, and the song was… interestingly suited to them both. "I AM THE GOD OF HELL FIRE!" roared the singer, and the teams moved out. Black streaks and red blurs, springing and leaping from bar to bar, straight lines impossible between the lit bars rule and the jackstraw placement. And again, the sisters lost: the Sparks sent two of their number to block avenues of advancement and beat them to their trophy. Final score: 54 to 27.
During the recovery break, the girls discussed possible tactics, balancing their need to win against the risk of showing too much of their capabilities. Whatever they showed, the Samurai would learn about, they had no doubt. Their next match came quickly, against the Laughing Waters; these girls had an oddly dark skin tone, and unlike the Sparks with their reddish-purple hair, or the blue-green hair of the differently dark Waves, the Laughing Waters' hair was the same jet black as their own. The song began. "In the shadows of the night… " and both teams became collections of fast-moving streaks. The Daughters took an aggressive route, Aki focussed on the trophy, the others leaping to bars on the Waters' side, forcing them onto longer paths, slowing and delaying, while Aki quickly claimed an insuperable lead. The contest was almost as long as the song, but the Daughters finally won, 33 to 25.
Back on the ground, the Waters' leader approached Ashi. "That was gutsy," she said with admiration and respect. "I like that. Next time, you're going down." She put out her hand, and Ashi returned the gesture. "Good match."
She and her sisters bowed. "You are excellent opponents. Thank you for your praise." And both teams withdrew to wait for their next match.
It was not long before the last match, the Daughters against the Waves, and their strategy this time had Aki, Ashi and Ari on the trophy and the rest on blocking. As she sprang to a bar to which a Wave reached, Avi had a sudden inspiration, flipped, and kicked out hard, not at the Wave but at the bar, shifting it just enough to slow the Wave a fraction as she herself soared toward an unlit bar. Then it flashed green and she shot out her arm to grab it, spun, and flung herself toward where she thought the next light would be. The buzzers sounded simultaneously, and the officials had to review the footage to determine the winner. After a long, tense silence, they finally spoke. "The Dark Stars win, final score forty to twenty-eight!" and the crowd went wild.
The Waves ran over and embraced their opponents, congratulating them on their performance and thanking them for the challenge. The embraces were closer this time, though no longer, and pleasant, like holding each other. After they collected their winnings, with their handler's aid, they returned to their apartment. They filled the bowl with wax beads, set a bit of stone atop the wax, and started a flame. The long-necked fire-maker was a wonderful thing; Adi set it behind the idol, and the seven gave thanks to Aku for their victory.
Their prayers done, Adi blew out the altar flame and turned on the orange-tinted light bulb in the ceiling fixture. The seven gathered in a circle, and Ami spoke first. "I… I feel weird. Not bad, good, but… weird." She looked around the circle, saw the others' unsettled expressions.
Ashi nodded. "I… since we won. It doesn't feel like our victories in the Temple. It's not just how the Leaping Waves took the loss. It's something else, I don't know what. It's more like…" and she groped for the words.
"More like what I felt when I won a spar against one of you?" Aji suggested, and the others nodded.
"That's it! That's just it!" Avi exulted. "It felt like winning a sparring match between us! It's not just like that but it's close."
"And the Leaping Waves acted like they were part of us," Aki added. "Is there a word for that?" The others just shrugged. "Maybe she'll know," Aki added. "We'll ask tomorrow." The others nodded to that, and Aji rose to prepare a simple supper: while lightly seasoned pork cubes cooked, she prepared bowls of chopped mixed nuts, then swept the bits too small to pick up into a mortar, ground them fine, and sprinkled the dust over the cubes. Utensils were still something of a mystery to them, so when the cubes were cooked, Aji simply moved them to a shared platter, from which they ate delicately, interspersing the cubes with bits of nut, then after Avi cleaned the cooking and serving platters, the seven sparred, without weapons this time.
Partway through, a pounding came at at the door, and Aki went to open it. Outside, three large, oddly coloured men in ill-fitting clothes and strange headgear stood, then walked right in without so much as a by-your-leave. Aki stepped aside, watching them with bafflement and rising anger. This was not a place for men, it was their home and their Temple. Only the Daughters of Aku belonged here.
"Hey, pretty ladies, we here ta make you real welcome, you dig?" drawled one of them in a weirdly distorted way they could understand but somehow didn't want to. "Yeah, y'see this our patch, you gotta pay yo' rent t'us, get me?"
They didn't, not entirely, but Aji drew out her butterfly swords and Ari her naginata. "We already pay rent. We will not pay it twice," Ashi said from behind them.
The men just smirked as they looked around. "You live in a miniature red-light district, you wear black latex, you totally hot, you wanna pay our kind'a rent," one of the other men said, with a wide grin showing a polished metal tooth.
"Oh, yeah," said the last. a skinnier fellow with hair in some colour they couldn't name, "and we gonna love collectin'," as he grabbed his crotch, while the girls looked between each other, completely and blatantly baffled.
"Yeah," said the biggest man. "So, you wanna take off the suits, or want us to take 'em off?" he asked. The Daughters' faces hardened, and their would-be partners, or assailants, survived only because the girls doubted whether or not killing was actually the appropriate response. They tossed the unconscious toughs up to the top of the staircase, then went back inside, closed and locked the door, resumed to their sparring, performed their last prayers, and went to sleep on their new mats, with their new pillows, and under their new comforter. Against what they were used to, it was a taste of Paradise, especially once they'd cuddled together in the comfortable red-tinted darkness, under the protective gaze of their loving God.
