They were only just in time for Ayami and Akane to change for the sunset service, and after mother and daughter departed, the High Priestess questioned the girls carefully concerning their weapons choices before approving them. Finally, they were allowed to set up their weapons' charger before they hurried to the Dome, where they faced the Leaping Waves again in a monkey bars contest; the Daughters won, but only by a little, and after the match, the Waves congratulated them, and shook their hands, and then to their utter bafflement, their leader said to Ashi, "Want to join us? We're heading out for a bite."
Ashi just stared. Treating an opponent as if she were… were what? A Temple sister perhaps? It was something like that, she guessed, but why? Better not to ask. "All right… but we have to be back at our apartment by midnight for services."
She frowned in puzzlement. "Services? What do you mean?"
"Well, our mother is the High Priestess, of course we attend regular services: Sunset, midnight, sunrise, noon if we can."
The Waves looked between each other, clearly baffled at that. "High Priestess? There aren't any temples or even shrines around here."
"There are," Adi said. "Well, there's one: Mother recently consecrated our apartment."
One of the other Waves waved it off. "We'll ask later. For now, let's get some food," and after getting changed, into loose pants and fluffy shirts, they led the girls to yet another eatery with strange food, sausages made of meat ground impossibly fine, served between long pieces of split bread, topped with various things they couldn't identify, with little bits of something else they couldn't identify on the side, and a peculiar fizzy drink, very sweet. The Waves answered their questions about the things served atop the sausages as best they could, and the girls settled on the plainest sort available. After their orders arrived, one of the Waves looked to Adi. "You said your mom consecrated your apartment as a temple?"
She nodded. "We used to have a wonderful temple, high in the mountains to the north. But the Temple came under attack, I don't know why, and only we survived, or so we thought. We were in the city for a few days, then learned by some miracle, Mother and her assistant and one other Sister had survived. But what is a priestess without temple or altar?"
The Waves looked to each other. "Why would anyone attack a temple?"
"I don't know," Ari said. "Our order was cloistered, we lived apart from the greater world as much as we could, our lives were built around worship."
"So you lost everything?" the youngest-looking of the Waves asked.
They remained stoic, but their eyes welled up. "We were less than four dozen strong, and now we're only twelve, and that only because one Sister left the temple long ago, and she raised her daughter in the Faith, and we were able to find her and bring her into the fold once more," Ami told them.
The Waves looked to each other, and nodded. "Sounds like you need some friends. Well, maybe after your next match we can bring you over to my place," their leader said.
The sisters looked to each other, confused by the strange offer. What was a "friend?" Something like a Temple Sister, it seemed. "Very well," Ashi said at last. "And thank you." The Waves carried the bulk of the conversation, the sisters' lives having left them with little in the way of things to talk about, and the girls returned to the temple just in time to shed and stow their snowsuits without needing to hurry before services began.
.oO()Oo.
They spent several days in much the same way: training with their new weapons, maintaining their existing skills, prayer services, and contests. Then they faced the Waves once more, and after a marginal win, were again invited to their leader's apartment. They accepted, and found it to be in a fairly distant but very quiet neighbourhood; the building was fairly small, but it looked very nice, with floors of wood. The apartment itself was strange to their eyes, with five chambers partitioned off for sleeping, for bathing, for cooking, and for eating and other activities. It made no sense to them, why the need for the partitions? They didn't ask, not wanting to show their ignorance of city ways, but couldn't help wondering.
In the main room, the Waves and the sisters managed to find places; the room was crowded, even with Aji, Ami and Ari sitting high up on the wall. The Waves' leader, Kuri, stared at the three. "Um… how are you doing that?" she asked of them.
Adi looked over to her. "When we were but children, our mother made us one with the darkness," she said in a reverent, almost ecstatic tone. "That is what covers us, the living darkness, and through it we have a tiny fraction of our Lord Father's power." The Waves looked to each other, eyes wide in what might be fear. But why? What was fearsome about their darkness?
Kuri spoke, in a very small voice. "Um… who's your lord father?" she asked, voice shaking slightly.
"Who else?" she asked, genuinely bewildered. "Who else is Lord and Master of the world?"
The Waves reach the same realization at almost the same moment, and pulled away as best they could from their guests, eyes wide and skin cold in utter terror. "Please don't hurt us…" one of them whimpered, and Ashi answered with soft words and a very confused look.
"Why would we hurt you? You're not a danger, you've committed no crime against Him."
Most of them whimpered, and closed their eyes, only Kuri and Yazu still daring to look at them. "Like what? What kind of crime?" Kuri managed to squeak out.
Adi answered that. "Heresies, blasphemies, desecration of His temple or idol, apostasy."
"Um… we haven't committed anything like that, have we?"
Ami shook her head, and spoke in what he hoped was a soft, reassuring tone. "Of course not. You're not of the Faith, so you can't be apostate, and you've never committed any heresy or blasphemy that we've seen, and you can't desecrate a temple you've never even seen."
They nodded slowly to that. "Wh-wh-what about the ones in the Dome? The ones who were trying to kill you?"
All seven of them laughed at that. "Please. The Daughters of Aku are a militant order; we prepare for the Last Battle that will end the old Law and bring the new Law," Avi told them. "Fighting us isn't a heresy or a crime, it's not even a minor sin. As long as you have a sound reason."
The Waves relaxed slightly. "So… we don't need to be scared of you?"
"No," Ari said, her tone casually dismissive. What a silly idea, scared of them. They were only dangerous to the Samurai or his followers, or to people who tried to hurt them.
Very, very slowly, the Waves relaxed. "You grew up in a temple. Have you ever heard about television?" They shook their heads. "Well, it's a way to see things that are far away, or happened long ago, or things that… oh, man. How do I explain this one? Do you know about fiction?" That got a blank look. "This is going to be hard. Sometimes, people will act like they're doing things they're not really doing," and Yazu watched for reactions.
Aji smiled in understanding almost instantly. "Like the Temple dances, where we re-enact parts of the lives of Daughters past."
"Yes, like that," she agreed. "But more elaborate, and sometimes, what people act out never actually happened, it's just something to amuse and entertain." That prompted puzzled looks. "Let me try something simple." She did something with a rectangular object, and a larger rectangular object lit up. "This is called a cartoon, drawings that change very fast so they seem to move."
The sisters watched in amazement. The pictures really did seem almost alive, and they watched as people in bright clothes came together and planned and fought and drove off a great monster. Much of it was unclear to the girls, and they weren't quite sure why the strange vehicles were needed, since the people in the bright clothing all but destroyed the monster without them, but it was still an interesting and mostly enjoyable experience.
"So what do you do to pass time?" one of the other Waves asked.
"Many things," Ari answered. "Training and practice, meditation, prayer, songs and dances. Right now, we're mastering guns, and we recently learned to read."
Yazu did more things with the object, and the large rectangle lit again. "This is karaoke, it's a way to learn new songs or practice ones you know." She made the writing change very quickly, then odd images started began to move across the screen. "This one's simple, and it's good for a large group. Just sing along when the lyrics change colour." The word "play" turned yellow, and the sounds of instruments began. When the lyrics came up, the sisters sang with the Waves. "Step we gaily, on we go, heel for heel and toe for toe," it started, and they tried to keep up. By the end of the song, the girls were hopelessly confused and had just given up, their eyes down in dejection.
"What's wrong?" Kuri asked. "That's an easy song."
Ami looked up to her. "It is…. but it's so strange! It's nothing like the Temple songs." She looked over to Adi, "Could you lead us?" And Adi did so, leading them in a sonorous, solemn, almost dirge-like song of praise and worship. By the time they were done, the Waves were clinging to each other, eyes wide and tearing.
"That's… kind of scary. You grew up on those?" Yazu asked, her tone clearly hoping for a no. But she got a nodded yes from all seven. "Yeah, let's try this again," and started the song playing once more. "Try to sing the way we sing," and the girls did their poor best. Again and again until they gave up.
"We need to go, we still have services to attend," Ashi said. "And we've made all the progress on this we can for tonight. If you like, we could come tomorrow? Just after sunset?"
Kuri smiled brightly. "Sure!" and with a certain amount of confusion, the sisters managed to file out of the room and the apartment.
.oO()Oo.
"You sure about this, Kuri?" asked Sulka, and their leader shook her head.
"No. But I think we're better off getting in good with them," she said slowly. "They're crazy Aku worshippers, but I'd rather deal with Aku worshippers who like me than Aku worshippers who don't. Especially since we're going to be going up against each other again."
"Yeah, and you got a habit of taking in strays," Yazu quipped.
Kuri looked a bit embarrassed. "Well, yeah… and can you name me any strays who need taking in more than they do?" They couldn't, and before they all went to their own apartments, they shared hugs and kisses. Yazu, Kuri and Sulka prepared for bed, undressed, and slid into the larger of their two beds, where they cuddled in a warm little pile under abundant blankets and covers.
.oO()Oo.
In the Temple, after the services, the High Priestess swept her gaze over the sisters. "Something troubles you," she said, and Ashi nodded in agreement.
"After our contest, the Waves invited us to come to their apartment, and we accepted. But when they learned we worship Aku… Mother, they were afraid of us! Why would they be afraid of us? They thought we might kill them!"
The High Priestess sighed heavily. "There are stories of little churches like ours that kidnap people and give them as offerings, or torture them and make offerings of the pain and blood, or other, similar horrors, stories helped by the fact the Samurai is a great deceiver, and has convinced all the world that he is good and Aku is evil itself. Further, the Samurai frames his destruction and devastation as liberating people from Aku's cruelty." Ashi made an interrogative sound. "If, for example, a settlement is rebellious against Aku, He would send his minions to destroy it if the people do not surrender."
"Of course," Ashi said and her sisters wordlessly echoed her agreement.
"When that happens, the Samurai might appear, lay low the minions, and claim that he has protected the settlement from Aku's evil and freed them from his tyranny."
The girls spoke in their private language, then nodded. "We'll keep our faith private from now on," Adi said, and their mother nodded approval to them.
