At Ayami's suggestion, the girls had stockpiled canned goods and dried food almost since they'd first moved in. Winter was the busiest time at the Dome, but it was also when supplies into the city were least reliable. As the snow built, the girls noticed strange decorations appearing throughout the city, ribbons of blue and silver, little displays in shop windows, and asked her about them as they sat cross-legged on the floor after a sunset service.
She sighed heavily. "This is how most people mark Winter Solstice, what we call Long Night. It's a time of feasts and celebrations, to keep the powers of evil at bay when they are at their strongest." And they regarded her with total bafflement.
Their mother took up the thread. "Though Aku is born of darkness, He is not the only thing of darkness. There are also many noxious, dangerous and evil spirits that are strongest in darkness. Our ceremonies kept them from the Temple, but here, from what Ayami says, people use other means to keep them off."
"Yes," she agreed. "Great meals called feasts, special songs, the placing of idol-like carvings that symbolize the things the powers of evil do not want to be near. Akane and I have a collection of such, and the very rich even set sacred trees within their homes and decorate them with various amulets and small idols for very strong protections. You might see some in the shopping centres, provided by wealthy merchants, or by less wealthy merchants sharing the cost."
"But why?" Adi asked. "You're of the Faith, why do you need these idols?"
Ayami sighed heavily. "Because… we are only two, and Akane is still only a child. I give Aku what reverence and offerings I can, but the proper ceremonies of Long Night, no. We simply cannot perform them." The High Priestess acknowledged that, even as Akane put her legs around her mother's waist and hugged her.
"You will be welcomed here on Long Night. You observe the fast, of course."
"Of course, High Priestess. It's almost all we can observe. And we will be here for Long Night," she promised, before she and Akane departed for their own home.
.oO()Oo.
After the sisters were asleep, Ayano addressed the High Priestess and Rika. "She raises a problem: with only twelve of us, only two adults not one with the darkness, how can we provide the normal offerings?"
The High Priestess considered the question. "We must give all we can; He will accept that. This will be hard on you, Ayano, and on Ayami, but most of all on Akane. Still, best her weakness be purged now. The weak have no place with Aku."
.oO()Oo.
After another contest, one not with the Waves, the sisters met them in one of the so-called "green rooms," and again followed them to Kuri's apartment. After simple pleasantries and the offering of hospitality, they gathered again in the main room, with the sisters taking places on the floor and walls.
Kuri looked around; she doubted she'd ever really get used to seeing that. But she glanced to Yazu and the set, and she took the hint, loading up the song from the night before. This time, the performance was rocky, but much better, and again, they went over and over it, the sisters improving every time, and by the time they called a halt, the result was almost passable. Yazu cued up another song, one that the sisters might find easier to handle. They were incredible fighters, so maybe some kind of war song. Drums rolled, pipes rang out, and the lyrics came up. "Oh, axes flash, broadswords swing, shining armour's piercing ring…" and the sisters threw themselves into the song with a fervour that was almost scarier than knowing what they could do in a fight! Yazu cued up another song, another song of conflict, but one more heroic, more uplifting. "Along the midnight road they ran, along the broad and gleaming span… "
The sisters smiled, and threw themselves into what they took to be a fanciful tale of a successful resistance against a minion of the Samurai; unprompted, Ashi took the solo part, the rest taking the chorus with surprising smoothness. When the song was done, Yazu chose a third, and when that was done, looked to Ashi, asking where they'd learned to sing so well. Since the Waves already knew of their faith, there was no reason to dissemble. "In the Temple, we learned to dance the sacred dances and to sing the songs of praise. 'Good enough' is never good enough for our Lord; only our best is a fit offering."
"I… see," Yazu said. "So whatever you do, you need to be the best?"
"Of course! In battle, any mistake is certain death, and death is our failure." It was a solid statement, a plain fact to her, given no great weight.
Yazu shuddered. What a way to grow up. "So, how long has your faith been around?"
Adi answered that. "About three thousand years. We're a small group, from as few as twenty to as many as a hundred. But now…" and she looked down, eyes bright with unshed tears. "We have a new temple, but it's not a very good one. We have an idol, but it's nothing compared to the great idol at our old temple, and living in the city means living and working entirely for our Lord is impossible, we need to work for others as well. Unless something changes, this will be the end of us."
Sulka stood up, and put an arm around her shoulder. "That sounds pretty rough. But at least you still have an idol and a temple. You haven't lost everything, and maybe you can still find a way to rebuild."
"Maybe," she sighed, and Ari sidled along the wall to hold her from the opposite side.
Another of the Waves slipped out to fetch some drinks, returning with a large platter filled with small cups from which rose a tantalizing and completely unfamiliar scent. The sisters each took a cup, as did the Waves, and sniffed cautiously at it.
"It's called cocoa," Yazu told them. "It's served hot, and it's totally appropriate to sip it carefully." The sisters did so, and their eyes went wide at the amazingly rich, sweet taste; only a lifetime of strict discipline and scant pleasure let them savour it, stretch it out. It was so amazing, so completely unlike anything they'd ever tasted before, they could find no words.
The Waves smiled at their reaction, and gave them time to just enjoy the new drink before Yazu put on another action show, carefully checking that it didn't involve samurai, much less the Samurai. This one was set in a city, and involved a martial arts master seeking to recover his stolen girlfriend, and by the end of it, the sisters were laughing out loud. Their commentary on the movie had been a bit surprising: the girlfriend's helplessness hadn't bothered them in the least, but they'd had some very biting things to say concerning the mob soldiers' fighting skills and the hero's tactical acumen.
"Are things like this real?" Ashi asked.
Kuri made an odd gesture. "Sort of. Criminal groups sometimes kidnap people to force others to comply with their wishes, but they don't often try that with people who fight like that, not that many people can."
Avi laughed at that. "Imagine if someone tried to kidnap Akane!" and the others giggled. The Waves just looked puzzled. "Akane's the daughter of a former Daughter of Aku. Her mother's trained her well." The Waves shivered a little at that. A little girl version of these girls? That was terrifying. "Thank you for having us," she said. "We look forward to the next time," and they carefully filed out the room and the apartment, then made their way back the Temple in time for midnight service.
.oO()Oo.
While they were with their new friends, their coreligionists talked. "I do not like this," Ayano said. "They should pursue their mission, not engage in this frivolity."
The High Priestess nodded. "I understand your feelings. I do not like it, but we must accept it. They will need to travel in cities as they pursue the Samurai, will they not?"
"True," Ayano said with a near sigh. "But I still do not like it. How do we know they will not lose focus, especially Ashi?"
"We must do our best," Rika said in her deep, rich voice. "Aku demands that we always make ourselves better, and that we always give all we can, but He does not demand we give more than we can." She sat cross-legged, unlike her superiors. "Have they grown weaker?" The others shook their heads. "It may be that in this place, Ashi's endless questioning is a good thing, or at least useful."
"Perhaps," the High Priestess conceded reluctantly.
.oO()Oo.
Back in their leader's apartment, the Waves spread out in the main room. "I don't know if I should be more scared of those girls or more sorry for them," their leader said slowly. The others murmured their agreement, then the team slid into a pile, holding each other close; Yazu put on some slow, soft music, and the girls slowly relaxed enough to head home or head to bed.
.oO()Oo.
At Ayami's apartment, the sisters gave their help in setting up the protective icons of the time surrounding the Long Night, and Ashi and Adi and Aji were all filled with questions. Akane giggled a bit at some, but she and her mother did their best to field the questions. "These are animals called birds, you can tell birds from all other animals because they walk on two legs and have feathers covering them," Ayami told them, and she went on to explain the meaning of the doves and their nest.
"And this a baby, with its mommy and daddy," Akane said as she set up a little scene of a man and a woman in simple clothes, bending over a piece of furniture about waist high. with curved sides, holding blankets and pillows and what they presumed to be a baby.
Ashi looked it over. "What has a 'daddy' to do with a baby?"
"And is that how babies are normally kept in the greater world?" Aji continued.
"What do you call the thing it's in?" Adi asked.
Akane gaped at them. "A daddy helps start a baby inside a mommy," in a tone of disbelief. "And most daddies help to raise the babies they start. The baby's in a cradle, and that's where most mommies and daddies keep very little babies, ones too little to move around."
"I don't think we had those," Ashi said, and Ayami confirmed that.
"They had no cradle, no pillow. Only light blankets, and that only when they were very young indeed," she told her daughter, who gaped, then looked at the girls with downturned mouth.
"That's so sad," she said, and gave Ami an impulsive hug.
Ashi looked to Ayami. "What did Akane have?"
"A simple cradle, a light blanket, though warmer than the ones you had, a proper pillow. When she was old enough, I bought for her proper futons. Light, and thin, like mine, but warm enough."
The girls nodded. "Our mats and pillows and cover are enough for us. And we've bought them for the others, and a pair of futons for Mother. As High Priestess, she's entitled to that."
Ayami smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. You need to be strong, but you deserve some comfort too. Was it hard to find bedding for Rika?"
"Very," Ari admitted. "We finally found a store that caters to off-worlders, and bought it there. She has a mat, pillow and cover in her size." They were actually property of the Temple, but who else would use them?
Each window had its hangings, each room its decoration; the normal decorations went into the closet whence the winter ones had come. The final decoration surprised the girls: a strange tree with needle-like leaves, about a metre tall, to put at the centre of the table. Aji looked closer, and after careful inspection, "It's not a real tree!"
Ayami smiled. "Yes. It's an artificial tree; I can't afford a real one, even a small one. But it's the best I can afford, and I'll be able to pass it down to Akane. Now, we need to trim it," and Akane took out a last box, revealing odd little pieces of glass and metal, some with images and some with signs. One by one, each of them took a piece, and at Ayami and Akane's instruction hung it in a certain place on the tree, creating a subtle pattern, setting a many-pointed sphere at the top.
They sat back around the table. "Thank you for your help," Ayami said.
The girls looked around, finally allowing themselves to take in the fullness of their work. The little family, the nesting doves, the elaborate six pointed stars in the windows, the red-clad man with the lamp-bearing staff and others. Only the shrine had not been decorated; the presence of the idol and the strength of the mother and daughter's prayers would keep it safe.
.oO()Oo.
The sisters returned in time for services, and took their part in the droning chant and the prostrations and the prayers. After that, they told their mother of their activities at Ayami's. "I… cannot approve of your invoking powers other than our Lord's. Yet at the same time, you are right, your prayers and your daughter's are not enough to protect your home. This is clearly a sin, and just as clearly needful, and penance is required. I must think on this matter." Ayami swallowed hard, and Akane stepped close to hold her hand. Apart from the sounds filtering through the two windows, the Temple was silent, and the atmosphere grew thick with tension. After an uncertain interval, the High Priestess spoke. "For as long as these supplemental protections are in place, you and Akane must live under the strictest of Temple discipline. You will spend as much time as possible in your apartment, forgo your bedding, wear only your prayer clothes in your apartment. Your meals will be of the simplest, and your bathing will use only cold water. You will follow the full prayer schedule, including your sunset prayer with us."
Ayami nearly collapsed with relief as she went to her knees, and tugged Akane down with her; the girl followed her mother's lead, and lowered her head. "Thank you for your mercy, High Priestess. It will be as you say." Happily, she was planning to be mostly closeted anyway, working on her next painting. It would still be a hardship, but not an excessive financial hardship.
.oO()Oo.
"Mommy," Akane asked, "what did we do wrong?" She watched her mother close the curtains, and turn on a single, small light, the one in the red-dressed man's statue. Her mother put her clothes in the hamper, and told her to do the same, and she obeyed. Then her mother sat before the table, and patted the floor beside her.
"To put our faith in anyone but Aku," she explained, "is a sin. Yet at the same time, the High Priestess understands that that we two cannot raise enough power in prayer to protect our home, so must supplement His protection. But however needful, it is still a sin, and we must do penance for that. So, we have to do a bad thing, but it's still a bad thing. Do you understand?"
Akane frowned in thought. "Sort of, I think. So we're going to sleep on just the floor?"
"Yes," she confirmed. "But we'll have pillows, and keep the curtains closed to keep in the heat, and if you like, we can share a room. The High Priestess said strictest discipline, but that still allows pillows. Even the Blessed Daughters were allowed stones on which to rest their heads. This will be hard, but endurable." Akane looked down, not trying to hide her sadness.
