Fireminer: I've always been a little biased towards Shigure/Mitama. I think they complement each other quite well (artists with different approaches to their craft, contrasting personalities etc). That said, he has a lot in common with Soleil too. Sophie and Nina would be my personal runner-ups for him.
The Apocryphal One: Big brother will have his vengeance one day, rest assured... just as soon as the cute sleepy poet excuses herself from his shoulder.
Word count: 1,826 words.
.11 - Shigure and Tiny Mothers
Kana was a simple child, if something piqued her curiosity, she would poke and prod at it until she either understood it, bored herself of it, or became distracted by something else entirely. As a bubbly, bright-eyed youth, Kana brimmed with boundless childlike wonder, and nothing enabled that fanatical fascination more than a foreign world a few thousand scattered outrealms or so away from home. Under the regal mystique of the Askran banner, everyone and everything was a point of interest, and Kana found herself more than a little excited for the change in scenery. The kingdom was infamous for its siphoning of all manner of might from any outrealm the local Summoner could lock his dilapidated eyes on, meaning every day brought someone new for Kana to sink her inquisitive little fangs into.
"Mamaaaaa!"
"Mama...?"
Someone new—or someone familiar.
"See, see? I told you, big brother! I told you!" Kana huffed with pride, breathlessly scurrying back the way she came to tug Shigure along. "It's mama! Tiny mama! Just like I said! Come on, come on! You're always so slow! Turtles are faster than you!"
"Settle down Kana, you've been told countless times not to run in the halls. This isn't a race."
"Well it should be! There's an itty-bitty little mama just around the corner and you're giving snails a run for their money! Are you even the teeniest bit excited or what?"
"No more than usual, I'm afraid."
This wasn't the first time the little dragon dragged her brother out from his makeshift den of unfinished artistry to welcome a new hero, nor would it be the last. Shigure could only sigh, for it seemed even an alternate world could not keep his sister from showing him every little thing that garnered her easily attained attention. Their trips were unpredictable if anything, from meeting amicable heroes of legend to cackling sorcerers whose greetings were not kind so much as mad rantings with a side of death and despair. They would even stumble across people from their own world on occasion, be it one of their many aunts and uncles, the retainers who served them, or on rarer occasions, one of the other children from the Deeprealms. Nina was the most recent in that regard and had Kana grinning from ear to ear as she was summoned, though the archer herself was far more happy to see Shigure, her nostrils billowing with steam and a rivulet of blood as she pressed the artist for the whereabouts of his male confidants and whether he would be regaling with them in any barrel-heavy rooms anytime soon. To her miasmic dismay, the samurai and fashionista necessary for such a boy-laden jamboree were nowhere to be found.
But that was then and this was now, and Shigure was all but certain that his sister's eyes were playing tricks on her.
"Are you sure you aren't simply mistaking this girl for someone else, Kana? Honestly now, a 'tiny mother'? Whoever she is, I wager she must still be in disarray from her summoning. The last thing she needs right now is someone like you adding further confusion into the mix—"
"Um.. Are you talking about me?"
It was near instantaneous. As soon as he saw her, Shigure froze dead in his tracks, his eyes wide open and lips slightly ajar as his geyser of conviction desiccated in record time. He was—in a word—dumbstruck and looked as if he had seen a ghost, and he may as well have considering the girl addressing him bore so many of his mother's key characteristics it was borderline uncanny to an almost supernatural degree. His cognizance bowed out for only a moment before returning to him in the form of a shocking interjection that would sound ridiculous were it uttered in any other context.
"M-Mother..." he called in disbelief, visibly shaken. "You've shrunk!"
"And so has my grail hoard," the Summoner bemoaned from the sidelines, his interest less than microscopic. "What a waste. Alright, see you losers. Play nice—or don't. I don't care."
"Thank you Mister Summoner!" Kana waved as Shigure diligently rubbed his eyes to reassure himself that he wasn't dreaming. "See, big brother? I told you tiny mama was real! So real, so tiny, and so cute! Just like me, heehee!"
The summoned girl fidgeted in place but otherwise remained quiet. Such attention and praise was as new to her as the ground beneath her feet, and she wasn't sure if she liked it.
Although Kana was more than willing to accept their little dash of serendipity with a big toothy grin, Shigure was still in the coping phase. It was as though he was staring into a mirror—or rather, a living portrait from a bygone era. Her hair, her eyes, her reservation, her hauntingly familiar pendant—everything about the girl struck a chord within him that resonated with the image of the woman who welcomed him into the world. Even her clothes seemed like a more child-fitting approach to his mother's usual attire, and if that didn't give her identity away, then her lack of footwear certainly did.
"Goodness..." the artist breathed. "The Summoner's truly outdone himself this time, hasn't he?"
His stupor waning and sense returning, Shigure knelt down to meet the girl, who naturally shied away from the stranger's advances. "My sincere apologies for the outburst, that was rude of me. I'm sure you have as many questions for us as we have for you."
Shigure was met not with a response but with a tome, a dour lexicon with which the shy girl hid behind with an uncertain squeak.
"Eh?" Kana tilted her head. "That's not a very good hiding spot, you know! I can still see you!"
"Ha, there's no need to be afraid," the artist chuckled with a shake of his head. "I promise you're in good company, trust me. My name is Shigure, and this bundle of energy is my younger sister, Kana. It's a pleasure to meet you, ah..."
Shigure trailed off, an intentional strategy on his part.
"... Azura," the girl muttered reservedly, hugging her tome to her chest. "I'm a princess of Nohr..."
"Azura?" Shigure's eyes widened, though he opted to keep the conversation going rather than risk scaring her with emotional baggage she was less than ready to be faced with. "What a lovely name, and you're also a princes—?"
"Ahhhhh! A princess?! That's so cool!"
"Augh! K-Kana, please!"
Shigure grunted as Kana clamped her hands on his shoulders, bounding over him in a single hyperactive leap that sent him tumbling.
"I'm a princess too! Really, I am! That means we can be princess friends, mama!" Kana boasted excitedly, clasping Azura's hands with all the awe in the world glistening in her eyes. "And Nohr! Nohr! I know where that is! I do! It's a little dingy and gloomy and sad but I've been there before! That's even more reason we should be princess friends! Uwaah! I wish we were there right now! Auntie Elise showed me this store one time we were out shopping—they have the prettiest little flowers in the world! You'd love it! Your frown would turn upside-down in a jiff if you saw it!"
Shigure groaned as he picked himself off the ground, clutching his temples as he observed the two girls interacting. 'Gods, it's as mystifying from a distance as it is up close.' he thought to himself. 'But even so, how in the world did this... She called herself Azura and cited Nohr, didn't she? There can be no doubt about it then... If the Summoner's power is to draw people from other worlds, who's to say that he cannot pull from worlds steeped in different periods of time? A version of our world—wherein the past we've already endured is her unfolding present. Mother...'
"Flowers?"
"Yup! Auntie Elise even showed me how to make necklaces with them! I can show you too if you want, mama!"
'Is this really what you looked like in your youth?'
"Mama," Azura mumbled, the small inkling of a smile on her face petering as she uttered the word. "You keep calling me that, but I'm not old enough to be anyone's mama... We've never even met before today..."
"Ehehehe," Kana giggled. "Mama is still mama, no matter how big or small she is—simple as that! I can't sing as good as you do, but the color of my hair should be enough proof! Oh, no wait, even better! Mama just got back from today's raid, didn't she big brother? I could take you to her myself! Then you'll see!"
"Ah, Kana," Shigure interrupted. "Perhaps it would be wise to explain everything else to her first—such as where she is, for starters. Please, quite literally anything else before things like that."
"I'm gonna! Hold your horses, big brother!" Kana puffed her cheeks. "Okay mama, listen loud and clear. So we're all very, very, very far away from Nohr, and basically this is a magic place where anything can happen, anyone from anywhere can appear at any time, and your wildest dreams can come true!"
Shigure nearly hit the ground again.
"A place... where dreams can come true?" Azura spoke in disbelief, her eyes filled with just a little bit of the same hopeful spark that had taken Kana. "It's a little strange, but I understand... Yes, I'll be your princess friend then, um, if that's okay... Are the people here nice?"
"Yup! Everyone's friendly! I'll show you around! I was a little scared myself at first, but you'll get used to it quick! We can meet mama, papa, all of the others! I've got friends who'd love to meet you too! There's Fae, Myrrh, Nowi, Tiki! They're all dragons and—oh! That's another thing! I'm a dragon too! Rawr!"
"D-Dragon..!?" Azura gasped.
"Please Kana," Shigure pleaded. "You're going to make her head spin at this rate..."
Alas, Kana was already well on her way back to the barracks, holding Azura's hand and guiding her along the way. "Who do you want to see first?" she asked. "We have to meet my mama no matter what, but papa's cool too! Um, ummmm, oh! There's a new dragon—I think her name is Idunn—that was summoned a few days ago! She's a little quiet, but maybe if I ask real nicely she can be my big sister! What could happen? It can't go as bad as the time I asked Mister Grima to be my friend! Heehee! He was so mad!"
Shigure sighed for the second time that day, ignored with his head hanging low as though the final spotlight had shut off on the stage, leaving him in total darkness.
"I suppose now I can get Nina's portrait done..." he said to no one in particular. "Though I'll definitely have to talk to her about the 'modeling' I promised in return..."
