Chapter 13: The Water of Life
Ashura had never heard Yamato scream in quite the way he was screaming now. Dragged carelessly in Yasha's left hand, he scraped the ground, leaving a trail of blue flames in his wake. Ashura stared in paralyzed fascination at the surreal light. Ashuric flames. Yasha had inherited more than a bloodline. He was so close now that Ashura could smell his sweat. Possessed, he was. Suddenly his hands rested heavily on Ashura's shoulders, and Ashura looked into that single fathomless eye and saw what Shuki had seen. "Yasha..."
Suddenly a lithe figure flashed out of the darkness, colliding with Yasha so hard that the tall warrior was knocked from his feet. As he rose, Tenou backhanded him with all his might, setting him reeling. "YOU!" the Emporer spat. "How dare you--!"
Yasha got up. His eye was blood-crimson and he growled, lungeing for Tenou. Ashura screamed. Tenou ducked and struck Yasha a mighty blow with the flat of his sword and Yasha was down in the dust. Tenou put one foot on the small of his back. "Why?!" he demanded.
"Tenou! Tenou, wait!" Ashura was kneeling at Yasha's other side, Shurato in hand. "This isn't Yasha's fault! It's mine!"
"Get out of the way," Tenou said tightly. "If he makes one more move he's going to get hurt."
"Leave him alone!" Ashura spat back, brow turning dark. Shurato hissed. But then Yasha uttered a small sound and both twins turned to him in astonishment. Yasha was weeping.
Stunned, Tenou stepped back and stood motionless as Ashura lay down Shurato and tried to wipe away Yasha's tears with unsteady hands. "Yasha--! Yasha, be strong, do not weep! Y-- Yasha?"
"Oh, Gods, Ashura... What have I done...? What is happening to me...?"
"You did nothing! Nothing, Yasha, you did not hurt me! I know what it was. No, listen, I know!" Ashura glanced up at Tenou's white face and tried to explain to the both of them. "When we were in the kekkai, we shared body and blood. You are part of me now. That means Black Ashura is part of you."
Yasha was picking himself up slowly. "Why did you not defend yourself?"
Ashura was crying now too. "I would never hurt my Yasha...!"
They knelt together, holding onto one another as though a windstorm were trying to sweep them away.
After awhile Yasha's tears ceased. His eye was dull and lifeless, in a way more frightening than its previous madness. "Ashura... If there were one other in this world whom you loved like me... One other who could save you... I would kill myself now."
"No! Put away that thought and do not think it again! There is no other!"
Tenou hunkered down beside them and Ashura glanced to him. "Now that this has happened to Yasha-ou... What do we do...?" the Emporer asked, rather helplessly.
Ashura held Yasha close and stroked the nape of his neck thoughtfully. "What I did to save him cannot be undone. Our bodies, our flesh, were shared, and he was changed. I feel different too. Like something has been taken from me."
"It is your dark side," Yasha whispered hoarsely. "It dwells in me now. I am fighting it as I speak. Ashura...! How have you gone for so long living with this...?"
Ashura kissed Yasha's hair lovingly. "I will show you."
Yasha said nothing more but leaned against the other wearily, feeling Tenou's thoughtful eyes upon him. "Do you think he can control it, Ashura?"
"Yes. Please, brother, pick up our swords and hold the blades together."
Tenou picked up Yamato first, then, more gingerly, Shurato, wincing as the hilt writhed a little in his grasp. As the two blades met they synchronized in pitch and Yasha gave a slow sigh of relief as the demons fled to the dark depths of his consciousness. Shurato's light was no longer golden, but pure and clear. Her brilliance wiped everything clean.
"For as long as our swords are together, Yasha will be able to rest," Ashura said. "I... did not know that it would be this way... I am so sorry, Yasha!"
"You saved my life," Yasha said, letting Ashura steady him as he climbed slowly to his feet. "Do not regret that! But will Shurato stay with Yamato long enough for me to gain the strength to hold back this darkness?"
"Of course she will. They are lovers, after all."
Ashura led Yasha back slowly into the house, bending with unselfconscious grace to pick up the torn silk robe. "Lay the swords in the cloth, brother. Yes... We will wrap them together and place them thus, by our bed... It's all right, Yasha. Now you can sleep. When morning comes, Shurato will return to me, but you will be strong again; for Black Ashura's power is worst in the night."
"...Yes." Yasha was reclining on the cushions, Ashura wrapped around him. "Shurato will be my light. Ashura... You truly feel no more of the dark in you?"
"I am free." Ashura's words were nearly a whisper, triumphant, unbelieving. "You have freed me, Yasha!"
Tenou covered them with a blanket and retreated to the doorway. "I will guard you for the rest of the night, beloveds." But Yasha was already asleep.
"Thank you, Tenou," Ashura whispered.
* * *
When morning came, Yasha woke suddenly, knowing that Shurato had vanished back into the heart of her master. He stretched and sighed. His sleep had been heavy, deep and dreamless; he felt rested for the first time since his ten-year hibernation, able to withstand the demons of the day. He rolled over and found himself looking into golden eyes.
"Better, Yasha?"
"Much better, love. How did you know what to do...?"
Ashura smiled a slow smile. "Remember the snowstorm in Alaka?"
Tenou was waiting for them, having prepared a breakfast of fruits and breads. "I realized in the night where you could both live and be happy," he said. "Where we could still see each other from time to time! It's perfect!"
"Then let us go there without delay," said Yasha, sitting tall. His eye sparkled now. Ashura glanced from one to the other, mystified. It was obvious Yasha had guessed their destination.
* * *
The vimana touched down in a high mountain meadow, scattering a flock of small birds. Jatayu left his station to help unload a large quantity of supplies: salt, jaggery and ghee, sack upon sack of rice and rice flour, clothing, blankets, and other provisions. When he was finished, he saluted Yasha and Ashura with a friendly smile and vanished back into the craft, leaving them alone with his Emporer.
Tenou sighed and scanned the sky. "It won't rain anytime soon," he said. "The monsoons will come late this year, Shuki told me. You should have weeks yet to cut some trees and build a house. But don't build too near the stream--" he pointed. "In high summer it will become a torrent as the sun melts the glaciers above, and the monsoons will do the same."
"Tenou..." Ashura said in wonder, leading them slowly down to the water's edge. "All the sand is gold! Is this the Water of Life?"
"I don't know. This mountain is a world all its own... Oh, I will miss you so, Ashura!"
Ashura turned quickly. "It's not forever! You said so."
"Yes I did. Yasha-ou?"
"Tentei." Yasha inclined his head.
"When your Yama reaches the Age of Succession, I intend to take the path of renunciation. There is no better place for that than here on Meru."
"You are welcome, of course, to dwell with us whenever you wish."
"Tenou--" Ashura started forward, then stopped. "Yasha? Please-- I need to talk to my brother alone."
Yasha bowed and stepped back. "Farewell for now, my Emporer-- and thank you."
From a distance he stood and watched as Ashura, taking both Tenou's hands in his, spoke earnestly to the Emporer. Tenou embraced his twin long and hard, kissing Ashura's forehead, replying just as earnestly. At last he sent Ashura back to Yasha-ou, and with a final wave he stepped into the vimana and was gone.
Ashura ran into Yasha's arms, sobbing a little. Yasha did not say anything, but merely held, until Ashura spoke in reply to his silence. "Yasha... I told him about the Ashura child. I couldn't help myself, I didn't want him to leave my child unprotected... Did I do wrong?"
"I don't think so," Yasha replied thoughtfully. "Shuki probably has already told him, and if not, this gives him time to work out a plan. He may be Emporer, but he will not harm Shuki or her children. That I can promise you. Whether he can prevent others from harming them is something else... But I believe he can."
"Yasha... I don't want Shuki to come here, ever. But I didn't tell him that, I couldn't, even though that's what I'm afraid will happen."
"I know."
"You do like her, don't you."
"I respect her, Ashura. She is a very brave woman. She knows that by bearing an Ashura, she may be forced into exile-- and forced to leave her Yama behind as well."
"Yama! Oh, Yasha, I didn't think--"
"Hush. Tenou will care for him if it comes to that. Shuki knows that too. It's out of our hands now, love. Shhh... Don't weep over the future. Ours cannot be brighter."
"But Yasha, if Shuki is exiled it will leave Tenou and Yama with only Shaunakaa as miko!"
"Not necessarily. Ashura, you must trust Tenou. He will know what to do. Now come. Help me carry these things to a place where the night dew will not ruin them."
* * *
Mount Meru's heights were rich and verdant at even ten thousand feet above the plains of Tenkai. Every tree and fruit to be found in the lower jungles grew there, as well as many kinds that were native only to the sacred mountain. A sweet spinach leaf that fulfilled all hunger flourished under their shade, along with a thousand other vegetables and herbs. Wild rice grew in every marshy spot, and though there was a profusion of wildlife Yasha sensed rightly that on Meru, meat was not to be touched. Garnets were to be found strewn about in every stream and stone, but only the stream below the little house ran with sands of gold, and though Ashura and Yasha felt no different when they drank from it, it seemed to them that indeed it was the Water of Life.
Their little house was built, and thunderclouds far away on the horizon spoke of the monsoons coming; but for now the sun still shone on the mountain, and Yasha and Ashura lay in silence by the stream on a mossy ledge. The moss was thick and soft and slightly damp.
At last Ashura ventured: "I think Kama's book is good. Don't you?"
Yasha snorted softly, but in the next instant he found himself caught in the spell of Ashura's glance-- two pools more golden than the golden sands beside them that glittered in the sun. Ashura's voice had dropped to a husky whisper. "Yasha. I need you more than ever now. I need your darkness... Please. It is time."
Yasha said nothing, only moving after a moment to pull Ashura into a long, deep kiss, parting those sweet lips to gently tongue the sensitive roof of his lover's mouth. Ashura moaned and clung to him, Yasha's gentle, big hands carefully unknotting the other's belt and pulling the outer shirt of gauzy cotton off over Ashura's head. Ashura laughed softly as a sudden breeze blew the cloth back into Yasha's face, and he smiled, removing the loose under-tunic next so that his beloved's beautiful body was revealed to the sky. Ashura touched him with the same wonder that he remembered from their first loving, that summer in Alaka beneath the cherry tree. "Soon, Yasha, soon you really will be mine..."
"I am always yours," Yasha murmured, and lifted Ashura gently up, his love clinging to him like a vine around a tree, sliding slowly down until Yasha was touching the most mysterious of all Ashura's secrets... Their gazes were almost level with one another and Ashura's eyes were as bright as the gold in Meru's streams. There was no need for much love-play; Ashura's skin was already flushed and beaded with excited sweat. Yasha entered as smoothly and easily as a polished sword home into its sheath. The hidden rose of his dreams was a rose indeed, and Ashura uttered a triumphant cry of possession. "Yasha... It is good!"
It was better than good, they soon discovered. Hidden inside the lissom form that Yasha had never dared to touch was every pleasure ever known by god or man. Perhaps it was another gift of Kama; perhaps the magic of Meru intensified it; perhaps it had been there all along. It did not matter. Beyond bliss, Yasha revelled in Ashura's sweet screams of pleasure as they loved and loved again, rising together to heights nothing else could ever match.
* * *
Autumn waned; the monsoons passed; a new summer came, and in Upper Zenmijou Shukidevi called her brother to her side. "Tenou-sama," she said. "See what I have borne!"
Tenou looked, and scratched his head in astonished perplexity at the perfect Ashura twins she held in her arms.
"Two of them!" Yama said in disgust by the side of the bed.
"Do not worry, Yama!" said Tenou. "They will not be here for long-- that is, if you can keep quiet about their birth."
Shuki paled; even Yama's eyes widened.
"Sister," said Tenou. "Who was midwife here?"
"N- no one," she stuttered, clutching her babies protectively. "I'm not stupid. I bore them by myself."
"Good. They were stillborn then. Two Yama children."
"Oh-- Tenou, Tenou, please--"
He interrupted her. "You will stay in seclusion and nurse them until they are strong, and then, Shuki, I will take them to Meru and leave them there. After all," he continued, suddenly smiling, "I think Yasha and Ashura would like to have children. Don't you? Yasha will make such a good father."
Shuki smiled then too, a little sadly, glancing from son to daughter. "Yes. He most certainly will." She looked back up. "Tenou, it was like a dream... So fleeting."
"I know." He lay a hand on her hair. "But when you feel despondent, remember this: You achieved your love."
"And what shall I do now?"
"Go on. Don't look back. Help me turn your Yama here into a just Emporer-- one who will love his little brother and sister. One who will not scorn an Ashura."
"That will be hard."
"But necessary. The world is changed because of you. Great clans are reborn. Some day these two will come down off the mountain to have children of their own. They must find a new world, a world that does not hate Ashuras. Can you do this for Yasha? Can you change the world again?"
She drew a deep breath. "For Yasha, I think I could do anything... Thank you, Tenou."
Ashura had never heard Yamato scream in quite the way he was screaming now. Dragged carelessly in Yasha's left hand, he scraped the ground, leaving a trail of blue flames in his wake. Ashura stared in paralyzed fascination at the surreal light. Ashuric flames. Yasha had inherited more than a bloodline. He was so close now that Ashura could smell his sweat. Possessed, he was. Suddenly his hands rested heavily on Ashura's shoulders, and Ashura looked into that single fathomless eye and saw what Shuki had seen. "Yasha..."
Suddenly a lithe figure flashed out of the darkness, colliding with Yasha so hard that the tall warrior was knocked from his feet. As he rose, Tenou backhanded him with all his might, setting him reeling. "YOU!" the Emporer spat. "How dare you--!"
Yasha got up. His eye was blood-crimson and he growled, lungeing for Tenou. Ashura screamed. Tenou ducked and struck Yasha a mighty blow with the flat of his sword and Yasha was down in the dust. Tenou put one foot on the small of his back. "Why?!" he demanded.
"Tenou! Tenou, wait!" Ashura was kneeling at Yasha's other side, Shurato in hand. "This isn't Yasha's fault! It's mine!"
"Get out of the way," Tenou said tightly. "If he makes one more move he's going to get hurt."
"Leave him alone!" Ashura spat back, brow turning dark. Shurato hissed. But then Yasha uttered a small sound and both twins turned to him in astonishment. Yasha was weeping.
Stunned, Tenou stepped back and stood motionless as Ashura lay down Shurato and tried to wipe away Yasha's tears with unsteady hands. "Yasha--! Yasha, be strong, do not weep! Y-- Yasha?"
"Oh, Gods, Ashura... What have I done...? What is happening to me...?"
"You did nothing! Nothing, Yasha, you did not hurt me! I know what it was. No, listen, I know!" Ashura glanced up at Tenou's white face and tried to explain to the both of them. "When we were in the kekkai, we shared body and blood. You are part of me now. That means Black Ashura is part of you."
Yasha was picking himself up slowly. "Why did you not defend yourself?"
Ashura was crying now too. "I would never hurt my Yasha...!"
They knelt together, holding onto one another as though a windstorm were trying to sweep them away.
After awhile Yasha's tears ceased. His eye was dull and lifeless, in a way more frightening than its previous madness. "Ashura... If there were one other in this world whom you loved like me... One other who could save you... I would kill myself now."
"No! Put away that thought and do not think it again! There is no other!"
Tenou hunkered down beside them and Ashura glanced to him. "Now that this has happened to Yasha-ou... What do we do...?" the Emporer asked, rather helplessly.
Ashura held Yasha close and stroked the nape of his neck thoughtfully. "What I did to save him cannot be undone. Our bodies, our flesh, were shared, and he was changed. I feel different too. Like something has been taken from me."
"It is your dark side," Yasha whispered hoarsely. "It dwells in me now. I am fighting it as I speak. Ashura...! How have you gone for so long living with this...?"
Ashura kissed Yasha's hair lovingly. "I will show you."
Yasha said nothing more but leaned against the other wearily, feeling Tenou's thoughtful eyes upon him. "Do you think he can control it, Ashura?"
"Yes. Please, brother, pick up our swords and hold the blades together."
Tenou picked up Yamato first, then, more gingerly, Shurato, wincing as the hilt writhed a little in his grasp. As the two blades met they synchronized in pitch and Yasha gave a slow sigh of relief as the demons fled to the dark depths of his consciousness. Shurato's light was no longer golden, but pure and clear. Her brilliance wiped everything clean.
"For as long as our swords are together, Yasha will be able to rest," Ashura said. "I... did not know that it would be this way... I am so sorry, Yasha!"
"You saved my life," Yasha said, letting Ashura steady him as he climbed slowly to his feet. "Do not regret that! But will Shurato stay with Yamato long enough for me to gain the strength to hold back this darkness?"
"Of course she will. They are lovers, after all."
Ashura led Yasha back slowly into the house, bending with unselfconscious grace to pick up the torn silk robe. "Lay the swords in the cloth, brother. Yes... We will wrap them together and place them thus, by our bed... It's all right, Yasha. Now you can sleep. When morning comes, Shurato will return to me, but you will be strong again; for Black Ashura's power is worst in the night."
"...Yes." Yasha was reclining on the cushions, Ashura wrapped around him. "Shurato will be my light. Ashura... You truly feel no more of the dark in you?"
"I am free." Ashura's words were nearly a whisper, triumphant, unbelieving. "You have freed me, Yasha!"
Tenou covered them with a blanket and retreated to the doorway. "I will guard you for the rest of the night, beloveds." But Yasha was already asleep.
"Thank you, Tenou," Ashura whispered.
* * *
When morning came, Yasha woke suddenly, knowing that Shurato had vanished back into the heart of her master. He stretched and sighed. His sleep had been heavy, deep and dreamless; he felt rested for the first time since his ten-year hibernation, able to withstand the demons of the day. He rolled over and found himself looking into golden eyes.
"Better, Yasha?"
"Much better, love. How did you know what to do...?"
Ashura smiled a slow smile. "Remember the snowstorm in Alaka?"
Tenou was waiting for them, having prepared a breakfast of fruits and breads. "I realized in the night where you could both live and be happy," he said. "Where we could still see each other from time to time! It's perfect!"
"Then let us go there without delay," said Yasha, sitting tall. His eye sparkled now. Ashura glanced from one to the other, mystified. It was obvious Yasha had guessed their destination.
* * *
The vimana touched down in a high mountain meadow, scattering a flock of small birds. Jatayu left his station to help unload a large quantity of supplies: salt, jaggery and ghee, sack upon sack of rice and rice flour, clothing, blankets, and other provisions. When he was finished, he saluted Yasha and Ashura with a friendly smile and vanished back into the craft, leaving them alone with his Emporer.
Tenou sighed and scanned the sky. "It won't rain anytime soon," he said. "The monsoons will come late this year, Shuki told me. You should have weeks yet to cut some trees and build a house. But don't build too near the stream--" he pointed. "In high summer it will become a torrent as the sun melts the glaciers above, and the monsoons will do the same."
"Tenou..." Ashura said in wonder, leading them slowly down to the water's edge. "All the sand is gold! Is this the Water of Life?"
"I don't know. This mountain is a world all its own... Oh, I will miss you so, Ashura!"
Ashura turned quickly. "It's not forever! You said so."
"Yes I did. Yasha-ou?"
"Tentei." Yasha inclined his head.
"When your Yama reaches the Age of Succession, I intend to take the path of renunciation. There is no better place for that than here on Meru."
"You are welcome, of course, to dwell with us whenever you wish."
"Tenou--" Ashura started forward, then stopped. "Yasha? Please-- I need to talk to my brother alone."
Yasha bowed and stepped back. "Farewell for now, my Emporer-- and thank you."
From a distance he stood and watched as Ashura, taking both Tenou's hands in his, spoke earnestly to the Emporer. Tenou embraced his twin long and hard, kissing Ashura's forehead, replying just as earnestly. At last he sent Ashura back to Yasha-ou, and with a final wave he stepped into the vimana and was gone.
Ashura ran into Yasha's arms, sobbing a little. Yasha did not say anything, but merely held, until Ashura spoke in reply to his silence. "Yasha... I told him about the Ashura child. I couldn't help myself, I didn't want him to leave my child unprotected... Did I do wrong?"
"I don't think so," Yasha replied thoughtfully. "Shuki probably has already told him, and if not, this gives him time to work out a plan. He may be Emporer, but he will not harm Shuki or her children. That I can promise you. Whether he can prevent others from harming them is something else... But I believe he can."
"Yasha... I don't want Shuki to come here, ever. But I didn't tell him that, I couldn't, even though that's what I'm afraid will happen."
"I know."
"You do like her, don't you."
"I respect her, Ashura. She is a very brave woman. She knows that by bearing an Ashura, she may be forced into exile-- and forced to leave her Yama behind as well."
"Yama! Oh, Yasha, I didn't think--"
"Hush. Tenou will care for him if it comes to that. Shuki knows that too. It's out of our hands now, love. Shhh... Don't weep over the future. Ours cannot be brighter."
"But Yasha, if Shuki is exiled it will leave Tenou and Yama with only Shaunakaa as miko!"
"Not necessarily. Ashura, you must trust Tenou. He will know what to do. Now come. Help me carry these things to a place where the night dew will not ruin them."
* * *
Mount Meru's heights were rich and verdant at even ten thousand feet above the plains of Tenkai. Every tree and fruit to be found in the lower jungles grew there, as well as many kinds that were native only to the sacred mountain. A sweet spinach leaf that fulfilled all hunger flourished under their shade, along with a thousand other vegetables and herbs. Wild rice grew in every marshy spot, and though there was a profusion of wildlife Yasha sensed rightly that on Meru, meat was not to be touched. Garnets were to be found strewn about in every stream and stone, but only the stream below the little house ran with sands of gold, and though Ashura and Yasha felt no different when they drank from it, it seemed to them that indeed it was the Water of Life.
Their little house was built, and thunderclouds far away on the horizon spoke of the monsoons coming; but for now the sun still shone on the mountain, and Yasha and Ashura lay in silence by the stream on a mossy ledge. The moss was thick and soft and slightly damp.
At last Ashura ventured: "I think Kama's book is good. Don't you?"
Yasha snorted softly, but in the next instant he found himself caught in the spell of Ashura's glance-- two pools more golden than the golden sands beside them that glittered in the sun. Ashura's voice had dropped to a husky whisper. "Yasha. I need you more than ever now. I need your darkness... Please. It is time."
Yasha said nothing, only moving after a moment to pull Ashura into a long, deep kiss, parting those sweet lips to gently tongue the sensitive roof of his lover's mouth. Ashura moaned and clung to him, Yasha's gentle, big hands carefully unknotting the other's belt and pulling the outer shirt of gauzy cotton off over Ashura's head. Ashura laughed softly as a sudden breeze blew the cloth back into Yasha's face, and he smiled, removing the loose under-tunic next so that his beloved's beautiful body was revealed to the sky. Ashura touched him with the same wonder that he remembered from their first loving, that summer in Alaka beneath the cherry tree. "Soon, Yasha, soon you really will be mine..."
"I am always yours," Yasha murmured, and lifted Ashura gently up, his love clinging to him like a vine around a tree, sliding slowly down until Yasha was touching the most mysterious of all Ashura's secrets... Their gazes were almost level with one another and Ashura's eyes were as bright as the gold in Meru's streams. There was no need for much love-play; Ashura's skin was already flushed and beaded with excited sweat. Yasha entered as smoothly and easily as a polished sword home into its sheath. The hidden rose of his dreams was a rose indeed, and Ashura uttered a triumphant cry of possession. "Yasha... It is good!"
It was better than good, they soon discovered. Hidden inside the lissom form that Yasha had never dared to touch was every pleasure ever known by god or man. Perhaps it was another gift of Kama; perhaps the magic of Meru intensified it; perhaps it had been there all along. It did not matter. Beyond bliss, Yasha revelled in Ashura's sweet screams of pleasure as they loved and loved again, rising together to heights nothing else could ever match.
* * *
Autumn waned; the monsoons passed; a new summer came, and in Upper Zenmijou Shukidevi called her brother to her side. "Tenou-sama," she said. "See what I have borne!"
Tenou looked, and scratched his head in astonished perplexity at the perfect Ashura twins she held in her arms.
"Two of them!" Yama said in disgust by the side of the bed.
"Do not worry, Yama!" said Tenou. "They will not be here for long-- that is, if you can keep quiet about their birth."
Shuki paled; even Yama's eyes widened.
"Sister," said Tenou. "Who was midwife here?"
"N- no one," she stuttered, clutching her babies protectively. "I'm not stupid. I bore them by myself."
"Good. They were stillborn then. Two Yama children."
"Oh-- Tenou, Tenou, please--"
He interrupted her. "You will stay in seclusion and nurse them until they are strong, and then, Shuki, I will take them to Meru and leave them there. After all," he continued, suddenly smiling, "I think Yasha and Ashura would like to have children. Don't you? Yasha will make such a good father."
Shuki smiled then too, a little sadly, glancing from son to daughter. "Yes. He most certainly will." She looked back up. "Tenou, it was like a dream... So fleeting."
"I know." He lay a hand on her hair. "But when you feel despondent, remember this: You achieved your love."
"And what shall I do now?"
"Go on. Don't look back. Help me turn your Yama here into a just Emporer-- one who will love his little brother and sister. One who will not scorn an Ashura."
"That will be hard."
"But necessary. The world is changed because of you. Great clans are reborn. Some day these two will come down off the mountain to have children of their own. They must find a new world, a world that does not hate Ashuras. Can you do this for Yasha? Can you change the world again?"
She drew a deep breath. "For Yasha, I think I could do anything... Thank you, Tenou."