A Reflections Mini-Sequel
A. V. Morgan
Part Twelve
Prince Herb was brooding at the high point of the village, his ki senses spread wide, debating whether or not to wait for Ranko and her siblings to return from the woods. Once he had realized they had disappeared, he had slipped away from the Council Hall to search for them. According to legends, Fa Shen had a unique, compelling presence to those of dragon blood, and this seemed a good a time as any to test that theory. In point of fact, once he opened his mind to spiritual perception, he had discovered a half dozen signatures immediately called to him. Two were there in the village, and easily eliminated as those of Cinnamon--in whom the siren song seemed the most diluted--and Nodoka. The remaining four were grouped together in the forest outside the village walls. Herb concluded instantly that this indicated a strategic retreat, and that the four must be conspiring together in anticipation of Herb's next move. Given their past history with Herb, it was hardly surprising that they were suspicious of him, but the question to ponder was how accurate their apprehensions were.
Herb fiddled with the long handled ladle in his hands. He had grabbed the Chisuiiton from his retainers by habit, when they moved to subdue Mousse, and slipped it into his robes. It had served no purpose in his original plans to conquer Fa Shen or Ranko, since each in her own way was immune to the threat it represented. In fact, the teens had unwittingly betrayed the fact that one of them, at least, had mastered their curse. Herb easily accepted the possibility that both Ranma and Fa Shen had managed this. That made them doubly impervious to the magic ladle. In Ranko's case, the magic of the Chisuiiton and the Kaisuifuu had somehow been imprinted on her hot-water nanniichuan curse, and testing had proven she could override either.
However, Herb had come to realize, that advantage would have been disabled by the splitting of that curse. He had realized this while pondering the question of whether Ranko was split on a temporary basis by an instant curse or if she now possessed a stacked curse. The solution to either problem, as he saw it, was to ensure she was not capable of reversing the curse. Just like that, one of his most useful weapons had been returned to his arsenal. All he needed to do was determine the best way to employ it against her.
As a weapon, the ladle had certain limitations, especially when the intended target was one of four identical individuals. The best plan called for hitting them all at once, and that meant some kind of ambush. In a fair fight, there was too high a risk of one of them getting their hands on the ladle and turning its power against Herb. Fortunately, the locking power was not in the ladle itself, but in the water it enchanted.
Herb carefully returned the bucket to the folds of his robe and slipped the ladle up his sleeve. The bucket was just a way to keep water ready for immediate use. Any body of water would serve as an extension of his weapon. He gathered his ki and lifted himself up into the air. As the dragon flies, it would only take him a few moments to close the distance between himself and the Saotomes. He knew the woods his quarry hid in held a tributary of the Yellow River. All he needed to do was pick a spot along its course to plant the ladle. The water flowing past it would become enchanted, and anyone who crossed through the water downstream would be locked without even knowing it.
The trap was easily laid. A quick reconnaissance from the air showed that his targets were gathered beside a large pool. It was perfect for his plan. All he needed to do was plant the ladle and drive the group into the water. Putting thought to action, he made a deft toss and wedged the ladle into lip of the waterfall that fed the pool. It would take less than a minute for the entire pool to be tainted by the magic.
The sound of the ladle being shot into the water and rock caught the attention of the group. Ranma, both Rankos and Fa Shen's eyes were instantly turned upward to where the throw had come from, as they sprung into a defensive ring to confront whatever threatened.
"Ah, good! I have your attention," Herb announced loudly, swooping down to land on a boulder between the group of martial artists and the pool. "It was rather rude of you to ditch the formalities like that. I did not even have a chance to finish answering your question, Ranko." Naturally, he addressed his remark to the red-head in Ranko's clothes.
"Herb. You have no business accusing other people of rudeness," the other red-headed girl accused. If Herb had arrived just a little earlier, he would have caught the teens in the middle of swapping clothes and identities. Unaware of the deception, Herb did not recognize Onna-Ranko in the clothing Fa Shen had been wearing during the encounter at the gates of the village.
"Are you here to fight?" demanded the boy dressed as Ranma.
"If you like, Saotome. Now that there are four of you, I suppose the odds are finally even. But, maybe we should set some terms first?" Herb smiled.
"We know what you're after Herb," Fa Shen, in Onna-Ranko's garb, sneered, moving up beside Ranma--to Herb's eyes, Otoko-Ranko. "Just save yourself the trouble, 'cuz yer not gonna get it!"
Herb smiled and spread his arms. "Is this where you try and tell me Fa Shen is already married?" When the group of them narrowed their eyes and held their tongues, he laughed, "I see you are not surprised I know of that. That would mean you were out here plotting a response to my challenge to Ranko, correct?"
"It's not like you didn't explain yourself from the beginning," "Ranko" griped, flashing a quick signal to the others. They began to spread out to flank Herb as she warmed up her taunt, "I'm surprised you rushed right out here. I would have expected you to make a formal challenge so you could have the whole tribe as witnesses for the fight. Unless you were planning to cheat."
"Cheating is an accusation reserved for losers, Ranko. You should be ashamed," Herb taunted. "I am only here to see to it that you answer my challenge. You see, I've noticed you sometimes need some motivation to fight. I have a little present for you, something to raise the stakes."
The level of suspicion and anxiety in the Nerimans surged palpably. During the exchange of words, Herb had taken measure of everyone present, and put together the final ingredients of his trap. The two weakest fighters in the group had shifted predictably to the edges, coming in along the bank of the pool to flank his position. Herb had taken advantage of Mousse's "defection" to study up on the Nerimans, and through his own experience he could predict what would happen next. Herb launched himself straight up, shouting, "What do you say we move the non-combatants out of the way first?"
The Saotome teens took this as the opening move of combat, charging forward, leaping straight at Herb, to deliver devastating kicks or punches. The ki attack Herb had pulled his hands in to charge was split and thrown off to either side, reflecting off of random boulders to home in on Ukyo and Akane with deadly accuracy. Both of them leapt up to escape, as the two ki missiles struck where they had each been standing, and the concussion of each impact shot both of them into the depths of the pool.
Ukyo's giant spatula was torn out of her hands in the blast and tumbled artfully end over end through the air. Water exploded in the double-tap of impact and displacement around Akane and Ukyo's bodies.
Herb whipped his arm in to meet the attacks of the four Saotome's where they converged, catching the highest limb and levering it down to block the others' attacks. Herb catapulted himself over the quartet, transferring the force of his maneuver and their attacks to send them all off balance into the pool themselves. The clang of the baker's peel hitting the rocks mixed in with the second crash of bodies into water. Shampoo and Ryouga were both right there to meet him as he sailed past the red heads. The lost boy closed and delivered four massive body blows and an uppercut as Shampoo whirled in from his other side with her bonbori to cut Herb's legs out from under him and catch him head-wise as he rebounded from Ryouga's final blow.
Herb managed to twirl through the series of blows, a beautifully aerobatic "rolling-with-the-punches", and come to a decent landing on his feet, at which point he caught Ryouga's eyes and commented, "I think your friend is drowning, pig-boy."
Ryouga's eyes widened as his head snapped around to spot Akane thrashing in the water before sinking in a burble of outrage. Ryouga dove for the water without a hint of hesitation, and Herb turned to meet the second wave of red-headed assault. He jumped back to perch on another boulder and held up a warding hand. "This fight is over. You've already lost," he announced as they slowed and glared at him menacingly.
"What the hell are you talkin' about! This fight hasn't even begun!" all four Saotome teens declared hotly.
"Bit off more than you could chew, Herb!?" Ukyo taunted from the edge of the pool where she had paused to flip her drenched hair back over her shoulder while climbing out. Shampoo was gliding toward her, scooping up the giant spatula with a foot and slinging it in the chef's direction.
"Like you could ever win!" Akane choked out between coughs as Onna-Ryouga helped her to the edge of the pool.
"That depends on how you look at it," Herb replied cryptically.
"How you-? I'll tell you what it looks like! It looks like you're backin' outta the fight! What kinda game are you playin' here?" "Ranma" demanded a bit petulantly.
"This was no game. Just a prelude to the real fight. Don't worry. You'll see soon enough," With that, Herb turned on his heel and departed. The others exchanged confused looks as he made his way up stream, ascending the near shoulder the water fall, and snagging a long, thin branch while negotiating past a tree. Ranko, currently wringing out the clothes she had borrowed from Fa Shen, stared after him in suspicion. The whole confrontation had felt wrong to her. He had been up to something, but she had no clue what. Perhaps because the necessary clue was not revealed until Herb used the long branch to fish something out of the rocks at the lip of the water fall.
"What is he doing?" Otoko-Ranko asked her.
"I'm not sure," Onna-Ranko shrugged, narrowing her eyes. "It looks like he found a spoo-" Ranko went completely rigid before she finished her thought. It had hit her exactly what the object looked like. A tiny growl surged up her throat as she suddenly launched herself in Herb's direction, and grew into a shout, "What have you done, YOU BASTARD!!!?"
Herb turned to look back, waved the ladle of the Chisuiiton languidly over his head, and then vanished in a peal of laughter.
Cinnamon and Nodoka had been interrupted by Cologne's return before Nodoka was able to fully recover from the revelation that her father was in fact Lo Shen, the son--or daughter--of Pa Shen. The staggering question of how it was possible for that person to have returned after roughly fifteen-hundred years to be identified as such by Cinnamon had to be bottled up while the amazon matriarch announced that the facilities requested by Cinnamon had been prepared. It was all Nodoka could do to maintain her composure as the two of them were led to the weapon's vault next to the manor so that Cinnamon could examine it to her satisfaction. It was even harder holding her tongue while undergoing the purification Cinnamon also required before the two of them entered and sealed themselves into the vault.
"Well, I think it's safe to resume where we left off," Cinnamon announced, brushing off her hands and stepping away from the door to look at Nodoka in amusement.
"How can it be possible?" Nodoka finally demanded.
"I assume you want to know how it could be Lo Shen, after all that time?" Cinnamon asked, moving deeper into the vault to find something to perch on. As Nodoka nodded eagerly, the dragon paused and knelt down to look at a pair of casks that had been left behind when the weapons and artifacts were cleared out. She held out a hand and focused a brilliant ball of ki to illuminate the handwritten labels on the casks. "Hmmm. How interesting. I wouldn't expect to find something like this in an amazon vault."
"What is it?" Nodoka asked, faintly irritated by the distraction.
"It appears to be water from the Nanniichuan," Cinnamon pointed out, holding her hand so that it shed light for Nodoka to read by.
"Oh, that," Nodoka laughed dismissively. "Those are my children's. One is for my worthless husband to cure his curse, and the other is a gift for Ukyo Kuonji. I confess, I do not particularly wish either of them to get their hands on that stuff. Just having it around is too dangerous. I don't know how we will get them to Japan without causing some disaster."
"I see." Cinnamon blinked in thought. "Am I correct that this Ukyo is a girl? Why would she want a curse that would turn her into a man?"
"It's sort of complicated," Nodoka winced. Cinnamon gave her an insistent look, so Nodoka composed herself and told the shameful tale. "My husband made an arrangement with her father to engage her to Ranma, never intending to honor it. As a result, he abandoned her after stealing her dowry, which led her to forsake her womanhood. She was raised as a boy, training to take revenge on my husband and son, except, when she discovered my son had believed Ukyo was a boy all along and knew nothing of the engagement, she seems to have fallen in love with him. She decided to pursue the original engagement, hoping this would allow her to regain her womanhood. Unfortunately, with my so… well the curses all three of my children have, Ukyo believes a curse of her own is necessary for them to chose her, and if they did not chose her, her honor requires her to live out her life as a man."
"Really? I had forgotten how over dramatic the young could be," Cinnamon laughed, sitting back resting against a crate. She studied the casks in silence for a moment, while returning to Nodoka's inquiry. "The question of Lo Shen's longevity is really answered by her heritage. Ironically, if something Pa Shen confided to me about her daughter, Fa Shen, is correct, part of the answer lies in her curse."
"Her curse?" Nodoka blinked in confusion, finding a stool behind the casks and perching on it.
"Yes. Pa Shen told me that her daughter would still have been alive if she had obeyed her mother and accepted a Nanniichuan curse. I found that an odd assertion, and asked how that would have helped her survive drowning. Pa Shen said a sex changing curse would have allowed her daughter to tap into her full creative potential and harness the abilities she should have inherited from Pa Shen."
"Creative potential?"
"Well, I didn't understand what she was saying at the time. I thought it was just the ramblings of grief. In fact, seeing that her son had died, despite having the kind of curse she proscribed, she seemed to be demoralized. It must have made her doubt her assumptions," Cinnamon pointed out. "Obviously, it turned out that Pa Shen was right, and when I realized what Pa Shen had been, I understood why."
"Go on. I have no idea where you are going with this."
"Well, phoenixes are, well, asexual. Or is that androgynous?" Cinnamon turned up a puzzled look then shrugged. "Anyway, they're kind of like plants. They can conceive sexually, to perpetuate the species, or asexually--to allow an individual to be reborn parthenogenically.
"I have to guess that being limited to one sex created some kind of obstruction of the potential Fa Shen and Lo Shen inherited from their mother. That obstacle was removed for Lo Shen when sh- he was cursed. Even then, Lo Shen did not know about the potential, so I guess it had to be jump started when she died. The funeral pyre did that. When I cremated Lo Shen, I awakened her phoenix potential, allowing for her powers to resurrect her. After that, well, I'd guess Lo Shen would be practically immortal."
"Immortal!?" Nodoka could not believe it.
"Well, you have to look at the powers of a phoenix. They are creatures of fire, so you have to look past that right off. The whole fire theme fits in with how the powers of a phoenix work or express themselves. The powers themselves are things like regeneration, rejuvenation, resurrection, reincarnation--there's that whole big theme of rebirth," Cinnamon summarized cheerfully. "I can't say if Lo Shen lived straight through those fifteen-hundred years. Only that death would be just a minor setback."
"Minor setback… That's quite an understatement," Nodoka breathed.
"Yes. I guess this is kind of overwhelming. You have to have realized that this all impacts you as much as your children," Cinnamon empathized. She took a deep breath and sighed. "I did not have a lot of time to talk to Pa Shen--or Lo Shen when she returned to ask me for some help. I had too much time to think about the things they did tell me or that I witnessed, though, and figure out what all of it meant."
"Do you mean, you guessed at what you are telling me?"
"There is some guess work, but it's informed guessing. I know for a fact that Pa Shen was a phoenix. Nothing else can explain what happened to Lo Shen, and I later confirmed the truth in the archives of the Musk." Cinnamon fixed Nodoka with a sharp searching look. "I do not need to guess at all to tell you what Lo Shen risked coming back to the Musk for."
"I thought my father came in search of a cure for his curse."
"Oh no. The problem was that Lo Shen could not master her curse. Nor did she wish to cure it. She was simply looking for a way to minimize the risk of becoming a Musk bride on her return to find me." Cinnamon stood up and began to pace as she talked. "You see, she found her mother after all. Unfortunately, there was something wrong with her. Lo Shen and her mother were able to find out what was causing the problem, but they needed certain things to fix it. Things that they could only find here.
"Pa Shen was already too ill to travel to China, so Lo Shen took it upon herself to come for her. To obtain the Kaisuifuu and water from the spring of drowned man. The first was needed, even though Pa Shen mastered her curse, because the protection against Jusenkyo's waters still persisted. Once removed, Pa Shen could take a Nanniichuan curse and repair the imbalance that was destroying her.
"Unfortunately, Lo Shen was captured before she could separate her female side and leave it somewhere safe for the raid on the Musk," Cinnamon revealed, coming to a stop and looking at Nodoka.
"Obviously, Lo Shen had adopted a different identity while she was gone. Whatever her reasons for becoming Kenshin Saotome, once she returned to China she reverted to her original name. Thus, if she was captured before she split, she could reveal the truth about her resurrection and they would presumably have to treat her as a man and member of their own tribe.
"The only way to prove her claim, unfortunately, was to die and be resurrected again. That would have made it impossible to help Pa Shen, so she retracted her claim." Cinnamon shrugged and sat down on top of a nanniichuan keg. This part of the story was already familiar to Nodoka, so she skipped ahead, "Because of Spice and his obsession, it took Lo Shen a while to break free and visit me. From me she obtained my advice on her mission and the location of the Kaisuifuu.
"Here, I hesitate to tell you in greater detail what ailed Pa Shen. If I am correct, Nodoka…" she cut herself off.
Nodoka realized she had been holding her breath. With a gasp, she shook off the spell of the story and asked, "What is wrong?"
Cinnamon sighed. "I can tell by looking at you that Lo Shen did not make it back to Pa Shen in time. Pa Shen died, and the problem was not fixed." The dragon gave Nodoka another long look, a touch of sadness and sympathy filling her eyes. "I know this, because you did not know you are Pa Shen."
It took some effort on the part of the others to calm Onna-Ranko down enough to get an explanation out of her. When she revealed that she saw Herb fish the ladle of the Chisuiiton out of the stream, and her suspicion that it had enchanted the water of the pool, they quickly heated some water from up stream and tested it on Ryouga. Once it was established that Ryouga was locked in female form, the whole group raced back to the village and prepared a hot, salt-water bath to see if the Chisuiiton did in fact prevent Onna and Otoko-Ranko from merging back together. As Herb had suspected, the ability Ranko had gained to reverse the Chisuiiton on her own was disabled by the division of her curse. Herb had permanently separated Ranko's boy and girl halves.
In desperation, the pair raced out of the bath to track down and confront Herb. The sight of the two of them streaking naked through the village, to where the Musk contingent had been settled to await the results of Cinnamon's examination of Nodoka, lured quite a crowd.
They found Herb sitting with his father, who looked up in shock at Onna and Otoko-Ranko's arrival, and shouted "Where's the Kaisuifuu!?" over the scattered mutterings about "natural red-heads".
Spice snapped his fingers at his guards, and the two closest to him whipped off their cloaks and threw them over the two teens' shoulders. "Cover yourselves," Spice instructed firmly. As they blushed and complied with the request, the emperor responded to their demand. "My son has explained his actions to me, and I am forced to agree with his assumption that permitting you to regain your masculine form would compromise your value as a bride. Also, at the time he issued his challenge to you, Ranko, you were entirely female, so it is necessary that you answer that challenge entirely as a woman."
"Forget it!" Ranko roared in stereo. Onna-Ranko stepped forward and continued, "I was split by an instant curse! I only have one shot to return to normal, and if I wait too long or expend too much ki on some stupid marriage battle, I will never be able to reverse this split!"
"That is not my problem," Spice shrugged dismissively. "If you manage to defeat my son in the challenge, you will of course be allowed to use the sacred kettle. That is the incentive Herb has given for you to meet this challenge honorably."
"That's where you're wrong! Herb knows I can't put a cure for myself at risk! He knows he's forcing me to fight at a disadvantage, so he has deliberately sabotaged the fight! If you do not fix this, I reject the challenge!"
"Then you forfeit the chance to win the use of the Kaisuifuu," Herb declared stepping forward with a triumphant grin. "Furthermore, I can always force you into combat, and if I defeat you, you will have no choice but to grant me the kiss of marriage. My challenge was merely a formality."
"Yeah!? Well, think about this," Otoko-Ranko stepped up right in Herb's face. "If I become permanently split, I'll have nothing to lose. There won't be any more holding back! I promise you, if you force me to cross that line, you will regret it!" Otoko-Ranko had to struggle to stay focused, as it struck him how protective he suddenly felt for his girl half. How inevitable it was that they would be a couple if anything prevented them from being an individual.
Herb just smirked at him. "You are no killer, Saotome. I don't care how much power you call on. Just remember, before you raise the stakes, you are expendable as far as I am concerned."
Onna-Ranko stiffened, finally realizing that Herb had intended to provoke the two of her--or rather the "him" of her--like this. It was not enough for him to just separate her from her male half. He wanted to obliterate it entirely. All he had needed to do was sucker Otoko-Ranko into his kind of fight. A fight in which Ranko might not be able to do the one thing necessary to win. In a dangerous voice, she reminded Herb, "Do not mistake me for the Ranma you knew."
Herb paused to look at her.
"I promise you, if you try one more move against me, either side of me, and I WILL kill you," she promised, grabbing her boy half and turning to march away from the Musk. Once they were out of ear shot, she grumbled, "I should have known he'd take it too far."
"Too far!?" Fa Shen shouted at her. Unnoticed by either Ranko, Fa Shen and Ranma had pursued them since they burst out of the bath. They in turn had been shadowed by their friends, a contingent of amazon warriors and the elders of the village. "For pity's sake, Ranko! He almost lured you into starting a war!"
"What?"
"She is correct, Child," Cologne pogoed up on her staff. "I was half afraid you would try to take the Kaisuifuu by force. That would have provoked a full scale battle."
"Are you kidding!?" Ranko cried in synch. "The last thing I can do right now is get into a major fight! I don't wanna remain split like this!"
Cologne chuckled. Waving the gathered warriors off, she nudged Onna and Otoko Ranko down the path to her home and noted aloud, "It was nice to see you resort to your wits instead of your fists, for a change. You should know you have the full backing of the council on your rejection of his challenge. Sabotage is indeed grounds to ignore a suitor's challenge."
"Yeah, great," Onna-Ranko suddenly deflated. "But now there's no chance of getting my hands on that damned kettle. I can't negotiate. The last thing he'll allow is for me to merge with my guy side. I can't fight, and if I steal it or have someone else try and nab it, that'll just start a war. No matter what I do, I am screwed."
The others fell silent and just walked along back to the house at that. None of them could really argue with Ranko. There seemed to be no way out of the trap. At the door to the manor, Cologne explained the need for the elders to keep a tight vigil over their guests before leaving them. Once inside, the teens gathered around the table to mull over the facts, scratching the bottom of the barrel for any idea to help Ranko, while the pair by that name wandered up to their room to get dressed. The first thing the others did was draw up a time line. Fa Shen pointed out that it had taken just under a week for her instant Nanniichuan curse to become permanent when it was locked. That was how long they had to find a solution. Less, if Ranko was forced to expend a lot of ki. After that, her cure would be shed into…
"Hey! That's it!" Fa Shen shouted, jumping up and racing upstairs.
"What?" Ranma hopped up and followed, "What are you talking about?"
"Ranko! I've got it!" Fa Shen burst into her siblings' room in excitement.
"Fa Shen?" the split-twins turned in surprise.
"You have to burn it off!" Fa Shen declared, grabbing both of them and dancing around. "If you burn off the instant curse, you can trigger it with a ki attack! You can weld yourself back together without using the Kaisuifuu!"
The other three stood stunned as they realized she was right.
"Wow. You mean do what Ryouga and Akane did, on purpose?"
"But, then I'd be stuck with a curse to split myself, and I'd lose a ki attack. Make that two, since there'd also be the reversal trigger," Onna-Ranko pointed out uncertainly. It was a painful sacrifice, but it was better than never being whole again. She frowned in thought, giving her other self a look. After a while he shrugged and she nodded. "But, I guess I could live with that."
"Um. There's one more thing," Otoko-Ranko pointed out. He leaned in close to his girl half and whispered. Her face suddenly flushed and she had to clamp her hands over her mouth to contain a scream of embarrassment and excitement. Ranma and Fa Shen gave Otoko-Ranko a curious, suspicious look, to which he shrugged and began to blush deeply himself.
"Oh. My. God," Ranma droned, mouth hanging open.
"Tell me they're not thinking…" Fa Shen turned to him.
"Well, it would help burn off the instant curse," Ranma shrugged.
Fa Shen sighed and looked at the pair. "Well, you finally got the perfect excuse. Have fun, you two," she nodded, giving them each a sly smile, then grabbed Ranma by the collar and dragged him out of the room.
"Maybe we won't mention that part to the rest, huh?"
"You think?" Fa Shen bopped him on the head.
After they settled down at the table, downstairs with the others, Ranma could not resist adding, "Herb would just die if he knew."
"Serves him right for messing with Ranko. Talk about not holding back, though," Fa Shen sniffed and reached for her tea cup. She ignored the stares of Ryouga, Akane, Ukyo and Shampoo while she blew on the hot fluid and took a sip. The weight of their attention only grew, forcing Fa Shen to glance up, and offer an enigmatic smirk. "The problem is solved."
Before anyone could drag an explanation out of her, Fa Shen jerked up in surprise and jerked her head around looking for something.
"What's wrong?" Ranma asked in instant concern.
"I thought someone just called my name," Fa Shen declared.
"I didn't hear anything…"
"Wait! There it is again!" Fa Shen leapt to her feet once again. "You must have heard that!"
"Nothing. Are you sure that's just tea you're drinking?"
Fa Shen closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment. Now that she thought about it, it felt like she was hearing the voice in her head. As she focused her attention on it, the voice grew stronger.
*Fa Shen… Come to the weapons vault… Come alone…*
"Yeah, right!" she growled aloud. Focusing her mind further, she tried to project her thoughts. According to a monk her mother once forced her to study under, Fa Shen was supposed to have a talent for this sort of thing, but it had always reminded her of the eerie manner in which the dragon Tsin-Na Minh occasionally communicated with her. *Who the hell is this!? Stop messing with my mind!*
*Who do you think it is? I am with your mother. We need to talk.*
Fa Shen grit her teeth. Alarm and terror had surged forth, as the meaning sank in. She had to force herself to remember what the dragon was here for, and try in vain to convince herself that Cinnamon was not a threat to herself or Nodoka right now. *Fine! I'll be there in a moment.* Fa Shen gave the others an apologetic look. "There's something I have to take care of. You guys stay here and keep watch. Oh, and make sure no one disturbs Ranko. Not even any of you, okay?" she instructed pointedly.
There was a round of shrugs and nods. Clueless as they were, the advice seemed practical enough. The had all seen how depressed and angry the split twins were. As long as they did not know the solution Fa Shen had come up with, or the manner in which Ranko would pursue it, hopefully a riot would not break out over it.
Fa Shen made her way out to the vault. There were sentries posted, from both the village and the visiting Musk. They parted without a word to admit Fa Shen. She slipped in through the door that opened as she approached, and paused once inside to let her eyes adjust. The moment she cleared the entrance, the door silently swung shut. Fa Shen gulped and tried to control her breathing.
"Please come closer," the eerily familiar voice of Cinnamon called out of the darkness.
"I'm fine here," Fa Shen answered stubbornly with a shudder.
There was a long suffering sigh.
"Fa Shen, please do not be rude," Nodoka reprimanded motherly.
"I promise I am not going to eat you."
"You're a little too late…" Fa Shen grumbled under her breath. Her vision had adapted enough to assure her that Cinnamon was still in human form. She strode forward and schooled her face to betray only the slightest curiosity and concern. "What did you need me for, Mother?"
"I need you to settle an argument," Nodoka announced primly.
Fa Shen arched an eyebrow. "I don't understand."
"I can explain later," Cinnamon promised. "Just tell us, do you think you would recognize your mother, that is, Pa Shen, if you encountered her today?"
Fa Shen tilted her head. That was an unexpected question. "At one point, I would have said yes," she confessed, noting that Cinnamon was perched on a cask, beside Nodoka, who rested on a stool. There was another cask free, so Fa Shen lowered herself to sit on it.
"At one point? Please explain," Cinnamon urged eagerly.
"Well, the first time I saw Ranko's mother, I thought she was my mother. Pa Shen, I mean. Only, as I saw more of her, I could tell she was a totally different person." Fa Shen noticed that at first, Nodoka paled a bit and looked away, while Cinnamon smiled, then towards the end, Nodoka sighed and Cinnamon frowned. Confused, Fa Shen asked, "What is going on?"
"Soon. I'll get to that soon. Please, tell me, in what way was Nodoka a different person to you? What exactly were your impressions, and how did you come to change your mind about your first impression?" Cinnamon persisted.
Fa Shen closed her eyes and tried to think back. Shrugging, she related, "Well, obviously, she looks like my real mom, and her presence felt so familiar, so… She FELT like my mother. Then, when she spoke, I realized she was Nodoka. I had expected her to look the way she had in Ranma and Ranko's memory. Since she was their mother, I realized that I must have been responding to their feelings for her."
"I see. So, you're saying that your senses told you Nodoka is Pa Shen, but you 'knew' that could not be right and just ignored what they were telling you?" Cinnamon phrased carefully.
Fa Shen shrugged, "I guess so."
Cinnamon turned to Nodoka and smiled in triumph, "There, does that satisfy you? She noticed it too, but talked herself out of believing it. That is why she never said anything."
Fa Shen watched as Nodoka seemed to sink into a state of shock. "Hey! What th- Mom! What did you do to her!" Fa Shen turned an angry glare on Cinnamon as she rushed over to Nodoka's side and took her hands in her own.
"I- it's alright, Dear. It's just so unbelievable. I just don't understand how it is possible. How!? I am Kenshin's daughter!" Nodoka returned to the protest she had begun her argument with. How could she be Pa Shen, resurrected phoenix or what not, if she was actually someone else's daughter?
"I don't know how," Cinnamon laughed at Nodoka. "Not exactly, that is. I have to guess. But, I can say this, Lo Shen was not pregnant when she came to see me. I doubt she ever was."
Fa Shen cocked her head and interrupted, "Wait a second. What are you talking about!?"
Nodoka sighed and turned to her daughter. "She says I am Pa Shen."
Fa Shen nearly fell over backwards. Only her grip on Nodoka's hands kept her upright. "What!? Now how is that supposed to be possible!?"
Cinnamon chuckled, "Right. That explanation you were asking for. Well, prepare yourself for a shock." With that brief warning, Cinnamon began repeating the revelations she had dropped on Nodoka. She had to pause several times to explain various bits in greater detail, or to let Fa Shen come down from another explosion, as when Cinnamon revealed that Pa Shen had been a phoenix. Finally, she made her way back to Lo Shen/Kenshin's quest. "I had to know how the Kaisuifuu and Nanniichuan water was supposed to help Pa Shen. It just seemed like such a hare-brained idea. Pa Shen should not have needed a male curse to access her powers as a phoenix, she had mastered her curse and was able to revert to her natural form at will."
"You've seen her in her natural form?" Fa Shen asked awestruck.
Cinnamon shook her head, "No. Lo Shen had. I only knew about the mastery of curses because Pa Shen had advised me on how to master my own in the brief hours we were friends."
"What exactly was wrong with Pa Shen?" Nodoka finally asked.
"Oh, that's right, I did not explain that part to you," Cinnamon realized with a start. Adjusting her perch, she thought back to the part of her story she had skipped. "According to Lo Shen, Pa Shen had remained young and vital up until the weeks before Lo Shen began her quest. She had not died and been reborn, but endured through the centuries like an immortal. She had become barren after having you, Fa Shen, and according to Lo Shen, your birth was the cause of the problem."
"My birth?" Fa Shen asked anxiously.
"Well, actually, the way you were conceived and the manner in which you died, combined."
"I don't understand," mother and daughter said together.
"It has to do with how Pa Shen's nature reacted to her curse. As a phoenix, she had the powers of regeneration, rejuvenation, resurrection and rebirth. The first two adapted to human form without pause. The third would only function in the event of death, but the last, well… After Lo Shen was born, Pa Shen unexpectedly became pregnant again. But this time, there was no father. You were conceived parthenogenically, Fa Shen," Cinnamon paused to let the girl absorb that.
"What does that mean exactly," Fa Shen asked after a moment.
"The power of rebirth is used by a phoenix to adapt to new circumstances or environments. It is a method that allows an individual phoenix to evolve. So, in simple terms, you are a reincarnation. You are Pa Shen reborn as a human being possessing the potential of a phoenix."
Nodoka blinked and cut in, "Wait. How can we both be Pa Shen?"
Cinnamon nodded, having expected that question. "In some ways, it is not that different from how one person can be split by a twins' curse. The original phoenix lives out its life while the evolved phoenix matures, and eventually, when the original dies, its soul transfers fully into the offspring. Unfortunately, Fa Shen had limitations which prevented her from realizing her potential as a phoenix, and when she died, her spirit was trapped in the spring.
"This was the cause of Pa Shen's problem," Cinnamon pointed out finally. "The process of passing on to a new, evolved form was both incomplete and interrupted. Fa Shen, conceived in the image of the woman the phoenix became, had tied up half of the creative potential Pa Shen possessed. The other half, the male half, had never been manifested."
Fa Shen and Nodoka exchanged looks, suddenly catching on, "So this is where the Kaisuifuu and the Nanniichuan curse come in. But, how exactly?"
"I do know how Pa Shen and Lo Shen figured it out, but Lo Shen told me that they had been told that Pa Shen needed to complete the process that had started with Fa Shen. Conceive, parthenogenically, a male version of Fa Shen. Thus, Pa Shen needed a male form." Cinnamon shrugged and stood up. She took a few stray steps and hypothesized, "Things would be very different now, if that had been accomplished. I suspect that time simply ran out for Pa Shen. When Lo Shen left her, she had been stuck down by rapid aging, and had begun to lose control of her ki. If she died before Lo Shen got back to her, she would have been resurrected as an infant.
"I suspect the trauma of the ordeal was so great that Pa Shen did not reawaken in the child, so she grew up ignorant of who and what she was to become you, Nodoka," Cinnamon concluded sympathetically.
"So, my father's command, that I bear a son, a man-among-men, was intended to fulfill this process of rebirth?" Nodoka asked, mystified.
"I have no idea about that. Although," Cinnamon paused thoughtfully. She gave Fa Shen a serious look. "I remember discussing the legends of Jusenkyo with Lo Shen. I had suggested that if the boy Pa Shen intended to conceive were to be dipped in the Nyanniichuan, he might be able to retrieve the spirit of Fa Shen. Remembering that Fa Shen had refused to accept a Nanniichuan curse as her mother requested, I commented that the boy had better be pretty secure in his manhood, or Fa Shen's personality would take over and she would reject the masculinity she needed to inherit her full powers."
There was a moment of silence. When Cinnamon turned around to look at the two other females, she was nailed by two very different glares.
"What?" she asked.
"You mean to say, the idea all along was to have Ranma be cursed to turn into a girl!" Nodoka exclaimed in indignation.
Cinnamon shrugged, "It was obvious to me that was what had to happen. What are you so upset about?"
"Oh, nothing. Just that things got so screwed up that Ranma came pretty damn close to being gutted and beheaded because the same curse impinged on his manhood!" Fa Shen almost shouted.
Cinnamon waved that off imperiously. "I imagine that would have given all of you something of a surprise. Just having the curse would have given him a shot at tapping into the power of resurrection. As I remember, the people in the land of Wa tend to cremate their dead, yes?"
Nodoka and Fa Shen nodded, realizing now what would have happened.
"I just can't believe that was the point all along," Fa Shen complained, tapping into her Ranma persona unconsciously.
"What I can't understand is how he was even conceived in the first place. Nodoka doesn't have a Nanniichuan curse," Cinnamon pointed out. In response, Nodoka explained what had happened with the Togenkyo water. "What? You say the water turns animals and people into men, and when ingested causes women to conceive only sons?" Their enthusiastic nods were enough ratification for Cinnamon. Clearly, this family lived under another famous Chinese curse. "Very interesting times indeed," she muttered. "Well. I guess that bit of magic was just enough to do the job. It certainly seems less troublesome than Lo Shen's plan. She would have been required to be the surrogate mother of a male Pa Shen's son."
"Um, does that mean Ranma was conceived parthenogenically?" Fa Shen inquired impulsively.
"That would have to be the case. Otherwise, Ranma would not have been an incarnation of the phoenix," Cinnamon pointed out academically. "Besides, I already told you that Pa Shen was barren. Her reproductive system was locked on trying to balance your conception. That Togenkyo water was the catalyst it needed to succeed."
"Doesn't that mean Genma isn't Ranma's father?"
"Oh, dear!" Nodoka covered her mouth in surprise.
"Father? I thought I told you, parthenogenesis doesn't require a father. There's only a single parent, in any case. So, there's either just a father or just a mother," Cinnamon elaborated completely oblivious to Fa Shen's point.
"That's what we meant," Fa Shen laughed, shaking her head. The motion continued through a shift in personality and form. "Do you have any idea what a relief it is to know I'm not related to that fat, lazy, crooked panda?" an irate "Ranma" demanded, to the shock of a certain dragon. He jumped up and lifted the cask he had been sitting on, "And all that abuse! All those stupid engagements! He can just STAY a panda as far as I am concerned!"
Cinnamon's eyes had widened as Ranma raised the cask over his head and moved to dash it open on the ground. "Hey! Careful with that stuff!"
Ranma jerked upright, fingers scrabbling to keep a grip on the cask as he twisted around to remark, "It's alright. We're all protected by the Chisuiiton."
"I'm not!" Cinnamon cried. In her haste to jump back and avoid the whim of cursed waters, Cinnamon tripped over the cask she had been sitting on earlier. As she stumbled to keep her footing the cask tipped over and began to roll towards Ranma. Unfortunately, he had automatically lurched forward to catch the falling young woman, shifting the cask he was holding to one hand as he reached out with the other. He stepped square on the rolling cask as Cinnamon fell back twisting into a back handspring as her feet flew up and reflexes took over. Ranma went down as the rolling cask shot out from under his foot, but the raised cask continued up and forward, right into the space where Cinnamon's feet kicked through the air.
"Oh, crap!" Ranma cursed as his face rocketed into the ground.
The thud and crack of the air-borne cask shattering and spilling over an inverted Cinnamon drowned out her own colorful epitaphs, but not the shift in pitch that revealed what she had become. Surprisingly, "he" kept his balance and completed the handspring, then turned around to stare at the others in shock. The look on Nodoka's face was priceless. Her words, as her eyes became dazzled and glassy, were less than informative.
"So, manly!"
Ranma groaned and looked up. He smirked and hopped away from the puddle that was streaming off of the new made man, "Cool. I guess I'll be a real hunk in two more years!"
"I hate Jusenkyo," the dragon growled.
In a small cage within the pavilion of the Prince of the Musk, an angry and bitter duck had exhausted all of his options for escape but one. Between the time spent quacking in fury at what Herb had done, attempts to use various small hidden weapons to pick the lock or pry at the bars of his cage, and silently cursing himself for his blindness, Mousse had plenty of time to think about the decisions that led to his present circumstances. After all his plotting, after all the attacks and accusations he had leveled at his unwanted rival--in his or her many incarnations--it had been the uncontrollable temper of an angry, foreign tomboy that had finally freed his darling Shampoo from the clutches of the vile Saotome. It was like nothing he had done had amounted to anything, except to dishonor and humiliate the master of hidden weapons. All his efforts had done was put him in a position where he had to choose between accepting the loss of his humanity or the loss of his manhood.
Mousse did not believe, for one moment, that Herb would really free him from the accursed Chisuiiton. Saotome, whether called Ranma or Ranko, would somehow manage to snatch victory out of Herb's grasp, like every other time when the outcome really mattered, and Herb would leave Mousse trapped the way he was out of spite. Incredibly, Herb had either overlooked the fact that Mousse could at least regain his humanity, or he had somehow failed to learn that Mousse had branded himself with the chi powered nyanniichuan curse. Triggering it was the last trick up Mousse's sleeve, one he had desperately wished to avoid employing.
Returning to his home, the village of amazons, as a woman might very well be the last thing he ever did. Even though he gained womanhood through a bizarre series of accidents, there was a chance he would be condemned for breaking one of the most rigid laws of his people. If he was not executed, he might instead be exiled--which was a fate worse than death as far as Mousse was concerned. Worst of all, though, the combination of the curse and being locked in female form might revalidate his marriage to Shampoo. Cologne or Shampoo might very well kill him over that.
Mousse sighed. That was probably over dramatic.
His real fear was that Saotome would want revenge for all the low and selfish things Mousse had done in the past few weeks. His attempt to force Shampoo to kill Ranko, followed by challenging Ranko to a matrimonial battle--using her to get at Shampoo--and conspiring with Herb to gain the skill and power to defeat her, even to the point of betraying Fa Shen or Ranko into Herb's clutches, Mousse had given all of the Saotome's cause for vengeance.
It was making it real hard for Mousse to feel at all proud of himself, and he needed that to trigger the transformation that would allow him to escape from his current trap.
At least past experience had proven that Mousse could survive the attempt. Cologne had a nasty habit of locking Mousse up in a cage to keep him out of her way, but once, Mousse had gotten so pissed that his struggles bounced the cage into a sink where he had been washing dishes--always in hot water, thanks to his curse--and the water was still warm. His transformation back to himself had shattered the cage, and to his surprise, for all the pain he suffered, he sustained no damage in the process. The change itself seemed to offer some protection, or it was akin to the way trees could shift massive boulders or split foundations through the simple process of growth.
Taking hold of himself, Mousse tried to decide on a course of action. Escape was essential. Herb needed to pay for locking him in duck form. Mousse needed to do something to make up for using and betraying Ranko. Most of all, he needed to prove himself to Shampoo. With all his failures as a man, perhaps his only chance to impress her was as a woman and a warrior. It was entirely possible that was precisely what Ranma did from the beginning, and the way he truly stole Shampoo's heart. Nodding to himself, Mousse came to a decision he could be proud of. As the feeling swelled, pouring out of the aquatic avian body to illuminate the shadows of the pavilion, the change happened. The cage squealed and snapped in protest as the body of an attractive, young, amazon woman took the place of the duck.
Mousse rolled out of the wreckage of the cage to land on all fours, saving herself from an embarrassing sprawl over the extravagant hand woven rugs of the prince's tent. Gracefully rising to her feet, Mousse balled a fist and spoke aloud, "If a woman is what my beloved Shampoo really wants, then I shall be that woman!"
Just at that moment, Lime and Mint burst into the pavilion to see what was causing the disturbance. They took one startled look at the naked lady standing before them, and raced forward in glee.
"Look, Mint! It's a naked woman!"
"Gaah! The lovely breasts are hiding in her hair!"
Mousse saw them lurching toward her and shrieked like a little girl. "Eeeek! You perverted morons! Back o- Yaaaaa! Stop touching me! Waaah! Don't put your hands down there! Leggo-ooooooooOOOH! That. Does. It!" Mousse did not remember hiding a large mallet on his person, but when it appeared in her hands, she wasted no time putting it to good use. Flashing them unintentionally as she raised her weapon, the poor boys had no chance to dodge. They were too mesmerized by the way her assets bounced and flowed in time with her movements. The burst of adrenaline that came in the wake of the pair of them groping her was enough to pound them deep into their own personal craters. It had been easier than slaughtering cattle.
Mousse huffed and shuddered, standing over their prone and twitching forms ready to administer more pain for several long moments. Finally, with a snort of feminine outrage and disdain, she marched over to the line of chests against one silk and canvas wall and started searching through them for something to wear. A few moments later, after determining that her robes had been stored elsewhere unknown, she emerged from the palatial tent dressed like a princess. She made a quick tour of the camp, surprised to find all the warriors had vacated, leaving a small detachment to guard the site, and collected all the stray tools and weapons she could lay her hands on.
Satisfied with her dress and arsenal, she set out for the amazon village. It was a fair walk, and would give her some time to think of what, exactly, she would do when she got there. Running straight in and challenging Herb was obviously not the smartest thing she could do. She had improved quite a bit in the past week, and in girl form she no longer suffered from her greatest handicap. She had sharp vision, greater speed and endurance, had added ki attacks to her arsenal--the first of which she could actually use while in girl form--and had learned of a few of Herb's weaknesses. None of which meant she was ready to fight Herb, and in her present form it would be a disaster to lose to him and end up having to marry him.
True, that was an excellent way to screw up Herb's plans and save Ranko, making up for past offenses, but that was a bit more of a sacrifice than Mousse wanted to make. Unfortunately, that was the closest Mouse came to formulating a plan before reaching the village. The gate sentries were surprised when Mousse gave the proper responses to their challenges, since she was a stranger to their eyes, and more importantly dressed like Musk royalty.
"I have just escaped from their camp," Mousse explained to answer their suspicions. "If you call Elder Cologne, she can vouch for my identity."
Cologne, when she arrived to answer the guards summons, was completely flabbergasted. "Mousse! What have you done?" she hissed under her breath after gesturing for Mousse to lean close.
"Nothing new," Mousse responded self-mockingly, "I fell prey to my own pride." To further illustrate her point, she summoned a ball of prideful chi in her outstretched hand. Cologne's eyes widened, as the full implications hit her.
"I am surprised you dared to reveal this," she commented, faintly impressed with the boy's gall.
"I had little choice. Thanks to Herb I was forced to surrender my manhood or my humanity. I refuse to remain a helpless water-fowl while that man reaps the rewards of my short-sightedness." Mousse ground her teeth and clenched her fists. Cologne searched her eyes and nodded.
"I vouch for this amazon warrior. Her name is Mirror, and she is the lost sister of Mousse," Cologne announced authoritatively. The guards accepted that at face value and returned their attention to their duties, leaving Mousse with Cologne.
"Why did you do that?" Mousse asked as they walked into the village.
"Because it would be a waste of your potential to have you executed. If what you say is correct, you may never again be a man. If so, it is far easier to give you a new identity than to allow your original identity to serve as a death sentence," Cologne responded curtly.
Mousse blinked unhappily. "You'd really execute me, knowing that it was entirely accidental."
"I am not that harsh. Unfortunately, there are those who are, and if I tried to defend you it would serve only to ensure you received the maximum punishment. Too many things have upset the status quo. I have been the instrument of too many recent changes. An amazon male turned female, on top of everything else the council has had to swallow?" Cologne shook her head sternly. "I'm afraid you'd be used as an object lesson to counter the influence of Nodoka and her children."
"So," Mousse sagged under the sudden weight of doom.
"I will warn the others to keep your secret. They are all gathered at my home. Hopefully, they will decide your condition is punishment enough for selling Ranko out to Herb. If they out you, Mousse, I suggest you run. Run like hell and don't ever look back," Cologne advised, with a piercing stare.