Tengu

by CSHayden

Brooklyn's daughter, Ariana, goes searching for a mythical clan of gargoyles in Japan.

2. Tengu: Part 2

Tengu

A TGS-based story

by C.S. Hayden

Characters from the "Gargoyles" show are the property of Disney and Buena Vista Television. All other characters are from The Gargoyles Saga fanfiction series and the story "Yama's Path" by Kimberly Towle.

Part II

Deep in the Rokko Mountains

Ariana began her evening as she always did, by finding herself an out-of-the-way place to do her exercises. There was a small treeless field not far away, bordered by the steep mountainside on one side and a marshy area that Ariana's nose told her was bubbling with organic decay. She was willing to bet that there was a hidden bath house not too far away. There was a thin veil of grayish-green slime visible on the free-standing surface of the water. Fastidiously, she chose a spot far away from the sludge and began to stretch out her muscles.

The Tengu went about their business but she could tell they were watching. When she began her martial arts katas, many of them nodded approvingly as they recognized the moves and their interest began to wane. Her captor from the previous evening, however, remained behind. Kirin and his three students – Ariana had mentally labeled them Tic, Tac, and Toe – had claimed their own space nearby and the young males were going through their own exercises. Kirin kept after them, issuing orders but arrogantly keeping an eye on her as well.

Refusing to let his presence distract her, Ariana finished her basic routine and sank down on her knees to meditate for a few moments before starting her next set of her workout. She closed her eyes and straightened her back as she concentrated on her breathing. It was important to reach a state of thought-free concentration or 'zanshin' to begin her sword training. The form she had learned from Sata was called 'iaijutsu', a sword combat technique from the feudal era. Her mother considered the modern version, 'iaido', to be a pale imitation of true swordsmanship.

"Sensei?" one of the students asked after several minutes had gone by. "What is she doing?"

"Resting, noodle brain," one of the others answered.

"Should we bring her some water?" the last one asked. "She is a girl and, um---" Ariana didn't need to open her eyes to hear the blush in that shy voice.

"She is clearly meditating," Kirin said brusquely. "You should focus on your own katas."

As soon as the grumbling died off, Ariana went into the first form, nukitsake -- the drawing of the sword, visualizing the sword in her mind while she went through the motions. The key, Sata had always told her, was to make the sword so much of a part of you that you could feel it in your hand even when it was not there. She followed it with kiritsuke, a series of cutting and slashing techniques executed at various speeds; ending it with chiburi, a pantomime of shaking blood from the blade, and at last completing the exercise with noto as she sheathed her invisible sword. Ariana sank back down to her knees, drenched in sweat.

"Hmmm."

She looked up to see Kirin regarding her thoughtfully.

"Bring the practice swords," Kirin ordered and the smaller of the three, who Ariana had mentally labeled as 'Toe,' scampered off to do his bidding. "It has been some time since I've had chance to test my swordsmanship. We will see just how good you are."

"That would depend on how good you think you are," Ariana replied tartly as she got back on her feet.

"Kirin-san?" O-tama paused as she and Takamatsu were crossing the compound. "What are you doing?" The silver-haired healer glanced between him and Ariana as worry crossed her face. "Surely you don't mean to challenge her?"

"You should've seen them last night," said the long-nosed one that Ariana called 'Tac'. "She almost beat sensei using only a bo staff."

Takamatsu looked interested. "It was a good match?"

"She knows how to fight," the last one, 'Tic' commented. He grinned like a clown. "It took all of us to bring her down."

"As it should be for one who was taught by the legendary Sata of Ishimura." Takamatsu sat down on a bench that Tic brought over to him. He glanced over at O-tama who had pulled Kirin aside and was whispering urgently to him. "Do not fret over her, aisai. Let Kirin test her skills here, properly before witnesses. He will not harm her."

Returning with a basket of wooden practice swords, Toe trotted over to her and let her examine them. She picked out one and swung it tentatively but discarded it for its poor balance. Glancing at her shyly, Toe held out a pair of swords made from a dark, finely-grained wood. They had been oiled recently and although they had many nicks and scratches, someone had treated them with great care. She gave the katana a few sweeping strokes and while the balance wasn't perfect, it was close enough. Smiling gently, she turned to Toe and said, "Thanks – you know your swords!"

The crest of dark feathers on Toe's head rose dramatically as he smiled back. He stumbled over his own feet as he took the basket over to Kirin, who chose a tachi-length bokken for himself. He swished it though the air with a sharp hiss and paced out an area to duel in, placing his students on three of the corners. Gesturing to a red-faced, broad-chested male with wide-curling tusks, he called him over. "Goro-san! Will you referee the bout?"

"Of course, Kirin-san!" Goro took his place on the remaining corner, bowing his head curtly at their guest. "You can be assured of a fair bout."

Ariana watched the proceedings as she loosened up her shoulders. "Standard tournament rules?" she inquired. "Although, somehow I don't think we're playing for points."

"Win by knockout or forcing your opponent from the ring," Kirin said as he began circling. "No hits to the face."

She smirked and matched him in circling. "Afraid of losing your boyish good looks, are you?"

"Hardly," he shot back. "O-tama seems to think you're a delicate flower." For a gargoyle of his size, Kirin was surprisingly light on his two-toed hoof-like feet as he sized her up. The fur covering his lower legs helped muffle the sound of his footsteps so Ariana focused on his chest instead.

"Right," she drawled coolly as she shifted her blades into first position, "bring it on, tough guy."

Goro moved to the one side, standing with one hand pointed outwards, as if to separate the two from each other. "Opponents, face me..." Together, they both turned and faced him, offering a bow of respect. "Face each other..." Turning towards the center of the ring, they again bowed, with Kirin never breaking eye contact with Ariana. "Ready?" Glancing at each one for a brief moment, Goro made a sharp chopping motion with his hand, cutting the air before backing away from the two fighters. "Begin!"

At once, Ariana darted forward with both bokken swept out to the sides for balance. Kirin pushed off on his hooves, bringing his own weapon into position for an overhead strike. Before they would have collided in the center of the ring, Ariana dodged right under his swing, bringing the wooden wakizashi up to hit Kirin in his midriff.

Not surprisingly, Kirin flipped his sword into a vertical parry that took the blow with a loud resounding crash that echoed around the surrounding mountainside like a gunshot. His follow-up swing would have struck Ariana in the back, but she twisted as she passed, bringing the other bokken to counter his counterblow.

"A backhand block -- well met!" he said as he pulled back into a low crouch and brought his sword out and level with the ring floor. It was a move so classic that Ariana couldn't believe that he'd actually use it.

"Oh, please!  A hatchling could see that feint coming a mile away!" Ariana pivoted on one leg, her tail flaring out for balance as she held her wakizashi up to shield, while the katana she held poised to strike with an overhead stroke.

With a wry lift of an eyebrow, Kirin commented, "So you think." He lunged forward, using his hand to brace as he swept his tachi at her feet. When she leapt over the swing, he reversed it and swept up into her midsection.

Forced to block, Ariana brought both swords down to bat his strike away, driving his sword onto the mat. With both of her bokken braced against his, she reversed her grip on the hilts and used them to flip herself over her still-crouching opponent to land behind him. Out of reflex, Kirin aimed a kick behind him, but Ariana had moved out of range before turning to face him again.

Huffing and blowing out his fish-whiskered lip, Kirin went on the offensive with a combination of strikes and thrusts. He was relying on his strength and his longer reach while Ariana was clearly more agile and quick. She met his attacks with the appropriate blocking moves and for a time, it seemed that the match was to be a textbook demonstration of classic moves.

"Hey!" Tac called from the sidelines. "What you waiting for, sensei? This is beginner stuff!" His brash comment led the other Tengu, who had been watching silently, to raise their voices as well.

Kirin executed a perfect happo giri, a cutting maneuver in eight directions that was formerly used for dismembering corpses. Impressed that he could do it with the longer tachi blade, she managed to block it and dance nimbly out of range before he could follow up with another attack. She ran through her available tactics in her head; Kirin knew the classic iaijutsu forms nearly as well as she did. Fortunately, Sata had not been her only teacher. It was amazing what one could learn from an ex-mercenary and a New York City cop.

Coolly, as she viewed her opponent from a distance, Ariana inverted both her wooden blades and held them loosely at hip level. She held her head dipped to keep her beak from blocking her vision and breathed deeply though her nose, saturating her lungs with oxygen and building her adrenaline. Both Fox and Elisa both had emphasized the need to keep her energy levels up when fighting a stronger opponent. Ariana could tell that she was wearing him down and that her stillness in the heat of battle was confusing him.

"What?" Kirin called mockingly. "Giving up already?"

Ariana gazed at him with a disarming, sultry look that she borrowed from Fox. "I don't know," she retorted. "Are you?" The moment he began to open his mouth, she struck.

Blades flying like whirlwinds, she plowed into him at full speed, driving him across the playing field. Graeme had once compared her signature move to being dropped headfirst into a psychotic meat grinder. Blades, feet, wings, tail – everything was in motion. Ariana knew she'd gotten in several good hits by the time she skidded to a halt near Toe's corner of the playing field. She winked at him before turning back to face her opponent.

"Damn." His lip was bleeding but Kirin was looking at her with a startled, almost admiring expression. His eyes were glowing faintly and he smiled at her, not a bitter mocking leer but a genuine breathless wondering grin that, for a moment, washed away all the bitterness from his face. That brief glimpse lasted for only an instant and then it was gone. His nostrils flared like a bull's and he charged, mouth set in a silent roar and his tachi held low and dangerous.

Ariana didn't wait but intercepted him in mid-field. Instead of blocking his upward slash, she jumped directly onto it and used to vault over him in a forward flip. She whacked him over the kidneys with a mid level strike. The end of his fur-tipped tail whipped around her right arm and before she could react, Kirin had seized her arm and hurled her like an Olympic hammer throw out of the ring. Ariana tried to whip her wings out and control her fall but she tumbled straight into the foul-smelling marsh with a resounding splash.

"Kirin-san!!" O-tama shouted indignantly. "That was uncalled for!"

"The rules were clear," Kirin said calmly as he tried to control his heavy breathing. "Knock out or being forced from the ring. It is not my fault that she landed in the midden."

"It is within the rules," Goro said ruefully. He looked over at Ariana with an apologetic look on his boar-tusked face. "An excellent match, however. The ruling would have been very close."

Dripping with mud and slime, Ariana rose to her feet and strode deliberately over to Kirin, who was regarding her stoically. "Your bokken," she said between clenched teeth as she handed him the wooden practice swords. If he had only said something nice, apologized, anything -- she might have forgiven him. Instead Kirin let one side of his mouth turn up in an arrogant smirk as if he'd put her in her place. As she turned, Ariana pretended to slip and slapped her wings back hard to keep her balance. The sound of the loose sludge splattering a body at close range was most satisfying.

Ariana looked back. Kirin was covered with an impressive spray pattern of mud from head to toe. A big splash of it went across his brow ridge and was dripping off his snout. "Now," she said coolly, "we're even." She smiled sweetly and the look in his eye was pure, unadulterated murder. He spit to one side to clear his mouth, clearly wishing he was spitting on her.

O-tama intervened. "That's quite enough," she said firmly. "Ari-chan, you'd better come with me. If you had any scratches or cuts, that muck will get them infected. Kirin," she glared over her shoulder at him, "you can make do with the waterfall."

"Fine," Kirin said with a cold dignity, "I wouldn't want to share the bath house with her anyway." The grinding of his teeth was audible. "I'd be too tempted to drown her."

"Not if I don't hold you under first, you jerk," Ariana muttered under her breath.

"There, there," O-tama said maternally. "Kirin was rude and Takamatsu will make sure that he knows it." She led Ariana up the slope away from the fighting field and to a secluded hut sheltered by several red cedars. A series of salvaged pipes led to a weeping fissure in the steep mountainside. "We tapped into a spring," O-tama explained when she caught Ariana looking at it curiously. "It gives us fresh drinking water and supplies our bath house without our having to carry it in from the river."

"O-tama!" One of the mated females came through the cedars with a folded bathing sheet in one hand and Ariana's backpack in the other. She was tan-colored with a slim beak and feathered wings tipped in black. "I thought you might need these." She bowed to Ariana. "Mozu brought your backpack out of the rookery. Is there anything else you require?"

"This is Miza," O-tama said, by way of introduction, as she brought a bucket of water out of the bath house. "Stay a moment, Miza, while I rinse off the worst of this muck." She looked apologetically at Ariana. "You'll have to kneel for me, young one. You're far too filthy to go into the bath house as is."

Sighing, Ariana submitted to the indignity of having several buckets of water poured over her head to sluice away most of the reeking mud. Miza held up a bathing sheet while Ariana stripped down and O-tama collected Ariana's clothes to be soaked in a basin with some fragrant herbs. Miza stayed long enough to help shampoo and rinse Ariana's hair but the young visitor was soon left alone to soak in the tub.

"Gods," Ariana grumbled, "what a pain Kirin is! I don't care what they say; he couldn't stand losing so he had to cheat to win." She sniffed her arm and grimaced. "Ugh, I'm going to smell this for days." Holding her nose, she ducked under the water. Her long hair, which had been draped over the side, slowly trailed in after her.

* * * * *

"So sorry – may I come in?" A female with a parrot beak was waiting politely at the door with a basket of laundry in her arms.

"Hmmmph?" Ariana paused as she was wringing the water out of her shirt. After she'd soaked as long as she possibly could, Ariana had gotten out of the communal tub, dried, and changed into the clothes that she had worn to Midori's party. O-tama's herbs had left her clothes clean and much more sweet-smelling that she'd thought possible. "Oh, sorry. I was just finishing," Ariana said, bowing as she collected her things. She stared at her wet clothes for moment until the other female pointed to the drying racks in a clearing not far from the bath house.

"You can take your washing out there," the other female said. "I'll be taking my things out there shortly."

Ariana thanked her and took all her things outside with her. A good breeze was blowing through the small clearing, scattering late blossoms from the trees. She hung her black shirt, khaki cargo shorts and undergarments on the rack and found a comfortable seat on a low branch of a late-flowering fruit tree. Releasing her hair from the bathing sheet, she took a wide comb from her hair kit and began to methodically comb it in sections, tossing it over her head to hide her face.

"One of these days," she grumbled, "I'll cut it all off, I swear!"

"Oh! Don't do that!"

Ariana turned her head to one side and peeped out. The three younger Tengu were standing there and she was impressed that they'd gotten so close without her hearing them.

"Well, well," she said through the curtain of her hair. "If it isn't Tic, Tac, and Toe --- hello, boys."

"Why do you call us that that?" The tall one asked. He was wearing a tight black head scarf and several strands of prayer beads that gave a bit of style to his somber grey tunic.

Ariana pointed at him, "Tic," and then the long-nosed one, "Tac," and finally the short one, "Toe. Three in a row – it's a kid's game. I had to call you something."

The long-nosed one snorted. "Well, you got me right at least. I'm Takakura – everyone calls me Tak for short."

"Right on the nose!" the tall one crowed and danced away from the punch that came his way. "I'm Tancho."

"M-mozu," the short one stammered shyly. "My name is Mozu." He blushed. "But you can call me Toe if you like."

"Yeah," Tak said, "call us Tic, Tak, and Toe. We don't mind." He rolled his eyes. "Everyone else calls us 'the Three.' At least you haven't relegated us to a number."

"I dunno," Ariana said, flipping her hair to the other side and continuing to comb, "my father and his rookery brothers used to be called the Trio for years." She gave a little laugh. "So, guys – tell me about yourselves."

Tak ran a hand through his dark hair, making the loose locks that framed his face feather back attractively and gave her a practiced smile. "As you might have guessed by my name, I'm Takamatsu's son. I'll be leader of the Tengu one day."

"Really?" Ariana said politely. "My father's the second-in-command for the Manhattan clan. I expect you must be getting lots of extra training then."

"When he's not sloughing off, he is!!" Tic said brashly. "Don't get me wrong, Ariana-san, Tak's not totally lazy but sometimes the elders forget what it's like to be young – duty this and duty that."

"I know the feeling," Ariana replied, liking Tic's casual attitude far more than Tac's pretentious airs, "and my friends call me Ari-chan. What do you do for fun around here?"

Tic stood still for a moment like the long-legged bird he was named for. "Swimming, fishing, and playing pranks on any campers that get too close to the village," he answered, ticking them off on his fingers. "Master Kirin has a place up the coast from Kobe that we go to sometimes. It's a cave halfway up a cliff." He grinned, making his eyes crinkle into happy crescents. "He likes to go spearfishing but I like it for the clay deposits."

"Clay?"

"Yeah, I'm an apprentice potter." Tic reached into his wraparound tunic and pulled out a string of ceramic beads. He held it out for her to see and Ariana marveled at the lustrous sheen and the iridescent swirls of the glazes. "Goro has me making pots and stuff mostly but I do these for fun."

"You could get a lot of money for these!" Ariana exclaimed. "I know Midori sells prayer beads like these at the temple. They sell a lot of the clan's crafts there."

"Sell?" This change of subject shook Tak out of his pose of sullen indifference. "Gargoyles sell things to humans?"

"They do in Ishimura," Ariana said with a shrug. "In London, the clan there has kept a shop for generations. They sell books, jewelry, art, and herbal remedies."

"O-tama could do that," Toe spoke up suddenly. He had been literally standing in Tic's shadow and now that he was standing in the moonlight, Ariana could tell that he was not a sooty black as she first thought but actually a dark brown with lighter colored feathers on his face and chest. "She knows more about herbals than anyone."

Ariana gave her hair a few last strokes with the wide comb. "And how do you know that?"

Startled to be spoken to, Toe retreated partially behind Tic again, who rolled his eyes expressively but stood still. He seemed used to his shy sibling's quirks and answered for him. "Mozu's got a healer's touch," Tic said good-humoredly. "He's been under O-tama's wing for years. He'll make a fine healer when he's ready."

"Yeah, once he stops hiding in your shadow," Tak snorted.

Tic narrowed his eyes at Tak. "Leave off Mozu," he retorted, "or I'll hammer your nose into a tree."

"I like to see you try!"

Ariana rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered under her breath. Tossing her hair back and shaking her head to settle it in place, she parted it with her fingers and switched to a finer rat-tailed comb to do the narrow braids that she liked to hang in front of her ears. She paused when the fighting stopped and she looked up to see Tic, Tak, and Toe openly ogling her. "What?" She looked down; it was the lounge outfit which she had worn to Midori's party – hip-hugging black silk pants with a red dragon pattern and a red midriff-baring spaghetti-strap top that blended into her own skin color so well that Graeme jokingly called it her naked shirt. "Oh, c'mon guys!" she snorted. "Back home, this is considered street wear."

Toe blushed and looked away. Tic and Tak exchanged an intrigued look. "So," Tak said thoughtfully, "there are other girls like you in Ishimura?" He gave her an appraising glance. "Wearing things like this?"

"Yes," Ariana answered as she tossed her hair to the other side to do the matching braid. "You should see my friend Midori and her rookery sisters. We threw the boys out and had an all-girl party after I got to Ishimura." She grinned and pointed her comb at them. "There's going to be a festival called the Grand Miai at the full moon."

"A miai?" Toe squeaked. "Like in matchmaking?"

"A modern version, yeah." Satisfied with her hair, Ariana put her comb away. "All the clans are sending their young adults to meet at Ishimura. The first time that the council tried arranged matings, it didn't work very well so they're hoping that letting everyone get acquainted will help spread the DNA around." Looking at the blank expressions on their faces, Ariana rolled her eyes. "Boy meets girl, girl meets boy, eyes flash, tails twine… you know." She winked and the pale skin all around Toe's nostrils turned bright red.

"Perhaps sensei should go," Tic commented. "He's never taken a mate."

Ariana snorted. "Given his considerable personality flaws, I should think not!"

"He's lonely," Toe commented unexpectedly. "We all are."

"Baka!" Tak swatted him with his tail. "You shouldn't tell her that! It's none of her business!"

"Why shouldn't he?" Tic protested. "It's true!"

"Besides," Tak commented with a sly look at Ariana, "whenever sensei gets too lonely, the females take turns in comforting him." His rookery brothers snickered. "Master Kirin is cheerful for days afterwards."

"Really?" Ariana said archly. "Somehow I have a hard time imagining that. Kirin seems as sour as a dried permission." She took out a small bottle of scented oil and began to rub it on her wings, starting at her hand-like wing talons and working her way down.

Toe came closer in spite of his inherent shyness and sniffed. "What are you doing?" he asked wonderingly. "It smells good, but what's it for?"

He was practically in her lap but Ariana could tell insatiable curiosity when she saw it. Graeme was much the same way. "It's just rose-scented oil," she answered. "After being tossed in that glop, I feel the need to be as girly as possible."

"'Girly?'"

"Feminine."

Tic took a sniff and sneezed. He rubbed his nose and asked, "You like smelling like that?"

"Yes," Ariana said, turning to look at him. "Don't the girls here do that?" She started on her other wing.

"The youngest female here is Mozu's birth mother," Tak snorted. "There were no girls in our rookery." He was still leering at her and it was beginning to get on her nerves.

"It was just me and my brother in mine," Ariana said lightly. "That's one of the reasons that we travel as much as we do – Mother wanted us to meet other gargoyles our age. My brother has a girlfriend in the London clan. She's a white lion – they all look like heraldic animals there."

"Weird," Tic commented. He took what looked like a lump of clay out of his belt pouch and began modeling it. "So there's lots of other clans? Have you been to them all?"

"No, not all of them but quite a few of them are coming to Ishimura. When I left, the Chinese clan had only just arrived but we're expecting to have several others show. The only ones that I know aren't coming are the Caledonian clan and the Guatemalan clan because their rookeries are too young." She started ticking them off on her fingers. "So far, Ishimura, Manhattan, China and London are participating. Korea and Antarctica may show but no one knows about Avalon or New Olympus because they're so isolated."

"Just like us then." Tak scowled at her as she began to put her things away. "If all this was going on, why did you come here? To tempt us to leave the Tengu?"

"No, I came here on my own," Ariana answered. "I've always liked to travel. Dad says I was born with itchy wings."

Casually, Tak reached up and snatched her bra off the rack where it had been hanging out of sight behind her shirt. "What's this?" he called out mockingly.

Ariana grabbed her underwear before he could get to that as well. "It's mine," she said, glaring at him. "Give it here!"

"I don't know," Tak drawled. "Where's it go? Maybe you should go and model it for us, hmm?" He held it up in two fingers and began taunting her with it. A large green fist shot out and engulfed his wrist.

"It's an undergarment," said Kirin sardonically as he took the flimsy bit of lace out of Tak's hand, "worn by females for the purpose of enhancing what little bosom that they have." He handed it back to Ariana in a wad. "As you can see, it's an item she has very little use for."

Ariana refused to rise to his bait. "And yet somehow," she said coyly as she subtly shifted her stance with one hand back on her hip and her chest thrust out, "you found them worth noticing." A little smirk at the corners of her mouth completed her defiant gesture. It was a look that established that she could play the double entendre game and trump him too.

It was to her great satisfaction that the tall horned gargoyle did nothing but stare at her with smoldering eyes while the corners of his barbeled lip twitched. When he finally spoke, his voice was glacial. "Boys," he growled softly, "attend to your duties."

Tic, Tak, and Toe gave her one last appraising glance and headed off in three different directions – but not so far or so fast that they would have to miss out on anything.

Kirin leaned down to go nose to beak with her. "You will go put on suitable clothing immediately," he ground out between his teeth. "You're the first female my students have seen that's even remotely close to their age and I will not have you teasing them for your own amusement."

"Who says I'm teasing them?"

His eyes widened, glowing slightly.

Ariana blew him an impertinent kiss, ruffling the curls of his goatee with her breath. Allowing herself a brief smirk as she turned away, she caped her wings idly around her shoulders as if she didn't care and sauntered back to O-tama's hut, swishing her tail and strutting her stuff. She was pleased to hear him growling and stomping away in a huff behind her.

O-tama looked up as she came in. "Ah, Ari-chan! There you are!" She had been grinding grey-green leaves with a stone mortar-and-pestle.

Ariana sniffed delicately. "Cha? You grow tea here?"

"Ah, you recognize it!" O-tama seemed pleased. "Do you know the ways of chaji?"

"Oh, yes." Ariana kneeled on a nearby pillow and set her backpack to one side. "Mother has taught me ever since I could boil water. She says a samurai must be the master of many disciplines. My friend Midori and I are going to be tea hostesses at the Grand Miai."

"It is good to have balance in one's life. Do you have other skills?"

She ticked them off on her fingers. "I can cook, but not as good as my uncle Broadway. I like to do theater, play sports, dance, and study martial arts." She laughed. "And I babble way too much when I'm nervous. Could you tell?"

O-tama merely laughed back. "I hardly noticed, young one. Miza just brought me my evening meal. Will you join me?" The older gargoyle set a tray between them containing bowls of rice, pickled vegetables, miso soup, and grilled fish.

"Itadakimasu," Ariana gave the customary response with a polite bow. "I was getting hungry after that fight, thank you."

"I thought as much, young one," O-tama chuckled. "You fought well, in spite of the devious way Kirin chose to win." She cocked her head to one side. "Takamatsu was impressed. Now," she tapped Ariana's bowl with a pair of chopsticks, "eat up! You're too thin!!"

While Ariana shared O-tama's simple meal, life in the Tengu village went on. Through the open door, she watched a parade of the most eclectic mix of gargoyles go by. The bird-like karasu types like Takamatsu predominated with their prominent beaks and feathered wings. There were a few of the yamabushi types like O-tama and Tancho with skewed and distorted humanoid features. The rest were like Goro with huge curling tusks or bizarre horns that looked more like creatures out of Japanese mythology. Ariana had gotten so used to the smooth humanoid faces of the other clans that she had visited that the Tengu seemed new and unusual. One thing bothered her though; there were no hatchlings underfoot. The gargoyle children at Ishimura were always around. Ariana frowned thoughtfully around a mouthful of rice.

Four shadows passed by on the rice paper wall behind them. "She smells really good," Toe was saying earnestly. "Do all females smell nice like that, sensei?"

Kirin huffed before answering. "Sometimes," he admitted reluctantly. "All females like to preen and make themselves attractive. O-tama and Miza have always taken great care with their appearance. Why have you not complimented them?"

"They're different," Tic answered. "Don't you have anything nice to say about Ari-chan?"

"That's right," Tak said slyly. "You're always telling me that I need to improve my social skills, sensei. You've been frowning so much that Ari-chan thinks you're a sour persimmon."

There was an audible sigh while Ariana and O-tama waited breathlessly to hear what Kirin might say. He huffed irritably. "Fine-- her hands are surprisingly soft. How she manages to hit so hard with them, I do not know." He gave a snorting laugh. "Her knuckles leave dents."

The laughter of the three younger males neatly covered Ariana's stifled giggles. O-tama's hands were folded over her mouth but her eyes twinkled merrily. "I suggest you take that as a compliment, young one," she said as soon as Kirin and the Three walked away. "I doubt he'll ever say anything else so nice to your face."

"Obaasan," Ariana asked thoughtfully, "is he always so grumpy? Whenever I'm around, he just scowls and growls. It's like I put him in a bad mood."

"Kirin is cautious," O-tama answered as she resumed crushing herbs in a stone bowl. "There is great sadness in his past. It makes him not want to trust people when he first meets them." She paused to test her mixture by rubbing it with her fingers. "Do not let his manner trouble you, Ari-chan. Kirin has a great heart and he cares about many things. It's what makes him a good teacher. He simply does not allow his feelings to show."

"Well, I suppose that does make sense," Ariana mused. "Still, I wish he'd lighten up."

"He can be quite charming," O-tama said lightly, "when he makes the effort." She watched Ariana frowning at her clothes. "Did you not get them clean enough?"

"They aren't dry yet." She made a face. "The boys were being boys and Kirin had to rescue my underwear. I thought it would be better to bring my things back in with me."

O-tama raised both brow ridges, which made her look like a venerable owl. "Ah," she commented. "I hope the curiosity of the Three does not trouble you, Ari-chan. As you might have observed, we do not have many young ones here."

"Kirin said the same thing. I was telling the boys about the Grand Miai and about my friend Midori and her sisters." She winced a little. "I hope that wasn't out of line."

"No, I have been telling Takamatsu and the elders for the last few years that we should renew ties with Ishimura, for the sake of the Three, if nothing else." O-tama poured her crushed leaves into a wooden bowl and carefully wiped out the stone mortar with a clean cloth. "As healer, I know that there is a time to hold fast to tradition and a time when one must look to a clan's future. Some of the other elders might not like to hear you speak openly of such things but I have no objections."

Ariana nodded. "I will be very careful then, obaasan."

"Were the Three interested in what you had to say?"

"They certainly liked hearing about other girls!"

O-tama chuckled warmly. "I daresay they would!" She motioned to a set of bamboo racks folded up behind a wide chest. "I use those racks for drying herbs but I don't see why you couldn't dry clothes on them as well. Why not put your things there? The Three know better than to tamper with things in my hut."

"Thank you, obaasan!" Ariana quickly assembled the bamboo racks and laid her clothes on them. As she started to lay her shorts down, she noticed a strip of orange peeking from her pocket. "Oh, I'd forgotten about that," she murmured as she took the nylon ribbon out.

"What is it, young one?"

Ariana showed it to her. "I found a bunch of these on my way here. I wondered what the writing said. Can you read it?"

O-tama shook her head. "No, but Kirin could."

"Somehow after this evening's mud bath, I don't think he's likely to help me."

"Then perhaps you could look up the words yourself," O-tama suggested. "I believe Kirin keeps several dictionaries in the schoolroom. It's up the trail past the treeline."

"Do you think he'll mind?"

"I doubt it," O-tama replied. "The males gather to eat and discuss clan business at this time of night. I saw Miza carrying in the food just before you came in. You should have the schoolroom all to yourself."

"That's great – thanks!" Ariana neatly stacked her dishes back on the tray and headed out the door.

* * * * *

Humming to herself, O-tama busied herself with tidying the hut and collecting the remnants of the meal on the tray. She slid the tray to the door and stood up in slow, easy stages before carrying her tray towards the main meeting room. Miza intercepted her and took the tray from her.

"Well?" Miza asked. "How did it go?"

"Ari-chan is different," O-tama said slowly, "but I like her. She is bold but she knows when to be biddable. Her manners are exquisite but she speaks her mind."

Miza giggled with a hand on the tip of her beak. "No wonder Kirin-san is still fuming!" she tittered. "He's not used to a female that talks back to him!"

"And the Three?"

"Oh, they were whispering so much that Takamatsu-sama sent Tancho and Takakura out on patrol. Mozu is here helping me while he waits to go harvesting with you. Are you ready?"

"Soon," O-tama answered. "I want to talk to Takamatsu for a moment."

She entered the main room quietly. The males of the Tengu clan were all gathered around in a circle, sitting on cushions and eating off lacquered trays. It was the custom for the females to eat separately except for private meals with their mates. As clan healer and leader's mate, O-tama had no qualms about joining the males.

Takamatsu smiled pleasantly at her and made room for her at his side. "Is our guest well, aisai?"

"Oh, yes," O-tama answered as she settled in. "Ari-chan was in fine spirits. It is good to have a young female among us again."

"She was not injured?"

"Nothing beyond a few bumps and scrapes." O-tama caught Kirin's intent look as she said this and pretended that she did not notice. "She is young and recovers quickly."

"That is very good," Takamatsu commented. "I would not like it if Lady Ariana came to harm under our care." He glanced briefly at Kirin who was sipping sake from a shallow dish. "Her safety is our utmost priority."

"Kirin-san," O-tama said sweetly, "while Ari-chan is with us, perhaps you should act as her chaperone."

"Me?" Kirin asked indignantly. "She can take care of herself. Why should I be saddled with her?" He jabbed at his food with his chopsticks as he continued to eat.

"As much as I hate to admit it, the Three are getting certain urges about our visitor. You had better make sure nothing happens to her." The older female pursed her lips and raised her brows sternly. "I caught Takakura lurking outside the bath house while she was in there. It's only a matter of time before the other two try something. Miza and I can watch over her in the village but Ariana will need someone active to keep up with her."

Sighing, Kirin set down his rice bowl. "Very well," he said resignedly, "I can see I'm on the losing side of this argument. Where is the bothersome wench?"

"She went up to the schoolroom," O-tama said mildly as she collected Takamatsu's dishes.

"My schoolroom?" There was an abrupt thump as Kirin got to his feet. "You let her go there?"

"She wanted a dictionary. I told her she could find one there. Is that a problem?" She smiled to herself as Kirin muttered something about his books and bolted from the room, the wooden floor vibrating with his footsteps.

Tagamatsu eyed his mate in amusement. "Are you sure about throwing those two together?" he asked mildly. "They might kill each other."

"When a hatchling is afraid to fly, sometimes one must give it a push." O-tama gazed out the wide windows at Kirin's broad back going up the trail. "He is not the same crippled creature he was when he came to us. It's time for him to start living again."

* * * * *

Wide sweeping red cedars neatly hid the secluded wooden hut from view. Ariana would have missed it herself if she hadn't had a gargoyle's sense of smell to rely on. Kirin had passed this way recently and after their earlier fight, there was no mistaking his musky masculine scent. The schoolroom was a small, one-roomed building with smooth floors laid with tatami mats and wide, sliding doors and windows to let the air circulate through it. A slate chalkboard in a wooden rack was in a corner, covered in neat, meticulous kanji. Heaps of cushions were piled next to a low bookcase. She gave the books a cursorily glance but there were too many other things to see.

Her nose told her that this was where Kirin spent most of his time. In spite of his animosity towards her, Ariana was curious about the Ishimuran teacher that served the Tengu. Part of the room was partitioned off with a bamboo screen and she poked her head around it. There was a neatly folded futon on top of a chest and a standing wardrobe with the door ajar. She opened it and found clothes on hangers -- grey Tengu tunics as well as diamond-patterned male kimonos and yukatas. In the bottom of the wardrobe, there was an open box of photos. Ariana took them to one of the windows to have a better look.

"Well, well," she commented to herself, "so Kirin does know how to smile." The photos were quite old, from his rookery days from the look of it. Ariana recognized a young Kai standing next to Kirin in the back row of a group shot that included the younger versions of Kai's mate, Sakaki, Sora, Yanagi, and Yama who she'd met in New York years before. There was a goofy picture of Kai and Kirin clowning around on a beach with Sakaki and a chocolate brown female with a broad, flat face with double-pronged horns and her hair bound up in a samurai knot. Kirin was looking at her with such rapt infatuation that Ariana felt a mild twinge of jealousy; she'd give anything to have a male look at her with such devotion. She put the photos back in the box and returned them to the wardrobe.

"I wonder what happened to her," Ariana murmured. "Tak said that Kirin has no mate. Huh." She shook her head. "Enough snooping! Where's that dictionary?"

Plopping down on the cushions in front of the bookcase, Ariana began to go through the schoolroom library book by book. Quite a lot of them were textbooks written in Japanese but she was able to guess at their topics by the illustrations. The second shelf contained books printed in English and other languages and the bottom shelf had mostly literature. She became engrossed in a battered paperback copy of Jane Eyre and lost track of time.

"What are you doing in here?" Ariana glanced up to see Kirin staring at her in horror as she sat in front of his empty bookcase. The books themselves were sitting in piles on the floor all around her. "I had those organized!" His lip twitched.

"O-tama said you had a Japanese/English dictionary," Ariana said absently, her chin resting on her hand. "I'm trying to figure out what this says." She held up a strip of nylon ribbon.

"What is it?" Kirin took it from her irritably, and studied it for a moment. "Ah, it's a survey tag. We find them sometimes. Where'd you get it?" He sank down on the floor besides her.

"On the Tengumichi Trail, near where the old temple used to be. There were a lot of them tied to the bushes." Ariana sat up a little straighter. "Why would anyone be surveying a temple site?"

"The first character is blurred but the next two say 'Mining Limited.'"

"It must have gotten smeared while I was washing my clothes. It was in my pocket." Ariana frowned. "What would a mining company want around here?"

"Silver," Kirin answered absently. "There used to be a lot of silver mining here during the Meji era. Most of them petered out by the mid-twentieth century but earthquakes sometimes turn up a hidden vein." He twitched his lip, making his barbels swing slightly. "The rookery was a silver mine at one point. We find the odd piece occasionally."

"I passed a work crew and several campsites on the way in from Osaka," Ariana mused, thinking out loud. "I wonder if they have anything to do with this?"

"We checked the work crew out a few nights ago – standard highway repairs." Kirin turned the ribbon over in his fingers. "You say that there were more of these things?"

"Yes, lots."

Kirin twitched his lip a few more times and scowled into space. "There's nothing else for it," he finally said. "You'll have to show me."

"Dude, I have no idea where I am," Ariana said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Somebody knocked me out and brought me here unconscious, remember?"

Glancing around at his scattered books and then glaring back at her, he growled, "Don't tempt me."

Ariana sighed. "You're a worse neatnik than my brother. Just a min." Without really looking at them, she began to reshelve his books like she was shuffling cards.

"Wait!" Kirin called in a panic. "You don't know where--!"

"Relax, I do this all the time." She laughed. "The trick is to know what order you take them off the shelf and then just reverse it." Tucking the last one in place, she gestured at the shelves with a flourish and grinned. "See?"

Kirin whined under his breath as he looked at his books with a pained expression. He blinked and leaned in. "They're… in the correct order." He reached out, took one out, reversed it and put it back in. "Upside-down but in the right spot." He raised an eyebrow at her. "How did you do that?"

Tilting her head, Ariana smiled winsomely. "Just a little something I picked up watching three-card monty dealers in Times Square." She bounced to her feet. "So, are we going or what?"

"You're going to wade through brambles in that?" he asked pointing at her midriff top and lounge pants.

"No, you're going to wade through brambles," she countered. "I'm going to lurk in the trees this time."

Narrowing his eyes, Kirin puffed his upper lip out at her.

"Why do you do that?" Ariana asked. "That is so weird. You look like the Lenten special at Pastorini's Deli."

"And you dress like an otaku schoolgirl at a pajama party," he retorted. "We are not going to get anywhere if we keep sniping at each other."

"Well, somebody threw me in sewage and my other clothes are still wet. I'm not wearing my good yukata to skulk in the woods so I'm stuck wearing this, okay?" She put her hands on her hips and stuck her chin out at him.

Instead of snapping back at her, Kirin sat perfectly still and examined her carefully from head to toe, moving only his eyes. It was a look so clinical and disinterested that Ariana almost would have preferred one of Tak's leers. He sucked in one of his barbels and chewed on it thoughtfully for a moment. Rising to his feet, he padded around the partition and returned with a short ash-grey kimono. "Here – this is one of Mozu's. I don't know if it'll fit but it's clean and he's closest to your size." With that, he handed it to her and left the schoolroom. "Hurry up and change. I don't have all night."

"Oh-kay…." Ariana blinked and shook her head. "I didn't see THAT coming." She held out the grey kimono and pursed her lips thoughtfully. "So what can I do with this?"

"Where is she?" Kirin grumbled under his breath. He glanced discreetly over his shoulder towards the schoolroom. "How long could it possibly take to change clothes?"

O-tama came out of the woods with Mozu by her side, the younger gargoyle carrying a flat-bottomed basket full of wild herbs and vegetables. She gave the Ishimuran teacher a curious glance and paused for a moment to look around. "Where is our guest, Kirin-san?" she asked mildly. "You were to watch over her."

Raising his feathered crest, Mozu said nothing but became instantly attentive.

Kirin shrugged. "She's going to take me to where she found that ribbon. I gave her one of the boys' tunics to wear. Those ridiculous pants of hers will get shredded in the brambles."

Mozu suddenly dropped the basket. His beak hung open as he stared past them.

Waving a hand in front of her apprentice's slack face, O-tama said anxiously, "Buddha preserve us! What's the matter, Mozu?"

"So, are you coming or what?" Ariana asked cheerfully. She waited just long enough for her audience to take it all in – she'd modified the drab grey uniform by rolling up the sleeves to the shoulders, turning her dragon print pants into a makeshift obi, and binding up her hair with the drawstring from said pants. The kimono itself was tucked up so it reached mid-thigh. She smiled sweetly and pivoted to go back up the trail, flashing a nice length of leg. "You launch off that bluff I saw out the back window, right?"

Kirin's indignant bellow was right on cue. "WHAT are you wearing?"

Cocking her head, O-tama commented, "She would appear to be wearing Mozu's tunic." Her eyes danced. "And quite stylishly, I might add."

"Hey, when you've got a beak like mine," Ariana said with a lofty tilt of her head, "style is everything."

Kirin made a whining growl under his breath and bared his teeth. He gave O-tama a dirty look as he hurried past them on his way up the trail.

"Play nice, children!" O-tama called after him.

While her escort hiked up the path, Ariana paused to take in the amazing view beneath her. The Tengu village ended at a sheer granite drop over two hundred feet straight down to the twisting river that meandered through the mountain range.

"Wait." Kirin took a length of cloth out of his tunic and covered her eyes with it. "The elders insisted that you not know our precise location."

"A blindfold? On a first date?" Ariana grinned impishly and turned her head towards him. "How kinky." She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from giggling when he huffed twice for that comment.

"Here," he said gruffly and took her hand. "Hold on and I'll guide you while we glide."

Ariana felt the edge of the granite bluff with her toes and the strong updraft of air rushing up it. She unfurled her wings and felt them brush lightly against his. "Ready when you are."

"Very well." His fingers tightened just before they jumped and he kept a tight grip on her hand as the updraft sent them soaring up into the cooler upper air. Ariana felt like a hatchling out on her first flying lesson; his hand was so much larger than hers

"When can I take this off?" she asked after several minutes. "I keep thinking that you'll fly me into a tree or something."

"Don't be stupid. O-tama would skin me." He canted them to the left and she could hear the rush of water below. "All right, we're far enough away. You can get rid of it now." He released her hand.

Loosening the blindfold, Ariana removed it and looped the fabric around her left wrist. They were over the river that wound through the Rokko mountains like a sinuous snake. Tributaries branched off of it to meander through the foothills. "Do you know where we are?" she shouted up at Kirin, who had soared higher.

"We're nearing the back side of Mt. Maya," he called back. "There's a good thermal coming off the west face. It's an easy glide from here to the temple site."

Ariana felt the warmer air currents filling her wings and she let it lift her up and over Kirin in an acrobatic barrel roll. Kirin gave a curious jerk in mid-air as she passed and had to over-compensate to keep level. He gave her a hard glare and Ariana bit the inside of her lip. She'd caught him looking her over again so she'd flipped her tail at him. It was a subtle bit of teasing that she'd picked up from Midori and it drove the Ishimuran males crazy for some reason.

By the way Kirin was scowling, Ariana decided that she'd had enough fun at his expense and that possibly some diplomacy was in order. "Are we going to the summit or to that Zen garden thing with all the boulders?"

He snorted rudely. "Those aren't boulders. Even the smallest Tengu hatchling could tell you that."

"You know," Ariana said thoughtfully, "that was bothering me earlier." She glided over a little closer, hovering just over Kirin's left shoulder. "Shouldn't they have hatchlings? I mean, Ishimura had a rookery hatch in 'ninety-eight."

"You didn't ask this of O-tama, did you?" His voice was intense but not as harsh as it had been.

"No," she said slowly. "I wasn't sure it would be polite. What happened?"

"The rookery survived the earthquake of 'ninety-five but the eggs were damaged." Kirin sighed, puffing out his fish-whiskered lip. "The hatchlings were sickly from the start. O-tama tried everything but one by one, they all died." He paused. "I was allowed to contact Ishimura and consult with the healers there. Master Kado thought that the earthquake might have caused irreparable internal damage."

"Oh, no!" Ariana bit her lip. "How terrible!"

"O-tama still mourns their loss, as both a healer and a mother." They crested over the mountain and began to descend. "You will only sadden her if you ask of it."

"I understand," she agreed meekly. Ariana remembered her parents telling her and Graeme about their own hatching and the crushing despair that Sata and Brooklyn had faced that night. She could imagine all too clearly what it must have been like for the Tengu to lose an entire rookery.

Spiraling in, they landed on the rim of the gravel-strewn clearing. She started to step forward but Kirin blocked her with his arm. "Look carefully at the shapes within the rocks," he said solemnly. "This place is sacred to the Tengu. Can you tell me why?"

Frowning at him, Ariana bit back the first sarcastic remark that came to mind and concentrated on the scene before her. There were nine large boulders, roughly polished by the wind. Their surface was pitted and scarred from years of erosion but there was a curious inner texture – she leaned in, staring at it intently for a moment before recoiling back against Kirin's broad chest. There was the barest outline of a face beneath the surface of the stone.

"It's – it's a gargoyle frozen in stone!" she stammered excitedly. "Are they all --?"

"Yes," Kirin said, taking her by the arm and guiding her around the edge of the clearing. "When a Tengu leader feels the four winds calling to him at the end of his life, he is brought here to take his place within the Sojobo circle."

"'Sojobo?'"

"It's the hereditary title of the Tengu leader." He pointed to the massive granite rock that towered over them. "It is said that Takakage himself faced the winds on Tengu Rock and his body became part of it."

Ariana raised a brow ridge. "Really?"

Kirin returned the look. "Well, that's what Takamatsu-sama told the Three when they came here the first time. It's part of their clan lore." He made a face. "I was informed that I was to explain why we were so hostile when we found you here. This is sacred ground – the Tengu take trespassing very seriously."

"Apology accepted."

He bristled instantly. "I didn't –"

Ariana sprang up the side of a tall oak tree to avoid the tangled brambles. "Coming?" She gave him an over-the-shoulder glance just before she started to travel through the treetops. He was scowling but it wasn't an angry look, just perturbed. She was beginning to think that disgruntled was a normal state of being for Kirin. Her passage through the forest was effortless and light thanks to years of training on Fox's gymnastics equipment. Halfway to the main path, however, a new cluster of safety orange markers caught her eye.

A hollow thump and a shower of leaves announced Kirin's arrival on a neighboring tree. "What is it?"

"These markers," Ariana said, pointing down into the underbrush. "They weren't this far in before. I only found them along the path last night."

"Strange." Kirin jumped down and examined the markers for himself. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, look – there's some of my hair on that bush next to your shoulder. I can see it moving in the breeze."

Plucking the long silken strands delicately from the thorny branch with his talons, Kirin held it to his nose and sniffed. "Yes," he said slowly, "it carries your scent." He frowned as he examined the trail of markers. "Go higher, Ari-chan, be eyes for me. Someone is taking great interest in something here. We should find out why."

Ariana raised her brow ridges. "My," she said coyly, "we're so informal all of a sudden."

"I feel I'm entitled," Kirin shot back, "considering how much of you I can see from down here."

"Kusojiji! You dirty old man!" Cheeks burning, Ariana swung around to put the tree trunk between them.

He shrugged but a knowing smirk was in his voice. "Say what you like but I'm not the one wearing a short kimono."

"Lecherous old goat!" she grumbled as she climbed up into the canopy of the subtropical forest. Peeking around the trunk, she watched for a moment as Kirin methodically searched the ground. A sudden smile came to her face. "Well," she said, "at least he looked. The guys in Ishimura never did."

"Look what we have here, Tancho," Tak drawled out indolently as he settled on a neighboring branch. "A pretty little bird sitting in a tree." He rolled his eyes up and down her body. "Nice outfit – you look like a real Tengu girl."

"Tak," Ariana said simply, nodding her head to him, "and Tic. Where've you guys been?"

"We had patrol duty," Tic answered. "Mozu's off with O-tama." He took a spot on the other side of her so the two young warriors had her trapped between them.

Ariana pretended not to notice but shifted her wings as if she were merely stretching. "Oh, I know," she said guilelessly. "I saw them just before we left."

"We?" Tak asked as he sidled closer. "It looks to me that our little bird is all alone, doesn't it, brother? Perhaps we should keep her company."

"Takakura!" Kirin bellowed from the ground. "Tancho! Get down here!"

"Busted," Ariana chanted in a soft sing-song voice.

Tic grimaced and was off his branch in a flash but Tak merely narrowed his eyes at their teacher. "I see you were assigned a keeper," he commented. "Pity – we could have had some fun."

"I'm sure that might have been possible if you had gone about it the right way," she replied tartly, but scarlet light was flickering dangerously in her eyes. "You haven't been around many girls, Tak, so let me help you out here."

"Yes?" He leaned forward and smiled suggestively.

"The female is the one that chooses and the male cannot force her choice." Her firm gaze became a stare as hard and cold as a New York winter. ""Try anything with me and Kirin will be the least of your worries."

"Tough talk from a soft female," he sneered softly.

"Friendly advice," she countered, "and you might want to keep it that way." Ariana smiled sweetly and pushed off to slowly glide down to the ground.

Kirin started to scowl at her as Ariana approached then glanced past her into the trees. His expression changed subtly, becoming more wary, and he raised an eyebrow. "Couldn't see anything from up there?" he asked mildly. "It's just as well. There are several sets of tracks down here."

"Fresh?" Ariana dropped to her haunches and traced the waffle-print sole of a hiking boot. She took a pinch of dirt and sniffed it. "Motor oil."

Kneeling besides her, Kirin made a show of examining the track as well. "Is Tak bothering you?" he murmured softly.

"Tak is a horndog," she whispered back. "I can handle it. Don't worry."

"Hmmph." Kirin stood back up. "Tak! Fly a low sweep over this area! There's been a survey crew through here today. Let's see what they're after."

"There's some people camped out in the foot hills near the guide station," Tic said as he traced another set of footprints a few yards away. "That's not that far away on foot."

"What's the policy on offroad vehicles up here?" Ariana asked thoughtfully. "Any restrictions?"

Kirin raised both eyebrows. "I do not know," he admitted slowly. "As a rule, this area is foot travel only. There's only three main roads on Mt. Rokko and they are some distance from here. Why do you ask?"

"Because this motor oil smells very fresh," she said as she took a bigger pinch and rubbed it between her fingers, "and there was enough of it on this guy's shoes to leave traces of it in the dirt." She flicked the excess off and showed him her greasy fingers. "See?"

"Are you sure?" Kirin asked.

"Hey, I'm a city girl," Ariana replied. "I've been on enough crime scenes to tell the difference between old and fresh motor oil. This stuff hasn't had time to be absorbed into the ground; it's all on top. Whoever had this on their shoes didn't walk too far to get here."

A piercing whistle from the tree tops drew their attention. Tak was several yards away, hanging from a tall laurel tree by one hand and his feet braced against the trunk. He made several hand gestures that Ariana didn't recognize but Kirin and Tic did; they both became wary and ducked beneath the level of the spreading bushes around them. Tic scuttled to the nearest tree and climbed it like a monkey.

Kirin pulled her closer and whispered in her ear, "Tak says there are humans in the next clearing. We will take a look while Tancho watches our back."

"All right," Ariana whispered back, understanding the need for stealth. She held back and let Kirin lead the way through the thick underbrush. There was flash of red nylon through the leaves. They dropped to all fours and crept closer. The fur-tipped end of Kirin's tail twitched like a cat's as he gingerly parted some branches so they could look through. Ariana slipped in under his arm so she could see too. "Whoa."

"Sssh," Kirin hissed in her ear. They were looking at a motorcycle with a red nylon jacket draped over the seat, a large backpack, and several compact aluminum cases. One of them was open and they could see that it contained a silver cylinder cocooned in foam rubber.

"What is that?" Before Kirin could stop her, Ariana slipped through the bushes and was examining the strange items.

"What are you doing?" Kirin growled beneath his breath. He was scanning the area urgently, lifting his snout to scent for intruders. "We can't be seen!"

"I'd give real money to have Graeme here right now," she commented. "This is some kind of sensor or probe." She flipped it over to show Kirin the spiked tip. "See? They drive it into the ground. There's probably some kind of microcomputer circuitry inside this housing."

Kirin frowned and shook his head. "You're only guessing."

"Yeah, but trust me – you do not grow up with my techno geek brother without picking up a few things." She dug into the backpack and came up with a stainless steel clipboard, the kind designed with built-in storage. "Here – you look at this," she said as she handed it up to him.

"'Wariguri Mining Limited,'" Kirin mused, reading the title off the clipboard cover. He opened it and frowned. "There's too much paperwork – I'll have to take it back to the village and go over it there."

"Then take it and give the clipboard back," Ariana replied. "Chances are whoever brought this stuff out here won't check it until they get back to the office."

Raising an eyebrow, Kirin removed the papers and tucked them away inside his tunic. "You are a devious and underhanded wench," he said wryly. "O-tama is sadly mistaken about you."

Before Ariana could come up with a suitable retort, Tic and Tak dropped out of the trees besides them. "The human is planting those metal rods in the ground," Tak reported. "He's going up the slope away from Tengu Rock, but I don't like it. What is he doing? What does it mean?"

"We don't know," Kirin answered, "but I think we may have found some answers tonight. I just need the time to go through these documents thoroughly."

Tak shook his head. "He's got a full box of these things with him," he said, prodding the cylinder with his toe. "There's enough for him to go all the way up the ridge by morning. Do we really want him that close to our roosting places?"

"I say we take these things and drop them at the guide station," Tic said firmly as he picked up the aluminum cases. "Anyone who is out here at this hour is up to no good."

"Yes," Kirin agreed. "Let the human authorities deal with this puzzle as well."

Tak nodded. "But we'll need to get the others as well."

"I've got an idea," Ariana said, tapping her beak. She tossed aside the nylon jacket that had been covering the sleek-looking motorcycle. "This guy got up here on this bike, right? If we start it up and he hears it, he'll come running to try and save his ride. It's a long walk back to town without it."

"It's just a machine," Tic said reasonably. "Why would he want to do that?"

Ariana put her hand on the gas tank and caressed the smooth enameled metal. "Guys, trust me – this is the latest model in Kawasaki's ninja bike series. Anybody who would drive one of these babies wouldn't let it get stolen without a fight."

Tak made a rude noise. "So it's a fancy toy -- none of us knows how to operate this thing."

"Wanna bet?" Sticking her tongue in the corner of her mouth, Ariana knelt and fiddled with some wires until the motor purred to life. Flipping her wings around her tightly so that it looked like she was wearing skin-tight black leathers trimmed in red, she hopped on and balanced the bike between her legs. "You guys hide and when he's following me, grab his gear and go."

Tic and Tak looked at each other, looked at her in mischievous glee, and then disappeared into the trees. Kirin curled his lip at her and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Don't," he warned her sternly, "do anything foolish!"

"I'll just run it down the road and ditch it somewhere – don't worry!" Ariana grinned and gunned the throttle, making the engine roar. She pivoted it around, spraying loose leaves in all directions as she headed for the road. Excited shouts echoed behind her and she paused just long enough at the edge of the woods to see a silhouetted figure top the hill. He waved his arms frantically as he ran towards her and fumbled for something in his jacket pocket.

"Yeah, yeah," Ariana said to herself, "see the crazy garg chick making off with your bike." She let him get a little closer before releasing the brake and leaving a one-eighty skidmark on the gravel of the Tengumichi Trail. Her hair streaming in the wind, Ariana laughed out loud as she rode the bike past Dairyuji Temple and onto the main road. It had been ages since she had been out riding motorcycles with Brooklyn; Sata disapproved of it but, more often than not, looked the other way when her wayward mate and equally wayward daughter hit the streets.

The asphalt road hugged the curves of the mountain like Ariana's favorite silk dress – fast on the straightaway and tight in the turns. She could see the lights of Kobe far below her to the west and briefly considered taking a joyride down there. "Heh, Kirin would have kittens," she chuckled.

The thought of goading the Ishimuran teacher into a fit was so amusing that the lights in her rearview mirror were nearly upon her before Ariana realized it. It was another ninja series racing bike, and by the way the driver was hunched over the steering column, he was determined to catch up to her. She glanced up but there was no sign of her Tengu escort anywhere.

"Oh-kay," she commented, "Let's race." A smug smile not unlike her father's curled around her beak in anticipation. She pointed her beak into the wind and opened up the throttle, leaning the bike into the next turn at top speed. Her pursuer did the same, copying her move and matching velocities. To the side, she spied Tic riding the thermals up the steep embankment. He gave her a startled glance and veered off when he saw she had uninvited company, hopefully to go for reinforcements.

The other biker took advantage of her momentary distraction and swerved in towards her, forcing her to the edge of the road. Ariana uncoiled her tail from around her leg where she'd been keeping it out of the way and slashed it across his face like a whip. He lost control of his motorcycle for a moment but regained it almost immediately. It was just enough to let Ariana run the throttle full out and get a few lengths ahead of him. She squinted at the road in front of her. It was a dangerous game, traveling at such high speeds on roads with so many unexpected twists and turns.

Her toes brushed the pavement as she took the next turn and she winced at the damage to her pedicure. Trees obscured her view for a moment but then she was blinded by the headlights of an oncoming dairy truck. Ariana swerved and felt the hot fumes of the vehicle's engine exhaust pass by. She blinked furiously to clear her light-sensitive eyes only to see the bright orange reflectors on the guard rail and beyond them, a matching set on the far side of the hairpin turn coming up.

"I'll never make the turn!" she said out loud and instead of slowing down, she gunned the engine. Wheels spinning as she crashed through the guardrail, Ariana snapped out her wings and instantly regretted it as the extra weight pulled her down. Darkness rose up from beneath her as she rode the bike across the void.

"Come on!" she groaned and flapped her wings futilely as she approached the other side. The back wheel of the motorcycle was dipping dangerously; if she didn't get it raised up in time, she wouldn't be able to land the jump. Her right wing was starting to burn with the strain. "C'mon, Ari!" she called out. "You can do this!" 

The guardrail loomed up. The front wheel barely touched it – and the tire skidded futilely against it with a sharp smell of burning rubber as it failed to clear the barrier. The motorcycle started to fall back – and Ariana was forcibly removed from the bike as Kirin swooped in and snatched her into his arms.

Tumbling down the craggy mountainside, the motorcycle smashed into a boulder and erupted into a brilliant fireball. The force of the explosion tossed the two gargoyles into a grove of trees across the road where they crashed to the ground in an undignified heap. Too shaken to do anything else Ariana lay across Kirin's broad chest and listened to the other motorcycle pull up. The rider cursed furiously in a Japanese dialect that she didn't understand before heading back the way he came.

Ariana blew a strand of hair out of her face. "I could have landed the bike, you know," she said indignantly. "All I needed was a few more seconds."

 "I doubt that seriously," Kirin retorted as he levered himself up on his elbows. "That was a foolhardy thing to do. No sane gargoyle would have attempted it."

"I'll have you know that my father has been riding motorcycles for years," she shot back. "He's done that stunt dozens of times."

"That only proves my point that insanity is hereditary." He glared at her. "Now get off of me, ungrateful wench!"

Planting a hand none too gently in the middle of his stomach, Ariana started to get up only to have a shooting pain race from her right wing strut and down her spine. "Ow!" She fell to her elbows and grimaced, her breath hissing through her teeth.

"What is it now?" he asked, concerned in spite of himself.

"Pulled a wing muscle – ooooh!" Ariana groaned. "Give me a minute – I need to stretch it." She managed to drag herself off to one side of Kirin and tried to flex her right wing. "Owie-owie-owie-owie…."

"Here," Kirin said gruffly as he sat up and ran his hands deftly along her wing strut. "You've twisted your carpi radialis, you little idiot." His strong fingers dug into the corded muscles between her shoulder blade and her wing talons and readjusted it. "Your father may have the wing span to carry the weight of a motorcycle but a female of your size just doesn't have that kind of lift. I cannot imagine what you were thinking."

Despite his grumbling, Kirin's deft fingers loosened her knotted muscles and the intense shooting pain ceased. Ariana rested her head on Kirin's shoulder. "Oh! That's SO much better!" She sighed and closed her eyes.

There was the rough scrape of talons on asphalt and then a discreet throat-clearing. "So, sensei," Tak said with a distinctly naughty tone in his voice, "will you and Ari-chan be much longer or should we go back to the village without you?"

Ariana and Kirin looked at each other and instantly realized what a compromising situation they were in – her draped over his lap and him with his arms around her. They both recoiled in horror and scrambled away from each other. Kirin curled his lip like he had a bad taste in his mouth. "No, we are quite finished here," he said haughtily. "Lady Ariana has done enough showing off for one evening."

"Showing off?" Ariana narrowed her eyes to slits and glared holes through him. "Getting chased by that guy was NOT my fault! And what did he say anyway? I couldn't understand a word of it."

"Funny, I heard him perfectly," Tak commented, still watching them from the road. "He cursed a bit and then he said something along the lines of 'at least there won't be anything left.'" He smirked. "I suppose you were too pre-occupied to hear him clearly, neh?"

"The man spoke with an Osaka dialect," Kirin said gruffly as he trudged up the hill. "It differs from the Japanese spoken in Tokyo, which is the kind commonly used in Ishimura."

Ariana followed him up. "Really?"

Tak laughed harshly. "That would explain why some of the elders were complaining that you didn't speak properly." He walked over to the guardrail and leaned over. "Tancho! What did you find?"

Ariana peered into the ravine between Tak and Kirin. Tic was halfway down the steep slope, loosening rocks to smother the burning motorcycle with dirt. He looked up at them. "There's nothing left," he reported. "We're lucky that it fell on bare earth – no chance for the fire to spread." He prodded some of the ashes with his talons.

"Careful," Kirin admonished. "Don't burn yourself."

"Not to worry, sensei," Tic replied cheerfully. "I've handled hotter pots coming out of the kiln." He took off his head scarf, and Ariana realized that it wasn't just a fashion statement – Tancho was as bald as an egg. He gingerly picked several lumps from the ashes and put them in the scarf before pushing off from the ravine face and catching an updraft to glide up to join them. "These came from a storage space beneath the seat," he said, opening his scarf to show them some small grayish rocks. They were composites, Ariana discovered on closer inspection, containing bits of quartz, slate, and bright silvery blue veins. Some of the rocks had strange rivulets of metal puddled at their bases.

"What kind of rocks melt?" she asked, pointing at the melted bits. "That's really weird." She looked up to see Kirin frown. "What?"

He scowled at her. "It is none of your concern," he said with a dismissive gesture. "You have already done enough, thank you. We will return to the village now."

"You know something!" Ariana exclaimed accusingly. "We can't stop now! What about those guys? We need to find out what they're—"

Kirin's eyes flashed. "The only thing you are going to do," he snarled, "is exactly what I say, foolish hatchling."

"You know," Ariana said, poking her finger into his chest, "I'm getting fed up with your attitude problem, pal. There's something seriously wrong here and you know I'm right."

"You agree to abide by the rules of the Tengu," he shot back, "did you not? We do not concern ourselves with the human world and we do not attract their attention to us!"

"There are times to follow the rules and there are times to bend them." She pointed down at the smoldering motorcycle. "This is one of those times, Kirin! Stop hiding in the woods and act like a gargoyle!"

Eyes glowing dangerously, Kirin stared at her and cracked his knuckles one after the other. Both Tic and Tak chose to back up at this gesture, clearly moving out of the danger zone. Ariana refused to budge and stood her ground, lifting her chin defiantly. His cheek twitched as anger darkened his face. "Who," he said in a low growl, "do you think you are to lecture me?"

"Ignoring a problem," she snapped back, "never makes it go away." She narrowed her eyes to scarlet slits. "We have to confront these people now and find out what they're doing before it's too late!"

"That might be the way you do things where you are from," he retorted hotly, "but it is not the Tengu way. You forget yourself!"

"And I think you've forgotten what being a gargoyle's all about!"  The minute the words left her lips, Ariana instantly knew it was a mistake.

His nostrils flared and without warning, Kirin seized her roughly by the wrist and swept them both off the edge. Ariana tried to pull herself free only to be warned off with a menacing growl. She forced herself to relax to reduce the effects of his bruising grip. It was all she could do to keep up with him; he knew where all the updrafts were and where the wind currents were the fastest. They were spiraling down into the Tengu village before Ariana had a chance to memorize any landmarks.

O-tama was sitting with Miza and some of the other females. They were engaged in various domestic tasks from threshing rice to cleaning vegetables. The elderly healer gave them a curious look and put a bowl of half-shelled peas aside to come greet them.

"Here!" Kirin said forcefully as he shoved Ariana towards O-tama. "Take her! I wash my hands of her!!"

"Whatever is the matter?"

"Just keep her away from me!" He stomped away, grumbling to himself and clenching his fists. Tic and Tac arrived just as Kirin was disappearing into a grove of trees. Toe hurried over to them with a freshly drawn bucket of water and he listened intensively to them as they quickly filled him in on the evening's adventure in excited whispers.

O-tama eyed this activity suspiciously before turning to Ariana. "Interesting," she commented dryly. "Kirin seems to be agitated. Do you know why?"

"No idea," Ariana said guilelessly. "Sometimes my father and my brother get that way too." She shrugged. "It must be a guy thing."

Tak immediately choked on a dipperful of water. Tic was laughing too hard to help him so Toe had to pound on Tak's back. He shook his head at them while both of his rookery brothers tried futilely to stifle their laughter. Ariana sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes at them which only made them laugh harder.

"I see," O-tama drawled out. "I suspect it is fortunate that Takamatsu has asked if you would perform chaji for us tomorrow evening. You will need spend the rest of this night making your preparations, neh?"

It was a subtle scolding, Ariana knew, and she submitted to it willingly since it had been an eventful night and she did not want to offend her hosts. "Of course, O-tama," she said graciously, "I would be honored to do the tea ceremony for Takamatsu-sama. How many guests shall I prepare for?"

While she and O-tama haggled over the details of the tea ceremony, Ariana noticed as Kirin re-emerged from the grove of trees with several stoneware bottles. He was drinking from one as he wandered off in the general direction of the schoolroom. O-tama caught the puzzled expression on her face and glanced around.

"It would seem," the older female said succinctly, "that Kirin intends to spend the rest of the evening in a sake cup."

Ariana winced. She hadn't meant to make Kirin that upset and glanced at O-tama guiltily only to see the Tengu healer begin to chuckle quietly.

"Do not worry, young one," O-tama said, taking her arm. "I do not know what you've been up to but Kirin has been complacent far too long. This is just the medicine he's needed."

Upon overhearing this comment, Miza and the other females began to laugh. Ariana couldn't help but join in. She didn't know what the joke was but she couldn't wait for the punchline.

To be continued in Part III of "Tengu"