Hi, everyone! I know it's been a long time.  I guess this is just one of those stories that has a lot of space between updates.  You know how real life gets in the way and this is not an easy story to write.  Hopefully I still have a few readers, though the practice is for me.  However, since my audience pool is so small, I feel lucky to get a few reviews.  Please, if you are reading, take the time to say hello and a little bit about what you think of the chapter.  It will really make all the work seem worth it and make the writing easier.  Thank you very much!

Evermore

Chapter 15

By Zapenstap

            Kyo felt like he had just lain down when he felt something prodding him awake. He opened his eyes slowly, blinking in the faint bluish gray light of the predawn. 

            "Hey."

            Kyo raised his head tiredly, glaring at whoever had awoken him. He felt bone weary, worse than he did when it rained. Belduine knelt on one knee beside him, his broken spear slung across his back and bouncing a few stones between his hands.  Stifling a yawn, Kyo turned to look and see if he was the last one up, and was surprised to see the others still laid out in sleeping mounds.

            "What do you want?" Kyo demanded irritably.  The kid glanced toward the horizon, where the sun had not yet risen, as if estimating the time.  He smiled when he looked back at Kyo, his face half covered with shadow.

            "You're a cat, right?"

            Kyo sat up, suddenly awake.  Scowling, he worked the stiffness out of his shoulders.  Sleeping on roots and rocks after a long hike through the mountains and a harrowing escape from a dungeon and being woken up earlier than everyone else because he was the cat did not put him in the best mood.  "What are you talking about?  What time is it?"

            "Hunting time," Belduine whispered, "feeding time for deer and rabbits and maybe even fish if we can reach the river in time."

            Kyo felt his stomach rumble at the mention of fish.  When was the last time he ate anything?  What he wouldn't give was filleted…

            "Everyone's hungry," Belduine said, interrupting his thoughts.  "I'll do what I can alone if I have to, but I'm not used to taking care of other people, and there are so many of you.  Will you help me?"

Looking at the others sleeping on the ground, Kyo wondered if they were as hungry as he felt.  Tohru's face looked pale where she slept on her stomach next to Saki Hanajima.  Kyo remembered how Tohru collapsed from thirst yesterday, before they found the stream, and how he and Yuki had carried her like a sack slung between them.  Yuki was sleeping too, coughing every once in awhile, though seemingly unaware of it.  Kyo frowned.  Even cold, starving, thirsty, tired and hacking himself to death from sleeping outdoors, Yuki managed to fill him with hate and envy.  He was stronger, quieter, quicker, and more responsible; Yuki was better at most things. 

"Why me?" he asked. 

Belduine followed his gaze, watching Yuki sleep in silence, and then got to his feet, brushing the dirt off his knees.  "I asked you because you're supposed to be a cat," he said.  "Cats are hunting animals.  And you seemed restless in your sleep.  I was hoping you wouldn't have trouble waking up at this hour."

Kyo blinked.  Squinting at the horizon, he realized that this was the hour he usually awoke, especially when he had been living in the mountains with his master.  Looking back at Tohru, he wondered if she might collapse again if there was nothing to eat again today.  His own stomach rumbled again and he sighed.  Well, he was already awake. "What do you want me to do?"

Belduine grinned and straightened.  "Just follow me."

Belduine led him away from their campsite and out from under the trees, slipping around the sleeping bodies in complete silence, not even the leaves on the ground rustling with his passing. Working out the stiffness in his muscles, Kyo followed more slowly.  When they broke out from under the shade of the trees and onto a grassy plain, a slight breeze picked up, rustling the hair on Kyo's head as he quickened his pace to a steady jog.

Kyo was surprised how different things looked during the day.  The mountains behind them were covered in forest, but what had been an obstacle in the night was a beautiful, majestic sight during the day.  Kyo found himself looking around as he ran, his gaze sweeping back over the mountain they had climbed and further to the range of mountains stretching in the distance, getting taller and more beautiful the farther and higher his eyes traveled.  Except for this plain, everywhere he looked there were trees, most of them unfamiliar to him, but familiar enough to make it easy to pretend that he was back in the mountains again with his master.

But instead of a leisurely walk through the forest trails with Kazuma, he was in another world and another age, following this stranger—a short kid wearing black boots with a spear strapped to his back and a few magic tricks tucked up his sleeve—because he was lost and hungry.  Kyo reminded himself that that spear had killed someone yesterday: deliberately.  He had to remember that despite his innocent face and small stature, there was something almost… casually dangerous about Belduine.

Belduine led him swiftly across the plain, the thick yellowed grass itching about their knees and the uneven ground causing them to be wary of their footing.  Nevertheless, Belduine showed surprising speed, and as he did not wait for Kyo, Kyo took it upon himself to keep up.  Maybe Yuki could take him out without breaking a sweat, but he would be damned before this little shrimp would outpace him!

The sound of running water made his ears prick up.  Belduine ran easily up a little hill that rose before them and crouched down in the grass like a lion.  They had been skirting around many such little hills that dotted the plain, the unevenness in the ground allowing for a bit of cover.  Even exposure to the sky overhead made Kyo a little nervous, but he supposed if there was anyone following them, those left behind, sleeping, were in more danger than Belduine and himself.  His hackles rose at the thought, but it was too late to wonder if this was some kind of trick.

He clambered up the hill to kneel next to where Belduine was crouching and looked down at a wide stream winding its way down from the mountains, a stream that possibly traced its roots back to the little brook where they had made their campsite.  Kyo followed it with his eyes, not able to see Tohru and the others anymore, but imagining that they were still sleeping soundly, undisturbed as the sun crept up over the hills and bathed the plain in a golden dawn.

When he looked back at the stream, he saw what Belduine had been staring at.  There were deer, antelopes similar to the ones that came to shines and parks in the cities of Japan, but these deer were wild, their black-tipped ears twitching at the slightest sound, muscles tensed and ready to bolt at the slightest disturbance.  There was something beautiful and strangely alluring about their long necks and glossy coats as they dipped their heads near the stream to drink the fresh mountain spring water.  They looked well fed.

"How do you catch one?" Kyo asked, swallowing, and was surprised to think that he had been looking at the animals as food.  His stomach grumbled, submitting its opinion to his brain that such a thought was sensible.

"The deer?"  Belduine asked, sounding surprised.  "I might be able to kill one, but they take too long to prepare and I don't have the tools."  He fished what looked like a sling out of his coat and picked up a few rocks from the ground.  When had he made that?

Kyo hadn't considered how he might eat a deer once it was killed.  He was used to buying prepared food at the grocery store.  He imagined cutting into the animal's skin and breaking the bones apart to get at the meat and shuddered.  He was about to ask Belduine what they were going to hunt if not deer, but when he turned his head and opened his mouth, Belduine was gone.

He stood up, looking around.   He hadn't felt Belduine move from his spot next to him, nor noticed his going.  Did he disappear?  Perhaps he could use magic—Kyo's mind toyed awkwardly with the idea—to vanish into thin air.  The fairy lights they had seen last night had been amusing when he was tired, but now the idea of pieces of magic floating about and taking strange shapes seemed outlandish and freakish. Just as he was starting to cringe from the thought, he spotted Belduine prowling through the brush.

Belduine was stalking something.  Instinct made Kyo crouch down, fingers digging into the soil as he stared through the long grass, still and silent as a lion.  He couldn't see whatever it was Belduine had his eye on, but he knew he was about to go in for the kill when the boy rose up on his toes, a rock nestled in the cradle of his sling, and lifted one arm over his head. 

The deer by the stream raised their heads, soft brown eyes looking in two directions as they lifted their hooves nervously.  Belduine swung the sling overhand in a single windup, whipping the retention cord behind his body and over his head.  It made a soft whirring sound and released with a snap.  A second later Kyo heard a thud and thump.  The deer bolted at the sound, tearing across the field in small, bounding groups.

Kyo waited where he was until Belduine walked back up the hill.  The boy had his sling in one hand, made from a strip of leather and a bit of rope, and in the other he carried a large bird—something like a pheasant—by the feet.  Kyo stared at the legs and feathers of the thing and tried to imagine it plucked and cooked over a fire.  His stomach rumbled plaintively.

But it wasn't enough to feed all of them. 

Belduine smiled at him.  "We'll try the stream for fish," he said.  "And then see what else we can find.  We have maybe an hour or so before we have to get back."  He handed Kyo the sling.  "Ever used one of these?  I used to kill birds and small animals with them when I was a kid." 

Kyo took the sling and examined it slowly.  It consisted of three parts: the retention cord, the cradle and the release cord.  The retention cord, made from a bit of rope, was looped at one end to fit over his wrist so it couldn't fly away.  The release cord, made from another bit of rope, was simply held in the hand until it was time to let go and release the rock.  The rock was held in the cradle, a strip of leather adjoining the ends of the two pieces of rope which held it until a few swings would give it enough momentum for a launch.  Belduine had done it in one swing and managed to hit something with enough accuracy to kill it. 

"I'll show you how," Belduine said.  "It's not too hard to pick up if you have any natural aim.  The real trick with hunting is to stay calm.  Animals can sense fear.  So can people.  You'll spoil the kill if you rush.  If you want to catch anything, stay calm, be confident, and go for it with everything you've got."

If he hadn't been starving, Kyo might have objected to the tutorial, but as it was, he just took the sling and looked about for some decent rocks.  Belduine hefted his spear shaft with a smile and leaped down the hill toward the stream without looking back.

Kyo walked the other direction to avoid scaring the game, practicing with the sling a few times against a scraggly tree some way away from the stream, grimacing when the rock got tangled in the sling or went wide of the target.  It wasn't his choice of weapon, but it was simple, easy to use and as he hurled rocks against the tree routinely, he was able to think.

He wondered if they were missed at home since yesterday, and if they would ever get back there.  He supposed it didn't really matter.  In this world, there was nothing to do except accept circumstances as they were and struggle onward.  It wasn't too different really than the way he had been living before.  He felt like he had been struggling to survive his whole life, misfortune and tragedy piled on misfortune and tragedy since his cursed birth.  His was a cursed life. Everything around him that was good felt like a bubble about to pop at any second.  He didn't even wonder about his bracelet anymore, or whether he was a monster masquerading as a human or a human masquerading as a monster.  Tired and hungry as he was, he didn't have the emotional reserves to transform into his doubly cursed shape, but he could still feel it there, lurking under his skin, waiting for the right moment to consume him body and soul.  The cat was cursed.  They were all cursed.  That's why they were here. Perhaps he belonged in the hold of the Esper.  Save Tohru and her friends. The oblivious hopefulness in Tohru's face was a stark contrast to the twisted existence of the Sohma's, and always had been. 

The rock in his sling hurdled from the sling as he released the cord, thwacking against the tree twenty paces away with enough force to crack the trunk.   He had another rock in the sling a moment later, his lips tightening and muscles tensing as he flung the second stone at the target. It went wide.

Tohru didn't belong here.  She didn't belong with the Sohmas.  If they did manage to get home, he intended to send her away, somehow, from all of them.  He lowered his arm, oblivious to the ache in his shoulder where he might have strained something.  He still had a few rocks in hand.  Taking a deep breath, he cleared his mind of Tohru and his curse and the situation of his family.  He didn't even think about trying to outdo Yuki or how they were ever going to get home.  For the next half an hour he just threw rocks at the tree. 

When he heard a rustle of leaves in the grass some yards away, he relied on instinct, not caring if it was the instinct of a cat or a man.  He stayed stock still, eyes peering ahead, every organ of his body focused on the sound and the movement ahead until he saw a rabbit creeping around wearily in the grass, sniffing the air with a twitching nose before setting its paws in the open dirt. The rock went in the sling automatically, without thought.  He swung it overhand, behind his back and over his head with minute precision.  The rock sailed through the air without a wobbly, perfectly, striking the rabbit a killing blow on the head.  The animal crumpled on impact, without a sound, its back legs going limp as its furry body flopped to the earth.

For a minute Kyo just stared at it, surprised at the result of what he had done, but not that it had happened that way.  He knew he was going to kill the rabbit.  He knew it the moment he let the stone loose, but looking at it lying limp in the grass, he was filled with a feeling he couldn't quite describe. He should be proud he had killed it, and was proud that he had hit the target for which he aimed, but he felt shame for not being more proud of killing the thing.  After all, he was hungry and it was just a rabbit.  And yet, he found himself only able to stare at how lifeless it looked.

Belduine came up over the rise a minute later, his spear held sideways.  He had tied the pheasant he had caught earlier by the feet on one end of the haft and another pheasant just like it but a little smaller tied on the other end to balance it out.  In his other hand he held a string with a seven inch fish dangling from the end.

Kyo fetched his rabbit in silence, picking it up uncertainly by the ears.  It was a dead weight in his fist.  He was glad one blow had killed it.  He didn't think he could have hit it again.

"Fish are biting," Belduine said cheerfully.

"What did you use as a line and hook?" 

"I got the line from your house.  EC let me borrow an earring for a hook.  It didn't work as I had hoped, though.  I caught this fellow with my hands."  He grinned.  "You have to be quick."  Still smiling, he took the rabbit from Kyo and hung it upside down next to one of his pheasants by tying its legs together with a bit more string from his pocket.  "Still, it's helpful to have this stuff.  Makes carrying things easier."

Kyo grunted a sour reply.  "How much time do we have?"

"We have to get back," Belduine said.  "We can spare a little more time to clean these guys and cook them, but I want to get moving soon.  I plan to be well on our way to the city before anyone who might have been sent after us will catch up.  I laid a few false trails last night to buy us some time, but we can't stay here all morning."

The sun had risen, but it was still early.  Kyo figured everyone had slept maybe three or four hours, if that, by the time he and Belduine returned to camp with their prey.  While Belduine voluntarily settled himself on a rock to begin cleaning the animals—Kyo didn't care to watch the rabbit being skinned—Kyo began gathering dry sticks for firewood.  When he had gathered enough, he began stacking them so that there was plenty of oxygen between pieces, and then wondered how he was going to get the thing started.

Arisa woke up as he was grumbling to himself, stifling a yawn with her hand.  "Hey, Orange-Top, can you keep it down?"  She blinked rubbing her eyes.  Her face was smudged with dirt.  It was in her hair too. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Making a fire.  Do you have a lighter?" he asked, not even looking in her direction.  His sticks were arranged very prettily, but he couldn't figure out how to make a fire out of them. 

Arisa sat up. "Perhaps some kindling would be helpful first," she laughed.  "Those logs are too dense. They won't catch."  Kyo bristled, looking down at his pile of stick with indignation. "Paper would be nice," Arisa continued.  She roused herself with another yawn and rolled over to wake up Saki.  "Hey, Hana.  We need something to light on fire."

Saki listened calmly as Arisa explained. "I have one of Shigure's novels in my backpack."

"All right!" Arisa said.

"Shut up," Kyo said quietly. "You're going to wake up Tohru."

"You want to make me?" Arisa responded automatically.  She glanced at a peacefully slumbering Tohru and said more quietly, "how long have we been asleep anyway?"  She got to her feet slowly, stretching as she looked around at the forest and the plain they had to cross soon.  "I forgot where I was," she added.  "I was sure I was dreaming until I woke up." Walking over to where Kyo knelt by his pile of sticks, she began rooting in her backpack for a lighter. Saki joined them a moment later, one of Shigure's smut novels in hand, from which she calmly began ripping out the pages to tuck under the lighter pieces of wood that would serve for kindling.

"Have you read that yet?" Arisa asked.

"It's a tragic story," Saki said.  "Love doomed from the start.  He doesn't deserve her.  She's at a loss without him.  They have a passionate affair that ends when he goes to prison after killing a man to save her life.  She's left to raise his unborn child alone."

"Burn it," Kyo said soberly.

Arisa set her lighter to the papers and they watched as the pages caught and blackened instantly, curling inward at the edges.  "I can almost pretend I'm camping," Arisa said.

"Yeah," Kyo guffawed.  "Almost."

"What is all the racket?"

They turned to see Yuki sitting up, still looking at least half asleep with his hair tousled and his eyes half closed.  He rubbed his face tiredly, blinking as he looked around without seeming to take in anything around him clearly.

"Morning, Prince," Belduine said, approaching them from his gutting bench.  "Hungry?"

"I'm starving!" Arisa moaned.  "God, I hope that's what the fire's for."

Belduine tromped in beside Kyo with the fish he had caught cleaned and stuck on the end of a stick.  "We'll have to roast it," he said.  "I don't think anyone brought any pots or pans."  He handed the stick to Kyo and walked away to continue with the pheasants and the rabbit.  Kyo wasn't sure he wanted to know what those looked like on a stick.  Maybe they would cut up pieces to roast?  Gross!

"I suddenly feel like I've been living a really pampered life," Arisa said, looking at the fish impaled on a stick in Kyo's hand.  "But that fish looks good.  I think I could almost eat it raw."

"We're cooking it," Kyo said stubbornly.

"Where did all of this come from?" Yuki asked, glancing over at where Belduine was peeling the hide off the rabbit.  Kyo wondered if the delicate Yuki was grossed out and almost felt like joining Belduine in the skinning just to prove that he wasn't.  "Do you need help, Belduine?" Yuki asked in the next second. "I'm not much use in the kitchen, but I will do my best."

Kyo grimaced.

"Nah, I got it," Belduine said. "Thanks though."  Kyo noticed that his hands were red with the blood of gutted animals and decided he was more helpful tending the fire anyway.

"Maybe there are some edible plants around here we can add to it," Yuki said.  Kyo threw sticks onto the fire more viciously.  Did he have to try so hard to be helpful?

"You can look around," Belduine said. "But don't wander too far off or stay gone too long.  We need to eat fast and get out of here.  I wouldn't have stopped at all if it could be helped."

The others were waking as Kyo tended the fire and Yuki began scourging the surrounding area for herbs and vegetables.  Kyo wondered if Yuki could have killed a rabbit with a sling and almost brought it up that some of the food they were eating was due to his newly acquired hunting prowess, but decided against it.  He knew what Yuki would say; that he was an idiot for flaunting what he thought was manliness just because he had hit an animal with a rock.  Besides, Yuki probably would have done just as well if not better without the bragging.   Stewing inside, Kyo held his tongue.

"Oh my hair," Ayama exclaimed, waking suddenly and dashing leaves and soil away from his precious locks.  He said nothing about their situation, but merely began braiding as if that were the most important thing needing to be done this morning.  "Bring me some breakfast when it's ready, Kyo."

Kyo's back arched angrily. 

"Kyo's making breakfast?"  Kagura seemed almost perky in the woods in the morning.  She looked almost natural as she got to her knees and dusted off her dress.  "Can I help?"

"No.  Stay away from me." If he'd been a cat, Kyo's tail would have been lashing. 

"You can help me, Kagura," Belduine called.  "If you're not afraid of plucking feathers anyway.  Don't worry. I wouldn't make you do anything messier."

"Sure," Kagura said, getting to her feet and walking over to see what Belduine was doing. "Ew!" she said, and then giggled.  Kyo rolled his eyes.  Nothing could unsettle Kagura for long.  Or if it did, she would pretend otherwise.  Just as he suspected, she settled next to Belduine on his log and began plucking feathers from one of the pheasants, chatting quietly.

The noise of everyone moving around eventually awoke Tohru.  Kyo, roasting his fish beside Arisa and Saki, was able to smile a little when she opened her eyes and looked around her in some confusion.  "Mom?" she asked as she sat up, blinking around her in a daze.  "Where's my tent?"

"We're in Evermore, Tohru," Arisa said.  "Or somewhere nearby, I guess.  I'm still not too clear on the geography of this place."

Tohru blinked, looking at everyone, and then raised herself on her elbows.  "Right.  I remember."  A troubled look came over her face, her eyes reflecting light rather than radiating it as she looked inward.  

"Stop worrying," Kyo said.  "Nothing that's happened is your fault.  ."

Tohru sat up. "I'm sorry.  Can I help with anything?"

            Kyo turned back to look at his fish.  "Don't say you're sorry.  Just relax.  You'll be taken care of. "

"Oh." She blushed, looking flustered.  "I'm sorry."

"If you don't quit it, I'm going to dunk your head in the stream."

            Tohru eventually ended up helping Kagura with the pheasant.  While they worked at the birds, Belduine brought slabs of rabbit meat to Kyo wrapped in leaves. Arisa and Saki had whittled some sticks with Arisa's pocket knife and impaled the slabs of meat from Belduine to roast over the fire the way Kyo did with his fish.

            "This can't be safe," Kyo said. "Someone's going to get sick."

            "I don't care," Arisa said. "I told you.  I'd eat it raw. I think yours is done by the way."

            Kyo blinked, looking at the fish that was cooked so thoroughly it was blackened in places and almost shriveled.   Kyo pulled his stick away from the fire and tried to touch the fish, but it was so hot it burned his fingers. 

            "Stupid cat."

He bristled at the voice before he turned.

"Are you just going to eat it yourself?"

            Yuki's accusatory glare was more annoying than the herbs and roots he had gathered in one arm.  He knelt gracefully next to Arisa and began to sort his find.  It looked edible.  It was certainly better than meat on a stick.  Kyo glared at his fish, not sure what to do with it now.  He had been going to eat it—it was the best of the lot in his opinion, and he was starving—but Yuki had to be all generous about it and now he didn't know who to offer it to.

            "Akito?" Yuki asked, peering over Kyo's shoulder at the only remaining person still lying on the ground.  "Are you awake?  Are you hungry?"

            Kyo tried to relax his grip and smooth his expression. 

            The mound on the ground that was Akito did not move. At some point Ayame had moved near Akito and was now looking down at him curiously.  Akito had his back turned to Ayame, seeming to ignore him as if he didn't exist.  After a few moments of peering at his face, Ayame sighed dramatically, tossing his now-braided hair over his shoulder.

            "Oh, he's awake, Yuki," Ayame told them volubly.  "He's ignoring me, and I hate that!  He doesn't look too good, though.  I wish Hatori were here!  I'm really no good at waiting on people!"

            Akito hunched his shoulders, wrapping himself tighter in his kimono.  "I don't want anything prepared by that monster," he said quietly without looking at them.  "I don't want anything that hasn't been specially prepared for me."

            Everyone quieted. Akito's hushed tones seemed to dampen even the sunshine.  Kyo dropped his eyes, trying to blot out the sounds around him in the present in hopes of somehow erasing or ignoring the words that Akito had spoken.  He could pretend he was not fazed.

            "Akito, you need to eat something," Yuki pressed.  "We have a long way to travel and Belduine has been good enough to find something to tide us over until we can rest some place better."

            Belduine had brought the birds over to the fire while they were talking, wisely staying silent as his name was mentioned.  Kyo silently helped him stuff the birds with the plants and roots Yuki had found and set them over the fire the way they had the fish and rabbit, both of them working similarly to be ignored.

            Kyo felt Akito's eyes on them, but no one said anything.

            "This one's about done," Arisa said brusquely, ignoring Akito and the tension he had caused as if he didn't exist or didn't matter.  She pointed to one of the rabbit kabobs on her stick.  Saki calmly removed it, not seeming to notice how hot it was, and handed it to Belduine on a leaf with such an expectant, blank expression one would think it was a gourmet dish he should be proud to accept.

            Belduine took the bit of rabbit with a grin and a bow. "Thanks, EC."

            "I thought you might be hungry," Saki murmured. "Since you didn't eat yesterday."

            The silence broken, everyone who had stopped to hear Akito speak went back to what they were doing as if they had not been interrupted, though with less cheerfulness. Akito turned away, sinking into silence and refusing to look at any of them.

            "I'm going to go wash up," Belduine told everyone suddenly, standing in the middle of the group and clearing his throat for attention.  "We can't stay here so eat as soon as it's ready and pack up anything you need.  We have to be gone from this place."

            They ate in silence.  Kyo even ended up with most of the fish.  He tried to press it on Tohru but ended up sharing it with Kagura.   The birds were actually good—Yuki's seasoning helped—but Kyo couldn't help feeling like a savage in a savage land after roasting dead animals on sticks over a fire and licking their fingers afterwards.  He never realized how accustomed he was to plastic bottles and shrink wrapped food until forced to forage for himself.  Yet everyone ate ravenously, and gratefully, even Akito after it became clear that there was nothing else to be had.   But Akito ate well away from the rest of them, nibbling at his food with furtive looks in their direction, hunched in on himself and brooding.  He really didn't look good.

            As they ate, Kyo didn't tell anyone where the food had come from.  He had given back the sling he had borrowed from Belduine, but watching Tohru devour the rabbit he had killed as if she were starving, he supposed he would use it again tomorrow morning.  And the next day, and for however long they would be traveling in the wilderness.   But he didn't want them to know.  For one thing, he didn't think they would praise him for it, and it would be easier to do if he wasn't expecting praise. 

He was thinking about these things when everything green in their campsite—the leaves, the grass, the weeds—began to glow with a soft, green light.  Kyo's hackles rose.

            "What the hell?" Arisa said.  "What now?  More fairy lights?  What is this?"

            She, Tohru and Saki had been packing the bags, but they stopped and straightened when their campsite suddenly looked as if it were underwater in a sunlit lagoon.  A crash in the bushes announced Belduine's return.  They all whirled to see Belduine leaping over brush and bracken at a mad dash, leaping over fallen rocks and rocks with reflex agility, much like the deer he had chased away from the stream earlier.  He grabbed his spear from the log he had leaned it against without slowing, pivoted on one foot, and kicked dirt over Kyo's fire.

            "They're coming," he said, breathing hard. "Get moving."

            "Who?" Yuki asked.  "Have we been found?"

 Belduine's hands and arms were clean now, but the look in his eyes was intense and slightly wild.  He looked more dangerous than he had when covered with blood.  "One of my alarms has been tripped."

"Oh. Like magic booby traps?" Tohru asked in her modest, meek tones.

"When did you set that up?" Kagura piped from her knees beside Tohru.

Striding toward where the girls knelt, Belduine did not answer their questions.  He seemed to forget to flirt with them.  Kyo wasn't even sure he heard. "We need to go now. Start walking.  Kyo!"  Kyo whipped his head around as Belduine hauled both Tohru and Kagura to their feet by the elbows and shoved both girls at him.  "Take them all to the river. Follow it into the woods and don't stop.  Beyond this forest there's a safe house.  We should be able to reach it by nightfall.  We'll make it if we keep moving."  He turned away, standing on his toes to look up at the trees where a flock of birds had risen in the air.  There was a moment of silence before he looked back over his shoulder at them. "Go on!" 

            Kyo rose and hustled Tohru and Kagura out toward the plains.  The others followed, even Akito, though he moved with difficulty, looking frail as Yuki helped Akito to his feet after Ayame's help had been slapped away.  The rat looked calm, calmer than Kyo felt, but he gritted his teeth and concentrated on getting the girls moving toward safety.

            Belduine turned back the other way, away from them toward the woods.

            "What's he doing?" Arisa demanded as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulders and helped Saki to her feet.

            "How should I know?" Kyo demanded. 

            "Perhaps covering our trail?" Kagura suggested.

            "Perhaps," Saki murmured.  She didn't sound worried, and she hurried without seeming to, keeping pace with the others.

            "We can hope," Kyo muttered to himself.

They broke out of the trees as a group, sunlight flashing in their eyes as Kyo guided them through the grass and lumpy ground.  The plains stretched ahead of them, hundreds of meters of open space leading to another forest beyond.  Kyo followed the path Belduine had showed him before, trying to keep hidden as much as possible, though most the hills were not large enough to hide a group of so many people. 

"How far ahead is it?" Yuki demanded.  "How far do we have to travel in the open like this?"

Kyo blinked, wondering where Yuki had come from and annoyed as soon as he noticed.  Why did he always have to be in the front leading everybody?  Why couldn't he just stay in the back for once and take care of Akito?  Turning his head, he saw Ayame guiding Akito, but Akito did not appear to be enthusiastic about this arrangement.  He ignored Ayame as if he were a fly buzzing in his ear, walking on his own with his kimono wrapped tightly around his body, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"We should cut across to the left," Yuki said with a gesture.  "The shadows the smaller hills make will cover us."

Kyo glanced at Yuki sideways.  "Yeah, that's the way to the river.  I don't need your help."

He wasn't sure why he said it.  Maybe it was just because it was Yuki.  The way Yuki's eyes narrowed contemptuously was satisfying.  The tone the rat used was so condescending and self-righteous. Yuki thought he was better than everyone.  Well let him think it.  Yuki's cold arrogance was enough to make him do a lot of things he wouldn't normally do.  Maybe it was spiteful, but he didn't care.  He didn't even care if Yuki thought he was selfish for carrying on their feud at a time like this.  Let him think that if he wanted to.

"Kyo?"

Kyo turned at the sound of Tohru's trembling voice.

"Are we going to be caught like the others?"

Giving Kyo a reproachful stare, Yuki fell back a pace, his expression softening into a reassuring smile for Tohru.  "We're free now so we can rescue them," Yuki told her.  "And we'll stay free no matter what it takes."

Tohru didn't say anything, but Kyo could feel the worry from her like an itch on his skin.

Kyo opened his mouth to say something when Belduine appeared beside them suddenly.  He must have run to catch up; he was breathing heavily. "Don't worry," he said with a grin.  "I left a few surprises to slow them down."  He gulped in air, his shorter legs making longer strides than the rest of them.  Kyo frowned, looking past the grin to notice suddenly how exhausted Belduine looked.  He wondered if doing magic took energy, and if so, how much, especially for a mediocre magician.

"Are they following us?" Yuki asked.

Belduine nodded.  "Yeah, but they're a ways back, and only hunters.  There are no magicians with them, so my work might come in useful.  That's fortunate, but we have to keep moving."

"Will there ever be any rest?" Yuki asked. "We can't make the girls run like this forever.  And it's not helping the others."

Belduine was quiet.  "No, we won't run forever.  When we get to the city…"  He frowned.  "Well let's get there first.  Come on.  I want to get off this plain."

When Belduine quickened his pace to a run, they followed.

Momiji remembered little of the details during the two-day trip from the prison cells to Evermore.  His head hurt so much it was an effort just to stay awake, but he reminded himself to keep his spirits up.  Even captured, perhaps they could escape, or if not escape, do something to aid their going home soon.

Just after the others escaped and riots broke out through their temporary prisons in Cabadan, the Juunishi left behind were loaded into separate wagons like animals in cages.  The magicians came for them one by one, sweeping through the halls in a billow of cloaks, collecting prisoners as they went.  They pursed their lips when they came across the empty cells, but nothing was said in Momiji's hearing.  He could only be glad that some had escaped.  And for a brief spell he had seen Rin and Haru, Kisa and Momiji, Shigure and Hatori, Ritsu and Kureno as they were lined up under guard and later prodded into separate wagons.  Shigure's presence surprised him at first, but then he thought about it and could only smile.  They had all looked at one another for reassurance and comfort to the exclusions of everyone else in such a way that Momiji felt a flare of hope he had never felt before.  They were a family.  Before anything else, they were that.

The ride through the pass in the mountains was bumpy, cold and uncomfortable, but otherwise unremarkable.  Their tiny wagons were pulled by horses and each had a window or two for looking out.  Momiji spent a lot of the time looking out the window, taking comfort in the scenery and taking note of their surroundings.  As near as he could tell, the train was surrounded by soldiers, all on horseback; soldiers in armor that looked straight of the old stories Momiji had read growing up.  Magicians also mingled among them, hooded and hidden in their robes, even their hands. They passed by in groups, weaving in and out among the wagons, keeping to themselves for the most part, but he heard them whispering to one another from time to time…

He could even understand it if they came close enough.  That one fellow—he had heard him called Ranlath—had traveled with the group and had made sure they could all understand, though no one seemed to know how he did it.  He did not ride with the other magicians, seemingly ostracized from them, unless he chose it that way.  He did not ride with the soldiers either, nor with the wagons…  Whenever Momiji saw him, he was by himself, somewhere off to the side, though occasionally he would ride backward through the train of wagons, oblivious to the curses of the wagon drivers who, muttering irritably under his breath. 

The Juunishi were ignored.  Momiji stood by the window, but he couldn't see those he loved. Sometimes he caught a glimpse of the wagon in front of him or the one behind when the train turned a corner, but he never saw more than a corner or a side panel and he didn't know whose wagon he was looking at.  He comforted himself by staring out at the landscape. Their road climbed up into the mountains and through a pass blanketed with trees. Occasionally the wagons would hug the mountain where a sharp drop on the other side uncovered the mist-strewn valleys below, endless dark forest seeming to hide a thousand mysteries.  It reminded Momiji of his Traveler story and he wondered if there were demon creatures down there among the trees that would eat his body whether he allowed them to or not.  If so, he wondered if they were nicer than some of the humans around him, those who put other people in cages as if they were animals. 

"I'm not an animal," he whispered to himself, leaning his head against the bars over his window. "I'm not."

 But he was becoming less and less sure of that. 

The wagon train descended into the valleys on the second day.  The trees below became trees all around, seeming to rise up as they followed the road down, thick trunks and twisting limbs tangling together until the view out Momiji's window was obscured by shadows. But he also saw flowers, and insects, sometimes in bright, unexpected colors; blues and purples and soft yellows that gave the scenery a mystical, unnatural feel.  The deeper they traveled into the trees, the more he felt the presence of the forest pushing in around him, as if every leaf had eyes and they were all watching in guarded silence.  Deeper still, the colors seemed to take on a peculiar sheen, as if ready to glow as soon as no one was watching.  He felt he could taste the air, a sweet, succulent flavor of something saturated and overripe. 

He knew they were in Evermore.

Gradually he became aware of sounds not of a forest.  They were the sounds of people moving about, quietly, as if afraid to disturb the atmosphere around them, but the whispers of voices and the soft rustle of clothing was distinctly familiar.  Momiji hung onto the bars on his window, standing on his toes in hopes of seeing Evermore, perhaps even the Esper.  Just as he thought he was about to have his first glimpse of Evermore, his view through the window became only a view of a dark wall.  He took a step back in his wagon, wondering if they had entered a cave or a dense wood or even some sort of building.  He watched the wall moving past him and though it looked like rock, though he didn't know what kind.  Then the motion of the train stopped.

The door was flung open.

"Get out."

Momiji climbed out as he was bid, dusting off his clothes and blinking as his eyes absorbed what little light there was in what looked like the entrance to an underground tunnel.  It wasn't a shallow tunnel either.  Looking back, he could see that it was long enough to enclose all of the wagons with their horses.  He stood shivering on the ground, wigging his toes in his shoes as he watched anxiously for the other Sohmas to be released from their cages.  He saw Haru emerge from the wagon behind him and Kureno from the wagon in front.  Neither spoke or said anything, but their eyes drifted toward one another again; both Haru and Kureno looked lost.  Hiro stood behind Haru with his arms folded over his chest as Shigure led Kisa to the front by the hand. Ritsu trailed behind Shigure, starting at every sound and glance in his direction.  Rin came last, led by nobody, her eyes skimming past Haru to observe the magicians and the gigantic door beyond them.

Soldiers were already leading the horses away while the Juunishi walked up toward the front of their own will, conscious of the magicians closing silently in behind them but forced to ignore them like ghosts.  No one protested or spoke.   The presence of so many magicians, their faces covered and their hands wrapped in cloth, was too much of an ominous threat. Ahead of them the gigantic wooden door stood like a gateway into hell, gilded in yellow gold with red trimming, heavy and insurmountable.  In front of it, in an alcove just off to the side, a tall woman dressed in brown leather sat in a chair with her booted feet propped up on the desk, a lazy look in her eyes as she watched them approach.  When they stopped before her, clustered together like sheep in a pen, a small smile touched her lips.

"Nine," was all she said.

Hatori put a steady hand on Momiji's shoulder.  It calmed his trembling.  "How's your head?" he whispered through the side of his mouth.

"I'll be all right, Hari."

The woman grimaced.  "And five more remain.  Where is the Arch Wizard?  Does Master Azaren offer an explanation?  I suppose the senior magicians are too important for such matters as this." 

The magicians stood in a silent half circle several paces behind and around them, hands folded and eerily silent.  Momiji looked behind him, searching for the wizard who supposedly stood above all the others, but didn't see him.  In fact, neither Azaren nor Ranlath remained among those left to supervise their entrance into the Holdings.  Momiji felt a pang of despair quench the fire for life in his heart.  They were slaves.  They were no longer important.

 The woman behind the desk said turned her gaze to each of them, assessing one after the next.  Her hair was long and blonde, almost to her waist, and there was a youthfulness to her face that was at odds with the maturity in her eyes.  Momiji had the feeling he was looking at someone with a lot of experiences, many of them bad.  It made him almost sad to look at her. She smiled in a way that made Momiji shiver. "Welcome to Evermore," she said. Though she smiled, it was a smirk that didn't touch her eyes.  "If you have any questions, ask them now.  You will never stand in this place again."

"Who are you?"  Rin's voice was cool to the point of freezing, cutting the silence sharply. "What are you going to do with us?"

Momiji turned to look at her with interest.  Rin stood tall and proud in the middle of the group, her eyes locking with the blonde woman's, her body stiff as a board, hands clenched at her sides.  Momiji had often noticed defiance in Rin before, an angry strength deeply rooted in her soul that was sometimes shivered under strain.  With a mysterious flicker of her eyes that could have meant anything, the woman behind the desk turned her attention to all of them.

"My name is Mel, but you may call me Gatekeeper," she said with a commanding, cold presence.  "If you thought I was the Esper a some have before you, think again.  I'm a mercenary paid to guard this gate.  When you enter here, you enter the Holdings of Evermore.   You will be separated into groups, male and female, and given quarters such as you need. You will work.  Some do not find life here altogether unpleasant.  You may converse with other prisoners, the hired staff and the handmaidens, but I advise not to speak to authorities unless you are spoken to. You are not to leave the grounds.  To ensure this, you will be heavily guarded.  There are also magical barriers surrounding this place that will prevent your leaving the compound; you can walk forever in this forest and only end up where you began.  If you are caught trying to escape, you will be punished.  In your life here, you will be expected to obey your authorities immediately and without question.  Failure to comply with any of these rules will result in loss of privileges, such as freedom to move about, to speak, or anything your guards think you do not need.  I know some prisoners who have lost hands and tongues because they were determined not to be useful.  Insolence will also be punished.  Obey the rules and serve as you are bidden; if you do, no lasting harm will come to you.  Are there any further questions?"

"Will we meet this… Esper?" Shigure asked, and smiled charmingly.  "If I may ask, what is our relationship to her?"

Mel eyed him for a moment as if considering his question from several angles.  "The Esper is a strange creature.  She keeps mostly to the Heart of the Glen.  .  Sometimes she will ask for the presence of a Cursed One for reasons of her own, but she has all she needs with the proximity of those in the Holdings.  Everything in Evermore belongs to her. Should you be summoned to her, you will be wise to keep silent and do exactly as you are told."

"And the magicians?" Shigure asked.

Mel smiled a small, twisted smile.  "Be careful how many questions you ask.  Azaren is master of the magicians.  The magicians serve the Esper.  The Esper is master of Evermore.  All are master to you.  Obey them all as you would God and you will not incur their displeasure.  It is unlikely they will interact with you after this unless you are summoned for punishment or show some special promise. Though some magicians have aids or will take handmaidens from among the servants, it is not often they take them from among the Cursed."

When no one said anything else, Mel rose from her chair and moved out from behind the desk to operate some hidden switch on the wall.  Momiji tried to catch a glimpse of the device, but couldn't clearly see the wall in the alcove.

"I've heard that you are only half of a group the Esper desired for the Holdings," Mel said as the door swung open.  "I wouldn't hang my hopes on rescue."

Haru was the first to walk through the door, seeming unconcerned by anything around him and looking more lost than anything else.  Rin followed on his heels, her lips pursed tightly together.  Hari and Shigure passed a look between them as Kisa and Hiro walked in with Kureno, Momiji and Ritsu.  Momiji wondered if Shigure was planning anything, or if Hatori was.  Mel did not follow them through the tunnel.  Once the last of the Juunishi stepped through, the door closed behind them with a dull, echoing boom. 

On the other side of the door, another woman and half a dozen men dressed in gray lined with green trim stood awaiting them.  Near the wall, almost unnoticeable because of their abject posture, two more women knelt with their heads down and hands folded on their laps, though these were dressed in elaborate robes, almost like Geisha.  The woman standing in front of the men clearly led the whole group.  She was older than the girls kneeling and exhibiting more facial expression.  Like the men, she was also dressed in gray with only a gray handkerchief to tie her hair back and a green apron over her skirt.  She was more than plump, with meaty hands and a double chin, but she smiled when she saw them, her face crinkling pleasantly.  "I see you've maid it" the woman said with a chipper tone, as if they were vacationing at a resort.  "I am head of the staff.  I manage things around here, including you. You may call me Mistress Lyn.  At this time, you will be separated into two groups: male and female.  The quarters are separated and for practical reasons, you will never be allowed to cross one to the other.  You may take this time to say your goodbyes before you are shown to your cells."

There was a hushed silence.  Momiji's heart filled with misery as he looked at Kisa and Rin, wondering what was to become of them in a place like this, wondering if he would ever see them again.  Kisa looked bewildered at first, clutching Hiro's hands while flinging an appealing gaze to Shigure and Hatori, who only looked back sympathetically.  Hiro's face was an expression of helplessness and self-torture as Kisa began to cry silently, tears flowing down her cheeks however she tried to smile and sash it off.  Hiro opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.  He took her hand, holding her fingers, fighting to speak.  "Kisa, I'll do something… I…" But whether he could think of nothing to say or didn't want to say it with everyone watching, nothing more came out.  Hiro's cheeks burned red as he dropped her hand and took her instead by the shoulders, holding her close and comforting her by smoothing her hair.

"Don't worry," Shigure whispered, and then more quietly to himself, "Que sara sara."  Hatori's look in his direction was difficult to interpret.  Kureno and Ritsu said nothing.

"Haru," Rin whispered.  Her eyes met Haru's with a sudden burst of anguish that she tried to mask and failed. 

In front of everyone, Haru stepped in to hug her, his expression soft, but troubled.  Her body stiffened at first, eyes starring straight ahead, but then she softened, closing her eyes to hide the pain in them.  If they said anything to one another, Momiji couldn't hear it.  Shigure and Hatori politely averted their gaze, as if they had no idea what was going on between them, though Momiji suspected they knew and had known, possibly for a long time.

"Have hope," Momiji said encouragingly.  "Everything will be fine.  We'll be together again. You'll see."

Mistress Lyn watched the couples embrace passively, but to Momiji she gave a sad, tired stare. "All right," she said after a moment, clapping her hands and pulling Rin away from Haru and Kisa away from Hiro.  "You six will follow the men," she said briskly, "and you three girls will come with me."

Three?  Momiji blinked, confused for a moment by the numbering, but didn't have time to say anything as the soldiers behind Mistress Lyn took one male each with a glance and gesture.  Momiji's feet moved when he was called, for though his mind protested separating on an instinctual level, he could think of nothing else to do. 

"My, you are tall," Mistress Lyn was saying to Ritsu.  "Come on now, my dear girl.  Don't look so stricken." Momiji saw the two women kneeling by the wall rise soundlessly and approach Mistress Lyn as she waved a hand at them.  "Just follow the handmaidens. They will show you where you will live from here on out."

"I'm sorry," Ritsu breathed quietly.  "I don't mean to be out of line, but I…"  He failed after a few blushing attempts to speak.  His eyes followed Momiji and the others desperately.  Shigure glanced back, catching his gaze, but said nothing.  A little smirk appeared on his face.

"I…" Ritsu began again, seeming to summon up the last ounce of his courage.

Rin laid a hand on his arm and he quieted, flushing to his hairline.  Her expression was blank, but a storm of thought raged in her eyes as she stared after Shigure. Ritsu closed his mouth.

Don't get in trouble, Rin, Momiji thought, and wondered why Shigure smirked.

After a moment, Momiji couldn't see Rin, Kisa and Ritsu anymore.  He willed himself to stop looking back.

The Holdings of the Esper reminded Momiji of an underground marketplace or subway station.  The number of people increased the farther they walked, bustling on various errands, though there was little noise in the tunnels.  They were in a set of underground catacombs, wide tunnels like alleyways opening into rooms filled with furniture, items, laundry, food, even weapons, though those were gated and locked.  There were intersections where people gathered or worked in groups, tables for making things or doing chores.   Momiji saw mostly men.  He identified the staff by their gray apparel lined with green, the soldiers by the weapons they carried.  He assumed everyone else was a prisoner.  Occasionally he saw more of the women that reminded him of Geisha.  Their hair and robes were not the same, and their expressions were dead rather than pleasant, but the style and mannerisms were reminiscent of Geisha ways.  He never saw any of them speak, nor look anyone in the eye.  Their eyes looked…empty, as if they had never had hopes or dreams or even memories on which to live.  He shivered and rubbed his arms at the thought.

 They were led to rooms that were little more than the cells they had had in Cabadan.  The walls were blank stone or dirt with something resembling a bed on the floor in the corner.    Hatori and Shigure were lodged further down the hall, and Hiro and Haru across from Momiji.  He didn't see where Kureno ended up, but at least they were all near one another.

The man who showed him to his cell did not speak until Momiji was inside it.   "You are one of the Cursed," he said.  "So do not think your movements here are free. You may move about in this area, between your room here, the lavatory, and the other cells in this wing, but you are not to wander the Holdings unless assigned to a task. If you do, you will be locked in your room with a bucket and fed through a hole that will be drilled in your door.  Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," Momiji said with a swallow, and lowered his eyes instinctively.  Because Mistress Lyn seemed nice, he had hoped everyone would be.

"You spend tonight in contemplation.  Tomorrow you will begin your tasks."

With that, his door was shut, cutting off the faces of Hiro and Haru receiving similar lectures.

Only once the door was closed and he felt alone did Momiji allow himself to cry.

            "Show less attitude, girl," Mistress Lyn quipped.  "Unless you want the magicians to make a handmaiden out of you, I suggest covering up a bit more too."

            Rin ran a hand along one of her dark tresses, coolly observing her surroundings and ignoring the woman's remark on her modesty.  The place was lighted in a way she couldn't puzzle out.  There were no torches on the walls and nothing close to electricity, yet everything was lit with a soft yellow glow.  It was truly a strange place.

            Kisa walked along close beside her, Ritsu trailing behind, but she paid either of them little attention.  How were they going to get out of this mess?

            Mistress Lyn sighed.  "You'll learn to trust me soon enough," she said.  "It's terrible the way your kind is treated, the Cursed, I mean, but it's not my decision and not in my power to change it, so I do what I must.  It's especially a shame with pretty young things like yourself are brought down to these holes to rot their lives away.  You have feelings for that young men, do you not?"

            Rin was offended and annoyed by the intrusiveness of this woman, and wary of her self-appointment as someone she could trust.  She was probably a spy for somebody with that kind of forwardness, but Rin was smart enough to know that a known spy could be an asset, and there was always the possibility that the woman was telling the truth.  No need to be rude without reason.

            "I've never been in a position where my curse was known by anyone outside the family," she said glibly, ignoring the woman's question about Haru and dismissing Tohru as an exception to family.  She was used to keeping Haru a secret.  No need to bring up Tohru at all.  The thought brought up a twinge of worry. Though she would cut off her own arm before she would admit it, she hoped all of the others were doing all right.  What she said aloud was, "I think treating anyone this way is terrible."

            Mistress Lyn gave her a quiet, assessing stare.  "Well, you may be right.  Since the magicians began looking outside the nations for more to feed the Esper's appetite, the Holdings have been harder to manage. At least people around here know what will happen to them if they're cursed.  For you, this must have been quiet a shock.  I'm afraid it's not possible to give you time and leniency to adjust, but sometimes it's best to forget your old life as soon as possible and integrate quickly."

            "My old life was nothing like this," Rin said.  "Nothing at all like this.  It's not so much as an adjustment as beginning over anew."  Was it better in a way?  Here she had freedom from Akito, freedom for the secrecy of her ailment, and it was a relief in some ways.   She didn't miss school, or her parents, or anything much about her old life yet.  Here her body was contained, shackled to whatever cell she was assigned, but her spirit felt lighter, as if a darkness in her soul had been aired.  Here, she could admit to what she was.  And yet, she did not think it was better.  She wanted real freedom, not a tradeoff, and she wanted Haru… There had to be a way around that.  There had to be a way out of this place all together, if they were patient enough and believed enough.  She would need to be able to talk to the others if they were going to formulate any kind of plan.  She needed to know more about this place.

She should keep this woman talking.

"Why are the men and women separated?" she asked.

            "It's that or undergo the knife," Mistress Lyn said with surprising casualty.  She seemed pleased to converse, for which Rin was grateful, though she wondered if the lax security was a bad sign for her.  "We can't have any babies being born in the Holdings," Mistress Lyn explained, "especially not by Cursed prisoners, or not if it isn't planned anyway.  The only women allowed around men here are handmaidens, or those who can not have children.  I myself am barren.  I was born that way and it is also the reason I was not able to marry, but luckily, it is also one of the requirements for this job."

            "Can the handmaidens have children?" Rin asked.  She eyed the two women escorting Kisa and Ritsu without drawing their attention.  "Or are they just for pleasure?"

            The handmaidens traveling with them were odd to say the least.  They said nothing, looked no one in the eye, and moved silently, as if they were ghosts or puppets without souls.  Rin did not think she had offended them with her question.  She was only half sure they really heard the conversation at all.  There was something strange about them.

            "Some can," Mistress Lyn replied.  "Many were born here actually.  The best of them, depending on what you mean by best.  They are not just for pleasure.  Perhaps the reason there are so many of them is because of that, but their primary purpose is for the Esper.  I'm not sure exactly what she does with them, but every once and awhile one of my girls disappears.  In a way, it's nice that they keep them completely servile and uneducated. It makes it easier to forget about them when they go, but I can't say I really like it.  Poor girls."

            Rin tried not to look surprised.  They disappear?  She wasn't sure she really wanted to know the details.  And yet, if there was a crack anywhere in this system… She needed to know everything.

            "They do other things too," Mistress Lyn added, as if she knew her comment was upsetting.  "Some are trained in cooking or medicine or such tasks as are needed in a place like this. We have a few girls who would do well in the world if they were not handmaidens, in places where women are allowed to practice such crafts at least.  Some are hired out as servants in the surrounding kingdoms, especially if they come to be more educated than is useful here. Those we sell go for high prices."

            The handmaidens who slowed them to their cells did not speak, leaving Mistress Lyn to explain the rules of their confinement.  Rin listened blankly.  None of the rules fazed her half so much as the culture.  She knew she was a prisoner in a penitentiary.  If this place was more relaxed on some points, it was harder on others.  It didn't change anything.  If she wanted to escape badly enough, she would find a way to do it, just as she would find a way to break the curse.  She could even say she preferred this to running and hiding.  At least she would be able to move around a little and investigate her options.  She would work something out. 

            When Mistress Lyn finished, her cell door was shut and Rin was left alone.  Laying on the thin excuse for a mattress that had been laid out on the floor for her to sleep on—like a mat for a dog, she thought bitterly—she rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.  Perhaps it was useless to try and do anything…

            The quiet knock on her door surprised her, but she sat up.  "Come in."

            The door opened and Kisa peeked inside, shyly hiding behind the rest of the door.  She looked lost and defenseless, a good girl in a bad place.  Normally Rin despised good girls, people who were too weak or brainwashed to challenge authority, but she didn't hate Kisa.   She was family after all.  Besides, Haru was fond of her and Rin was aware through him that Kisa had had social problems in school that resulted in an ever-increasing meekness.  Even so, Kisa had never before come to Rin for reassurance or advice.  To see her now was a bit of surprise, but it was only evidence of how helpless and alone the girl must feel.

            Rin forcibly softened her expression and held out a welcoming hand, not sure how motherly or sisterly she could possibly look.  She knew she wasn't much of the comforting type, but Kisa came forward as if led by a string.  Without hesitation or regard for what kind of person Rin might be, Kisa threw her arms around Rin's neck, heaving dry sobs of fear and remorse and loneliness.  Awkwardly at first, Rin stroked the strawberry blonde hair and then hugged her younger cousin close the way Haru would have in her place.  Only slowly did she feel the contentment of the physical contact, holding Kisa as tightly as Kisa was holding her, racking her brain for a way to save them all.

            It wasn't long before she walked out of her cell with Kisa in hand to knock on Ritsu's door, her expression grim and her will settled on a determined course of action.

            "Y..yes?" came a timid, woeful voice.

            Rin pushed open the door, brought Kisa in with her, and shut all three of them in privacy.  "If you're willing to take a risk and do something a little brave and probably stupid, I might have a plan."

Thank you to reviewers!!!  I will thank you all personally as soon as I can, but fanfiction.net wasn't allowing me to look at reviews right now.  blushes  I'm very sorry!  I will remedy.