:happy little giddy voice: Woot! I haven't churned out chapters this quickly since the first three of the Bright Bird... Which was nearly three years ago! I love it when stories let me write them... :huggles story and Muse:
Muse: Get off!
Elwing: :sheepish: Sorry...
Note: Questions, actually. Does anyone know how big Hong-Nan is? 'Cause so far, they've been traveling for about eight days, and I planned on it being about another week before they reached the capitol. Seeing as they're walking, and going to stop for several days, is that a sensible amount of time, or too much?
More notes: (sorry...) Okie. It is firmly entrenched in all heads that Riana is Houshun and Houshun is Riana? Good. 'Cause I'm starting to get confuzzled having to write them separately. Some thoughts Riana would be having during Houshun segments have needed to be left out because, though I've been writing it from his (her) perspective, I was writing him (her) how the Seishi saw him (her). :grin: That was fun. It also helped that that was how she was trying to see herself. As him. Easy enough with Chiriko, since she's four years older than he is. Little more difficult with Nuriko, but then, as far as she knew at first, he was gay. So, easy enough to continue acting as a male and fighting any attractions to him. But suddenly, Ria is surrounded by gorgeous men. As her reactions to this are important, I'm going to shift back and forth between calling her Houshun (for external things) and Riana (for internal). Just like before, except all in the same section... Just keep in mind that they still see her as Houshun. (I never realized how complicated things could get writing from inside the head of a cross-dresser!)
Disclaimer: Fushigi Yugi still does not belong to me. Poor, lost Riana/Houshun does. Boredom does. Homesickness does. New Zealand is beautiful, Wellington is a great city, but I am not a city girl. I've been away from Pennsylvania woods long enough.
Chapter 4: Past to Present, Reminiscing and... Hey, what's that?
Silence was disturbing. Particularly when it had persisted for more than an hour and seemed to be emanating from a single individual. To say that Liang was in a sour mood would have been one hell of an understatement. He was a flame-haired pillar of stormy quiet, from which the silence rippled out and engulfed everything in the immediate area. His temper had effectively dampened everyone's spirits but Riana's – and she was put out by the silence.
And she'd had quite enough of the silence. She almost started to hum, before she remembered that her singing voice would be too recognizably feminine. Okay, no humming.
When the first whistled note pierced through the frozen quiet, everyone jumped. Houshun pretended ignorance, and kept right on. His whistled tune failed to have the desired effect. The Seishi just listened – or three of them did, anyway. Liang walked a few meters a head with his shoulders hunched and head bowed. Slightly annoyed, he changed his tactics. Staring daggers at Liang's back, he began to whistle scales, starting low, working gradually higher and higher, and deliberately making each scale more shrill than the last.
Xaioh frowned, and turned to ask him to stop, but Ryu-Sen caught his eyes and shook his head, tossing a quick glance at Liang. Understanding dawned on Xaioh's face, and he smiled slightly.
Ji-Shin didn't comment, but he looked like he was going to go mad.
Liang's shoulders hunched still farther, and his neck bent further and further down until he looked like a tortoise trying to escape the sound. He started to tremble, and the hands shoved deep into the pockets of his coat curled into obvious fists.
Houshun grinned inwardly, and kept right on whistling. Five...four...three...two...
"Would yeh fuckin' cut that out already?!" Liang whirled on him, amber eyes wild, chest heaving.
"Ah, the dulcet tones of human speech," Houshun sighed. Liang just stared at him, and Houshun watched as realization of what he'd been doing slowly crawled across Liang's face.
"I do believe," Xaioh said, a slight smile tugging at his handsome face, "that boy has something of a sadistic streak in him."
"Or dislikes quiet..." Ji-Shin wiggled a finger in his ear, trying to stop its ringing.
"Or a bit of both," Houshun mused. "I was tired of the ice. You've made it quite obvious that you don't really want to be here, Liang." His eyes were calm, almost guarded as he swept his gaze to include all of them. "What I want to know is: why? It surely can't only be because of the deaths when Miaka was Priestess. Granted, that was probably bad enough, but..." He shook his head. "There's more to it, isn't there?"
Liang shoved his hands back into his pockets and hunched forward again.
For a moment, the silence seemed about to throttle them all once more. Then Ryu-Sen sighed.
"Well, we did decide you had a right to know..."
Xaioh curled a tendril of dark hair around one finger. A thoughtful frown dimpled his forehead. "Indeed. But where to begin?"
This, Riana decided, was likely to go nowhere if she didn't do something.
"Maybe it would be easier if I ask questions," Houshun suggested. "Then, if I miss anything you feel is important, you can fill in the details."
"Very well," Xaioh replied.
"Okay. Ryu-Sen, you mentioned the other day that there have been two Mikos since Miaka. From the way Liang was talking at the bar, I'm guessing at least some of you were killed attempting those summonings?"
He nodded slowly. "Yes. The first of those times wasn't quite so bad. Only – heh, 'only!' As if it didn't matter... Two of us died—"
"And that was through the sheerest ill luck." Ji-Shin looked torn between embarrassment and annoyance. "I fell from a horse, and Tamahome was crossing a rather unsound bridge over a flooded river. The bride broke. Stupid of us both."
Houshun stared at him, unsure of how to react.
"But the last time we were called..." Xaioh trailed off.
Liang cast a sidelong glance at the older Seishi. "Yeah? Go on. Tell 'im. Tell 'im how our Priestess was so damn weak and conflicted that she was torn to shreds durin' the summonin'. Tell 'im how before that her damn fool decisions got you and Chiriko and Mitsukake killed. How the rest of us wound up facin' an army of raiders from outside the Four Kingdoms completely on our own. Four against over a thousand, because our Priestess had lost the Emperor's faith in us. How Chichiri and I watched Nuriko and Tamahome be killed, managin' to survive ourselves only because Chichiri threw up a shield at the last second to keep everythin' out. And then we had to watch their bodies be..." He choked, but couldn't manage to force the rest of that sentence. "All because he refused to take the damn shield down so they could kill us too!" Fierce eyes rimmed with unexpected tears, he turned to face them. "Why? Why can't we just live normal lives for once?" He sat heavily on the ground, his back against a tree. "What'd we ever do to deserve this...hell?"
Riana's heart tightened, and she wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around the young man and comfort him, tell him everything would be alright. But it wasn't alright, and maybe wouldn't be. She had no way of knowing how things would turn out. Besides, it wasn't the sort of thing Houshun would do.
He walked over and crouched in front of the miserable Seishi. "Liang." Liang didn't look up. "Give me your arm." Surprised by the strange request, he complied, shooting a black look at Suzaku's Chosen. Houshun, somewhat roughly, took Liang by the wrist and shoved his sleeve up past his elbow. His Seishi mark blazed to crimson life. "Liang. You are Tasuki. The Seishi are blessed by the god they serve – no one receives such a gift without having to earn it."
Liang snatched his arm back. "Well I don't fuckin' want it," he spat. "Suzaku can keep 'is damn blessin' and find 'imself another warrior!"
Houshun regarded him steadily. "He chose the seven of you for a reason. It could very well be that there isn't another person who could adequately fill your place. Would you rather that? Would you rather live a peaceful life while some incompetent Tasuki filled your place, making it impossible to summon Suzaku? And if Suzaku couldn't be summoned, what then? How many people, how many innocent people are you willing to sacrifice for your 'peaceful life,' Liang?"
The red-haired man just stared at him. His mouth moved, possibly forming words, but no sounds emerged.
Houshun stood. "That's the choice I have to make. Do I refuse to be the...Priest...and let you all go back to your lives? Suzaku cannot make me summon him, after all, and even though I barely know the four of you," he looked around at his Seishi, "the last thing I want is to see you all risk your lives – particularly for me. I don't want that." His gaze seemed to turn inward, even as he let his gaze drift out into the woods. "And yet... Could I live with myself if I made such a choice? In choosing to summon, the only lives risked are ours. The eight of us. But if we don't summon... If whatever I'm here to prevent occurs... There's a good chance some of you would still be killed – could you really sit by watching innocents die, and do nothing?" He shook his head. This wasn't coming out quite right, but at the moment it was the best he could do.
"I've already said that if I turn out to be as much an idiot as the last Chosen, you're free to leave, since the summoning would then be likely to fail anyway." He looked down at Liang. "Let me also say this: you have my word that I will do everything in my power to see that none of you die."
Ryu-Sen crossed his arms. "But that's not the point. The Seishi are supposed to protect Suzaku's Chosen. Not the other way around!"
"Why not?" Houshun asked. His blue eyes sparked with frustration.
"The Miko is not to be placed at risk, if it can possibly be avoided," Xaioh answered.
Houshun opened his mouth to say, but I'm not a Priestess, and stopped before the words reached his mouth. No, Riana thought. That's a lie. I refuse to lie to them more than absolutely necessary. It's going to be hard enough to keep their trust as it is.
Instead, he said. "Bull." They stared at him. "I didn't ask how things are, I asked why."
"I would have thought it obvious," Ji-Shin said, sounding almost apologetic. "Without the Miko...the Chosen...Suzaku cannot be summoned. We must not risk anything happening to you."
Houshun grinned, a little wickedly. "Have any of your Priestesses ever been able to adequately defend themselves?"
The Seishi considered this. "Well, no, I suppose not," Xaioh said. "Miaka could, to some extent, but the others..."
Liang stood, brushing off the seat of his pants. "So you're saying yeh don't want us risking our lives for yours? Then what if you die, huh?"
Riana hadn't thought of that.
"Let me put it this way," Houshun said with a sigh. "You seven...you're a team. You watch each other's backs, but you also know to what extent each of you is able to look after himself. All I'm asking is to be treated as part of that team. As an equal – not someone you have to take particular care to look after."
Ryu-Sen regarded him for a long moment. At last he shrugged, and tossed his long braid back over his shoulder. "I don't see why we can't give you a chance to prove you can look after yourself. We shouldn't run into much major trouble between here and the capitol, so there's no better time to see what you're capable of."
"Just try not to be too upset if we forget and try to help you." Xaioh smiled. "It has become something of a habit."
That smile caused something in the region of Riana's abdomen to leap unexpectedly. It was not an unpleasant sensation. He was just so beautiful... She quickly pushed that thought away before she blew her cover.
"Right." Houshun grinned back at Xaioh. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
"If that's all settled, can we go now?" Liang turned and started along the trail once more. "The sooner we get to the capitol, the soon we can get this all over with."
The others exchanged glances, but refrained from mentioning that he'd been the one to stop in the first place.
Now that the icy silence had been taken care of, no one hesitated to keep a running thread of conversation going. The four Seishi talked a great deal about their own lives, and would have been interested in hearing about Houshun's, had he felt comfortable talking about it. He was far more content finding out about their lives.
"So, Ryu-Sen told us about his 'engagement,' Xaioh." Ryu-Sen made a choking noise, but Houshun ignored him. "You're a year older – how have you managed to avoid tying the knot?"
"I had the sense to move out of my parents' home. They have some difficulty ordering my life, now." He tilted his elegant head slightly. "And they are somewhat less...traditional...than his parents are."
Ryu-Sen snorted. "What he's not saying, is that he still has hopes that one day he'll find his perfect match in the Priestess."
"Oh, really?" Houshun glanced towards Xaioh, whose face was turning bright red.
"Mmhmm. He seems quite convinced that since it wasn't to be between he and Mika, then his soulmate will certainly be one of the Mikos. So he's been avoiding all possible suitors – and believe me, there have been plenty!"
"Well, it looks like yeh'll just have t'go back and give 'em all a second chance, eh?" Liang laughed.
"What about you?" Ji-Shin asked, rescuing poor Xaioh. "What have you been up to?"
"Same as usual."
"I'd think you could eventually think of something better to do with your life than banditry." Ryu-Sen rolled his eyes.
"What? Every time I go back, the Mt. Reikaku bandits look about ready t'give up. I can't let 'em do that!"
"Of course not," the violet-haired Seishi muttered. "Never mind that Mt. Reikaku would be a safer place without the bandits..."
"I heard that!" Liang brandished his tessen at Ryu-Sen, who smiled innocently.
"How long have you been with the bandits?" Houshun asked, trying to divert him.
"Eh, 'bout five years. Been leadin' 'em for three."
He arched an eyebrow. "And you're how old?"
"Eighteen."
Riana mulled over all of this for a while, staying out of the conversation. These Seishi certainly are extraordinary. It was comforting, even given that she didn't want them trying to protect her. Her eyes unfocused as she thought, roaming freely over the sun-dappled earth, tree trunks, leafy branches, Xaioh's hair, Liang's backside... She snapped back into focus when she realized she was staring, and she prayed no one had caught her at it. And Hotohori had been holding out for the Priestess, eh? Gods this was going to be difficult.
They walked until the sun started to sink towards the horizon. When they reached a small clearing, bare but for the sparse grass, Xaioh called a halt.
"We might as well rest here for the night. I doubt we'll find a better place to stop and build a fire."
"And eat?" Liang asked, looking hopefully at Houshun.
Riana winced inwardly. And now my reign of terror over the helpless forest fauna begins...
"Sure," Houshun replied. "Though I hope one of you knows how to dress kills. There I'm out of my depth." He dropped his pack on the ground and turned to his archery equipment.
"I'll go with you," Ryu-Sen offered as Houshun strung his bow. "I'm sure if I show you how to do it once, you'll be able to do it yourself after."
"Probably. Hopefully." He pulled on his arm guard and glove. "Just so long as no one asks me to cook, I don't much care."
Ji-Shin looked up. "Oh? And why is that?"
Houshun cast his eyes skyward. "You've never saw me try to cook." He shuddered violently. "Granted, if it comes out successfully it usually tastes okay, but...I screw up hard boiled eggs..." Digging into his pack, he pulled out his hunting knife and belted it around his waist.
"Oh, geez. Talk about hopeless!"
"I suppose you can do better, Liang?"
"Bandits look out for themselves."
Ryu-Sen grinned. "Funny, I half expected you'd just steal all the food you need."
"It'd still have to be cooked!"
"That's true." Houshun admitted. "Well, we'd best get going while there's enough light to shoot by." He slung his quiver onto his back, picked up his bow, and walked out of the clearing
As soon as she was out in the woods Riana felt immensely more relaxed. A gentle wind whispered through the trees, and the leaves softly brushing against each other was a soothing as a wind chime. Birds singing in the distance fell silent as she and Ryu-Sen approached, only to resume their melodies once the two had passed. It was peaceful, and for just a moment, life was perfect. She sighed. How long could it continue? And, the question hard on the heels of the first: how long could she hold up like this? She was used to spending nearly all of her time around other girls – usually the presence of guys made her all tongue-tied and shy, particularly if they were cute, or at least remotely interesting. The only thing keeping her going was how hard she was trying to really become Houshun...
"Hey, are you okay?"
Houshun glanced up at Ryu-Sen. "What?"
Ryu-Sen watched him carefully. "You've been pretty out of it, today. Every time I look at you, you're just staring out into space. What's wrong?"
"Wrong?" He peered out into the woods under the pretense of finding game as he tried to think. "Nothing's wrong. Why would there be?"
What did I say about not lying to my Seishi? Riana thought.
"Has anyone ever told you that you don't lie very well?" Ryu-Sen smirked.
That coaxed a small laugh out of Houshun. "Many, many times." Why did he have to be so damn observant?
"So, what's up?"
Houshun fingered his arm guard thoughtfully. What could he tell Ryu-Sen?
"I – I can't stop thinking about what Liang said earlier. It feels like betrayal to force him to go through with this..." There. That was even the truth. Just not the entire truth.
"First of all, don't worry about him. I know he talks tough, but as you saw, he's also incredibly emotional. Still..." Ryu-Sen shrugged. "He can handle it. Second, he would have wound up involved anyway, no matter how hard he tried to avoid it. We're drawn to you, as Suzaku's Chosen. So don't blame yourself."
Houshun sighed. He wasn't entirely convinced, but nodded anyway.
"What else is bothering you?"
"Does there have to be something else?"
Ryu-Sen though about that for a moment. "No, I suppose not."
"Alright then."
"But there is, isn't there."
Houshun slumped in defeat. "You're unbelievable."
"I know. Isn't it great?" Ryu-Sen sounded too cheerful to be sane.
"Watch it, or I'll smack you." Houshun noticed something that was obviously a deer trail and bent to examine it. He didn't really want to have to deal with a deer just yet, though.
"Well, you could try..." He sobered. "But really, Houshun, we're not just here to protect you, you know? Chichiri has – or had, anyway – some interesting theories about that which you might want to hear once we find him. We're all going to be working together for Suzaku only knows how long – we need to be able to talk to one another." A slight smile pulled at his lips. "You wanted to be part of the team, right? Well, that means more than just holding your own in battle."
"I guess so..."
The problem was, Riana didn't particularly want to discuss the other issue, and wasn't sure how to talk about it without revealing who she was.
"Well... I've also been trying to think how we might find Chichiri, Mitsukake, and Tamahome – and weather or not we really need to worry about it – but..."
"Well, first of all Tamahome's already found. He's waiting for us in the capitol."
"Really? That's good to know."
Ryu-Sen nodded. "But?" he prompted.
Houshun shifted the bow and rubbed the back of his neck. "Don't take this the wrong way, but Xaioh is very distracting."
"I thought you weren't interested in guys?" Ryu-Sen shot a shrewd look at the Priest.
"I'm not." Whoops, that's a lie, Ria, fix it. "I'm not gay." Houshun was silent for a moment. Wisely, Ryu-Sen let him think. "It's like this... When people tell you that they think you're something you're not, you suddenly wind up paying far more attention to what you're doing, so that you don't do anything to make them continue to think you are what you're not. As a result you often wind up doing exactly what you're trying not to do." He blinked. "Shit. Did you get any of that?"
"Ah..."
"Let me put it this way: you suggested yesterday that I was homosexual, which I'm not. Consequently, I find myself trying very hard not to do anything that might make me appear so. Unfortunately, this has the exact opposite effect. I wind up taking more notice of Xaioh – and the rest of you – than I would have if I wasn't trying to prove that I'm straight. Was that better?"
"I think so..."
Houshun sighed, frustrated. "Okay. Don't think of a purple horse with blue spots."
Ryu-Sen looked at him like he thought his Priest had lost his senses. "What?"
"What was the first thing you thought of?"
"A purple horse with blue— Oh! I understand. Because you're trying so hard not to think or act in a certain way, that's exactly what you wind up doing."
"Precisely. It's bloody frustrating."
The Seishi smiled in sympathy. "I apologize. Had I known it would cause you so much trouble, I wouldn't have brought it up."
Houshun shrugged. "It's not your fault. I have nothing against homosexuals, really, but... I had a bad experience several years back, and now..." He shrugged again. "Well, I guess I just really resent being thought gay."
"Well, in that case, I'll try to keep the subject of your preferences from coming up again." Ryu-Sen grinned, then, and couldn't help but tease the poor Priest. "Although, I have to admit, if you ever change your mind, I'd have to consider taking to guys again. You're too cute."
Houshun smacked him in the back of the head hard enough to knock him face first to the ground.
It was another ten minutes or so before they finally saw anything worth trying to shoot. A rabbit was nibbling on some grass about ten yards ahead of them – just as they noticed it, it froze, turning its ears this way and that.
Very slowly, Houshun drew out an arrow, knocked it, then raised his bow. I would kill for a sight, right now. He drew the bow, anchoring his thumb against his jaw as he sighted down the arrow. Smoothly, he uncurled his fingers, loosing the arrow.
The rabbit leapt high into the air as the arrow thunked into the ground about three inches to its right. It tore off into the woods as fast as its furry feet could carry it.
Houshun lowered his bow with a disgusted sigh. "Damn."
"Well, did you really expect to hit something on your first try?" Ryu-Sen asked.
"Actually, yeah, I kinda did."
"Idiot."
Houshun raised a threatening fist.
"It won't work a second time, Houshun – you caught me off guard before." The Seishi grinned impishly.
"True."
"Still, it was a pretty good shot. Maybe next time."
Wincing, Houshin looked up at him. "I'd better! Otherwise Liang's gonna kill me when we come back empty handed!"
They didn't. His second attempt was successful, though it didn't kill the rabbit. The arrow went through its hip and pinned it to the earth, leaving it thrashing, spraying blood as it attempted to free itself.
"Oh gods..." Houshun approached it carefully, almost tenderly, and knelt beside it. Slowly, he drew his knife, but his hands were trembling terribly.
Ryu-Sen was quick to notice this. "Here, I'll do it. Then I'll show you how to dress it," he offered, holding out his hand for the knife.
Slowly, never once looking away from the struggling rabbit, Houshun shook his head. "I will finish what I started." Gently, he put his left hand on its head, stroking its ears a little. It stopped thrashing, but shook so badly it was a wonder its heart didn't stop, and looked up. Looking into those tiny, black eyes, Houshun pulled its ears back to raise its head and expose its neck. He took a firm grip on his knife, steeled himself, and slit its throat. The little creature convulsed once and went limp in his hand.
"My, you do have to do things the hard way, don't you?"
Houshun said nothing, just pulled his arrow out of the ground and the rabbit and wiped it on the grass to remove as much of the blood as he could.
"Houshun?" Still no answer. Ryu-Sen gave him a searching look, his violet eyes concerned. "You've never killed anything before, have you?"
"No." He looked at his hands, both of which were bloody and trembling. "Other than insects and the like, when they decided to come inside the house."
"Are you all right?"
"I'll be fine. Just show me what to do with this, then we'll se what else we can find." His voice was tight, but otherwise, he seemed fine. Ryu-Sen complied.
They found one more rabbit a short while later, and this time, Houshun's shot was true, killing it instantly. His relief was palpable. This time, Ryu-Sen watched while Houshun gutted and skinned it, discarding the offal and wrapping the meat in the skin to take it back.
"Well done! But I think we'd best get back, now." the Seishi said. "It's starting to get dark, and we're quite a ways from the camp."
Houshun nodded as he washed his hands, knife, and arrows in a nearby stream. "Hope someone knows how to make stew. There won't be enough for all of us, otherwise. These may have been good sized rabbits, but they're nowhere near enough for five people."
"It'll be fine."
It took them a few minutes to get their bearings, but in short order Houshun and Ryu-Sen had started back toward their camp. They struck a small dirt track, obviously rarely used, for there was a great deal of grass that had pushed its way through the packed earth. Hoping it would lead them back toward the road they'd traveled earlier, they followed. Just as the light was starting to dim to the point where such signs would be invisible, Ryu-Sen noticed the tracks of many booted feet crossing the path.
"Hold on, what's this?"
"Hm?" Houshun looked where Ryu-Sen indicated and frowned. "That's strange..." He peered out into the darkness in the direction the tracks went. "How old do you suppose these are?"
The Seishi crouched down to examine them better. "A few days at the most, I'd say. We'd best be more careful – the last thing we need is to run into a troop of bandits or something. Where are you going?"
Houshun had walked out into the woods, following the footprints. "There's more out here. Or, not more tracks, but... Well, come look."
As soon as he reached the Priest, he saw what the young man had meant. "They were chasing someone." The signs of a scuffle were obvious, even in the poor light.
Walking around the battle-scarred area, Houshun continued to scan for tracks, hoping to be able to tell if the victim, or victims, got away. He was just starting back toward Ryu-Sen when something half-hidden in the undergrowth caught his attention. Frowning, he went over and picked it up.
"Ryu-Sen."
"Huh? What'd you find?" He looked up and inhaled sharply.
It was a kasa. The woven hat was fairly battered, but there was no mistaking what it was.
"Oh, no..." Ryu-Sen took the kasa from Houshun and turned it over, examining it closely. "Where was it?" After closely scrutinizing the area where it had been, Ryu-Sen shrugged, and handed it back. "It seems ordinary enough. And there were no footprints around where you found it. From the looks of things, I'd say some traveler was waylaid by bandits and tried to fight back. It doesn't look like he succeeded, though."
Houshun looked at the conical hat. "You don't think..."
"Chichiri?" he asked, smiling. "I'd say it's unlikely. He has more sense than to get cornered by ordinary bandits, and even if he did, I doubt he'd leave his kasa lying around for days. Come on, let's get back and warn the others."
Houshun started to leave the kasa behind. With a shrug, he let it fall back to the ground and followed Ryu-Sen. However, he only took about two steps before glancing back at it. It had landed upside down, tipped sideways like an enormous top. With a sigh, he retrieved it and took it back to the camp. Whoever's it was, was probably no longer around to miss it.
The two rabbits turned out to be enough for a hearty stew. Ji-Shin had prepared the stock while they were out hunting, and expertly cut the rabbits into it to simmer until they were done. While it cooked, Ryu-Sen told the others about what they'd found.
"It is a good thing we have no valuables," Xaioh said when he'd finished. "Though they probably would not object to taking what little we have."
"Tch. Just let 'em try. They'll see what happens when they mess with Seishi!" Liang stood and waved his tessen dramatically.
Ji-Shin stirred the stew and checked the rabbit. "I'm glad it's not still just the two of us, eh, Houshuh? We probably would not have fared too well on our own." There was no response and the young Seishi looked over at him. Houshun had sat down against a tree as soon as he and Ryu-Sen had returned and hadn't moved since. Nor had he said a single word. He just sat, carefully weaving the fraying kasa back together. "Is he okay?"
Ryu-Sen smiled sadly. "He'll be all right."
Riana ate only lightly. All she could see when she looked at the stew was a tiny, black eye, staring up at her in terror. Nor, when she laid out her bedroll and crawled in, was she able to sleep. For a long time she lay there, thinking about what she had done. Part of her mind tried to tell her they were only rabbits, only rodents that could multiply like mad and make up for the two she'd killed in no time. The rest of her knew that even rodents were living creatures – everything had a soul. Then there was the idea of the unfortunate traveler, probably dead at the hands of thugs. His unhappy end brought into sharp focus the reality of her situation. None of this was a game. She could die just as easily. She reached out a hand and gently touched the rim of the kasa, praying he would forgive her for taking his hat. Gradually, it all became too much, and she curled up on her side and wept, trying her best to muffle her sobs in her blankets.
Xaioh, always a light sleeper, quietly sat up and looked over at Houshun. The boy had clearly been distressed since he'd returned, but the Seishi had no idea what could be wrong, or how to comfort him. Eventually Houshun quieted, having cried himself to sleep. Xaioh lay back down and stared up through the branches of the tree he was under, looking at the sky. He decided to say nothing of the youth's tears to the others.
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Thank-yous are going down here from now on. Takes less time to get to the story that way.
MegamiNoTsuki - Thanks much! I'm glad you don't think it rushed. (The next additions will be soon, but then after that it will be a while before the last show up.) But the trauma is soon to begin. (Or would that be continue?)
Oh, and I tried to use more dialectical spelling for Tasuki's dialogue this time. I hope it worked. If not, let me know, and I'll change it back. Um, and they will start going by their Seishi names, eventually... Just not yet. Please R/R folks! Ja ne!
Useful advice for everyone with temperamental muses. Don't upset them. Despite what I wrote at the beginning of this chapter, it took a great deal longer to write than I'd anticipated. Halfway though my muse deserted me. :sad: Fortunately, we are once again on speaking terms.
Muse: Just don't push your luck.
Elwing: I'll behave, I promise.
Muse: And stop calling me Muse! I have a name, you know.
Elwing: (He's not always this testy either!) I know, but it would be kinda strange for eveyone else for me to call you by your real name. I mean – it's so normal! Not like what I usually come up with.
Muse: That's because you didn't 'come up' with it. I told it to you.
Elwing: Good point. Okay, everyone... My muse will from now on be referred to as Chris. His name is really Chris Hawthorne (strange, since I don't know anyone by that name, eh? He isn't a real person.). How he came to be my muse is a long story, but he did sort of tell me his name. He just showed up one day – one night, rather – in a dream I had, and has been haunting my stories ever since. I finally put him to work.
Chris: :sarcastically: For which I'm eternally grateful!
Elwing: Oh, c'mon, you know you love it.
Chris: ...yeah...but...
Elwing: He gets to breathe life into whatever male characters I happen to be working with. Though admittedly, his own personality is usually much more cheerful than this...
Chris: Grrr