Kiisan wandered the temple that night alone. The light of the moon shone eerily through the clear crystal windows casting pale shadows on the floor. He stopped by a window for a moment and looked at a moon-dial set up outside. It was just past eleven. "My mother and my sisters are dead, aren't they?" He thought to himself. It was more a statement than a question. He walked on in a daze. Images floated vaguely through his mind...phantoms of those who had trod these halls before and visions of those who someday would. He could have power. No, he would have power. The power resting in the temple would come at his call. Kiisan moved slowly out into a courtyard where the enormous tree he had seen earlier from outside swung its leaves in the night breeze. Some of the leaves on the tree were bright green, others small and yellowish like buds, still others were yellow, orange, red, or even crinkled and brown. "What kind of tree is this?" he wondered. He heard the bells toll eleven-thirty softly with their clappers muted so as to not awaken the sleepers inside. A dark cloud passed over the moon and its shadow darkened the courtyard. He stood looking at the tree. A sudden rustling sound from its branches, unlike the sound of the wind alerted him to the presence of another person. He tensed, unsure of what to do. A gaunt, travel-stained man dropped out of the tree onto the grass below and regained his balance shakily. The man smoothed down his cloak and tunic and brushed some loose hair out of his face before making eye contact with Kiisan. It was the enchanting man he had run into just the day before. Kiisan stepped forward steadily, "Who are you?"
The traveler stretched his arms stiffly as if he had been waiting in the tree for quite some time. "The question is, Kiisan, who are you?" The younger man was rather infuriated by the reply, "What do you mean 'who am I?!' I'm Kiisan! I know who I am! What's your name?!" "Han Li. My name and my person are two different things entirely. I didn't realize you only wanted my name." Han Li took an elegant bow managing to drop both a flask and a dagger from the folds of his cloak. He hurriedly scooped them up, sweating nervously, with an idiotic smile plastered from ear to ear. "Do you really know who you are, Kiisan? ...Perhaps you do. But what you don't know is what you are poised to become." Kiisan felt his face turning red with impatience, "Stop talking in riddles! I don't have any idea what you're getting at!" "Are you prepared to sweep through straight to the termini?" Kiisan rushed at Han Li and knocked him down into the grass, "Termini?! What's that? I don't care! Tell me why you're following me around! Tell me what the meaning of all this is! I want answers, not parables or morals!" Han Li rubbed the back of his head, which ached from hitting the ground so hard. Fortunately, he had fallen in the well-trimmed grass and not on the marble tile of the rest of the courtyard. "I'm following you because I want to. Maybe I can help you a bit. I've been around for a while, you know. ...And the meaning of this...even I don't know that. Ask the future generations what this event will mean for them. I am prepared to throw myself at their feet and beg for mercy when this world is judged."
"I have no idea what you are going on about now. Is explaining things not one of your strong points? It doesn't sound like it is." Han Li stood up shakily and leaned against the tree. Suddenly a bright light blinded both of them as a shining symbol appeared on the side of the tree, glimmering like a star. Almost involuntarily, Kiisan raised his right hand and the flickering light flashed and chose a new master. Kiisan took a step back as the light faded to a dim glow and turned his hand palm up. The symbol of the purple and gold circle was unmistakable, even with no previous knowledge of it. Han Li blinked hard to refocus his eyes and squinted at Kiisan. "I was...right. The Circle Rune. There it is."
Murasaki Fuji no Shita ni Kuni
"The Country Under the Purple Wisteria"
Chapter 8- Circles
Falina sat in an uncomfortable wooden chair waiting for Kiisan. Chief Bishop Hirano had been so impressed at the discovery of the Circle Rune, which had not been seen for several hundred years, that he had immediately taken Kiisan away, without even giving him a chance to eat breakfast, to have him indoctrinated into the church. The whole situation did not sit very well with her. Something was fishy about the way the others were acting too. When she had come into the dining room to see if she could have any breakfast she had overheard Junsuke saying, "Things are going exactly as Turan Magno planned. This is perfect." The statement was just too ominous since as he caught sight of her he dropped off awkwardly. Sonoa, Junsuke, Rizu, and Louis Abdul did not want her to hear something and that was both irritating and frightening to Falina. "I'm not a little kid. I know that they're keeping something from me!" When she questioned Father Carlos about it, he too seemed unclear on what was going on behind the scenes. Even Russ and the other soldiers who had accompanied them from Serif appeared unaware of their superiors' motives. Falina shifted stiffly in the chair turning to look at Father Carlos who sat beside her. He didn't seem to be aching from their seat. His eyes were closed and his head lowered in prayer. Although it was a bit rude Falina couldn't help herself and put her hand on his shoulder to get his attention. Carlos blinked, looked up, and turned to face her. "What's wrong?" "I, uh, I'm just worried. What do you think we're going to do now? The turan only asked us to go receive the blessing of Chief Bishop Hirano. I'm afraid to stay here and I'm afraid to leave."
Carlos furrowed his brow thoughtfully and mumbled, "We'll just have to let destiny pull us along," in reply. Falina was not satisfied with this response, but she didn't trust any of the others to give her a straight answer. Her mind was finally taken off the worries of the moment when Lucien came in and asked her to help put everything together for their departure. When they went outside she saw Yuber waiting by the horses. He smiled grimly at her. "Wh-what is it?" she asked with a combination of anxiety and morbid curiosity. "I had a vision of blood." The dark-haired girl shivered and turned away. Yuber snickered. Falina couldn't tell if he was joking to scare her or if he really meant what he said. Either thing was absolutely horrid.
Lucien busied himself gearing up the horses and Falina attempted to rearrange the contents of some of the packs and tie up the tents better. Russ came out with some more supplies and helped her quietly. The air was turning swiftly heavier. Mai Mai plopped down beside Yuber and watched the scene with wild eyes and tail twitching rapidly. After what seemed like an infinite amount of tension Kiisan came out. He looked like a different person. His aura was different and his bearing changed. He seemed to stand somewhat taller. Falina could practically see the glow of the powerful magic now resting within him. "Kiisan...?" She hadn't seen him since the night before. It couldn't be possible for someone to change that much in only about twelve hours, could it?
Kiisan smiled at her. Maybe his priestly apparel was throwing her off, but it just didn't feel like the same Kiisan no matter how hard she tried. His right hand was clasped around a tall wooden staff topped with an emblem of the sun. The bell she recognized as previously having hung from the sash he wore at his waist now dangled from the staff by a piece of elaborate red cord. He wore on his head a large, round cerulean hat emblazoned with a white insignia. His usual jacket, tunic, and pants had been replaced by a long-sleeved white and blue robe that hung to his ankles. His boots had been cleaned up a bit, but they were the same ones she recalled that he had left home the first time wearing. She felt a little hopeless. With all these changes would he even recognize her?
"Hey Falina!" he called, abolishing her fears, "What do you think? Do I look silly enough for you?" She stood slowly and focused on his glowing countenance, he was changed, that was certain, but it was still the boy she had grown up with looking at her so fearlessly. "Kiisan you idiot! You look like Carlos!" His face twisted into a pained grimace, "Do I really? I'm not so sure that's a good thing." Able to restrain herself any longer Falina rushed forward and threw her arms around him. "Kiisan! Kiisan, promise you won't change too much! Please, promise me that!" He put his free arm around her awkwardly. "Falina...I...uh...I promise." She released him from her grip and took a deep breath, "Will your mother like it that you became a priest?" He gave Falina a crazy, half-squinting look, "I didn't think about that."
*******
When his other companions approached Kiisan they seemed equally impressed with his new look and position. With a final blessing from Hirano the group left Crystal Valley traveling south with new ambition and with many hearts and minds closed.
Father Carlos was proud of Kiisan for proving up to the task that had been set before him. He told himself that he knew Kiisan was special from the moment he met him, but the logical part of his brain told him that he was only making that part up. He was unaware of the mist blowing in from the ocean. It was gradually building into a thick fog, but all that Carlos observed was that it seemed to be growing slightly colder. Yuber, on the other hand, was all too aware of the bad weather creeping up on them. It would probably be the last cold front of the season. The area they were traveling through was somewhat more populated than the area around the highroad they had followed to Crystal Valley. Deep colored crocuses, violet and canary in color, were sprouting just off the sides of the road, giving the region a rather picturesque appearance that was lost on the dark knight. He would have felt more at home surrounded by corpses and the remains of a battle. Of course he knew that it would come in time. The state of Crona, however, was not the place. And this was not quite yet the time.
Kiisan fidgeted as he rode along, following Louis Adbul's lead. Riding in the long robes was not as easy as in his usual clothes. He glanced at Han Li who had elected to accompany them. The vagabond had elected not to ride a horse, but to walk alongside them. Everyone had been prepared for him to grow tired or fall behind within half an hour, but he continued to keep up tirelessly. "Don't his feet hurt?" wondered Kiisan.
*******
In the afternoon of their second day after leaving Crystal Valley the revolutionaries reached Crona City, the capital of the state. However, before they arrived, word of their approach had already spread. As they rode up to the city gates and dismounted quite a crowd assembled, all wanting to hear "Father Kiisan" speak about his plans to overturn the Aronian Empire. Kiisan himself was rather surprised by the reception they received. He had spoken a little in some of the small towns and villages they had passed through, but nothing that had seemed that significant or inspiring. Apparently no one else thought it was as minor as he did.
Standing on top of a table in the marketplace Kiisan began to answer the citizen's questions and expand upon what they had heard of his ideals. As he revealed the Circle Rune to the people to prove his legitimacy a loud twang rang through the air and was followed by another and another. Han Li caught the first arrow in midair. It had been aimed straight at Kiisan. Lucien knocked Kiisan down onto the ground to protect him from the shots that followed and rained down. The orange-fletched arrows stuck in the table and the sign hanging from the tavern they stood in front of. Sonoa caught sight of their enemies, imperial soldiers, still clasping their bows and quivers. She pushed through the crowd with Mai Mai at her heels, curved daggers gleaming. Yuber flashed a triumphant smile as he sped off in the same direction, drawing his twin swords.
As Kiisan recovered from the shock of the sudden attack Falina, Lucien, and Carlos attended to some of the bystanders who had felt more ill effects of the attack than the revolutionaries themselves had. Fortunately no one had suffered from more than a minor wound and the live demonstration of how Aronia hoped to quickly put down any resistance helped convince more than a few of the revolutionary disciples of the need to establish a new regime.
Han Li learned from some sympathetic citizens of Crona that the ruler of the state, Lord Satis, was a supporter of the Aronian government and a member of the aristocracy from Rupanda, not a Crona native. Although Sonoa and Yuber returned with blades in need of cleaning the threat of further attack was not at all diminished. Actually, due to the actions the two warriors had taken, the danger to Kiisan and his companions was increased. With one last blessing spoken to their allies the rebels withdrew from Crona City and set up camp an hour later near the southeastern border of the state.
Yuber stood guard once again, stating that he was not human and therefore did not need to sleep. Falina had trouble falling asleep at first, due to the unsettling nature of their day, but when she sat outside with Yuber and he began to describe how he had dispatched the men who had fired upon them she suddenly decided she was too tired to stay up any longer and slunk back into the tent she shared with Sonoa and Mai Mai. Yuber, who had appeared disappointed that she left, was actually rather confused as to why she wasn't interested in his story.