Chapter Five
Into The Wasteland

"Aren't you hot in all that clothing?"

Menary turned her head enough that she could fix Gojyo with an arch look. She had been quiet since the town had vanished from view, swallowed the desert scenery and the blue sky. Now her tongue flickered over dry lips, and her chin was set atop fingers folded into a fist.

"Are you hitting on me again, Master Gojyo?" Referring to the evening before her actions had been discovered, when Gojyo had made the same passes at her as he did every other pretty female they encountered.

Hakkai's spoke as Gojyo's voice became a strangled choke. "What he means to say, is that he doesn't understand how you can be comfortable in so many layers of clothing when the heat has surpassed eighty degrees."

"I see." Menary's mouth quirked. "My wardrobe is special. It has been created specifically with special attributes to condition this sort of climate."

"It's spelled." Sanzo murmured, as if he'd known.

"It is specially made." She reiterated with emphasized patience. "I commissioned it with a Glasscastle seamstress before I left India. Charming woman and exceptionally talented. You might notice the tiny maroon rose on the inside of the cuff. Her trademark, hand stitched and quite expertly so."

"Speaking of Glasscastle." Hakkai went on. "I was wondering why you agreed to come with us if you were so against it."

She stared at the back of his head incredulously. "Why? Because you all threatened to burn down my inn, is why!"

"Well, yes…" Hakkai's smile was at once apologetic and sheepish. "But couldn't you have prevented that?"

"Ah, I see. Well the thing is, I do not do that sort of thing."

"What do you mean, you don't do it?" Gojyo found his voice again. "I thought this academy taught magic. Did you learn it or not?"

Menary frowned at him. "It did and I did. But manipulation of the greater elements was not among such teachings. Your idea of being tutored in such abilities is far different then how it actually is in Glasscastle. We are not placed in a classroom and demonstrated to sporadically."

"Then how is it taught?"

"Until fourth year instruction proceeds as normally it would at any other finishing school. Then at the beginning of the second semester of the fifth a night is assigned during which the chosen student is to go on a vigil."

"A vigil?" Hakkai's voice was rapt with curiosity.

"Glasscastle has rather expansive grounds. The chosen student selects a spot upon which to wait."

"For what?"

"For anything."

Gojyo and Hakkai acquired twin looks of baffled confusion which they exchanged with each other for a brief moment. Hakkai turned his eyes to Menary again with a small frown.

"I'm not sure I understand."

"It is a big like a trigger. There are certain things that power is directly attuned to. Humans, however, rarely place themselves in positions to receive the properties of this alignment. The vigil is for the purpose of a grand awakening and it is meant to be brought on by one of these attuned aspects; an animal, a thing, that one witnesses and is clarified with during the vigil. What the individual sees during their vigil determines the elements of their…special skills."

"Shit, this is giving me a headache." Gojyo complained.

"So don't they teach you after your vigil?" Hakkai continued his questioning.

"In a way. Everyone sees something different on their vigil so it is impossible to have a set lesson that will teach everyone properly. So instead only the most basic structural details are given along with clues and nudges in the right direction in the form of philosophy classes. Then the student is to progress on their own using these tools." She smiled in fond memory. "I could not tell you how atrociously frustrating classes were before my vigil. My dear friend Aurian had hers before mine and she'd always walked around as if she knew something I did not and after that I knew she knew something that I did not and she knew I knew she knew and it was positively maddening."

"I know the feeling." Gojyo jibbed.

"What did you see on your vigil?"

Menary straightened and she looked as if Hakkai had asked her for her dress size. Her lips had turned into a serious frown and her eyes were steel. "That isn't something that one shares. To know what a person saw on their vigil is to have control of their power, control of their abilities, control of them."

The brown haired man looked stricken. "I apologize."

She managed a smile. "Not at all. I know you were not aware of what you were asking."

"So what is it you know about Princess Miyohiko?" Sanzo spoke for the first time since the town had faded from the horizon.

"Aside from what I have told you? Little. The demon clan refers to her as The Cursed. She was her father's only child and it is said that her mother died birthing her. I have heard that she is horribly spoiled, has an affecting voice, a temper like a tea kettle, and a violent inclination to match it."

"Well that's just great." Gojyo said. "How come all the women we come across are either crazy or taken?"

"I suggest you keep those sorts of questions to yourself." Hakkai advised, taking not of the level look that Menary had fixed Gojyo with.

"Not at all." The blonde woman said in a voice that was deceptively light. "I am quite interested in his opinion on the matter. Which would you say I am, Master Gojyo? Taken, crazy, or just not a woman?"

"I fold." The half demon answered.

"A point for me, then."

"Why do they call Miyohiko cursed?" Sanzo spoke again.

Menary ripped her gaze from Gojyo and looked towards Sanzo again. She shook her head making blonde ringlets dance. "Perhaps because of her mother's death? Or for her temper?"

"From what you know, do you think he's done anything to Goku yet?" Hakkai asked evenly.

Menary's eyes were frank and she spoke with grave candor. "You mean, do I think she has ordered him killed yet. I heavily doubt it."

"Why?"

"From what I have heard about how close she was with her father I do not have the slightest doubt that she will want to make his killer suffer for as long as possible. Your friend may not be fine, but I am quite sure he's still alive."