You and Me After All
Chapter 22: The Veil
When Sesshōmaru returned, his armour had been rinsed and his clothing was damp, but he did not utter a word of complain.
And Kagome did not utter a word of apology.
They each returned to their previous posts, leaning against the bulwark with their eyes fastened onto the horizon. She considered asking him more questions about the realm in which she would reside, but a grouping of ominously dark clouds in her sight line stopped her cold.
She blanched and took a step back. For a moment, she thought they would crash into a storm, judging from how dark and menacing those clouds were. Looking around, she realized no one else — including Sesshōmaru — seemed troubled. The hubbub of conversations went on, as though nobody paid attention to the rolling grey clouds.
Then, as the ship continued to calmly and confidently glided to meet the darkness, she felt the crackling of energy in the atmosphere. A ripple in the air as the ship's bow began to pierce through something. A transparent veil of power that separated the two worlds — power stronger and much older than mere yōkai magic.
Ants crawled all over her back as they crossed that veil, and she bit the inside of her cheek, weathering the thrum of energy that caressed her skin — unfamiliar, but without hostility.
As soon as the ship passed through that barrier, the mist dissipated, and Kagome gasped as the haze gave way and allowed her to see what lay beyond. The dark, charcoal grey of the impending storm were replaced by the eternal blue of the cloudless sky, stretching all the way to the horizon on the other side.
She looked up, inspecting the flying barges that floated above them, wondering what kind of yōkai were employed to operate those vessels and enable them to fly. Flame-users, perhaps? Other airborne creatures dominated the sky: dragons with their long, coiling bodies and scales sparkling brightly under the sun, raven tengu — or crow demons, and all kinds of aviary yōkai frolicked and flew in groups.
Far ahead of them, a place that began as a small dot gradually grew larger. Kagome squinted until she could see a row of other ships mooring, and the rooflines of buildings and structures, and figures of people milling about.
The harbour.