"That's right, I am from the East." Reiko continued, her tail swishing back and forth.
She had been answering Howl's questions for hours, while he took notes. He had a dish of star candies and a root beer (which she found delightful!) for her.
"Why did you come to this world?" Howl asked.
Reiko bristled. "I! I did NOT come here! I was KIDNAPPED by some loathsome fool! He stole my hoshi and so, as is my creed, I was forsworn to his every whim! Oh! It was terrible!"
Howl waited patiently; Reiko had tempers like this every so often, and soon enough she calmed, and he could tell as her ears, which had been flat, perked back up and tweaked ever so slightly. He made a note.
"Do you want to go home?" Howl asked her.
"Ah? Well this country is so different now. So..." she paused, inflected the next word like a curse. "Civilized."
"What with the rise and fall of ninja and samurai...there are no priestesses to serve, and the yokai like me...have been driven to beyond the kekkai."
Howl looked up at her. "What is the...ke-ka-i?"
"It is a barrier." Reiko said. "Once all the magical creatures in this country lived with the humans. And then a powerful hierarchy established itself in the Otherworld—that's where you go when you die, at least there—and they decided that we were dangerous. If you were classified above C, then you were banished to a place called the Makai—Hell. Or Demon World. The kekkai is the border between worlds."
"Do you have friends there? In the Makai I mean?" Howl asked. He didn't want to send her to a bad place, but if it was her home...
"The Makai is just as it sounds. A world of battle, torment, and bloodshed. Chaos." Reiko's ears flattened. "Some yokai love it there, and belong there. I like the humans, and I proved myself honorable, and was allowed to live among them, until I was betrayed. Um, Howl?"
Howl put his pen down. "Yes?"
"Do you think you could find some Ambrosia? And Nectar, I'll be needing that as well." Reiko curled up. "If you want more answers you must get me those things."
Howl came over with a tray full. "For you."
Reiko ate happily.