The barriers were not broken—Mimi snuffles at the crisscrossing lines that were sprinkled with droplets of her blood. Patting the barriers with her paws, the barriers still lit up and had been left untouched. The barriers are nearly six feet deep. So how are the nag getting in? A sharp, piercing cry fills the woods. Hackles rising, Mimi pauses at the territory line. Should she get the clan leader? What if it is one of the young cultivators? This decides her—Mimi sprints through the barrier and rushes toward the sound. A high-pitched shriek rises in the air. Deciding to hop into the trees, Mimi leaps from tree branch to tree branch until she comes to a grove. A nag with bloodshot eyes writhes upon the ground clasping its head. Until it rips its own head apart. Gaping at the nag, Mimi doesn't realize automatically that the branch beneath her is moving.
Mimi flips off the tree branch and lands several feet away, ready to dive into a shadow. The tree begins to scuttle, and Mimi is immediately struck with an aura of power. A bright light pierces through the foliage making shadow travel impossible. The light dims, revealing a fox spirit the size of a lion with nearly a hundred tails.
Turning tail, Mimi bolts through the grove of trees, running as fast as she can. She gets maybe five feet until she is flipped onto her back and held down with a mighty paw on her chest. The fox bares her teeth at Mimi. Mimi puts her tails between her legs. Tilting her head to the side as she had been taught to do. A perplexed look falls over the fox's features, tilting her head from side to side. The elder fox sticks its snout into Mimi's neck and sniffs. Before Mimi can move any further, the fox wraps her large jaws around the scruff of Mimi's neck as if she were a cub and effortlessly lifts her off the ground.
The fox trots into a shadow, and Mimi has a sinking feeling building in her chest. She is being taken home. When the fox spirit emerges from the shadow with Mimi in tow, the first thing Mimi sees is a large waterfall. Still tightly held in the fox spirit's jaws, the golden fox leaps from boulder to boulder until the two arrive at a large cave. The fox spirit meanders into the cave, and the illusion is shattered. A simple residence is exposed, surrounded by a koi pond and multicolored lotus flowers. It looked . . . cozy. The fox spirit carries her through the door into a lavish sitting room and drops Mimi in the middle of the room.
"Now tell me who you are, if you please," the golden fox shifts, and an extremely tall woman with long white hair takes her place.
In her fox form, Mimi bows carefully to the woman before shifting, "I apologize for stepping on to your territory, O exalted one."
"Honestly, I don't care about that. Haven't you heard me calling you?" the fox spirit proclaims, eyeing her curiously, "What I am curious about . . ."
A door opens to their right, and a jorogumo of startling size emerges with a tray of tea and pastries. She stops when she sees Mimi and looks over at the fox spirit with disdain.
"You are frightening her, love," the jorogumo chitters as Mimi can't help but stare openly at the spider woman.
Her top half is that of a beautiful woman with black hair and pale skin. She has petite features that were overshadowed by the large mandibles hanging off the women's jaws. Mimi couldn't entirely stop herself from individually counting the eight eyes on the woman's head. Her lower half is that of a large spider. The jorogumo puts the tray down on the table in the middle of the room.
She sits on the ground near the fox spirit and gracefully curls her spider legs close to her frame to not be as intimidating. Bows to Mimi politely, "I am Lady Daiyu Feng, and this is my wife, Qiaolian Feng. May I inquire as to who you might be?"
"She is a Shen," the fox spirit said with slight annoyance, "You can tell just from looking at her eyes. No other fox clan has eyes like that. Her smell is just . . . off. I think she is a traveler."
Mimi lowers her eyes, respectfully, "I am Lady Minori Shen."
A low bark-like laugh fills the room, "Of what time variance?"
Stunned, Mimi finally looks up at the fox spirit, who has finally sat down in a seemingly relaxing position. She knew, though, if she made any move that the woman would pounce.
"What do you mean?" Mimi plays dumb.
"Whether you suspect it or not," Qiaolian says demurely, her own green eyes flashing, "And I suspect you do. You and I are sisters. That is evident. However, I do not recall news of your birth into our clan. And," Qiaolian holds up her hands to reveal a matching set of golden claws," Those are mine."
"That means," Daiyu says excitedly, putting a spider leg on her wife's shoulder, "we are family."
The fox spirit huffs but does not pull away from the jorogumo, "She is right. As irritatingly usual, but that does not excuse the fact that the Shen clan is messing with time," she looks Mimi over with disgust, "you aren't me from the future, are you?"
Mimi begins cracking up, not even holding back the laugh at the distressed look on the fox spirit's face.
"Did you break her, love?" Daiyu asks with some concern.
"I am pretty sure I didn't hit her too hard," Qiaolian says, her tails twitching around her irritably.
"I'm sorry," Mimi clenches her stomach, "but is that too dreadful think of? Me being you from the future?"
"It would mean I lost my tails, the ability even to fight correctly, and would be dying my hair to hide the shame," the fox spirit tosses her mane of white hair over her shoulder in emphasis," It has taken me years to reach this status of power. I would hope you would be a warning of some such idiocy that had me looking like you."
"I personally wouldn't be too disappointed. I can already tell she is more polite than you," Daiyu reaches over and pours herself a cup of tea.
"Would you like tea, dear?" Daiyu asks Mimi kindly.
Mimi puts her hand over her mouth to silence her chuckles, but she shakes her head.
"Daiyu!" Qiaolian cries despondently," you don't compare me to another woman and not expect me to be upset!"
The jorogumo gives her wife a long-suffering stare over her cup, "We were speaking of a hypothetical future you were we not? Besides, if I correctly remember, Lady Shen is nearly identical to you when you were young. You were as insufferable as you are now."
Daiyu turns to Mimi as if to say do you see what I have to put up with," Why don't you tell us of yourself? And please, get off the floor and sit down in a chair. May I call you Minori?"
Feeling strangely comfortable in the spider woman's presence, Mimi does as she is told and sits down in a cushy chair, noticing for the first time that all the furniture in the home is woven from spider silk.
"Mimi, please," Mimi corrects, noticing the look of triumph on the jorogumo's face as she looks over at her wife.
"Please call me Daiyu, and this is Qiaolian," the jorogumo smiles in a very spiderlike fashion, exposing a selection of fangs, her many eyes focusing on Mimi.
"I . . . am not from this time," Mimi begins uncertainly, not missing the nudge that the fox spirit gave the spider woman.
"I want to save my wife."
Mimi hadn't meant to say this out loud, but as soon as she did, her heart began to throb painfully.
"What do you mean?" the golden fox spirit leans over curiously at the same time Daiyu again offers a cup of tea.
"Are you familiar with The Reverent?"
It was as if a window had burst open. The chill in the air was palpable. The teasing expression on the golden fox spirit's face had faded to horror. Daiyu put a spidery arm around the fox spirit.
"I created it," Qiaolian murmurs, "I am so sorry."
"What happened?" Daiyu pours out the cup of tea and hands it to Mimi.
Mimi breathes in the scent of raspberries, and it gave her new courage, "She works . . . worked in a university. My sister put her in a stagnant magical coma. She left a suicide note," Mimi chokes down the tears, "But the wounds were strange. The flesh was not knitting together. The wounds refused to heal, no matter what. My sister recommended we look for The Reverent," Mimi watches the strange expression cross her sister's face.
"When I realized the power of The Reverent, I locked it away. When I created it, I craved to be better than anyone else. The instrument took this emotion and ate away at the victim, removing them from this world. I begged Lord Shen to . . . lock it away. I watched him set the tasks. It must still be locked away."
Mimi stares down at the floor, "I made the bargain. I've already completed the first task."
"You foolish cub," Qiaolian snarls softly, "but you did not know any better. I will help you with all my power. It is my instrument of torture, after all."
"One thing I don't understand," Daiyu adds, staring at Mimi, perplexed, "Timelines are notoriously difficult to tamper with. How were you able to come back?"
This has apparently not occurred to Qiaolian, who is now nodding thoughtfully. Mimi pulls the sleeve of her left arm up, exposing the red ribbon under the skin of her wrist.
"Ohh my," Daiyu puts her human hands over her mouth.
"The soulmate bind," Qiaolian says in amazement.
"I wasn't going to look for my soulmate," Mimi claims as Daiyu makes an odd squeak noise.
"But you did," Qiaolian says dryly.
"And it was her, my wife, in another body. I just wanted to peek into the window to get a look. He was crying. I couldn't just leave him there," Mimi pulls a hand through her hair.
"Who is it?" Daiyu asks, all her eyes large.
"The Gusu Clan Leader," Mimi says quietly.
The three were quiet before Qiaolian says, "Well, you could do worse."
Daiyu elbows her wife in the side, "The clan leader of the Gusu sect is a good man. He allows spiders to live, capturing them, and putting them outside. I hear the whispers praising his name."
"You would stay? Live your life until the very moment you leave?" Qiaolian asks, all the while giving her wife an endearing look.
"I don't know," Mimi wants to crawl under a rock.
"You might be driven mad," Qiaolian says knowingly.
"I know," Mimi says in a little voice.
"Where are you staying? You may stay here if you wish," Daiyu offers, her eyes were sparkling at the thought of having a guest.
"I am staying in Cloud Recesses with Chen and Dandan," Mimi says, knowing the fox spirit would undoubtedly find her sooner or later.
Both the fox spirit and jorogumo lean toward her with more interest. Daiyu grins excitedly, "We have not met Dandan or Chen. They are the youngest ones?"
A little unsettled by the overeager looks of the two spirits, Mimi nods, "Yeah, why?"
Qiaolian glows a little, visibly frustrated, "I do not like how our father manages the family. I have tried talking to our mother and siblings in secret, but his grasp is too tight. I have not seen my siblings for a long time. I made my own clan and can provide for them, but they are scared."
A moment passes, and Mimi stares at the ground.
"There has been trouble in the Shen clan," Qiaolian states, watching the different expressions pass over her sister's face.
Daiyu places a human hand on Mimi's shoulder, and Mimi flinches but does not shake her off.
"What has Lord Shen done?" Qiaolian growls, her tails fanning around her angrily. The sheer power radiating off the fox spirit causes Mimi to whimper.
"Or is it something you have done or tried to prevent?" Daiyu asks, more observant than her spouse.
"Shun informed me that Ying is dead. She died trying to do some dark ritual. All they could find were her tails."
"I hate to say it, but I am not surprised," Qiaolian says stonily, "After her twin was brought back to life, her mind had not been the same. This is grievous news. What of her twin?"
Biting her lip, Mimi removes the sack from around her neck that contained his ashes, presenting them to Qiaolian.
"He begged me to kill him," Mimi looks down at the ground and tries to restrain her emotions.
"Then I owe you a debt," Qiaolian says softly, holding the ashes close to her.
"My . . . our brother was extremely sick, but his heart remained pure and kind. I am sure we will see him again," Qiaolian presses the bag of ashes to her forehead before kissing the fabric, "What of Yongrui?"
"I turned him into a koi because he was trying to eat Dandan," Mimi says, with no regret.
"She inherited your sense of humor," Daiyu chirps, her mandibles clacking.
It took Mimi a second to realize that she is laughing.
"Our clan can protect you," Qiaolian says unexpectedly seriously, "I propose an alliance. The tasks will weaken our father. As The Reverent caresses flesh. The magic creating the tasks will take its toll on him. At the end of the tasks, we will be able to kill him. Once and for all."
Mimi stares in surprise at the hope in the elder fox spirit's eyes, "Can I think about it?"
The fox spirit quickly conceals her disappointment, and Daiyu says, "Of course you can!"
"Why don't I prepare you a bundle," Daiyu got to her feet and darts into the other room.
"She might be a little while," Qiaolian grins, staring at the space her wife had been.
"How is mom? "Qiaolian suddenly asks, taking Mimi off guard.
Mimi envisions the frail woman with long black hair, her sunken in eyes were empty, and her stomach swollen with a child.
"She is pregnant," Mimi says quietly," she does not look well."
"Father keeps her that way, I think," Qiaolian says sadly, "it drains our power being in that condition. Our magic is used to produce a magical core in the infant."
Mimi nods, trying not to think of the gentle swell of her wife's belly. How Mimi had refused to carry the child, fearing the child would be part fox spirit. She opens her mouth, but no sound comes out.
Mimi opens her eyes to find herself in Qiaolian's arms. Qiaolian is holding her close. The spiritual energy practically radiating from the woman.
"Courting ghosts? Your eyes are filled with them," Qiaolian states. She had gently put her hand on Mimi's head and is giving her spiritual energy.
"Did I pass out?" Mimi asks, her face blushing.
"No, you just sought the comfort of the dead," Qiaolian says quietly, staring at Mimi in concern.
Seeing the confusion, Qiaolian explains.
"It's a byproduct of fox spirit mate bonds," Qiaolian explains, her tails moving around to cover Mimi like a fresh blanket from the dryer.
"Sometimes, when you are separated from your mate for too long or are grieving, you start feeling their 'ghosts' on the other side. It doesn't have to be one of the deceased," Qiaolian explains, "which is why I dislike leaving Daiyu for too long. I am not sure how it works. I think it's us trying to seek comfort from our loved ones."
"I don't like feeling like a damsel in distress," Mimi says, her head barely poking out from behind the many tails trying to comfort her.
"Eww, don't get saliva on my fur," Qiaolian says, unwrapping Mimi from her furry cocoon and holding her up from an arm's length away.
Daiyu finally returns, carrying a large basket, "I just filled it up with a few things."
Taking the basket, Qiaolian gapes at the jorogumo, "Are you giving them the entire pantry?"
Crossing multiple sets of arms over her chest Daiyu stares down her mate.
Smiling at Mimi, the fox spirit says, "We are giving you the entire pantry."
"Please come back soon," Daiyu reaches out and hugs Mimi, who finds herself in the strange position of being enveloped by several spider legs.
"How do I get in contact with you?" Mimi says, finding herself becoming more comfortable with her strange new relatives.
"Tell a spider or write a message in a tree or the dirt. The forest has known us for a long time and will send your message."
Mimi nods, not quite sure what to make of that. Daiyu walks with them to the edge of the cave and watches them leap to the ground. The jorogumo waves from the top of the waterfall and disappears.
"Do you want to go for a run with me?" Qiaolian asks playfully, holding on to the basket.
Amused, Mimi nods, shifting into her fox form, and stretches. Letting out a bark of delight, Qiaolian turns into her near blinding fox form. Picking up the picnic basket in her mouth, Qiaolian immediately darts ahead of her, her hundreds of tails fanning out behind her like a peacock tail. Mimi realizes soon enough that Qiaolian is matching her speed to her own. Full of her sister's spiritual energy, Mimi felt like she could run to Mount Everest without stopping. Without knowing why Mimi playfully nips at one of her sister's tails. The tail swipes at her gently. The two foxes freely run through the woods, darting in and out of the trees. For the first time in what felt like a long time, Mimi feels relaxed. She nips at her sister's tail and paws like a little puppy. Qiaolian runs just a little further, just out of reach. The broad fox grin on her sister's face tells Mimi she is enjoying this as well. The two played tag, the large fox quickly catching up with Mimi and smacking her with her tails before darting off like a fragment of sunlight.
The edge of the forest is where Qiaolian finally stops. She sets the basket on the ground. As if debating something, Qiaolian steps over to Mimi and nuzzles her nose with her snout. Qiaolian barks and disappears into the shadows. Mimi shifts and looks around. Qiaolian had accompanied her to the very edge of Cloud Recesses. Picking up the surprisingly heavy basket, Mimi walks through the barrier without any trouble.