AUTHOR'S NOTES: Plot advancement! I understand that the story kind of slowed down once Kamui hit Hoshido, but I did explicitly say in the description that this saga would focus primarily (not solely, however) on character interaction and development, so if people are expecting action-packed fights every chapter, all I can say is "so sorry mans". As such, the last few chapters and most of this one are more of the same foundation-setting I've been doing. Oboro gets a special mention considering that she's one of the four "listed" characters, and we get a bit more 'natural' Corrin-Kamui interaction. Kamui sitting on the Hoshidian throne helped answer some questions, but also spawned new ones in their wake.
Happy Reading!
CHAPTER 25: Night Before the Day
Sing with me a song of Darkness and Light…
The next few days involved Kamui getting to better know her siblings as well as some of their retainers. In contrast to some of the wacky and secretive retainers her Nohrian siblings had hired, the ones that served Ryoma, Hinoka, Takumi, and Sakura seemed much more 'normal'. Most of them even had noble backgrounds or lineages, something their Nohrian counterparts didn't exactly share. She also ran into an elusive and rather secretive woman named Azura, and while she was able to garner that Azura was Nohrian and brought to Hoshido just as Kamui was Hoshidan and taken to Nohr, she wasn't able to get much else out of her other than that she was an amazingly mesmerizing singer, much like Corrin's retainer Zenzi.
She got along with most of them, and all of them seemed to hold Corrin in even higher regard. The one that bonded the most with her however, was Ryoma's retainer Kagero, to the point where she was the only one that Kamui allowed in her room without having to ask or knock first.
There were only a couple of days before the trip to Izumo, and Kamui spent most of her time sketching or writing when she wasn't out socializing. She let her mind wander, going deep into thought about her life and circumstances. With the recent revelations, she couldn't help but wonder about the dragon form that she had assumed in the throne room, but for some reason, she couldn't really bring herself to ask Mikoto or even Corrin about it.
Late one evening as she was sketching an intense image of a Nohrian maid plunging a dagger into a monster's skull, she heard her door slide open, and knew at once it was Kagero. She turned to face the ninja, and found her holding a book Kamui had not seen before.
"Is that what I think it is?" Kamui grinned ear to ear, excitedly.
"Dancers and Diviners," Kagero nodded, setting the book on Kamui's desk. "I didn't think I'd like it as much as I did."
"Ah, so you snuck a peek at it then," Kamui smirked.
"I wanted to make sure I knew what you were publishing," Kagero nodded, "although your secret is safe with me. No one but the two of us know who wrote this."
"Not even the publisher? Speaking of which, what was her name?"
"She called herself Anna. So did the other girls that worked there. But no, not even they know—I also don't think they are too concerned. It's apparently rather profitable, which to them was enough."
She tossed a pouch of coins towards Kamui as well, where the purple-haired woman caught it.
"Thanks for all of this, by the way," Kamui smiled. "I'm glad I can confide in you, Kagero."
"It's the least I can do, with Lord Ryoma instructing me to watch you as often as he does," Kagero nodded, "I'm glad to see you enjoying yourself."
"Tell me about it," Kamui picked up the book and nodded in agreement, "I think now it's time to give this a nice good read out in the commons."
"I shall leave you to that then," Kagero nodded, and with the deftness of a ninja, she vanished without a trace. Kamui was still not sure how that worked, but decided not to try and question it at this point. She had seen Kagero and Saizo both do this enough that she just accepted it as something that happened.
The common room was fairly quiet this time of night, which made Kamui that much happier considering that crowds were generally not her thing. Right as she lit a lamp, sat down, and was about to crack the book, a voice startled her to the point of making her jump.
"Lady Kamui… what are you doing out here?"
"Whaaa!" Kamui gasped, "Oboro? What are you doing out here so late?"
"Someone has to clean up around here," Oboro replied, although her tone made Kamui suspicious immediately.
"No," she shook her head, "there's something on your mind. I might be something of an ass, but I don't want my presence to make you uncomfortable."
"The only thing about your presence bugging me is that you're in my way." Oboro asserted.
"Then why are you looking towards the windows and not angrily at me?" Kamui riposted.
"It's nothing a Nohrian should be worried about." Oboro dismissed Kamui's suspicion.
"Oh, I think it has everything to do with my Nohrian history," Kamui suddenly took the defensive. "Look, I'm sorry that I wasn't able to fit in so suddenly after being in Hoshido a week and trying to adjust from 15 years in Nohr." Kamui reasoned, "come clean with me though. If I'm doing something to piss me off, I want to know."
Oboro gave a drawn-out sigh. "It's… it's not you, Lady Kamui. It is about Nohr though. I'm not ready to explain why, but Nohrians, as well as nearly anything about Nohr… it rubs me the wrong way. I don't mean it personally, but just like you say you need time to get your thoughts together, I need some time before I'm willing to share more with you."
"Alright…" Kamui paused, now wondering what Oboro's secret was, "well, I'll try not to get in your way. I'm just going to read this book."
"Very well," Oboro nodded, "Sorry for giving you the stink-eye." She bit her tongue from saying more, but her attitude toward her and towards Nohr had not changed much. The two parted ways, although both were slightly less suspicious of one another after that.
Kamui mused about Oboro as she skimmed through her book. It was decently written; but she knew she could do better. She'd have to rectify that the next time she went to her desk and decided to write another book—whenever that ended up being.
Before she knew it, the day of reckoning had arrived, and the Hoshidan royal family were all making preparations to travel to Izumo. Kamui had not managed to ask Mikoto about the dragon in the throne room, and during the preparations for departure, she knew that Mother would be too busy to answer any questions about it (or so she assumed). She thought about asking Corrin, but there was a streak of competitive pride that she didn't want to have to sacrifice. She'd have to find a way to word it differently.
Since Ryoma and Mikoto were the ones primarily responsible for organizing the trip and keeping people behind to help run the place in their absence, Kamui was able to find her older brother with a little free time on his hands.
"I would have suspected you to stay in your room drawing more pretty pictures until it was time to leave," he commented, "is something on your mind, sister?"
"A few things, actually," she admitted, "so obviously Garon's not my father, which explains a lot about why he hates me more than he hates most people… but, is Mother a dragon by chance? Or for that matter, was Sumeragi a dragon?"
"I know that Mother is not, although Father might have been," Corrin mused aloud, "It's been 15 years, since he died when you were taken from us, and I was too young to ask him."
"Wait, so how do you know Mother's not a dragon?" Kamui's head shifted back to its usual slightly tilted angle, "Did you ask her?"
"Why so curious all of a sudden?" Corrin chuckled, "did you catch me transforming one of these nights or something?"
"Wait… you can transform?" Kamui gawked, immediately thinking of the throne, "how?"
"With this," Corrin brandished a bluish stone. "Azura gave it to me when I first transformed. I was about 10 at the time, and if it weren't for that stone, the primal instincts and urges of the dragon could have very well consumed me." He paused. "Why… can you transform too?"
"I've been called the Dusk Dragon Incarnate by Fa—Garon, before, but I've never transformed in my life." Kamui didn't feel like mentioning the incident at the throne, especially with how brief it was, and that it was not in her control.
"Hmm…" Corrin raised an eyebrow, "maybe you just haven't discovered it yet. I'd talk to Azura about getting a stone if you did, but I guess that's moot at this point, yeah?"
"Makes sense," Kamui played with her hands, "I guess I'm just kind of nervous is all."
"This is about the peace talks, isn't it?"
"Well… yeah. Obviously you probably figured that I'm still leaning towards Nohr, but at the same time, if a war does break out, I don't think I can do it. I will protect my family from any Hoshidan aggression, but I also want to stop any Nohrian aggression against Hoshido. I might not be too good at making friends, but family is the center of my life."
"That's what we're hoping to do though. It's not just about deciding who gets to keep you, Kamui. This is also to hopefully find a way to prevent an all-out war from breaking out."
"Did Hoshido somehow provoke Nohr?" Kamui wondered aloud, "I mean, Nohr has been itching to strike and so it might not have been a valid reason, but do they have any excuse or anything to go off of?"
"This time…" Corrin sighed, "they actually might. I was there when Hinoka, Saizo, and Rinkah helped orchestrate the plan to bring you here. When your enemy fights dirty and has strength that outdoes your own, you have to think of alternatives. That's part of why Hoshido is known more for its roundabout tricks and tactics rather than brute force the way Nohr fights."
"I actually really want to learn some of those someday," Kamui admitted, "but that's beside the point. As… as much as I miss my family back home and am still a bit upset that this all happened against my will… I want to thank you, Corrin. This has been a very insightful journey to me. I just can't abandon my family in Nohr on good conscience."
"I understand." Corrin sighed, "and while I wish you knew what it would mean to Hoshido for us to have that same place in your heart, you're a grown woman, and I'm your brother, not your superior. If Nohr is where you want to go… then we'll make it official in Izumo."
Kamui nodded, but then fell silent for several moments as Corrin glanced around.
"Well, if nothing else," he indicated, "we should meet up with the others. I think that they're probably ready to depart right about now."
Whether it was luck or intuition, Corrin was right, with Mikoto, Ryoma, Hinoka, Takumi, Sakura, and Azura all ready to go.
"So it's just us going then?" Corrin clarified, turning to Mikoto.
"Only the royal family, yes." Mikoto nodded, "While they invited me to accompany you, they explained that King Garon unfortunately could not make it. As such, they have admitted to going to Izumo alone, and so we will do the same. They say it is to be a meeting; not an ambush."
"And how can we trust them?" Takumi's practical skepticism came into play.
"They mentioned the incident with Sumeragi in particular," Mikoto explained, "and said that they do not wish to tarnish Nohr's reputation any further."
Kamui opened her mouth as if to speak but then decided against it. It still gave her some sense of reassurance knowing that that was almost certainly Xander's explanation. That meant that he was there, and that Garon was not likely accompanying them. Still, while that weight was off her chest, Kamui still couldn't help but grow tense at the inevitable meeting between Hoshido and Nohr that was looming over them.