Chapter 2 – The House of Eternity
The path Mokou led Maribel down did indeed lead to a house, though simply calling it a house would have been an understatement of the same scale as referring to the Versailles Palace as a small hut. It was only a two-story building, and Maribel guess the architecture might have been from the Heian era, though she had never really paid much attention during art classes. Either way it seemed to go on forever in either direction, which seemed fitting given what Mokou told her the name of it was.
"Behold," she said with a dramatic gesture. "Eientei, the House of Eternity. What a fucking pretentious name. With any luck we'll be greeted with one of the more, well, reasonable servants."
As if on cue, a silhouette appears against the paper-screen door and slid it open to reveal a girl standing in the doorway; a red-eyed girl with purple hair and rabbit ears, wearing a black blazer over a white shirt and a pleated purple skirt. Maribel could clearly see that the ears were not attached to any sort of headband, but grew directly out of her head. But after everything she had seen that night, she wasn't surprised one bit.
"Oh. It's you." The rabbit girl said uneasily. "We received a report that a battle had broken out in the forest earlier, and I was afraid it was someone coming to make trouble."
"That would be the furthest thing from my mind, Inaba," Mokou answered with a lopsided smirk. "Just ran into some small fry youkai who must have let the heat get to its head. But more importantly," she patted Maribel on the shoulder roughly, making her step forward. "Found this girl wandering around. From the looks of it she's from the outside world. Could you ask your master of the house if she could bed the night in one of your guestrooms?"
"I do have a name, you know." Maribel said dolefully, not enjoying the prospect of being known from here on as 'this girl'. "I told you. It's Maribel Hearn,"
The rabbit girl Mokou had called Inaba looked Maribel over for a moment and their gazes intersected. In that instant everything around her seemed to bend and distort, like walking through a house of mirrors at an amusement park, except in this case all the light around her seemed to sink toward the rabbit girl's red eyes, like they were twin pools of crimson quicksand. Maribel quickly jerked her gaze away and everything returned to normal, but a wave of dizziness sets in and she staggered backwards just in time for Mokou to catch her by the shoulders.
"Woah, easy there," Mokou said, standing her up straight and patting her on the back. "Forgot to mention you may want to avoid the eyes." She made looping motions around her ear with her finger. "They'll drive you mad, right?"
"My apologies," said the rabbit-eared girl, with a deep and sincere bow. "Sometimes my ability triggers unconsciously. Please wait here while I convey your request to my master."
Bowing again, she took a step back and closed the door before padding off back into the depths of the mansion.
"What… what on earth was that?" Maribel asked, still feeling lightheaded.
"Hah, nothing even close to Earth, actually." said Mokou, grinning at her own private joke. "Lunar rabbit. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that, too. The people who live here are from the moon."
"Oh," was all Maribel could say at this point, as the rabbit-eared silhouette reappeared and opened the door.
"You may enter," she said, and gestured though the door. "Please follow me and try not to wander off."
Mokou stuck her hands in her pocket and nodded. "Well then, have a good night. I'll be back around daybreak to pick you up and from here I'll take you to the Hakurei Shrine."
"You won't be coming inside?" Inaba asked, looking toward Mokou inquiringly. "My master has made it a point that I remind you of your standing invitation so long as you do not instigate any incidents with the princess."
"I'll be fine," Mokou asserted, waving her hand in front of her face. "It's for that very reason I chose to make myself scarce around here." The rabbit girl nodded hesitantly before guided Maribel inside after asking her to remove her shoes, and then closed the door behind her.
"Is she really going to be alright, Inaba?" Maribel asked, looking back. She may not have been very personable, but Mokou had been the one person in this world who had done anything to help her when it probably would have been less trouble to leave her to her grisly fate. With that in mind, Maribel couldn't help but feel guilty for leaving her outside. "It's probably going to get colder out there."
"She'll be fine," the rabbit girl assured her while walking briskly ahead through the candlelit corridors. Occasionally Maribel got the feeling that they were being watched from doorways on the sides of the hall, and small, red-eyed faces would peek out before a sharp glance from her guide sent them scurrying away. "If anyone, she'd be the last person in the world I'd be concerned about. And if you don't mind, please call me Reisen. Inaba is something the princess calls us rabbits, and Miss Fujiwara appears to have picked up on it. My master calls me Udonge, and I like that much better."
"Princess…?" Maribel asked, her voice trembling slightly.
"You'll meet her soon enough, I imagine." Reisen said, nodding to herself. "She isn't much for public appearances, though she'll probably show herself for supper," The rabbit girl smiled to herself. "It's been quite some time since we had our last guest and her Highness might take pleasure in the company of someone who wasn't a trying to blast their way in to pillage our treasure vault or whatever other reason."
Maribel swallowed hard and continued following the rabbit girl. She soon gave up on trying to remember the way they had come; all of the hallways looked the same and they seemed to go on forever bending and curving like a maze, at least until they reached a door at the end to the hallway. Reisen stopped and stood at attention, her hands folded behind her back. Looking back, Maribel saw a small face with small furry ears poke around a corner. She waved tentatively but it disappeared with a flurry of soft footsteps and hushed voices in the distance.
"Master, I have brought the guest," Reisen announced, ignoring the happenings behind her with what looked to be retrained annoyance. "Shall I have her enter?"
"Yes, please do," The responding voice was feminine and wise. Reisen slid the door open and beckons for Maribel to enter, to which she hesitantly complied.
The room she walked into was, for lack of a better term, the closest thing one could approach to a scientific laboratory without any of the modern conveniences she had grown so accustomed to. It was definitely nothing like the applied physics lab Renko showed her. The walls are lined with shelves crammed full of every measuring, testing, and observation device she could imagine, and some she probably couldn't have. Trays of chemical samples, test tube racks, what looks like a brass microscope with three eyepieces and lenses of various magnifications attached to arms on its sides... a model of Jupiter with all of its satellites floating around it on tiny brass arms. Maribel's mind was spinning trying to take all of this in.
At a wooden western-style writing desk, out of place in the otherwise Japanese mansion, sat a bespectacled woman with the same silver-hued hair as Mokou, worn in a single plait that fell down to her waist, absorbed in a large book written in a language Maribel did not recognize. Over her red and blue patterned dress is a plain white frock splattered with stains of various chemicals. Hearing the door close behind Maribel, she looked up, removing her spectacles and replaced them in a black case, which she slipped into the front pocket of her frock.
"So I heard from my apprentice that you've had quite the adventure in your short time with us," Reisen's master said with a quiet smile. "But let me assure you that so long as you are within these walls and abide by our rules, no harm will ever befall you. I understand Mokou will be escorting you out of the forest come tomorrow morning, but until that time please accept our hospitality." The woman said, standing up. "My name is Eirin, by the way, Eirin Yagokoro, a humble apothecary in service to Princess Kaguya Houraisan. And you must be Maribel Hearn. Now, with your permission, I would like to give you a cursory medical examination -completely non-invasive, mind you- to ensure you've received no lasting damage from your little encounter."
Other than psychological, you mean? "Oh… okay." Maribel said, knowing that if the people of this house had truly wanted to harm her they'd had plenty of chances to do so already.
Eirin took the black case out of her pocket and replaced the spectacles over her eyes, then studied Maribel closely, making the girl feel more than a little self-conscious. At least she hadn't been told to strip naked, she thought to herself. After a moment Eirin took the glasses off again and put them away. "Well, you do appear to have a light sprain on your right ankle and some bruises on your arms and legs. Nothing serious, but you might want to have a dip in one of the baths before dinner for a while so it doesn't swell. I'll ask Reisen to show you the way."
"Was that it?" Maribel asked. "All you did was look at me."
Eirin smiled mysteriously and tapped the black case to the side of her head. "I did say non-invasive, did I not? Never doubt the precision of Lunarian craftsmanship. Udonge! Kindly escort our guest to the bathhouse."
When they had left, Eirin Yagokoro waited a moment before waving a hand over the writing desk, summoning a holographic image into the air. She studied it silently for a moment. The facts were there, but she could scarcely believe them, even when they were floating before her eyes.
"So," She said after a minute passed. "She really went and did it."
Garnet looked up at the massive red doors of the mansion with a mix of awe and apprehension. It had been practically child's play for her and Cirno to simply fly over the iron fence and sneak behind the redheaded gate guard, who must have been on the lookout for bigger foes, but now the first real obstacle stood in their way.
"I knew this was a bad ideah." Cirno exclaimed, her arms folded in front of her, and then took her fellow fairy by the hand in an attempt to pull her back to the side wall, which wasn't as well-lit as the front. "C'mon, let's head back 'fore that crazy maid with th' knives sees us."
"You sound like a child." Garnet censured her quietly through clenched teeth, pulling her arm away. "Keep it down or someone will really come."
"Shh! Someone really came!"
A shadow passed over them, blocking the lamplight, and Garnet felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of her face even though the night was a cool one. She looked up slowly and let out am inward sigh of relief when she saw not the infamous head maid with her throwing knives, but a pair of fairies. One had long red hair tied up in a ponytail, and the other with green hair, like her own, only shorter, both were dressed in elaborate black and white maid outfits.
"What're you two doing out here?" The red-haired of the pair asked. "And why are you not in uniform? You should be glad that Miss Sakuya wasn't the one who found you. She'd be super pissed, right?"
"Our uniforms are, uh, dirty right now." Garnet said, laughing nervously, lightly bopping herself on the head to drive the point even further. These fairies must not have been from the lakeside, otherwise they should have easily recognized her. Maybe, just maybe they were in luck.
"Well, we do have a couple of spare uniforms we can let you borrow for a while, don't we?" The red-haired fairy looked at her partner, who nodded silently. "But you can't keep them, okay? You just can't walk around the mansion like that or someone'll think you're an intruder."
"Er, thanks, we're in your debt." Garnet said. "But are you sure you can just lend us your clothes like that?"
"Don't worry about it!" The fairy assured her, sticking her thumb up while winking. "Anything we do behind Miss Sakuya's back is cool in my book. Quick!"
The two fairies flew up and pulled the front doors open; then motioned for to follow them in. After exchanging a brief glance Garnet and Cirno did just that. They were led through a wide hallway, painted a deep scarlet much like the outside, and from there into a massive common room with luxuriously upholstered chairs and couches and a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. The red-haired fairy motioned for them to wait there while she went into another room, and the other stood guard near the door, presumably to warn them if the head maid came by.
About a minute later she returned bearing a pair of maid outfits still on their hangers, clean, ironed and complete with frilly lace headdresses.
"Come on, let's get changed." Garnet said to Cirno with a little wink.
"Bugger me." Cirno muttered, looking down at the outfit that as it was passed to her. She turned to Garnet. "In the end, I'm still wear'n these bloody maid rags. Yer ganna owe me big time for this, y'hear? And I still ain't serv'n no tea!"
Maribel walked lightly over the cool stone floor as she stepped out of the changing room and to the outdoor bath, holding nothing but a clean white towel to preserve her modesty. Reisen had bowed politely at the entrance, informing her it would be her duty to supervise the other rabbits as they prepared dinner and then turn about and left, walking in her precise, almost military manner.
The air was cool against her skin, though, and the starlit sky with its crescent moon along with the bamboo shafts peeking over the privacy fence, and the hollow thonk of the bamboo deer chaser created a scene that in any other day would have made her feel like she was visiting an ordinary spa in Japan.
But she had only recently learned she wasn't even in Japan anymore. This was Gensokyo, where everything and everyone could be a ravenous monster that saw her as little more than a delicious appetizer. At least here, inside these, she felt as though she could relax just a little. The people here seemed kind, if not a little offbeat. But really, they were royalty from the moon? She shook her head, unsure of what to believe anymore and made her was towards the steaming water.
"You're supposed to wash yourself before you enter the water." A voice suddenly asked, making her jump. Through the steam she could see the shape of a girl; a slender figure, long, long coal black hair. Her arms were resting on the stone floor behind her as she turned her head towards Maribel. "Has no one taught you this?"
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't realize someone was already here." Maribel said, gripping the towel closer.
The girl laughed to herself; it was a refined, aristocratic laugh, and she made sure to cover her mouth with the back of her hand. "Oh, I don't mind at all. But that doesn't answer my question."
"I- well, yes," Maribel said looking down, aware that this black-haired girl was watching her very intently. "But the, uh, rules weren't very strict where I'm from."
"Ahh, I see," the girl gestured to a water pump with a small bowl crafted from bamboo set beside it. "Baths are for relaxation. Wash yourself off over there."
"Wash?" Maribel looked down at the towel covering her breasts and then at the water pump. When she had gone with Renko to a spa in Kyoto they had been allowed to wear bathing suits. In fact, it had felt to her more like they had been visiting a water park than a traditional bathhouse.
"If it bothers you that much I'll avert my eyes." The girl said, sweeping her hands through the water, but never actually turned away. "You're still going to have to take it off when you come in."
Maribel felt her skin flush, and it wasn't from the heat from around the bath. Taking one last hesitant look at the water pump and the bowl she took a breath, exhaled, and walked over to the pump, pulling the towel away from her body. She could hear the playful splashes of the girl behind her as she filled the water bowl and poured it over her light skin, found a small bar of soap on the floor and quietly lathered it onto her body.
She hadn't realized just how thoroughly her body had been covered with dirt and mud, nor noticed the leaves and moss that were tangled into the blonde mess that was her hair, nor the scrapes and bruises on her arms and legs. After washing away the soap and watching the water spiral down the floor drain, she gathered herself and stood up turning to the bath, gingerly lowered her leg, testing the temperature of the water and quickly withdrew it from the unexpected heat, hearing another amused laugh from the girl.
"You're quite the interesting one!" she said, grinning deviously, her dark brown almond eyes penetrating the veil of steam between them. "Since the Inaba brought you here, I suppose you're not an enemy, not that you would be coming into my bath if you were, but you never know. What's your name?"
"Maribel," Maribel answered, lowering her foot completely into the water, and then the other. She slowly lowered herself into a sitting position across from her companion "Maribel Hearn."
"Merryberry?" The girl tried her name a few times, testing the sound of it on her tongue until she got it just right. "Maribel. Yes, that's a lovely name. Oh, I seem to have forgotten my manners, I am Kaguya Houraisan."
Maribel remembered the name, but it still took a moment for her to remember the rest. When she did, her eyes widened with shock. How could she have even guessed that she would meet her here? "You- Y-you're the princess?"
"Indeed! Though the title bears little meaning here," she smiled, toying with a strand of her silky hair. "But that's a story for another time. Now, if you don't mind me asking, what brings you into my house? Surly it wasn't simply to bathe. Your face and your arms are scratched. Please, tell me."
She didn't know why, but Maribel suddenly began the tale of how she had come to this place, starting with her dreams, her investigation of the temple with Renko, and of the crack in the air, and how she was pulled into it. Though the bath was warm, she felt her body shiver involuntarily, when she reached the next part, and she clutched her arms protectively around herself.
The mischievous look melted away from Kaguya's face, traded for a more somber one. "You poor thing," said the princess. "You've been through such a horrible trial." Then slowly, without breaking the water, she came closer and took Maribel into her arms, pulling her close. Maribel was surprised at first, taken off guard, uncertain of the other's intention; but her uncertainly soon fled and it was as though a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Maribel closed her eyes, remembering how Renko would comfort her like that when she woke from a nightmare. "You're just like me, aren't you? Lost and alone in a strange world, but you're not alone." the princess murmured, combing one hand through Maribel's blonde hair. "You've been brave, but you don't have to keep it inside anymore."
Maribel nodded silently, and in the protective arms of the princess of the moon, she let her tears finally fall.
"Sod it! We're lost."
Garnet and Cirno went through yet another set of doors and another crimson hallway. For a moment the green-haired fairy began to wonder if they were indeed walking in circles, or perhaps they had fallen into some clever trap of the knife-wielding maid, but she quickly dispelled the thought. The air in this hallway was unmistakably different that the previous one – there was the hint of something old and musty.
"It's just a little further, I can feel it." Garnet assured her in the soothing, diplomatic tone she reserved for when Cirno was about to go and do something uncommonly stupid.
"Oh look! Another door - and lemme guess what's behind it - another effing hallway!" Cirno pointed at the large door bordered with intricate carvings. Garnet could sense that there was something particularly unusual about this door that she just couldn't put her finger on. There was no mistaking it. They had at last arrived at the lair of the sorcerer. "Well, you goin' ter open it or er' are we jus' goin' stand 'ere ?"
"Oh. Right. Sorry, I was just thinking." Garnet said, and with Cirno's help she pulled the door open.
"Yeh look right knackered." Cirno said, as they walked through the door. "When was the last time yeh got even an hour of kip?"
"Uh…" Garnet tried to think of an answer, more or less guessing at the meaning of some of the words Cirno used. She knew other fairies that spoke in a similar way, though they tended to put an effort into talking like everyone else in Gensokyo. Cirno seemed to be one of the few exceptions. "A while ago. I think?"
She stopped as soon as she entered the room. Bookcase upon bookcase lined the walls. Shelves filled with ancient tomes whose spines where marked in languages she had never seen before. The bookshelves spanned at least five tiers, towering over them up to a luminous ceiling. Bookcases floating above them, held fast by no visible rope or chain Yes, this was definitely the place. She stepped forward a few paces and leaned down to look closer at contents of one of the shelves, interested in the gold lettering, though she could not read it.
"Rats." A tired, weary voice echoed around them. "And small rats, at that - must have slipped through the traps. Hadn't thought about small rats, always the black-white."
"Who's there!" Cirno called out, pulling an ice-blue card from her sleeve. "Yeh wanna have a row wit us?"
"So the rats walk into my library and command I show myself to them! Ha. Is it not proper etiquette in this land to state one's own identity before demanding the same of another? You are most certainly not any maids of this mansion. Our Sakuya would have to be restrained if she ever heard a fairy speak like that to her. Now, I suppose once again I Shall be standing in for the negligent cats, unlucky you. Fire Sign: Akiba Summer"
The first thing Garnet noticed was the temperature of the room suddenly spike up, then the faint shimmer you can see in the air on a really hot summer day. It wasn't until it was almost on top of them that Garnet saw the column of flame arc its way downward. And then, another drastic change in temperature - a cold snap. Cirno pushed her way forward and, holding a hand up the fire as though she could command it to stop, a shield of ice, shaped like a flower, crystallized at her fingertips in an instant. The fire licked around the edges of the shield but did not touch them.
Before long the flames died and the shield melted away. "Such command of the elements, to halt my fire." The voice came again. "Might you be one of the great fairies?"
"Nah, that'd be 'er." Cirno jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. "I'm still th' strongest."
"We didn't come her looking for a fight!" Garnet pleaded. "We came looking for the Witch of Spring Haze!"
"The witch of what, now?" There was a moment of silence. "Ah, yes. I believe I was been called that once." A girl stepped out from behind one of the floating bookcases. It was a short girl with purple hair dressed in baggy lavender-colored pajamas, with a matching nightcap that bore a gold crescent moon pinned to the front as well as a red and blue ribbon tied to either side. "I prefer the name Patchouli Knowledge, and The Unmoving Great Library is what I am known as by some, though I am moving right now. And now that I have given you my name, I expect you in turn give me yours and promptly explain exactly why you are trespassing before I call for the maid and let her deal with you."
"Garnet Moonsong, Great Fairy of the Misty Lake, and this is Cirno. I felt ill portents on the wind and thought to seek out your knowledge and your aid. We came to ask what is going to happen to Gesouyko and if there is anything to be done to stop it."
"Hmph… though it's most irksome to hear that one of my spells was defeated by a mere fairy, I am beholden to answer your question as best as I can." Patchouli took a breath and floated down to ground level. "The Hakurei Border is beginning to crumble, and as if that wasn't enough, a portal leading to realm of Makai is beginning to open."
Garnet was quiet for a moment. She had braced herself for the worst, but this was beyond anything she had imagined. Without the Border the very existence of Gensokyo was in peril. Cirno, meanwhile, was rubbing her chin, deep in thought.
"So, what in the bloody hell is that s'posed to mean?"
"It means that unless someone does something, and soon, this entire world is going straight to hell," said Pacthouli, floating up to one of the shelves. Unbelievably, none of the books showed any signs of damage from either fire or ice. She picked out a tome and pulled it off the shelf. Despite her small stature she had little difficulty moving it, though a closer look explained that the tome itself was actually floating over her hand. "Tell me, fairies, are either of you ever familiar with the name Amatsu-Mikaboshi?"
Cirno nodded to herself for a while before finally breaking the silence that had suddenly fallen after Patchouli opened her book.
"Mika-what?"
After getting out of the bath and drying herself, Maribel quietly put on the yukata that had been left out for her. Reisen had told her that her clothing would be washed and returned in the morning, but for some reason she'd always felt uncomfortable wearing Japanese clothes. At festivals Renko would often dress up in a nice kimono and then try to put on her, but she looked… awkward in them. Like a fish out of water.
Despite these thoughts, the fabric was soft and cool against her skin and she was suddenly reminded of the feel of Princess Kaguya Houraisan's smooth, flawless skin and she felt her face flush despite herself.
"Miss Hearn, I'm here to escort you to the dining hall." Reisen's voice came from behind the door, making Maribel jumped at the unexpected noise, and then quickly collected herself.
"Thanks," Maribel tied the cotton belt around herself, holding the garment close, then opened the door to find the straight-faced, rabbit-eared girl on the other side. "And it's all right to call me Maribel, or Mary if you like. You don't have to be so formal with me, Reisen. I'm not a VIP or anything."
Reisen's eyebrows furrowed with confusion for a moment, but then she smiled and curled the ends of her long silvery hair around a finger; an action that seemed somewhat strange in contrast to her stoic impassiveness of before. "It is only customary to treat an honored guest accordingly. Please, this way"
"This place seems a little empty for its size," Maribel said after a while. "Is it just you, Eirin, and the princess who live here?"
"No, no, no." Reisen said, shaking her head and laughed lightly. "There are hundreds of youkai rabbits here as well. They do most of the chores around here, though you've got to keep on them with an iron fist to make sure they get their work done right. They tend to avoid strangers, though you might see a few during dinner." She sighed. "We may as well employ fairies, as that Scarlet Manor does; they would be nearly as effective and twice as cheap."
Maribel saw a couple of shadows from open doors in the hallway but they quickly vanished, accompanied by childish giggles.
"It's like summer vacation," muttered Reisen, clapping a hand over her face with exasperation. Maribel couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Reisen seemed to realize this and cleared her throat. "Here we are, the dining hall is past these doors. Princess Kaguya will be attending, so please mind your manners."
Maribel wondered if Reisen would say the same thing if she had know that shortly before in what manner she had met the princess, but thought best not to mention it. Reisen opened the doors, flooding the hallway with light and politely ushered Maribel through.
As her eyes adjusted to the light Maribel could see inside was a large tatami-floored room filled with many tables, low to the ground with floor cushions set before them. Sitting at one of these tables was Eirin and Kaguya, who both looked up upon hearing the door open. The princess was dressed in a flowing purple kimono with wide sleeves, and her hair was pinned up with a pair of hair sticks. Her choice of clothing was more modest that Maribel had expected, but the princess' otherworldly beauty more than compensated for her plain attire.
"Oh! Maribel, over here." said Kaguya, waving the girl down by curling her fingers downward towards her palm. "You made it just in time. Here, come sit with us."
"Have the two of you met, your highness?" Eirin asked, her eyebrow arching suspiciously.
"Hm, in another life, perhaps…?" Kaguya replied without commitment, winking at Maribel, covering her mouth with her sleeve to laugh while her silver-haired companion let out a sigh. Maribel hesitated at first, but emboldened by Kaguya's openness she walked over to their table and sat down. "There's no need to sit like that, Maribel." The princess laughed, watching the girl try to assume the proper sitting posture with some difficulty. "We're all the same here, so make yourself comfortable - you too, Reisen! Don't be so stiff!"
"Yes, my princess." Reisen nodded and sat down beside Maribel. Soon after a door to the side opened and several rabbits with smaller ears than Reisen's came out, carrying platters with food and drink, which were arranged on the table. They then bowed with respect and left - all except for one, a waif-like rabbit girl with short, wavy black hair who began pouring sake into each of their cups.
"So, I have heard that you were brought here by Mokou Fuijiwara." Kaguya said, picking the lid off of on of the platters, letting the steam trapped beneath escape with a puff, revealing a bed of steamed meat and vegetables. "She's a, well, an acquaintance of mine. Tell me, how is she doing of late?"
"She saved my life and then brought be here." Maribel said, and smelling the aroma of the food wafting her way, her stomach audibly reminded her it hadn't had any sustenance in quite a while. She then realized that Mokou had referred to the princess in the same manner, using the word 'acquainted' with a tone of distaste. "Other than that, er, other than that she didn't really talk about herself that much."
"How very typical of her," Kaguya said, loading meat onto her plate. "Though I should say normally she doesn't talk to strangers at all. How odd. "
"Princess, don't forget your vegetables." Eirin said with a scolding tone.
"Why?" Kaguya muttered, looking down at them distastefully. "It's not like they'll make any difference."
"As head of this household, it is your solemn duty to eat everything on your plate,"
"Eirinnnn."
"And to conduct yourself with a manner of dignity in front of your guest,"
"It really does all look very good." Maribel said, laughing to herself. The scene before her was more reminiscent of a family sitting down for dinner than a princess and her vassals. Somehow it didn't feel right that Mokou was not seated with them, but her thoughts were cut short when the short, black-haired rabbit girl move over next to her to fill her sake cup.
"So what do you think of our princess, huh?" She whispered, grinning slyly, nudging Maribel with her tiny elbow. "Not what you were expecting, huh? Here ya go, drink up."
"Uh, she's kind and elegant," Maribel whispered back, taking a sip from her cup. The sake was stronger than she was used to; she could feel the warmth spread throughout her body and her head fill with clouds. "And, uh, she's really lovely."
"Oh yeah? Well she's taken," the short-eared rabbit said, causing Reisen's face to flush a deep shade of red as she tried to hide it behind her sake cup. "She's all mine, okay? So hands off."
"I-I-I wasn't thinking of-!"
"Here, you can have my some of vegetables, Maribel." Kaguya smiled, piling her unwanted food onto her guest's plate. "Oh, what's the matter Inaba? Did you drink too fast?"
"N-no, my princess. I'm fine, really."
"So, anyway, let's get down to business. You interested in purchasing to some one-hundred percent effective talismans to protect you on the road? You'll get the first-time buyer discount."
"Tewi, do you remember what the Yama warned you about trying to scam people?"
"That it's okay?"
"Um, is that your f-foot, princess? P-please, not at the dinner table,"
"Stop being so selfish, Inaba."
She wasn't entirely sure if it was the sake, or the lively dinner conversation, or maybe a little of both, despite everything that had happened Maribel couldn't help but smile. Apart from her times with Renko, she hadn't had this much fun ever since… well, ever. When her thoughts turned to Renko - where she might be and what she might be going through – she was brought back down to earth, soon enough. It must have shown on her face because Kaguya spoke to her.
"Is there something on your mind?" The princess asked, swirling her cup around until the rabbit girl named Tewi moved over to refill it. "You look a bit preoccupied."
"Oh. Sorry, I was just, just thinking about my friend." Maribel looked down, at the feast before her, feeling guilty. "Thinking about whether she's lost here in this world - whether or not she's safe."
"I'll send a few rabbits out to gather information tomorrow." Eirin was the one to speak up this time. "Also, if you're traveling the road to the Hakurei Shrine, your journey will take you past the largest human settlement in Gensokyo. Reisen is to make her delivery of medicine there, so I'll have her accompany you. If anyone word she will be the first to hear about it. Can you do this for us, Udonge?"
"Of course, Master." Reisen replied as she picked up a steamed carrot Kaguya had covertly placed onto the long-eared rabbit's plate.
"Thank you." Maribel said, and nodded, feeling the tears well up once more. "For everything you've done for me."
"Hey, hey, don't do that!" Tewi said in a mock-reprimanding tone. "The wine'll get salty."
"Tewi…!"
"No, she's right." Maribel said, quickly wiping her eyes and smiling. "I've had enough of being afraid." She had to be strong now. For Renko, wherever she was.
When dinner was over several rabbits came to clear up the dishes while Maribel put on a pair of slippers and joined the princess for a stroll through the moonlit garden. Seeing Kaguya there, as beautiful as a goddess bathed in the light of the moon, Maribel could understand how anyone who fall in love with her at first sight – man or woman. Somewhere in the back of her mind she would be perfectly content to stay there, perhaps even forever, if she were given the choice. But she knew she had a home to return to, and so long as there was a path, she had to take it.
When they returned, Reisen showed her to the guestroom with the futon that had prepared for her. A soft breeze was blowing through a cracked window and the sound of cicadas chirping outside was enough to lull her to a sleep.
And that was when the dreams came.