Chapter 3 – Hidden Variables

The stygian darkness of the forest engulfed her once again, ripping her away form the warm embrace of her bed and plunging her into a world of nightmares. She ran, knowing even as she did that the road would take her nowhere, and the towering bamboo rising up around her like sentinels, denying her any other path but forward. The childish giggling was always behind her, always just a step behind her, no matter how hard or how long she ran.

Renko – she had to find Renko. She knew that Renko was somewhere in the forest. If she could only find her again, everything would be okay. She knew somehow she would be safe.

"It's not any fun if you don't run!" Rumia laughed, tugging at Maribel's hair and ripping at her clothes. Maribel knew she was being toyed with, but she dared not to slow down or stop or even think to look back at the thing that stalked her.

Maribel glimpsed a campfire up ahead in the distance and ran towards it with all the strength in her legs, but the more she tried, the further it sank away until all was swallowed in a sphere of black and all the light and hope was sapped from the world. All that existed was her - her and that ravenous beast shaped like a little girl. Burning red eyes pierced through the pitch and a gleaming white grin flashed fangs before something as strong as a bull grabbed her by the arm and wrenched her off her feet, tearing the sleeve of her dress off. Maribel screamed and kicked and swung her free hand blindly, but none of her feeble blows connected.

Nothing she did even mattered.

"I love it when they fight back." Rumia's singsong voice cooed into her ear before caught her arm and Maribel felt something wet on the back of her neck and realized with horror it was her assailant's tongue. "Mmm, makes 'em taste spicy!"

"No!" Maribel cried out, helplessly as Rumia pushed her roughly into the cold hard ground and sat on top of her, licking her lips, flashing her fangs still red with fresh blood. There was no reason why she shouldn't have been able to push the small girl off of her, but her body refused to move.

And then the fangs sunk into the flesh.

Maribel cried out, bolted upright, awake, breathing heavily. Her sheets were soaked with her sweat and her hair was plastered to the side of her face. She looked around frantically, trying to get her bearings in the dark, unfamiliar room, her thoughts jumbled and confused.

"Calm down, you were jus' having a nightmare."

The voice was firm but gentle, and gave her something familiar to latch onto, like a rock in the middle of the stormy sea.

"Renko?"

"Guess again."

Maribel blinked several times, trying to make out the seated figure in the corner of her room holding a plate with leftovers of the night's meal, long white hair that cascaded over her shoulders and spilled onto the floor, red bow, baggy pants with talismans sewn in, tattered shirt and red suspenders. It all came back to her like an avalanche.

"Mokou."

"Sorry to disappoint."

"No, I'm - I just didn't expect to see you here. I thought you were going to sleep outside or something."

"So I lied." Mokou said, chewing a mouthful of some kind of meat. "Doc let me in after Her Royal Pain in The Ass got tucked into bed. The kitchen bunnies gave me some grub. Don't want Kaguya to think I – shit, it's none of your concern, actually." She sighed and set the plate down on the floor in front of her roughly. "So, you had a bad dream. You kept going on like someone was try'n to kill you."

Maribel closed her eyes. It had occurred to her that Rumia had been hunting her in her dreams long before she ever stepped foot in this world. That monster, shrouded in the guise of a small child, wreathed in a cloud of impenetrable darkness, terrified her more than she cared to say. "I'd like to try and forget it."

"Suit yourself." Mokou shrugged, shoveling more food into her mouth. "Trust me I'm good at keeping my nose out of other people's business - got plenty of practice."

"I didn't mean it like that." Maribel pulled her futon up around herself, like a protective barrier. "If you don't mind, would you please stay in here a while longer?"

"What? You're not afraid of me?"

"Why would I be?" the girl from the other world looked across the dark room, where she could now see Mokou more clearly, looking back at her with her incredulous red eyes. "I don't know why, but I feel safer with you around."

"You're a strange girl, you know that?"

"Yes, I guess… I guess I probably am." Maribel laughed to herself. "Funny, that, I still can't be sure if this isn't just another dream. Or maybe my life before was just a dream and now I've finally woken up."

Mokou stared at her for a while without saying a word, and then finally said. "Go back to sleep. You've got a long day tomorrow. You'll want to be well-rested in case we meet trouble on the road. And I've got this nagging feeling you're going to be one hell of a trouble-magnet."

"Well, sorry." Maribel grumbled, and lay back down only to scowl at the ceiling.

"Hah! Forget about it," Mokou chuckled to herself as she stretched her arms out. "Actually, I should be thanking you. I was getting a little bored before you showed up, and there's only so much amusement Her Royal Pain can offer."

"Er, you're welcome?" Maribel rolled over. "Anyways, aren't you going to go to sleep?"

"Eventually," The silver-haired girl said indifferently, putting her hands behind her head as she reclined backward onto the floor. "You don't have to worry about me."

Maribel sighed, getting the distinct impression that trying to learn anything new about Mokou would be an exercise in futility, at least for now at any rate. "Somehow I doubt I'm going to be getting anymore sleep tonight."

"If you say so,"

Maribel was asleep no less than five minutes later.

…

Patchouli Knowledge sat at a large desk, pouring over a musty old volume through a pair of brass-rimmed spectacles. Everything and anything could be found on the shelves of the Voile Library from priceless grimoires containing ancient magic long forgotten by anyone else, written in languages that no longer existed, to poorly written romance novels of no redeeming literary value. She narrowed her eyes at the print on the page before her; the pages were discolored and the lettering was faded. She had long ago placed a climate-controlling enchantment on her library to mitigate the deterioration of her antique collection, but little could be done about pre-existing damage. A simple restorative spell could return the book to the state it was when it was brand new, but there was no telling what side effects that might have - a grimoire with inherent magical properties could easily be rendered forever powerless with the wrong spell.

Book restoration was not on her agenda, however, tempting though the notion was. Remi had charged her with the task of researching a particular issue that had recently come to her attention. It was uncommon enough for Remi to take any particular interest in her academic pursuits that Patchouli had actually taken her up on the request. Not to mention she was still expected to continue her routine of tutoring Flandre, as well as inscribing an arsenal of spellcards for the defense of the mansion, what good that ever did. Even on one of her good days, this was quite the workload. She glanced briefly at the set of cards she had just finished last night, seeing that the ink had finally dried, and wondered whether this plan she had concocted was the wisest she had or merely the product of sleep-deprived madness.

Her train of thought was briefly interrupted by the sound of the door swinging open and Sakuya Izayoi, the silver-haired head maid, pushing a cart laden with a silver tea set and a plate of madeleines, into the library.

"Good morning, Sakuya," Patchouli said to the silver-haired maid as she stopped her cart beside the desk and proceeded to fill three cups with tea from the kettle.

"Madam Patchouli." Sakuya replied cordially, setting one of the cups on a saucer and placing it on the desk within Patchouli's reach, her movements fluid and elegant – the tea in the cup was undisturbed throughout the duration of its trip. Perhaps that was just Sakuya's time-manipulation abilities at work. "Darjeeling, as you requested."

"Thank you,"

"Lady Patchouli…" Sakuya began, hesitated, and then asked. "If I might inquire, are we to be expecting company today?"

Patchouli gave the head maid a reproachful look through her spectacles before turning her attention back down to her research. "I'm always expecting some rodent or another to appear unannounced. The Black-White one, for instance or even the Red-White one. The cats don't seem to even bother keeping them out anymore, so I might as well greet them with a measure of class."

For a fleeting moment the head maid's graceful demeanor was broken by a look of restrained disapproval. Her eyes shifted downward momentarily as she bit her lip unconsciously. Patchouli couldn't be sure if Sakuya was against Remilia's openness to guests or just the inevitably of cleaning up after them – whatever it was she made her true feelings on the matter opaque.

"I see." Sakuya replied, resuming her normal duties. "I have as well a message from my lady. She has requested your presence at midday to bring her up to date with your current findings."

"Tell her I'll see her when I see her." Patchouli said indifferently, much to Sakuya's annoyance. "You can find the answers to life's greatest mysteries hidden within these books, Sakuya, but you won't find them underlined with footnotes. Or tell her if she's really that interested, maybe she'll come down here. All that sunlight on the balcony can't be good for her. Now, if you're finished here I could use a bit of quiet for my studies. Oh, and leave the cart here, I'll have my familiar bring it back up in due time."

"As you wish," Sakuya gave a resigned sigh, bowing slightly before excusing herself. The many-colored magician breathed her own sigh of relief when she was gone.

"Merde. my dear fairies, it's safe for you to come out now." Patchouli said. "The evil head maid has left the building."

The pair of visitors from last night emerged from behind a bookcase, the more boisterous of the two rubbing the small of her back. "'loody hell! My sodding back! That is th' last time ah'm sleeping on some bookshelf!"

"You get used to it after a while." Patchouli said without looking up from her book. "The books don't complain much and with the right mindset and a good pillow it can be quite comfortable."

"Yer jok'n right?" The ice fairy who had called herself Cirno said, incredulous. "Anyway, what crawled up her arse and died?"

"Sakuya?" Patchouli took a moment to search for a suitable answer. "If you were in her shoes, I imagine you wouldn't be in a very good mood for most of your waking hours, either. She has to take care of all the cleaning in this vast mansion, cooking for an entire household of very picky eaters, and fending off all the intruders who get past our gatekeeper. Like yourselves, for instance."

"We see your point," the green pony-tailed one called Garnet said with a nervous laugh. Despite the fact that this green one was apparently a Great Fairy, Cirno did not seem to defer to her authority, putting Patchouli's current understanding of fairy social hierarchy into question. If time permitted, and if her chronic allergies didn't put her out of commission within minutes, she might be tempted to do bit of field research on the subject. "We appreciate you providing us with a place to stay for the night, though you really didn't have to go to the trouble."

"What are you talking about?" Patchouli's eyes lifted from the page. "How could I not provide my two new assistants with at the very least room and board? Now come, help yourself to some tea before it gets cold. Try the cookies as well, Sakuya made them, herself. Je vous en prie."

Cirno didn't need to be asked twice she was already wiping the crumbs off of her mouth and slurping down a cup of tea. Garnet, on the other hand, was more guarded than that. "Excuse me, Miss Patchouli… if I'm not mistaken, I believe you said 'assistants'?"

"That is correct," Patchouli set her teacup down and removed her spectacles to look at the green-haired fairy unobstructed. "There is a project of great importance with which I am in great need of assistance. I would do it myself if it were possible, but I can't pull myself away from this research, and I require my familiar to remain at my side."

"Actually now that our business here is done, we should probably be…"

"Ah, so you intend to take advantage of my hospitality after making use of my services and then flee when compensation is demanded of you." Patchouli said, narrowing her eyes. "Or are you going to give me the excuse that you are simply 'borrowing' my priceless information?"

"N-not in the slightest, er, Madam Patchouli," The light of comprehension, mixed with a look of resignation dawned in the greater fairy's eyes.

"There is someone I need you to bring here." Patchouli said, beginning her explanation. "I have yet to discern their location, but finding them and getting them to a safe place will be essential to the continued survival of Gensokyo. And when the time comes to retrieve them, I will have something to give to you. Hopefully you will have no need to use them, but one can never be too prepared for the unexpected."

She looked down again at the passage she was reading before.

The Great Hakurei Border requires at least one living member of the Hakurei and Yakumo Houses to maintain.

So long as there is one who carries the blood of the Hakurei and Yakumo the Border will remain.

…

Maribel had awoken early the following morning, finding herself alone in her room. Had Mokou's visit been just another dream? No, in the corner where she had been sitting there was still a plate with crumbs left on it, and the window leading out into the garden was slightly ajar. She sighed and got up, stretching her limbs, favoring the busied ones, just as a knock came at the door.

"Maribel? It's Reisen." The rabbit girl's voice came from the other side. "I was sent to see if you had awoken."

"Oh," Maribel caught her own reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall. Her hair was disheveled and one sleeve of her borrowed yukata was slipping off her shoulder. "I, uh, just got up, actually."

"In that case I have your clean clothes if you're ready to join us for breakfast."

After the dreams she'd had last night she probably had been tossing and turning, and her early morning disheveled look was not exactly how she wanted to present herself before the princess. She brushed down her hair as well as she could and opened the door to Reisen, who was carrying the clothes she had been wearing before; thoroughly cleaned and even mended in a few places where they had been torn during her frantic flight through the bamboo forest last night.

After getting herself dressed, assuring Reisen through a crack in the door that she wouldn't require any assistance, she followed the rabbit girl through the halls, now a little more familiar to her but still impossible to navigate without a guide, until they reached what looked like the same room where they had dinner. Kaguya was waiting there, and to Maribel's shock the princess' hair was even more mussed up than her own. Wrapped in a thick blanket like a cocoon, the princess lifted her hand feebly toward the door, and spoke as though she were fevered and delirious.

"Eirin… the light, it burns."

After breakfast was sorted, Eirin began stuffing various packages into a leather rucksack strapped to Reisen's back, along with whatever rations she felt they would need to last them through the trip. From what Maribel understood they would be passing through the largest human settlement in Gensokyo on their way to the Hakurei Shrine, where Reisen would peddle medicine, and they would also have a chance to gather information. If Maribel's friend had been seen, Eirin explained, news of it would undoubtedly have come to the village.

With that in mind, Maribel followed Eirin and Reisen toward the front of the mansion and out the front door, feeling as though the events of that morning were moving very much like a blur to her. Mokou was waiting for them outside, leaning against a wall with her hands stuck in her pockets and the bent end of a hand-rolled cigarette in her mouth. When she saw the group coming out she put it out with her thumb and index finger and tossed it on the ground, evoking a look of disdain from Reisen, who would undoubtedly have to pick it up later.

"Aw, so the princess didn't come out to see us off," Mokou said, starting forward. She put a hand on both Maribel and Reisen's backs and grinned. "What a shame. Well now, shall we get going? Youkai aren't really that active, 'specially in the early morning, but that doesn't mean we got time to just stand around dilly-dallying." She glanced at Eirin who was starting to look hesitant about this arrangement. "Oh, don't worry doc, I'll do my best to bring your precious bunny back in one piece."

And then, with a little encouragement from the back by Mokou, Maribel took the very first step of her journey. What waited for her at the end of that journey, and how long it would go on, neither of these questions she could hope to answer now, but still, as Mokou said, nothing would come of standing around doing nothing. If Renko was in Gensokyo, she would find her without fail and together they would find a way back to their own world.

The bamboo forest seemed a lot less threatening to her in the daylight. As she looked around, she might even go so far as to say it seemed almost inviting. It was a far cry from last night, when it felt as though the entire forest was some hairy beast was dead-set on swallowing her whole. Perhaps it was no different than before, but it seemed less dark because she was no longer afraid and alone. Taking point, Reisen led them through the winding paths of the forest much like she had done at the mansion, occasionally stopping to take a beaten old compass from a side pocket of her rucksack to check their bearings, and then, nodding to herself, strode forward with renewed confidence. Mokou took the rearguard, sometimes walking with her hands in her pockets and an indifferent look about her, or rolling a cigarette and lighting it with a snap of her fingers; a trick that surprised Maribel even after the third time.

"Stick to the path," Mokou said when Maribel glanced to the side with a curious look. "They don't call this the Bamboo Forest of the Lost for nothing, y'know. It lures you in, snatches you up, and eats you up." She flashed an evil grin at the blonde girl, whose face had turned rather pale.

"I… I just thought I saw something over there." Maribel explained, involuntarily pulling herself away from the leering Mokou.

"Right, and you were thinking of going over there to see what it was?"

"I really wasn't…" Maribel muttered, but somehow she was having a difficult time convincing herself. She'd seen something off in the forest. Glowing, like a firefly, and there was something undeniably magnetic about it. If Mokou hadn't caught her there was a good chance she would have wandered off, hypnotized. "Must have been a Will 'o the Wisp," she muttered to herself, shaking her head.

"What was that?" Mokou asked, not really interested.

"Uh… it's kind of fairy from where I was born." Maribel explained. "I guess you'd know it as a Hitodama. It's a kind of light that lures people off the path. There are lots of scientific explanations for it like swamp gas, but I guess that doesn't really matter over here."

"No swamp gas here," Reisen said. "But Mokou is right, it isn't safe to go wandering off, even in daylight, and the next time you see anything out of the ordinary, let one of us know, okay?" And then she stopped, spotting something on the ground beside of the path, where a small patch of grass was growing and knelt over it. "Oh, good, there's one here. Maribel, come over here, I found something nice."

"What is it?" Maribel asked, kneeling beside the rabbit girl who was plucking something off the ground.

"Good-luck charm," Reisen said holding it up for her. "Of a sort."

"A four-leaf clover?" Maribel said skeptically. Renko had once explained to her that four-leaf clovers were simply the result of a genetic mutation, an error in the plant's blueprint, or something like that. But that had been a long time ago. "Does something like this really work here?"

"Maybe," Reisen said, leaned in close suddenly and deftly stuck it into Maribel's hair, much to her surprise, then stepped back and smiled at her handiwork. "I honestly didn't expect to find one here. A protective amulet from the Hakurei Shrine would probably be a lot more effective than something like this, but beggars can't be choosers, right?"

And besides that, I already have a pair of escorts, so this is really just for my peace of mind, or something? Maribel thought to herself, touching her hair to see that the clover was still there.

"Well, so long as you don't go off chasing every pretty light you see, we won't have to test it," Mokou said indifferently and began walking again, leaving the other two with little choice but to follow her.

"So, you're really from the moon, then." Maribel said in an attempt to cut through the silence that had fallen over the three of them like a black cloud. Reisen, who had taken the lead again, glanced back at her, perking her ears up.

"Master Eirin, the princess and I are, yes." Reisen said, adjusting the straps of her rucksack. "The other rabbits that populate Eientei are youkai rabbits native to this world."

"So there really is a city on the far side of the moon." Maribel mused. "We've been to the moon many times, heck if you have enough money you can go on a moon tour."

"It's protected by a barrier, so outsiders cannot see it." Reisen explained. "To a visitor from the Earth, the landscape around the Capital would look as barren and inhospitable as the rest. The principle seems similar to the Great Hakurei Border, different design, similar concept."

"Is it okay for you to be telling me this?" Maribel asked.

Reisen thought over that for a moment and laughed. "Few have even tried to invade the Capital, Maribel. None have ever succeeded. I think it's safe to tell you that much."

…

She had lived in the darkness for so long that the light of the sun was almost too much for her to bear. She floated, curled up in her little cloud of darkness like a baby bird hiding in its shell, waiting, nursing its wounds. The red and white one had cheated her, she had interfered with her hunt and had robbed her of her prize and it still stung. First it was the red and white one with the stick, the one they called the Hakurei Maiden, the one who had made them follow these rules, and now it was the red and white one with the fire.

"It's not fair." Rumia muttered, hugging her knees.

Darkness was everywhere. Darkness was absolute. Humans were meant to fear the darkness and seek the light, but now they carried light in mockery of the darkness. Every year she could see that the world was changing around her - changing in ways that did not make sense to her. Every year, every month, every day, it didn't matter – time lacked meaning to her in a world that lacked a sun and night was the only existence – she was the Night Bird.

It wasn't right.

This wasn't the way it was supposed to be.

She did not understand it.

"You are lost, little nightingale, lost and alone." Rumia was almost not aware of the other presence until it was right upon her. Someone had entered her sphere of darkness. They had crossed the line of demarcation and stepped foot into the unknown. It was a woman's voice, sweet like honey. "But that's okay, little nightingale, because so is everyone else in this world. Just wandering through this endless abyss, lost and aimless, all alone. Tell me, what is it that you wish?"

Rumia looked up, puzzled. "What I wish?"

"Yes, what do you want from this world?" The woman's voice intoned. "What do you seek for your own future?"

Rumia was confused, she cocked her head to the side. "I dunno, something good to eat? Lady, are you something good to eat?"

"Not exactly, but that wasn't quite what I meant." The woman said. It sounded like she was a little closer now. "You are thinking short term goals, living in the moment for for your own self gratification. Food is but one of the four basic needs of life. To limit your life to the pursuit of only one of the most basic necessities is constraining your infinite potential."

"Lady, you make my head hurt." Rumia said, raking her fingers through her golden hair. This strange woman was using a lot of strange words, and her stomach was grumbling. She hadn't eaten anything since her dinner had escaped her.

"Let me just say one more thing." The woman appeared before Rumia. She was dressed in a dark black kimono with a red sash, her jet black hair tied back and a black Hannya mask strapped over her face. The gold and red unblinking eyes drew Rumia into them, the fanged mouth open into an eternal laugh of madness. "What if I were to tell you that was something more to your existence than mere subsistence? What if I told you that I needed someone like you, someone with your gifts? I think it time that we took back the night, little bird. It is high time that humans feared the dark once again."

"Who are you?" Rumia asked in a hollow voice, unable to turn her eyes away from the woman.

"I'm a friend." The woman said. "You can call me… Mika."