Sesshomaru had taken Kagura to the village. Kaede had tended to her wounds. She was feeling much better, but was still bedridden.
Shippo had seen an unfamiliar woman in the village several times, but no one believed him. She wore a blue kimono and had a bun in her hair, and she hid all of her face aside from her eyes with a fan.
This woman now stood in front of Kaede's house. She stepped up to the door and knocked. Kaede came to the door immediately. She she opened the door to reveal the woman, she gasped.
"Kazana?" she stuttered, "Is that really you?"
"Yes, Lady Kaede, you really have grown. I am impressed that you remember me; you were but a child when we first met. May i come in?"
Kaede nodded in bewilderment. She led the woman who she'd called Kazana over to the middle of the room, and gestured to a mat on the ground. Kazan sat, followed quickly by Kaede, who still seemed awestruck. Suddenly her face turned solemn, and she looked Kazana in the eyes.
"So, ye have come to test them?" she asked. Kazana nodded.
"It is a requirement. Their loyalty, no matter how strong it may seem, must be tested. A group that powerful cannot go on together without being tested first. You know how it is. I tested your sister."
"But she failed," said Kaede bitterly, "because she had no need to be loyal. She worked alone. If you had tested her loyalty to the children, she would have passed easily."
"I know this, Little Kaede. But this test has rules that must be followed. I gave her the mark because i had to. I know that if i had tested the ones he had been loyal to, then she would have passed. But that destroyed the point. Instead, I tested her loyalty to her partners. Since she had none, she failed the test. This is the way of the test. And Kikyo agreed. She understood the rules and allowed me to give her the mark. She asked me to. She did not want to hurt anyone. And this is why she bore the mark. So please, Kaede, don't hold a grudge."
Kaede sighed, then nodded.
"I suppose that doesn't matter now, does it. It's in the past. I have faith in them. They will pass your test," said Kaede firmly.
"Thank you for being agreeable," Kazana said, standing up, "I will begin the procedures."