He had been wary of her powers before…not scared, because he was great and magnificent and powerful in his own right and there was absolutely no way a small human girl could frighten him. But to live as a kitsune, exploratory by nature, meant having a healthy respect for the dangers of underestimating others.
––she was untrained, to the extent that he had to worry about the sanity of the villagers who raised her and the friends she travelled with, but she was strong.
However, it now appeared that the priestess had taken his terms too far, and in attempting to obey their agreement she was preventing him from discerning the very characteristic he had set out to find.
Kuronue was still questioning the young woman, since he did not have the luxury of her story quite yet, and for the first time Youko could actually see the effect of genial conversation on her. As his friend listened intently to her answers and responded with kind words of his own, the tight clasp on her aura loosened, slightly, and the bright pink shade that tinged her life-force and her reiki spilled out.
Almost immediately it was pulled back in, causing the edges of her being to become dramatically darker as the density increased, and Youko was impressed beyond measure. Because if she could condense her powers so fully on mere suggestion…imagine what she could be when she had the awareness to control.
The solution was obvious.
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