Xander Quest

by Throwaway1971

All credit goes to the OG author Judge Mental on SB

297. The End (of the Eighth Year) Has Come! 5

You feel the need to make up for disappointing Zelda by denying her desire to meet the green entity dwelling in the Astral Plane. As such, when she asks you to read her mind, not only can you not find it in you to refuse the request, you decide to go above and beyond.

Raising both hands to the side of your head, you close your eyes and begin to hum a wordless meditative chant you picked up from the Hyrulean holy books. Then you reach out with the power of your mind.

At this range, you have no trouble picking out the presences of your family, the Shuzens, or your two summoned guests. In fact-

*Children,* Grey Voice's powerful mind exclaims with a sigh. *No matter the species, they're all the same.*

-one of the latter would be impossible to miss, even though he is politely shielding himself so that his thoughts don't end up inside normal people's heads.

For a given value of "normal," anyway.

Shutting out all the other mental presence, you focus on the familiar feel of Zelda's thoughts.

Slowly, dramatically, and entirely unnecessarily, you intone, "I... am... looking... into the mists... and I... see..."

Green.

Ah.

Opening one eye, you shoot your sister a dry look. "You're still thinking about that green thing we passed in the teleport, huh?"

Her answering nod is firm enough to make her hair bounce. "Yup!"

And if that's not an unsubtle hint, you aren't a big brother.

You already put your foot down on the subject of actually going to the Astral Plane to meet the thing, and also let Zelda know that the Postman can't reach whatever-it-is, wherever it is. But in the face of Zelda's determination, you find yourself considering one other option that might potentially work.

Namely, the Spell to Contact Other Planes.

Of course, casting this would go against warnings you've received not to open up your head to eldritch beings from beyond the confines of normal space-time, warnings that you have to apply twice over when your little sister is involved.

Still, the green entity has never done you or your fellow teleportees intentional harm, and you DO have Spells of Abjuration and Enchantment capable of preventing the particular brand of teleportation-psychosis its presence can cause. Those would undoubtedly help to buffer your mind...

You follow up that frank admission by saying, "Which is one reason why I called for help dealing with it."

Your parents both seem pleased by this response.

The Shuzens are less impressed - Akua and Kokoa, in particular, are visibly put out by this admission of your reluctance to fight - but the adults, who seem to have realized that there's more to the story than you're comfortable admitting in front of your parents, keep the girls from saying anything about it.

You're grateful for that.

Given the time it's taken Jermafencer to make his past runs, you figure you've got enough time to see your current collection of guests to their rooms in person. Especially if he goes to pick up the Hayashi Clan next; their numbers and general, uh, energy, will likely make the process of boarding the Death Coach something of an adventure in and of itself.

Espcially since there's enough of them that Jermafencer will need to make a second trip to get them all.

Just in case, you ask Briar to stay here and greet anyone who shows up in your absence.

She salutes. "Yes, sir!"

That attended to, you turn to guests, and half-bow. "If you'd like, I'll see you to your rooms."

"That will be fine, Alexander," Issa says.

"May I take your luggage?"

"What, all of it?" Kokoa asks.

Zelda giggles, getting a puzzled look from the somewhat older vampire.

Seeing no objection from the Shuzen adults, you issue a silent command to your Unseen Servants, which quickly pick up the luggage that's been sitting patiently on the sand.

"Yes," you say.

"Oh, sure," Kokoa grumbles. "If you're going to use MAGIC..."

You'll ignore that. "This way, please."

You aren't terribly surprised when your family decide to tag along for the short trip. Your mother is discussing something with Gyokuro, while your father is asking Issa how things have been on his side of the Pacific since Halloween. Akasha has engaged Bando in light, friendly chatter, and seems to be trying to draw Grey Voice in. Kahlua has resumed her talk with Zelda, who is once again listening to the older girl with stars in her eyes; trailing along some distance behind them, Kokoa watches with an amazement born not out of wonder at the story of life in Castle Shuzen, but of the fact that her sister hasn't administered the Hug of Doom yet. Moka and Akua round out the group, and you can feel both sisters glancing your way - although where Akua is once again studying you, Moka's gaze appears directed more towards Moblin, who is faithfully trotting along at your side.

---

You already made this decision, and if you won't stick to your guns where extra-dimensional entities of unknown power and purpose are concerned, where will you?

"We still can't talk to it, Zelda," you say firmly.

Your sister droops in disappointment. "Aww..."

Mindful that you are up against a deadline of sorts in Jermafencer's impending return, you opt to leave conversation with your guests for a later time, and focus on getting them settled in their quarters as quickly as possible, without giving offense.

The Mansion where your various mostly-Hyrulean tutors are staying is the nearest of the ones you need to stop at, and so Grey Voice and Bando are the first to leave the group. The glimpse of the interior of the Magnificent Mansion that this affords the Shuzens prompts some admiring murmurs from girls and Akasha, considering looks from Issa and Gyokuro, and one disbelieving stare from Akua.

Grey Voice sweeps inside with barely a moment's pause, but Bando starts at the sight of the conjured servants, and leans down to whisper to you, "They're not REALLY Gerudo, right?"

"No, they're just magical constructs that happen to LOOK like Gerudo."

"Ah. I was fairly certain it was something like that. I can't see how you'd ever get even ONE Gerudo to dress up like a maid or a butler, much less a small encampment's worth of them."

Bando being as big as he is, his "whisper" carries well enough that even your parents are looking at you curiously. The Shuzens, meanwhile, would have heard every word even if they HAD been spoken in a human-scale hushed tone.

Everybody is polite enough to leave the obvious questions unasked for now, but you can all but see those same questions being added to their mental lists of Things To Talk To Alex About.

Well, you were expecting SOME issues from your choice in Seen Servants. No point in complaining about it now.

Getting the Shuzens settled in their quarters takes a bit longer, on account of their greater numbers and their convoy of luggage: Grey Voice brought no bags with him; and while Bando carried only a single Dodongo-hide satchel, it was so large that your Unseen Servants couldn't carry it even when you directed them to work together. You had to resort to Ki Enhancement to pick it up yourself, and the volume of the thing still made it extremely awkward.

What the heck did Bando BRING with him, anyway?

Gained Strength B (Plus)

Another small delay arises with showing the Shuzens to their rooms, for while they all visibly appreciate the familiar "homey" gothic castle decor of this Mansion - even though Akua gives you another surprised glance - there is the little matter of sorting out rooms to take care of. The girls in particular spend several minutes going in and out of the rooms in the "east wing" of the Mansion, arguing over which is nicer, which has more room, and other details.

The four of them aren't accustomed to being sisters yet, at least in the matter of sharing living space, and it really shows here. Akua and Kahlua both reflexively try to investigate the same room first, and end up shooting brief glares at one another: Kahlua is clearly not used to NOT being the oldest sister and getting first dibs because of it; and Akua is just as obviously still coming to terms with the idea of having sisters at ALL.

Moka would probably be dealing better if not for the way Akua keeps asking her opinion about the various rooms. It's not like Kahlua ever IGNORED her half-sister in the time you've known them, but it was clear from your first visit to Castle Shuzen that the three sisters had long since worked out their own schedules and personal territories within the family home. Adding Akua to the equation is forcing them to sort everything out all over again, and the way she seems to have latched on to Moka as a friend is obviously something the previously middle-sister has yet to get accustomed to.

Somewhat ironically, Kokoa appears to be adapting to the new family dynamic the fastest, probably because she IS the youngest, and her position in the family hasn't really changed.

After five or six minutes of polite discussion and a couple more challenging glares, the girls have picked out which rooms they'd like, and you direct the servants that have been standing by with their luggage accordingly. Then you excuse yourself to see to your remainin guests.

You already sent the train of Unseen Servants back to Briar when they handed the luggage off to the Mansion servants, and this turns out to have been a good thing, as Jermafencer's carriage is once again driving off over the sea, leaving behind another batch of recent passengers.

You were concerned that this trip would have seen some of the Hayashi Clan ending up on Bali Ha'i, with only Briar to answer their questions and - hopefully - rein in their curiosity. Luck is with you, however, because the Knight of the Shadowed Mire went to Karakura instead.

The Arisawas and Kurosakis are standing in a loose circle, all looking inward and down at a lump in the sand - all except for Akkiko, who is shaking as she sniggers into her sleeve. You can make out the glow of Briar's presence within the crowd.

You sigh. "Alright, what happened this time?"

"Hey, Alex!" Tatsuki replies, raising one hand as she turns to greet you with a sharp-toothed grin. In doing so, she reveals that Ichigo, the twins, and Masaki are still on their feet. By process of elimination, then...

"Your death knight's carriage made Goat-chin faint!"

Akkiko finally loses it, and throws back her head in laughter.

...huh.

What's your reaction to THIS development?

---

You're the host of this not-so-little social event, and one of your guests has evidently passed out cold as a result of the travel arrangements you made to bring people to Bali Ha'i. That makes it your responsibility twice over to figure out what the heck happened.

So you hurry forward, pushing through the small crowd with muttered apologies, and try to ignore Akkiko's wild cackling.

As expected, the lump in the sand that everyone was gathered around is Isshin, and from the look of things - specifically, the grains of sand still clinging to his eyebrows and unshaven chin - he pulled off a perfect face-plant upon arrival, possibly while getting out of the Death Coach. He's been turned over on his back and given a dusting-off since then, and Briar is currently hovering just over Isshin's head, wand aimed at his head and glowing with the energy of an active spell.

Settling on your knees next to the patient, you ask, "How is he, Briar?"

"Out like a light," she replies promptly. "Aside from that, he's fine. Physically, anyway."

"And non-physically?"

"Well, I can't be sure about his mind until he wakes up-"

Akkiko snickers something that sounds like, "Not even then."

Nobody calls her on it.

"-but with the way his soul is shaking right now, I think he must have suffered some kind of spiritual shock. I have no idea why, though, unless that weird binding he's under reacted badly to Jermafencer's method of travel."

You consider that, and fire up your Spiritual Sight in active mode to take a look at what Briar's talking about.

Huh.

Well, THAT's new.

Normally, a living being viewed through Spiritual Sight is surrounded by an aura that surrounds the entire body like a second skin - the excess energy cast off by their soul, just as a consequence of existing. The color, surface texture, thickness, and other fine details of the aura differ from person to person and situation to situation, but that much has always been true.

Isshin's aura is vibrating. And not just the aura, but the soul itself; it's only in tiny spots and for the briefest of instants, but you still catch glimpses of a brighter, more coherent spiritual mass shaking out of and then back into Isshin's body.

There doesn't seem to be any pattern to where Isshin's soul is shaking, but you do notice one thing: in some areas, when the glow of the true soul appears, it's muted and shadowed, as if something lay over it.

Or in this case, was wrapped around it.

Looks like you found ANOTHER way to spot those bindings, besides just looking at them funny.

"Ichigo's under the same kind of binding, though." You look up at the other boy, giving him a once-over with your Spiritual Sight in the process, and finding a dazzling gyser of spiritual power.

Business as usual there, then.

"Did you feel anything weird about the trip?" you ask, turning your Spiritual Sight off so you don't inadvertently blind yourself.

"You mean, aside from riding through some grey wasteland that was probably part of the afterlife, aboard a haunted coach driven by a European knight whose head comes off?" he replies dryly.

In the same tone, you answer, "Yes, aside from that."

"Then no, not really."

Hm. You glance around at the rest of the group. "Did anyone else feel anything strange? Besides what Ichigo just ruled out?" you add, before Akkiko can say anything.

"It was... kind of shivery," Tatsuki says with a thoughtful look. "I mean, yeah, ghosts, headless horseman, spooky. But right when we went from Karakura to... wherever the heck that was... and then when we came from there to the island, I got a feeling like full-body goosebumps."

"Us, too!" the dark-haired twin, Karin, says for her and her sister.

Masaki and Akkiko also confirm experiencing the sensation, but Akkiko adds, "That's pretty normal for crossing the borders of the Spiritual Planes, though."

"You've done it before?" you inquire curiously.

"Not aboard a fancy carriage, but yeah, I've been across the boundaries a few times." She shrugs. "It's a bit of an occupational hazard, once you get past a certain level."

Considering the spiritual potency of Karakura and the local issue with malevolent ghosts, you can see why. Even so...

"Still doesn't explain why Isshin blacked out, though," Akkiko says, finishing your thought for you.

"He DID kind of freak out when the death knight and his coach showed up," Tatsuki points out.

"Daddy called him a dura- a dyura- a dulala-" Karin scowls at the word's refusal to let her speak it properly, and then tries a different tack. "He knew what the knight was, and they got into an argument, before Mommy grabbed him by the ear and made him behave."

Oh? You turn to Misaki, letting your interest show.

"Did the knight do something to Daddy?" Yuzu ventures softly.

While laying a curse on a disrespectful human wouldn't be out of character for the Fae or one of their descendants, you aren't picking up any traces of magical or Faerie energy from Isshin. You spare a moment for a more thorough search, and aside from the traces of Briar's Divination Magic and the glimpses you catch of the bindings, nothing turns up that shouldn't be there.

So, no. Jermafencer didn't do this - at least not INTENTIONALLY. You say as much to the brunette twin.

She smiles. "Oh, good. He looked kind of scary at first, but he was nice."

Karin stares at her sister, her expression all but shouting, "Nice?!"

"Well, he was..."

As far as you and Briar can tell, Isshin will recover from this. Of course, this doesn't answer the question of why he fainted to begin with.

---

The most productive thing you could do in this situation is to cast a Spell of Divination and Necromancy to observe Isshin's soul more closely, as that would give you a better idea of what happened to him, and why, and how you should deal with it.

However, you've poked into the Kurosaki and Arisawa family secrets in the past, and have learned from that experience that people don't appreciate having their private matters casually unearthed by outsiders.

This time, you're going to ask permission BEFORE you examine someone's soul.

Hurray for progress!

Looking up at Akkiko and Masaki, you ask them if they have any idea what's going on here.

The two of them trade glances.

"Yes and no," Masaki answers, with just a slight air of evasiveness.

"That's helpful," Briar mutters.

"What she means," Akkiko says, "is, 'yes, we have an idea why Isshin would be having a weird spiritual reaction when nobody else has-'" She pauses abruptly, and then adds, "HAS anybody else had this kind of reaction to riding in that carriage?"

You shake your head. "A couple of my friends who can use magic were wigged out by what they sensed, and one of them actually DID fall on his face after getting out of Jermafencer's carriage, but he was conscious the whole time."

"...huh. Honestly wasn't expecting to hear that..." The priestess trails off for a moment, before shaking her head. "Right, so, like I said: yes, we have an idea why Isshin is having a weird spiritual reaction; but no, we're not sure why he's having this PARTICULAR reaction."

Still not entirely helpful, but at least it clarifies where the women stand.

"So," you say, looking more at Masaki, "would you have any objection to my taking a more detailed, in-depth look at Isshin's soul, to try and figure this out?"

You're half-expecting Masaki to turn down the offer as soon as it's made, so it's kind of startling that she instead gives it a minute of serious consideration.

And when that's passed, she doesn't say yay or nay, just, "You're sure he'll be alright?"

That much, at least, you are certain of. Despite how active it is at the moment, there's no indication that what's going on is really straining Isshin's soul to any meaningful extent, much less harming it. And - you take another quick spiritually-suffused glance - the shaking is starting to die down. Another five minutes, ten at the outside, and Isshin's soul should be back to normal, at which point you expect he'll wake up on his own.

You inform the Kurosaki matriarch of this, and that appears to tip her decision.

"Then we'll wait for him to wake up and see what he has to say about this," Masaki says. Giving her unconscious husband a firm look, she adds, "It had better be REALLY good."

Even out like a rock, Isshin seems to twitch.

With the lady of the family having spoken, you set aside your plans to examine Isshin's soul for later, and work out how to move Isshin to his room to recover. You end up conjuring a modified Floating Disk to haul Isshin to the Mansion - although instead of the traditional three-foot-wide silver disk, it's more like a medical stretcher - and with some assistance from Akkiko and Masaki, move the man onto the hovering platform, making sure his head and neck are properly supported the whole time.

He has the indecency to start snoring.

Even after you've folded Isshin's arms across his chest to give him at least a hint of dignity in this, his legs are still hanging over the edge of the not-a-Disk, leaving a twin trail in the sand when you will the hovering mass to move.

That done, you...

---

...hand control of the Disc over to Briar, and stay here to greet the Hayashi Clan.

It's only been a few minutes since you considered the risks of leaving a clan of kitsune under the supervision of a fairy, on a mystical island that really likes to be helpful to its guests. Your concerns about what such a collection of pranksters might get up to has not abated in the slightest in that brief time.

As such, you mentally hand control of the Floating not-a-Disc over to Briar, order the baggage train of Unseen Servants to follow her, and then let the Arisawa-Kurosaki group know that she'll show them to their rooms.

"Not going to be the proper host and see us settled in person?" Akkiko asks with mock hurt.

You give her a dry look. "I have a clan of kitsune arriving next. I'd like to make sure they don't start a prank war - at least not before the party even gets going."

"Emiko's family?" Tatsuki guesses.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Ichigo twitch.

"Yes. Including her parents, all her siblings-"

Ichigo flinches.

Emiko's sisters must have had more of an impact on him than you'd realized.

"-her aunt, the seven-tailed elder you met last time, and an eight-tailed elder who acts like a crazy old uncle." You get some startled looks from that, and shrug. "Emiko's father slipped me a warning that Elder Mitsuki and Uncle were probably going to show up on their own if I didn't officially invite them. They were both a big help in dealing with Lady Takara, so I didn't see a problem inviting them."

"Good call," Akkiko agrees. "Not that they won't try to pull a few things anyway, but since they're OFFICIAL guests, they'll keep the explosions down to a dull roar."

"Who's Lady Takara?" one of the twins wonders.

You pause, think back, and then realize that no, you never DID tell either of these families about your involvement with the nine-tailed fox. But then, why-

"Another kitsune that Alex met a while ago," Masaki replies, causing you to blink. She pauses, and asks you, "Will she be attending your party, Alex?"

As it happens, you're still not entirely sure. You sent an invitation, and Takara did respond, but only to say that she hadn't committed one way or another.

Kind of rude, but then again, she's a fox, and one who's spent most of the last half-century in hiding and thoroughly crazy. She must be terribly out of practice with the finer points of etiquette, modern or otherwise.

You expect that if you'd been able to get Mai to attend, Takara would have showed up for certain. As it is, you sent her a follow-up note to be at the Hakuba Shrine in time to catch the Death Coach if she decided she wanted to come.

Still coming to terms with the fact that she even KNOWS about this, you convey the details to Masaki, who frowns slightly, but doesn't say anything - probably because of the presence of the twins. At least THEY'RE safely ignorant of how and why you met Lady Takara.

From the way Akkiko and Tatsuki glance at the Kurosaki girls, they're acting as a deterrent on more than one level. As for Ichigo, he's been wearing this look of dead-eyed resignation since you mentioned that Emiko's whole family were showing up, and you have to wonder if he even registered the mention of Takara's name.

As nobody is saying anything, Briar takes the opportunity to catch the twins' attention and start leading the way to the Mansion where they'll be staying. This naturally has their mother following after them, ushering her shell-shocked firstborn along with her, and Tatsuki trailing behind.

Akkiko waits until they're out of earshot before saying, "You seriously invited her?"

You nod, and ask how everybody found out.

Akkiko begins to count fingers. "Mitsuki's a chatty drunk; I told Masaki; SHE brought it up when Isshin was being a big baby about coming to this party; Ichigo overheard it then; and he told Tatsuki."

...sigh.

"And getting back on point: why did you invite the scarily-powerful, recently insane fox to your birthday?"

You consider that.

---

After a moment of self-reflection, you nod, having put your thoughts on this matter into order.

To Akkiko, you say, "Lady Takara needs to properly socialize if she's going to stay not-crazy. The problem with that is, she's been in hiding so long, I'm not sure how many people there are still alive who know the real her, as opposed to her adopted identity - or one of her identities."

"That would make things... tricky," Akkiko admits. "But just because you know that she's really a kitsune, that doesn't make it your responsibility to look after her."

"Maybe it doesn't, but speaking as one of the people who was involved in dragging Lady Takara back to sanity, I would really rather not have to go through that again. Even if I did sit most of the incident out in her backyard."

Akkiko quirks an eyebrow at that last bit.

Evidently, Elder Mitsuki's alcohol-fueled account of the event didn't cover everything.

"I think everybody else who was there would say the same thing," you go on, "so I don't mind taking this extra step to try and prevent it. And I'm not just trusting to luck and Lady Takara's good will for this, either."

"...how so?"

"I invited her foster-daughter, too."

"Ah," Akkiko says, nodding sagely. "Emotional blackmail. Gotcha."

You wouldn't call it THAT, and you certainly didn't present your reasons in such mercenary terms when you wrote that invitation to Lady Akemi, or when you informed Lady Takara that her daughter's spirit had agreed to attend the party.

Clearing your throat, you try to change the subject.

"Besides, it's not like I haven't invited worse people to this thing."

"Ambrose?" Akkiko guesses instantly.
Heh.
"Ambrose," you agree.
I could almost feel sorry for that old man.
What more needs to be said?
If only he didn't bring it all on himself, you mean.
Akkiko promptly answers that question.
I did say "almost."
"Speaking of the wizardly wonder," she say, while glancing around, "is he already here, or...?"

"We're going to be waiting on him and the Drakes for a little while yet. It's about two in the morning in their part of the world right now; Jermafencer isn't going to go pick them up for another three, three-and-a-half hours."

"...awfully early to make someone get up to catch a cab," Akkiko says after a moment.

"Yeah, I mentioned that myself, but Jermafencer insisted. I think he's trying to make a good impression on the local Fae, by turning up just in time to disappear with the dawn."

You know enough about the Fae by this point to recognize that they have a thing for the border-zones of the natural world. Twilight is one of those natural boundaries, existing as it does between the night and the day, a time that is part of both and yet isn't wholly one or the other - much like shores are both land and water and neither, or how a forest is rooted in the earth and yet reaches into the sky (and can be dark even on a sunny day).

Or, in the case of a human threshold, a divide between Nature and the unnatural, between that which lives, grows, dies, decays, and is reborn, and that which is built to endure, constantly being worked on in defiance of the natural cycle.

Odds are the dark knight is going to make a less-than-good impression on the Drakes in the process of showing off to his distant relatives, but every summoned creature has its quirks, and if you don't indulge them in the small things, it can lead to much bigger issues.

Also, you DID explain the problem in your letters to Altria, and she confirmed that her family would be up in time to catch their ride, attaching no blame to you for the peculiarities of your hired help.

Well, almost no blame.

It would seem that Lucia and Anna both REALLY enjoy their beauty sleep, and are apt to be... grouchy... if woken early, even by the other members of the family.

On the positive side, Arthur was positive that they'd both forgive you after they'd caught up on their sleep and had a day to lounge in the sun.

You had other things planned for the party, but to be fair, having the option to just take it easy on the beach for an hour or two IS one of the appeals of this kind of setting.

And you know better than to try and tell Lucia Drake what to do.

Regardless, this appears to have reassured Akkiko, and she leaves you to playing host, hurrying to catch up with her daughter and the Kurosaki family before she's missed.

You stand there on the beach for a minute, alone, just enjoying the peace of the waves hitting the shore.

And then the moment ends, as you catch the rumble of unseen hooves and great wooden wheels, right before the Death Coach reappears in a flash of eldritch green.

That was quicker than you were expecting, based on previous trips, so when the carriage door swings open to reveal Kagome instead of Emiko, you aren't completely taken aback.

"Hi, Alex!" the girl waves, long hair and plain blue sundress billowing about as she hops down from the coach without a hint of the unease some of your previous supernaturally-aware guests have shown. "Thanks for inviting us to the party - and for this amazing ride!"

"Yeah!" Souta calls from inside the coach.

Well, they're certainly taking this well. Souta's even gotten over his usual wary distrust of you, which is something you honestly weren't expecting.

"Amazing?!" Kagome's grandfather wails, just out of sight behind his daughter-in-law. "Try terrifying! We just rode through a part of the afterlife! You're only supposed to do that ONCE, and you're not supposed to come back from it!"

"That's why it's amazing, right, Sis?"

"That and the horses," Kagome agrees with her little brother.

Speaking of which, she moves over to one of the lead members of Jermafencer's team of black stallions, and reaches up as far as she can. The horse's head is MUCH too high for a girl Kagome's size to reach, but the beast evidently recognizes her intent, because it leans down far enough for her to stroke it along the muzzle.

"That was a very fun ride, Mr. Horse," she tells it warmly. "You and your friends should all be very proud."

The horse produces a deep yet happy-sounding noise that, from a lesser creature, would be a whinny. You SWEAR you see the other members of the team shooting it envious looks.

When did Kagome turn into a horse-whisperer, again?

"Fun?!" her grandfather demands, as he clambers down from-

!

-you do a double-take at the sight before you.

Every time you've visited the Higurashi Shrine, the old priest has been wearing the traditional garments of his calling. Even during the winter months, he merely threw a coat, hat, a scarf, and some gloves on over top of the old white robe and dark leggings.

Now, by some miracle, his family have managed to get him out of that outfit and into something appropriate for a trip to the beach: a yellow t-shirt; plain khaki shorts; and a different style of sandals than the geta he's usually stomping around the shrine grounds in.

It's nowhere near as bad as what you've seen some people wear - Ambrose's ridiculous choice in disguises comes to mind - but it still takes your brain a minute to get over the shock.

"What was fun about that?! It was deafeningly loud, it jangled these poor old bones, we PASSED THROUGH THE AFTERLIFE-"
Was he always this excitable?
"And you can just ignore my grandfather," Kagome adds calmly. "We all do, when he gets like this."
Oooh, burned by the granddaughter.
The horse distinctly snickers.

The old man begins to sputter.

---

Although you are curious about the remarkable ease with which Kagome is interacting with Jermafencer's horses - which aren't ordinary equines any more than Khamsin is - and how it might impact the value of the Amulet of Animal Speech you were planning on presenting to her tomorrow, you set the matter aside.

It's not exactly an urgent matter to start with, and you can't sense any supernatural forces at work in Kagome's interaction with the beast that would force it to BECOME urgent. The only more-than-human power there is Kagome's usual aura of spiritual purity, and that's the kind of thing that tends to calm animals, Fae, and other beings closely tied to Nature anyway. It's entirely possible, then, that the unexpectedly placid reaction of one of Jermafencer's fierce-looking horses to having a small mortal girl getting so close to it is down to her being a powerful young miko.

Or maybe the knight's team are all just big softies around little girls.

Either is possible.

Pushing the thought aside, you check on the Higurashi family luggage. Four suitcases in all, nothing too large or heavy, but still enough that it would be a little awkward for you to carry them all by yourself. Seeing as how Briar took the baggage train of Unseen Servants with her just a minute ago, you reach through your links to your partner and your spell, giving a mental "tug" on the latter to let Briar know you have need of a few of the invisible porters.

There is a brief emotional shift, a pause that probably involved some shifting of luggage, and then the feel of the magic changes slightly, as Briar transfers control of two Unseen Servants back to you.

Good enough.

You spend a minute greeting the Higurashis to Bali Ha'i, and by the time you're done, the Unseen Servants have drifted over and picked up half of their bags. You grab the last two, the smallest of the set, before leading the way to the waiting Mansion.

Kagome and Souta have a lot of questions about Bali Ha'i, the party, the people that you've invited, and other subjects, and they manage to slip in quite a few of them in the short time it takes to see them to their quarters. You answer inquiries of the first and third categories easily enough, but say hardly a thing about your plans - just enough to get them even more curious than they already were.

Then the siblings see the fancy doors that are just standing there on the beach, and the people moving in and out of some of them, and the nature of their questions promptly changes.

It takes you a little bit to extract yourself from their perfectly friendly inquisition, but you're able to get back to the designated point of arrival in time to meet your next group of guests - which turns out to be a bit of a spectacle, because when the Death Coach flashes into view this time, it's not alone.

There, running along to the right of the silver-inlaid black carriage, is a red fox the size of a horse - if not quite the size of the horses pulling the coach - running across the ocean as easily as smoothly as if it were solid ground, an aura of soft red light radiating outward and trailing behind her almost like a comet.

Briar, who accompanied you back from the row of Mansion doors, remarks, "Evidently, Lady Takara will be attending the party after all."

You wonder if you should start summoning Lady Akemi now - like, RIGHT now - or if it would be better to wait a bit. At least until after you've greeted the Hakubas and the nine-tailed fox.

---

It would be one thing for you to summon Lady Akemi with her foster-mother standing in attendance, waiting patiently for you to finish.

It's another for you to have half a dozen other people there as well, all of them guests.

You can at least wait to finish formally greeting everyone before you get on with calling the lady's spirit.

And so you do.

As the Death Coach begins its final approach to the beach, the huge red fox slows down, stops glowing quite so much, sits down on a rock a short way offshore, and wraps her tails about her. As Jermafencer guides his team to a stop, Lady Takara stays where she is, her head turning slowly as she studies the beach - the point where land and sea and sky all come together - with eyes, ears, nose, and whiskers, and more esoteric senses besides.

And under the metaphysical weight of the nine-tailed fox's inspection, you feel Bali Ha'i respond. The spiritual energy of the place builds up to a higher level than what you've gotten accustomed to, and while no corporeal or similarly obvious metaphysical manifestations take place, you are nonetheless certain that just as Lady Takara is examining the island, the spirit of the island is observing her right back.
Play nice, you two.
The peculiar staring match between fox and landmass continues as all three generations of the Hakuba family climb down from the carriage, the priests and Miss Suzuka having traded in the clothes of their calling for vacation wear, just as Grandpa Higurashi did. Kanna and Atsuko are present as well - and so is one other person, who you weren't expecting to see just yet.

Wearing a purple yukata decorated with small golden birds and tied with an orange obi, and looking decidedly out of place among the more modernly-dressed crowd, Ayane steps down from the carriage with an unsteadiness that you can't recall seeing from her even during the craziest parts of the World Tournament. She's not wearing her usual headband, either, and its absence allows her hair to fall forward far enough that the fringe almost hides her red eyes - which are, you note, slightly wide with shock.

She's not the only one who's showing signs of a less-than-perfect reaction to traveling with Jermafencer. All four of the spiritually-able adults look at least a little shaken by the trip, while Ms. Atsuko is radiating more stern self-control than is typical of her. Kanna would be fine, except that she's clearly noticed everyone else's reactions, and is fussing over all of them - Suzuka and Ayane no more or less than any of the others.

Sighing internally, you add more names to the mental list of people who've been spooked by riding the Death Coach. At the rate the list is growing, you're seriously thinking that you won't be able to hire Jermafencer to chauffeur people to future events.

Then again, considering his fees...

While you get on with greeting the human arrivals, Lady Takara and Bali Ha'i appear to reach a detente. The fox bows her head slightly, just enough to show respectful acknowledgment, and then stands up from her seat among the waves to make the short trip to shore. She starts glowing again as she moves, more intensely so with each long-legged stride, until you can no longer make out the visage of the nine-tailed fox, only a blaze of energy that vaguely suggests such a form.

Then, as her front right paw touches down on the damp sand just above the tide-line, that blaze collapses into itself, taking on human size and proportions.

Instead of the too-pretty single mother that you first saw her as, months earlier, Lady Takara has assumed her obviously non-human guise, with her canid ears, sharp features, and fingernails that could double as claws all in plain view - to say nothing of the nine tails trailing after her. She wears a woman's yukata of plain, sky blue, the obi the same vivid red hue as her hair and fur, and has a small bag hanging from one arm.

She's wearing geta, too, and you absently note that the red-painted nails on her small and graceful feet look just as sharp as those on her hands.

Standing there, backed by the gently breaking waves, the nine-tails bows to you at very slightly less than the degree of polite recognition she showed Bali Ha'i.

You return the gesture, bowing a bit deeper. "Welcome to Bali Ha'i, Lady Takara. I'm pleased you could make it."

"Thank you for inviting me, Alex."

Is there anything you want to say to this group of arrivals, before you have Briar show the Hakubas - and maybe Ayane - to where they'll be staying?

---

With the initial welcome handled, you hand the Hakuba party over to Briar for the trip to their quarters.

As it happens, Ayane would like to take a minute to just sit down and get her bearings, before she goes anywhere else.

You nod and tell her to grab a chair - and when she turns around, Bali Ha'i has moved one of the beach-chairs you acquired for the party to a convenient position.

Being QUITE certain that the spot in question was empty just a second earlier, Ayane looks around suspiciously for a moment before huffing and taking the offered seat.

Hakuba Kanna fusses over the girl for a minute more before finally accepting Ayane's somewhat flustered assurance that she'll be fine, and going to catch up with the rest of her family.

Ayane watches her go, a complicated expression on her face.

It's probably a good thing that you're a few minutes into the ritual to summon Lady Akemi by that point, because otherwise you might be tempted to talk to her about that. Or at least have to admit that you saw it. This way, you can claim that your attention was elsewhere, and have it be perfectly believable.

Since Lady Akemi isn't a very strong spirit, you're able to get away with using the least-powerful form of the Spell of Planar Binding you know to summon her. It still takes ten minutes to complete the ritual, and Lady Takara watches you keenly the entire time - as does Ayane, once she's recovered her composure.

"Have you ever seen anyone summon a spirit before, child?" Lady Takara asks quietly, a couple more minutes on.

"No, Lady Nine-Tails," Ayane answers, as politely as a hushed, 'do not disturb the sorcerer when he's meddling with the forces of the cosmos' tone of voice can be. Then she adds, "But I did see a swarm of bats that Alex summoned, once."

"Just Takara is fine, dear. And what's this about bats?"

Ayane proceeds to recount the events of the World Tournament. Even summarizing events as much as she can, and leaving out private matters, it takes her most of the rest of the ritual to finish. Briar has returned by then, and some of your increasingly-numerous guests have wandered along as well, evidently having explored their own rooms to their satisfaction, and now investigating the beach and nearer parts of Bali Ha'i. Seeing you occupied, most go on their way - Gyokuro after giving Takara a meaningful look and briefly nodding to Ayane - but Zelda, Kahlua, and Dave all stop to watch.

And then Lady Akemi is there, wearing her own yukata - all in white, except for the red obi.

The long-dead lady smiles to see her foster-mother, and then blinks when she catches sight of the other children. Her gaze lingers on Zelda with her reddish hair, Ayane in her traditional attire, and the magically-capable Dave before she turns, wordlessly, to Takara.

You can hear the unspoken "Mother?" hanging in the air between them.

Before Takara can say anything to that, the Death Coach reappears with that flash you're starting to get used to, but which draws a start and a cry of surprise from the spirit in the summoning circle.

It takes a minute to calm Lady Akemi down and reassure her that Jermafencer is not a Shinigami come to drag her back to the afterlife, nor a hungry ghost or anything like that out to harm her. And by the time you've managed that much, Jermafencer has pulled to a stop.

Before the knight can even dismount from his seat, the carriage door all but EXPLODES open.

"It is so GOOD to be out of there!"

"I can't believe we actually went through the afterlife!"

"Yeah, I know. It was awesome, wasn't it?"

"Hey, look! It's Emi's boyfriend!"

"Whyyyy?!"

And just like that, the beach is covered in foxes. Specifically, Emiko, the four quadruplets, and there, still standing in the carriage, bringing up the rear with an inaudible sigh and a glance of apology in your direction, their father.

Asamu's expression goes from one of paternal resignation to utter, white-faced shock when he sees who's standing next to you.

"Oh, my," Takara murmurs, in a perfectly normal tone of voice that somehow cuts right through all the chatter. "Now who are all these energetic young vixens?"

The five Hayashi sisters take one look at the elder vixen - the unfamiliar kitsune who has more tails than all of them and their father, COMBINED - and collectively freeze in their tracks, ears and tails shooting straight up in alarm.

You're honestly not sure how to react to this.

---

You recognize that the current situation presents an opportunity to play a bit of a prank disguised as a life-lesson on the Hayashi girls. Or vice-versa. It works either way.

The point is, the girls have just embarrassed themselves a bit in front of a complete stranger who is not only extremely powerful, but also happens to hold a status somewhere between celebrity, nobility, and divinity for their kind. Emiko is just barely young enough, and - more pertinently - so obviously the victim of her sisters' crazy, that she could probably skate out of the incoming shaming, but the quadruplets have no such excuses.

By your understanding of the odd politics that govern the upper echelons of the Moonlit World, it's one thing for a kitsune to act undignified, rude, and just plain silly in front of other kinds of monsters and humans. They're tricksters by nature; it's what's expected. However, when there's an older, more powerful kitsune around who has chosen to abide by the rules of good behavior... well.

It COULD be taken as a challenge. And you COULD hold the threat of that over the girls... oh, for the whole time they'll be here, if you were so inclined, and if you and Takara could keep it going that long.

As amusing and productive as it might be to watch the nine-tails threaten to give these girls a lesson in acceptable public behavior, however, you hold off.

For one thing, Lady Takara isn't exactly in a position where she can talk about "good behavior" without being a serious hypocrite, and setting her up to do it anyway wouldn't be the act of a good host.

For another, even just implying that the Hayashi girls were in for an official reprimand would force Asamu to get involved, whether to protest the punishment, appeal it, try to take it on himself in their stead, or carry it out. Call it sympathy for a badly-outnumbered fellow male, one child not wanting to risk getting a whole group of others into serious hot water with their parents, or even a guy from a mostly blue-collar background finding common cause with another group outside the hoity-toity pseudo-aristocracy; any way you slice it, you don't want to push Asamu into having to do that.

Not the least because, if you resort to formal etiquette, everyone here is going to take that as a sign to do the same, it'll spread to the rest of your guests in short order, and everyone will be all stiff and tense as a result. And that just isn't how you want the first day of your tropical beach party to go, much less all three days.

So instead, you go with a less-formal, still-polite approach, and start introducing the members of the Hayashi Clan to those of your other guests who are present at the moment.

And instead of starting by introducing Asamu to Lady Takara, as the heads of two separate families, you open by introducing Emiko, your kitsune friend, to your non-kitsune friends.

"You already know Kahlua, of course-"

"O-o-of course," Emiko stammers, while glancing worriedly at Lady Takara.

Kahlua just smiles. "Nice to see you again, Emiko."

"-but this is my little sister, Zelda. She may look tiny and adorable, but don't be fooled! Underneath that deceptive exterior, she is actually tiny, adorable, and very good at using it to get what she wants."

That gets a brief laugh from Emiko. "I know the type. And hello, Zelda."

"...hi." Your sister's less-than-enthusiastic greeting of your friend is largely due to the fact that she's scowling at you.

"Big brothers can be jerks sometimes, can't they?" Emiko empathizes.

Zelda blinks, looks at the four older Hayashi sisters, and regards Emiko in confusion.

"This is only half my family," the kitsune explains, waving her arm in a gesture that is both inclusive and exhausted. 'They're mine, and I'm stuck with them.' "And one of the people that isn't here yet is my big brother. I'll let you in on a secret, though." She leans a little closer, and adds, "Big sisters can be a lot worse."

A moment of little sister solidarity passes between them.

"Moving on," you say smoothly, "this is Dave Stutler, my fellow American sorcerer-"

Dave manages a wave. "Uh, hi."

Emiko responds in kind, if a little more gracefully. "Nice to meet you."

"-this is Ayane, who you might remember seeing at the World Tournament-"

The worry-dampened ember of Emiko's martial arts fangirlism burns a little brighter as she does, in fact, recognize Ayane. It must be the hair, you think; it's rather distinctive.

"You kicked a tengu in the face," the youngest of the gathered kitsune says with some of her usual energy.

Ayane smiles a scary, dangerous little smile. "Yes, I did."

"-this gracious lady is Akemi-"

Lady Akemi starts to bow, then catches herself and keeps it to a nod and a smile. "Greetings."

"Ah... hello?" Emiko ventures, while giving Akemi's white yukata a wary glance.

"-and last, but certainly not least, is Lady Takara, once of the Tsukuda Clan."

From where the four older Hayashi girls have clustered behind their father, you hear someone same, "Eeep."

"Lady Takara, everyone, this is Hayashi Emiko."

Emiko, for her part, stares up at the nine-tailed fox, and swallows visibly. When she speaks, her voice is admirably level, if stressed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Takara."

Takara smiles benevolently. "Likewise, little one."

"Ah... m-may I ask you a question, my lady?"

"You just did, but I shall be generous and allow such a polite girl-"

There is another wordless whimper from the shivering pile of Hayashis.

"-to ask another one."

"T-thank you, ma'am. And, um... th-that is..."

"Stand up straight and speak clearly, dear," Takara gently chides her.

Emiko does that, taking a deep breath before asking, "Are you going to eat my sisters?"

Absolute silence reigns.

"And spoil Alex's party, after he was so kind as to invite a lonely old woman?" Takara gasps and holds one hand over her heart. "Why, child, what kind of ungrateful monster do you think I am?"

There is a group sigh-

"Now, AFTER the party, that's another story."

-which turns into a collective choke.

---

"I appreciate you not making a mess at my party, Lady Takara," you say, "but could I also prevail upon you not to threaten to eat any of my guests after the fact? Even the annoying ones?"

The older Hayashi girls shoot you a collective glance that turns from grateful to a mix of wounded and glaring.

Takara, meanwhile, puts on a show of considering your request, one clawed finger tapping absently at her lower lip.

"It would cast a pall over the festivities, wouldn't it?" she muses aloud.

"Just a bit," you agree dryly.

"Ah. Well, we cannot have that. Very well, then; I won't eat them."

There is a beat, in which the Hayashi sisters appear to be torn between sighing in relief, and waiting for Takara to inevitably say-

"This time."

-something like that.

"We'll be good!" the quadruplets promise in unison.

"Yes," Asamu agrees. "They will."

"Thank you," you say, taking in all the foxes at once.

With that issue safely addressed, you get on with the rest of the introductions. While you manage to recall all four sisters' names - thanks to alliterative naming scheme you suspect their parents chose for this very reason - your attempt to put names to faces is thwarted by your lack of familiarity with the quartet, as well as the fact that three of them have changed their hairstyles since the last time you saw them. Rina still wears her hair long and unbound, but Hina has let her previous bob grow out, while Mina has trimmed her shoulder-length mane to the point where it matches Hina. As for Nina, she hasn't cut her hair, but has tied it back in a thick braid that makes gauging the actual length problematic.

Under different circumstances, you're certain the girls would take the opportunity to tease you for your inability to correctly identify all of them. As it is, as soon as you confess to not being sure who owns which name, they volunteer an explanation.

"Long hair is a pain in hot weather," Mina says, directing a scowl at the midday sun that reminds you of the Shuzens' reaction. "So I got it trimmed."

"I thought it was time for a change of style," Hina says, fluffing the locks that frame her face.

"The guy she's after prefers girls with long hair," Rina explains.

The shorter-haired sister glares at her sibling, opens her mouth to speak, and then - deliberately not looking at Takara - closes it without a word, puffing out her cheeks in silent frustration.

"I, on the other hand," Rina continues airily, running a hand through the wealth of rich brown hair that falls to the backs of her knees, "am perfectly comfortable with my appearance."

Nina merely shrugs. "I just don't want to get my hair caught on anything when I go swimming."

Rina stills for a moment, and then looks from her trailing tresses to the clear blue sea as realization slowly dawns.

Hina grins. "Still perfectly comfortable, Sis?"

Asamu coughs once, voicing his paternal objection to that impending quarrel developing any further, at least in public.

The girls obligingly drop it. For now.

They said they'd be good, not that they'd be perfect.

Also, sisters.

Between the number of people involved and the earlier near-derailment Takara's presence and actions caused, it takes several minutes for you to finish this round of introductions, and by the time you're done, Jermafencer is returning with the remainder of the Hayashi Clan. Uncle, Elder Mitsuki, Asamu's wife Natsu, and their four remaining children exit the Death Coach in a more sedate manner than the quadruplets did, even with the youngest twins - who are, incidentally, as indistinguishable from one another now as they were the last time you met.

"Yaaaay!" Mio and Miu exclaim in unison, as they dance about the beach. "Beach party! Beach party!"

And just like that, you have even MORE introductions to make.

While you're attending to that, you mentally go over your extensive guest list. With the exception of the Drakes and the Reinhardts, who won't be along until around day actually breaks in their part of the world, the only people left to arrive by coach are the Water Tribesmen and Beryl and her sister. The latter pair specifically asked to be picked up a little later, as they had pre-existing after-school engagements to attend to; as for Sokka, Katara, Hakoda, and Elder Tiriaq, Jermafencer admitted he'd prefer to fetch them last of all the non-Europeans.

Even with the benefits of sorcery, Fae enchantments, and spooky ghost powers, a wheeled carriage is simply not an ideal vehicle for traveling in Antarctic conditions. The Knight of the Shadowed Mire and his team are going to have to exert themselves more than usual for that particular pick-up, so leaving it until the end, when they can afford to stop and rest afterwards, just makes good sense.

Those groups aside, your remaining guests include the first wave of Memorians, Kahine, and whichever of the island's native elementals decide to accept your previously-extended invitation. Ekewaka and his fellow singers were summoned a couple of days ago, saving you the time and energy now and allowing you to ensure their "payment" in full, by giving them all that extra time to visit their native land again, free of distractions.

Is there anything you'd like to say to some (or all) of these kitsune, before you escort them to their double-Mansions?

---

No, get on with summoning.

After you've finished introducing ALL of the Hayashis to the others, and vice versa, you have the Unseen Servants pick up their bags, and then lead the way to the Mansions you set aside for the kitsune to use.

On a related note, the Hayashi quadruplets hold off on picking rooms of their own until they see which of the two extradimensional buildings Lady Takara and Lady Akemi choose to enter, at which point the girls hurry into the OTHER one.

Hayashi Natsu blinks in bemusement at this behavior, before turning to her husband. "I missed something, didn't I?"

"It's been handled," Asamu assures his mate. "Nothing was broken, nobody got hurt, and they've promised to be good for the rest of the party."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Natsu sighs.

The foxes proceed to sort themselves out. With the addition of Lady Takara and Lady Akemi, there isn't quite enough space for everyone to have their own private room, but given the two sets of twins, the quadruplets, and the married couple, you created the Mansions with the expectation that at least one pair was going to end up bunking together - and in fact, Mio and Miu grab a room in one Mansion without any prompting, while their parents just as readily share quarters in the other structure.

For the most part, it's adults in one building, and kids in the other. The exception comes in the form of the two oldest Hayashi siblings, Shinta and Shinju, who start arguing over which of them will get the privilege of using the spare room in the adults' Mansion, symbolically and literally removed from all of their younger sisters. Shinta tries playing on being the firstborn son, which utterly fails to impress Shinju, who retorts that she's the older sibling anyway.

"By five minutes!" Shinta protests.

"It still counts," comes the firm reply.

Shinta sighs. "What do you want, Shinju?"

Her eyes gleam. "Your bike."

"The hell you say," he says flatly.

"For a month," Shinju continues relentlessly.

"The HELL you say!"

You decide to leave them to sort that out on their own, and head back to the summoning circle to call up your remaining guests.

Seeing as how you can only summon them in groups of three, bringing the first wave of Memorians across from Faerie takes you a full hour, all told, and steadily eats away at your mana.

It also sends Zelda scurrying away to find your parents after she gets her first wide-eyed look at the ancient soldiers.

She didn't have that reaction to Lady Akemi, but then, ghost or no ghost, a pretty lady in fancy clothes isn't nearly as scary as a bunch of warriors from beyond the grave. Even if the legionaries HAVE ditched their armor and weapons for more civilian attire, in the form of simple tunics, they're physically still pale, translucent - especially under the bright tropical sun - and more phantasmal bone than ectoplasmic flesh.

Briar escorts each group of soldiers to their waiting barracks in turn, and once the last batch have arrived, you tag along to perform one final bit of spellcasting: namely, a scaled-up Spell of Tongues, so that the Ancient Not-Roman ghosts can understand and be understood by the rest of your guests.

You hadn't needed to do this for most of your other guests. You'd already taken the precaution of teaching everyone from Sunnydale how to speak Japanese for the Halloween party you all attended months earlier - assuming they weren't already fluent by then, as was the case for Cordelia and Lu-sensei - and you ran a little refresher course in the weeks leading up to the party, just to be sure nobody had slipped too far out of practice.

The Shuzens, the Hakubas, and the Hayashis all seem to be functionally bilingual in Japanese and English, if not perfectly so - Kokoa and the little Hayashi twins in particular have to work on their pronounciation and vocabulary - and the Arisawas and the Kurosakis are either the same way, or else benefiting from a translation spell that Akkiko cast before they left Karakura. Balthazar handled things for the Stutlers, and when Beryl and her little sister Cecilia turned up towards the end of your ghost-raising rituals, you found that the sorceress had done the same for her sibling. You know that the Drakes are also either fluent in both major languages, or have Ambrose to cheat for them.

They're probably fluent, though. If only because Ambrose is the sort who'd slip in a translation error or two for his own amusement.

Your Hyrulean guests, being celestials, don't need translation magic to communicate, and Grey Voice has the psychic equivalent of that particular ability. You also know that the still-absent Water Tribesmen and the Reinhardts speak Japanese, with the possible exception of Elder Tiriaq, who you spoke to entirely in his people's native dialect.

That leaves the Memorians, who speak only dead languages.

Once you've taken care of that, you take stock of the situation. Jermafencer is off fetching Sokka, Katara, Hakoda, and the old shaman, after which he's going to take a break and let his team rest for an hour or so before he picks up your European guests. And that makes you wonder about your last guest.

You could summon Kahine on the beach, the same way you've been doing for your other guests of a more spiritual nature. But she's not a ghost or a celestial; she's a volcano spirit. The beach may not be the best place to call her forth.

If you were going to be really polite about it, you'd hike up to her shrine and invoke her there. But you've got dozens of other guests to think about, too; would it really be the best thing for you, the host, to take off like that? Even if you did let them know where you were going?

---

You decide not to go to the volcano. You paid Kahine a formal visit the first time you met her, and again to let her know about the party and the Trials - that should be plenty. And you do have your other guests to think about.

That settled, you cast a Spell of Summoning, infused with Earth, Fire, and a touch of Thunder, and reach out in the direction of the fire-mountain.
Ready or not, here I come!
FOOM!

You flinch and reflexively back away a step as a pillar of flame erupts within your summoning circle, hot enough to melt the surface of the sand. Despite this, you feel no heat; the phenomenon is contained.

The newly-formed layer of molten glass makes peculiar sounds as it slowly splashes under the dark-skinned feet of the woman that now stands within the magical diagram. Overall, she is a smaller, softer version of the statue Kahine possessed at her shrine, standing about five-foot-seven or five-foot-eight, dark skin marked with swirling tattoos of red, white, and black in place of the carved fire-patterns, and curly hair that is mostly a fiery orange-red, shot through with streaks of ash and obsidian.

She also isn't wearing a mask this time. The revealed face is youthful and unlined, but not really young - if you had to put an age to her, you'd say she was past thirty - and her eyes are like dark smouldering coals as opposed to volcanic furnaces.

Her grin, meanwhile, is as broad and cheerful as ever. That said, without the roaring, white-hot flame behind it, it also comes across as decidedly less intimidating.

"Good afternoon, little magic man!" she booms heartily. "And thank you for finally calling me. I've been feeling you work your wonders for a few hours now; I was beginning to think you'd invited so many people that you'd forgotten about poor old Kahine."

You have to admit, it's not a completely invalid concern; there are a LOT of names on your guest list.

That said, it would take a lot more guests than this for you to forget about the spirit of the volcano whose island you're holding the party on.

Interlocking her fingers, Kahine raises her hands above her head as far as they'll go, stretching with a creak that sounds more like stone shifting than the flexing of mortal flesh. Similarly, the sigh that escapes her lips has as much in common with a volcanic vent going off as it does a human exhalation.

"Been too long since Kahine walked in woman's form," she says to no one in particular, before looking around and humming. "No sign of that handsome old stone... have you not called him up yet?"
Oh, dear.
You shouldn't.
You totally should!
But...

Before you can say or doing anything else, Kahine looks up and out at the sea, just as Jermafencer's carriage reappears again.

"Huh," the volcano spirit muses. "That is even stranger to see through mortal eyes..."

"Do you mind waiting while I greet these guests, ma'am?" you ask.

"Not at all!"

The Death Coach appears none the worse for wear from its trip to the South Pole, although when it gets closer, you note that there's a layer of snow covering the top of the vehicle, and that the horses are visibly steaming.

Helm covered with a rapidly-thawing layer of white, Jermafencer pulls on the reins, halting his team, and then glances your way. "I believe I will be taking that break now."

"Was the weather that bad?" you venture, as the knight clambers down from his seat.

"Not the worst I've ever seen or driven through," he grudgingly admits, "but going from a tropical spring to the middle of a blizzard is an experience. I was NOT, however, expecting those ice spirits to be quite so territorial - or so persistent."

He opens the door to the carriage, revealing an armed and wary Sokka. He's holding a weapon that's half-club, half-spear, and carved entirely from some sort of bone in his right hand, while a boomerang occupies his left hand, held with one of its arms pointing down, almost like a knife.

"Did we lose 'em?" he asks Jermafencer, looking around cautiously.

"We did, young warrior."

Sokka lets out a relieved sigh and hunches forward, lowering his weapons. "Good. I really wasn't looking forward to fighting spirits... oh, hey, Alex. Hey, strange lady who's standing on hot glass what the HECK?!"

As Sokka lurches backwards into the carriage in shock, weapons once again coming up, Kahine chuckles. "Ah, Water Tribe. Nice to see they haven't changed too much."

You're not sure who you should talk to first.

---

"Actually," you say in response to Kahine's question, "I summoned Elder Terok a couple of hours ago. If you'd like, I can show you to where he's staying."

"Oh-ho!" Kahine chortles. "As it happens, I think I would like tha- eh?"

And that's when the Death Coach arrives.

While you are curious about what exactly happened during Jermafencer's trip to the South Pole, you find you can't ignore Kahine's casual recognition of Sokka's heritage.

"You know the Water Tribe, Kahine?" you ask, as Sokka slowly allows himself to be talked and physically-prodded out of the carriage by the others still within it.

"Oh, yes; the sea folk and I, we go way back. There was a small tribe here on Bali Ha'i, living alongside the humans, long before I ever woke up, and their cousins would usually show up to visit and trade for a week or two each year." Looking away from you, Kahine catches sight of Tiriaq as he emerges from the Death Coach. "Oh, and they brought a shaman, too?"

For his part, the furry-faced, wolf-eared shaman takes one look at the tattooed lady, still standing on cooling glass without concern, goes wide-eyed, and promptly bows at the waist.

Katara, who'd stepped down from Jermafencer's carriage ahead of the elder with just a little assistance from her father, does a double-take at the shaman's behavior, before hastily joining her father in echoing it.

Sokka looks at them funny, but without even looking up, Tiriaq raises his carved bone walking stick, touches it to the young warrior's back, and pushes forward and down, getting him to bow with the rest of them.

"Hail, great lady," Tiriaq intones sombrely. "We thank you for extending your hospitality to us. I am Tiriaq, elder and shaman of the Southern Water Tribe. This is Hakoda, our chieftan, his heir, Sokka, and his daughter Katara, a Waterbender. May we know the name of the one whose volcano rules this island?"

Sokka's head shoots up, eyes wider than before, and you see him mouth the word, "Volcano?!" as his eyes flash from Kahine to the cone of her mountain home.

*SOMEONE ELSE'S ENLIGHTENMENT!*

"Ow!"

This time, Tiriaq is a bit less gentle in his behavioral correction, and Sokka, quicker in adopting a respectful pose.

"Hail, Shaman Tiriaq, Chieftan Hakoda, and Sokka and Katara of the Southern Water Tribe," Kahine replies in the same ritual tone. "I am called Kahine, and you are most welcome here. Now," she quickly adds, "this is supposed to be a party, not a religious ceremony, so how about you all stand up and just call me by my name, and none of this 'lady' business."

"...as you like," Tiriaq replies after a moment.

As everyone straightens up, Sokka rubs his head, gives the shaman a sour look, and then turns to you.

"So, Alex," he says, perfectly casually. "You invited a volcano-spirit to your birthday, huh?"

In the middle of directing Unseen Servants to pick up the bags, you shrug. "It seemed like the polite thing to do, after she agreed to let me hold the party here."

"...riiiight." He shakes his head, and in doing so, glances at the blackened surface now crackling under Kahine's feet as she steps off of it. "Well, at least it explains the glass..."

Given their reaction to Kahine, you wonder if you should warn the Water Tribesmen about the other spirits on your guest list.

Aside from that, is there anything you want to talk to Sokka, Katara, Hakoda, and/or Tiriaq about while you're showing them to their rooms, and Kahine to where you last saw Terok?

---

While you do find some appeal in the idea of leaving the Water Tribesmen uninformed of the nature of some of your other guests until they've met face-to-face - or even later than that - it's outweighed by your sense of hospitality, and the responsibilities that come with being a good host.

"You invited HOW MANY ghosts?!"

Besides, Sokka's reaction to being warned up-front is still plenty entertaining.

It also makes you stop and count. Eighteen Memorians, Lady Akemi, the chorus of island singers - that's three shifts' worth of nine spirits each, summoned days in advance - the Hyruleans and Grey Voice... oh, and you can't forget Shaman Keoni.

"Fifty-two," you answer, somewhat to your own surprise. "At least for today."

Sokka is speechless.

"Will there be more of them joining us?" Tiriaq asks.

"The soldiers will be rotating out each day," you answer. "There's sixty-two of them in all, counting the ones that are already here."

You acknowledge a small hint of annoyance that you're going to be summoning the largest group of Memorians on the same day you face the Ring of Trials, but there isn't much to be done about it. That group includes Captain Marcus, Priest Cato, and Magus Hermanus, as well as the other members of the outpost's surviving leadership - in other words, the very ones who SHOULD be present to witness your undertaking.

Leaving aside Sokka's bewilderment at the small army of ghosts you've got filling up your conjured guest quarters, you're able to get the four members of the Water Tribe squared away in their rooms without incident.

While making the short trip, you note that Katara has made considerable progress in walking on humanoid feet over the past year; she hardly needs any help at all now to stay upright.

You also have to wonder, albeit silently, how long they're going to keep wearing those blue furs in this heat.

You suppose you'll just have to wait and see.

Speaking of the Water Tribe, their collective response to meeting Kahine has you thinking of your other guests, particularly the two shrine families, and how they might react to meeting the various ghosts and spirits you've invited.

With the exception of Kagome's excitable grandfather, you don't think any of your spiritually-empowered mortal guests are going to try to exorcise any of the guests who happen to be immortal spirits, but a round of introductions to help avoid surprises would probably be in order.

You know, assuming that nobody has had any heart attacks in the last couple of hours.

...

Actually, you should probably check to make sure that hasn't happened.

Before doing that, though, you lead Kahine to the Magnificent Mansion where the Hyruleans and Grey Voice are staying. One of the Gerudo servants ushers you both inside - Kahine pausing when she crosses the threshold, looking a bit wobbly all of a sudden - where you find Madam Lanora and Grey Voice sitting at ease in the communal front chamber. In deference to the nature of the residents of this particular Mansion, the "furniture" in this room includes a couple of Goron-sized rock chairs and a fountain large enough for an adult Zora to relax in, but there are some more mundane couches besides. Grey Voice has taken a seat on one of those, while Lanora is in the water.

Both of them have broken off their conversation as you enter, and when they see Kahine, they rise.

"Please," Kahine says, hands rising to wave them down, "there's no need for formalities. I'm not here as a big bad volcano spirit, just as a lady come looking for her date."

Lanora blinks. "...I'm sorry, your date?"

"Elder Terok agreed to let her show him around the island," you offer.

Lanora considers that for a moment.

Then she covers her mouth with her webbed hands, and giggles.

Grey Voice spares her a dry look before turning back to you and Kahine. "If you came seeking the Goron Elder, I'm afraid he left about an hour ago. I believe he said he was going for a walk."
Going for a walk, running for cover, same difference.
"Did he say where he was going?" Kahine wonders.
Is that really the way one of your priests should be behaving, Din?
Grey Voice shakes his head.
Which of us is the Goddess of Courage again, Wise Girl?
"He'll have gone inland," Lanora says helpfully, and with a grin. "He doesn't like hanging around water any more than he has to - says it makes his joints ache, even though I KNOW he visits hot springs as often as he can get away with."
Yeah, it's Terok's call if he wants to run. And if he can avoid getting caught, more Power to him.
"Hot springs, you say?" Kahine latches on to the remark.
I'm pretty sure he's just going to end up tired when Kahine catches him, though.
"...yyyyes," the Zoran priestess says slowly. "Would there happen to be a hot spring on the island?"
Yes, it IS rather foolish to try running away from an island spirit when you're still on her island, isn't it?
"As a matter of fact," the volcano spirit replies with a grin, "there is."
Hence why Terok worships me, and not you.
What, really?

Huh.

---

Having Ganondorf's voice in your head (at least until you told him to stop bothering you) has given you a level of insight into the world that other kids your age, even the genuinely brilliant ones, simply can't match. It's not a matter of intelligence, really, but life experience, and being able to use that to put specific events into context.

Even with that advantage over your nominal peers, the matter of "dating" is one of those things that remains a mystery to you. It never really came up in your inherited memories, except for a vague sense of resigned annoyance, and a feeling of being... not quite hunted, so much as... stalked...

...the point is, you're pretty much in the dark about romance. But even so, you figure it's probably for the best to give Kahine and Terok some privacy.

You ARE curious about that hot spring she mentioned, but you can always ask about it later.

It's not like it's going anywhere. Helpful as Bali Ha'i has proven itself to be towards guests, it doesn't go so far as to move entire geographical landmarks around. Alter them so they're more convenient to travel on, yes, but not outright change their locations or warp space between where they are and where you are.

As Kahine heads off in the general direction of her volcano - but more to the west than the path you followed to reach her shrine - you go looking for the Hakubas and the Higurashis. You want to see if they've had any run-ins with your ghostly guests yet, and if not, try to ease them into the introductions.

At least with those spectral individuals they haven't met. Ginta and Ichirou already know the Memorians, at least enough to be mostly past the uncertainties of a first meeting with scary-looking souls of the angry dead, and they and Koujiro have spoken with Madam Lanora several times - so has Miss Suzuka, when your Zoran tutor wanted to get a first-hand account of what being a miko entails.

The Higurashis don't have those experiences, however, and you have plenty of other ghostly guests that even the Hakubas haven't been introduced to.

With that in mind, you're not alone when you leave the Hyrulean Mansion. Madam Lanora and Grey Voice went back to their original conversation, Bando took a walk about the same time that Elder Terok did - possibly to investigate the hot springs himself; they're a big hit with Gorons, it seems - and Koron and Vert took off only a few minutes after being shown to their room.

"OOOOHHHH!"

Batreaux, on the other hand...

"I would be DELIGHTED to meet more of your acquaintances, my student!" the ex-demon exclaims.

As he commented earlier, he's ditched his typical robe for an outfit more suited to a tropical climate. It's NOT swimming trunks, thankfully, but rather a pair of khaki shorts, a light, short-sleeved shirt in the same dark hue as his preferred garment, a straw hat, and a pair of sunglasses.

You have to wonder where he got that outfit. It could have come from Earth, but flashes of memory tell you it wouldn't be out of place in some eras of Hyrule, either.

On a related note, Batreaux has really thin legs, almost comically so compared to his powerfully-built upper body. He's also smeared some kind of sunscreen over them, along with every other inch of his exposed skin.

"I don't tan well," your tutor admits, having noticed your attention. "A disappointing little leftover from my UNFORTUNATE origins. For all that it helps my affinity with GLORIOUS FIRE, it also makes me more sensitive to Light than the average Hylian, whether in the mystical or the mundane sense."

Your first stop is the Hakuba Mansion, simply because it's the closer of the two, and when you enter, you find that you aren't the first to have had the idea to visit.

"Alex!" Akkiko calls as she waves to you from the foyer, where she's sitting with the four older members of the shrine-family you came to see. Grandpa Higurashi is there as well, and rather to your surprise, so are Koron and Vert. "How goes the invasion?"

"It's almost finished," you reply, as you and Batreaux walk forward. "Jermafencer isn't going to pick up the Drakes or the Reinhardts for another hour or so, but aside from them and Briar's mother, everybody I invited is here." After a moment's thought, you ask, "Did Isshin wake up?"

"About twenty minutes ago," the Arisawa matriarch confirms. "He seemed perfectly fine, like you said - fine enough to argue with Misaki that he didn't need a check-up, he's a doctor and he'd know if something was wrong with him, blah, blah, blah." She shakes her head. "Misaki got one of her scary little smiles, and I got the hell out of there. The kids had disappeared a while before then: Ichigo was with a couple other boys, last I saw; and Tatsuki and the littles went to visit the vampire princess."

You nod, and wonder if Zelda has met the youngest Kurosakis.

Then another thought occurs to you. "Speaking of scary ladies, did you hear that Lady Takara showed up?" You glance at the Hakubas, who were present when the nine-tailed fox arrived.

"Yeah, Koujiro mentioned it." Akkiko's shrug is not as casual as she tries to make it look. "Can't say I'm completely sold on the idea of having her here, but it's your party, and as long as she's agreed to behave herself..."

Akkiko trails off with an inquiring note.

You cannot help but think of Lady Takara's meeting with half of the Hayashi Clan.

---

You were aiming for dry sarcasm with your remark, and you appear to have succeeded in spades, if Akkiko's lopsided grin - an expression half-amused and half-resigned - or the collective shaking of heads among the Japanese members of the priestly contingent are any indication.

"Not on the island an hour, and there's already shenanigans happening, huh?" Akkiko inquires.

"More like in the first fifteen minutes," you admit. "But speaking frankly, I trust that more than I would a promise of perfect behavior."

This time, there is a group nod.

"Trying to get a kitsune to swear off pranks entirely, even for just a short period of time, almost never ends well," Koujiro says. "Asking them to keep it down to a dull roar, though, is doable."

"As long as you remember to take it in good humor when they catch you in one of their tricks," Grandpa Higurashi adds.

Koron looks around at the (visibly) older people, his face a mask of confusion. "Um... what's a kitsune?"

"It's basically this world's equivalent to a Keaton," Briar tells him. "Except that this particular Keaton plays on the same level as Great Fairies, the Guardian Spirits, and Demon Lords."

Koron's eyes bug out.

"Eeep," Vert says in a tinier-than-usual voice.

"A being with the nature of a Keaton and the power of a Demon Lord," Batreaux muses, before affecting a dramatic shudder. "My word, what a TERRIFYING combination." Then he claps his hands together, grinning toothily. "I look FORWARD to meeting her!"

This enthusiastic reaction draws more attention from the seated crowd - Batreaux already had a fair bit of it, just on account of his size and presence - and you take the opportunity to introduce him as another of the spirits you've contracted with for lessons.

"Is that so?" Akkiko muses, eyeing the big guy up and down. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're not one of Koron's partners in theology, then."

Batreaux regards the much smaller woman with a wry smirk. "Are you certain of that? I think I would make a fine DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, if I was of a mind to."

"Heh, maybe," Akkiko agrees. "But saying 'if I was of a mind to' implies you aren't."

Batreaux concedes that point with a nod.

"So, if not spiritual arts and religious philosophy, what DO you teach this crazy overachiever?"

"As it happens, I am young Alex's current tutor in the arts of DARKEST SORCERY."

"Really, now? Not just sorcery, dark sorcery, or even DARK sorcery, but straight to the DARKEST SORCERY?"

You're not sure if you like how Akkiko manages to hit EXACTLY the same dramatic tone Batreaux uses.

"THE VERY DARKEST!" Batreaux eagerly assures her. In a less-thunderous tone, he adds, "For all its usefulness, Light Magic simply isn't my forte. But I'm sure I don't need to explain that to you, madam."

And now it's Akkiko's turn to offer someone a gracious dip of the head as admission that they were right about something.

You wonder if Batreaux is referring to that streak of oni blood in the Arisawa family, and if so, how it affects Akkiko's magic... but that's a matter for another time.

Right now, you may have a little damage control to run.

"What, exactly, does the 'darkest sorcery' entail?" Grandpa Higurashi asks suspiciously, squinting back and forth between you and Batreaux.

"And does it have anything to do with why that first attempt to purify you was so difficult?" Hakuba Koujiro adds. His tone and expression are in no way accusing, just curious.

The first question is easy enough to answer, as Batreaux is LITERALLY teaching you Dark Magic. Just as mundane darkness is the natural state of the material world whenever a source of light is not present, the Dark Element tends to touch upon all the elements other than Light. In turn, a Dark Mage is able to tap into the magic of other elements, if to a lesser degree than a practitioner dedicated to their use, gaining a rare and remarkable versatility that only Shadow Mages and Light Mages can potentially match. And even then, the Dark is just so good at combat, at DESTRUCTION, that it's easy to mistake it for the most powerful of all the elements, or as something that's TOO powerful to be an element.

You think that might be where the traditional Hyrulean magic system's lack of a Dark Element might have come from. It might also explain why Shadow tended to get such a bad rap, being made a sort of metaphysical scapegoat for the nastier things Darkness does or is...

Being a former demon of Hyrule, a creature of that very Darkness made manifest, Batreaux's magic is naturally attuned to the Dark. Your own power is similar, thanks to Ganondorf - and through him, Demise - which kind of answers Koujiro's question.

You're not sure you want to admit THAT part aloud, though.

---

"Honestly," you tell Koujiro, "I blame that build-up of corruption on the fact that I was using magic on the Hellmouth, without a reliable means of cleansing its crud out of my system, more than I do on the TYPE of magic I was using. I mean, yes, like calls to like and the Hellmouth IS a dark place by nature-"

The two Hakuba priests nod in agreement to that statement. Ginta was originally ignorant of what a Hellmouth is, but you know that he read up on the subject after your initial meeting, and has since caught up with his father and son in that particular field of knowledge.

He's also mentioned that he misses being happily ignorant, but, double-edged swords and all that.

"-so any Dark Magic I cast there certainly wouldn't have HELPED my condition, but I don't think it can be blamed for the majority of that corruption, either. I didn't exactly run around town casting curses and firing off slaying spells before we met. Still don't," you add, before anybody gets the wrong idea.

"Keep not-doing that," Akkiko advises. "You'll keep your parents from going grey a lot" - she pauses to consider you for a moment - "okay, a LITTLE longer."

"As for DARKEST SORCERY," you go on, sparing Akkiko a wounded glance before turning to Grandpa Higurashi, "that covers quite a range of things."

You give Kagome's grandfather and the rest of the Earth-native members of the audience a quick overview of the elemental forces, cycles, and hierarchies that underlie the Hyrulean systems of magic. Akkiko already knew or had intuited some of this, given that trade in spells you did with her to prepare for the Familiar Binding Ritual, but you never came out and laid out the details for her, so she still gets a surprise or two - your mention of Time being recognized as an element in its own right, for example.

All in all, the concept appears to strike a chord with your audience, who comment on the similarities to traditional styles of mysticism and magic practiced in Japan and the nearer mainland countries: the Five Great Elements; the Chinese Wu Xing; and Yin and Yang, to name the obvious names.

That done, you note that you aren't just learning DARKEST SORCERY from Batreaux, even if that is the element he's most personal adept with and knowledgeable of. He's also taught you plenty about Lightest Sorcery (even if that was mostly theoretical), Hottest Sorcery, Earthiest Sorcery, Spookiest Sorcery, and the specific approaches to calling on the other elements as well. Much of what Batreaux has taught you over the last few months has been the theory to go with your practical skills, formulas, rules, and philosophy you'd either gleaned fragments of from Ganondorf's memories or hashed out on your own. Getting confirmation - and in a few places, correction - from a practicing sorcerer of your own style was extremely valuable.

"He's also been teaching me how to be properly dramatic," you add. "That's another part of sorcery."

Most of the room regard you with amusement, but it's Akkiko who speaks: "You don't say."

"Oh, but he is correct!" Batreaux exclaims. "SELF-CONFIDENCE and SELF-EXPRESSION are VITAL to a sorcerer's art! One cannot WRESTLE with the FORCES OF THE UNIVERSE and emerge intact without the former, and the latter is KEY to making precise, EFFICIENT use of those same forces, without EXHAUSTING one's limited strength in the bargain!"

Surprisingly, it's Kanna who speaks up: "Is that why that Thunderbird gentleman spoke the way he did?"

Almost as surprisingly, it's Batreaux who answers her, though not before coughing into his fist in obvious embarrassment. "Er, no, madam. The honored Thunderbird is a most powerful being in his own right, and I do not doubt his confidence in himself or his power, but he is not a sorcerer. He's just very formal."
And incredibly loud.
"And incredibly loud," Atsuko notes.

At this, Batreaux shrugs. "He is a Spirit of Lightning and Thunder. Noise is part of his nature."

You conclude this segue into magical theory by mentioning that you've been looking for a way to harmonize your various elemental affinities so that the opposing forces work together, rather than against each other.

"What," Akkiko asks, "like casting a spell that combines Fire and Ice, without extinguishing the former or melting the latter?"

---

"I can already do that, actually," you tell Akkiko.

She blinks. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

"...prove it."

You regard the older woman for a moment, then shrug, gather your mana, and cast a cantrip that calls upon and combines Elemental Fire and Elemental Ice. The resulting coin-sized mass of energy hangs in the air between your upraised hands, flickering red and blue and radiating heat and cold in equal measure, while tiny trails of vapor begin to form around it.

Akkiko regards the steaming mote for a moment. "...okay, then. So if not that, then what were you thinking about?"

Letting the contradictory thermal event lapse and lowering your hands, you answer, "I was thinking about combining the affinities I already have, so that their useful traits are retained, while their drawbacks are reduced, if not eliminated entirely."

Akkiko appears to grasp your meaning, but the priests - whose powers don't focus heavily on elemental magic - and the two non-magical women are visibly puzzled.

"Having a strong affinity for one element tends to make you better at using that element, more able to relate to and safely interact with creatures that are aligned with that element, and more resistant to hazardous expressions of the element," you explain for the benefit of the greater group. "At the same time, though, it makes you less able to work with the opposing element. Like, having a strong Fire Affinity would make you more tolerant of high temperatures, or even exposure to open flame, but at the cost of being vulnerable to the cold and not getting along with creatures of ice. And if you manage to cultivate two opposing affinities, their benefits and drawbacks largely cancel out, leaving you having done a lot of work for very little gain."

Koujiro is the first to get it. "And what you want is to keep the benefits of that effort."

"Yeah. Basically, turn a Fire Affinity and an Ice Affinity into a FireIce Affinity. Or IceFire." You frown, considering it. "Maybe a Thermal Affinity...?"

Naming conventions aside, the priests have to admit that they're not sure how you'd go about doing that. One of the consequences - good, bad, or other - of "outsourcing" the heavy lifting to their patron kami is that they're not as affected by a strong elemental affinity as a sorcerer like yourself, who harnesses the power more directly.

Akkiko has more to say on the subject.

"I can't do it myself, and I don't personally know anybody who can, or has. That said, I HAVE heard of people attempting the like. Some of them may even have succeeded, if you believe the right stories. Others gave it up as a bad job, and a few... well, it's like throwing water on a fire - even literally so, depending on the elements involved."

"You get steam?" Kanna ventures with a frown.

"Yeah. Only the water is your body, and the fire is inside you."

You envision that, and wince.

Ginta's wife must be picturing something similar, as she makes a moue of distaste. "That sounds... very unpleasant."

"Yeah."

So. Limited information on the objective, to the extent you can't be certain it's even possible, an implication of considerable difficulty in pursuing the goal, and a non-zero chance of Bad Things happening if you get it wrong.

...

Sounds about right.

Regardless, you weren't planning on pursuing that goal today.

Having exhausted that topic for the time being, you try to steer the conversation back towards your original goal of priestly and spiritual interactions. In doing so, you naturally drift towards asking how Koron met this particular bunch of humans, and what they were talking about when you entered the Mansion.

"Oh, I was on my way to visit the forest again when I met Mr. Higurashi's granddaughter," Koron says easily. Then he gives you a hurt look. "Aleeeex! Why didn't you tell me that her family has a guardian tree's blessing?"

What.

---

"You can blame Briar for that," you reply easily.

"Hey!" Briar protests. "How is that supposed to be MY fault?"

"Which of us is the century-old fairy with the family connection to the Lost Woods, again?" you ask rhetorically. "And which is the nine-year-old boy who doesn't have a Wood Affinity, AND has a fairly strong Fire Affinity? All I could tell about the Sacred Tree is that it wasn't a NORMAL tree, and that its unusual nature wasn't hurting anybody. Isn't it part of my partner's job to call my attention to things I miss?" You aim that last line at Koron and Vert as much as you do Briar.

"Listen, you-"

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Koron agrees with a sage nod.

"Grrk!"

"Definitely Briar's fault," Vert adds.

"Traitor!" Briar roars, flying towards her counterpart.

"Nyah-nyah! Can't catch me!"

As the two fairies proceed to zip about the room, you turn back to Koron. "A blessing, huh?"

The Kokiri druid nods. "It's not the same kind of thing that a priest could bestow on behalf of their patron," he says, "which might help explain why you missed it. There wouldn't have been any spellcasting or even conscious thought involved, just the Tree's natural influence on people that lived near it and took care of it for a long time. I never knew other people could be that friendly to a tree!"

There are some smiles from the Japanese members of the audience.

"I'm not sure if 'friendly' is the right word," Koujiro admits. "Our country has a long history of regarding particularly ancient and impressive trees as places where the kami have touched the mortal world, and as sources of physical and spiritual healing in their own right. It's a matter of respect, and mutual benefit."

Grandpa Higurashi nods. "It's a well-known fact that if you walk around an Honorable Sacred Tree while thinking only of your deepest wish, that wish will be granted! And you'll live a whole year longer, too!"

"Whoa, really?!" Koron exclaims. "That's amazing! Even the Great Deku Tree can't grant wishes!"

"And these trees can't talk," Akkiko says. Evidently, Koron told them a bit about the Guardian of the Lost Woods before you arrived. "Plus," she goes on, "it's not like the wishes are granted on the spot or just out of the blue. It's more that the tree gives you a little blessing that can help you make your wish come true, if you work at it yourself."

"Oh, that makes sense..." Koron trails off in silence for a moment, before shaking his head. "Still, if you don't mind, Elder Higurashi, I'd really like to come visit your shrine and meet the Sacred Tree someday!"

Kagome's grandfather, looking positively chuffed at being addressed so respectfully by a celestial, has no issue with extending Koron an invitation to stop by whenever he likes.

You know what you'll be doing in the not-too-distant future.

Is there anything else you'd like to discuss regarding this little tangent of arboreal blessings?

---

Seeing as how the priests among your guests appear to be taking the presence of spirits from beyond at your party in stride, you figure that they don't need you to hold their hands for introductions to the rest of the celestials, ghosts, and elemental beings. Ginta and Ichirou can serve as intermediaries with the Memorians, they, the Shuzens, and all the kitsune on the island are aware that Lady Akemi is a ghost, and your other guests from the spirit realms look lively enough (and solid enough) that they're unlikely to freak anyone out.

A formal introduction between Kahine and those most likely to see through the guise of her mortal avatar might not be a bad idea, when she gets back from tracking down Elder Terok, but in the meantime, the Hakubas, Akkiko, and Grandpa Higurashi seem to have a good handle on the situation. And Elder Tiriaq has already had that meeting and been warned about your other ghostly guests.

That just leaves all your other guests to think about.

You spare a moment to thank the Goddesses for the Spell of Ghost Food, and that it integrated so smoothly with the Magnificent Mansion where the Memorians are staying. When you visited them to cast the Spell of Tongues, even the three soldiers that you summoned first were still sitting in the Mansion's dining room, savoring their drinks and one last round of food, while their more recently-arrived fellows were either still digging in heartily, or (in the case of those latest to arrive) grappling with shock and awe at the realization that they could actually EAT something.

After a thousand years of being denied that ability, it would take a strong soul indeed to resist the offer of a good meal, much less the sort of feast the Mansion provides. Judging by the cheerful, almost boisterous atmosphere you saw when you dropped by, as well as the amount of wine floating around, the soldiers weren't planning on leaving the Mansion any time soon.

This is convenient for you, as long as they don't get... what's the expression? "Too far into their cups?"

Because having a short platoon's worth of ghosts attend your party is one thing, but having that same number of DRUNKEN ghosts is something else.
...can ghosts even get drunk?
Granted, you're not sure if ghosts can even GET drunk, but considering how life-like you've seen some of the Memorians act, and the fact that what they're drinking is magical twice over, you have to acknowledge that the possibility is there.
No, they can't actually get drunk. But they can REMEMBER.
Maybe you should go check on those guys? Just in case?

Potential antics of inebriated shades aside, one of the guests you're most keen on introducing to your spectral and/or celestial guests is Kagome, who arguably stands to benefit most from such meetings. The only other one of your guests with significant spiritual potential is Ichigo, and between his folks, Arisawa Akkiko, that "Kisuke" person that his parents keep mentioning, and that black cat that keeps turning up and following him around when you visit, you're pretty sure that the orange-haired boy is covered for contacts and potential tutors in that field.

Kagome is hardly going untutored, but from what she's said in her letters and during your visits, you get the impression that all of her teachers are human, and all of them are equally shocked by the sheer level of spiritual power she can bring to bear. That business with the disintegrating youkai bone hasn't been an isolated incident, just the most extreme one, but it still illustrates the fundamental difference in power between Kagome and her current tutors. For all that they can teach her about a miko's duties, they just aren't set up to deal with someone of her potential - and at some point, that's going to become an issue.

Introducing Kagome to Hyrulean celestials won't exactly solve her little problem - Hyrule didn't have an equivalent to miko, as far as you can recall through Ganondorf's memories, so there's only so much they could show her. That said, Hyruleans of any era are accustomed to working with higher levels of supernatural power than modern Earthlings, so Kagome could still benefit a little. And a chance to interact with celestials, ghosts, elementals, and Fae in a friendly setting would be a useful thing all on its own.

That last bit gets you thinking.

You have a couple of Hyrulean celestials (and a fairy) right here, one of them childlike in appearance and manner, the other carrying himself with a friendly flamboyance that far outweighs his origins or the lingering fearsome elements of his looks.

Do you want to ask Koron or Batreaux to tag along with you to meet Kagome? Again, in the Kokiri's case?

---

Taking Koron (and Vert) with you to see Kagome strikes you as the best option. They've already met once - with Kagome making a good impression on Koron, though perhaps not one entirely of her own making - he is a priest to her shrine maiden in training, and although you know that the Kokiri is quite a bit older than his form suggests, his behavior has been fairly consistently child-like, interspersed with moments of ageless wisdom.

Plus he has a fairy partner. You know well the value of tiny and adorable people where girls are concerned.

Contrast that with Batreaux's considerable and potentially-intimidating size, his flamboyant personality, his love of things eerie or downright weird, that hint of Darkness in his aura, and his distinct lack of a cute little companion, and it's no contest in your mind as to who's the better choice to bring along.

However...you're honestly torn on what to do about the Memorians. On the one hand, you want to trust your ghostly guests to know their limits, but on the other, you're well aware that this will be the first time in a millennium that they've had the CAPACITY - much less the opportunity - to actually drink anything. It's not only possible that they aren't going to be used to their limits, it's LIKELY.

"Something wrong, Alex?" Akkiko asks, interrupting your circling train of thought. "You seem a little distracted all of a sudden."

After a moment's hesitation, you explain your concern about the Memorians.

The rest of the room hushes for a moment.

"Drunken... ghosts...?" Hakuba Kanna says slowly, before turning to her husband and father-in-law. "Is that even possible?"

"You know, I have no idea?" Koujiro replies, looking slightly amazed. "It never even occurred to me to wonder about it."

"It's possible," Akkiko answers.

Everyone looks at her, struck by the confidence in her voice.

"There's an amusing story in it, but it's not mine to tell," the part-oni priestess deflects. "That aside, if it really is those guys' first chance to have a drink since they died, someone should check in on them before they get hammered."

Akkiko's idea of "someone" is evidently herself, judging by the way she gets out of her chair, but she's matched in that by Ginta, Koujiro, and Batreaux.

"I have previous experience with sozzled spirits," the woman points out.

"These ghosts should recognize me," Ginta counters.

"Perhaps we should all go?" Koujiro suggests. "There are nearly twenty of them, after all."

"...point," Akkiko admits.

"Come on, Alex!" Koron exclaims, as the priests and the former demon all move to leave. "You don't want to miss this, do you?"

You sigh, and follow. While you had wanted to go check up on Kagome, you ARE the host, and you should be there in case your Memorian guests need a refresher on how they're expected to behave at your party.

Kanna and Atsuko tag along with the rest of you as you move down the row of Mansion doorways to the one that embodies your take on a Memorian barracks.

Akkiko is in the lead, and as soon as she opens the door, you hear a chorus:

In taberna quando sumus,
Non curamus quid sit humus,
Sed ad ludum properamus,
Cui semper insudamus.
Quid agatur in taberna,
Ubi nummus est pincerna,
Hoc est opus ut queratur,
Sic quid loquar, audiatur.

Gained Music F (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)

An interesting thing about the Spell of Tongues is how it reverts to the user's native language in situations where they're not consciously addressing those who rely on a different dialect.

You don't have any experience with drinking songs, but if nothing else, the words are intelligible, and the singers seem to be in *ahem* good spirits. You also don't sense any spiritual activity that you'd consider unusual for a group of eighteen ghosts united in a good mood.

---

You listen to the singing souls for a moment, and then nod.

"Well, everything seems to be fine here."

"They do carry a fair tune for a bunch of dead soldiers," Akkiko agrees. Her words do not match her slight frown, but that discrepancy is explained when she adds, "But they've gotten to the point of singing drinking songs when they've only been here for, what, an hour? Hour and a half at the outside? If they keep that pace up for the next couple of hours, there could be a problem."

You nod at this. "In that case, could I ask you to step in and talk with them about slowing down? I don't have any experience with alcohol, and, well..."

You gesture towards the musical interior of the Mansion.

Akkiko grins. "And I walk around with a jug of sake and challenge people to drinking contests."

Well, yes.

"Ah, sure. Why not? At the very least, it'll give me a chance to expand my repertoire of drinking songs, and to ask these boys what they heck they're actually SAYING..."

With that, she heads inside. Ginta and Koujiro are right behind her, and the two Hakuba women are right behind THEM, Kanna wearing a mask of matronly disapproval, while Atsuko just looks bemused by the whole thing. Batreaux waits for the ladies to enter, gives you and Koron a passing glance-

You wave for him to go ahead, silently indicating that you won't be following.

-and then ducks through the doorway.

Koron is about to follow him, all childish curiosity, when you reach out to catch his shoulder and ask him to come with you to find Kagome again.

"Oh, what for?"

"I'll explain as we walk..."

And with that, the two of you head off, your fairy partners following along even as Briar continues to chase Vert. Behind you, the words of the second verse of the Memorian drinking song hang in the air:

Quidam ludunt,
quidam bibunt,
quidam indiscrete vivunt.
sed in ludo qui morantur,
ex his quidam denudantur,
quidam ibi vestiuntur,
quidam saccis induuntur;
ibi nullus timet mortem,
sed pro Baccho mittunt sortem.
Did someone call my name?
It takes you only a minute to sum up your reasoning for inviting Koron along, and the Kokiri is quite amenable to the idea of helping out someone who has a Guardi- sorry, a Sacred Tree's favor.

Actually finding the young miko isn't as difficult a task as it could have been, since it turns out she is outside of any of the Mansions, and close enough, recently enough, that Bali Ha'i's aura doesn't muffle her own presence past your ability to detect it. You end up following a wide trail of footprints in the sand, heading down the beach in the direction of the Ring of Trials.

As if the physical tracks alone weren't proof enough, you can pick out a dozen different auras, some belonging to unaugmented humans, others humans empowered by ki, spiritual power, magic, or a mix of the above, and yet others giving off lingering youki. You can also hear a mix of cheers, energetic yelling, and over-the-top martial shouting as you get closer.

All in all, you are not surprised when you round the rocks that separate the "residential" stretch of the beach from the area where you set up the Ring, and find Tatsuki and Kahlua sparring on the Triforce-marked stone floor within the circle of heavily-modified standing stones, with what looks like every guest near or below your own age sitting or standing in the seating area, cheering for one or the other. Beryl is also present, though that seems to be mostly for the sake of her sister Cecilia, who is watching the fight with wide-eyed silence.

You do notice a few distinctive absences - namely, how none of Emiko's older sisters are present. Every other girl under the age of... actually, how old IS Beryl, anyway? Mid-teens, anyway... well, regardless, every girl younger than that seems to be here. The only person in the arena seats older than her is Miss Akasha. There's also a decided lack of boys in the audience, with only Sokka to be seen - but he's too busy cheering to seem to care.

As for Kagome, she's sitting near Zelda, the Kurosaki twins, and Kokoa, watching the sparring match politely, but with nothing like the enthusiasm of, say, Emiko, who is bouncing in her seat a few places over, or Cordelia, who is yelling for Tatsuki to "knock her block off."

---

It has occurred to you that the girls (and Sokka) will almost certainly try to drag you into a sparring match when they realize you're here. Much as you enjoy a good, friendly scrap, that's not what you're here for, and you're not keen on getting distracted from your chosen course, as has happened a couple of times already today.

That said, it has ALSO occurred to you that trying to sneak off with Kagome in the middle of Tatsuki and Kahlua's bout would probably not go over well. And you're going to be on the same island with these girls (and Sokka) for all of the next two days, so it behooves you not to go out of your way to irk them.

Besides, waiting for this match to end before trying to borrow the miko gives you the opportunity to see how Tatsuki and Kahlua match up.

The elevated stone benches that surround the Ring of Trials don't form a complete circle; there is an open arc of about sixty degrees aimed more or less squarely at Kahine's volcano, which is where you'll be entering the Ring tomorrow. You pause here, at the "mouth" of the mini-arena, to watch the girls go at it.

Almost immediately, you determine that neither Tatsuki nor Kahlua is going all-out, even by the standards of a spar between friends that won't freak out the normal and near-normal humans in the audience. You ponder that for a moment, and then realize the problem: the girls aren't used to fighting in a tropical environment. The Spells of Abjuration you wove over Kahlua and the rest of her family protect against the sun's light and the touch of water, but don't do anything about the heat or the humidity.

No sooner has this thought come to you, than another has you looking through the stands once again. It takes only a moment for you to spot the open-lidded cooler full of ice chips, bottles of juice, and sealed pouches sitting next to Miss Akasha, steaming slightly in the heat, at which point you relax and return your attention to the match.

The atmosphere isn't the only environmental factor affecting the fight, you realize after a moment. For all that she's protected by your magic, Kahlua isn't used to being this active under direct sunlight, and it shows. She's trying to keep her back to the sun as much as possible, which is hindering her mobility, and whenever she has to turn towards it, a lifetime of reflex and who knows how many ages of inherited instinct have her flinching slightly as the bright light hits her eyes.

Kahlua's sun-hat, incidentally, is fetched up against the low stone wall of the Ring, looking dusty, forlorn, and a little crumpled. Tatsuki's work, you suspect. As for the sunglasses Kahlua was wearing when she arrived, those appear to have been discarded before the match began; at the very least, you can't see them laying about in the Ring, whether intact or in pieces.

Tatsuki is taking full advantage of Kahlua's inherent discomfort. Every time the vampire princess tries to maneuver towards the sunward wall, so that she can get her back to the light and close off her opponent's angle of approach, Tatsuki chases, grapples, or throws her the other way. Kahlua's attempts to keep her back to the sun are matched by Tatsuki's efforts to do the exact same thing, forcing the other girl to turn towards the hated day-star - at which point she flinches again, and Tatsuki leaps on the opening.

Skillwise, Kahlua still has the edge over Tatsuki, but her lead is much narrower than it was back at her birthday party, when they first sparred. It's partly the environment, but more that Tatsuki has had almost a year to get used to her unsealed oni blood and the increased physical prowess that comes with it. Blows driven by vampiric strength that would have left Tatsuki reeling if they'd connected when she was still operating a purely human levels, and which she continued to flinch from in the early weeks of the seal being undone, now register as hits that she can afford to take, if she's smart about it. Less energy spent on evasive defense leaves more for attack, and as you've experienced in your own spars, Tatsuki can attack very fast and very hard these days.

There was a point, when your visits to Karakura were just starting, that Tatsuki was having trouble sparring with her full strength, or for that matter, controlling her strength in matches with regular kids. That time is long since over; between fighting you, fighting Kahlua and Moka, and whatever the heck her mom is teaching her, Tatsuki is now comfortable in her own skin, able to use exactly as much strength as she likes.

And being part-oni, she has a LOT of strength to work with.

In the end, however, Kahlua is still a vampire, and has far more experience fighting monster-level opponents. She takes Tatsuki's last attempt to wrestle her away from the arena wall, turns it around-

*THUD*

-and slams the oni-girl face-first into the stone.

There is a collective wince from the crowd, punctuated by hisses of sympathy and a single "Oh, that's gotta hurt," from Sokka.

Moving slowly, Tatsuki steps back from the wall, gingerly inspecting her nose with one hand as she says, "This ring is too small."

Beside you, Koron makes a wordless sound of offended protest.

---

You'll concede that Tatsuki has a point about the size of the Ring of Trials. Its total area is less than thirty square meters, which is a bit less than half the space of regulation-sized mats for kumite - a third, if you count the extra space left around the actual competition area in case of ring-out and other accidents. Not to mention that the Ring is, well, a RING, circular rather than square, and so lacking corners.

Having the walls right there on the edge of the sands would just make it feel even smaller.

On a related note, it's a good thing the Ring of Trials is just meant to be a physical anchor and basic template for the space-time magic the priests wove into it, rather than the place where your upcoming Trials will be fought. Too many Hyrulean monsters would either have the reach to dominate the Ring, or be so large as to fill it outright - and maybe spill over into the seats besides.

The Mother Gohma comes to mind.

All that being said, you don't think Tatsuki has any real grounds to complain about the size of the Ring. There's never a guarantee that you're going to have the kind of space in a fight that competition regulations allow, and if you walk into a ring that's smaller than what you're used to of your own free will, as Tatsuki and Kahlua both did, you've got no one else to blame when the lack of space ends up working against you.

Shrugging off Tatsuki's comment, you head into the seating area, moving towards Kagome.

You get about three steps when Sokka notices you and raises his hand and voice in acknowledgment. "Hey, Alex! How go the party preparations?"

And like that, all eyes turn in your direction.

"They're basically done," you reply. "We're just waiting for the last few guests to arrive. One or two are coming on their own, but the rest are in Europe, which has another hour or so before the sun comes up."

Sokka considers that, and nods slowly.

"I'm still getting used to the idea that you can travel that far that easily," he admits. "Or arrange for other people to do the same. Not that it isn't amazing and convenient and amazingly convenient and all that, but just trying to figure out the time zones gives me a headache, you know?"

To that, you can only nod. "I understand exactly what you mean."

Despite the flush of her face where she hit the wall, and the presence of reversed Hyrulean glyphs along her right cheek, Tatsuki laughs. "Tell him about the time you woke Mom and me up at four-thirty in the morning."

"Amusing tales of past mistakes aside," Akasha interjects smoothly, "what brings you by, Alex?"

"I was looking for Kagome, actually." You punctuate this by pointing back past your shoulder at your Kokiri companion. "I wanted to officially introduce her to one of my teachers."

"Hm?" Kagome looks up, blinks, and then smiles. "Oh! Hello again, Mister Koron! You too, Mister Vert! Are you done talking with Grandpa already?"

Out of the corner of your eye, you catch Akua frowning as she glances at the Kokiri and fairy.

"Heh," Koron chuckles to himself. "'Mister.'" Then he clears his throat. "We're done for now, at least. Alex suggested that we should talk to you next."

"Really? What about?"

You get the feeling that saying, 'I was hoping to help you be a better miko' might not be the most politic approach, given that there are five vampire girls, three young kitsune, two Water Tribesman, and one part-oni in the audience, all of whom are shamelessly listening in along with the nine wholly human girls. On the other hand, these ARE (mostly) your friends, most of the Japanese contingent have attended a party with Kagome without anybody getting purified in the process, and hearing that you'd like her to consider getting supplementary lessons in controlling her spiritual power - from other non-humans, no less - could be reassuring.

---

You consider Tatsuki's words, then shrug and proceed to recount the trade in spells that you arranged with Akkiko, and how your attempt to inform her that you were prepared to deliver your end ran into time zones - and the International Date Line, come to that - resulting in you unintentionally calling the woman at half-past four in the morning.

You don't try to deflect or deny the screw-up on your end, feeling that it's important to be able to laugh at yourself and your own mistakes, even if only in the metaphorical sense.

Perhaps it's because of your decision to own your error that you end up not mentioning Akkiko and Tatsuki's respective reactions to your early-morning wake-up call and visit, regardless of how amusing they were at the time.

Or maybe it's just that you don't want to risk your explanation leading into that conversation you had about Hollows and Shinigami.

"Let's grab some seats and talk about that," you suggest, gesturing to the second row of stone benches, behind and above the miko's current seat.

You know perfectly well that simply changing seats won't prevent most of the monsters assembled here from listening in on your discussion, if they have a mind to, but the act of moving even that short distance is in itself an unspoken request for privacy. Most of the non-human members of the audience are Japanese, and so fairly sensitive to such gestures; they might not be able to avoid HEARING what you say, but they won't actively eavesdrop, much less intrude upon the discussion.

...well, most of them won't. Kokoa, Mio, and Miu are all young enough that they might not have grasped that particular cultural behavior yet, and Miss Akasha is probably going to listen in for a bit, just to make sure that whatever the miko, the prodigal sorcerer, the celestial agent of foreign gods, and the two fairies are talking about isn't going to come back to bite her and her family.

You don't know what Akua will decide to do, but you're wagering she'll follow Miss Akasha's lead.

"Sure..." Kagome says slowly, while looking first to her left, where Kurosaki Karin is sitting, and then to her right, where Zelda meets her gaze. "Just give me a sec... would you excuse me for a few minutes, girls?"

"Well, okay," Karin sighs. "If we gotta."

"But only for a few minutes!" Zelda warns, giving her and then you cautionary glances. "Big Brother can talk a LOT if you let him."
She has your number, doesn't she?
That statement would hurt more if it weren't completely true.

Kagome giggles, assures Zelda she'll keep you on track, and then gets up, stands on her bench, and hops up to the next row. You, Koron, and your respective fairies join her, with you sitting in the middle, Kagome to your left, and Koron on your right, Briar on your shoulder, and Vert on Koron's head.

"So," the miko-in-training says, leaning forward on the bench to look the four of you over. "What's up?"

Mindful of Zelda's warning, and speaking as softly as you can manage while still being clearly heard over the crowd - who are now applauding as Cordelia and Sokka enter the Ring - you explain how Koron got permission from Grandpa Higurashi to visit their shrine and the Sacred Tree. You state how that presents an opportunity for Kagome to expand on her mystical education, and then describe your concerns about the state of said education, based on what she's said to you in person and through her letters.

You're careful not to make it sound like you think Kagome's teachers are incompetent or actively misleading her, you just point out the disintegrating youkai bone incident and other such events, the general reaction of shock among Kagome's tutors, and how that implies they aren't used to dealing with a student that has as much potential as she's clearly shown.

Kagome takes this all in without interruption, her expression growing increasingly serious.

"And you think taking lessons with Mister Koron would help me?" she concludes.

Your Kokiri companion chuckles again, honestly delighted by being addressed as "Mister."

"For learning how to control and use your powers to their fullest, yes," you reply.

"Hmmm..." Kagome hums thoughtfully.

For the third time since you sat down, Zelda glances over her shoulder at you, eyes narrowed.

Down in the arena, Sokka has taken a few hits and been flipped or tripped twice, but in exchange, he's finally managed to get Cordelia into a bear hug. You can feel her ki surging as she tries to break the hold, but in looks like the differences in age, gender, and species are just too much this time.

It looks like there's going to be an opening for a spar in a minute...

---

You're content with giving Kagome time to think over what you've already said, and reach her own conclusions about the prospect of getting magic lessons on the side from Koron and/or your other Hyrulean tutors.

That thought gives you a moment's pause, and you frown as you try to hunt down why the association of "Hyruleans" and "magic" would... be... unsettling...?

...

...wait. Did you...? Crud, you did.

"Problem, Alex?" Briar asks, having picked up on your chagrin through the familiar bond.

"I forgot to summon the Postman," you sigh. This, despite the fact that there's a room waiting for him in the Mansion you set up for the use of your Hyrulean guests, and Grey Voice.

There is a brief pause as your partner takes that in.

"...huh," she finally says. "So you did."

"Oh, you invited him, too?" Kagome asks, distracted from her thoughts.

"Yeah." Rising from the bench, you continue, "And I should probably go and take care of summoning him, before I forget again. If you'll excuse me?"

Kagome nods, and Koron leans back out of your way as you side-step past him.

Fortunately, the summoning diagram you set up on the beach should still be good, as long as nobody's walked through it since you called up the last of today's group of Memorians...

"Er, Alex?"

Somebody's voice breaks through your distracted musings, and when you look around, you see that Emiko is on her feet, staring at you with a very complicated expression. Ayane looks like she was about to stand up as well, but halted in mid-motion when she spotted you already standing.

"Are... we going to spar?" Emiko asks with trepidation.

"Oooo," the two youngest Hayashi sisters croon in unison.

"I'll have to take a rain-check on that, Emiko," you reply, before the little monsters can get off the teasing remark you just KNOW is on their minds. "I just remembered that there's a guest I forgot to summon earlier."

Your words leave the eldest of the currently-present kitsune looking at once relieved, and yet disappointed.

"Awww," her siblings sulk in synch.

Having excused yourself to various responses - mostly nods, shrugs, and the mildest of regrets, although Akasha does spare you a sympathetic smile, while Akua just huffs - you leave the Ring of Trials and move back up the beach.

The Death Coach is parked where you last saw it, but its master and the team of horses are nowhere in sight. The only evidence as to where they've gone are a broad trail of hoofprints and a single trail of heavy bootprints, each of which leads off in a different direction. At a glance, you'd say the horses headed inland for a run through the flatter, less-forested part of the island, while Jermafencer himself seems to have made a beeline for the outdoor dining area you set up with help from Bali Ha'i and Shaman-Chef Keoni.

Setting those observations aside for the time being, you turn your attention to the Summoning Circle you created earlier. It proves to be undisturbed, even by the birds you know reside on the island, and there's enough mana still circulating through the diagram to support a summoning.

You cast the Spell of Planar Binding without further delay-

"I summon you! Off-Duty Postman!"

Briar facepalms.

-and the Postman appears with his usual burst of golden light.

You blink, and not because of the brief flash.

Normally, the Postman wears an athletic shirt, shorts, the official hat of the Royal Hyrulean Postal Service, and his sandals, with his mail satchel hanging at his side and a banner strapped to his back. You're not surprised to see that he's traded in his "uniform" for a tropical-patterned t-shirt, a pair of longer and looser-fitting shorts, or a different hat, but you do have to wonder how he got his hands on a New York Mets baseball cap.

Switching his usual load of letters and parcels out for a couple of satchels of luggage makes perfect sense.

Swapping his battle-banner for a wooden umbrella with a rabbit pattern painted across the top? A bit less so.

Raising his arms into the air and throwing his head back, the Postman lets out a joyous cry of, "FREEDOM! Ha-ha! Take THAT, you slave-driving Post-Mortem Post Master General!" he adds, waving a fist at an unseen presence somewhere in the sky. "I am officially on vacation, and there is NOTHING you can do about it! You hear me? NOTHING! Ha-ha-ha-ha!"
...when was the last time he took time off, anyway?
And then he starts dancing a little jig.
...I don't actually know.

---

Seeing Emiko's disappointment, you find yourself promising to return for a spar as soon as possible - which you estimate to be within the next twenty minutes or so.

In addition, you specify that you'll be limited to ki use, as your party plans call for a significant expenditure of magic tomorrow, forcing you to budget it today.

"Oh. Oh!" And just like that, all hint of nervousness has fled from Emiko's face and bearing. "I understand, Alex. In that case, I'll be looking forward to our match!"

It doesn't take a genius to realize that Emiko is a lot more confident in her ability to face you in a spar where your magic has been taken out of the equation.

"Oooo," the twins coo once more.

"Stop that, you two," Emiko scolds them.

You're not that curious about the workings of the Royal Postal Service's afterlife branch. Also, you have a friendly sparring match to be getting back to.

As such, you let the Postman's exuberant declaration and impromptu dance number pass unremarked, and welcome him to Bali Ha'i like you did the rest of your guests.

"Thank you again for inviting me, Mister Harris! Oh, it's good to be off-duty for a change, and in such a wonderful environment..." The Postman pauses mid-step, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath of the salt-tinged island air. "Oh, yes. Do you smell that?"

You pause, sniff the air, and honestly don't pick up anything besides the sea air.

"That is the smell of Not Having To Work For The Weekend! Ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Okay, seriously. How long has it been since this guy took a vacation?
You are starting to get the impression that the Postman, always a little high-strung and prone to theatrics, may actually have been restraining himself in your previous encounters, constrained by the dignity of his duties. Take that away, and his natural, ah, "enthusiasm," is free to shine through unimpeded.
Clearly, it's been too long.
Either that, or his job is just THAT stressful, and getting away from the tension has left him all... loose-stringed and wobbly...? Yeah, that metaphor is kind of breaking down.

Shaking your head, you offer to show the Postman to his quarters.

"Lead the way, good sir!"

Grey Voice and Madam Lanora are still engaged in their discussion when you arrive, and you end up spending a few minutes on introductions-

"Giant ghost!"

-and soothing ruffled feathers-

*Ahem.*

-if Grey Voice will pardon the phrase. Still, it only ends up taking about six or seven minutes all told to get the Postman squared away, after which you're able to return to the Ring of Trials.

When you arrive, you find a most curious struggle in progress - or rather, winding down. One of the youngest Hayashi sisters is sitting on the sands, radiating an almost-visible cloud of depression; kneeling next to her is Kurosaki Karin, looking entirely unscuffed as she gently pats the slightly older girl on the shoulder. A short distance away, a ball of dust and flailing limbs rolls around the arena floor.

"Meanie!"

"Hair-puller!"

"Nasty witch!"

"Little demon!"

"Grrr!"

"Rrrg!"

...you're honestly not sure which of the girls trying to claw each other's eyes out is spouting off which insults. You're also surprised by how even the wrestling match seems to be. You know that kitsune aren't exactly physical powerhouses by monster standards, especially when they're young, but are they really so frail that an ordinary, angry little girl could keep up with one?

"Go, Yuzu!" Tatsuki cheers.

The expected call of support from a certain older sister does not come, and its absence has you looking around the arena seats and realizing, somewhat belatedly, that Emiko is nowhere in sight.

---

You probably shouldn't find the sight of two little girls rolling around in the dirt trying to strangle each other to be cute, especially not when their respective parents are going to find out about this odd two-on-two match and likely be less than entirely thrilled by it, but you do.
It's just kids being kids. And they're learning a valuable life skill! What's to be upset about?
Maybe it's the squeaky growls...?
Yeah, that's just precious.
Regardless of your personal feelings or the potential for paternal disapproval, you're reluctant to interfere with the, ah, "spar" in progress. Both sets of twins decided that they could play like the older kids, and at least two of them have proved that they can-

You glance at Karin and the depressed half of the Hayashi twins, and wonder what happened there.

-so unless somebody gets hurt, it'd be rude to interrupt them before they decide they're done themselves.

Worse comes to worst, you can always blame Miss Akasha.

While you wouldn't have pegged Mio (or Miu) as the sort to get into this kind of playground tussle, you're not overly surprised to find her in the middle of one. Young kitsune may be physical lightweights by monster standards, but they are still monsters, and you have yet to encounter a breed of monster (youkai, Hyrulean, or otherwise) that doesn't enjoy a spot of hand-to-hand, tooth-and-claw violence every now and then.

The real surprise is how fierce Yuzu is proving to be. Before this, if you'd been asked to pick which one of the Kurosaki twins would be most likely to get into a pint-sized version of a knock-down, drag-out fight brawl, you would have gone with Karin, who's been the more outspoken and physically-inclined of the pair in your experience.

You suppose it just goes to show that people, even very young people, have depths that are a mystery even to your keen senses.

Speaking of your keen senses, you spare a moment to look around for Emiko, on the off-chance that she's taken this opportunity to stalk you in preparation for your upcoming match. You don't sense anything with a passive scan, and when you switch your Ki Sense over to active for a moment - prompting a series of looks from the rest of the audience - what you can detect of Emiko's youki is only fading traces, heading out of the arena and off towards...

?

...the nearest of the coconut trees?

What?

*WHOOMPH!*

"Ha-ha!" a little fox cries out. "Victory!"

"One!" Akasha calls, beginning a countdown.

Turning your attention back to the arena, you see that Mio (or Miu) has managed to get her unexpectedly fierce human opponent in a pin, and is more or less sitting on Yuzu's back as she holds her face-down against the sandy floor.

"Gerroffamee!" Yuzu growls, shifting under the weight.

"Two!"

"Not until you give up!"

"Thr-!"

"Rrrr... HA!" With an obvious effort, Yuzu forces herself up and to her right, turning the "pin" into a clumsy roll.

"Yipe!"

"Eep!"

*CRASH!*

*CLONK!*

Although the desperate exertion broke what would have been a fight-ending hold, it also sent the two girls tumbling towards their respective twins, who - in hindsight - really shouldn't have stayed that close to such an energetic tussle.

Karin, having been on her feet - if in a squat - is able to leap clear.

Miu (or Mio), who was down on her knees in an overly-dramatic depressive funk, is not.

When the dust clears a moment later, two young kitsune and one unexpectedly fierce little human girl are laid out on the arena floor, eyes spinning.

"Winner by triple knock-out!" Akasha proclaims. "Karin!" Then, for the benefit of the Shuzen sisters, she adds, "And that, girls, is why you must NEVER underestimate the cute ones."

Karin blinks, looking confused, happy, concerned, and yes, very cute.

Across the arena, Tatsuki proves that she is, without doubt, her mother's daughter, as she just about falls off of her bench laughing.

Vert has already swooped out of the stands to take a look at the "injured," but Briar goes ahead and joins him to speed things up. The reasonable precaution proves unnecessary, as none of the three girls are really hurt. The worst damage is to Yuzu and Mio's clothes (and you do get a confirmation as to which fox she was fighting), which are streaked with dust and wrenched askew after their wrestling match.

Emiko returns in the middle of the post-battle cleanup, her presence unconcealed.

"Okay, I'm back. Is Aleyiiii- what in Inari's name happened to you two?!"

One twin keeps sulking; the other shoots a glare at Yuzu. "She fights dirty."

Yuzu sticks out her tongue.

The fox-girl promptly snaps at it.

"Mio!" Emiko scolds. "No biting! Remember what Daddy says?"

The fox-twins sigh, but obediently recite, "'Only bite as a last resort-'"

"'-because we're not that good at it, and you never know where the bad guys have been.'"

The whole arena stops and stares at the Kurosaki girls, and Tatsuki, as they finish the quote.

"Um..." Emiko ventures, turning from tiny human to part-oni to other tiny human in confusion. "That's... not quite what Daddy says, but... where did you hear that from?"

"Mommy!" the twins proclaim proudly.

"I heard it from my Mom," Tatsuki explains, "but she says she got it from Mrs. Kurosaki."

Not far from where Tatsuki is standing, you see Zelda wearing a thoughtful expression.

---

It would require no more than a cantrip or two to clean up the mess the two groups of twins have made of themselves, but you don't feel that doing so would be appropriate. Yuzu and Mio in particular have earned the right to wear the marks of their battle with pride and honor: Yuzu for keeping up with a youkai in a wrestling match; and Mio for matching her opponent's strength and skill without resorting to illusions, foxfire, claws, or teeth.

What kind of martial artist would you be, to take the proof of those accomplishments away from them?

Besides, as long as the streaks of dirt and the scuff marks are still visible, you can actually tell Mio and Miu apart-

*SPLASH!*

-aaaand Katara just started Waterbending at the little ones. Nothing major, just a mass of water about the size of both your hands side-by-side, guided by fine movements of Katara's wrists and fingers rather than the arm-sweeping gestures you've seen her use to control her power in the past.

"Just hold still, and we'll have you all cleaned up in no time," Katara says.

The water froths and bubbles, causing the girls to giggle as Katara draws it across their clothes, wiping away the dirt and not even leaving the fabric damp when the mass of water moves on.

Well. So much for that idea.

"Not unless it's a last resort," you add, acknowledging the fact that, even if the human bite isn't as powerful as that of other animals, much less youkai, it IS still a potential weapon. And if you get ki behind it...

...hmmm. The idea of a "Ki Bite" is one that hadn't really occurred to you before this. While it should be just a simple matter of Ki Enhancement focused on the jaw, you should probably consult with Lu-sensei before you try it out, and see whether he considers it a worthwhile technique, or something better avoid.

You're still losing your baby teeth, after all. That's likely to impede the technique, if indeed one exists, and you certainly don't want to put your adult teeth at risk.

For Zelda's part, she shrugs and says, "Okay, Big Brother."

You take a moment to enjoy what it feels like to have a little sister who trusts and listens to you.

...and maybe also to savor the mild envy coming from Sokka, Emiko, Beryl, and various Shuzens.

Maybe.

Speaking of Emiko, she shakes her head. "Well, I'm ready for our match, Alex. Are you?"

Seeing as how you already said you weren't going to be using magic for this fight? Yeah, you pretty much are. A casual flex of mental and spiritual power has your ki cycling faster and freer than usual, warming up in anticipation of the impending bout, and you gesture for Emiko to enter the Ring of Trials ahead of you.

She does so, and everybody else hurries back to their seats.

"This is gonna be good," Sokka chuckles.

"Go, Alex!" Zelda cheers, once again warming your heart.

"Go, Emi!" Mio and Miu cheer in unison. "Try not to lose too badly!"

...you can't help but feel a moment's sympathy for your friend.

Miss Akasha looks the two of you over. "Fighters ready?"

Emiko nods, taking a curious stance that has her hands tucked up the long, billowing sleeves of her light blouse. You can feel her youki flowing in a similar state of readiness as your energies, with a hint of the wild playfulness that you're starting to recognize denotes a kitsune - or at least, a member of the Hayashi Clan - about to cut loose.

FOXY FIGHTING FANGIRL: HAYASHI EMIKO

You assume your own stance, and make a final decision on the tactics you'll be using for this fight.

Emiko is more of a martial arts fangirl than a serious fighter, and she has the kitsune's racial trait of being more inclined to employ mystical powers in combat, as opposed to in-your-face physicality. That said, she's still a youkai, and naturally stronger, tougher, and quicker than a human; since you're only using ki, this could be very close to a fair fight in terms of raw ability. On top of that, Emiko IS a trickster, and one who has the distinct advantage of having seen you fight before, whereas her fighting style is a mystery to you. All you know for certain is that it's called Hidden Leaf Style, and that it's based around speed, stealth, and versatility, with an emphasis on mystical techniques - and this is straight from the fox's mouth, so she COULD have been misleading you.

With all of that in mind...

---

A thought occurs to you, and you drop out of your opening stance. "Actually, before we begin-"

Everybody looks at you, surprised by the interruption to the proceedings.

You ignore the audience for the moment, and focus on your opponent.

"-I said before that I wasn't going to cast spells, and I'm going to stick to that. However, I brought a few magic items with me, which I plan to use in tomorrow's big event, and it strikes me that this spar would be a good opportunity for me to test them and my own skills at using them in a fight before that. That's if you don't have any objections...?"

"I think that would depend on what these items do," Emiko answers immediately.

You take out your Blessed Sword, as well those few fruits of this year's mage-crafting labors that aren't consumables (all of which you're quite sensibly saving for tomorrow's Big Event), or destined to become gifts for other people.

Emiko has no objection to your using the Memorian Warmage Robe, both approving of the idea that you'd be a bit better protected against accidental injury, and finding the robe itself to be rather "dashing, in that traditional magical sort of way."

You don't know about "dashing," but you'll give her "traditional." They are based on the uniforms of a martial magical tradition a thousand years dead, after all.

Emiko gives more thought to the matter of the Vambraces of Force Shielding, but eventually nods and allows them in as well, noting that she could use the practice fighting against the kind of defense they provide. There's not much you can do about a full-body force-field but keep on hammering it until it gives, but a limited-area maneuverable shield such as your Vambraces generate can be worked around in a number of ways.

You take the unspoken hint that Emiko thinks she HAS some of those ways up her sleeve. Possibly literally.

The Blessed Sword gets a wary look, before Emiko asks if you'd mind wielding it with the scabbard fixed on, so that it's effectively a blunt weapon.

As for the Boots of Air Walking, Emiko would honestly prefer that you not use those, because she admits she'd be at a terrible disadvantage if you could climb out of her reach and then start zapping away with your ki attacks.

With your sparring partner's answer in hand, you proceed to equip:

---

Just the Robe and Vambraces.

You give the sheathed Blessed Sword a few experimental swings, and shake your head at the results. While the scabbard doesn't add that much weight in absolute terms, it's more than enough to throw off the normal balance of the weapon, changing how it would handle. You feel that trying to wield the blade in this manner would be counterproductive, and so, you return it to your dimensional pocket.

The Boots of Air Walking join it, if for entirely different reasons.

The Memorian Warmage Robe and the Vambraces of Force Shielding, on the other hand, you keep out and begin to don. In deference to the climate, you're only wearing a t-shirt and shorts, and those are light enough that you can fit the armored sections of the robe right over them without issue. The Vambraces are easier to don, but as you aren't accustomed to wearing such weighty pieces of gear on your forearms, they are going to take more time to get used to than the Robe.

A good thing you're doing this now, rather than in tomorrow's Trials.

Once you're fully outfitted and have run through a quick kata to refresh your memory of how the Robe affects your movements, you nod to Miss Akasha.

"Alright, then," Miss Akasha says. "From the top: fighters ready?"

Once again in her folded-arms, hands-up-the-opposite-sleeves stance, Emiko nods.

Back in your opening stance, you nod.

"Begin!"

Your first move is to immediately activate Ki Enhancement, pouring in the extra energy needed to trigger an Overload, and to dodge to your right - after all, that may not be Emiko standing in front of you. This is near-simultaneous with the activation of Mental Sight, your reasoning being that Emiko will have less experience with techniques based on psychic energy than on the mix of energies found in ki or youki, and thus less likelihood of detecting or countering them.

Gained Ki Enhancement A
Gained Ki Overload D (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Mental Sight D (Plus)

As it happens, your guess appears to have been spot-on. The kitsune now bounding towards the "back" of the arena has a distinct psychic presence, complex enough that you can't see it being a fake - not unless Emiko is also secretly an esper.

In fairness, you can't say that she isn't...

Before Emiko has touched down, her hands have slipped out of her sleeves, to a more appropriate position for a fight, and in doing so, her right hand has brought a palm leaf with it.

Even as you trigger your Brain Enhancement ki technique and your Mental Enhancement psychic power, in the hope that their respective benefits will help to counteract any tricks Emiko pulls, you can't help but spare a moment to stare in confusion.

Gained Brain Enhancement E (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Mental Enhancement E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)

Then your still-passive Ki Sense detects a brief, tightly-contained surge of kitsune youki, just as the leaf in Emiko's hand snaps from languid flexibility to sudden rigidity.

And then she leaps at you, swinging the palm leaf like a large sword.

You dodge easily enough, but the way the "leaf" plows a short furrow through the loose sand of the arena floor reveals a few things.

First, the Hidden Leaf Style may have gotten its name for a very good reason.

Second, Emiko wasn't practicing her stealth skills earlier, but ARMING herself for this match. In which case, you have made the classic blunder of Giving A Magic-User Time To Prepare.

Third, for all that Emiko is swinging it like a sword, the youki-reinforced frond isn't actually sharp. The line it left in the sand is too broad for that. So you're fighting the equivalent of a bokken or other training blade, rather than a truly deadly weapon.

Fourth, that leaf-sword is trailing electrical sparks. Small ones, but still enough to make you wary of touching them with your bare hands.

Fifth, and relevant to the two previous points, you are really regretting putting your Blessed Sword away right about now.

As you recover from your dodge - and promptly duck out of the line of a follow-up swing - your next layer of self-buffs triggers, Ki Armor and Spiritual Armor reinforcing your body against harm in general, and damage to the soul in particular. Another evasive movement, another second or two of time, and you add Environmental Adaptation - so that you don't overheat in this weather - and an Overloaded Spiritual Enhancement to the list.

Gained Environmental Adaptation E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Enhancement D (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Overload F (Plus) (Plus)

It's only been a few seconds since the match started, but you've already gotten a good read on Emiko's abilities with her improvised weapon. She's no threat to Altria or her fellow squires, and despite the disadvantage you're at for bringing your fists to a pseudo-swordfight, your evasive abilities are more than up to the task of keeping you out of trouble - as you demonstrate by dodging yet another strike.

To her credit, Emiko has figured this out as well, and her backhanded sword-swing is followed by her other hand coming up, palm open-

!

-and even with most of your sensory skills still running in passive mode, your threat awareness is more than sufficient to pick up on the danger and get out of the way, before the pale blue burst of foxfire leaps from Emiko's open hand and through the space where you were an instant earlier.

And since she opened up the field to projectile attacks, you respond in kind, unleashing a quick volley of Ki Shots from off to Emiko's right.

Emiko's eyes widen in shock, just before the first dozen or so shots slam home-

Mental Sight, instinct, and training yell at you as one to guard to your back!

-and even as the Doppelganger-Substitution-hybrid-looking construct in front of you goes up in a puff of smoke, sand, and a single drifting leaf, you whirl around, bringing your left arm up and willing the Vambrace on it to activate, just in time to intercept a vertical blow from Emiko's leaf-blade. Electricity snaps softly against the plane of your triggered Force Shield, but even with the youki-augmented leaping attack she appears to have tried to pull off, Emiko doesn't have the striking power to break your defense directly. She manages to push you back a step before you recover your balance and get the Ki Step technique running, but that's it.

Not a bad move on her part, just not good enough.

Now that you have your preferred array of buffs up and running, you can stop evading, and go on the offensive.

And you do, opening up with your classic Body Flicker into their blind spot and strike for maximum damage combo!

Only for "Emiko" to explode into more smoke, sand, and greenery as your fist impacts her shoulder.

...something tells you that move is going to get very annoying, very quickly.

A burst of youki draws your attention to the open "mouth" of the arena, where you find four separate Emikos standing in a loose line, with a fifth already charging you, sword trailing her to one side. The others follow in rapid succession, timing their approach so that you'll only have a moment to deal with the first before the next is on you, and spread out enough that a spread of Ki Shots wouldn't do the job.

You let them come, greeting the first with a leaping kick-

POOF!

-throwing off their approach and giving you time to smack the second in the head with your left fist-

POOF!

-which you then flatten and bring across to knife-hand the third-

POOF!

-before raising your right hand, which has been gathering ki, to unleash a Ki Blast straight at the incoming fourth Emiko, whose psychic aura is distinct enough from the others that you're certain it's her.

The way she crosses her arms in front of her and disappears with another of those odd here-and-gone mental signals seems to support that.

POOF!

And your Ki Blast took out the last clone, too. Bonus!

Now, where is the original...?

Huh. That's interesting. Even though you've swept the entire arena visually, you're not picking up Emiko's presence. Even your active Mental Sight is returning a null - but then, it's not exactly the strongest of your esoteric senses, is it?

You turn your Ki Sense up-

!

-and what looked like a bunch of sand kicked up by your Ki Blast is now clearly not that at all.

But neither is that patch of wall over to your left, where - now that you're looking closer - the Hyrulean sigils don't quite match the ones around them.

---

Falling back from the suspect patch of sand, you cup your hands in front of your chest, focus your ki, and - as the air between your palms fills with bright energy - turn to face the spot on the wall.

The idea of Overloading the ki sphere forming before you crosses your mind, but is dismissed immediately. You're trying to modify a ki technique on the fly here, and while your Ki Control is more than up to the task, your command of fundamental Ki Projection and the more specific Ki Blast that you're attempting to modify are somewhat less certain. Overloading the experimental technique will make it harder to control, and more likely to blow up in your face - literally, in this case - which is something you don't need right now.

Instead, you focus your will, push the energy of your being forward along with your hands, and let out a wordless shout.

The projection starts as a standard Ki Blast, but then it keeps on going, a beam of force that is not merely coherent but CONTINUOUS, pouring out from your hands like... like...

...alright, it looks like something out of one of those martial arts anime you've caught on weekend TV, or while visiting Kahlua.

Gained Ki Control A (Plus)
Gained Ki Beam F (Plus)

Despite all the flash and fury involved, you get the feeling that this newly-developed move doesn't hit very hard. For one thing, it barely consumes any more energy than a standard full-power Ki Blast, just stretched out over several seconds' worth of surging power rather than focused into one hard-hitting projectile.

For another, when your Ki Beam strikes the distorted part of the wall, there is the expected puff of smoke, sand, and another leaf, but not so much as a scratch on the wall beneath the façade.

This is fine, though. It's proven to hit hard enough to disrupt Emiko's trickery, which is all you wanted.

...also, you think the priests would get ticked at you if you damaged the Ring they went to so much trouble to make, before even running the Trials.
Terok would be pissed, anyway.
With an effort, you wrench the Ki Beam away from your first target, sweeping it across the floor of the arena - sending plumes of sand flying in the process - as you try to strike Emiko's other deception.

Your attack is preempted by the pile of sand in question popping back into the shape of a certain yelping fox, who exhibits a distinct lack of grace as she scurries out of the path of the scything energy-beam, avoiding it at the cost of tripping over something and falling on her tail.

Yet as she tumbles backwards, Emiko's seemingly-empty hand whips out, sending half a dozen shredded, youki-charged fragments of a palm leaf hissing through the air at you like weirdly-shaped green shuriken.

You dodge the wild attack easily enough, but have to end your Ki Beam as you do so. Breaking your stance disrupted the flow of ki required to keep it going, and even without that, it would have been bad form to blast part of your audience.

Regardless, seeing Emiko down, and knowing through your Mental Sight that it IS her and not another clone, you initiate a Body Flicker. With your ki still cycling in the aftermath of the Ki Beam, you can't pull out another blast or similar trick, but that's fine; you emerge from your accelerated movement leaning over Emiko with a punch already barreling down at her.

The foxgirl manages to get her electrified leaf-blade in position to try and deflect your strike, but it's not the best angle for her, your greater mass and Overloaded Ki Enhancement give you the strength advantage, and when registered through your Ki Armor, the crackling energy imbued into the blade is only the equivalent of a strong static shock - enough to sting, startle, and slightly numb your hand, but not enough to hurt, much less stop the attack.

Gained Leap Attack E (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Lightning Resistance F

There is a soft *crack* as your fist drives the frond-blade down, into Emiko's torso-

POOF!

-and she's gone again. This time, however, your active Ki Sense is able to follow her, and you whirl around to find Emiko standing at the back of the arena, holding up her broken weapon with a look of consternation.

Gained Substitution F (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Weapon Defense C

Then she throws the leaf away, gives you a look of determination, and raises her arms, calling up enough of her youki that even with your Ki Sight and Mage Sight still in passive mode, you can see her aura surging around her.

"Get ready, Alex!" Emiko calls out. "Here comes my ultimate attack!"

As much fun as that might be, no.

You come out of the next Body Flicker with your fist in front of Emiko's face, not actually striking her but producing enough of a breeze that her hair is blown back far enough to brush against the stone wall.

Gained Wind Palm E

The damage is nothing, but the message is clear: had you intended to, you could have bounced Emiko's head off the side of the arena just now.

After a moment, her aura winks out, and Emiko sighs, conceding the fight.

"You didn't let me finish my ultimate attack," she complains.

---

"If I had, I might have lost," you say. Then you frown. "That said, now I want to see this ultimate attack of yours..." You trail off for a moment, before shrugging. "I guess we'll just have to make sure to spar with each other again."

"I'd like that," Emiko says with a smile. "But, uh, maybe later?"

She does seem a bit winded after that bout, so you have no problem nodding and agreeing.

"Later is fine by me. Still, I had fun. You fought well, especially with those Doppelgangers; those were better than I can do."

Emiko blushes and stammers a reply. "Th-thank you! I-I've worked very hard on my illusions and similar skills."

"It showed," you say.

As the two of you head back to the seating area, you wonder if you should mention how you were able to see through Emiko's images. On the one hand, it would help her improve her technique, and potentially force you to up your game in kind when you face her in the future; probably not during this party, but certainly in bouts down the road. On the other hand, you'd be giving up a tactical advantage...

On the off-chance that someone else decides to challenge you, you don't dismiss the various self-enhancement techniques you have running from your match with Emiko, instead dialling them back to their "standby" modes. It is, perhaps, a bit of a cheat, but it would be a waste of all that ki for you to just turn all of the buffs off after less than a minute. Plus, enough of your potential opponents can go from zero to bone-breaking fast enough that it's not REALLY an advantage, just leveling the playing field.

Even though it amounted to little more than a solid warm-up on your part, none of the other kids stand up to call you out for a match right after your fight with Emiko. You're not sure whether this is due to good manners, established habits, or Miss Akasha's watchful eye on the proceedings, but the end result is the same: Beryl gets challenged by Amy, of all people.

The older girl takes it with good humor, and asks your friend whether she wants to fight hand-to-hand, magically, or with a mix of both.

Amy worries her lower lip for a moment before settling on magic.

"I can spar with my friends, my other classmates, or Lu-sensei pretty much whenever," Amy says. "I only know three other people at home who can use magic at all: Briar's at a disadvantage; my mom isn't a fighter; and Alex is just completely unfair."

Practically the entire audience nods silent agreement at that last part.

You can only shrug.

Pulling her crystal staff out of nowhere as she rises from her seat, Beryl looks your way and asks, "Is there anything we should know about this arena, before we start casting spells in it?"

You consider what you saw of the construction process, and state that anything which would damage the walls, interfere with space-time magic, or indiscriminately disrupt or dispel magic should probably be off the table. Likewise, anything that might endanger the crowd.

Then you glance at Koron, wordlessly asking if there's anything he can think of that you missed.

"No obvious desecrations," the Kokiri druid says promptly. "That's as much for our island host's benefit as it is for maintaining the sanctity of the Ring."

Across the arena, you hear Kokoa mutter, "The island...?"

Her sisters react similarly, as do some of the rest of the crowd; Beryl, on the other hand, just nods.

As Amy and Beryl take their places at opposite ends of the Ring of Trials, readying for a formal magical duel, you...

---

"Tactical advantage?"

Please, Emiko is a friend, one whom you've already agreed to help cultivate her stealth skills; why wouldn't you offer more advice for a technique you both know? Especially when it'll force you to improve your skills to keep up with her in future friendly spars?

And so, as the two of you venture back into the stands, you tell Emiko about her Doppelgangers' lack of a fully-formed psychic aura, and how you were able to use that trait to distinguish the real kitsune from her clones.

"I was wondering how you saw through my charge so easily," Emiko grumbles. "I've been working on youki control and concealment a lot, as well as my illusions."

"I noticed that," you admit. "I actually lost track of you for a second or two there, after the Ki Beam. It wasn't until I switched my Ki Sense to active scanning that I noticed you were either hidden in the sand or up against the wall - and even then, I wasn't sure which was real and which was fake, or if you were hiding somewhere else entirely." You pause, taking a seat next to Koron, and add, "Speaking of which, you didn't get the image of the wall quite right..."

"I was afraid of that," Emiko sighs as she flops into the seat to your right. "It would have been so much easier if it was just bare store. All that writing is very inconvenient, you know?"

To your left, Koron sputters. "I-inconvenient?! Those are sacred symbols, girl!"

"Monster~," Emiko replies cheerfully.
Heh.
Koron glares at her as much as a Kokiri can, and mutters something about foxes being the same in every world.
There, there.

Determined not to show favoritism in this match, you clap your hands and cheer for both magic-users. While you know most of what Amy can do - barring some witchy things you don't doubt her mother has taught her in addition to your lessons on Hyrulean-style magic - this is a rare opportunity for you and Briar to observe your erstwhile magic student using her skills outside of the proverbial classroom, and against an opponent she has little knowledge of on any front.

On the other side of things, it'll be interesting to see how Beryl has improved her abilities since the World Tournament, as well as what she's willing to show off in front of her impressionable younger sister.

...speaking of whom, you glance Cecilia's way, getting in a reasonable non-invasive analysis of her aura while she's cheering on her sister.

In most respects, the girl registers as an ordinary human to a passive scan, lacking demonic taint, trained ki, or any hint of psychic potential. Though she arrived on Bali Ha'i as a passenger aboard the Death Coach, Jermafencer's aura has already been purged from her system, leaving no obvious traces of Faerie contact or heritage. She's similarly clean on the magical side, although you do pick up faint auras of Abjuration coming from the dark crystal necklace and bracelet she wears - her sister's work, clearly.

That's about as much as you can hope to find without running an in-depth active scan, which is something you're not going to do right now.

Especially not with the duel about to begin.

Amy stands on your side of the Ring, five feet from the wall, her back turned to you, and the "mouth" of the arena to your mutual right; Beryl is directly across from her, mirroring her position and stance. As they're going for a formal duel, both girls are drawing magical diagrams in the sand around them, arrays that will help them channel more power and control it more finely than is typically possible in a free-running battle. Amy's circle is partly-hidden from you by the arena wall, but that's fine; you don't need to see the entire thing to recognize the mix of Hyrulean and Earth-native symbols, or understand their meaning.

Beryl's circle, on the other hand, is a surprise. It has the form of an elemental array, but instead of the Earth-native symbols for the major elements you've seen at various times - in Ambrose's ritual circle, at the Memorian Outpost, or even way back when you fought the Hawaiian Sorcerer in his own little booby-trapped volcanic arena - she's used astrological signs. All of the major bodies of the Solar System appear to be represented, with eight of the nine planets forming a ring around the symbols of the Sun and the Moon, and the circled-cross that represents Earth at the very center.

You're still trying to make sense of this oddly-configured array when Beryl concludes its ritual formation with a final thump of her staff against the ground. This releases a single magical pulse which is immediately absorbed by and channeled through the diagram, the lines and peculiar symbols lighting up as smoothly as any you've ever seen, power flowing through the channels steadily, brightly, and without so much as a flicker of instability.

Gained Astronomy E (Plus)

Less-practiced than Beryl and lacking a long stick to ease her work, Amy finishes her own spellcasting circle a minute later, standing up and dusting off her hands.

"So, uh, I've never actually fought a duel before," Amy admits sheepishly. "Who goes first?"

"Customarily, the challenger concedes the first move to their opponent," Beryl informs her.

"...okay, then." She takes a deep breath, centers herself mentally and mystically, and then announces, "Hit me."

Beryl nods, and tips the head of her staff forward slightly.

Dark purple crystals materialize in mid-air, hover for a moment, glittering beautifully in the sunlight, and then fire at Amy like the world's smallest and prettiest missile barrage.

They impact a translucent, free-floating shield that Amy summons into being right in their path. Though the shield moves smoothly to intercept the gem-like projectiles, its presence almost seems to attract them, for despite the speed they were moving at, not a single one makes it past.

As the last of the gemstone missiles shatters on her defense with a suitably crystalline chime, Amy retaliates, conjuring up a basketball-sized orb of fire.

Beryl intercepts it with her own shield, another floating mass of dark crystal that slides neatly into the path of the fireball. For a brief moment, the burning orb presses against the barrier, deforming and spreading out like a water balloon pressed against a surface - and then, like that same balloon, it bursts, spilling foot-long tongues of flame in all directions.

The witch and the sorceress regard each other through the smoke for a moment, and slowly nod.

Then they step things up.

Beryl summons an elemental, larger than a man and formed of that same dark crystal, and sends it forth to attack.

Amy responds with the Spell of Shattering, blowing the elemental into innumerable fragments before it can take more than two steps towards her. Much of the resulting shrapnel bypasses Beryl's shield, causing the barriers built into her dueling circle to activate automatically, turning otherwise dangerous hits into merely uncomfortable ones.

Beryl sweeps up those shattered fragments into a cloud of tiny crystals, which flow together like water, ring like a thousand tiny chimes, and streak across the Ring far more quickly than the elemental.

Amy re-positions her force shield to intercept the cloud, but the crystals impact and then flow over and around it with an ear-piercing cacophony you mentally liken to a glass chainsaw - screeching, snarling, scraping, and shattering. Even as her defense is bypassed, Amy calls on another, a piece of witchcraft you don't recognize, but which summons another shield, this time formed of swirling water. It doesn't stop the swarm of crystals, but it does seem to soften their slashing edges, if not enough to prevent Amy's own auto-defense spell from triggering.

The "wave shield" is short-lived, dispersing in a matter of seconds as the crystal cloud splashes into and through it, scattering defensive droplets with every strike, but it lasts long enough for Amy to complete a summoning of her own. Instead of a single creature, she brings forth a swarm of shrieking bats-

You distinctly hear cooing from the Shuzen girls.

-which materialize around Beryl, who expresses a rather less appreciative view of the flying mammals as she tries to swat them away. Her barrier flickers a few times, blunting the swarm's relatively minor damage potential, but apparently NOT interfering with their ability to be a tremendous distraction; the cloud of crystal falls apart, shards scattering over the sand with an almost musical sigh.

Amy promptly casts the Spell of Shattering for a second time, spreading the effect out to catch all the fallen shards of the defeated elemental crystals. In doing so, she yields the mental focus required to sustain her bat swarm, but by the time they've vanished back into the ether-

Prompting at least two disappointed sighs from certain vampires.

-that dangerous collection of sharp-edged crystals has been reduced to so much dark sand, which Amy has blown away using the Spell to Create a Gust of Wind. Technically, the dark sand COULD still be used as a weapon, if Beryl cared to expend the added time, energy, and focus.

Instead, she slams her staff against the ground, causing jagged crystals as tall as she is to erupt from the ground in a line of destruction that cuts straight towards Amy's position.

Amy tries to cast something, but is either too slow or too scared by this latest attack, and fails to get her spell off before one of Beryl's crystals shoots up BENEATH her and launches her into the air, shield flaring brilliantly to minimize the injury.

And then, at the peak of her impromptu flight, Amy gets off her spell after all, unleashing a bolt of pure Elemental Lightning that blows Beryl off her feet before she even has time to blink, glasses some of the sand around her, and slams into the wall behind her - to some yelping from those seated nearby.
Oooh, that's going to leave a mark.
Both girls hit the ground at the same time, and choose to lie there for a minute.
Must you, Farore?
"You can give up any time, you know," Amy calls out wearily.
When it's an opportunity like that? Yes, I must. But seriously, is that wall still in one piece?
"Brat, I'm just getting warmed up," Beryl retorts.

"When did Amy learn how to cast Lightning Bolt?" Briar wonders.

"Does that wall look cracked to you?" Koron asks in the same moment. "Oh, Farore, I'm going to have to fix that, aren't I?"

---

"Good show, ladies!" you call out. "But remember not to wreck the place, okay?"
Hypocrisy, thy name is Alexander.
"I don't want to hear that from you, Alex!" Amy shouts back.
Ha! Good girl!
Sounds of amusement come from almost every angle at that.

Oh, really now! When have you ever damaged a structure-
How quickly they forget.
In your mind's eye, you see the arena at the World Tournament.

-alright, fine, but how would Amy have found out-

You recall the Tournament Tapes, and also that Cordelia, arguably Amy's best friend even over and above yourself, was there to see the match in person.

-oh, fine. It's a legitimate complaint.
Good boy.
Amidst the snickers and giggles, Amy and Beryl drag themselves back onto their feet. You can't help but notice that Beryl has a much easier time of it, even after taking a hit from a stroke of lightning, and stands more steadily - if not perfectly so - once she's fully upright. It would seem that Amy's last gambit took more out of her than it did from her opponent.

That said, you don't discount the possibility that Beryl's crystal spears did more damage than it appeared at first glance. The conjured spikes disappeared almost as quickly as they came, but the one that hit Amy would have had to deliver quite a lot of force to get her to fly as high as she did, a foot or so above its maximum extension of four mostly-vertical feet.

Beryl notices Amy's slow, stiff movements as well, but she merely says, "I believe it's my move."

When Amy nods and waves for her to get on with it, the older girl casts her first spell of the match that doesn't involve that dark crystal she's so fond of. It's also not one of those necromantic spells you saw her use back at the World Tournament; instead, it's a Spell of Enchantment. It's even one you recognize.

Like most spells meant to invoke sleep, the Spell of Deep Slumber has no visual manifestation. There is a faintly audible one, as of someone murmuring a lullabye, but that and the feeling of mana moving with purpose are the only indications that a spell was even cast.

It also slips through the barriers of the dueling circles - still intact despite all the damage done to the floor of the arena over the last minute - without so much as a flicker of response.

After all, it's not a damaging spell.

Amy stands for a moment, and very clearly says, "Oh, you b-"

Then she falls on her face, out cold.

"I hate it when she does that," Beryl's little sister grumbles in the post-duel silence, sympathy for Amy clear in her tone.

...is it just your imagination, or are all the little sisters in the audience giving Beryl wary looks all of a sudden?
Looks like somebody is never getting a job as a babysitter.
"Do you think she could teach me how to do that?" Sokka asks.
I don't know, if she can reliably put noisy brats to bed...
There is a wet *smack.*

Regardless of how it happened, Amy is unconscious, and stays so for the full length of a ten-count.

Miss Akasha calls the duel.

As Koron gets out of his seat and hurries down into the arena to inspect the potentially-damaged section of the wall, you can only shake your head at the outcome. You've seen Beryl's Enchantment Magic at work before, when she put Cordelia and Briar to sleep while paying you a visit at the World Tournament. If she can knock out a fairy, a minor master of the School of Enchantment, in that manner, it's no wonder Beryl can do the same to a fellow human practitioner, even in the middle (or rather, at the close) of a spell-duel.

And to think, based on that scan you took of Beryl's aura all those months ago, Enchantment is only her third-strongest school.

Is there anything you'd like to say or do as a result of this match and how it ended?

---

You wait for a minute while Beryl dismisses her magic circle and sets to waking up Amy with a few pokes from her staff. Amy comes to with a start, a groan, and a dirty look for the older girl, before sighing, accepting the offer of a hand up, and undoing her own warding array.

While that's going on, Koron is running one hand over the scorch mark on the opposite side of the arena, muttering to himself, Vert, and probably Farore as he inspects the damage. From the way the anxious tension rapidly eases out of his posture, it seems the damage Amy accidentally inflicted on the Ring was purely cosmetic.

Whether that was the result of a well-calculated use of magic, good fortune, or divine providence, only Amy and the Goddesses can say for certain.
Luck gets my vote.
Regardless, the arena is still in good order, which means there's nothing stopping you from making your challenge.
Give the girl some credit, Farore.
Just to be sure, and to make it clear to everyone who doesn't know your Kokiri tutor as well as you do, you call down, "Hey, Koron! How's the wall look?"
Personally, I say the credit should go to our priests. They did most of the work.
"It looks good!" he shouts back. You can sense mana moving around him as he adds, "Just give me a second to mend it, and it'll be good to go!"
Fireball makes a fair point.
"Great!" And with that settled, you look over at the kunoichi in the crowd. "Up for a rematch, Ayane?"

"Always," she smirks, before glancing down at her "party kimono." "Though I wouldn't say no to a chance to go get changed, first."

You have no issue with that, and say as much to the lavender-haired girl.

Ayane nods her thanks and leaves the arena, heading back to her room at a quick walk.

"I would say, 'shame on you for picking on a girl half your size,'" a damp-haired Sokka notes from his seat, "but she's the one who beat up the tengu and nearly kicked your head off."

She was, at that.

Sokka's observation has you thinking back to the Under Tens Division Finals, and the fights you saw Ayane take part in - that last one against you being the most prominent in memory. Being a young girl of Japanese heritage, Ayane was and still is on the smaller end of the scale, but she demonstrated excellent speed, explosive striking power, and an aggressive, unpredictable fighting style - all of which together neatly made up for the disadvantages of her diminutive stature. You also know that she's capable of utilizing ki and magic, whether individually or in that interesting hybrid form that isn't like your Power at all, despite arising from the same fundamental energies, though you are pretty sure you didn't see more than the basics of her skills there. She also showed off a respectable grasp of stealth, and though that was outside of the ring at the time, it might come into play here and now.

Fighting Emiko has given you a new appreciation for sneaky opponents, even if you did win that bout handily.

The big issue with your knowledge of Ayane's abilities is that all your information is nearly a whole year out of date. You've advanced your own skills in that time - incredibly so - and if it were just a matter of facing Ayane as she was at the Tournament, even with your self-imposed handicap of not using magic, you would have no doubt of your ability to defeat her, regardless of what tricks she was keeping in reserve.

But that presumes Ayane was content to rest on her laurels for the last eleven months, which is something you know she hasn't done. The paranoia of their elders may have prevented you from visiting Ayane and Kasumi in person, or being visited by them in turn, but you've kept in contact through the mail, and you know that their training was stepped up after the attempted assassination of Kasumi's father, Shiden, at the World Tournament. Neither girl let slip exactly WHAT that training involved - being ninja, they're too adept at information control for that - only that it was happening, it was exciting, frustrating, and painful by turns, and they thought they were doing well at it.

Keeping in mind that your assessment of Ayane's skills is outdated and incomplete...

---

Keep the pressure on at all ranges, force Ayane to use her evasive ki techniques, leverage your superior reserves to exhaust hers as quickly as possible...

Sounds like a plan.

Your ruminations consume some time, but it's not until another three minutes or so have passed that Ayane returns, having traded her purple yukata for a sleeveless gi of the same color, and her orange obi for a simple matching belt, from which hang several pouches and a number of those triangular blade-trowel-things - kunai, that was it.

You eye the obvious collection of ninja tools warily, not only for the potential mayhem they represent in and of themselves, but also the fact that Ayane is probably carrying more such devices that you can't see, and undoubtedly has reloads waiting back in her room.

The good news is the kunai are made of wood rather than metal, and the tips are decidedly blunted.

"Before we begin," Miss Akasha says, with a look of her own at Ayane's armaments, "I have to ask: what's in the bags?"

Ayane nods and begins pointing at different pouches in turn as she lists off their contents: "Smoke bombs; flash bombs; sticky bombs; red paint bombs, to represent fire bombs; blue paint bombs, to represent holy water-"

That one earns her a collective glower of distaste from all the vampires.

"-yellow paint capsules, to represent paralytics-"

Wait, what?

"-green paint capsules, to represent poison-"

Seriously?

"-capsules containing three different kinds of paint-remover, specific to the blue and red paints, yellow paint, and green paint, respectively; recovery pills-"

Your ears quirk up at that one. Recovery of what, exactly?

"-and a first aid kit, just in case," Ayane finishes, removing a rounded plastic case from where it was hanging off the back of her belt. The little red cross on the lid shows up rather well against the dark green material.

You are not the only person staring at Ayane by the time she's done talking. Some of the expressions you see are disbelieving; others, impressed; and a few are worryingly interested.

"Wow," Cordelia says. "And here I thought it was the Girl Scouts who had 'be prepared' as their motto."

Akasha sighs, muttering the word, "Ninjas," under her breath just loud enough for you and those others with greater-than-normal hearing to pick up - so most of the crowd, really - and then signals that you and Ayane may proceed with the bout whenever you're ready.

Once again, you enter the Ring.

KUNOICHI (IN TRAINING) OF THE MUGEN TENSHIN HAJIN MON: AYANE

As a nod to fairness, you keep your various enhancements at their "standby" levels until Akasha declares the match begun, at which point you begin cycling your ki, psychic energy, and spiritual power to rev them all back up to combat levels as quickly as possible. You also direct an extra surge of ki into your Ki Enhancemnt, Overloading the technique once again, though this time it's more for increased speed and reaction times than anything else.

If you're going to put the pressure on Ayane and keep it on, you need to be faster than she is.

Even as you shift your buffs back into full fighting form, you charge towards your opponent, your opening attack being a two-fisted barrage. Ayane dodges the first half-dozen blows in quick succession, but it's by a narrower degree each time. She makes no move to counterattack or break your tempo, which immediately has you suspicious, and as your Ki Sense comes up to full strength, you cast about with it, probing the rest of the Ring - and especially the area out of your line of sight - for disturbances. As far as your Mental Sight is concerned, the Ayane in front of you is genuine, and yet-

KimotiondangerDODGE!

-you break off your assault and leap to your left, narrowly evading the four kunai that fly through the space you occupied just a moment before, the vivid green and yellow smeared along their "harmless" blunted tips and edges showing up almost like neon against the plain dark wood. Ayane's Doppelganger flickers as it takes no less than three hits, but rather interestingly, it is NOT disrupted by the attack, and instead completely ignores the flying weapons as it turns to follow you.

Turning to face the real threat, you see the real Ayane in the middle of drawing something from her belt with both hands. The girl's speed applies to her hand-eye coordination as well - though in this case, it's more like hand-and-no-eyes coordination - and even as you form a Body Flicker to close the gap, you see her hands emerging from her pouches carrying little bombs no bigger than robin's eggs.

Lots and lots of bombs.
I like this girl's style!
It appears that Ayane had the same idea that you did, to put the pressure on and then keep it that way for as long as possible, because what follows is a high-speed game of tag with explosives. Very. Delicate. Contact. Explosives. You're rapidly forced to abandon thoughts of using Body Flicker to close with Ayane, and instead hold it in reserve as an emergency escape measure, for when your Overloaded Ki Enhancement isn't enough for you to dodge all manner of noisy blasts and colorful bursts.

That happens more often than you'd like to admit, but then, those tiny little bombs hold a positively unreasonable amount of whatever they've been loaded with. It's also patently unfair that Ayane's Doppelgangers can, in fact, fool your Mental Sight, and even your Ki Sense running at full power. You quickly trigger your Ki Sight, and throw in Spiritual Sense and Sight for good measure, but it's STILL not enough to determine which Ayane - and there are four of them by now - is the genuine article.

Freaking ninjas!

Gained Substitution E

It's not all bad news, however. While there's far too much paint flying around for you to be willing to stop using Ki Overload to boost your speed, that's not the only Overload skill in your arsenal - and when you "supercharge" your Spiritual Sense, the admittedly minor boost is just enough that you finally penetrate Ayane's completely unfair stealth and get a lock on her position.

Additionally, after setting off what must have been almost three dozen bomblets, Ayane is running out of ammo.

*BANG!*

She's not completely out, mind you, but there's finally enough space for you to breathe.

There's something else to consider as well: during this match, you've seen Ayane use Body Flicker something like twenty times, in addition to the clones she's been generating. Although you haven't been able to see exactly what she's doing with her ki, so many uses of the technique in quick succession have left you with the distinct impression that she's doing something different from your approach. It's as if she's taken the ability to use a Body Flicker to perform several starts and stops in rapid succession, and made a "stop" able to last indefinitely, without actually canceling the technique. Instead of all the movements happening in a handful of seconds, then, she's able to dodge one attack and return to fighting at normal speed afterwards, while holding the remainding moves of the Body Flicker in reserve until she needs them again.

Gained Staggered Flicker F

Regardless of all that, with Ayane's all-out offense exhausted, you're finally able to go on the attack like you wanted. Your opponent - who didn't escape her own profligate use of explosives entirely unscathed, a part of you is vindictively pleased to see - is forced to fall back on hand-to-hand, weapons use, and more ki-boosted dodging.

And for a while, it works.

But only a while. A Ki Blast here, a Ki Shot there, and relentless use of Body Flicker to close and push, and KEEP pushing, even when Ayane repeatedly disappears in the middle of your blitzes...

Gained Hand-to-Hand B
Gained Ki Blast C
Gained Ki Shot D

It is a dusty, paint-streaked, winded, and yet still snickering young kunoichi who finally concedes the bout.

---

Although you do want to talk to Ayane about her use of explosives, and especially about your latest insights into the Body Flicker technique, you think you may be a little too wound up from your match to avoid going on a bit of rant on the subjects.

Especially about the bombs.

Between your battle with Dark Link and the memories you've inherited of Ganondorf having to deal with a Bomb-happy Hero, you may be just a little traumatized where explosives are concerned.

On a related note, if today's bout is an indication of things to come, then Ayane must NEVER learn of Hyrulean Bombs. EVER.
Awww...
No, if you mean to have a productive conversation about that match, then you need to take a walk to cool down first. And by the time that's done, Jermafencer will be just about due to take off to fetch the Reinhardts, at which point you'll have more greetings to make and another round of Abjuration Magic to weave so that a couple of vampires can enjoy three days on a tropical island.

You should probably get on that, then.

Thanking Ayane for the fight, you plead "Party Host Responsibilities" to the audience at large, and then excuse yourself, dismissing your various buffs as you go. It wouldn't do to greet your guests while looking like you're expecting a fight, after all.

Fortunately, you are a young master of playing things cool, so it doesn't take you as long as some less-chill souls might require to regain your equilibrium in the wake of Mad Paint Bomber Ayane's rampage. Indeed, by the time you've returned to the designated landing area of the beach, you're feeling much better.

You can see Jermafencer leading his team to the beach as well.

---

The sight of the four Fae-blooded black horses can't help but put you in mind of your own equine friend from another world. And in doing so, it has you checking the cost of a Spell of Summoning against your mana reserves, rate of recovery, and the handful of spells you mean to cast before the day is done.

You think you do have more than enough mana to call up Khamsin for a bit, and let him stretch his legs and meet some of your other acquaintances, without hindering your overnight recovery.

And it would be a shame to leave a friend out of your party just because he isn't a humanoid, now wouldn't it?

That decided, you go back to the summoning circle you set up earlier, give it another quick check to make sure it's still intact and empowered, and - when that proves to be the case - make with the magic.

You don't cast the Spell of Planar Binding this time. You know from your ongoing horse-handling and pre-riding lessons at the Drake residence that Khamsin has the equestrian equivalent of a curfew: his mother and the rest of their herd don't mind him running with a friend for a while, even if that takes him into another plane; but if he fails to return home safe, sound, and in a timely manner, they could get agitated. And then they'd either abandon Khamsin, or you'd find yourself under siege from several dozen angry, intelligent horses with the power to jump between planes.

Quite aside from those issues, there's also the matter of the time difference, which is several times more perplexing than your issues of communicating and traveling between different time zones on Earth. Khamsin's herd aren't just in another plane, where Time may or may not be moving differently relative to Earth, they're also moving around between planes, each of which may or may not have its own special relationship with Time.

It's just far less hassle for everyone if you cast a relatively short-lived Spell to Summon Monsters, tweaked to specifically get Khamsin's attention, rather than a Planar Binding.

Faster, too.

Instead of a ten-minute chant, it's just six seconds of focused casting-

POOF!

-and just like that, you have a horse.
Aw, that's adorable.
One who is currently lying down, whinnying softly in his sleep.
Hard to believe this is the same horse that trampled armies with Ganondorf on his back, isn't it?
Apparently, wherever Khamsin's herd currently are, it's naptime.
Who's gonna grow up to be an unstoppable engine of destruction, huh? You! Yes, you!

---

It's not even a question. While you have yet to be the subject of someone else's Summoning Magic, you know how you'd feel if somebody - even a friend - woke you up in the middle of the night.

You know, before you started using your Restful Blanket.

...actually, possibly even more so, now. When you're only getting a couple of magically-augmented hours of sleep per night, technically, every second of shut-eye is four times as valuable as it would otherwise have been...

Regardless, if you wouldn't like to be shaken from your precious rest without a really pressing need, why should your friends enjoy it any more? Even by the proxy that is the memories of a summoned avatar? After all, weird dreams can be just as bad for getting a good night's rest as being woken up. You already did the whole, "What time is it, anyway?" song and dance with the Arisawas, and you've been trying to avoid repeats.

The universe just seems determined to mess with you.

You raise your hand, ready to end your summoning, when you abruptly pause as an idea presents itself.

Could you send Khamsin's summoned self back with an apple? As a kind of "sorry I called in the middle of the night" apology gift?

Normally, entities that are merely summoned to another plane can't take things they weren't already carrying along with them when they leave. If you just set an apple beside Khamsin, or on his back, or in a saddlebag he was carrying, it'd be left behind when the magic holding him here faded.

But the nearest source of apples are your Magnificent Mansions, and those are CONJURED. High-quality conjurations, to be sure, as safe to eat and nutritious as any mundane apple, and tastier than most in the bargain - but mystically speaking, they're still not quite the same thing as a REAL apple, nor entirely subject to the same rules.

Sending one with Khamsin might just be possible.

Moving gingerly, you step out of the summoning circle and move away from Khamsin, keeping your footsteps as light as possible as you walk over to Jermafencer.

"I'm going to go run a quick errand," you tell the knight quietly. "Could I trouble you not to wake Khamsin up until I'm back?"

"I can," the Knight of the Shadowed Mire answers, a note of curiosity in his voice. "What are you doing, exactly?"

"I thought I'd try to send him home with an apple."

Immediately, all four members of Jermafencer's team raise their heads, ears quirking in your direction.

Sensing an opportunity, you offer, "I can get you some apples, too?"

There is a quiet, collective rumble of approval from the team.

Jermafencer chuckles and pats the nearest horse across the flank, clearly not objecting to the arrangement. He does pass on the offer of an apple for himself, though, mentioning that he stopped by the Hyrulean Mansion earlier and availed himself of the feast.

You take off at a run, wanting to get back before Khamsin wakes up on his own, or someone else comes along to disturb him.

The nearest of the various Mansions is the one where your family, Lu-sensei, Cordelia, and Ayane are staying. When you arrive, the servants inform you that no one else is currently present. You know Ayane and Cordy are still at the Ring of Trials, but it seems your parents went out for a walk together, while Lu-sensei is mingling with the adult guests. You spotted Moblin padding about outside, nose to the sand - he seems to be adapting well enough to Bali Ha'i, though you do make a mental note to keep an eye out for him.

The island's fairly safe, and its spirit wouldn't actively try to harm your dog, but there are some rather large boars roaming around the jungle.

Ducking into the dining hall, you grab half a dozen apples from the fruit platter, pocket them, and then head back to the landing zone at a trot.

No one else has yet come by when you return, and Khamsin is still snoozing, though one of his legs is kicking out in his sleep.

You hand four of the apples over to Jermafencer, to distribute among his team, and then take out the last and study it under your Mage Sight, comparing the magical elements in the shiny red fruit to those in Khamsin's summoned form.

Just putting the apple with Khamsin still won't work, but if you add the right sort of magic...

---

Perhaps you could try to link the apple to Khamsin's aura? Use Necromantic Magic.

Using Summoning Magic would seem to be the logical approach, but for all your studies in the field - especially under Batreaux's guidance of late - you aren't aware of a spell that can properly transport objects across planar boundaries.

Teleport them, yes; between the Spell of Swiping and the Spell to Teleport Objects, you're well-set there. And while you can't cast the Spell of Plane Shifting or the Spell of the Gate yet, you know perfectly well they can be used to transport goods to other realms.

But a spell that allows accurate planar shifting of unattended objects? That would be a new one, and you'd rather not go futzing around with the fabric of space, time, and other dimensions trying to figure it out. At least not here and now, when Jermafencer is waiting patiently for you to finish up with Khamsin before he drives the Death Coach off, and while you're trying not to spend so much mana as to impede your Trials tomorrow.

Putting that aside, you consider the remaining schools of magic that might apply to this task, and decide to go with Necromancy. Abjuration Magic feels too likely to dispel or otherwise disrupt the conjured apple, and you're honestly having a little trouble thinking of how to use Augmentation Magic to alter the apple in a way that would be productive.

Simply linking the apple to the aura of Khamsin's summoned form, though? That you can do, and when you dismiss the spell holding him here, the apple should be pulled along with him.

It takes several minutes for you to complete your efforts, mostly on account of you not wanting to disturb Khamsin, and you don't think it would have worked at all if you and he didn't have that preexisting link. If you mean to try this with other summoned beings in the future, you'll definitely need to do more research, and devise a proper spell for it.

That said, you do believe you've succeeded.

The way the apple disappears with Khamsin when you dismiss your Spell of Summoning is a hopeful sign, at least.

Gained Necromancy C (Plus) (Plus)

"Well, then," Jermafencer announces from behind you. "I'm off to this 'France' country."

You wish him a good journey, and without further ado, the knight climbs into his seat, takes the reins, and flicks them once to get his team moving. The Death Coach moves away with a slow creaking and clopping, which grows to a clatter and then a rumble before Jermafencer steers towards the water.

The dark carriage disappears with a green flash a moment later.

You make good use of the time to ready the modified Spell of Protective Penumbra and Spell to Resist Water, for when the Reinhardts arrive. You also wonder if you should send Briar off to fetch someone who can reassure a pair of vampires - one of who you've only met in person the one time, the other a complete stranger to you - that the spells you're going to place on them actually do what you claim they do.

Even casting in the ritual format, you've completed both spells and are just holding the prepared charges, waiting for your guests to arrive. Based on Jermafencer's previous runs, it shouldn't be too much longer.

...

A few more minutes, then. It did take the knight slightly longer than usual to fetch the Shuzens, due to the wards on their property; wherever the Reinhardts live, it's probably got defenses of its own to take into consideration.

...

"Is it just me," Briar finally asks, "or is this taking a bit too long?"

---

If you're going to reassuring the Reinhardts that your magic is beneficial, you pretty much have to get a member of the Shuzen family here to vouch for you, and if you're going so far as to get someone to vouch for you, it should probably be an adult.

You're inclined to send Briar to ask Miss Akasha if she could join you, but two things stop you from doing so. First is the immediate fact that Akasha is already providing adult supervision to the goings-on at the Ring of Trials, and probably shouldn't be pulled away from that. Second is the tension that you've seen exists between the Shuzen and Reinhardt families, and Akasha's own private admission to you that it arose from her old relationship with Amelia's grandfather.

For those reasons, asking Gyokuro to vouch for you is probably a better option. It doesn't exactly hurt that she IS the nominal matriarch of the Shuzen family.
Or that she has reasons of her own to be less than friendly with Akasha?
It takes your partner some time to locate Gyokuro and convey your request, but when Briar returns towards the end of your second round of spellcasting, Gyokuro is with her.

Kahlua's mother gives you a peculiar look before asking, "Why are you covered in paint?"

You look down at your shirt. You wouldn't call the droplets and light streaks of paint where you mostly-dodged Ayane's paint bombs "covering," but there's no arguing the fact that you are more colorful than you were when this day began.

You have to agree with Briar. Jermafencer has been very prompt in his duties today, and this delay - easily twice the length of most of his previous trips, and now even longer than it took to get into and out of the defenses around Castle Shuzen - is unusual and a little concerning. Unless the Reinhardts live in a heavily magically-warded domain of their own...?

You ask Gyokuro about that, on the off-chance she's visited the place.

As it turns out, she has, if only on a handful of formal occasions, and the description she provides puts you more in mind of the Drake estate than Castle Shuzen, just with more Gothic sensibilities, and lacking a live-in wizard of Ambrose's caliber and quirkiness.

In short, the Reinhardt residence is not the kind of place that Jermafencer should need so long to get into and out of, at least not when all the necessary arrangements had been made well in advance.

That settles it, then. Something's up.

You quickly cast a Spell of Divination, effectively the Spell of Greater Scrying with most of the effective duration removed. It's a potent enough piece of magic that, combined with your personal familiarity with Jermafencer and the fact that he's in this world by means of your magic, you should be able to locate him even through the sort of wards a wealthy supernatural family would have on their property.

Working one spell while already holding the charges for two others requires a certain amount of mental gymnastics, but nothing that taxes your focus too greatly - at least not when you're out of combat. The Spell of Scrying takes shape, turning a nearby tide-pool into a viewing screen for you and your two companions.

On that screen, you see Jermafencer standing before the Death Coach, sword flashing as he duels another dark-armored giant, armed with a long, heavy blade. What advantage the unfamiliar knight should have by reason of his weapon's reach seems to have been matched by Jermafencer's speed and possibly superior skill, for the other warrior is clearly on the defensive.

Swarming around the feet of the two warriors, and getting kicked out of the way or simply crushed underfoot when they draw too close to either, seethes a mob of twisted, humanlike figures - too many, too crammed together, and too busy running around to accurately make out details, beyond the fact that they're ugly little things, only a three or four feet tall at the most, and many considerably smaller. Jermafencer's helmet has been removed from his shoulders - being replaced by his second helm and/or head, as you saw happen back when you first summoned him - and is currently flying around, spitting bolts of shimmering fire at the swarming shadows.

Your initial impulse is worry that Jermafencer has somehow tripped the Reinhardts' security system, but that passes as quickly as it came. You've seen the man you believe is Amelia's grandfather a couple of times, and that silver-haired man is not the one fighting the Knight of the Shadowed Mire; you can actually see him on the edges of your Spell of Scrying, cleaving through the screeching mass of little monsters with his own long blade.

None of the three swordsmen are speaking, and the little monsters are just shrieking incoherently, but you can hear a voice that you think is Amelia's, coming from somewhere "off-camera," as it were.

"Stupid goblins! You couldn't have waited FIVE MORE MINUTES?!"

...okay.

---

You look down at your paint-streaked armored robe, then back up at Gyokuro, and levelly state, "Ninja. Paintbombs."

Gyokuro frowns slightly. "I've seen how fast you can move, Alex. You're saying she still caught you?"

"There were a LOT of bombs," you clarify.

While she doesn't say as much out loud, you get the impression that Gyokuro grudgingly approves of Ayane's tactics.

For your part, you cast the Spell of Prestidigitation and start separating the smears of red, yellow, and green from your clothing.

Paint (spattered) debuff removed

Jermafencer and Amelia's grandfather are doing well for themselves, and with a quick tweak to your spell that "rotates" the sensor through which you're seeing things, you're able to look in the direction Amelia's enraged shriek came from, catch sight of her and her mother, and confirm that they're also managing just fine. And now that you've changed the angle of your "camera," you can see some other people moving around the yard as well, swatting down goblins with a variety of weapons.

You do take note that where the Shuzens have demonstrated a family preference for unarmed combat, the Reinhardts appear to favor blades - specifically, European longswords. Those wielded by Mrs. Reinhardt and her father surge with energies both magical and vital, and strongly enough that you can passively sense them even through your scrying spell. Amelia's weapon may or may not be enchanted, but she's definitely putting some of her energy into it. The other people - who don't look to be relatives; some of the staff, then? - are armed with a mix of swords, maces, and spears, plus at least one oversized axe that the goblins are running away from, screaming, at every opportunity.

You can't get a very good look at most of the fighters - too many goblins in the way - but the five most significant combatants on the field are another story.

You speculated on first meeting him that Jermafencer's blade was meant for duels, and each passing second drives that impression home more and more firmly. As far as pure technique goes, the Knight of the Shadowed Mire is unquestionably one of the best swordsmen you've yet encountered, his weapon little more than a silvery streak as it slices through the air, singing out each time it strikes the enemy's own blade or - more frequently - snakes past to hit his armor.

Which is not to suggest that the invading knight is a bad swordsman - far from it. At the very least, he's better than you are, as he's actually able to fend off SOME of Jermafencer's strikes, where you know you'd be taking more hits if you were mad enough to fight the giant blademaster up close and personal like this.

Amelia's grandfather is at least as capable with his long-bladed weapon as Jermafencer is with his proportionately shorter sword, and his daughter isn't too far behind him - the pair are cutting swathes through the goblin horde, the combination of vampiric strength, enchanted steel, the simple length of their blades, and the diminutive stature of their targets allowing for multiple, even mass kills with every swing. Amelia's skill is more modest, somewhere around Altria's level once you account for the difference in weapon style, but even she's racking up quite the body count.

On a side note, you're glad you aren't there to witness this in person. Watching the battle through a scrying spell gives you enough of a sense of separation to distance yourself from the honest and quite messy slaughter of goblinoids that's taking place.

Instead, you find yourself at once deeply annoyed that half of these people don't use a hand-and-a-half sword like you do, and that you aren't on good enough terms with the rest to ask for lessons from the ones that DO, while also trying to take entire pages' worth of mental notes on how to wield and defend against the models of blades currently on display.

Gained Sword Training B (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)

All in all, you'd say they have the situation in hand. Between that and the fact that it would be rather rude of you to interrupt Jermafencer when he's in the middle of winning a duel, you hold off on casting any spells to contact the knightly coachman or your invited guests, or to otherwise interfere with the ongoing battle.

You do check with Gyokuro before making that resolution, though, just to be sure it's acceptable. You've mostly dealt with the Japanese contingent of the Moonlit World to date; there are assuredly some things they do differently in the heart of Europe.

Lady Shuzen assures you that your decision is the right one, though she does add that if you want to try and determine where this mob of goblins and their dark knight leader came from, it wouldn't draw any objection from the Reinhardts; rather, they'd likely appreciate knowing who to direct their complaints to.

Gained Local Knowledge (Moonlit World) C (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)

If you're going to cast a Spell of Divination to grab that information, it'll have to be one of the quicker ones; the battle doesn't look like it's going to last longer than another minute or so.

---

The mana expenditure for the Spell of Literary Vision is irritating, but in light of the fact that someone or something has attacked one of your guests, you feel it's worth the cost.

Taking out your Conjured Book, you shape your mana, and invoke the magic.

Even as you watch the pages of the opened Book fill with information, you keep one eye on the battle, and see your previous estimate of things rapidly borne out. Jermafencer continues to harry the enemy knight with rapid thrusts of his one-handed blade, staying close and keeping the pressure on so that his opponent cannot get the space to use his longer, two-handed blade to best effect. The Knight of the Shadowed Mire has yet to deal his foe a decisive wound, but the way the other knight moves shows a level of respect and caution towards Jermafencer's lighter sword that strikes you as unusual for one so heavily-armored.

You get the feeling that you missed something important earlier in the fight.

Regardless, while Jermafencer keeps the other knight distracted, the Reinhardts and their people are rapidly thinning out the goblin ranks. The combination of greater size, longer reach, superior strength, and actual weapons - much less skill in their use - has all but overwhelmed the goblins' advantages of numerical superiority and being small enough that they're relatively hard to hit, and as more and more of the little monsters are cut, stabbed, and/or smashed down, the survivors become increasingly frightened.

Sensing your spell reach completion, you glance away from your scrying "mirror" for a moment to see what information your efforts have given you.

...

Oh, terrific. More poetry.

Through the mists of Otherplace, the Death Coach rides.
Over land and sea alike, its black horses stride.
Within the mists there stands a wood, gnarled, dark, and old,
and at its edge there stands a knight, armored black, and bold.

'Who are you,' the black knight cries, 'to venture 'cross these lands?
'Name yourself,' the coachman chides, 'who would make such demands.'
'Lord of Withered Wood am I, and Lord of Bloody Field;
master of a thousand men, and of this blade I wield.
Scion of the Winter Folk, and member of their Court-'

At this point, you pause in your reading, look back at the tide-pool, and call up your Fairy Sight.

Gained Fairy Sight D (Plus)

There we go. Interference from the scrying spell and the magic and youki flying around the battlefield was blocking your passive awareness, but now that you're actively probing through the sensor, you can pick up the Fae energies of the knight and what's left of the goblin horde.

Quickly, you read through the remainder of the vision-text, and put together an idea of what happened.

The route Jermafencer took to reach the Reinhardt residence brought him near to where Faerie borders that part of Europe and the Ethereal Plane. By chance or conspiracy, a member of the Winter Court was present to see the Death Coach coming, and took the opportunity to throw his weight around. Jermafencer was properly polite, but when he said he was going to pick up members of the Reinhardt clan, things immediately fell apart.

Amelia's family is not on good terms with this "Lord of the Withered Wood" and other sundry titles. Your spell didn't get into specifics as to why, just a rant from His Lordship about blood oaths, slain kinsmen, and accusing Jermafencer of working for "the Dark Lord and his spawn."

Unless the Fae Knight is MUCH better informed than you'd like, he was probably referring to Dracula with that remark.

Accusation led to denials, then to demands and refusals, and Jermafencer ended up having to fight his way out of the mists and back into the real world. Lord What's-His-Name came after him, landing right on the Reinhardt's front doorstep with a swarm of goblins, and leading to the massacre-in-progress you're seeing by remote.

Speaking of which, the Faerie Lord just called for a retreat, an order his goblins are echoing and enacting with great enthusiasm, as Fae energies begin to gather.
Oh, you do NOT run out on a duel with one of OUR Knights, Your Lordship.
"CRAVEN!" Jermafencer roars. "You DARE to challenge me unprovoked, threaten those I have sworn safe passage to, as well as uninvolved innocents, and then try to FLEE? By the Goddesses, I've had enough!"
Give him hell, Helmethead!
Whatever the Fae Knight might be able to say is cut short, as Jermafencer redirects his enemy's longer blade down and to one side, then brings his shield up and around for a most forceful introduction to the dark knight's helmet.

Gained Shield Training E (Plus)

As the Faerie Lord staggers back from the blow, Jermafencer frees his blade and holds it low at his side-

!

-energy swirling around it, as you've done with your own Blessed Blade, and as you remember seeing Link do in memory.
This is gonna be good!
Sword flashing once as the blue-white nimbus of a completed Sword Beam forms around it, Jermafencer swings for his opponent's throat with an angry demand: "GIVE ME YOUR HEAD!"

Gained Sword Beam D (Plus)

The Fae Knight brings his sword up in a frantic block, one hand on the hilt and the other supporting the back of the blade, and you hear a SCREAM of tortured steel, coupled with that distinctive, echoing discharge of the most famous technique of the Knights of Hyrule.
And it's a hi-
In the next instant, the dark-armored figure is falling away from the point of impact, head still attached, but the sword clutched in his hands now in two large pieces, and uncountable smaller ones besides.
-oh, poo. He blocked it.
And then there is a flash of white light, as despite the best efforts of the defenders, the Fae manage to complete their working. The Lord and his surviving goblins are swallowed up by that light, and when it clears, the only trace of them are the pint-sized corpses strewn across the Reinhardts' lawn, and a few sparkling shards of a shattered sword.
Damn it!
Jermafencer snarls and brandishes his own, intact blade at the space where his foe stood just a moment ago.

"SCUM! Come back here and die with some dignity!"
Yeah!
Well. Somebody is unhappy.

---

You give Jermafencer and the other combatants a moment to calm down and come to grips with the battle's sudden ending, before casting the Message Spell and speaking quietly through your scrying sphere.

"Sorry to intrude," you begin.

Amelia starts at the sound of your voice, sword coming up reflexively as she turns in the direction of the invisible magical sensor your voice is broadcast from. Her mother and grandfather are much calmer in their reactions, regarding the general area of the sphere-like construct with wordless frowns, while Jermafencer - connected to you through your magic as he is - turns and looks right at the thing.

"How much of that did you witness, Summoner?" he inquires. Hints of the anger he displayed towards the Fae Knight are present in his voice, but the Knight of the Shadowed Mire seems to have his temper back under control.

"The last minute or so," you reply. "I noticed you were running a bit late, and got curious enough to scry on your location - again, Amelia, Mrs. Reinhardt, sir, I'm sorry about intruding on your privacy like this."

"Under the circumstances," Amelia's grandfather says dryly, "I believe it's a forgivable offense."

"Would it help if I mentioned I cast a Spell of Divination to identify that Fae Knight?" you offer. "Or that, if someone were to bring me a few of those shards from his blade, I could scry out the location of the rest of it?"

"That would be a time-saver," the silver-haired, youthful-looking man concedes, before turning to Jermafencer. "Sir Knight, would you object to my traveling with you to express our mutual displeasure with the coward?"

"It would be my honor, Lord Tepes," Jermafencer replies.

Things are sorted out quickly from there. Some of the servants help the ladies load their luggage aboard the Death Coach, and another follows the instructions of the lady of the family to collect the larger pieces of the invader's broken blade, packing them up in a handkerchief before handing them off to Mrs. Reinhardt. While that's going on, Jermafencer retrieves his floating head and checks over his horses, while Amelia's grandfather disappears back into the house, returning a few minutes later with a shield on his left arm and the glint of a mail shirt showing beneath his old-fashioned overcoat and cape. He climbs aboard the carriage without a moment's pause, Jermafencer snaps the reins once, and they're off.

There are no further interruptions, and when the family (plus one) arrive on Bali Ha'i, you quickly discharge the two spells you've been holding. It's no hardship or extra cost in mana to add Amelia's grandfather to each; even though he isn't staying, the protective spells might do him some good in the near future.

You also hand over the Conjured Book, with its current collection of poetry, for Lord Tepes and Jermafencer to consider.

While they're doing that, you take the sword-shards and cast a Greater Spell of Scrying, using the pieces of sundered metel - which is NOT steel, you notice in passing - to focus the magic. It's not quite as good as if you'd had some of the knight's own blood to forge a sympathetic connection with, but none of that was available; as it is, the fact that the Fae Lord took the rest of the sword with him when he fled is still a powerful advantage, more than enough to make up for the added difficulty of trying to scry upon a being on another plane of existence.

Not enough to simply punch through the wards the troublemaker has around the castle of dark stone and leafless, thorny briars that is his residence, mind you, but that's where your own affinity for Divination Magic comes into play.

You get an up-close and personal view of the knight's face as some of his servants, lower-ranking greater Fae by their height and looks, help him out of his battered armor while he rants about "abominations" and "traitors in the Court" and "vengeance."

The Fae Lord is so caught up in his self-indulgent monologue that he fails to notice your scrying sensor.

One of his servants is more aware of his surroundings, but aside from casting a brief glance at the invisible globe, the Fae says nothing of its presence.
Ah, treachery within the ranks. Always useful.
And isn't THAT just the most useful thing?
One of these millennia, the bad guys are going to catch on and stop mistreating the help.
Jermafencer and Lord Tepes listen to their target's diatribe for a couple of minutes, getting an idea of his plans as he's forming them. The gist of it is that he's sending out messengers to his various relatives - including his sire, the ACTUAL Lord of the Withered Wood; this one is just the heir - to call for retribution against foes old and new.
Perhaps, but not today.
That one servant follows him all the while, STILL not saying a word about the presence of your scrying sensor.

It would appear that you've pulled off quite the little intelligence coup. Amelia's grandfather and your hired coachman are intent on making good use of it, and have put their heads together to discuss their strategy. Mrs. Reinhardt and Gyokuro are both chiming in with their thoughts, and even Briar is getting involved, making a few observations about Fae politics and how they can be bent to your allies' advantage.

Gained Strategy E (Plus) (Plus)

---

In light of your responsibilities as a party host and your plans for the morrow, not to mention the objections your parents would raise, you accept the fact that you won't be going on this little quest.

That doesn't mean you're completely unable to contribute to the proceedings.

Between them, the members of this impromptu war-council have centuries' worth of experience with such things, so it's highly unlikely that they require your input on subjects such as strategy or politics, where you are still just a novice - Ganondorf's influence notwithstanding, and your own adventures around the world (and beyond it) taken into account.

No, rather than try to horn in on such subjects, you save your words for three points where you can genuinely contribute something of value.

For one thing, you can provide Spells of Abjuration and Augmentation to shore up the defenses of those who go hunting Fae.

On a related note, you point out that if Jermafencer would kindly go and fetch the Drakes before he goes off on this little adventure, it would not only discharge the remainder of his contract with you - at least for today - it would give you the time you need to cast several of those protective spells without a needless expenditure of mana.

You consider mentioning the platoon-equivalent of Memorians currently present on Bali Ha'i, and how, given their historical and personal grudges against the Fae, they'd likely cheerfully volunteer to join the raid. That said, these spectral soldiers aren't really that strong in the grand scheme of things, making it questionable just how much aid they'd be able to provide to individuals like Jermafencer and Lord Tepes, against foes like Fae lords. Especially when none of them have met before this, much less had a chance to work together.

That will be an issue for the giant Hyrulean knight and the vampiric gentleman as it is, but they, at least, have seen each other fight, and are skilled warriors who currently only need to worry about working with one unfamiliar ally. If you crowd the field with another score of unknowns, all of lesser skill, things could get a bit messy.

What really nixes the idea is the fact that none of Captain Marcus's command staff are present for you to approach with the idea, meaning that any attempt to commandeer his men would have an unavoidable negative impact on your relations with the Memorians. Even if all of his men came back covered in glory and singing of complete and total victory, Marcus would still have words with you about going over his head and putting his people in danger without so much as a by-your-leave.

That's no way to treat an ally.

Your offer and terms are readily accepted, and Jermafencer quickly checks the time. It's quarter to three on the island, making it quarter to five in Wales - a couple of hours yet until dawn, but late enough that astronomical twilight will have begun, or so the Knight of the Shadowed Mire informs you. Making quick excuses to the Reinhardts and Mrs. Shuzen, he climbs back aboard his coach and sets off at once.

You take a moment to consider what spells you ought to cast, finding three that immediately come to mind.

One is the Spell of Protection From Chaos, which, given you're sending two friends into Fae lands, is almost a prerequisite. Use the group form, increase the duration by two steps, and you're good - if Jermafencer and Lord Tepes end up needing more than seven hours of this defense, they'll have bigger problems than it can help them with.

Your next choice is a piece of witchcraft you took from Ganondorf's memories, the Spell to Enshroud Thoughts. Its nature as a ward against mind-reading in general will serve your allies well among the Fae, and you modify it to have the same range and duration as the Spell of Protection From Chaos.

Finally is another work of witchcraft - it's interesting, how many useful spells for confronting tricksters fall into that part of your mental spellbook - the Spell of Enchantment Foil. This one not only increases the subject's resistance to mind-affecting magic, it allows them to act as if spells which failed to get a hold on their consciousness actually worked. This strikes you as such an appropriate spell to throw at the Fae that you don't hesitate to add it to the list, even with the relatively high cost (translating to increased ritual casting time) for making it affect two different people.

You're just finishing up that ritual, with the charges from the first two held and ready, as Jermafencer returns with the Drakes.

The Death Coach has barely stopped moving when Lucia Drake KICKS the door open with a cry of, "GANGWAY!" and goes charging towards the surf in a flutter of red silk, gauzy translucence, and golden hair. Held in her arms is a positively green-faced Anna Drake, hands clenched desperately in front of her mouth, shoulders not-quite-heaving as she struggles valiantly not to be physically sick.
Oh, you poor girl.
The best that can be said of this situation is that Lucia hits the water before Anna loses her lunch.
There, there, kiddo. Better out than in.
...actually, given the time difference, that would probably be last night's dinner she's spewing into the surf...

"Not the most auspicious beginning to a tropical island getaway," Ambrose muses, as he follows a concerned-looking Arthur and Altria down from the carriage. The wizard is once again wearing his riotous flower-patterned t-shirt and shorts, with a visored cap and sunglasses to shield his head and eyes, but even though he's dressed in his "vacation" wear, he's still carrying his staff - and not the carved hockey stick, either, but his actual working wizard's staff.

Altria is wearing her usual colors, but has exchanged the boyish semi-formal wear that you've gotten used to seeing her in for shorts and a blouse over a darker one-piece bathing suit. Her father has likewise dressed down, trading jacket and starched shirt for a loose white tee. He's still wearing slacks, though.

Mr. Drake's attention, you notice, seems split between his eldest daughter and the presence of the vampires on the beach - particularly the one who's visibly armed.

"Lord Tepes, I presume," Arthur states, rather than asks, before introducing himself with a half-bow. "Arthur Drake."

"A pleasure, sir."

"Likewise. Though I must say, I was not aware you would be joining us for this little getaway."

Amelia's grandfather nods. "In point of fact, I will not be. There is a certain Fae lord who made it clear he requires a refresher course in good manners. Sir Jermafencer and I will be departing to administer instruction shortly."

Arthur appears to be enlightened, and mildly regretful that he didn't bring his own armaments.

Is there anything you'd like to say or do, beyond the usual greetings, an apology for Anna Drake's benefit, and buffing Adrian Tepes and Jermafencer before they take off to hunt down the dark Fae knight?

---

No further spells really present themselves as must-haves for the two questers, both of whom are already carrying gear that assures a certain level of physical and mystical protection. You do briefly entertain the idea of offering to summon Arthur Drake's equipment so that he can join in on the adventure, or at least suggesting that Jermafencer drive back to the Drake estate with him before charging into Faerie, but in the end, you stay quiet.

Arthur doesn't seem THAT disappointed about not going on the retaliatory raid, and he is concerned about his firstborn's bad reaction to traveling aboard the Death Coach, so an offer to send him gallivanting off into other plane right now might be taken poorly.

After Lord Tepes and Jermafencer have left, and you've seen the Reinhardts and the Drakes to their respective rooms - with Anna opting to have a bit of a lie-down before dinner - you review your guest list and ask Briar whether or not you ought to send a message to Navi.

"You can if you want to," Briar replies with a shrug, "but I don't see the need. If she's going to be here, it'll be in her own time; if something's come up that she has to cancel for, she'll let you know about it; and either way, no amount of messages will change things."

You consider that, check your mana reserve - which is down by about half - and decide that you lose nothing by listening to your partner.

Literally, even.

It's a couple more hours until dinner starts, and several things happen in that time.

After another half-hour or so, everyone who currently feels like having a scrap has had it, gotten bored of the spectacle, or resigned themselves to waiting until later for the match they really want. You catch Shuzen Akua studying you at one point, that distinctive light of eagerness for battle glinting in her gaze, but the fact that you've sworn off using magic in your matches appears to have deterred her from challenging you for the time being.

Having gotten into a wrestling match with Sokka and a hand-to-hand turned hand-to-everything bout with Tatsuki in the meantime, bringing your ki reserve down further, you're just as glad to pass on fighting a vampire who's got a few years of experience on Kahlua.

Gained Grappling D (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Ki Armor C
Gained Ki Strike E

On another front, Anna Drake recovers from her attack of extra-dimensionally induced nausea enough to join her little sister in meeting the other guests around their respective ages. She also quickly bonds with Amy and Dave over the experience, which would be nicer, if they'd stop casting dark looks your way while they complain about it.

Relating to the above, Isshin finally turns up, back on his feet and just as grumbly as the three kids about being laid low by passage between planes. You were meaning to talk to him about that, and while clearly not thrilled with the idea, he isn't evasive about it - however, with the sheer number of people now present on Bali Ha'i placing a much greater demand on your responsibilities as a host, you can't find the time for that talk just yet.

Isshin assures you it can wait, glances wife-wards, and adds, "But not TOO long, okay? Seriously, she threatened to kick me to the couch tonight, and as great as these magic rooms of yours are, I don't think I could sleep in one with all the staff wandering around."

So you've penciled Isshin in for a meeting some time after dinner.

And yes, Navi finally showed up, at about four in the afternoon.

She also brought her kids.

Like, ALL of her kids.

You have never, in any of your lifetimes, seen so many fairies in one place at one time. The polychromatic lights, the contrasting magical auras, the incessant CHATTER...
Don't panic. They can smell fear.
Fortunately for your sanity, approximately two-thirds of Navi's hundred and three brats flutter off to explore Bali Ha'i with a chorus of giggles and several cries of, "ADVENTURE!"
I love those little maniacs.
That still leaves a few dozen for the actual introductions, ranging from the size Briar WAS when you first met, to a half-score of half-pint Kokiri look-alikes with wings who never came up in those occasional talks about Navi's family, and the storied big brother and sister, who look like oddly short Hylians in their mid- to late-teens.

The brother, Robin, is a burly sort whose bright red hair was obviously the source of his name. He gives you an indiscriminately unfriendly, big brotherish sort of look that you recognize well, having worn its like a few times yourself where Zelda and strangers were concerned. From what you recall of Briar mentioning him being a blacksmith who could smack a troll around, that's concerning enough, but it's the sister who sends a chill creeping down your back and through the shadows of your mind.
Breathe, Alex.
Her name is Summer. She wears her strawberry blonde hair long and loose, her eyes are sky-blue, the light dress she's chosen to wear is a rich leafy green, and her sweetly smiling face looks like it could have belonged to Link's twin sister.
It's not that bad.
You suddenly find Briar's story of this fairy storming a goblin den to threaten its king with a kitchen knife all too easy to credit.
...okay, that did happen, and it was awesome.
You have nowhere for even the near-human-sized fairies to speed a night, much less the two nights the party is planned to last, but fortunately, being Fae and in an environment like Bali Ha'i's, they're perfectly content to sleep outside.

With the number of party guests having at least doubled, and more likely tripled, you're quite run off your feet for the remainder of the hour before dinner.

It doesn't help that the first thing Briar's younger siblings do is try to kidnap all the little girls on the island - for a value of "kidnapping" that involves mutual giggling, experimental fairy-assisted hairstyling, and little sisterly evil.

In the end, you get things sorted out without any worse repercussions than fairy glitter everywhere, and dinner is able to proceed on schedule.

---

It's quite a crowd that assembles for the five o'clock dinner.

Humans stand shoulder-to-shoulder with monsters, hunters and hunted on both sides putting aside old animosities for the evening to enjoy a party - though you do catch Arthur Drake and Shuzen Issa once again exchanging too-bright, too-stiff smiles when they catch sight of each other in their respective vacation wear.

Priests and celestials rub elbows with unquiet ghosts without a hint of attempted exorcism or desecration between them; instead, the Memorians appear to be teaching Bando and Koron the words to one of their drinking songs, while Madam Lanora is talking to Ekewaka, who periodically stops to demonstrate a short sample of his musical chanting.

The mortal avatar of a major elemental spirit trades stories with a Great Fairy, while holding the arm of a fidgety-looking Goron priest, to ensure he can't roll away.

Around living bodies, spectral forms, and those that are not quite either stand totems of carved wood and small idols of stone, leaf- and grass-thatched beach fales that shield tables bearing samples of the many bounties of the island's lush climate, and as-yet unlit torches. Central to the whole arrangement is a great fire-pit that burns low and steady, the scent of roasted fowl and grilled fish still hovering about it.

Inhabitants of three distinct worlds spread across two planets have come together in one location, modern, medieval, mundane, and mystical alike surrounded by trappings of a lost culture that was, in some way, foreign to all of them. The members of the Water Tribe, who once had distant relatives on Bali Ha'i, are no more or less comfortable on the tropical island than the rest of your guests. Shaman Keoni, Ekewaka, and the rest of the island singers all once called this place home, but now are separated from it by the veil of death. Even Kahine, who is the living, burning heart of Bali Ha'i, cannot claim to have been wholly a part of the vanished society - the distance between man and elemental, between worshippers and the object of worship, always putting her on the outside.

A cloud of minor fairies hovers above everything like overgrown, chatty fireflies, the vague awareness of Bali Ha'i is more concentrated at this place and time than you've sensed it being before now, and if you focus very firmly, you can just make out the aura of the Goddesses, watching from the immortal realms.
Don't mind us.
And presiding over all of this is the one that brought everyone together, and combined the advice of the islander ghosts with a remarkable amount of magic to properly outfit the place: the human reincarnation of a Gerudo warlock turned Great Demon King.

Score one for multiculturalism, you guess.

But magic or no magic, getting all of this set up on your own was still a heck of a lot of work. Next year, you're either doing something smaller for your birthday, or you're hiring more help.
We'll see how long THAT resolution lasts.
Gained Logistics E (Plus) (Plus)

One of the more outstanding features you added is a stone-floored stage, laid out in a twenty-foot square of dark, smooth-polished material with low steps on all four sides. Standing there now, you've got enough extra height to be able to look at most of the adults on something approaching eye-level, while otherwise getting a better vantage point for the dining area.

Breathing first out to relax, and then in again, you call out, "Can everyone hear me?"

There is a general reply of, "Yes."

"Can everyone see me?"

This prompts a few negative responses from the shorter members of the crowd, but some quick re-positioning fixes that, with larger people either moving aside or ending up with small ones climbing onto their backs, into their arms, or both.

Once that's done, you begin your opening speech.

It's a simple enough thing, officially welcoming everyone to Bali Ha'i, thanking them for attending your ninth birthday party, and then outlining your plans for the next couple of days. These are fairly loose, leaving plenty of time for people to swim, explore, sunbathe, or otherwise enjoy the island, but there are a few "events" you've prepared for.

The only thing scheduled for tonight is dinner and a musical performance by Ekewaka's island singers, in recognition of the fact that a lot of your guests will be too busy fighting jet lag for much else. Some of them, you can see, are a little weary even now. For those that have too much energy to get to sleep tonight, you make an offer of magical assistance to sort out their internal clocks, though for efficiency's sake, you do ask that they aproach you in groups.

Tomorrow is the big day, and as such, is the main focus of the party, with the most events. First on the list is breakfast, and an hour or so after that, you have separate events scheduled. One of these is the Great Island Boar Hunt, open to those are interested and able, which you expect will be ongoing for the remainder of the morning. Paralleling it will be a mini-triathlon, for those unable or unwilling to take on angry swine in their own territory: swimming in Bali Ha'i's lagoon; a canoe race upriver through the jungle, to reach Kahine's mountain; and then an "ascent" of that same mountain, though only up to the level of the shrine. Lunch will follow the hunt and the race, and the bulk of the afternoon will be given over to your venture into the Ring of Trials. After that will be a break until dinner, where Shaman Keoni will serve up the results of the morning's hunt, followed by cake, the opening of your presents, and a dance.

Sunday is mostly intended as a day of rest and departures, but you note that will leave more time for the "final rounds" of the impromptu mini-tournament you've already seen cropping up.

"It seems to be an unavoidable consequence of getting a bunch of martial artists together in one place," you say with a shrug.

In the crowd, you spot Lu-sensei sighing and shaking his head, though for once, you don't seem to be the main source of his exasperation.

"With all of that out of the way," you conclude, waving a hand towards the tables, "dinner is served."

The ensuing applause gets a touch more enthusiastic at that.

Gained Oratory E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)