A Chronicle from a Time of Darkness

by PhycoKrusk

Chapter 4

"You are deceived, people of Taiyō-sen! You are fed lies like rice to blind you to the truth of the false goddess sitting on the mountain throne! I have heard and come bearing a message from the gods, commanding you to free yourself from the blinders and take back what has been stolen from you!"

It was so far an impressive speech, full of fire and passion. And one that Owlowiscious could not directly witness from the back of the crowd. "Who is that? Do you know?" he asked of Opal. Unfortunately, she looked just as lost as he felt.

"I don't. And I don't understand. Nothing like this has ever happened before, to the best of my knowing. But he can't be from Taiyō-sen. I've never met anyone here who doesn't hold the Empress in the highest of regards!"

"A suspicious occurrence, for sure." Once more, Owlowiscious tried to see over the crowd, but without flying, it would be impossible. "If I could only-"

Suddenly, he realized that he and his companions were less alone than they had been. Turning quickly to the side, he was faced with the alligator at the market the day before. Owlowiscious' eyes blinked, once. The alligator's eyes blinked, one, slightly out of sync with each other. And then, he grabbed Owlowiscious by the shoulders.

"H-hey!"

Without warning, Owlowiscious was suddenly hefted up over the alligator's head and in the blink of an eye, was zig-zagging over the heads of the crowd. Mere moments later, he was all but dropped back to his feet. Immediately, he spun to look behind him and, perhaps more importantly, to glare at the one who had moved and deposited him without permission. He saw the crowd looking perplexed at his sudden appearance in front of them. He saw that despite the energetic and somewhat violent method he was moved by, no one in the crowd had been shoved out of place. And in the back of the crowd, he saw the alligator, standing next to a surprised but not especially perplexed looking Opal, giving him an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

It was an amazing demonstration of his willpower that Owlowiscious managed to turn back around to address the 'messenger of the gods' and quash the desire to ask the dozens of questions that hoped to address exactly what had just happened to him.

"And lo, does the deceiver's servant appear to silence the truth!" the messenger shouted. What struck Owlowiscious as most unusual was that he was a sparrow, and while sparrows were up to many things, political dissent had not previously been one of them. Certainly, it would not have been anything so overt or incendiary. Furthermore, the white robes and black sash he wore was an obvious mockery of the same clothes frequently worn by the Empress. If he was looking to start a fight, what more could he have been doing to stoke tempers?

"What will you do, o slave to the false Sun? Irons? Some trick of magic? Perhaps you'll just run me through and be done with it!"

The crowd, already incensed, was getting angrier, but was also growing apprehensive now that everyone widely know that Owlowiscious was apparently sent there by the Empress. Combined with the soldiers that had arrived and moved through the village earlier, it was leaving them on edge, even if it would have made sense to them in hindsight.

Closing his eyes momentarily, the Demon Queller focused his magic. When he opened his eyes again, it was like the world around him had become a water color painting, lines and colors standing in sharper contrast to each other. But most importantly, as he stepped closer to the sparrow claiming to carry a message from the gods, he could see clearly that his face bore no markings of evil. Owlowiscious closed his eyes again, this time opening them to find the world returned to normal.

"I'm just here to warn you that there are Imperial soldiers in the village today," he said both calmly and casually. "And I can promise that at least a few of them will react poorly if they hear you speaking this way. Do what you will, but I advise against causing trouble."

That was all he had to say to the messenger, and he turned to the crowd next. "As for the rest of you, I know that what he says is upsetting, but I advise you pay him no mind. Let him realize on his own that no one cares to hear his message."

And that was all he had to say on the matter. He simply walked back to where he had originally emerged from the crowd, which was now giving him a wide berth, and back to where he'd started from. The messenger continued speaking, albeit with slightly less fire than he'd had previously. Likely, he meant to disparage Owlowiscious' courage or conviction, but the owl had relegated him to unpleasant background noise and remained largely calm. Opal, however, had not done the same; she was livid.

"That was it?" she demanded.

Owlowiscious looked from Opal back to the self-proclaimed messenger of the gods, then down to the ground, brow tightly knit in thought, and then back to Opal before offering, somewhat weakly, "Yes?"

"Well, he- you- Argh!" The feline attempted to wring out the handle of her parasol in frustration. "Do something! Arrest him! I don't care what you do but do something!"

"Even if it were within my power to arrest him, what do you propose I arrest him for?" Owlowiscious asked very seriously. "Making a spectacle of himself in public? If there were a law forbidding that, every street performer in Animalia would be imprisoned right now."

"He spoke against the Empress! Your Empress! Insulted her!"

"And again, there is no law forbidding such a thing. The only thing that prohibits us from doing exactly what he did is our respect for the bounds of good taste, and you and I both know that such concepts are lost on him."

"So that's it, then?" Opal deanded once more. "You're just going to stand by and do nothing? Say nothing? From our conversation earlier, I had thought you regarded the Empress as a friend, but now I see that impression was mistaken!

"And you!" She practically whirled on Peewee, glaring daggers at him. "Aren't you going to say anything? What is he even teaching you to make you stay silent at a time like this?"

The phoenix withered under her gaze and looked to Owlowiscious for help. But there was no rescue. Rather, his tutor smiled encouragingly and nodded, and small though the help was, Peewee managed to stand up a bit straighter. "He taught that laws have to be applied equally," he said with carefully measured words, "Or not applied at all, or else they have no meaning." Another look to Owlowiscious was met with another nod and a gesture to continue, and he stood up straighter still. "And that no matter what I become in my life, I have to be ready at all times to defend those around me from those who would abuse the law, no matter what they became in their lives. Even if I should meet thieves, or murderers, or oni(*), or bakemono(1), it's my duty to make sure the law is applied equally. Even if I have to use a sword to do it."

There were several moments of silence before Opal spoke again, and when she finally did, all she could say at first was, "Oh."

After she'd taken a few moments to interpret what Peewee had said, she managed to say, "Oh.

"I didn't, I just... oh, no...."

All pretense of anger had washed away, replaced by worry and even a bit of grief. Without wasting a moment, Opal dropped to her knees and bowed as low to Owlowiscious as she dared without touching her face to the ground. "Mister Nightwatch, please, please allow me to apologize," she pleaded. "I assumed much more than I should have, and insulted both you for your actions, and the Empress for placing her trust in you. I've committed a terrible error."

Before she could say anything else, Opal felt a comforting wing on her shoulder, and looked up to find Owlowiscious kneeling next to her. Not smiling, but not angry either. "Miss Essence, I won't say your words weren't hurtful, but I understand them," he said. "It's plain to see that you hold the Empress in high regards, and you were looking for some way to defend her when you felt you couldn't. An admirable trait, if a bit overzealous in this case. Now, up with you. Your robes are getting dirty."

Taking his when when offered, both Owlowiscious and Opal rose back to their feet, the matter mostly settled. "Thank you for understanding, Mister Nightwatch, but I feel I should take my leave of you now. We both have work yet to do, and I feel I've distracted you long enough." Opal took the opportunity to begin leaving, but Owlowscious once again laid on a wing on her shoulder to stop her.

"Miss Essence, I've a proposition to make," Owlowiscious said. "Why don't you take Peewee with you, as your assistant? He's quite good at it, I think." Before Opal could either agree or protest, Owlowiscious raised a wing to stop her. "There are three reasons why I brought him with me. The first and chief reason is because I enjoy his company very much." At that, the phoenix's smile grew brighter. "The second is because I felt having an assistant would benefit me, and it has. But the third reason is because the Empress felt very strongly that begin confined to Heavenspire would severely inhibit his own ability to experience the world, and I'm inclined to agree. Much though I enjoy his company, I think both his learning and enjoyment will be greater if he follows you for the remainder of the day. Until dinner time, at least."

"Oh. Well, I..." Opal began, casting a look down at Peewee. In turn, he was looking up at her, expression excited and eyes full of hope. She folded almost immediately. "I think that's a wonderful idea! What about you, Phineus? Can I count of you to help?"

"You bet, Miss Essence!" Peewee exclaimed with a small hop in the air. "I'll be the best assistant you'll ever have!"

Opal smiled widely and warmly. Oh, the exuberance of youth. "Come along, then. We've so much yet to do and so little time!"

"Before you go, Miss Essence?"

Both Opal and Peewee turned their attention back to Owlowiscious. "I still have my own tasks to see to. Do you know who will be performing tomorrow's blessing? I understand that Taiyō-sen has a shrine, but I haven't seen where it might be."

"Ah, of course. That would be Priest Nousagi. He's probably at the shrine you haven't seen, on the outskirts of the village. Go towards the farms, but take the right fork instead of the left. You can't miss it."

Owlowiscious nodded his understanding. "I do hope we'll meet again before I depart," he said, "Peewee, I'll see you for dinner. Look after Miss Essence for me, and stay out of trouble."

"I will, Owlowiscious! Abayo!"

As he turned to leave, Owlowiscious heard Opal repeat to Peewee, "Abayo?"

"It means like, 'so long,'" the phoenix replied, "Owlowiscious knows a lot of Classical words, and he teaches me some of them. I don't have any brothers, but I like to pretend that he's mine."

With a slightly large smile, the owl set off for the shrine.

---

Soon after....

With gentle grace, Owlowiscious touched back down on the road. With his inability to fly, Peewee had been slowing him down, even if the company more than made up for it. But taking to the mostly empty skies shortly after reaching the edge of the village, he saw that Opal was right; the shrine really was difficult to miss, at least from the ground. Had he not been looking for it while flying, he well may have missed it. A path led off the road shortly before forking. The path to the right led up a small hill and ultimately to what looked to be an earth mound house that had been burrow directly into the hillside. The rounded wooden door and rounded windows looking out, as well as the clay chimey jutting a short distance up from one side of the mound marked the architecture as a style from the far west; it stood to reason that Priest Nousagi was a rabbit.

The path to the left led through a small gap in a grove of trees, through which Owlowiscious could see a fleck of red paint through the leaves. Stepping through the gap led to a path that was rougher than the one leading off the road, moving straight through the trees and small shrubs that filled the grove. At the end of the path was the fleck of red paint he saw; the trees had been obscuring a large torii(2). Next to it was a small, stone basin with three wooden dippers resting atop it, and now the sound of running water could be clearly heard. This was the entrance to the shrine.

Stepping up to the basin and grasping one of the dippers, Owlowiscious filled it with water and, careful of how much he was using, washed the tip of his left wing, and then the right. Folding the primaries of his left wing tightly enough to hold water, he poured a bit from the dipper in to the cup he'd formed, and then poured the water from his wing into his mouth, swished three times, and spit it out. Finally, he turned the dipper upwards, allowing the last of the water in it to wash down its handle, before replacing it on the basin. Only then did he pass through the torii, deliberately avoiding walking down the center of it.

The shrine grounds were themselves a garden that reminded Owlowiscious a bit of the Imperial Gardens, although only insofar as it was a designated space where nature could grow without fear of being cut back by civilization. There was a small, dirt path from the torii he passed through to a second, smaller torii that marked the entrance to the shrine itself. The ground surrounding the path was covered in fluffy, green moss, and several trees spaced unevenly through the garden stretched upwards towards the sky, their leaves and branches providing shelter. The right side was blocked in by a stone cliff, fifteen shaku high- the one on which the priest's house was. A small watefall cascaded down it into a brook that wound in front of the shrine before joining the larger stream which served as the border to the garden's left. Likely, that stream not only kept the basin outside filld with water, but also was essential to the farmers for their crops. Over the stream, Owlowiscious could see the border of Mei-Shinrin, the Dark Wood. But though said to be full of yōkai, from there it seemed no more dangerous than any of the dozens of unhaunted forests he'd seen in his travels.

Approaching the shrine, which seemed to be cut into the earth itself and lit with two small fires by the entrance, Owowliscious crossed a small footbridge that carried him over the brook and left him just in front of the inner torii. With quiet practice, he removed his bag and placed it on the moss just outside of the torii, careful not to let them touch. He then removed his sword from the sash around his waist and placed it on top of his bag, following it with a dirk hidden inside of his jacket. Exhaling deeply to clear his thoughts, he stepped through the torii.

The shrine interior was simple, as a shrine ought to have been. An offeratory box, a bell, and most importantly, a mirror placed in front of the doors to the inner shrine. Owlowiscious mentally checked off the steps as he went through them; placing a small offer of a few mon(3) into the box, ringing the bell once to clear and quiet the air, stepping before mirror and standing in the shrine's center line before bowing twice to show respect for the spirits, clapping twice to invite them to the shrine and ask to hear his prayer, silently saying a prayer for the people of Taiyō-sen to be prosperous, bowing once more to thank the spirits for hearing his prayer, stepping to the side and out of the center line, and finally turning around and exiting the shrine.

Outside of the inner torii, he replaced his weapons on his person, donned his bag once again, and then exited the garden, returning to the road and continuing on to the hill next to the shrine with the strange, mounded house he saw.

The door was, as best Owlowiscious could tell, made from unpainted planks of dark cedar, held together with two bronze bands spanning the width of the door, although the wood did appear to be lacquered. In the center of the door was a bronze knob, as expected of far western styles. If the priest was not a rabbit, Owlowiscious would have been very surprised. To one side of the mound house, where the chance of flooding from rain water was the lowest, there was a small vegetable garden. Sparing no time to investigate it, the owl stepped up to the door and knocked three times. A few moments later, the knob turned and the door opened.

As expected, there was a rabbit in residence, white-furred and wearing a stern, but not unfriendly expression. Dressed in a dark blue jacket with the barest thread of a red shirt visible just near the top as a rabbit was wont to wear, the black, ankle-length skirt he also wore signified beyond a doubt that this was a priest; rabbits always preferred trousers, living lives where they were almost constantly in conflict with one another, but the skirt was traditional for a priest. "Ah, I thought heard someone in the shrine," he said,. "Have you come for a blessing?"

"I'm always happy to receive a blessing," Owlowiscious replied, "But in truth, I'm here regarding the celebration tomorrow. I take it you must be Priest Nousagi?"

"That I am," the priest replied, "Down from Jindaiyama, I take. Please, won't you come in and have some tea with me?"

"Of course, Priest Nousagi," Owlowiscious said with a bow. "Thank you for you hospitality. I don't mean to be a bother to you. I'm sure you must be very busy."

"Nonsense, I'm always happy to receive guests. Please, come in. My home is open to you."

Stepping back from the door, the priest allowed Owlowiscious entry. Just inside the door was a small foray with a dirt floor that quickly gave way to the regular floor of the house, raised two shaku from the dirt entryway and covered with woven mats. Briefly, the priest sat down on the raised floor and brushed the soles of his feet while Owlowiscious closed the door behind him. Once finished, the rabbit pushed himself up onto the floor proper and passed the brush to Owlowiscious, who followed him after repeating the same task.

The inside of the house was simple. The were four small, wooden columns that rose up to meet more wooden crossbeams in the ceiling, providing the support needed to prevent the roof from collapsing. The central, and seemingly only room was large enough for several people to sit comfortable, and likely for them to sleep as well if needed. There was a sliding screen against the back wall and to one side, which Owlowiscious guessed was for storage. Next to the screen was a small bookcase and writing desk. Across from that was a clay fireplace in the center of the wall that looked to be the center of a kitchen, a wooden table with cabinets underneath to either side of it, one covered with small boxes and some fresh vegetables, the other with a few knives and a somewhat unorganized jumble of pots. It was to this second table that the priest moved, rummaging through the jumble of pots and quietly as carefully as he could. It was then that Owlowiscious broke the silence that had grown between them.

"I don't mean to pry," he began. "But I couldn't help but notice the way you walk. You carry yourself like a warrior would. I take it you haven't always been a priest."

The priest chuckled in reply. "You have a keen eye, friend. You don't seem the sort to hold the past against someone, either, with so casual an observation."

"The past is relevant only so far as it helps us plan for the future. The present is what truly matters. Perhaps you were a criminal once upon a time, but now try to do good wherever you can. Does it matter so much if one was once despicable, when they are now exemplary? The past is like the current in a stream. It can carry us forward, but can also hold us back. The secret to navigating it is knowing when to go to shore and move beyond it."

"Well said." There were a few moments without words as the rabbit finally located his kettle. Moving to a large, ceramic jar on the floor near his pantry, he removed the lid and began to ladel water into the kettle. "Nousagi is a name I've gone by for only a few years, once I became a priest. In my life before, however, I was a warrior in one of the great houses to the west, as ruthless as you would dare imagine. Back then, I was known as Angel Bunny."

"Angel Bunny?" Owlowiscious asked with an edge of disbelief in his voice. "As in, Angel of House Bunny?"

"You know the name?" the priest asked.

"I know the House name," the owl clarified. "I suspect that many do. Some say only the Empress' Tengu are superior warriors to those bearing the Bunny name."

"And what do you think?"

"I've never seen a Tengu fight, and knowing what I do about them, I hope that I never have the opportunity."

"Wise words," Angel replied. Satisfied with the amount of water in the kettle, he placed it over the fire to heat, and then took a seat nearby on the floor, placing a small tray with a few sweets on it in front of him. Owlowiscious sat across from him, and accepted a treat when offered. For a few moments, that sat quietly and ate before Owlowiscious spoke.

"I hope you'll forgive me for asking, but what made you decide to give up the warrior's life for that of a priest?"

"A pony."

A moment of total silence passed between them. "I hope you'll forgive me for asking, but would you mind elaborating a bit?" Owlowiscious asked. Angel just chuckled.

"As I said, I was a house warrior in the west. I was ruthless, just as I said. I was also conceited, arrogant, controlling, and abusive. I spoke and looked down on those I saw as beneath me, which was everyone. I paid the oyabun and kobuns(4) only as much respect as necessary to avoid the worst reprimands. To this day, I remain convinced I was the absolute worst example of a rabbit you could hope to find," he said.

"What changed you, then?" Owlowiscious asked.

"I only paid my house's oyabun and kobuns enough respect to avoid reprimands. I freely insulted others, even if I somehow had enough sense to not raise arms against them. Eventually, another house decided they finally had enough of my insolence. They waited until I was away from my village before they struck. I was escorting the kobun along with several other warriors. The other house set upon us when we were moving through a mountain pass along the side of a river gorge, and it was a slaughter, even if they were focused on me. If I had run, they would have let the others live, but I was so wrapped up in myself that I stayed and continued to fight until I was the only one left. Finally, the cornered me on the edge of the pass, and in the heat of battle, I lost my footing and fell into the river, and was swept downstream."

Angel stopped telling his story then, long enough to remove the kettle from the fire and pour some into the teapot and the cups sitting on the floor before them. The kettle went onto a small, stone slab to cool further, and then the rabbit continued. "I don't know how far I was carried, but when I finally awoke, it was on a river bank with a pony nudging my shoulder with her nose. I'll never forget her, because her coat was the color of millet seeds. I've never seen a pony before or since with a coat the color of millet seeds. In any case, once I woke up, she backed away quickly and kept her distance. I can't say I blame her, with how cross I was.

"She was infinitely patient with me as I stumbled through the woods. No matter how I tried to chase her off, she would always retreat just out of reach, and then press towards me from different sides, as if she were trying to guide me somewhere. Even when I cursed at her and threw rocks and sticks, she always came back. Eventually, I grew so tired I collapsed, and she came over and leaned down so I could climb onto her back, and she carried me the rest of the way out of the forest, and then a few ri across the plains to a village. She wouldn't near it, but brought me close enough that I could walk. I was so stunned from the journey that I didn't know what to think, and I kneeled down and embraced her. Finally, she turned and trotted back towards the forest, stopped just once to look back at me, and then turned galloped away. That was the moment I resolved to become a priest."

Pushing himself back to his feet, Angel lifted up the teapot and, crossing to the basin on the wall, poured out the water in it. Owlowiscious noted that it must have drained out to the stream somehow. "And then what?" the owl asked. "You returned to your village, and then told the oyabun you wished to retire from a warrior's life?"

"That is, in fact, exactly what I did," Angel replied as he returned to his seat on the floor. With the teapot resting beside him once more, he turned his attention to opening the jar of tea leaves. "It wasn't that simple, of course. For me to go from the bully I was to a priest would have caused outrage among the houses, at the least." Two scoops of dried leaves went into the teapot and the jar was sealed again. "No, if I truly wanted to be a priest, he told me, I would have to surrender my position within the house and leave for another part of the empire. I told him I understood the reason why. The same day, I began to sell everything that I could not pack into a cart and pull by myself." The water in the cups was emptied back into the teapot, and the tea began to steep. "And after a very long walk, here I am in Taiyō-sen.

"Is your curiosity satisfied?"

Owlowiscious pondered the question for a few moments. "About you, and about why I came originally, yes. I have no doubts that your prayers will be perfect for tomorrow." Angel smiled slightly and nodded in response.

"I hate to cut first meetings short," Owlowiscious continued, "But after tea, I'm afraid I'll need to go. I've promised the family my assistant and I are staying with that I'd be back in time for dinner."

Angel nodded again, before asking, "Your host is Winona Earthwalker, correct?"

"Erm, she is," replied Owlowiscious cautiously. "How did you hear?"

"Word travels."

Owowiscious quirked his brow, but elected not to pursue the matter. "You're acquainted with her, I take?"

Again, Angel nodded. "She doesn't visit the shrine much, and so far I haven't been able to bring myself to blame her. The last she spent any great time here was during a very difficult time in her life. She's since taken to saying that she can carry herself just fine and doesn't need help from the spirits, but I'm sure there's more to it than that. Would you mind terribly if I accompanied you tonight, Mister Nightwatch? I'd like to visit her for a time, if I could. I'm quite concerned about her."

"As any priest should be for those under his guidance," Owlowiscious replied, "I'd be happy to have you accompany me, and truth be told, it might help to set some of my own concerns to rest, if you can help her confront some of her troubles."

Angel smiled a bit more widely at that. "You have a kind heart, Owlowiscious Nightwatch," he said. "And I hope that after tomorrow, you stay around for a while."

---

And soon after that....

The travel back to Winona's house was filled with light conversation. Angel answered questions that Owlowiscious had about Taiyō-sen, particularly with regards to its history, and in turn, Owlowiscious answered questions about what had been happening in the world at large. When they finally did reach the house again, the stopped at edge of the porch long enough to wipe their feet with the brush that hung from the wall, and then walked to the screen and opened it-

"Surprise!"

Owlowiscious was. Waiting for him in the main room was Winona, Ryder, Granny and Peewee, as expected, but also Lantier, Tank, Opal, the vegetable seller whose stand Peewee had crashed into when they arrived, plus some of the other farmers he'd seen in the fields, and a few others from around the village. Twenty, all told, plus Angel who not so subtly pushed him inside and closed the screen after.

"You knew, didn't you?" Owlowiscious asked Angel with smirk.

The rabbit offered a smirk of his own. "Word travels. And when Gummy is concerned, it couldn't hope to travel faster."

"Of course," Owlowiscious replied. Looking to one side, he saw the alligator, whom he assumed must be 'Gummy,' offering him a small jug made from thin, lightly baked clay. Accepting it and bringing is close to his face, he smelled the familiar scent of sake. "Sōdō(5)?" he asked. Gummy nodded in reply and, with an ever widening grin, Owlowscious brought the jug to his beak, turned it upward, and drank quickly until every last drop was gone, and then smashed the vessel against his head and threw his wings into the air in triumph, accompanied by the cheers of everyone around him.

Everything after that passed in a flurry. There was eating, and drinking, and even some music when someone produced a flute. Through it all, however, Owlowiscious was careful not to drink too much, and above all to keep his eye on Gummy. As a host, his manner was impecable. As everyone else stood or sat and talked and enjoyed themselves, he seemed to never stop moving, sliding or pirouetting this way and that to make sure that no one ran out of food or drink. And when he appeared next to those who seemed to have run out of conversation, one of them would invariably recall something that happened and the talk would continue.

He had just about started to reconsider his earlier suspicions when he was suddenly bumped into by Lantier and Winona, who had perhaps more to drink than she should have and was using the former for support. "Owlowiscious!" she almost shouted. "Th' Lieutenant an' ah were talkin', and he says ya tell some great stories, an' I remembered th' one ya told me, an' I got t' thinkin' that maybe ya knew some more!"

"More stories?" Owlowiscious replied with mock horror. "I don't know, Winona. Too many stories may shatter the mind. I've never been brave enough to find out."

"Stories?"

Owlowiscious turned his head, and there was Peewee with Ryder in tow. "You're telling stories? You tell the best stories!"

"Well, I haven't started telling one yet-"

"I heard about your stories, too!" called someone else, one of the other farmers.

"A story would be great, if you won't mind."

"A story! A story!"

"Alright, alright!" Owlowiscious said loudly, unable to keep from chuckling. "A story then!" His proclamation was met with cheers all around, until the owl waved his wings to indicate they should be silent. When they finally were, he posed a simple question:

"But what kind of story?"

"An adventure!" That came from Ryder, who somehow worked her way to the front.

"Tell us about Heavenspire!" called someone else.

"No! Tell us about far-off lands!" cried another.

"Tell us an adventure!" Ryder shouted again, practically bouncing up and down.

"Kaidan!"

Silence fell over the assembled crowd again and everyone looked to Peewee, practically bouncing just as Ryder had been before he spoke up. Ryder, suitably, was the first to break the newest silence. "What're 'kai-dan'?" she asked.

Peewee missed not a single beat. "Ghost stories! Real scary ones," he said excitedly. "And sometimes, Owlowiscious uses his magic, and makes them even scarier!"

"It's an excellent idea." All attention turned now to Angel as he made his way towards the front of the group. "Tomorrow, we commemorate the thousand years that have passed since the Day the Earth Froze and Darkness Covered the Land. What better way to prepare for it than by remembering the horrors we've been spared from? Kaidan sound like an excellent idea." It didn't take more than a moment for the shouts of agreement to come.

"Yeah, Priest Nousagi's right!"

"Tell us a ghost story, Mister Nightwatch!"

"Kaidan! Kaidan!"

"Tell the scariest story you know!"

"Oh," Owlowiscious replied to the crowd, "The scariest one? Are you sure?" Suddenly, everyone was less sure than they had been. "No, Priest Nousagi is right. And what better way to remember the horrors we were spared than by hearing the most terrifying tale of all?"

Owlowiscious brushed past some of the crowd, wings outstretched and feathers beginning to shimmer sky blue with magic as he approached the far wall of the house. As everyone else sat down around the fire pit, the light and heat it gave began to greatly diminish, even if the flames themselves did not. Everyone further drew closer together when the many lanterns themselves dimmed to practically nothing, plunging the house into total darkness save for the fire that suddenly seemed like their only protection. Along the far wall where Owlowiscious had last been seen, an extremely faint light appeared, gradually growing brighter until it resolved into a paper lantern, painted with an ink wash of a peony flower. A lantern entirely unlike any that were scattered around before the darkness came.

And then from out of the darkness, came the voice of Owlowiscious, carrying with it a gravelly quality that sounded almost sinister.

"Mukashi mukashi...."

Author's Note:

*: A type of demon akin to an ogre
1: A (usually malicious) shapeshifter, often an animal that can transform into a person
2: An arched gate that separates the mortal world from the spirit world; the gate protects each world from being contaminated by the other. Here is a typical example.
3: A small, round coin made from bronze, the smallest unit of currency
4: Literally, "foster parent" and "foster children." The relationship between groups in a rabbit house is like an extended family, even when no blood relations are present.
5: A traditional party thrown by crocodiles and alligators, where the objective is to eat, drink, and make merry as much as possible without getting sick, passing out or being incarcerated (if you have grumpy neighbors). Literally, "uproar."
6: For those who missed the edit in the interlude, traditional start to folk stories. "Long, long ago...."

Comments

[suijin]

"So that's it, then?" Opal deanded once more. What is deanded?

'Taking his when when offered,' double when.

'the Empress felt very strongly that begin confined to Heavenspire,' begin should probably be being.

'She wouldn't near it,' forgot the go.

You know, it's kind of weird when you begin to think that animals are acting out of character...

Also, do you need a proofreader? I'd be happy to volunteer.

[PhycoKrusk]

3283801
Honestly, I wouldn't mind, because I honestly have no idea how most of these even happened.

[suijin]

3283918
Feel free to message me about it, then.