Pilgrim, p.34
Pilgrim, page 34
“I suppose,” was all the white fox could tell him as she started to turn away.
“Wait,” he called after her. “You are heading back to Ogul, right?”
“That’s right. If I remember correctly, you said that you weren’t welcome there.”
“That was ages ago. I’m sure I’m welcome there now. And if not, I will disappear like I did in Suja Village. You should trust me by now,” said the cat, offering her a grin even though she wasn’t looking at him. “I’ve proven myself worthy of your company.”
“That’s not what this is about,” Kudzu told him.
“Then what is it about?”
“You talk too much,” Danzen said, a smirk slightly lifting the corners of his lips.
“You too?” Jelmay asked. “All right, I can keep quiet if that’s what you two would prefer. But talking is a great way to piss away the time. And, before you ask, I’m planning to stick around for a while. Maybe I’ll even move in with you.”
“No, you won’t,” Danzen told him.
“You know, I used to have a home on the outskirts of Ogul, back before I was run off.”
“Why do I doubt that?” Kudzu asked him.
“Which part?”
“The home part.”
“I guess it really depends on your definition of outskirts. To clarify, there is a particular tree that I once called home that is halfway between Ogul and the monastery, just after the river. I could stay there for a while, but it will have a good many cobwebs that need clearing out, and that’s if one of the nastier yokai haven’t taken up shop there. But I have this strange premonition that I’m going to be needed by our dearest Pilgrim here in the near future. Sorry, my decision is made, I’m sticking with you two.”
“I will come find you if I need you,” said Danzen as they started toward Ogul. Even though the conversation was light, he was hyper-aware of his surroundings, the former assassin hoping to put as much distance between them and the jubokko tree as they could.
“Yes, that is an option, but I think it’d be better if I found a place near you. You live in an abandoned monastery, right?”
Danzen nodded.
“See? My visions really are starting to pan out. Anyway, if I’m not mistaken it sits on a hill, and there’s a road that runs in front of it separating the monastery from the forest. I’m sure there’s a large enough tree there for me.”
“There isn’t.”
Jelmay shrugged. “Then maybe I can convince someone to build a little home for me there. You wouldn’t happen to know a carpenter, would you? I don’t need much to start with. Maybe a two-room place, a stove, because I’m civilized and I like to cook. I will eventually need an outhouse; even though I can just go in the forest, I prefer defecating in an enclosed environment that is designated for those daily events.” Jelmay sighed. “What can I say? I was spoiled by human civilization.”
“I don’t know any carpenters,” Danzen lied.
“Surely you do,” said the cat as he caught up with him. “You’re the talk of the village, you know that, right? Everyone loves Pilgrim, or at the very least, they know about you and wonder why it is you are here.”
Danzen shrugged. It wasn’t his intention to be the talk of anything. Even though he had loosened up some since moving to Genshin Valley, he still didn’t want word to spread that there was a mysterious stranger living in Suja Village.
“How about this: if you can’t find a carpenter to build me a little place down the hill from you, then I will just move into the monastery. There must be room in there.”
Danzen stopped. “Why do you insist on living near me?”
The jovial nature of Jelmay’s voice trailed off. “It is important for you to understand that I am able to see glimpses of the future, and that the future I see has a fairly decent probability of working out, at least it has in my past experience. While I’m not able to name names, the way I view the future is as much felt as it is actually witnessed. If that makes sense. Anyway: your future is defined by its trials and tribulations, which could change Genshin Valley forever. Sorry for the prophecy, but that’s why I need to be close.”
“Yet you couldn’t see that taking Uncle Gempachi’s body would get you trapped in your possession?” Kudzu asked as she rejoined the conversation. For a moment she had trotted ahead, only falling back once Danzen stopped.
“Actually, I did foresee that, which was why I did it, because that led me to you.”
“If you knew that you had a role to play in whatever it was that you thought you saw, then you could have simply stopped by the monastery,” said Kudzu. “You aren’t the first bakeneko I’ve encountered. Your kind always has a way to work your actions into a narrative that explains your fortune-telling capabilities: ‘I did that because it allowed me to meet you.’ Anyone could say a similar phrase. You aren’t unique in this regard.”
“So you don’t believe me, then?”
“I don’t know what I believe,” Kudzu told him. “Right now, I’m just trying to get back to Ogul, and I plan to pick up some fish I hid along the way for a friend of mine. From there, I will return with him to the monastery, and then we’ll go our separate ways.”
Danzen didn’t say it, but if there was anyone that he actually wanted living close to him, it would have been Kudzu. He enjoyed her companionship, and considered her his best friend by this point, one whom he could actually trust, even if she didn’t yet know the details of this past.
“Why don’t you just stay at the monastery with him?” Jelmay asked. “You’ve got a role to play in all of this as well. It’ll be easier than having to go find you later.”
“You keep saying that, yet I don’t believe you. Or, at least I think your visions, or whatever, may be somewhat tainted.”
“Tainted?” Jelmay snorted. “Tainted? Really? I showed this guy his demon brother. He didn’t even know he had a demon brother, and here I am showing him what he looks like, and how hard it’s going to be to fight him. Because he is coming, you know, your brother is, Pilgrim. I don’t know his name—my visions don’t provide names—but I do know he’s coming, and he may be here sooner than all of us think. And once he comes…”
“And you want us to believe that, from a trickster bakeneko?”
“I’ll have you know that I am a goodhearted trickster, and yes, not only do I want you to believe this, I need you to believe this. Because we are going to need your help as well,” he told her. “And you know what I mean by that.”
“I don’t know what you mean by anything.”
“He keeps secrets from you, and you keep secrets from him,” Jelmay said, gesturing between Danzen and Kudzu. “Some friends you two are.”
“Mind your tongue,” Kudzu growled.
“I don’t know why yours has to be such a big secret. I get why his needs to be, or at least in his head. If he told you right now what I’ve seen of his past, I don’t think it would change your view of him in the least bit.”
“I know a carpenter,” Danzen said, sick of listening to the cat poke at them. “We’ll pay him to build you a shack down the hill, at the mouth of the woods.”
“A shack? I’m not living in a shack, Pilgrim. I will live in a home, two rooms, as I told you. An outhouse to come.”
“I’m going to need to pay him something, and all I have is a few hundred kip.”
“You need kip?” the bakeneko laughed. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“You have human money?” Kudzu asked.
The bakeneko stabbed his sword into the ground, keeping the shield in his other hand. He reached into the pocket on his vest and returned with a wad of kip promissory notes. “From the bank in Chutham,” he told Danzen, “where I keep all of my funds. There’s one in Suja Village as well. They don’t normally have that much kip on hand, and any deposits they have are quickly transferred to Chutham. What I’m trying to say here is money isn’t a problem. And as long as I’m your friend, it never will be,” he said with a toothy grin. “I’ve had several good decades of exploiting humans for money, but I’ve never settled down, you know, built my forever home. I believe I would like to settle down now, especially because my services will be needed in the near future.”
“Fine,” said Danzen.
“And as for you,” Jelmay told Kudzu as he returned the money to his pocket, “you shouldn’t leave. Stick around. I know you like to roam wild, but there are some things coming up that we are going to need you for. And I would rather not have to wait for Pilgrim over here to get word to you.”
“He knows how to reach me.”
“I’m sure he does, but it takes time, right?” he asked after he’d taken his sword from the ground. “Your name has to travel on the wind and reach your ears, and then wherever you are in the valley, you have to sprint in the direction of his monastery, and if you’re busy, this can take time. I get it. What do I need to do to sweeten the pot here, to get you to stick around?”
“There’s nothing you can do to sweeten the pot,” she said.
“What if I just kept quiet for the rest of the journey back to the monastery. Would you stick around at that point? Maybe you could hang out for a couple weeks; I’m sure Pilgrim over here will have plenty going on during that time to keep you entertained.”
“Do you mind?” Kudzu asked Danzen.
“You are always welcome,” he told her with a grunt.
“And you will be quiet until we reach the monastery?” she asked the cat.
“My lips are sealed until then.”
True to his promise, Jelmay did not say a word until they reached the yokai village of Ogul. But once they saw the unique trees that sat along a lane that led to an area full of caves, the bakeneko spoke up.
“This place is still in need of a city council that’s brave enough to clean up the riff-raff and levy a tax on the citizens so they can make it more appealing to others,” he said as one of the doors cut into a tree trunk slammed shut.
“You’re talking,” Kudzu reminded him.
“I’m going to have to say a few words here if we meet your friends, otherwise it would be rude. I’ll be quiet when we leave, promise.”
She grumbled to herself as she trotted forward to Kikikaki’s home.
“I think she’s starting to warm up to me,” said the bakeneko as he saddled up next to Danzen.
“Do you?”
“I really do, Pilgrim.”
Danzen took the string of fish off the shoulder. Sure enough, they had been there, no woodland creature or yokai able to find Kudzu’s hiding spot.
“Welcome back,” Kikikaki told Danzen as her son appeared behind her. The plump yokai with the white flesh and sharp fingers nudged her son forward. “Take the fish, Hajiki.”
Danzen handed the boy the string of fish, the young yokai eying the former assassin and his blood-soaked robes.
“I take it that your mission was a success?”
Danzen nodded.
“I see you’ve brought company,” Kikikaki said once her son left. She turned to Jelmay and focused her yellow eyes on him, her nostrils flaring ever so slightly. “We will eat quickly, and then you should probably go,” she said flatly.
“I can’t stick around?” Jelmay asked. “I feel like I just got here.”
“Unfortunately, I’m aware of what you did years ago. I was a child then, so I don’t quite remember it, but I’ve been told since. Before others get wind that you’re here, you should probably be on your way.”
“Bah,” Jelmay said with a shake of his head. “It was an honest mistake. It could have happened to anyone.”
“What did you do exactly?” Kudzu asked him.
“Remember what happened back in Suja Village? I did that, only worse. But it wasn’t my fault.”
“Of course it wasn’t.”
“I’ll have a meal ready in about thirty minutes,” Kikikaki told them, ushering the three inside her home. “Then you three should be on your way. I’m already going to get some looks the next time I’m out just for inviting you in. There will also be questions about your appearance, Pilgrim, but what does one expect when going up against a jubokko tree?”
****
True to her word, it didn’t take very long for Kikikaki to whip up a meal, this time going for a grain-based dish with slivers of fish over it, glazed in a spicy jam.
It was unlike anything Danzen had eaten before. And while he enjoyed it, he clearly didn’t enjoy it as much as Jelmay, the portly bakeneko asking for seconds and then thirds.
“I think you’ve had enough,” said Kudzu.
“Are you going to start monitoring my diet now?” he asked her. “Because I’ll have you know that I’m just a hair above the proper weight for a bakeneko my age.”
“I seem to recall what happened last time you ate too much…”
“Fine, I’ll just eat later when you’re not looking.”
After the meal, they bid farewell to Kikikaki and her son, Danzen and Kudzu promising to return again. The white fox led them out of the stony entrance to Ogul, no yokai in sight.
“I can’t tell if they smell the demon on you, or they remember me,” Jelmay said to Danzen.
“It’s probably a little of both,” Kudzu told him once the forest opened back up, the light coming through the canopy at a different angle now, Danzen realizing that there were only a few more hours until sunset.
“How fast can you travel?” he asked the cat.
“After a meal like that? I would prefer to take our journey at a leisurely pace.”
“We don’t want to be in the forest at night,” Kudzu said.
“Don’t be such a scaredy fox. There’s nothing in the forest that will do anything to you.”
“We’re going to move faster now,” Danzen said before the two could start arguing. “You can either keep up, or meet us at the monastery later.”
Jelmay shrugged, the bakeneko still with the shield and sword he’d picked up. “Then I’ll see you at the monastery later. And tomorrow, we can meet with this carpenter friend of yours. I hope he has an assistant, someone that will allow him to work a little faster. Monsoon season is coming, and the last thing I want is to not have shelter during that time.”
“I believe he has someone like that,” said Danzen, thinking of Temur.
“Good. Because I want my house put up fast. I don’t plan to sleep without a roof over my head, and I’m guessing you’re not going to want me in the monastery for more than a day or two.”
“Correct.”
Jelmay yawned, stretching his sword and shield overhead. “I’ll be there at some point later tonight. Leave the door open for me.”
Kudzu started to move faster, Danzen keeping up with her as she flitted through the forest, the sparkle in her coat making her easier to spot. Once they had traveled for an hour, she slowed, the two approaching a bubbling stream.
“How are you?” she asked after drinking some of the water. Danzen crouched down and brought some to his lips as well.
“What do you mean?”
“How comfortable are you with living near the bakeneko?”
“As long as he doesn’t visit every day.”
“Do you trust him?”
“I don’t know if I will ever be able to trust him. But like you, I thought he might try to take the gemstone for himself, and he didn’t. I don’t know if I believe him about having a brother, but I don’t know anything about my family, so it’s not impossible for me to have a sibling.”
“He’s going to be surprised when he runs into your lion dog tonight,” she said, a sly smile taking shape on her face.
“Perhaps we should have mentioned that…”
Kudzu laughed. “He never asked.”
The two drank a little more water and then continued on their way, eventually reaching the edge of the Asura Forest, coming out half a mile away from Danzen’s monastery.
They took the hill to the top, Yama hopping down from his pedestal to greet them. Danzen did a quick walk of the perimeter and found that Basan had laid two eggs.
He was just about to grab the eggs and take them inside when Kudzu came around. The fire chicken spotted the white fox and clucked, a plume of fire moving through Danzen.
“I don’t know why you keep that thing.”
“It lays eggs,” he said, showing her the eggs.
“Regular chickens lay eggs as well. Anyway, let’s see it.”
Danzen showed her the two eggs again.
“No, your weapon. Let’s see if the gemstone fits while there is still light.”
“Right.”
Danzen set the two eggs on top of the coop and once he realized that may not work, he placed them in a tuft of grass.
He walked past the outhouse, and sat with his legs crossed beneath him. Danzen brought the Blade of Darkness around and took the gemstone out of an inner pocket of his bloodied robes.
Normally, Danzen was able to clean his robes, but these ones were so saturated with blood that they would permanently be stained red. He would need to get new clothing, and he would then need to affix his custom hoods to the clothing as well.
With the Blade of Darkness resting on his knee, Danzen placed the gemstone in the indentation. Much to his surprise, the metal actually fastened around it on its own accord, the gemstone set immediately.
“So I don’t need to go to a jeweler,” he said as he hoisted the glaive.
He noticed a slightly different weight to the weapon now, one that certainly couldn’t have come from such a small stone.
Danzen slowly stood and brought the weapon to the ready, its force humming in his hands. He thrust it forward as he had been trained to do. Shadows pooled around the tip of the blade, lengthening the distance of his strike. It was almost as if the weapon was a giant paintbrush, and anything the blade touched was blackened paint.
Danzen was going to have to practice with the weapon.
As he continued to experiment with it, he could already tell that the weapon would allow him to defend against multiple opponents and based on the deep slits appearing in the soil, the shadows were certainly as sharp as the blade itself.
