Kitsune of the Blue Sun

[Keeno POV]

Our first night in the border city of Odeen wasn’t very interesting.  Most of our time was spent looking for an inn and the one we found wasn’t the best.  The beds were uncomfortable, smelled like mold, and were somewhat moist.  And don’t even get me started on the…noises we could hear from the other rooms around us.

 

“Pram…let’s just go…I don’t want to stay in this city any more than I have to.” (Keeno)

 

I was fed up with this city and I hadn’t even spent a day in it.  I saw the people around us that heard me speak back away a bit due to how cold and unfeeling my tone was, making me assume that my usual cold public face matched how I was feeling at this current moment.

 

“I agree.  If I knew we would be kept up all night hearing that, then we should have just camped out.” (Pram)

 

‘Ama, did you know it would be this annoying?’ (Keeno)

 

{No.  Even I thought it would be better than this.}

 

‘Then let’s hope it gets better.’ (Keeno)

 

“Okami, before we leave, we should get a map.  We don’t know which direction to go.” (Pram)

 

“True.  To the Guild then.” (Keeno)

 

We asked around to see where the Guild branch here was and after a while of getting either ignored or extremely vague answers from people who were unreasonably scared of us, we found it ourselves.  Walking inside, we got curious glances and some glares for some reason.  Looking around at everything though, even the Guild in this city felt seedy.  Everything had this thin layer of grime, or at least it looked and felt like it did.  We looked around for the appropriate place to buy a map and when we found it, we did our best to get in and out as fast as possible.

 

Looking around for one that was decent enough for what we needed took nearly 30 minutes and when we did find one, it was way overpriced for something that of its quality.  After leaving the Guild, we quickly made our way over to the gate of the city and left.  After a bit of walking, Pram finally spoke again.

 

“Keeno, do you think the rest of our trip through here will be the same?” (Pram)

 

“I’m going to hold out hope that this was just an exception and not the norm of this country.  Because if this is what we have to look forward to, then I don’t think either of us will stay sane.  I mean, I just feel…dirty after being there for a night.” (Keeno)

 

“I agree with you there.” (Pram)

 

Taking out the map we just bought and studying it for a bit, I decided on our route for the next few days.

 

“Looks like we can continue following this road and we’ll end up passing through another city in a few days.  We can try and see if that place is the same as the last one and if it is, we’ll just stop by, resupply if we need to, and move on.” (Keeno)

 

{Hmm.  Looking ahead, some of the cities on your possible routes will be similar, if not a tiny bit better.  Most of the better off places are closer to the capital, and you aren’t going to be close enough to make that a small detour, and besides, going to the capital right now would be a bad idea, seeing how the Death Spirits are getting so excited.}

 

“Wait what?” (Keeno)

 

{They felt your presence the second you crossed the border.}

 

“That’s…” (Keeno)

 

{Don’t worry, Keeno, they won’t leave the Dead Zone and get you to go there against your will, they are too busy.  If anything, they are more fired up than normal and are actually working faster.}

 

“So, the capital is off limits, so where are we going to travel through?” (Pram)

 

Looking back at the map, I looked for the best route we should take.

 

“Well, we keep following this road until we pass like, three more cities, then we have a choice of traveling by river, or by land.  The river route will take us in a more roundabout way, but it will be faster, I assume.  The land route is basically a straight line, but it goes through a lot of places that I think we’d better avoid.” (Keeno)

 

“Why is that?” (Pram)

 

“Just a feeling.” (Keeno)

 

{I’d trust Keeno’s intuition on this one Pram.}

 

“Then river route it is.” (Pram)

 

“Got it.  Now, let’s get there.” (Keeno)

 

With the next step of our journey decided, we started to pick up the pace.  Two days later, we stopped at the edge of a forest and set up camp, the next city a small dot on the horizon.  As the two of us sat next to the fire, roasting some meat, I looked into the forest.  Inside it were some strange purple lights that flickered like fireflies.

 

“How pretty.” (Keeno)

 

“What was that Keeno?” (Pram)

 

“Just admiring nature.  If what Ama said is true, then most likely it’ll be preferable to the cities.” (Keeno)

 

“This is turning out way differently than what I imagined.” (Pram)

 

“I agree.  I mean, there is still an entire world out there, but so far only Solheim has been worth it.” (Keeno)

 

{I understand your sentiments, but I want you both to know that not everything is horrible.  I do hope you both start to enjoy this journey in the truest sense of the word, even if it’s started out leaving you both wanting.}

 

“I believe you Ama, we’ll just have to wait and see.  After all, good things come to those who wait, or whatever the saying was.” (Keeno)

 

“Well, I’m going to sleep.  If we’re setting up watches, wake me up in a few hours.” (Pram)

 

“Alright, sleep well Pram.” (Keeno)

 

“I definitely will.” (Pram)

 

She then latched onto my tail and quickly fell asleep.

 

“Hehe.” (Keeno)

 

{My future Apostle is so cute, though I am so very jealous right now.}

 

“Don’t worry, you’ll get your turn eventually.”

 

{I know.}

 

Chaos Realm:

Crisis: …How enviable.

Order: Luna can give you some fluff, you know.

Crisis: Yeah, but I still haven’t figured out which kind of fluff fits me yet.  I can see myself as a kitsune, but I can also see myself as a lot of other fluffy things as well.  And then I need to take Mordred’s opinion into consideration as well.

Order: Then discuss it with her.

Crisis: I plan on doing that soon.

Order: Let me know what you decide and I’ll let Luna know.

Crisis: Hehehehehehehehehehehe.

Order: Now what?

Crisis: It’s just it’s been a long time since we sat down and had a reasonable conversation like this, it’s refreshing.

Order: And whose fault is that?

Crisis: Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!