On the Hills of Eden

Pallas’ eyes creaked open, stinging the very moment the skylight that shone through the paper-curtained window behind her hit them. She slammed them back shut, slowly sitting up as she felt the soft mattress she lay on shift beneath her. Rubbing the grains of sand out of the corners of her eyes with the backs of her thumbs, she pushed her fringe up, groggily taking a look at the room she had awoken in.

All around her were paper walls, their white canvases broken up systematically by frames of wood that sectioned each one off from the others. There was an alcove built in the place of the wall to the right of her, containing a small elevated platform backed with solid wood and covered in tatami. Upon it were various small trinkets– most of which were china.

There didn’t seem to be a door anywhere. More importantly, though, was that this was definitively not the inside of their wagon.

She turned to her left, seeing as Qingxi had curled up beside her, snoozing away completely oblivious to the fact that she’d already woken up.

Pallas extended a hand, scratching gently the backs of Qingxi's fluffy Chitite ears. Then, she got onto her knees and turned around to push open the paper curtain positioned behind the head of their bed.

She looked out the window, seeing as several passersby, Kitsunite passersby, made their way about the dirt street below. Adorning that dirt street were several crimson red torii gates, each decorated with not-yet-lit paper lanterns with various Kitsunite characters painted onto them in similarly red paint.

She sat herself back down onto the bed, gently so as to not rock it too much.

Was she… in Hibara?

She couldn’t recall talking to any Kitsunites, let alone the process of getting to where she was now. She could only remember drifting off to sleep earlier that morning, her head resting against Qingxi’s as they leaned against the soft cover of their wagon.

Well, she wasn’t going to find out if she stayed where she was.

Scooting over to the end of the bed, she swiped a hairband off of an adjacent drawer, running her fingers through her hair as she made her way around the bed. Fixing her hair into her signature low ponytail, her eyes chanced upon two pairs of slippers positioned just by the wall. She slipped them on, and slid one of sections of the wall to the side.

Before her was another room. This time, the wall directly opposite her was made of solid wood, and the one on the left consisted of sliding paper wall section much like the one she had just opened. There was a counter on the right side of the room enclosing a kitchen space, and in the middle of the whole thing was a dining table.

A dining table where Soleiman and Rumi were sat at, quietly sipping away at their bowls of ramen.

“Pallas!” Rumi exclaimed excitedly. “Come join us! The ramen’s over there,” she said, gesturing over to a black, cast iron pot placed on the kitchen’s countertop.

“About time you woke up, sleepyhead,” Soleiman said, placing the half-filled bowl of broth back onto the table with an audible thunk. “Are you alright, by the way? I’ve never seen you sleep so heavily like that through the day.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry about that,” she said, shuffling over to fetch herself a bowl full of delectable, warm ramen. “Are we in Hibara?”

“Mhm,” he hummed.

“What time is it now?”

“Probably early evening,” he replied. “I don’t know how you’re going to fall asleep tonight.”

She gathered everything she needed, ladling for herself a good few scoops of rich brown broth filled with thick ramen noodles and slices of juicy chashu chicken. She then returned to the dining table, moving slowly as she cautiously eyed the broth– watching as it threatened to overflow and splatter onto the tatami floor with each step she took.

Eventually, she set the bowl down onto the table, taking a seat to begin digging into her second meal of the day.

Though, strangely, she didn’t feel much need to eat at all, despite the mouth watering sight before her.

“What’s wrong, Pallas?” Rumi asked.

“Hmm? Oh, nothing,” she responded. “I just realise I’m not actually that hungry. Probably took a little too much.”

“Mm,” Soleiman hummed, draining the last remnants of his bowlful. “I’ll help you finish it if you need me to.”

“Thanks.”

There was nothing wrong with the food, in fact it was quite flavourful. The soft chewiness of the noodles worked well in tandem with the chicken, and the backdrop of the salty, savoury broth only worked to amplify the already brilliant flavours of the main ingredients. It was just that… she wasn’t very hungry.

“I didn’t know you knew how to make Kitsunite dishes, Rumi.”

Rumi hurriedly slurped up a few strands of noodles.

“Oh, I didn’t make this," she said through a mouthful. "The inn’s owners did.”

“Ah, I see,” she replied. “Maybe that’s why I’m not quite feeling it.”

Rumi smiled, blushing slightly.

“Anyway, Soleiman,” she continued, turning to face her brother. “Anything I missed?”

“Well, uhm. For starters, we’ve got a meeting tomorrow,” he said. “The Head Shrine Maiden’s summoned us to pay her a visit at the main shrine building itself.”

“Mhm,” Pallas hummed, slowly sipping from the bowl.

“So there’s that. And there may be a Tinkerer a little further in,” he said. “So we can ask the Head Maiden for more specifics so Qingxi can have her sword checked out tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

“...By the way, Pallas.”

“Mm?”

“That belt you have on.”

“What about it?”

“That was the only reason we managed to get in.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. They only believed that we were under Mom when they saw it on you,” he said. “And the moment they realised that, they did everything for us. Guided our horses in, helped us get our stuff up the stairs, some of the ladies even carried you here!”

She looked down, sliding her chair backwards a bit to examine the red belt a little closer. It wrapped tightly about her waist– as it always had–, crinkling the soft fabrics of her chiton in doing so.

As far as she could tell, there was nothing outstanding about it. It was just a belt, its bow positioned at the base of her spine. Maybe it was something to do with the knot pattern itself?

She turned around to give it a closer look. And as always, it was a five-hooped knot, made to resemble the petals of a sakura flower. A flower Pallas had never yet seen before in her life, and one made to resemble the promise her mother had made to her when they last saw each other.

“Huh,” Pallas responded. “Interesting.”

The large wooden door slid shut behind them. With the soft, diffuse light of the morning sky seeping through the Shrine’s skylight bathing them in warm rays of silver, they got into a row, assuming the seiza position before the court of Hibara’s Head Maiden.

They rested well last night, taking great comfort in the quiet, soft embraces of their dwelling’s futons. Without the constant howling of the northerly winds nor the flapping of their wagon’s canvas to distract them from sleep, each and every single of them got a full night’s rest. Even Pallas, despite having already taken the liberty to nap throughout most of the day.

Having spent the morning travelling deeper into the Shrine’s confines, they now found themselves before Hibara’s Head Maiden herself, who had previously decreed their stay at their dwelling and had summoned them to meet her.

Hastily, a small entourage of servants that had been stationed by a distant corner of the room burst into action, scurrying across the tatami matted floor to lay an array of sweets accompanied with bowls of freshly brewed tea in front of the party.

“Dear visitors,” the Maiden started, facing them down from the opposite side of the room as she herself sat in a seiza atop a little red cushion. “I am pleased to see that you are all hale and hearty.”

Pallas thought about glancing towards Soleiman. Was he going to say something, or should she?

A moment passed. She thought she saw Rumi reach for a sweet on the tray in front of her before quickly stopping herself midway through the movement.

“Thank-”

The two siblings stopped, each cutting the other off.

They turned to stare at each other, mutually understanding with just a moment of eye contact that Soleiman would be the one to carry the conversation.

“Thank you, your Serenity,” he responded.

“Please, call me Saezaki,” she responded, her poofy Kitsunite ears- somehow even more fluffy than Qingxi's Chitite ones- bobbling slightly as she bowed . “I take it that you’re the ones under Miss Yuuko Rei?”

“Yes, Lady Saezaki.”

“Good, good,” she said. “How was the journey here? I’ve heard conditions on out the Corridor have gotten particularly rough these past few years, ever since the Ahd’s expansion into Siraj’s old territory.”

“It was… alright,” he said. “We had run-ins with both the Janub and Sahlbarid, but nothing bad ever came of either meeting.”

“Wonderful diplomats you must be then,” she responded. “That being said, let’s move on to the matter of this meeting.”

The Head Maiden paused for a moment, and in the deafening silence Pallas could hear the crinkling of paper as Rumi finally gathered the courage to grab a hold of one of the sweets.

“Miss Yuuko Rei is currently not with us,” she said. “Nor is she anywhere in Houzen at all.”

Pallas stared blankly at her. Where had she gone, then, if not back to her home country?

“Where is she then?” Pallas responded, cutting Soleiman off before he could say a word.

“She has neglected to tell us where she is,” Saezaki responded. “But, as per the letter, she’ll be coming here to rendezvous with you once she overcomes whatever it is that is delaying her.”

A… letter?

“What letter, Lady Saezaki?” Soleiman asked, speaking Pallas’ thoughts for her.

The Head Maiden squinted slightly, as if to try and see if she had heard him correctly.

“...The one that asked you to come here?”

“We didn’t get a letter,” Pallas said.

“Oh,” the Head Maiden responded. “And here I was about to praise that messenger for being so quick,” she mused quietly to herself. “What brought you here, then?”

“We had some trouble in Minerva and decided to flee here hoping we to find some of Mo-”

Pallas caught herself.

“Some of Miss Yuuko’s allies.”

“I… see,” she responded, almost still in disbelief at the revelation. “Is this your first stop in Houzen?”

They nodded.

“Alright. Wow,” she said, her shock causing her composed veneer to slip ever so slightly. “It’s good that you came here, then. Because if you’d turned up to any other Shrine with that belt about your waist," she said, gesturing to Pallas' waist.

"You would’ve been turned away.”

“...Why?” Pallas asked.

“The others don’t take so well to Miss Yuuko Rei,” she said. “Hibara is the exception.”

“Is there a reason for that?” Soleiman asked.

“We are indebted to her,” she said. “This is just our repayment to her and the favours she has done for us.”

“Mm, okay,” Soleiman responded. “Thank you.”

“Well, if there’s nothing else you’d like to ask, I’ll have my servants pass you a copy of the letter,” she said. “Is that alright?”

“Yes, of course,” Soleiman said. Subtly, he turned to look at Qingxi.

“Is there a Tinkerer nearby?” she asked, not needing any further signalling from Soleiman to ask her bit.

“A Tinkerer?” The Head Maiden responded. “There’s one in the town attached to this Shrine. Just head out east and ask around for Master Tasufin. The locals will point you his way.”

“Thank you, Lady Saezaki.”

She nodded in response.

“Well, thus is our correspondence concluded,” she said. “If there may be anything else you require, just inform the innkeepers; they’ll pass the message onto us right away. Have a nice stay!”