Goji sat in a wicker chair beside the bed where Tari lay sleeping. His fingers absently followed the weave in his armrest. He might have admired the craftsmanship if his mind wasn't elsewhere.
Tari's breathing was shallow and labored. Sweat glistened on her brow which matted her deep indigo bangs. She had saved his life and healed his body. If the elf was to be believed, this young woman might be the only person alive capable of doing that.
Goji tried to rub his face in his hands, but the ache in his arms stopped him half way. It was all too much. Was he to blame? Did she unknowingly sacrifice her life for his? He couldn't bear the guilt that thought brought him.
Another bed was in the room, further away. In it lay Minori. She was awake, but lying still. Goji did his best to ignore her, but he could still see her move her lips as though she was trying to talk to someone who wasn't there. In reality, she was trying to piece together the various factoids she had collected in her investigation, but Goji didn't care.
Eventually, the silence got to Minori. "You know," she said, causing Goji to start. "You're awfully quiet for someone who wouldn't shut up before."
"She is sleeping, and I have nothing to say to you." Goji retorted. "Besides, I recall you trying to shut me up before. Now you're complaining?"
"I needed you to be quiet then," Minori explained without masking her annoyance. "I couldn't trust you. I still can't."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Goji sat up, defensive and ready for a fight.
"I told you. I am Minori, the Avatar of Truth. I can instantly tell when anyone is lying to me," she explained confidently. Then, as though her confidence deflated like a balloon, "Anyone, except for you."
"Oh no, what a nightmare. How will you cope?" Goji rolled his eyes and leaned back into his chair.
"I beg your pardon." Minori sat up, offended.
"You realize that's exactly how life is for everyone else, right?" Goji shook his head. "Or are you such an important Avatar that you can't be bothered with the troubles of us mere mortals?"
"You have a very high opinion of yourself to address me so." Minori started to emotionally distance herself from Goji's jabs and tried to analyze the situation. "I certainly hope you don't treat my sister this badly."
"I don't know your sister."
"Now that's a lie." Minori seemed pretty happy to point that out. "You're engaged to her."
"You're not Sumitsu's sister. I would know if she had a sister."
"She never told you about her divine family? I wonder if I wasn't supposed to either." Minori turned away from him and resumed muttering to herself.
After a pause, Goji chuckled. "You're a tease."
"I'm a what?" Minori's eyebrows shot up. He had caught her off guard.
"You're a tease," he reiterated. "You try to bait me with little bits of information, hoping I'll pry." Goji's accusation left Minori speechless. "I'll have you know I don't care. If Sumitsu wanted me to know about the 'Mysteries of the Gods,' she would have told me. Of my many faults, curiosity is not one of them."
"Clearly." Minori huffed.
Okomikeruko took it upon himself to enter at that point. "Lie down, Bellflower," he commanded gently. "You have both had a trying day. And I have not yet seen the extent of your injuries."
Goji shot back in his chair the moment he saw Okomikeruko's eyes glow bright green.
The tall Avatar used his glowing eyes to see Minori's form across the many dimensions it occupied. Her physical form would heal. Her Avatarhood was intact. But her second ring, the shield to her divine core had a growth that seemed to be consuming it like a fungus. When he saw that, his face became grim. "I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry, Bellflower."
"What is it?"
His eyes stopped glowing. "I do not regret using my portals to rescue you, but by doing so, I made your injury far worse. Perhaps this was the entity's intent. Your Glory is… damaged. Until we find a way to repair this injury and stop it from spreading, you may not return to the Celestium, nor can you call on the full power of your Avatarhood."
Tears pricked the corners of Minori's mismatched eyes and her feline ears dropped down. "What do I do now?" Minori asked with a sob.
Okomikeruko sat on the bed next to her and placed an arm around her. "For now, stay with them. Keep an eye on this one in particular," he gestured to Goji, then turned to Tari and continued, "…and keep the last Sunberry Girl safe."
Minori assented with a quick nod while trying to dry her tears. Okomikeruko wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned into him. While holding Minori close, Okomikeruko reignited his green eyes and scanned Tari's body.
"How is she?" Goji asked, genuinely concerned.
"She'll live." That was an immediate weight off of Goji's worried mind. "She spent a lot of energy purging the shadowy entity from your body and mending your wounds."
"Can you take her away from here?"
"I cannot. She's a citizen of Hogar, born under Kamoshami and now under the stewardship of Tokimi. Her soul is intact and uninjured. Even if I had Tokimi's express permission, the Grace necessary to make a portal for Hogarans is nearly spent."
"She's not safe here," Goji insisted.
"No, no, she isn't. I must speak with Kyou." Okomikeruko patted Minori's head, then got up and left.
Goji noticed for the first time the cat ears on top of Minori's head. "Where did those come from?" he asked.
The moment she realized she had them, they disappeared. "Never you mind." She pouted, suddenly seeming a lot younger than she did before.
Perhaps it was at that moment that the fault of curiosity started within Goji's mind. He considered complimenting her for a moment, but decided against it, given her mood, which is unfortunate, as she would have liked a compliment just then.
Kyou was enjoying a nice cup of tea with Tari's mother at their kitchen table when Okomikeruko entered.
"What news?" she asked without looking up from her cup. Her voice was calm, but her fingers tightened slightly on the porcelain.
"Minori's injuries prohibit me from teleporting her. We'll need to take her to a Gate," he said.
"If she travels with us to Sagesse, we can take her to the Sacred Library. Can she ascend through the Gate there?"
"I would prefer to take her to her own Gate on Caitar." Okomikruko objected. "There are too many unknowns."
"I still need to get Goji to safety as quickly as possible. Does Megumi's Avatar's injury supersede that mandate?" Kyou's tone was clipped, the way it became when she rearranged a dozen priorities in her mind.
"I will ask," Okomikeruko stated. "When I return, I will know Chie's will." Then just as suddenly as he had appeared, he vanished.
"Who was that?" Tari's mother asked. Her eyes seemed to have lost the ability to blink.
"That was Okomikeruko, the Messenger Avatar. He serves the Goddess of Wisdom. We were on a quest to deliver Goji to the Templars of Sagesse when events caused us to take a brief detour."
"I must be grateful for those events. Because of that young man, my daughter lives. Of course, it had to be an offworlder. No one on this planet has the courage to do such things anymore."
Kyou nodded grimly and sipped her tea.
Just then, a buzzing static emanated from Kyou's pocket as she sipped her tea. She pulled out a long-distance communicator and activated it. Mai's frantic voice could be heard.
"You got a problem, Boss."
"Report."
"Mai got the transponder working. Ship's up on the satellite systems. Mai got your location as a farmhouse about 67 miles south by southwest."
"That sounds right."
"Folks be amassing an army. You're surrounded."
"Can you get that ship airborne?"
"Not spaceworthy."
"Doesn't need to be. Can it take us to the nearest spaceport?"
"Mai make it happen."
"Atta girl." Kyou pocketed the communicator. "You heard?" she asked, turning her head to address someone behind her.
Tari's mom didn't notice Satori standing just on the other side of a doorframe to the kitchen and jumped when she replied. "It won't be easy defending this place."
"I'm afraid you're about to lose your home," Kyou said sympathetically.
"What can we do?" She asked, steeling herself up for this new conflict.
"Do you have any irreplaceable keepsakes or heirlooms? Any valuables or liquid assets? You are going to have to start over elsewhere, so you'll want as many resources as you can carry, but your family will need to travel light."
"She's the master of starting over elsewhere. I'd listen to her." Satori quipped. Kyou shot her a quick pout.
"I understand." Tari's mom said. "Yes. We have a bit of a nest egg stashed away."
"Good. Do you have a storm cellar?" Kyou asked. Satori didn't know what a storm cellar was and raised a subtle eyebrow.
"Of course."
"Even better. Gather your family and your nest egg and hide in your storm cellar until our ship comes to save us."
She stood up and left without another word, then began calling out the names of her sons to comply with Kyou's commands.
Kyou finished her tea and set it down gently.
"Storm cellar?" Satori asked.
"Your people are too nomadic to have ever needed one. In places like this, powerful storms, such as tornadoes, can rip houses to pieces. This prompted the construction of underground shelters for protection, followed by rebuilding afterwards.
"Why wouldn't they migrate to someplace safer? A place without such storms?"
"This is Hogar. They have mostly farmlands. This family has probably held this farm for generations. They are people of the land. What I'm asking of them is hard, but simple: give up their ancestral home so their daughter might live."
"For a life of a cub, there is no sacrifice too great," Satori recited, one of the many precepts that comprised her faith's oral tradition.
"Even for honor?"
Satori shot a suspicious scowl at Kyou.
"I'm serious. Your honor is no less important to you than their family is to them. Kamoshami was the God of Benevolent Dominion, as in Fatherly Benevolence. For millennia, the people here held family values as their highest standard. Now look at them. Sixteen years later, and they're sacrificing children."
Satori nods and silently absorbs this information. She spent so much of her life learning how to fight and win, memorizing all the rituals she needed. She never troubled herself with thoughts about how other people would live their lives. She never fathomed the kind of life people like this would live. Satori's world was mostly jungle and was under the constant threat of meteor showers, so the indigenous peoples resorted to a nomadic lifestyle to cope with the perpetual impermanence.
She would have more time to meditate on these realizations later, if they survived the coming horde. "We'll have to draw attention away from the storm cellar, else it becomes a tomb."
"I will be most effective from a high vantage point. Atop the roof, I think."
"If we could force a bottleneck, we could hold them at bay," Minori offered.
Both templars were caught off guard by the appearance of Minori in the doorway.
"I think your preferred strategy of cutting off heads is the ideal way of taking care of this situation. This army is being led. Target the leaders and terrify the foot soldiers, and you can minimize unnecessary bloodshed."
"A wise strategem," Satori remarked. "How will we identify the leaders?"
"I will be able to tell. I can see the truth of things. And I've had dealings with their high priest."
"Oh?" Kyou's elf ears reflexively bounced at this new information.
"As I have no authority here, especially in Tokimi's absence, I have no influence on them. I was constrained to have dealings with the high priest in the course of my investigations on my brother's disappearance."
"Kaniso, the Dream Avatar," Kyou muttered, half in confirmation.
Minori nodded and continued. "The High Priest is a deeply unpleasant man. Before Kamoshami's death, he was a good and noble leader. But when Kamoshami died, and Tokimi ascended to his throne, he apostatized and took a portion of the Old Church with him. Now they terrorize the people, murdering children."
"Would it please you to learn that Goji dropkicked him in the chest just in time to save Tari's life?" Satori offered offhandedly.
Minori burst out laughing, her voice like a bell that rang with infectious joy. "That pleases me greatly. I would have liked to have seen that." She wiped a tear from her eye.
Kyou piped up. "While traveling with Okomikeruko, we discovered that the monks' souls were ravaged by an unknown force. He was able to identify that ravaging as being similar to what happened to you when the Darkness grabbed your leg."
"Then the High Priest is under the influence of the Darkness?" Minori was positively giddy at the news, which confused Satori and Kyou. "This means I can join your fight. I can help."
"The help of an Avatar is more than we could ever hope for." Kyou started to feel more confident about their situation.
"I'm still injured," Minori reminded them. "My power is diminished. But whatever help I can be, I shall offer it."
"Ditto, for me," Goji said, and all three women snapped their heads to face them. "Every word of that last sentence. Pretend I said it, too."
The trio exchanged sceptical glances.
Tari giggled behind Goji; she found that her hero's complete lack of a good vocabulary to be silly and charming. Her giggles were infectious, and the others started laughing, too.
Goji didn't like being laughed at. He crossed his arms and pursed his lips. Soreness made him regret both motions immediately, but he refused to show weakness.
After drying some tears of laughter, Kyou approached Tari and asked her, "How are you feeling?"
"Better. A little dizzy, but better."
"I wouldn't ask this of you if it weren't necessary, but do you think you could heal any more of Goji's wounds?"
Satori and Goji were both offended by Kyou's daring to ask.
"She just woke up!" Satori protested.
"Have you no heart?!" Goji accused.
Minori watched their exchange silently.
"Even if you faint again, we need Goji to be as strong as possible to help defend your family. They'll be able to watch over you." Kyou explained.
"What are you talking about?" Goji demanded.
"The high priest is bringing an army to kill us all, and to capture and sacrifice Tari," Satori explained.
"There is no way I'm letting that happen!" Goji shouted.
"We know," Kyou assured Goji, then turned get attention back to Tari. "And we need him as healthy as possible to fight for you. If there were any other way…" Kyou pleaded.
Tari took on a serious expression and walked past Kyou to Goji. "Anything for you." She whispered, then put her hand on his heart. A golden yellow glow left her hand and began enveloping Goji.
Kyou watched with interest. "Wait," she interrupted. Tari stopped, and the glowing magic dissipated. "Put your hand here, on the solar plexus."
Tari obeyed; she placed her hand at the base of his sternum and flowed energy into him. This time, the flow went much faster and spread throughout his body. The magical glow shifted from golden yellow to white. He started to glow from the inside out, with light emanating from his eyes and mouth. But just as soon as it started, it stopped. Goji was completely healed, and Tari passed out again. He caught her in his arms.
"How did you know?" Satori asked.
"Something about that color made me suspect… I'm not sure, but I'm glad it worked." Kyou shrugged. Minori sensed she knew more than she was letting on, but didn't push the issue.
"Now what?" Goji asked impatiently.
"Carry her to the storm cellar; her family will keep an eye on her there, then return. The four of us have a war to win."