"Hey," Ranma's voice called from the entrance to the little hatchery they had made. "The girls said you were upset."
"Yeah," Ukyou said. "Well, counting the time in the camp and here together, it's been more than a year since I've had the ingredients to make a real okonomiyaki."
"Ukyou," Ranma said, rolling his eyes.
"I mean, this...stuff I'm making now," Ukyou continued as if she hadn't heard, her appearance of anxiety vanishing as she started talking.
"Ukyou," Ranma said, more forcefully this time.
"It just can't compare," Ukyou said with a snort. "And I feel like a jackass for even trying to call it..."
"Ukyou!" Ranma snapped finally. The kali sighd again and ceased her rant. "What is wrong?"
"Food," Ukyou said. "We don't have enough."
"Hey, I thought they said we were doing all right on that," Ranma said, frowning.
"Well stuffs growing now, Sugar," Ukyou said. "But have you felt the temperatures lately?"
"Yeah, it's getting a little..." Ranma stopped. "Oh man."
"That's right," Ukyou said. "'Oh man.' And what are we going to do when fall gets heavy, winter starts and there aren't any more things to hunt or pick and those bushes of Kodachi's don't grow."
Ranma sighed and rubbed at his head.
"We don't have any food storage," Ukyou said. "We haven't even discussed it really. And that's just one problem winter's going to bring."
She looked back into the hatchery and sighed.
"That's my baby in there, and Akane's, and Kodachi's two," Ukyou said. "And our resident human gal isn't pregnant yet, but what if she gets that way? Are our babies gonna come into this world, just to starve out of it?"
"There's magic..." Ranma said hesitantly, he still had a hearty wariness of magic, even if he now knew there were kinds that didn't do what they could to screw you up.
"But that's the same," Ukyou said. "There's not enough."
******
"So, I hear that we have neighbors other than the creeps across the mountain," Megumi said as she walked into the household, finding Nabiki already home and in the posture that spoke of intense moodiness.
"Yeah, Kasumi said they were tall with purple skin," Nabiki answered. "And Ranma said they threatened to use fire on the webs."
"Well, look at what lives around here," Megumi said trying to cheer up her moody roommate. "I'd be careful too if I ran across a lot of..."
"Freaks?" Nabiki asked idly.
"Oh, stop that," Megumi said. "I've got six arms and you don't see me calling myself a freak."
Megumi was pacing back and forth several moments before finally settling next to Nabiki, and wrapping a comforting arm around the other girl.
"Nobody thinks you're a freak," Megumi said. "You're one of the lead thinkers of this group, everybody looks up to you."
Nabiki arched an eyebrow.
"Almost everybody looks up to you," Megumi corrected. "Listen, everything's going to be fine. You, us, your egg. Everybody."
"And maybe you'll eventually get that mining trip into the mountains," Nabiki said, guessing at Megumi's own concerns.
"Yeah, as soon as we have enough food stockpiled, I guess," Megumi said. "Right now, almost everybody is tending the bushes or gathering honey or fishing or doing something else to bring food to the home."
******
"Belldandy-s....sensei," Kasumi said hesitantly as soon as she could get the other woman alone.
Belldandy's cheeks flushed momentarily with embarrassment, she'd been hoping to avoid this.
"Yes, Kasumi?" Belldandy asked, probing for Kasumi to say what she wanted to say, though the Norn rather hoped she wouldn't.
"That demon called you a kami," Kasumi said cautiously.
Belldandy nodded casually and hoped that by not making a big deal of it that Kasumi would not push the matter farther.
"Is it true?" Kasumi asked, bringing Belldandy to stop her actions.
"A direct question," she said. "Well, as I told you, I cannot lie without repercussions."
"Which is the same for the mikos and priestesses," Kasumi said. "You still haven't answered."
"No, I haven't," Belldandy agreed. "I'd rather hoped you wouldn't ask."
"It's true then?" Kasumi asked.
There was a long silent pause as Belldandy observed that Kasumi wasn't going to back off of this topic until she had a specific answer.
"Yes," Belldandy said, finally.
"And you're the reason that we're here," Kasumi added.
"Yes," Belldandy said reluctantly.
"Would we have died otherwise?" Kasumi asked.
"Most likely," Belldandy said sadly. "The vast majority assuredly. They had a poison prepared, and would have released it when you attempted your escape."
"Oh," Kasumi said. "And why don't you tell us then and..."
"Take your worship?" Belldandy said. "I don't want that. That's a mistake of the past for my people. I seek only to help and aid, though, I have rules I must act by. It means I sometimes can do less than I want."
"I see," Kasumi said.
"People need to solve matters themselves, or they'll always need the answers provided for them," Belldandy said. "So those powers that rule us forbade us from interferring save within strict guidelines and extreme situations."
"I shall keep your secret then," Kasumi said finally.
"You have my thanks," Belldandy said, smiling again. Then she turned a conspiring glance toward Kasumi. "And what are you going to say to my sister?"
"OH! I had not even considered that," she considered the matter for a little while. "I wonder how long it will take for her to realize that I know."
"Urd or Skuld," Belldandy asked.
"Either or," Kasumi answered with a serene smile.
******
"Well," Cologne said, looking across to the other members of the impromptu council. "Are we agreed then?"
"We don't seem to have much choice," Nabiki said. "I've looked into the situation since Ranma passed along Ukyou's worries. She's right, we're not going to save enough for winter by the time it gets here."
"And I'm not sure we're good for the cold either," Keiichi said. "I'd suggest going up to the mountains and finding some caves that won't burn to stay in for the winter, but..." He shrugged, everybody was aware of where the demons and ghosts were coming from.
"We have a rather hefty barrier before us," Nodoka said. "None of us speak any of the languages of this place. At least, not without the help of magic. Nor do we know where these other people are, or if they'll be willing to deal with us."
"I'm hoping that they'll be coming to seek us," Kasumi said with a nod of confidence.
"Hopefully without fire, child," Cologne added with a cautionary tone.
******
"They are a people of spiders," the shade's echoing voice informed the lich creatures before him, "but I can get little information about them beyond that. Their witches' mere presence sends aches throughout my spirit."
"Damn," Duke Perenolde swore in his raspy voice. "He finally find the edge of this cursed wood and the way out is blocked by some druid's experiments."
The pale-skinned death knight looked down along the edge of the mountain ranges.
"You said the Burning Legion had a skirmish with them as well," he asked.
"Yes, master," the shade said.
"Then we can use that against them," the death knight said, satisfied.
"The Legion or the Spiders, master?" the shade asked.
"Both," the corrupted and fallen warrior said as he revealed a mouthful of yellowed, rotting teeth in his smile.
******
"A full troop of demons, you say?" Tyrande said, alarmed. "We've underestimated the amount of Legion forces that escaped into the Felwood. And I don't like the sound of them moving in such large numbers."
"What can you say of these...kumojin, as they called themselves?" Malfurion.
"They're defensive," Meras said swiftly. "Easily startled and secretive, but they fight when startled."
"I saw no preparations for the coming winter," Anara said. "Either they think Darkshore is protected by the same enchantment of eternal summer as Hyjal was, or they have no idea that it is coming and no idea what to do about."
"Or you could just not have been in a position to see them," Tyrande said. The scouts nodded in agreement to that statement.
"We can't leave either situation uninvestigated," Tyrande said.
"I think we should attend to this matter personally," Malfurion agreed. He looked to the two scouts. "Can you lead us to their town?"
"I...I believe it is possible," Anara said hesitantly.
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(Posted Tue, 05 Apr 2005 16:41)
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