Setsuna looked from Kodachi to the floor-length mirror leaning against her wall and back to the huddled girl.
"You came through the mirror, didn't you?" Setsuna asked. Stepping off her bed and standing in front of the mentioned item. It was the only way in, for what Kodachi was, that wouldn't trigger an alarm spell.
"I...fell through the glass," Kodachi said.
"That is how you travel between this realm and that one," Setsuna said. "Your kind. Nightbane."
"What is my kind? What is a nightbane?" Kodachi asked. "Am I dead? Some sort of ghost or undead creature?"
Setsuna considered what to say to Kodachi carefully.
"No, you're a shapechanger," Setsuna said. "You saw that other place?"
"All that's over there is dust and ruins," Kodachi said, rubbing at her arms and glancing to the mirror.
"Hmm, I'm neglecting my duties as host," Setsuna said, gesturing for Kodachi to stand. "Let's continue this discussion over some tea. I assume that the exertions you've taken to get here have left you wanting some refreshment."
Kodachi narrowed her eyes and wondered if this were a trap of some kind. After all, this was the same woman that had earlier seemed to be threatening to kill her. The benefit out-weighed the threat, however, and, hesitantly, Kodachi stood up, accepting Pluto's hand up from the floor.
She followed the green-haired woman into the room beyond, where Kodachi had not dared to explore yet, and then to a table where she was directed to sit down with a gesture. Her host vanished into the kitchen for a moment and the samurai girl listened to the sound of running water.
Then Setsuna was back and sitting down as they waited for the kettle to whistle.
"The Nightlands were not always so barren," Setsuna said. "More than fifty thousand years ago, before humans had come to this world, there was a powerful and peaceful people that lived there."
"What happened to these people?" Kodachi asked levelly, waiting for the accusation.
"They died," Setsuna said simply. "But they are not what should concern you. There was also a race of shapechangers that kept mostly to themselves, even from each other. They came to the aid of the Lost Race near the end of their trials, but it was too little too late."
"Afterwards, the Formless Ones faded from view again, shamed by their failure to protect the Lost Race," Setsuna explained to Kodachi.
"And you think that I'm a Formless One?" Kodachi asked, cautiously.
"No," Setsuna said firmly. "Near as I can figure, the boundary between us and the Nightlands around your house is weaker than elsewhere, energies from over there bleed over."
"And what about my brother?" Kodachi demanded.
"He is human," Setsuna answered. "Probably was conceived and born before the leak grew large enough to have an effect."
The kettle whistled and Setsuna vanished into the kitchen for a brief moment before returning with the kettle and a fresh part of tea.
"You still have not said what I am," Kodachi said, insistently. "I did not come for a history lesson."
"You would be called a nightbane," Setsuna said. "That other form of yours, the wounded schoolgirl, it is formed by your fears and hopes. The trauma you faced in the fight obviously had a similar impact."
Kodachi thought of the gaping wound in her chest and shivered as she sipped her tea.
"No, the second form does not change," Setsuna said, expecting Kodachi's unspoken question. "You are now stuck with that second shape for the rest of your life."
Kodachi frowned and looked down, as if ashamed of what she was.
"It is an image of your mind at the instant when you awakened your power," Setsuna said. "Nothing more, nothing less. You are a creature of darkness Miss Kuno, but not necessarily evil."
"Have you seen one of my kind before?" Kodachi asked.
"No," Setsuna said calmly. "You are the only one."
"Then how can you know so much about what I am?"
"I see variations in time, Miss Kuno," Setsuna said. "I know many things."
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Sat, 17 Feb 2007 11:23)
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