Ku Lon finished of the last of her meager supper, and gazed down into her empty bowl for a long moment before sighing and setting it to the side. It was a perfectly useable bowl, its only fault that it had become an empty one too quickly. The Amazons were on half-rations, and even then their supplies and the yen to buy more would be gone all too quickly.
“Supplies are getting low.”
Ku Lon glanced up at the abrupt opening conversational gambit in the local Japanese, and nodded to her life-long rival balancing on her Elder’s staff. “True,” she agreed in the same language, motioning for Dao Paz to dismount and join her.
As Dao Paz dropped off her staff and joined her, Ku Lon considered the odd twists life could take. The two had been rivals for all their lives, and not friendly ones — while neither would have dreamed of putting the tribe at risk, likewise neither had hesitated to stick it to the other when the opportunity arose. As a result, she had not been looking forward to spending long weeks in her rival’s company, unable to put any real distance between them, and the inevitable rancor to come.
The actual outcome had been very different — the way they’d been forced to spend extended time in each other’s company had forced them to seek common ground out of sheer self-defense, and they’d found it in their shared concern for the future of the tribe. After centuries of bitter sparring it was probably too late for them to become friends, but they weren’t precisely enemies anymore, either.
Dao Paz waited for Ku Lon to continue, then chuckled when the silence lengthened. “So, have you been considering ways to deal with that?” she asked. “We cannot buy any more food, what money we have left will be needed to pay for our trip home. And the hunting in this area isn’t exactly promising.”
Ku Lon sighed, turning look out across the late afternoon park. “I have been seriously considering sending several of the warriors to the countryside — surely the masses of people swarming this island like bees in a hive haven’t hunted out all of the prey!”
“Hmm ... possible, that. Dangerous, though — in a land this crowded, any land empty enough to have prey large enough to be worth hunting that far away from here must be owned by someone. She is likely to object.”
“True,” Ku Lon again replied with a shrug. “It would give our warriors an opportunity to practice their stealth.” Holding up a hand to hold off her rival’s rebuttal, she added, “But yes, the consequences of being caught, while likely not as serious as poaching on Musk land, would be bad enough. Do you have an alternative?”
“A partial one, at least,” Dao Paz admitted. “I was thinking — and Lo Shun agrees — that since you no longer need our presence for judgment, and the Husband Hunt that the warriors came along for is complete, we should return to the village with all the warriors except for Xian Pu while you stay here with her and Pa Fum to await the Wanderer’s decision. We can leave you the funds that would pay for your own trip home, that would feed you for some time if you are careful, and able to supplement it — that should be easier for three than seventeen, and easier for three to make their way back without funds later. In truth, I’m surprised even men have allowed a group of armed warriors even as small as ours to camp on their lands as long as we have without saying anything.”
She paused for a moment, then reluctantly continued, “Ku Lon, I agree with you on the need to at least establish an outpost elsewhere, away from our village, but was doubtful that this island was the place to do it. Since our arrival, I have become even more so. How are we to live? There are no wide open areas available for farming that someone isn’t already using, and you’ve already noted the problems with hunting. Then, even if you can find a place for us among these hordes of sheep, everything is simply so expensive! And even if you do manage to find some way to earn the money we’d need to support a sufficiently large outpost ... I know you were hoping for some alteration to our ways, but here our traditions wouldn’t just be modified, they’d be plowed under. No, my old enemy, we are going to have to think of something else.”
After a brief struggle with herself, Ku Lon nodded with a sigh — truth was truth, after all, however little she liked it. “At the moment, I have to agree, I see no path forward here, either. Still, with your suggestion I have more time to perhaps have something come up to open up that path. Remember the story Jason MacKenzie told us all those decades ago, about the horse learning to sing? It did then, to the music of high explosives. Perhaps it will, now.”
Dao Paz, chuckled softly. “Perhaps, we shall see. And I will even do my best to resist the temptation to undercut your position on the Council while you search for that singing horse.”
“Oh, thank you! You are truly generous!” Ku Lon enthused.
Dao Paz’s chuckling turned into laughter soon joined by Ku Lon’s, only for the amusement to cut off at the approach of one of the warriors on guard duty. The young warrior stopped before the two elders and bowed in respect. “Honored Elders, the Wanderer, the younger two Tendo sisters, and they tell me the sex spirit wish admittance to the camp.”
Ku Lon nodded to the guard. “Of course, Lu Lu, inform Lo Shun, find the Wanderer’s wives and ask them to join us here, then bring in the visitors.”
The warrior bowed again and left, and the two elders exchanged glances. “Well, that was quick,” Dao Paz murmured. “Perhaps you will be returning with us, after all.”
“We’ll see,” Ku Lon replied, as she caught sight of Xian Pu and Pa Fum approaching, “but unlikely — of the four Wanderers to encounter the tribe after the first, three accepted, after all. And the one that refused was already married. But we will know soon enough.”
Akane, arms full with manuals, ribbons and clubs the Rhythmic Gymnastics team had loaned them, glanced around curiously as she and Nabiki followed one of the warrior women that had intercepted them when they’d approached the Amazon camp, Ryoga behind them with his packpack and the sense of presence that was Ranma floating along above and slightly to the side of the succubus’s fiancée. The raven-haired girl had been appalled when she was told about the Kisses, though more for the sake of the women forced to marry possible rapists than the men — what man wouldn’t be happy to wed and bed one of the magnificent specimens of womanhood she could see around her in the late afternoon sunlight? But for women forced into the beds of strange men ... she shivered as she thought. Why a society dedicated to female supremacy would come up with such repressive rules completely escaped her.
Though it isn’t like they’re alone in that, is it? she thought, remembering the pact her father had entered into with Ranma’s father. She knew her father loved all his daughters, yet he had been perfectly willing to force one of them into an arranged marriage with a ... okay, Ranma wasn’t a pervert, but his curse forced him ... her ... to act like she was. Akane understood that it wasn’t the same thing, but she still had trouble believing it. Only the night Ranma had spent in her dreams showing her the vision the succubus had seen the night she was introduced to the Voice made that possible at all, and Akane glanced at Nabiki and shuddered as she thought of how things would have gone without the cursed boy and Nabiki meeting first. She was the logical one of the sisters to fulfill the pact, after all — and become the focus of the part-time succubus’s needs. As much as she loved Nabiki, what her older sister was doing with her fiancé simply wasn’t normal — for a human, at least.
Nabiki glanced at her, and Akane blushed, fighting not to glance up and back at the empty air where Ranma floated, as she remembered that both her sister and Ranma would be sensing her sudden disgust. But her sister simply raised an eyebrow and turned her attention back to the Amazons they were approaching. An Akane eager for a distraction from the path her thoughts had taken hastily followed suit.
The Nerimans’ guide led them up to the same three shrunken gnomes of ancient women she had seen at the tail end of Ranma’s and Ryoga’s fight at the school, sitting in a row with their staves lying on the grass beside them, with two girls sitting slightly off to one side — the girl that had been injured when she interrupted that fight, and the one that had examined her. They must be Ryoga’s new wives, Akane thought, glancing at the Lost Boy out of the corner of her eye as he came up beside her. From the way he was stealing glances at the two girls and blushing, it was a safe guess.
“Please, sit,” one of the crones said, the one that had taken the lead at the school. She waved at the grass in front of her. “Except for Ranma, of course,” she added, looking at the empty air where Ranma’s presence hovered, “but I suppose you can float on top of the grass.” Akane sat and laid down her armful on the grass in front of her, Nabiki and Ryoga on each side of her, Ranma’s presence settling down on the other side of her fiancée. The crone went on to reintroduce herself and introduce her fellow crones and Ryoga’s new wives, Nabiki reciprocating. (Am I hearing those right? Cologne, Lotion, Daipers, Shampoo, Perfume? What kind of names are those?)
Introductions made, Ku Lon went on to offer them refreshments (which they declined, with the excuse they’d just eaten), asked about things that had struck her during her time in Japan (both currently and during an earlier trip), made comparisons to her tribe in China, and more small talk until Akane was about ready to burst with pent-up impatience — until she caught the elder’s brief sly glance toward the two Amazon teenagers. Pa Fum was calm enough to do Kasumi proud, shyly eyes downcast, but her companion was all but dancing where she sat, apparently held in place only by Pa Fum’s hand resting on one shoulder.
Finally, with a sly glance of her own at the twitchy teenager, Nabiki said, “This is interesting, but perhaps we should move on to business? It is getting a little late, and if we delay much longer Shampoo may explode.”
“Perhaps you are right, child,” Ku Lon blandly replied, “though my great-granddaughter has need of practice in the patience befitting an elder.” Xian Pu stiffened, eyes widening, and Ku Lon nodded to her. “Your patience so far has been exemplary ... for one of your age and temperament. You will learn better in time.”
“Yes, Honored Elder,” Xian Pu replied, an undeniable edge to her polite words.
A faint snort of amusement came from her co-wife beside her, and a chuckling Ku Lon turned to Ryoga. “In truth, Wanderer, we did not expect a response this quickly. But you have come to a decision?”
Ryoga nodded jerkily. “Y-Yes-s, Elder Cologne, I have. I a-accept,” he stammered.
Ku Lon bowed to the now blushing boy where he sat and motioned toward the two Amazonian teenagers. “Very well, son-in-law, you are very welcome to the tribe. Please, take your place with your wives.”
Blushing furiously, Ryoga easily rose from his seat beside Akane, seemingly unaffected by his massive backpack, and the two co-wives made room as he sat stiffly between them.
As he settled, Ku Lon said, “While by our laws you are already married, we could hold your own marriage ceremonies if you wish ... ?”
Ryoga shook his head, and Akane could almost see his mood darkening, a faint greenish glow of ki that only top-ranked martial artists could see springing up around him. (Admittedly, Akane thought to herself, that probably includes everyone here except Nabiki and maybe ... Perfume, was it?) “No,” Ryoga managed to get out, “it would be for my folks, and who knows where they are? Your word’s good enough.”
“Very well,” Ku Lon acknowledged, as the older co-wife reached up to lay a gentle hand on her husband’s shoulder, her face sympathetic. He twitched at the contact, but took a deep breath and managed a weak smile in return, his sickly green aura dimming slightly.
Ku Lon watched the exchange with a small smile, then turned to the Tendo sisters and their succubus in-law, glancing at the pile of weapons and books in front of Akane. “I am grateful that you brought us our Wanderer,” she said, “but I doubt you thought all three of you were needed. Is there something we can do for you in return?”
“Yes, there is,” Akane heard Ranma say from the other side of Nabiki, and the succubus quickly explained about the upcoming competition and the need for training.
Ku Lon listened, examined the clubs and ribbon, then picked up a manual. As she looked through the pictures of the various techniques, Nabiki hesitantly said, “Please don’t take offense, but we understand that training outsiders isn’t something you would typically do. We can pay —”
But Ku Lon was shaking her head. “I am not offended, child. As you say we would not ordinarily train those not members of the tribe, and right now the yen would be welcome. But from what I can tell, none of this is close enough to anything the Amazons practice — not even the clubs, they are much lighter than what we typically use, as much for throwing as hand to hand. And these ribbons here and the hoops in these pictures —”
“I can train her.” Everyone turned to stare at Ryoga. All trace of the earlier greenish aura was gone, the teenager sitting straight. “My family style has a strong weapons component. That’s why Ranma always won out in our competition for the bread,” he added, glaring at the empty space where the nature spirit’s voice had come from. “The principal wouldn’t let me carry my weapons while at school — not even my bandanas.” Rising, he strode over to pick up one of the ribbons from in front of Akane. He walked away from the gathering to a spot behind and to the side of Akane, Nabiki and Ranma where all could see him. As Akane turned around where she sat, he held the short stick the ribbon was attached to against his chest, the ribbon itself stretched taut from the stick’s tip to run between the middle fingers of an outthrust hand. He held the pose for a long moment, until between one breath and the next he was abruptly in motion, the ribbon spiraling outward, ki-drenched from stick to tip for all but Nabiki to see.
“Whoa!” Akane breathed.
“Ya got that right!” came Ranma’s voice.
Nabiki simply nodded, wide-eyed.
Ryoga turned to look at Nabiki. “I believe you said something about a fee?” he asked with a smirk.
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(Posted Fri, 30 Sep 2011 06:10)
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