by Claire Luana
“I am as real as you are.” “Prove it.”
He chuffed and blew out his cheeks in an adorable gesture that she interpreted as annoyance, but he approached her grubby outstretched hand and sat before her. Shaking, she drew her hand down the shiny fur of his back. He was warm and real. His fur was softer than the finest silk she had ever touched. She sprang forward and pulled him into a tight embrace, her arms locked around him tightly, her face buried in his soft fur. She rocked him back and forth.
“Kai . . .” a strangled voice came from beneath her chin. “Air . . .”
She released him and sat him down gently before her, embarrassed. His fur was askew in wild angles and she suppressed a laugh. “Thank you for coming.”
He shook himself and leveled an inscrutable gaze at her. “My name is Quitsu.”
Quitsu curled up in her arms in her little sand shelter to help her fall asleep. He had told her not to get used to it, but he would allow it tonight for survival purposes.
Kai had already begun to suspect that Quitsu’s bark was worse than his bite. He radiated heat into her like the cheerful embers of a once-roaring fire and she soaked in the first measure of comfort she had felt in two days and two nights. She fell asleep quickly.
The morning sun rose blazing and undeniable.
Quitsu took one look at her and announced: “Water. We need water.” Her lips were parched and cracking and her thoughts felt like they were swimming through thick sludge to reach her. She nodded to Quitsu and stood, leaning on her stick.
“Lead the way.”
He trotted off in front of her. She focused her vision on his white form and focused her will on putting one foot in front of the other.
Quitsu was a gentle guide despite his gruffness. He frequently looped back to check on her and let her rest when she needed it. She didn’t dare rest for too long, though, as she didn’t know if she could get up again.
A few hours passed and the sun was almost at its zenith. They reached a place where the rolling sand dunes gave way to a flat, cracked expanse of hard-packed sand.
“This used to be a lake,” Quitsu said, “before Taiyo grew so powerful.”
“The desert is here because Taiyo is too strong?” Kai asked, her thoughts fuzzy.
“In a sense. The war has upset the balance of this land in many ways. The desert is but one example. The seishen are closely tied to the land, and we are sensitive to such disturbances.”
Kai pondered what he said, turning the new information around in her head like a puzzle. She had always imagined Tsuki and Taiyo to be fictional, even though the powers of the sun and moonburners demonstrated otherwise. It was too hard to imagine there were real gods warring over their land.
She looked at Quitsu, her answered prayer made manifest. She’d better start believing.
Quitsu stopped suddenly and sniffed at a spot on the ground that looked indistinguishable from the expanse around it. He started digging and liquid began to fill the hole. Kai clapped her hands to her face and fell on her knees beside the precious water.
“Quitsu, you’re a miracle!”
He sat back with his chest puffed out, daintily licking the mud from his paws.
She drank the gritty water greedily. Nothing had ever tasted so pure.
“Slowly,” Quitsu cautioned. “Don’t make yourself sick.”
She alternated between drinking and sitting back, letting the liquid soak back into her body. When her belly was distended with water, they set off again.
Kai looked back longingly at the water glistening in the small hole in the dirt. Quitsu hadn’t let her drink as much as she had wanted, assuring her that there would be more waterholes.
At first, Kai had felt reverence towards Quitsu, and held her tongue respectfully around him. That slowly wore off as they walked through the desert, and she began peppering him with questions.
“Where are we going?”
“A moonburner camp in the Little Tottori oasis.”
“What is a seishen?”
“Every burner is deeply connected to the earth. Only through that grounding do you have the force to draw power from celestial bodies like the sun or moon. Seishen are the embodiment of that spiritual connection. Only strong burners have seishen because only those burners have a connection strong enough to take corporeal form.”
“Where are you from?”
“The Misty Forest at the foot of the Akashi Mountains, in Kita.”
“How do you know where the water is?”
“Spiritual connection to the earth, remember?”
“Have you been seishen to a moonburner before?”
“No,” Quitsu said, pausing and lowering his voice. “I am connected to you, a part of you. When you die, I die.”
Oh. She was touched. Quitsu had bound his life to hers.
“Well, I guess we better keep me alive then, eh?” she said with a grin.
Quitsu chuffed in mock annoyance, but rubbed his length along her leg before he trotted off ahead.
He returned bearing something in his mouth. He dropped it at her feet with a distasteful sound. She picked it up, cradling the small furry body of a desert dog, a little rodent that burrowed in the sand.
Kai looked around. There was no wood to make a fire. Her stomach growled and she fell upon it, tearing raw chunks of meat from the little body. The sensation of fur and blood in her mouth was vaguely unpleasant, but her body’s overwhelming desire for nutrients overshadowed it. She had ravaged half the body when she looked at Quitsu.
“Do you need to eat?” she asked, offering him the bloody carcass.
“No, thank the goddess,” Quitsu said. “I draw my strength from the moon and from you.”
Kai considered this. “Like a parasite?” Quitsu’s hackles rose.
“Like a parasite that’s saving your hide!” He turned his tail to her and trotted off into the distance.
“Like a symbiotic parasite!” She called after him. She smiled, and turned her attention to finishing her disgustingly wonderful meal.
He’d be back. He had to keep her alive, he had said so himself.
The following day they set off, continuing east towards the Little Tottori oasis. He said they would be there by nightfall. With water and food in her belly, Kai felt more like her old self. She could feel her feet throbbing and hot, and suspected there was infection brewing. She would need medical care soon.
As they walked, Quitsu began a peculiar dance, moving from his usual spot trotting in front of her, to circling behind her, and returning. After the third time, Kai finally spoke up.
“What are you doing back there?”
Quitsu paced next to her, and spoke quietly. “I don’t want to alarm you, but it appears we are being stalked by a manga cat. It has been following us for the last hour.”
“A manga cat?” Kai asked, her voice shooting up an octave. “Are you sure?”
“Very sure.”
“Can you do anything? Magical?”
Quitsu shook his head. “My powers, like yours, are strongest at night. I can act as a conduit to strengthen your power, but only when we can pull from the power of the moon, and only if you actually knew how to use your powers. Right now, we are as helpless as a normal human and a normal fox.”
“Great,” Kai grumbled. “We’ll have to try to make it to the oasis. Maybe it is just curious, and won’t attack.”
“Maybe,” Quitsu said, in a tone that implied that he didn’t believe that at all.
They hurried towards the oasis as fast as they could with Kai’s condition. Quitsu circled back several times to check on the cat’s location.
“It’s gone,” he said, with breath of relief.
Kai thanked the moon goddess and felt the tension leave her. They would make it.
“Can we rest for a moment?” Kai asked, as they approached a small rocky outcropping. Her wounds were throbbing, and her sides heaved from the effort of their pace. She was feeling weak again.
“Just fo
r a moment,” Quitsu assented. “The cat could return.”
Kai stepped into the shade of the rocks and was greeted by a inhuman snarl. A massive shadow leaped at her, its bulk throwing her backwards and flattening her to the ground, pushing the breath from her. Instinct had caused her to throw up her stick in front of her, and now massive jaws gnashed around the stick, seeking freedom.
The manga cat was larger than she was, spotted with the light tan and gold of the desert. Its yellow eyes, intent on its next meal, unnerved her.
Kai tried to roll to the side to heave the cat off her, but it was too heavy. Its claws dug into one of her shoulders and her breastbone and she screamed in agony. So this was how she would end. What little strength she had was leaving her, as her weak body gave out.
Quitsu threw himself on the cat’s neck, a furious white demon tearing at its ears and eyes with his claws and teeth. The cat snarled and reared back, trying to knock the interloper off with its massive paws. She rolled to the side, out from under the cat, blood streaming down her front. The cat whipped its head to the side and Quitsu shot off its back, cracking into the nearby rock and crumpling to the ground.
“Quitsu!” she screamed. Rage and sorrow filled her and she ran at the cat, giving all she had to one last desperate blow. The cat leaped at her and she fell to her knees under it, forcing her stick upwards into its soft underbelly with all her force.
The cat screamed and tumbled over her, wrenching her stick from her grasp. She darted into the arc of its flailing paws and wrenched the stick out of its stomach before backing away. The cat lay on its side, blood running from its wound. It began to struggle to its feet. She aimed and shoved her stick into the cat’s throat. It started, twitched, and finally lay still.
Kai closed her eyes and panted, her pain threatening to overwhelm her. She staggered over to Quitsu and felt his soft furry body. His eyes were closed, but he was alive. His breathing was shallow and fast.
“Quitsu. Don’t die. Please.”
She scooped his body into her arms, her blood dripping into his silvery fur. He was so heavy, but she would make it to the oasis. She had to.
She turned east and started walking.
Pura stood at the edge of the oasis, looking into the desert. The bright light of the falling sun had turned the high clouds into a rainbow of oranges, pinks, and reds. Some moonburners hated landing duty in the Little Tottori oasis. It was in the middle of nowhere, far from the action, too close to Taiyo’s domain for comfort. Pura liked it. She liked the peace and the solitude. For a few days, she could forget the war.
She gazed into the sky, at a few early stars winking into existence. It would be a full moon tonight. The moon felt so big here in the desert sky, it was like Tsuki was right beside you.
Her gaze fell back to the desert before her, scanning for signs of threat. The oasis had never been attacked by sunburners, but one could never be too careful.
She paused. Was that . . . movement? She unsheathed her two swords, one short, one long. Yes, definitely. Something was coming towards her. She squinted into the setting sun, straining to make out what it was from the silhouette.
“Who goes there?” she called loudly. “Announce yourself.” No answer.
She repeated herself, but her command was again met by silence.
Pura began walking slowly towards it, swords at the ready. As she grew nearer, the form took shape. A person on foot! The figure was moving slowly, staggering. As the interloper came into view, Pura stared in disbelief.
It was a girl with short cropped silver hair. She was naked but for the sand and blood that coated her. She looked near death. Cradled in her arms was a bloody animal, its silver fur unmistakable. A seishen.
“Help us,” the girl croaked, and then collapsed.
Kai blinked, her eyelids gritty and heavy. Above her stretched a tan sky.
Tan?
She craned her neck to get a better view of her surroundings and instantly regretted it. Her head exploded with pain, and her chest felt as if it was being stabbed with hot pokers.
“Stay still,” a feminine voice said.
She felt a touch on her shoulder and turned her head slightly, opening her eyes. A face swam into view. The woman’s silver hair was tied in a fishtail braid down over one shoulder, the end wrapped in black leather. Her skin was tanned but delicate, her face framing big brown eyes and long black lashes. It was a pretty face, one that showed warmth and concern. Kai felt like she hadn’t seen the sentiment in ages.
“Water,” Kai croaked, and the woman complied, dribbling the cool liquid onto Kai’s lips.
She drank greedily, and the woman slowed her.
“Take it easy. You’ve been through an incredible ordeal. The goddess must have her eye on you, because you shouldn’t be alive.”
It all came flooding back to her. Prefect Youkai. The desert. Quitsu. The manga cat.
“Quitsu!” she cried, struggling again to sit up. “Is he alive? Where is he?”
The woman pushed her back down, overpowering her easily. “Calm down, he’s alive. He’s in the other room with another seishen. You need to regain your strength, so he can.”
Kai flopped back down, relief mingling with the pounding pain in her head and shoulder.
“I feared he was dead,” she said faintly.
The woman smiled. “You saved him. You should be proud. Now rest.”
Kai opened her mouth to ask the woman her name, but was asleep before she could form the words.
The next time Kai awoke, she felt more like herself. Her caretaker was by her side. Her name was Pura, and she was the first moonburner Kai had met who hadn’t tried to kill her. Pura had been standing watch and had carried both Kai and Quitsu in from the desert when she had collapsed.
Pura was tall, lithe and strong, with an easy laugh. She wore navy blue leggings and a navy high-necked tunic piped with silver thread and wrapped with a silver obi.
“It’s the master moonburner uniform,” Pura explained. “You will wear it once you pass all your tests and become a master. You’ll kill to wear a dress after a few years in this, trust me.”
“I’ve never worn a dress,” Kai said, “so I doubt that.”
Pura looked at her with a quizzical eye, but didn’t ask.
Pura helped Kai bathe and dress, and then wrapped her arm under Kai’s as they walked out of the tent into the hot sun of the oasis. Kai raised a hand to shield her eyes from the light as she took it all in. There were perhaps a half dozen master moonburners in navy and silver bustling about the green palms and foliage. There were two smaller tents and one big tent that Kai assumed was for eating and gathering. Kai started when she saw a giant bat resting in the shade of a palm tree.
“I never thought there could be a settlement all the way out here,” Kai said. “Does King Ozora know about this?”
The desert, as the realm of the sun god Taiyo, was traditionally thought of as King Ozora’s territory, although technically, it was politically neutral ground.
Pura chuckled. “No. Typical man, so prideful he doesn’t see what goes on under his nose. We originally stationed moonburners here to rescue the Kitan babies that were left in the desert to die. About ten years ago, though, we started using it as a forward base, as well.”
“You save the babies?” Kai asked, hope welling in her. The deaths of those children had always weighed on her. She didn’t know why she had been fit to live when they had to die.
“Some of them. Nice of him to deliver them to us special, isn’t it?” she said, with a wicked grin. “Goddess Tsuki’s oracle tells us each time a new moonburner’s power is invoked through the Gleaming. We know to perform a sweep for a child along the Kitan border within 24 hours. You, though, my dear, no one saw coming.”
“Yes. I was a bit of a special case,” Kai admitted. As she spoke, a silver blur leaped at her.
“Quitsu!” she cried, digging her fingers into his silver fur. He burrowed his face into her neck, cold nose stark a
gainst the heat of the desert. “Thank the goddess you’re alive.”
“Careful now!” Pura grinned. “Your mistress is still recovering. As are you,” she scolded, and then caught herself, nodding her head to Quitsu.
Quitsu jumped to the ground, donning his usual reserved form. His tail continued to wag like a barn dog, ruining the look.
“Are you feeling up to walking a little further?” Pura asked Kai. “The Eclipse is here, and she wants to see you.”
The brightly lit tent was littered with paper and weapons. The desert floor was covered by a thin woven rug colored with a faded ikat pattern of red, yellow and orange. A simple bambu wood desk nestled against the back wall, with mismatched chairs and cushions lining the edges of the tent. Practically every flat surface was covered with piles of tan paper or scrolls, with arrows or daggers being used as paperweights. Spears and longbows leaned against the wooden supports of the tent, and a wicked looking double-bladed masakari axe lay across the desk. A silvery bowl of water stood on a stand in one corner. A huge statue of a silver eagle sat on top of the tent’s lone bookshelf, styled with its head tucked under its wing.
Odd.
A woman sat at the desk muttering, her back to them. Or at least Kai thought she must be a woman. She wore the navy blue uniform of the moonburners, but her arms were as heavily muscled as any farmhand’s. She had close-cropped silver hair styled into a hawk’s tail down to her collar, with a few thin braids hanging from behind her right ear over her shoulder.
The woman stood and spun around, her fluid movement lightning-quick. She had startling wide-set gray eyes covered in round spectacles, a unobtrusive nose and a thin set, serious mouth. Kai hurried into a respectful bow a beat too late, as Pura cleared her throat next to her.
“So.” The woman removed her spectacles and put them on the table, picking up a silver dagger. She stepped close to Kai, so they would have been almost nose to nose, if Kai wasn’t half a head shorter. She felt about as tall as the woman’s shin.
