Chasing Legends (Augen, Schala)

[recon5]

Carlos stopped outside the kitchen door. Inside he could see their hostess gutting a large fish with a vicious looking knife. She seemed to be working quite close to her fingers so he decided to wait until she put the knife down before speaking.

Sure enough Keine soon placed the knife on the table and inserted her fingers into the fish to clean out what was inside. Carlos decided to speak just then but the woman surprised him by speaking first.

"I heard everything, you know," she said, without looking at them. "Perhaps you haven't been in a house like mine or you'd realize that voices can travel into all the rooms. Try to get used to that for as long as you're in the village. Or..." she laughed, "... perhaps I just have good hearing."

She picked up a smaller knife and slid it between the bones and flesh of the fish, and with a flick she opened it into two neat halves like a clam shell before cleanly pulling the spine out and dropping it into a pot she had beside her. "I'll tell you everything but I hope you don't mind if I keep working as we talk. The fish will go bad if I delay things."

[Schala]

"Okay," Kitria said. Her stomach rumbled. She loved to eat fish.
"Keine-sama...I'm sorry I was...suspicious...can you forgive me?"
She hoped she hadn't offended her hostess, as the woman seemed to be stern even though she was kind.

[Augen]

"I wish to apologize as well, Keine-sama. I was overcautious. I am still not used to this world. Please forgive us," Vandater said, bowing slightly.

[recon5]

Carlos sighed, unsure of what he should believe now. His suspicions might have been unfounded after all but on the other hand his friends might just be especially naive. He decided to apologize as well since it wouldn't do any harm if Keine was as honest as she claimed to be. "My apologies. I was the one who doubted."

Keine laughed softly, already slitting a second fish open. "No need to apologize. I'll tell you three anyway, seeing as it won't do any harm for you to know a bit more about me and this village. First off, I'm not entirely human either. I am part Hakutaku and my kind used to serve humans even before the creation of Gensokyo although I haven't been able to find any others around."

She'd cleaned the second fish faster than the first and interrupted her story to drop the bones into the pot, then she reached for a bowl of spices and began seasoning the fishes. "I'm a bit touchy about having strange Youkai visit the village as most of the humans here can't use magic at all. Those who can fare for themselves tend to spread out into other parts of Gensokyo so there aren't too many capable fighters left to defend the village from monsters and such. One of my friends helps me out regularly- she's quite exceptional for a human and I should take you to meet her some day- but we're otherwise a bit short-handed so I have to be as careful as possible. However, Youkai whom I find I can trust are free to do as they please unless they cause trouble."

[Schala]

Gosh, what a relief!
Now that she knew she was in good hands, Kitria decided to help Keine out.
"Can I give you a hand, Keine-sama?" she asked.

[Augen]

Vandater looked between the two for a moment before saying, "Um... I would offer to help, but last time I tried to handle not-yet-prepared food I got carried away and demolished it. So I'm just gonna head back to the table and sit down for a while," she said, before turning and walking back to the other room.

[recon5]

Keine stopped working for a moment and turned to smile at Kitria. "Thank you for the offer, but I don't really have much left to do. Besides, you're a guest and it would be a violation of basic courtesy for me to let you do any work. Please, have a seat by the fire. I'll bring out more biscuits if you're still hungry."

Carlos thanked Keine and turned to leave but he paused by the doorway to wait for Kitria.

[Schala]

Kitria followed behind Carlos and sat on a cushion as soon as she reached the living room.
She was beginning to like Keine, and wondered if she would make lots of new friends.
Things were turning out wonderfully. Why, she couldn't imagine anything that would ruin the day.

[Augen]

Vandater sat quietly in the living room, thinking to herself. Keine's words did explain some things, but Vandater just couldn't quite shake some of the suspicions Carlos had brought up earlier. Keine was being very courteous... Almost too courteous, Vandater thought. Being from a world of barbarians, she still wasn't quite used to such things.

[recon5]

Carlos joined the others in the living room but he was too preoccupied with his thoughts to sit down, so he paced slowly around the room trying to look like he was admiring the decorations (not that there was much to look at). It had seemed that the others believed Keine but there was something about the woman that still unsettled him. It wasn't her story- that was fantastic enough but he'd seen things here that made it far more believable- just... something. Perhaps it was because she wasn't human (as she herself admitted) but unlike his two nonhuman friends he didn't know just what this one was.

He noticed that Vandater seemed to be doing some thinking herself so perhaps the others hadn't been as taken in as he'd thought. He wondered if there was some way to discuss the issue without Keine hearing them but he couldn't think of anything at the moment. Perhaps he should start off with a more innocent discussion.

"So... what are our plans? Should we stay for the night?"

[Schala]

"I think we should," Kitria replied. "After all, she seems nice enough, and we're learning more from her every minute."
Everything she had only read about in books--village guardians, youkai-humans, and houses that resonated sound--it was all real!

----------------------------

Not far away from Keine's house, a young* Lunarian was also seeking adventure. Caedir had managed to escape from her sisters and was now looking for...well...something herioc to do. Now, how to find it?

*(In Lunarian years.)

[Augen]

"Yes... That sounds like a good idea," Vandater said, nodding and looking at her hands, which she had locked together. She was still pretty deep in thought, but she did not wish to arouse any suspicions. She was never really good at that, though.

[recon5]

Carlos decided to sit down as pacing wouldn't really help them if they were indeed headed for trouble, not to mention that it might make the others uneasy. He heard the sound of chopping and he guessed that Keine had moved on to preparing vegetables. "Seems like there's nothing else we can do but wait for dinner, huh? From the sound of it I don't think we'll have long to wait."

Keine eventually emerged from the kitchen with a jug and the small pot that Carlos had seen her putting fish bones into earlier, and she emptied the contents of both into the larger pot that was hanging over the hearth before adding some more wood to the fire. "Just boiling up some stock. I'll be done in about half an hour."

[Schala]

Kitria was very hungry. She wanted some of that fish.
"Hey, Keine-sama?" she asked. "Could I please have more biscuits?"

----------------------------

Caedir had not gone far when she caught sight of Keine's house. She knocked on the door hoping she could find some food and shelter.
"Hello?" she called. "Please let me in."

[Augen]

Vandater would've been quite hungry as well, had she not had other things on her mind. Her concentration broke when she heard a knock at the door. "Umm, Keine-sama. There's somebody at the door. Should I answer it," Vandater asked, unsure as to what would be polite in this world.