Pilgrim 3, p.2
Pilgrim 3, page 2
“You are so full of yourself.”
“Who else is there to be full of?”
They reached a more walkable section of the forest, Danzen noticing enormous spiderwebs wrapping the trees as if they were in the process of mummification. Her ears suddenly alert, Kudzu moved forward even faster, telling Danzen to stay close and to keep his blades out. But they never came across an arachnid yokai even as the forest grew darker, Danzen truly lost by this point. This could be remedied by jumping above the canopy, but he preferred to let the yokai figure out where they were. One of them was bound to know.
Jelmay’s mention of rebuilding Sunyata caused Danzen to start thinking again. Was it even possible? Was it something he should even consider? There were many problems with the world Danzen found himself in, typical human problems like greed, poverty, and war, but also problems based on supernatural things, like certain yokai, the demons of Diyu and what they brought to the table.
There was no balance.
Without Sunyata, without heaven, there was only purgatory and hell, and even if Diyu mirrored his world, looking the same aside from its stained crimson sky, the entire picture was missing something. What if Danzen collected enough remnants to rebuild it, to spark a new heaven? Could something like that even work?
It was something he had been meaning to speak to his mother about. She mentioned that he was ready, but she never went into heavy detail of what exactly he was ready for. Her presence at his monastery was by no means intrusive, she hadn’t done anything yet to indicate to him she wanted something from him, but he did get a sense that Shodren had her secrets, as everyone did. What were her secrets? What did she truly want by visiting him? What did she think he was ready for?
It was time.
Danzen had mostly kept to himself since her arrival, never going too deeply into what he was thinking or feeling. It was time to change that; it was time to understand Shodren’s true intentions for journeying all the way to Genshin Valley, to his home.
“Just a few more hours…” Jelmay said after they had walked for thirty minutes.
“You said two hours a while back,” Kudzu reminded him.
“I got lost, I’ll admit it, but I’m back on track now and with the demon bear as my guide,” he said as he tapped his paw against the hide, “we’ll reach Osul with plenty of time to get back to the monastery and eat those fish. I can’t wait for the look on Usagi’s face when he sees how easily we handled that onikuma. He’s going to be so jealous of my little cloak here, or is it a cape? What should I call this thing? Usagi thought that it was going to be difficult for us, that we wouldn’t be able to do it in a day’s time. We sure proved him wrong. Get ready for one happy little jade rabbit.”
***
Usagi was anything but happy upon seeing the three of them, his whiskers flaring out, and his eyes filling with rage at the sight of the onikuma hide.
“You… You weren’t supposed to kill her!”
“Not supposed to kill her?” Jelmay asked the small rabbit. Jelmay crossed his paws over his chest, which had the effect of lifting his bear cloak, and sending its snout forward, the teeth far over his eyes now. “You said you wanted us to handle it.”
“I just wanted her to stop attacking yokai that passed through the area. You were supposed to have a conversation with her, you fool!”
“Fool? I’m not the fool!”
“And why are you wearing her hide? How vile could one bakeneko get? She was a friend of mine!” Usagi’s foot started to tap rapidly against the ground. “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you with the task. And how simple of a task! All I asked, all I asked was for you to handle it, so she would stop attacking friendly yokai. To see what was wrong with her, something to that effect. Maybe she just needed a good snack.”
“Gee, Usagi, perhaps you could have been a little clearer in your instructions. Do you see what I’m working with here?” Jelmay asked, motioning toward Danzen. “Let’s count his blades: one, two, three, and then there are two more in his gauntlets, which makes four and five. He probably has one hidden somewhere that I don’t know about. My point is: he’s an assassin. Yes, Pilgrim, I know that you’re trying to turn a new leaf, rebuild your life as an ascetic, become a good boy, but you interpreted what he said the same way I did, right?” Jelmay looked at the white fox. “Kudzu? Anyone?”
“I don’t often agree with Jelmay, but he’s right, Usagi. You told us to ‘handle it.’ Regardless of his little diatribe on who Pilgrim used to be, we handled it. That’s how we handle things,” Kudzu told him. “It was a demon bear. A demon bear, I might add, that was trying to kill us.”
Usagi ground his teeth for a moment, unable to stop twitching his head. “You can’t just go around killing everything that gets in your way!”
“You had us kill something last time,” Jelmay said. “What was it? A hihi? That was it. You said ‘handle the hihi’ and we handled it.”
“I said kill the hihi!”
“We did kill it!”
“Usagi,” Kudzu said as she stepped forward, her tone of voice wavering between reason and agitation, “you weren’t clear with us what you wanted. Last time you had us do something like this, you wanted us to kill the yokai.”
“That’s not true! Last time, I had you and Danzen bring me the shears of a hasamidachi.”
“Monobake?” Jelmay asked. “Don’t get me started on that useless yokai.”
“I… I’ll get you started on him! We’re friends again, and as soon as I tell him that you killed her, he will do something about it!”
“Monobake? Friends again? You are as delusional as Pilgrim’s loser demon half-brother,” Jelmay said. “And as for Monobake, that shear-headed imbecile is utterly useless. The only way Monobake could even do any damage is if he charged headfirst into someone. And that’s why I have a shield. He’ll charge into my shield, and I will stab him in the throat with my sword. You know what? I won’t even do that. I’ll just have Pilgrim kill him. Won’t you, Pilgrim?”
Danzen cleared his throat. The three yokai turned to him, a pleading look in Kudzu’s eyes. “We misinterpreted what you told us, Usagi. For that, we apologize,” he finally said.
“You… apologize? You killed one of the only onikuma in the valley! There aren’t many! In fact, not only did you kill one, but you killed a female, which means that you killed all her little cub offspring as well, and if you count the generations upon generations that she could have birthed…” Usagi shook his head with disappointment. “You practically killed an entire family line of demon bears. You should be ashamed of yourself. All of you. All of you are despicable.”
“If she wasn’t violent, why would she be known as a demon bear?” Kudzu asked.
“Because that’s what humans called her. I don’t come up with names, and I certainly didn’t send you to kill her.”
“We did what you told us to do,” Jelmay said as he withdrew his sword.
“Oh, so you’re going to stab me now?”
“I’m hungry, and you are a little rabbit. I can eat you in three bites, tops. Maybe four because you’ve gained some weight.”
“Weight? I haven’t gained any weight. I’ve maintained the same weight for the last quarter-century…” Usagi said, huffing.
“I didn’t want to be the one to tell you, considering we are friends—”
“—We aren’t friends!”
“In that case, I’m just pointing out the obvious,” Jelmay told him with a shrug. “You have become a fat rabbit in your middle age.”
“Out! Get out of the village! You have dishonored all yokai in your actions, and I… I don’t want to see or hear from you again!”
“Fine by us,” Kudzu said she turned away from the jade rabbit. “And we’re even now. Don’t come around asking us for anything.”
“I wouldn’t ask you for anything even if my life depended on it!”
Kudzu stopped, the white fox’s tail lifting ever so slightly as she turned back to Usagi.
“Did I strike a nerve?” he asked with a snarl.
“I think I could finish him in two bites.” She stepped toward him again, licking her lips as she narrowed her eyes on the jade rabbit. “Two bites.”
“Just two?” Jelmay asked as he joined her. “I think I could do it in one. I might choke to death, but it would be worth it. A little bit gruesome, I know, but that’s where I am at the moment.”
“Don’t… don’t you threaten me!”
“I think it’s best if we all leave,” said Danzen, the former assassin figuring if Kudzu wasn’t going to be the voice of reason, that he would need to take up that mantle.
“That’s right… get out of here! We don’t want you here!” Usagi shouted.
Kudzu snapped her jaw in his direction and the jade rabbit hopped backward, causing Jelmay to laugh.
“Not so tough now, are you?” the bakeneko asked.
****
Danzen and his companions left the yokai village of Osul without coming to a resolution with Usagi. They had about an hour of sun left, which meant they would have to move quickly to get through the forest before night came.
“Since you don’t seem to care about what we may encounter once it gets dark, what if we went ahead?” Kudzu asked Jelmay.
He snorted, a frown taking shape on his face, the bear hide still over his head. “Fine by me. I can navigate this forest on my own. I’m sorry, I’m just at a loss for words at the moment. I can’t believe stupid Usagi yelled at us like that. The ungrateful little monster.”
“I’ve already forgotten about it,” Kudzu said. “I’m sure he’ll come around next time we end up visiting.”
“You don’t know Usagi very well. He holds grudges. Next time we come around, he may try to fight us.”
“And we should worry about that?”
Jelmay shrugged. “He’s not as weak as he looks, and he knows a lot of dangerous yokai. Anyway, run ahead. I’ll take my time and eat something once I get home. On second thought…” Jelmay turned to Danzen. “Maybe just one fish?”
Danzen removed one of the fish from the leather string flung over his shoulder. He handed it to the bakeneko, who dug in.
“Don’t watch me,” Jelmay said with his mouth full, a hunk of fish flesh flying onto the forest floor. “When I am hungry, I eat faster than normal.”
“No, that’s about your normal speed,” said Kudzu. She tilted her chin toward the forest. “Let’s go.”
The fox picked up her pace, and Danzen moved to keep up with her, eventually jumping into the air, and from there to the limb of a large tree, the former assassin above the canopy for a moment. It felt good to use his power in this way; he didn’t know if it had something to do with bending his echo, but he felt stronger, as if he had more stamina and could go for longer at this pace.
He dropped back down to the forest floor, landing a few feet ahead of Kudzu.
Danzen was glad that they could be alone together, Jelmay always the center of attention when he was around. With just the two of them they could enjoy each other’s silence, the former assassin sometimes lost in his thoughts, other times simply focused on existing, Kudzu only speaking when spoken to.
It was what he preferred.
Every now and then, Danzen moved back to the top of the canopy, feeling the wind in his face and enjoying the view of the valley, Suja Village in the distance, Chutham beyond that. He remembered his first yokai encounter along that very road, and how much things had changed since.
It really had been an incredible journey.
Kudzu reached the exit of the forest before Danzen, the white fox waiting for him as he finally caught up with her. She sat on her haunches breathing heavily, a spark to the way she smiled upon seeing him.
“I thought you would never catch up,” she finally said.
They made their way up the hill to his monastery, where they found Danzen’s mother seated out front, Shodren in a meditative pose on her knees, head bowed. The woman, who had recently shaved her head again, slowly opened her eyes and smiled warmly at the two of them. “I was wondering if you would come back tonight.”
Danzen showed her the string of fish. “I can cook them.”
“No, you’ve been traveling all day. Let me. You and Kudzu relax out here. A breeze just picked up not too long ago, and it has really cooled the place down. Enjoy it.”
Danzen entered his monastery to deal with his weapons. He placed his glaive on the weapons’ rack, as well as the two gauntleted blades. Astra stayed at his side as he returned to the front of his monastery, where Kudzu now rested, looking out over the valley. Nama and Yama, the two stone lion dogs, had joined her, and as Danzen approached they both turned to him. He placed his hands on their heads and sat between the two yokai.
“All that work,” Kudzu lamented, “just for Usagi to yell at us.” When Danzen didn’t say anything, she continued: “What else were we supposed to do? He said handle the onikuma, and that’s exactly what we did. I don’t know about you, but I’m glad that we don’t have to deal with him anymore. One difficult yokai is enough.”
This caused Danzen to smirk. She wasn’t wrong.
“I’ll be heading out soon, but I’ll meet you in the morning,” she said, which was the same thing she had been telling him every night since his mother moved in.
“You should stay for food.”
“I’m fine.”
“You really can stay, you know,” he said, which was the same thing he had been telling her each time she left.
“No, the monastery isn’t that large, and I don’t want to get in the way.”
Danzen didn’t reply. He had told her multiple times that she never got in the way, but she always came back with some other excuse as to why she needed to leave for the night. He didn’t know how much longer his mother would stay, and she hadn’t mentioned a timeline or anything, but he hoped it wouldn’t be too long. He didn’t like Kudzu leaving every night, and even though he hadn’t said anything to her about it, he worried a little bit.
Where did she go? Was she safe?
“Have you thought more about what we’re going to do here over the summer?” Kudzu asked after a long spell of silence.
“No, but maybe a change of scenery would be nice. What do you think?”
“Back to the west?” Her eyes lit up at the mention of this, Danzen slowly nodding.
“And from there, to the north. It would do us good to get out for a while, and I have some other things I need to finish up,” he said, thinking of Sumi, Soko, and Thane’s three student assassins. It was inevitable; Danzen would come to a head with those who wanted him dead sooner rather than later. He preferred it happen as far away from the valley as possible.
“Well, you know me,” Kudzu said, “I’m ready to leave when you are.”
.Chapter Two.
The morning came, a thick mist settling over the valley as it began to warm up. Danzen was on his back, his head propped up by his leather satchel. He was resting on the hill outside of his monastery, his hand on the grip of his famed blade, Yama on the ground not far from him. Nama was around as well, but the female lion dog had already taken her pedestal, Danzen starting to notice that she was more alert than her male counterpart.
Yama looked up at him and Danzen offered the yokai a jilted smile. “Morning.”
The lion dog yawned, his stone tongue stretching out of his mouth as he turned the other way.
“I should have slept out here.” Shodren stepped out of the monastery with a ceramic mug of tea in her hands. The sleeves of her lightly colored robe hung down past her wrists. There was something uniform and crisp about the way she was dressed that was slowly passing on to Danzen’s clothing due to Shodren’s insistence on handling his robes.
“It wasn’t a bad sleep.”
“The inside of the monastery smells like paint and fried fish.”
“I noticed.”
“Would you like something to drink?”
“I can bring water up.” Danzen went to the well at the back of his monastery and returned with a pail of water, which he brought inside. He went for another pail, deposited it in a giant pot in the kitchen, and then rejoined his mother.
“You never told me what happened yesterday in the Asura Forest.”
“It’s a long story.”
“You happen to have any other plans today that would prevent you from telling me?” she asked. “I’m interested, you know. I find the things that you get into with your two yokai friends to be fascinating. A little odd, I suppose, but that’s yokai for you.”
“I need to go west, and maybe north from there.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“Why?”
Danzen turned to her. “I’ve been wanting to ask you something.”
“Then ask,” she said in a kind way. “I’m your mother; you can ask me anything you’d like.”
“What did you mean when you said that I was ready? Does this have something to do with rebuilding Sunyata? And why exactly have you come here?”
He didn’t mean for the third question to sound as harsh as it did, and luckily, his mother didn’t take it that way. Shodren gazed out at Genshin Valley for a moment, at its gray mist sitting over the green of the forest canopy, a light-blue sky overhead, a splattering of birdsong filling the airspace, tranquil from a distance.
“I’m afraid what I may say next might be a little forthright, but you have asked me questions and I intend to be transparent. I’ll start with your last question. I have come here to be part of your life, not forever, but during this transformative time. You would consider it that, wouldn’t you? Look at how far you have traveled over the last few years, and how much you have changed. When you came to our monastery, I didn’t know where you were going to go next in terms of your spiritual progression. I had a hunch that things may have changed after your incredibly gruesome fight with Nomin, but it was only a hunch. Such a tragedy that was.”
