Kitsune of the Blue Sun

Chapter 73- Random Encounter on the Road

[Keeno POV]

A few more days of rain passed before it fully stopped.  Once it did, we left the inn and started back on the road.  Red was still staying in the Divine Domain since, apparently, Fu and Moco haven’t finished whatever thing they were doing, though it was also nice to know Ama was spoiling Red enough for all of us.  It’s been a few days now on the road, and thankfully, the suns have been present the entire time, with hardly a cloud in sight.  At the moment, we were moving a little bit off the road in order to set up camp for the night.  We quickly set up our tents and I lit the fire for the night, glad that magic was a thing seeing as everything around us was still moist from the storm.  We had a small dinner and were discussing who would take first watch for the night when something happened.

From the road walked a woman from a race I’ve never seen before.  She was somewhat tall, around the same height as Pram, with shoulder length electric blue hair and cyan colored eyes.  On the sides of her head were two horns that jutted out to the side about an inch or two before taking a 90-degree turn pointing down.  Above her head was a halo, though unlike most angels’ halos that I’ve seen, hers was faded, giving off less light than normal and honestly looked like it was about to crack.  At her back were the usual angel wings that looked like shards of light, though in her case, they were a faded, dull yellowish with the bits closest to her back turning black.  They were also cracked like shards of glass.  I also noticed a thin tail ending in an arrowhead shaped point.  She wore a large jacket with a hood, though it was down at the moment with a simple shirt and shorts underneath it.

“Hello, strangers, mind if I borrow a spot by the fire for a bit?  Need a bit of warmth.” (???)

I looked at my companions and, seeing no one had a complaint about it, nodded to the ne guest.  She smiled and sat down next to the fire.

“Name’s Mostima, thanks, strangers.” (Mostima)

“Okami.  This right here is Pram, and the one over there is Freya.  These two cuties are Huginn and Muninn.” (Keeno)

My two feathered companions ruffled their feathers in pride when I introduced them the way I did.  This elicited a chuckle from all of us.

“Smart little birds you got there.  Been a long time since I last saw a person with Steelfeather Raven familiars too.” (Mostima)

She then reached next to the fire and held out her hand, offering Huginn and Muninn two small pieces of meat.  They both hopped over to her warily before looking at the meat in her hand.  After a minute of hesitation, they slowly took the meat from her and quickly hopped back over next to me.

“Hehe.” (Mostima)

After that, we all fell silent.  While it was getting late, the three of us stayed awake.  I tended to the fire while the others discreetly watched Mostima.  Meanwhile, she just sat there, staring into the fire, an empty smile on her face.  It was a little while longer till she broke the silence.

“You know…I’ve never seen blue flames like this before.  I know they are magic, but still.  But, for some reason, I get a familiar feeling from them.” (Mostima)

“Familiar how?” (Keeno)

“Not sure…just…the warmth they give off reminds me of an old friend I haven’t seen in a long, long time.  Hope she’s doing well.” (Mostima)

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I was about this friend of hers so we didn’t fall into another uncomfortably long silence, Mostima stood up.

“Thanks for sharing your fire, Okami and friends.  I’ll be off now, hope we meet again, if Fate allows it.” (Mostima)

With those last words, she walked away, eventually disappearing into the night.  We all just stared in the direction she went when, eventually, Ama started to talk again.

{So, you’ve finally met a fallen angel.}

“So, my guess was right.” (Keeno)

“…That woman…she gave off a weird feeling.” (Pram)

{How so, Pram?}

“I don’t know…I don’t think it was anything malicious, but like she was just…sad?  No, that’s not it…” (Pram)

“Indifferent?” (Freya)

“Maybe?” (Pram)

“Empty.” (Keeno)

“That’s it!” (Pram)

{Oh?  And what led you to that epiphany, Keeno?}

“Well, for one, the look in her eyes and that smile on her face.  None of them had any real emotions behind them, though there was a little spark when she said that about my fire.  Other than that, her soul looked…weird.  It was like it was undecided on what it was, flashing between black and grey, though the grey was more pronounced.” (Keeno)

{That makes sense, seeing as the cause of an angel becoming a fallen angel isn’t something the individual can easily come to terms with.}

“Can you tell us what leads to that?  Even I’ve never met a fallen angel, but the few angels that I’ve seen and interacted with before all seemed scared when one of the Families told them to do something and threatened to make them Fall when it was brought up as a punishment.” (Freya)

{Well, for an angel to Fall, they need to injure a sentient being’s soul with their Soul Weapon.  Be it intentional or not, the second that happens, they Fall.  But contrary to anything, fallen angels are no different from normal people.  The ones that are around, though not high in number, aren’t really prosecuted or anything, it’s just the process of Falling is extremely painful, so much so that many that start Falling commit suicide before the process is finished just to escape the pain.}

“That’s…” (Keeno)

“Tragic.” (Pram)

“*Nodding*” (Freya)

“This may be a stretch, but do you think she was talking about Fia?” (Keeno)

{What give you that idea?}

“Well, I learned magic from you and Fia, so if my flames had a similar feeling, whatever that means, to Fia’s, I would understand, though honestly, this could just be me being tired talking and looking for connections where there are none.” (Keeno)

{I’ll ask her later.}

“...Hello.” (Red)

“Hey Red.” (Keeno)

“Big sis…Keeno…loud.  Red…can’t sleep.” (Red)

“Sorry.” (Keeno)

“…Nn.” (Red)

{Speaking of sleep, you should all get some.}

“That’s a good idea.  Pram, Freya, I’ll take first watch, so go to bed.” (Keeno)

“You sure?” (Pram)

“…” (Freya)

“Yeah, there is still some stuff I want to talk about with Ama.” (Keeno)

“Alright.” (Pram)

With that Pram went to her tent.  I looked over at Freya who also walked over to her tent, though I didn’t miss it when she looked over at Pram’s for a second longer than usual.  This caused a small smirk to appear on my face.

‘Seems like she can’t just forget that night she fell asleep hugging Pram’s tail.  Think she caught some feelings for our resident snow leopard too?’

{I don’t think it’s that far yet, but there is a chance it will happen eventually.}

‘She does realize that, if or when that happens, it’s not just me that is going to be teasing them, right?  I can’t wait for her to meet Pram’s parents.’

{Oh, believe me, that is going to be glorious.}

The rest of the time that I was on watch, I talked with Ama about random things as well as getting a few more tips on how to progress with my magic condensing practice.

Chaos Realm:

Luna: Invoking Fate like that means she’s going to show up later, I’m sure of it.

Who knows?

Luna: You do.

Order: Hey!  That’s my line!

Luna: Eh?  It is?

Order: Yeah, it one of those things between me and him.

Luna: …Sorry.

Order: It’s fine, I know it’s a common joke, I’m just used to being the one to answer it.

*Moves over and pats Order*

Order: *moves closer into the pat and Payto in general*

Luna: Well, I’ll leave the two of you alone.  I have a Tamamo I need to pamper.