Yokyu Castle (III)

The Medicine Forest outside the castle.

This was a vast, flourishing woodland behind Yokyu Castle. It was said to be so extensive that its borders reached the sea. Ordinary trees grew around its edges, but farther in, towering giants stood everywhere. Even monsters could lose their way within it.

A barrier? Han keenly sensed that she had passed through a gentle, soothing barrier. Yunai silently nodded in agreement on her shoulder.

Behind them, Jaken hugged the Human-Head Staff and followed close behind the two, oblivious.

"Jaken," Sesshomaru said.

"Yes! Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken answered excitedly.

"Wait for us here." Sesshomaru did not break his stride.

"Ah... yes." Jaken lowered his head in disappointment, but resigned himself to stopping.

"This is not a place every monster may enter uninvited." Those were the only words Sesshomaru left him.

Jaken sat down where he was, frustrated by his own weakness. In the end, he could only sigh and watch Lord Sesshomaru's tall figure gradually disappear into the white mist among the trees, together with his lady wife (still Jaken's misunderstanding =,=).

Sesshomaru led Han onward, the two walking side by side.

The mist grew thicker and thicker. They could no longer make out their direction.

The dense trees ahead parted to either side as though possessed of a will of their own, opening a path for them.

Han was full of questions, but she kept silent.

In unfamiliar surroundings, speaking rashly was hardly wise.

She trusted Sesshomaru.

"You've come, Sesshomaru." A white-haired old woman sat grinding medicinal herbs patiently with a pestle. Only when the measured footsteps drew closer did she speak, without lifting her head.

"Granny Medicine." Sesshomaru took no offense. He nodded, looking directly at the old woman before him.

"Tell me, what brings you to me this time?" Only then did the old woman raise her head, gazing kindly at the dog demon who had grown into adulthood. "Is it this girl?" She turned her eyes to the young girl beside Sesshomaru and understood everything in an instant.

"Yes," Sesshomaru said expressionlessly. But Granny Medicine knew that if he did not care, he would never have brought the girl here. Bringing her all this way specifically to ask for guidance was already proof that Sesshomaru cared.

Granny Medicine frowned slightly and sighed without a sound. "Sesshomaru, Sesshomaru..." She shook her head, unable to refuse the child she had watched grow up. Despite her misgivings, she finally agreed. "Leave her with me," Granny Medicine said. "Won't you visit your mother?" Though the princess always wore a faint smile, her heart remained cold. Perhaps her child was the only one who could move her. Yet Sesshomaru's innate pride made it impossible for him to play the devoted son at his mother's knee. Of course, a child who freely wheedled for affection could never have been the princess's child. Her child was born to look down upon all beings, just as she did.

"There is no need," Sesshomaru refused. Even that much was a courtesy to Granny Medicine. Had anyone else interfered with him like this, he would have swept his sleeve and left without a word.

Granny Medicine shook her head helplessly, then turned to the girl standing quietly beside Sesshomaru. "What is your name?"

"I'm Han," the girl replied earnestly.

While Sesshomaru spoke with the old woman, Han had also been quietly observing her. An old woman whom Sesshomaru treated with such respect could not be an ordinary monster. In fact, although she looked weathered by the years, there was nothing aged about the aura surrounding her. Even standing quietly before her, Han could feel an invisible pressure—probably because the old woman had already restrained her Demon Power to the utmost. Han was naturally sensitive to power, and so she still perceived that faint yet formidable presence.

After hearing the girl's name, Granny Medicine shook her head again. Perhaps powerful monsters could sense the fate of a name's bearer from the name itself.

"Come with me." Granny Medicine motioned for the girl to follow, then told Sesshomaru, "Come for her in a month."

Sesshomaru nodded to the somewhat uneasy girl. She looked at him trustingly, then followed the old woman into the depths of the forest. Sesshomaru stood there a little longer before turning to leave as well.

"Is that an Inaba White Rabbit?" The aged voice came from ahead. Granny Medicine walked on without looking back.

"Ah, yes," Han answered quickly. Even though she trusted the dog demon and believed the old woman bore her no ill will, it was difficult to relax in unfamiliar surroundings with an unfamiliar monster. Yunai had already jumped cautiously into her arms. At the old woman's question, those long ears twitched, and the rabbit pressed tightly against the girl.

"It has been a long time since an Inaba White Rabbit last appeared. Treasure your companion," Granny Medicine said. "Perhaps the rabbit will bring you an unexpected chance of survival."

"Yes," Han answered a little nervously, though she still did not understand the old woman's words.

Through the old woman's seemingly casual questions, Han had told her almost everything about herself: her birth into this world, her rescue by a miko, her training at a temple, and her meeting with Sesshomaru. The old woman listened throughout, occasionally asking a guiding question or two and now and then sighing soundlessly. Walking behind her, the girl could not hear those sighs and remained unaware.

Beyond Granny Medicine's formidable Demon Power, her true treasures were the wisdom and vast knowledge accumulated over her long life.

After the initial coolness, Han seemed to vaguely sense the quiet dejection beneath Granny Medicine's composed exterior, though she did not know its cause. As they spent more time together, however, Granny Medicine grew warmer toward her, like a truly kind and wise elder-the first person to fill such a role in Han's still-short life.

Patiently and gently, Granny Medicine guided her in sensing the power surging through her body, letting pale green spiritual power ripple at her fingertips and its abundant currents whirl around her.

Though it was only early spring in the forest, flowers bloomed everywhere and fruit hung heavy on the branches. Just the little power that overflowed from Granny Medicine changed the rhythm and seasons of the entire forest, granting every plant a richer vitality. That was why this woodland was called the Medicine Forest, a vast sea of trees named after Granny Medicine.

Han walked through hills covered in scarlet poppies and fields of pale yellow daisies, lost herself in the blue of bellflowers, and reveled in the splendor of purple irises. Granny Medicine guided her in using her power and taught her to recognize the softly whispering flowers, grasses, and medicinal trees. Granny Medicine said this power should have been hers from birth; she had simply lived among humans for so long that it had never occurred to her to use it. It was as though a golden door had opened before Han's eyes.

Sometimes Granny Medicine would let Han rest her head in her lap, gently combing her long silver hair and softly telling stories of the monsters' past as she slept. Yet whenever she woke, it felt as though she had heard nothing at all.

Granny Medicine said Han belonged to the Spirit Clan. The birth of one member often heralded the awakening of the entire Spirit Clan, who would avert a world-destroying catastrophe with the lives of their whole people. Human wars had long since shattered and distorted the legends. Humans said the Spirit Clan provoked strife and brought disaster. But only great monsters who were truly long-lived and wise, or powerful enough to comprehend the course of heaven, knew that the Spirit Clan was born to avert calamity. Thus, the older, wiser, or stronger a monster was, the more respect they generally held for the Spirit Clan. Yet the lives of the Spirit Clan were seldom long.

Granny Medicine said Sesshomaru belonged to the Dog Clan. He was not only the future leader of the Dog Clan in this world, but also a descendant of the thunder tengu among the tengu nobility. One day, he would lead this realm's monsters back to the true Monster World. Although Sesshomaru's father possessed only a faint trace of ordinary tengu blood, his mother was a princess of the thunder tengu clan. She had merely been swept into the human realm by accident through the tengu clan's greatest treasure and was unable to return home. Guibu, a great monster who could perceive the future, had said that the key to opening the gate to the true Monster World lay with Sesshomaru.

Sometimes Granny Medicine would gaze sorrowfully up at the sky, where Sesshomaru's mother lived. Granny Medicine said humans deeply feared the extraordinarily powerful tengu clan, while the tengu generally withdrew from worldly affairs and lived in the Monster World. As time passed, human descriptions of tengu became increasingly distorted. Some even believed tengu had foxlike faces, red skin, and long noses.

True tengu, however, were born to soar through clouds and mist, command the wind, and drink the dew, free and unrestrained. Yet even among the tengu, only thunder tengu could truly wield the power of lightning. The strongest thunder tengu was called the Heavenly Demon and became the leader of the Tengu Tribe. Thunder tengu and great tengu bore crescent-shaped Demon Marks on their foreheads, proof of the immense Demon Power with which the mightiest of their tribe had once devoured the sun and moon. Granny Medicine was a descendant of the Green Withered Clan, which lived under the protection of the Tengu Tribe and had served them for generations. When she saw the indigo demon moon on the newborn Sesshomaru's forehead, Granny Medicine knew that this child had inherited his mother's noble blood perfectly.

A month later.

Han nestled reluctantly in Granny Medicine's arms. Granny Medicine gently smoothed her long hair and saw her off.

"Go on." Granny Medicine looked toward Sesshomaru, who stood a short distance away, and smiled faintly.

"Mm." The girl bowed respectfully and left by the path she had taken to arrive. When she looked back and saw Granny Medicine standing on the distant hilltop, melancholy filled her heart once more.

Perhaps she had forgotten much of what Granny Medicine had told her while she drifted between sleep and waking. Yet for some reason, the words that most lives in the Spirit Clan passed in the blink of an eye remained firmly etched in her heart, leaving it hollow, with nowhere to belong.

As she gazed at the dog demon's calm, composed figure not far away, her heart suddenly fluttered with dread, as though she sensed a loss to come.