Hariti Heaven stood where she was.
The morning light shone from behind her, stretching her shadow all the way to Princess Iron Fan's feet.
Her voice grew weathered and weary, like a stone whose edges had been worn smooth by the years:
"As I swore I would, I found my four hundred and ninety-nine children, one by one."
"Some were obedient. I told them to come with me, that it was to save their little brother, and I guided them with the Buddha's teachings. They followed me."
"But most refused to obey."
She paused, her tone utterly level, as though she were telling someone else's story.
"So I beat them. I beat them until they obeyed."
"They asked me why I wouldn't let them kill people. Why did I force them to take refuge in the Buddhist Order?"
"They asked what they were supposed to eat if not people, when they had been born rakshasas."
"I told them the Buddha had promised me that his disciples would offer food to us yakshas every day. They would never go hungry again."
"But some remained unrepentant to the bitter end. I shattered their demonic bones with my own hands and forced them into the cycle of reincarnation. Once they were reborn, I sought them out and continued guiding them toward salvation."
"It took me countless years."
"One. Two. Three."
"Ten. Fifty. A hundred. Two hundred."
"I subdued them one by one, brought them to salvation one by one, until I had found all four hundred and ninety-nine."
"In the end, they all became guardians of the Buddhist Order, divine yaksha generals."
"Throughout the long years I spent searching for them, I worked day and night to protect the children of this world, shielding those fragile mortal little ones from calamity and hardship."