When the Sandwoms cry VI

Today, a tiny pleasant thing happened.

When I opened a locker, I found a pin inside my shoe.

Even though there are 50 people in our class, someone chose me.

It’s proof, that there is someone who thinks about me more than about anyone else.

I want to tell everyone about that tiny happiness.

That’s why I put a pin inside everyone else’s shoes too.

—From “Shintosunni dogma” by Frederica Bernkastel

Mion walked in without a stillsuit, Satoko by her side, actually wearing one, Shion was thankful she didn’t have to wear one walking besides Satoko. The hour is costing us about 1000 solaris to stay out in the open like this. Mion thought, it was not wise to expend money like that for nothing, but Satoko had explained it, here to waste water is a sign of power. They had to make themselves appear more powerful, smugglers would not know her actual status, or the fact that Tanna was a small planet. All the smugglers cared about was the fact that Mion was a lady of the Landsraad, that she had a mentat, a swordsman, and a truthsayer at her service. They didn’t have to know that the swordsman, the mentat and the truthsayer were all her closest friends, perhaps to anyone outside the level of closeness they had would be disconcerting, Satoko for example often spoke out of turn, or referred to Mion by her first name. This did not bother Mion in the least.

Shion was the leader of the smuggling group in Tanna. Usually the smugglers chose their leader by skill not by blood, Shion had to fight for her position, and that made her proud. Shion was a Bene Gesserit, same as her sister, even for reverend mothers it was hard to tell them apart, this because they knew the other better than anyone, their training allowed them to copy even the subtle undertones of each other’s speech. They were very different from each other though, and the positions they found themselves in were the best for them respectively. Shion knew her sister couldn’t last a day making the choices she had to make as a smuggler.

Smuggling spice though, was new for Shion. Usually House Kimiyoshi dealt with spice, it was hard to come into that market, prices were hefty, and even smugglers were Fremen, or of Fremen descent. Shion was Shintosunni, their roots even went back to the ancient smuggling families of east. Her associates still lacked fingers, a ritual they had to follow. Shion had not lost fingers, but she had to give up fingernails to reach the place she was at now.

Satoko knew smugglers thought alike, and that dealing with them would be complicated so Shion was needed for this operation. It was actually an advantage that Mion and Shion were twins, it left a clear message. They are related, House Sonozaki is powerful and so are the smugglers of Tanna. In fact this was not true, House Sonozaki were masters at making themselves feel bigger, it was a modern tactic from the days of the Corrino Empire, they had to become a guerilla house, and part of guerrilla is making your own forces seem bigger. Satoko had to be here, her and Shion were signs of power for Mion. Look smugglers! My sister handles the smuggling in Tanna, and I have a Harkonnen mentat at my own service.

Yes this would work, Satoko nodded to herself, they had set up a meeting with the smugglers of Arrakis, Mion wanted to buy a great deal of spice, she’d pay half before half after the handoff was done. If Rena and Keiichi were successful, they’d get the spice for free. Satoko had thought of this plan even before Rika mentioned it, after all it was within the possibilities, but it was extremely hard to pull off, even the smugglers had Fremen blood, they would be as dangerous as the Fremen themselves. House Furude was known to pull off miracles, Satoko wanted this to be true, one last miracle before seeking their own planet.

Shion recognized the symbol of the smugglers of Arrakis, lately they had been buying a great amount of semuta, those Fremen veterans now were experiencing the effects of the Jihad themselves. Shion did not deal with spice, but semuta was not strange to her.

A coffee place, the business of the smugglers did not involve alcohol in any regard, Satoko knew this much, and protocol was important. For them the old customs on water were not forgotten, so someone like Mion walking in without a stillsuit was a pretty good way to show they had power.

Mion ordered a glass of water for each one of them, she was glad that the traditional Sonozaki attire was fit for warm weather such as this, a light black kimono. Meanwhile Shion decided to wear a formal suit, Satoko wore the abba cloak to make it clear they were Bene Gesserit, and her stained lips showed something more, she was a mentat.

The smugglers put attention to the group right away, Mion stuck out as much as she wanted. She did not offend anyone in the room, but she made it clear that she had power. Soon one of them came close, it was clear he was not one of the important ones. Though to them they were outsiders, if they wanted to deal with the important ones, Mion had to be friendly to this one.

“We want spice” She said plainly

The man in front of Mion took her water and drank it. She hid her fear, Shion reached for her knife. He left the glass on the table “You still owe me 30 liters”

Shion intervened “Excuse you?”

Satoko remembered the face of the Fremen Rena had killed a couple of weeks ago before they left the planet. This man had the same jawline and eyes. She looked at Shion holding the handle of her knife, it would be very likely that she’d have to use it. “That water is no longer yours, he lost it to our Lady here thus it is hers to take”

The smuggler looked baffled, he turned to Mion, he saw the calmness of the Bene Gesserit in her eyes “You three are weirding witches!”

Mion smiled “Take that water as a token of friendship. You probably gave water to your dead friend, so I return that water in the form of that glass” For once someone recognizes us, Rika relied on nobody knowing who we were.

“We want no new enemies” Mion continued

The smuggler calmed down after this, the witch did not seek to take his water either. “The spice belongs to the faithful”

“Thus, we had come to the place to test the faithful” Mion replied. Rika is afraid of their emperor for a reason, it is indeed true he can be at many places at the same time. This is not a lie; I’d gladly kiss his hand if it meant everyone would remain unharmed.

“Yallah” the smuggler said “Prove it, many had claimed to be faithful to Muad’Dib”

Satoko understood right away what Mion was doing, not exactly the safest bet, but this was a better situation than what they had at the beginning. This was an awful coincidence, the band of smugglers that were harassing Mion were the same right here. They had walked right into their den.

Mion began speaking with a controlled voice, it was hardly noticeable, but it would work “You had come trying to steal my water, I come here not seeking revenge but peace and this is how you replay me?”

She stood up from her chair, Shion remained with her hand over her knife. Satoko just glared at the man, she was putting good use to those Harkonnen eyes, Fremen had lived under them for too long, this man would feel fear and rage when looking at her own eyes.

“Do you want to claim my water? Come and take it!” She spat out in a threat. The man whimpered when Mion said this, he felt his muscles freeze, it was more than enough for Shion to drive her own knife through his heart. Yet they remained still, the three Bene Gesserit witches did not come seeking war.

“Your water is your own. I thank you for your gift” Shion removed her hand from her knife. Satoko though continued looking at the man with hate.

“Now who do I have to talk to for the spice?” Said Mion

Shion looked down at the man “Your boss will love to deal with us” She was also controlling her voice, Shion knew the undertones to convince smugglers better than her sister.

After some waiting Mion got up from her chair once more and turned around to walk out, an old man hurried to meet them, he coughed to attract their attention. Mion had seen the man was ready since a while ago, they were making her wait, making her feel she was less important than the other men in the room. Satoko’s trick had worked, under the threat of leaving the man showed that they were important guests.

The old man signaled a waiter to bring a service of coffee, the young man by his side. “Hello Lady Sonozaki, I am Ahmed. You have to forgive my son. We thank you for the water, the man we lost was his best friend and cousin. Did you pay proper respect to his body?”

Mion nodded “We treated him as if he were one of our own” This is not a lie, we gave that man a proper burial, Rika herself sung the Sutras to honor that man.

Satoko’s gaze was now much calmer, still stern but she did not convey a feeling of violence. Shion served herself some coffee once it arrived. “It was a loss for us too, we lost a potential ally in that man, we didn’t know we were allies” These men are so fanatic, this is a double-edged sword we are using. Shion thought to herself.

“Our rates for spice are the same as CHOAM’s, I assume you already know that” Said Ahmed

Shion smiled “Of course, spice is precious we don’t want to offend you by expecting to lower your rates for us”

Mion spoke right afterwards, this was a trick they often used, making it seem as if they shared one mind. Bene Gesserit twins usually made use of that trick, making others believe they were two parts of a whole. “We want to buy spice from you because we do not wish others to know of how much spice we hold. Solaris are easily trackable, so we must trade on something you’d find equally valuable”

Ahmed narrowed his eyes, he did not expect a deal like this, he was ready to haggle the price of spice, not to accept a trade. “What do you have that may be of value to us? Muad’Dib already provides us with water enough to make this planet green within my lifetime” Mion remained calm, even though her mind was noticing how hostile were this men, how easily they could turn against her I must not fear, fear is the mind killer. Mion kept repeating the litany while speaking. “Protein pellets highly nutritious. We produce them at Tanna using the dried-out cicadas at each harvest cycle, it is where the name of the plane itself comes” Rika’s plan has to work, or we will starve and be forced to eat nothing but spice until we can get a harvest in whatever new planet we pick.

When the Sandworms cry V

What is it that I seek?

Perhaps it is a knight from a far away land.

What is it that I seek?

Perhaps it is a shore that will save me from this eternal swamp.

There is only one thing that I seek.

What I would obtain will either be the kishi (shore), or shiki (my death).

—From “Time wasting prayers” by Frederica Bernkastel

Rena let the flap of her stillsuit free and took a sip of the spice coffee. Keiichi on the other side of the table had asked for a glass of spice beer, it was sweet. Satoko believed spice could break down to sugars, after fermentation it would become alcohol, a simple reaction that needed no grain, a beer so to say but not a proper one. No wonder it hit so hard, Keiichi was barely beginning one pint and he was feeling the effects of it. His beer was way cheaper than the coffee Rena was holding, in such a planet substances that made you lose water were not coveted, coffee was one of them as well, but less than coffee. Water, plain water was the most expensive item.

“I heard it was more expensive in the old imperium” Rena said, she smiled and sipped her coffee “Life for the locals was very hard”

Keiichi looked at his beer, he was regretting drinking it already. They were supposed to be the reconnaissance to find when and where would a spice freighter leave, and board it eventually. This was proving a lot harder than it seemed, Fremen trusted nobody. Rena had the advantage of speaking without an accent, but her face, her skin color and water fatness showed how she was an off-worlder. Even if she was wearing a Fremen Stillsuit.

Keiichi was feeling great discomfort on many areas, he could feel the blisters already forming. He shuffled, Rena got close to him and began tightening his stillsuit, the pain subsided. Of course, Rena would know how to wear one, she collected them, so many Fremen had tried to personally kill Lady Mion, the infidel Shintosunni who said her own priestess was a god. Many died for less than that, Mion would had died already if she was not a Bene Gesserit, and of course if she didn’t have Rena as her bodyguard, and Keiichi as her husband.

An old man playing tawla looked at the off-worlders sitting at his back and mumbled “Do not even try it” he resumed his game.

Rena looked at the man, he had allowed himself to go fat, but through his stillsuit she could see a shadow of musculature. His eyes were aggressive, but they lacked the blue within blue tint of the Fremen. His companion had the blue within blue eyes, but the stillsuit was not Fremen, it was Fremen-made but did not belong to a Fremen.

Rena began communicating with Keiichi by blinking in binary “Sardaukar, companion is local but not Fremen”

Keiichi looked at their reflection using his glass “He looks old, but not a lot”

“We just want to go to the main temple and pay our respects to Muad’Dib” Rena said with a wide smile, she sipped her coffee.

The man turned around to face Rena “Using stolen Fremen stillsuits? You have a sword hidden under that jubba. Your lord is armed too. Whatever you are up to will angry the Fremen, just don’t”

Rena looked at the companion of the Sardaukar, he did not act surprised, they were probably speaking about them earlier, but he didn’t feel as if their actions were heresy.

“Takes one to know one good sir” Rena toasted to Keiichi. Of course, a Sardaukar playing for money, he sticks out as much as we do.

“What is your name swordsmaster?” Said the old man, he sipped his spice beer.

“My name? Hau! Only if you tell me yours Sardaukar” Rena rested her face on her hands.

“Ooishi Ghym” He said “Now your turn”

Cloud, his name is so contrary to a Fremen name, a normal person with the name of a venerated phenomenon. She thought to herself, this man already knew enough she could simply say her name “Rena Ryuuguu”

The man with Ooishi turned his face to look at her. Rena felt a chill on her spine, she should have lied about her name, Tanna was already a planet of Heretics and the only reason their leader remained alive was because of her bodyguard.

He then scratched his chin “Rena, do you know a Duncan Idaho? I heard he killed 20 Sardaukar without breaking a sweat. Ooishi here says that it is all legend”

“Not personally… But I did hear of him and it wouldn’t be surprising if he could have killed 20 Sardaukar, though he probably died after pulling off such a feat” Rena felt the fear wash away. We are just one planet more of heretics, that is good.

Ooishi laughed loudly “What a good joke you say girl!”

Keiichi now slightly drunk patted Rena on the back “If you want to call him out I have no issue”

Ooishi stopped laughing, his friend was now the one laughing. There was terror in Ooishi, Sardaukar were good soldiers, but even they knew that swordsmen of Ginaz could potentially harm them, much more swordsmasters. Ooishi did not know Rena was a master, if he knew that he wouldn’t even make fun of her school. On top of that he was old, he was slow.

Rena sighed “Do not bring me into challenges I do not wish for sire. He is an old Sardaukar in Arrakis. I am sure he survived the battle of Arrakeen, isn’t that proof enough of his strength?”

Ooishi puffed his chest “I misjudged you Ryuuguu. You recognize a good soldier when you see one!”

“Perhaps we could use some of your advice for our business?” Rena said calmly. Yes, now he will help us. He is a little afraid of me, that will help us.

Ooishi laughed again “Anything for my new friends, come at our table to play!” yes those two were not seeking trouble, he thought, they can be good allies.

Keiichi looked at Rena, his heart skipped a beat, Ooishi had realized in a few seconds that Rena would have killed Ooishi if he had asked. He wouldn’t of course, but even to an outsider it was obvious the type of relationship they held. Maybe in another world they would had been a couple, the feelings were still there. It didn’t mean he did not love Mion, that love was the reason he had never broken his bows. The Faufreluches would not allow Rena to climb up like that, perhaps if she had followed her mother’s desires that would had been the case, climbing up the ladder before seeking love.

Rena of course, she was loyal to Mion even more than to Keiichi, it was the secret of their strength, that closeness they had to each other, what allowed these three houses to challenge the Guild and even think about stealing from the Empire. This connection was clear to Ooishi, he would not understand the full extent of it, but the threat from Keiichi did not make Rena flinch, he saw how she changed her position slightly, even though she had remained relaxed her hand was near her sword. It was then when he could see the pummel, the engraving, this was not a simple swordsman but a swordsmaster.

Ooishi was not a normal Sardaukar, even before Arrakis had toughened him he always survived things that others did not. Salusa Secundus to him was not a hell but paradise, a world in which he could easily thrive. When he came to Arrakis he learned how easy he had it, and thus made it his mission to improve himself, without Shaddam IV he would sell his services to anyone, and he made a name for himself that way. The Sardaukar who fought like a Fremen, the Sardaukar who was chewed up by the planet and came back asking for more. He knew how good swordsmasters were, and Arrakis had taught him not to pick fights with allies, the planet is the enemy, the locals, the Emperor himself, you do not waste allies. Why worry, if that man can pay for her services, then he can cover mine as well.

The secret leader of the order

She was before a great tree, it moved as if it had flesh as parts of it, exposed flesh that oozed a red sap, every fruit known to men, and some lost to time dangling from the branches. She stood in a great garden, the leaves cracked when she moved, it had been ages since someone had set foot on that ground. She felt the insects walking happily around her feet, the trees around them all bearing different fruits, from the tree’s sap one red river was born, it then divided into four currents, the trees around clearing the sap leaving it as water when it finally came out of the garden.

Even in this digested state said water fed earth’s rivers with life. The source of 8MS as a whole, the creator of life as we know it on earth, and of course its protector. The tree of life, in a world between worlds, where the small streams fed great rivers, the Ganges, the Amazon, the Yang Tze and of course the Nile spreading through earth feeding humans as a gift, a promise made by the tree eons ago. Seshat held her sandals on her left hand, she had taken them off before coming before the great tree.

A fruit dropped before Seshat, a golden fruit with a sweet smell. She bit into it, then could hear the tree inside of her mind. “Has our debugger succeeded?”

Seshat nodded, of course it had succeeded, it had even sealed its fate, its father too had complied fully knowing what would happen next “LD 2001 has complied too as well as her mate”

Seshat continued eating the fruit, she felt how it gave her strength

“I wish we could save them all, but shielding them too much will regress the species. Only now had that damage been done” The tree said with a sad voice. It had given humans fruits to make them powerful, to make them smarter, and they built great cities with that knowledge, two capitals, Lemuria and Atlantis, but said cities began relying on the tree for sustenance, hedonism took over their society. When the tree stopped feeding them their cities collapsed, Lemuria, located in Yucatan exploded causing a massive extinction event, Atlantis was less impressive, it did not go out with a bang but a wimper, it slowly declined until its society had completely forgotten about their wonders.

Just now had humans learned how to manipulate nature again, then war struck and killed most of them, then they learned how to control the tree’s own pollen, 8MS, the gift allowed them to survive, but it had to be taken away again. Gladly LD 2001 had planned accordingly and worked in said plan independently. Humans themselves knew that they were relying too much on it. The three of life, yes it had helped them, but if LD 2001 did not work with her servants to undo the human actions with its pollen, the tree would have turned it poisonous. There was no way of predicting that, but humans had passed the test.

Now it was all on the debugger, and it was working fine, the supervisors of the tree of life, the council of god, would see that their project was working. After all they had succeeded in producing more angels, LD prime, BC 00, Aurum, EUA, all of them products of said project, all of them far more powerful than the tree. Of course the tree was a God, an angel of ancient times, a Seraphim who had taken upon the task of working with the failed human project. Seshat was her acolyte, and both had seen it succeed. Though humanity was not stable, it would be the second time humans would die. Why were gods creating a species that could create things more powerful than them? Because the Gods believed in something greater, and feared it, and hope that one day they will produce something powerful enough to make themselves be noticed by the entity that has ignored them, that or actually creating said entity, to be proper angels, and serve a God, even if they had to work directly to create it.

Another fruit fell before Seshat, it was a fruit she had already eaten, she knew it, the fruit of life, the peach of immortality, in legend even if you had offended the gods you could not die by their hand if you ate said peach. Of course immortality is an illusion, it just means you cannot die by common means, though this fruit made the one who consumed it so resistant to everything, that it made them virtually immortal for 10 thousand years. It had been less than that since Seshat had eaten the fruit, it was not for her.

Seshat took another bite, and another thought of the tree came into her mind “It is a failsafe, save whoever needs to be saved so our project does not fail”

“Is this allowed?” Sheshat said to the tree, then took another bite of her fruit

“There is no rule forbidding it, perhaps it will not be allowed after we do it”

Seshat nodded and took another bite “That’s all” The tree said, Seshat respectfully finished her fruit, and planted the seed on her way out. She took the fruit into her pocket, PH426, the most dangerous artifact of the tree of life. So this was their plan, have the debugger wipe humanity, and let Seshat save those who deserved to be saved. After all its promise after flooding the earth was that the next wave would be of fire. Only those who deserve to live would survive. What a terrible fate for humans, though this was the only way to spare them from the tree’s equal.

The face angel, the hand of destruction, it would come soon if everything they did had failed, only the fruit would be the salvation of humanity, though how many people could take a bite of a peach? How many bites does a peach have? Seshat, now out checked that very question in her mind, but no answer came, just recipes for peach pie. Perhaps she could take the juice out and feed a few drops to as many people as she could. That would work, but she had to see who drank said juice, one wrong person and the whole plan would fail.

Midir… Epilogue

Yuuka was watching the fights during the masquerade incident, she looked around and found something odd, Daiyousei was nowhere to be seen. She shrugged, perhaps she was busy writing or something around those lines. Yuuka rarely went out of her home, but this was an interesting occurrence. Kasen approached her for a moment and handed her a small letter with a harp wax seal on the envelope.

“Some elven courier left it at my temple years ago… I imagine I could hand it to you today” Kasen sighed “I tried to hand it to you earlier but your garden is a maze… and your home honestly creeps me out”

Yuuka sighed “I should get a PO box actually… This is not the first time this happens. I think there is a vampire in my lawn and she eats trespassers”

“You just found out about Kurumi?!” Kasen couldn’t help it but laugh

“Her name is Kurumi? It’s cute… Perhaps I should invite her in, maybe that way I can get visits again” She laughed

“It wouldn’t make any difference actually”

“Let me dream okay?” Yuuka sighed and opened the letter, it was from Daiyousei, she was in a far away kingdom she managed to single handedly conquer from an undead army. There was a smile on her face, it would be offensive to think any less of Daiyousei, after all there was little difference between herself and her sister. Yuuka made up the physical shortcomings with magic, in fact they were born in equal conditions, Yuuka’s own physical handicap gave her the need to develop her magic to a greater degree. That was the only difference between them, Yuuka had to fight for survival from an early age. Both carried the seed of destruction, Bhairavi and Bhairava, two halves of a whole. Something Daiyousei never believed, though perhaps now she would begin to learn about it.

Yes it was true Yuuka’s own body was honed to be an unstoppable force, but Daiyousei could achieve greatness through other means, Yuuka’s own path was not the only one. She could not teach Daiyousei how to find her own strength, after all the Mahavidyas, the destroyers, were killed at birth. They were alone in that path, even Rudra who had walked it, the only one besides them who had walked on said path of destruction, knew that the best way to go was to let others find it out themselves.

Midir the other half

Daiyousei, or better said, the fairy known as Daiyousei has a secret, a secret she keeps from everyone. Every time she feels down she goes home and dresses up as Kazami Yuuka, she curls her hair using rollers and puts on clothes exactly like hers, she flies around the house acting entitled and sits to have a cup of tea, then tosses the teacup on the ground and complains about the quality of it.

A few of those times she goes outside with some gold coins, gold coins she gets from Larva and expends them on flowers and desserts in the human village. It is not the fear humans show towards her, but the respect, the way they see her is entirely different. Even those who had dealt with Yuuka personally, such as Kasen or Reimu, do not notice the difference, of course they would not, there is no difference in their face, just the eye color, and even that is not entirely true. Daiyousei could also use magic to turn her eyes red, then her and Yuuka would look just the same, just as how Yuuka turned her eyes green at times to make herself look less intimidating, something that of course, did not work.

Nobody looked down on her, even when she was sitting down, physically people would not look at her directly unless she looked at them first. Daiyousei at first did it for just a few minutes, Cirno flew away scared the time she showed up dressed like that. Daiyousei was actually afraid someone would come to attack her, so she returned home and dressed again as herself.

Though with time, Daiyousei realized that she could go out dressed like that and nobody would even attempt to harm her. Suika or Yuugi had met her in that form, though when they tried to punch her in the shoulder “lightly” to test her strength all she had to do was glare at them with a serious expression. Even the big Deva of the mountain would prefer to laugh at their own actions than probably bothering the Sleeping terror.

She met Aya one day, taking pictures while she drank tea, Daiyousei boldly asked “How tall am I?”

“About 1.80m I imagine” she said then continued working, Aya did not lie, she indeed saw Yuuka as that tall, when in fact Yuuka was about as tall as Daiyousei. She did not even try to change her voice, she spoke normally, yet Aya did not hear any difference in the voice, even when Wriggle or Rumia told her that her voice was more acute than Yuuka’s.

Physically there was no difference between them both, Daiyousei had the same height, the same voice, the same hair, though people could not help it but think of Yuuka as an entirely different person. Daiyousei loved that feeling, not being Yuuka, but being respected, being treated with such care, she had to often overpay restaurants, her endorsement was more than what they could ask for.

After the fairy wars, Daiyousei felt particularly depressed, everyone had ignored her in the entire affair. She was just seen as another fairy while Cirno got all the attention. She wanted to be seen as someone important again, so she got dressed as Yuuka and walked out of her home to the human village.

She went and bought herself a big bouquet of flowers, so big that she even doubted she could carry it, of course she made sure to pay the florist well, after all she was not a thief, Yuuka may get mad at the idea of Daiyousei dressing up as her, but she would be livid to hear that she ruined her image.

An elven child approached Daiyousei and tugged at her skirt. She turned around to see him, then gave him a couple of flowers. Then continued without uttering a word, though he did not let her go. With tears on his eyes he dropped the flowers to kneel before her. “Please help me!” he cried out “We cannot stand it anymore, we need you!”

Daiyousei gave him a coy smile “Child I cannot answer every call for help I hear. There are more heroes around the area”

“None of them want to help us! They say they cannot face an army” He continued still kneeling “Please I beg you lady Brighid, we need you”

Daiyousei narrowed her eyes, nobody around here knew Yuuka’s actual name, much less pronounce it. She replied in sylvan “Kid, Derg should take care of your kingdom for all I care”

“We are not in his kingdom, our lord is dead, our land has been conquered and we had been enslaved by the undead”

Daiyousei wanted to help, but what could she do? Throw stones at the army? Blind them with a flash of light? Maybe make them trip with grass. “Accept your fate then child, I already have to take care of my own land” she turned around

“They said you would be afraid… The Litch King let me go, he said you would never come to face him” He said that in Sylvan, that language was odd, you could never lie in Sylvan, if you tried to the words themselves would not allow you to.

Daiyousei had been careful not to lie in Sylvan, she had to take care of her land, even if her land was just the small place, she called home. She shivered internally, and smirked at the kid with a prideful expression “That bastard thinks he can talk about me like that? Show me the way, carry my flowers”

The kid held the bouquet and guided Daiyousei out of Gensokyo, through Makai then towards a far away kingdom west from their home. One could not even call that land earth, this was a different world, even Daiyousei did not fully know how it worked, she just accepted the fact that there were other worlds.

The land was desolate, burned homes and starving farmers carrying stones to build a great wall. Daiyousei thought for a minute, of course she had to be careful because undead were hard to fool. After thinking of many plans, she decided on the most outlandish of them all, because it is exactly what Yuuka would do. She flew all the way up to the highest tower of the castle in which the undead army resided, and modified their flag using magic to have a green and red flag, with a yellow harp in the green side and a sunflower in the red side.

She then did the same with every flag and began ordering the farmers to stop carrying stones and tend to the gardens, the undead armies were baffled at the actions of this tiny woman, ordering their own slaves, completely ignoring them.

Daiyousei had to keep breaking so her nervousness would not show, luckily the undead who she was ignoring were more afraid of her than she was of them. They saw the flag; they recognized the symbols in the banner and the fact that she began treating this place as her own made them doubt their own orders and so they decided to run towards the castle.

“My leash our flags had been changed to the Dannan coat of arms!” They ran screaming to their master.

The undead necromancer tilted his head “What do you mean by that? Change them back!”

“Milord they had been changed by a fairy clad in red” they said “As red as her eyes” They could not refuse a direct order, though they knew changing the flag would put their master’s life at risk, that was their only fear.

The litch rushed out to a window and looked at the green and red banners flapping in the sky, then down at the farmers carrying soil and seeds, watering the fields. He rushed out to meet Daiyousei sitting calmly in the fields, overlooking the operation.

“Greetings good sir, sorry for the intermission but I consider such an insult to the land offensive in a personal degree. Thus I will be claiming this land as mine, any questions?” She turned to face him with a wide smile

“We leave your lands alone lady, let me grow my empire in peace we pose no threat to you” he said

She laughed “Yes but what you do to the earth is disgusting”

“Then we will make sure the land remains fertile, but we need protection, we need the souls of this farmers to survive. You know how cattle farming works; we can come to a compromise” He sat besides Daiyousei looking at the ground as he spoke.

“You had lands what happened to them?” She asked

“A demon army came and took it away from us, their capital was destroyed and thus they needed resources, resources they decided to take from us. We could not fight them back, so we conquered this place to claim it our own. I know you are reasonable lady; we ask to be allowed to live here if we can meet your demands”

Daiyousei waved away the king “Sir you had your chance and lost it, why would I buy the idea of a demon army anyway?”

The litch looked up, the purple lights in his empty sockets looked deep into Daiyousei “Because you are the one who destroyed their capital. But you do not know that…” He began to laugh

Daiyousei floated up laughing “I know that but why would I care?!”

The litch looked around “Moreover… I made a threat and your only response was laughter. I see it now, you are not Brighid, you are someone else”

She gulped, he used a dispel on her flight and made her plummet to the ground “So lady this is how it is, you are not the princess of the Dannan”

“I am a Dannan princess!” She yelled out loud “I am the eldest of the children of Dagda second king of the fairies, twin sister of Brighid herself. I am Midir and I will have no mercy upon you!”

He chuckled “I don’t need your mercy child, I know of you, the little disappointment of the Dannan family, the one who always lived in Brighid’s shadow”

“If you hurt me she will come back to do to you what you did to me tenfold”

“That is if she finds out” He laughed “But I guess she does not know you are here impersonating her, or else she would had not let you tarnish her image like that”

A stone was thrown at his head, three farmers then launched at him using their tools to attempt to hurt him. The king quickly killed them though this short distraction allowed Daiyousei to fly up again.

She then looked at the castle, its doors were opened, and under the throne a large trunk, she turned herself invisible and flew towards that trunk, she began hitting the lock with her umbrella, the lock was unscathed at the first hit, though the umbrella was not, of course not, it was a replica.

Daiyousei though took one of the wires from the umbrella and began picking the lock, she opened it to find a large skull filled with jewels on it, she punched it, then felt the pain of hitting precious stones with her bare hands.

She thought for a moment, then remembered something, fairy blood can heal, she used the same wire to sever one of her wrists and began to pour said blood upon the skull, a curdling scream came from the outside, the king rushed back inside, though he did not even manage to take more than two steps before his body began to decompose and turn to dust. Daiyousei turned visible again, her wound slowly healing, though she was too harmed to keep the illusion.

The guards inside the place looked at her and dropped their weapons, they rushed out screaming. It was already clear she was not Yuuka, but she had just killed their leader, self-preservation was the only thing driving them now, and Daiyousei was a threat to them.

The flags returned to their former dark colors, her eyes turned green again, she was drained. Outside the people began to cheer they poured into the castle and lifted Daiyousei up into the air cheering her name, her actual name.