[the offering of others has kept them alive, but kaede suffers. her thin frame has lost more weight, and the arms she opens to Clover are almost too thin. "we must find a place," she tells him. in the night she wakes and urges him to flee. they run from the samurai, from the kind scarlet man, from the hunter. if they are tracked she does not look back, does not say a word until her body forces a collapse amid strange structures. chickens squawk. pigs root in the abandoned granaries. a herd of horses shy away from the canines. driving rain comes for her and yotsuba now. rivers before them, followed by hills, but the sing of the sea is commanding. kaede raises her hurting head and looks into the face of clover.]

the offering of others has kept them alive, but kaede suffers.

her thin frame has lost more weight, and the arms she opens to Clover are almost too thin. "we must find a place," she tells him.

in the night she wakes and urges him to flee.

they run from the samurai, from the kind scarlet man, from the hunter.

if they are tracked she does not look back, does not say a word until her body forces a collapse amid strange structures.

chickens squawk. pigs root in the abandoned granaries. a herd of horses shy away from the canines.

driving rain comes for her and yotsuba now. rivers before them, followed by hills, but the sing of the sea is commanding.

kaede raises her hurting head and looks into the face of clover.

The fox felt it too. Their kingdom did not exist, Only ruins, only the shadows, which they moved in to stay hidden.

The Lady had grown quiet. She had always been quiet, but for days now, she didn’t speak. The pair hadn’t needed words to communicate at first, and they hardly needed them now. But he missed her voice.

He didn’t speak much, either, but found himself biting at his tongue—a wound from a bone he chewed a week ago refusing to heal. The flavor of his own blood only served in upsetting his groaning belly, which wished for something substantial.

The pads on his paws were sore, leathery skin cracked and dry, but the stinging had only joined the chorus of other discomforts, and they seldom asked his attention anymore.

Most upsetting was the beautiful gift he’d received from the lady. A once snow-white pelt sat upon his shoulders, yellowed from mud and matted from the onslaught of rain. It was far too heavy for him now, but he would not ask Kaede to handle his work.

He remained attentive, but the spry nature of his movements were gone. When Kaede fell, he moved beside her, attention fully on her and not the world around.

A cracked nose prodded her cheek.

”Late. Can sleep in?”

The same nose pointed toward one of the structures. One of the many, The fox’s ears pinned back when he realized.

What were these? He did not like their towering nature.

And animals. Animals he had never seen.

Instinctively, he crawled next to her and pressed into her side.

”Kitsune..” he whispered. Meaning monster, of course. Many monsters.

[i will not let them harm you. her arms tighten around yotsuba. they are hungry, yes, and she has come to fear starvation. but they are free. she has kept him safe from other wolves. kaede tries not to think of what might happen if she cannot rise from her earth bed the next morning. she touches the waterlogged pelt over his shoulders, turns her gaze on one of the odd, massive dens. inside is the smell of animal excrement and mildewed straw. the lady draws reluctantly from the fox and approaches the archway, noting its fallen beams; she forces herself to enter. there are no meat-eaters here. two hens scuttle out into the rain. a third croons a low, growling note, a feathered dinosaur not to be removed from her nest. kaede smiles, her shoulders wilting in relief. she calls back over her shoulder to yotsuba. we can sleep inside. she reaches out her paws to inspect his own. he needs medicine. her purview is not with healing, but she has learned some things. he does not look well. in his reflection she can see her own sorrowful state. i want you to rest, clover. her eyes glow in elegant request. i want you to stay here. i am going to bring water and search for plants to make a salve. her own lips hurt to smile. we cannot look unrefined when we meet others, yes? it makes her heart ache to believe she will ignore yotsuba if he attempts to stop her. this is all kaede can do, and she must do it. she cannot hunt. she cannot build. she is helpless without trappings of nobility which tighten around her in restraint. but this is something she can control.]

i will not let them harm you. her arms tighten around yotsuba. they are hungry, yes, and she has come to fear starvation. but they are free. she has kept him safe from other wolves. kaede tries not to think of what might happen if she cannot rise from her earth bed the next morning.

she touches the waterlogged pelt over his shoulders, turns her gaze on one of the odd, massive dens.

inside is the smell of animal excrement and mildewed straw. the lady draws reluctantly from the fox and approaches the archway, noting its fallen beams; she forces herself to enter.

there are no meat-eaters here.

two hens scuttle out into the rain. a third croons a low, growling note, a feathered dinosaur not to be removed from her nest.

kaede smiles, her shoulders wilting in relief. she calls back over her shoulder to yotsuba. we can sleep inside.

she reaches out her paws to inspect his own. he needs medicine. her purview is not with healing, but she has learned some things.

he does not look well. in his reflection she can see her own sorrowful state. i want you to rest, clover. her eyes glow in elegant request. i want you to stay here. i am going to bring water and search for plants to make a salve.

her own lips hurt to smile. we cannot look unrefined when we meet others, yes?

it makes her heart ache to believe she will ignore yotsuba if he attempts to stop her. this is all kaede can do, and she must do it. she cannot hunt. she cannot build. she is helpless without trappings of nobility which tighten around her in restraint. but this is something she can control.

cameo

---

ryujiro watched them from the shadowed incline above, the rain a constant whisper over his shoulders, washing the road’s blood from his withered coat. his eyes, narrowed beneath the scar-latticed brow, followed the movements of the thin woman and her companion—two figures sunk in exhaustion, still tethered by some unseen faith in one another. they moved like spirits now, ragged but not broken, and it stirred something old in the ronin’s chest, something he had long since buried beneath steel and shame. the girl was noble, or had once been; he recognized it not from jewels or posture but from the way she still held herself, the way she touched the fox with reverence even now. it was the gesture of someone who had once been cherished— and had learned to cherish in return. when she vanished into the crumbling barn and the fox collapsed against the doorway, ryujiro did not follow. not yet. he crouched instead beneath the sprawl of a bent pine, gaze fixed on the edge of their world, unmoving save for the rise and fall of his breath. he would wait. he always waited. when the girl returned from her forage, she would find nothing. but should she fall, if she failed to rise again, then and only then would the man with the broken blade come down from the ridge and carry her home. wherever home might be.