The princess’s face was calm, but her eyes anxious. Toshi tried to imagine what she was thinking, tried to guess which emotion was dominating the others. Fear? Guilt? Pride? Duty?
Toshi decided to offer what little help he could. “Michiko-hime,” he said, “you know how to approach her, right?”
The princess glanced back, annoyed. “What do you mean?”
“It’s like I told the elder,” Toshi said. “She let me touch her and carry her across half of Kamigawa, but she lashed out at anyone else who tried.”
“According to you,” Sharp-Ear added.
“According to me.” He turned to Pearl-Ear and gestured toward Michiko. “May I?”
Pearl-Ear stared at him for a moment and then nodded.
Toshi stepped up to the princess and bowed. “Give me your hands.” Michiko stretched out her arms with the palms up. Gently, almost reverently, Toshi took each of Michiko’s hands in turn between his. He turned her hands down and spread her fingers wide, his own digits moving gently across her down-turned palms.
“Like this,” he said. “Approach slowly and lay your hands on the surface of the disk.”
“Should I address her before or after we make contact?”
“I’d say before. I don’t know if she ever listened to me, but it’s worth a try. When you touch her, you’ll feel a shock almost like your hands are being slapped back. I think that’s all it will take. Once she recognizes you, she’ll be ready to talk. And I think we’ll all hear that.”
Michiko nodded. “Thank you, Toshi.” She finally turned and faced the ochimusha. “And if this doesn’t work? If she won’t speak to me, or even attacks?”
Toshi grimaced. “Let’s just hope for the best right now.”
Pearl-Ear stepped forward and said, “The elders are through, Michiko-hime. Whenever you’re ready you may begin.”
Toshi stepped back from Michiko and stood alongside Sharp-Ear. The little fox nudged him and whispered mockingly.
“Hope for the best?” Sharp-Ear chuckled. “They should hire you to motivate armies before the big battle starts.”
“I didn’t see you offering any encouragement.”
“Michiko,” Sharp-Ear called, “don’t be afraid. We believe in you.”
Toshi snorted derisively. “Oh, that’s much better than ‘Hope for the best.’ You sure showed me up.”
“Both of you be silent,” Pearl-Ear said. “Go on, Michiko-hime. Our prayers are with you.”
The princess strode gracefully forward as the kitsune elders continued their haunting chant. The soft lowing rose in pitch as Michiko stepped up to the disk and knelt before it. She called out to it as the Taken One, and then, as Toshi had instructed, Michiko placed her palms flat against the face of the stone disk below and to either side of the etched serpent.
White light crackled under Michiko’s hands, and her back arched. The sheen began to spread across the princess’s hands and up her forearms. Smoke rose from the Taken One, and the princess let out a deep, painful moan.
Sharp-Ear and Pearl-Ear shot forward like twin arrows from the same bow. They were twice as fast as Toshi, but he had positioned himself to stop them before they reached the princess.
“Don’t touch her!” Toshi sprinted as hard as he could, but the kitsune made him feel like he was standing still. They heard, however, and stopped within arm’s reach of the princess and the Taken One, their eyes heavy with concern.
Toshi caught up and circled the princess and the disk so he could see Michiko’s face. The princess’s eyes had gone murky white and her mouth moved soundlessly. Nearby, the kitsune elders’ chant reached its crescendo.
Michiko’s teeth snapped shut and she threw back her head. The stone disk vibrated under her palms, and the glow grew painfully bright. Then the princess jerked her head back down and stared directly at Toshi through shrouded eyes.
“Release me,” she said, but the voice was not her own.
“Sharp-Ear,” Pearl-Ear said, and her brother pounced. He landed on Michiko’s shoulders with both feet and both hands, his compact little body just the right weight to push her free without injuring her. Michiko’s mouth opened wide as Sharp-Ear forced her back, but her hands stuck to the stone disk. For a moment they hung suspended, Sharp-Ear bearing down with all his weight and strength and Michiko clinging to the Taken One. The disk rattled and shook below them, throwing off steam and light and cacophonous sound. The entire forest began to shake as motion and sound radiated out from the Taken One, engulfing the entire assembly.
Then the connection between the princess and the Taken One broke and Michiko fell back from the disk. Sharp-Ear curled himself around Michiko’s shoulders and cushioned her fall with his own body. The strange light winked out when Michiko’s hands left the stone disk, and the Taken One stopped rattling and became as lifeless stone once more.
“Michiko,” Sharp-Ear and Pearl-Ear said together.
“Please,” the princess said. “Let me up, sensei.”
Sharp-Ear scrambled to his feet and bowed, offering his hand to Michiko. She ignored it and rose on her own.
“We must do as she says,” Michiko said. She turned from Pearl-Ear to the elders to Sharp-Ear and then back. “She’s so angry, so frightened. She doesn’t understand any of this. Most kami choose to manifest in the physical world. She was forced to. It took her years to comprehend the word ‘release’ because she’s never been contained before.” She bowed her head to Pearl-Ear. “We have to help her, sensei.”
Pearl-Ear hugged her student, soothing her with a tender hand. “We will, child. We will.”
Sharp-Ear exhaled and dusted himself off. “Well, that was both disturbing and partially productive. Michiko-hime was able to reach the Taken One quickly. And she learned something new … perhaps not the most useful thing to learn, but it is a start.”
Michiko pushed back from Pearl-Ear and raised her hands. “I would like to try again. Please. She has seen me now, heard my voice. I think she will tell us more if I ask.”
Pearl-Ear shook her head. “The elders-”
“Wait,” said Sharp-Ear. “What is on your hands?”
Toshi quietly stepped back from the stone disk as confusion colored Michiko’s face. Before he could turn and run, Sharp-Ear was beside him with a short knife to his throat.
The foxman’s voice was cold and menacing. “What have you done, Toshi?”
He smiled down at the kitsune. “What we all agreed to do,” he said. “I just sped things up is all.”
Michiko stood staring at her palms. Each bore a single crimson kanji. On the left was written the symbol for “sister,” on the right, “union.” Numbly, the princess looked to the Taken One and saw the same kanji imprinted on the stone disk’s face, precisely where her hands had touched.
“You know,” Toshi said. “I really thought that would work.”
“What?” Sharp-Ear pressed the knife in deeper, raising a thin line of red. “You thought what would work?”
“Well, I used an old fugitive’s trick to hide the smell. It’s meant to throw off dogs and other scent-trackers, but it worked just as well here.” Toshi raised his own hands, slowly so as not to antagonize Sharp-Ear, and showed them his own clean palms.
“Are you telling me that’s blood?” Pearl-Ear stepped up to Michiko, who was still standing helplessly with her palms outstretched. The kitsune lowered her head to inspect the kanji. Then she turned and glared at Toshi’s hands. When she spoke, her voice was tight and tinged with cold horror.
“Yes,” Toshi said brightly. “Mine, in fact.”
“But why? Why would you do this?”
“I think we’ve spent enough time debating why. What difference does it make? It didn’t work.”
Sharp-Ear growled. “What didn’t work? What were you trying to do, besides insert your blasphemous magic into matters beyond your comprehension?”
“They’re sisters,” Toshi said. “We agreed to bring them together. I tried to encourage things along.”