Page 41 of All That Has Flown Beyond
“Really? You can do that? The forest is huge!” Junpei piped up. Kaiyo smiled at him.
“Wards can be difficult to set up but not that much to maintain, as they take from the land instead of the caster once they’re set. I don’t think they’ll be a problem, but we can figure something out if we hit a snag.” He turned to look at the other Kanbaras. “I can set up more temporary wards at first, but it might be a good idea to heal the land of the weak spots first before putting too much strain on it. When that’s done, I can set up more permanent wards.”
“That sounds wise,” Hanaki said with a pleased smile. “We must honour the land.”
“It might also be an idea to disseminate information for necromancers to help them. I’ll have to talk to a few to see what the exact issue is, but if we target the source of the problem, we may be able to stop this from happening again.”
“That would be a great aid to Japan,” Tomoko observed, looking at him a little shrewdly. “Is that not too big a task?”
“Well, disseminating it and having people listen will be, yes. But gathering the information and constructing it into easily consumable pieces of information I can help with. You are the experts on your culture, people, and land, so the rest will have to be mostly up to you and any other interested parties.”
“That sounds fair,” Mori said, looking at Hanaki, who nodded.
“And the demons? They’re, like, super annoying,” Junpei said.
“Of course, I can’t forget that.” Kaiyo turned to Hanaki. “Do you have a log of incidents, sightings, et cetera?”
“Not a detailed one, but I can construct one if you wish.”
“That would be helpful, although if you point me in the right direction, I can ask people myself.”
“How hard-working,” Mori teased. Kaiyo let himself raise his eyebrows slightly.
“Is there another way to be?”
Mori grinned. “Yes, in fact, but we appreciate your dedication.”
“Thank you, but hold off your gratitude until I’ve proven myself with more than words,” Kaiyo advised. Mori tipped his head, his eyes amused.
“Well,” Hanaki said, pressing her palms together. “Thank you for all your hard work. I think this will be a fruitful partnership.”
Kaiyo bowed where he sat. “I think I agree.”
**********
Mori accompanied Kaiyo into the forest.
The trees they walked between were tall and thin, whispering to each other almost inaudibly. A slight mist had rolled through the nearby rice field, seeping over the land.
“Is it always this quiet?” Kaiyo asked softly, his voice enchanted by the spell the land seemed to be under.
“Yes. The animals are sparse here. I think they can sense something isn’t quite right.”
“You said you tend to celebrate the full moon with a dance instead of a run. Is this why?”
Mori nodded, “We ache to run in the forest but, especially under the full moon, it just…it isn’t right. Something is amiss. It’s…” Mori stared into the trees as they walked.
Kaiyo looked at him. He could only imagine the pain of being so at odds with the land you were supposed to be taking care of. How it would be to feel its pain.
“We have failed our land,” Mori finished eventually.
“Not for much longer if I have anything to say about it,” Kaiyo said with conviction. Mori turned to look at him appraisingly.
“Somehow I believe you.”
“Has it been this way as long as you can remember?”
“Not at all. I remember having full-moon runs when I was a child, shifting into my wolf form like it was nothing. Now, almost none of us can shift unless it’s the full moon, and even our half-shift is difficult.”
