> "-and, of course, the wyldspace will present its usual difficulties, but that is nothing that... My Esteemed Companion, are you even listening to me?"
> The sharp-looking girl in her late twenties turns to look at you and her face lights up in comprehension.
> "Ah! What timing. I had hoped to have you with us. There is much ground and material to cover. At the moment, we are heading out West to deal with a Fate-fracture that we might be able to use to our advantage. Aah, I am sorry if I am making little sense, I get ahead of myself easily."
> The speaker is Ani of the Hieda clan, your companion for several years now. At the time you met her, she had already made a name for herself amongst the Chosen as an eccentric and a visionary.
> You, on the other hand, cannot boast much history: a nameless child, born and abandoned in the Eastern wilderness, you grew up amongst the court politics of spirits, gods big and small, trickster demons and divine emissaries. The Youkai you called them, your extraordinary friends, guardians and rivals. You had left them quite some time back, but it seems that word travels quickly in the spirit world, and you were recognized wherever you had gone since. Your Youkai are everywhere, now.
> It is not that you intended to join Ani on her travels, nor did she ever ask for your company outright when the two of you met. Circumstances brought the two of you together, and you have not found a reason to go your separate ways yet.
> The compact yacht cuts its way smoothly through the water as you sail towards your destination, a series of islands South-West of the Imperial Isle. The sun blazes down, but the enchantments around the yacht make the heat bearable. Ani had been continuously writing and documenting, and she is strange to talk to when she is busy thus, so you have been spending your time conversing with the various water spirits that have been happily following in your wake: dolphins with rainbow fins, flying fish that literally flew and formless blobs of seawater. You did not notice Ani come up until just now.
> "A while back I told you about a village that vanished off the face of Creation due to a fault in the Orrery, the one caused by Are. I believe we can use the location for the Gensokyo project! I think-"
> The rest of her sentence is drowned out by the roar of water as a vast wave forms out of nowhere and rushes towards land, picking up your yacht and sending you careening forward with a tremendous force. Spirits often try to greet you in the only way they know how. This tends to cause problems equally often.
