>"I do, yes. Thanks again."
>Head into the shrine and find Kanako
>Suwako gives a small, distracted kind of nod.
>You head into the shrine, the archaic, simple but well-maintained halls still catching your eye. For all the oldish places you've seen in Gensokyo, only Hakugyokurou has really struck you with the same sense of eastern dignity with architecture. But Hakugyokurou's sprawling size works against it in making it seem unreal; this place feels more natural, more like something that people could really do. There's a sort of uniqueness in that, appealing both to your outer world sensibility of with it's older nature, and standing out among Gensokyo's fantastic nature elsewhere.
>You follow Suwako's directions and come to a large, open room. Before you is a kind of of dais, almost a stage roped away with the middle and rear portions of the room. Sitting upon is Kanako, but it takes you a moment to realize this woman is Kanako. You cannot put your finger on what is different, or how. She is most certainly the same woman you talk with before, but she doesn't look like it at all. Her clothing and appearance are the same, but they are not. There's some intangible aspect around her; sort of unseen aura of gravity about her. She looks powerful, dignified. Divine. Looking at her now, although you cannot put it into words, you cannot doubt that she is truly a goddess. She sits upon the stage, legs crossed, hands folded, and eyes closed, seeming utterly at peace.
>"Maribel," she says, not opening her eyes. "Welcome."
>_
