And What Alice Found There

[Esifex]

I'm still at a loss as to what exactly it was that Minerva was trying to check with The Experiment, there.
Also, I like your portrayal of Cirno. You don't lay the crazy on thick like a lot of people do - instead, just enough to make her seem naive, like a child, as opposed to 'hilariously, gratuitously idiotic' like most people do.

[Iced Fairy]

I was just wondering when we'd get a new chapter, and it appeared.  I am happy.

I agree with Esifex here too.  Your characterizations are wonderfully done.  Subtle character interactions are hard to pull off.  I'm glad to see someone on the board filling in this writing niche.

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

This made me grin.

And my favorite answer is to "How is a raven like a writing desk?" is still

Spoiler:

"Because there is a B in both, and an N in neither."

[Aya Squawkermaru]

I just started on this the other day, and I am quite impressed. As others have said, your characterization is quite remarkable.

[Kirin no Sora]

This... is a most interesting story indeed. Bravo.

And it would seem unsurprising that Cirno ate Minerva's lunch, actually.

[Yayifications]

"That was reckless and dangerous," Aya chided Minerva. "And you did not even manage to obtain any useful information, at that. You were lucky you only lost your lunch."

Minerva waggled a hand in a gesture of dismissal. "I was never in any real peril. And I have obtained a measure of some... confirmation, if nothing else."

"Confirmation that youkai do exist?"

"Among other things."

Aya was much too refined to sniff derisively, despite managing to convey the impression of having done so anyway. "I could have told you as much. In fact, I did tell you as much."

"It was an experiment," Minerva repeated, with unusual patience.

The Experiment, once Minerva had trundled the whole apparatus back to the Hieda mansion, had been poured into a steel container, filled with water, and then capped and sealed as securely as Minerva could manage. She had then given orders for the container to be buried at the edge of the forest behind the Hieda mansion, and left alone. A makeshift sign had been erected to mark the location. The Hieda household staff had dutifully carried out these instructions, but avoided the area thereafter. Minerva's reputation for being the eccentric Western witch was growing, evidently.

"In any case," Minerva continued, "I admit surprise by your decision to have your servants leave us be. I would have expected them to accompany us everywhere we went."

Aya looked momentarily bemused. "Margatroid-san, I am not so much of an invalid that I cannot pay my respects to the local shrine by myself. After all, I ventured to Yokohama alone to fetch you, did I not?"

"And what would have happened if you collapsed as you did last week?"

"I was in no danger, Margatroid-san. The people of Gensokyo know me, or at least know of me, and a message to the mansion would be dispatched soon enough. Besides, I only require a brief moment to catch my breath."

Minerva had not had an opportunity to personally examine Aya's health, and so she let that lie hang in the air between them for a moment longer.

Aya indicated at the vermilion-painted structure in front of them, which Minerva could not help comparing to some oversized croquet hoop. "Torii," she said. "A shrine gate, signifying the division between Earth and Heaven. As we pass through these gates, we are to reflect on our journey from the temporal, profane world into the sacred, holy realm of the gods."

"A Wicket Gate," Minerva muttered under her breath in English. "But who will open it for us?"

"What was that?"

"Never mind, Aya-san." Minerva glanced at their surroundings. They were, by necessity, taking their time in ascending the moderately intimidating flight of stone steps, which had been built into the side of what seemed like a small mountain. It was not the sort of trek that she would have wanted to make on a whim, even if it was probably trivial for younger folk with an excess of energy. Aya was breathing easily, which meant whatever health issues she suffered from was not flaring up under this physical exertion; she had obviously come here before, and learned to pace herself. For her part, Minerva felt more discomfort from the late summer heat and the awkward arrangement of spelunking tools she carried than the steep stairs and lengthy journey. The second-hand safety mining lamp kept slapping uncomfortably against her thigh.

Were all Shinto shrines built in such inconvenient locations? Or just this one? The path towards the shrine seemed well-kept, but deserted. Along the way, Minerva and Aya had not encountered anyone else returning to the village from the direction of the shrine. Did the people here have an equivalent of a Church Sunday?

For that matter, when was the last time Minerva had stepped inside a church? Not too long ago, certainly, and there had been none of the dramatics that might have been expected from a witch, a heretic, entering a holy place. To Minerva, churches were merely buildings like any other, nothing more. They served a social function, largely involving getting a certain number of people into a useful configuration to be fed homilies and sermons, some of which may even have been useful.

Which meant that the uneasy feeling in Minerva's gut was not, in itself, a product of this place being religiously significant. There was something else at work here.

"I am simplifying greatly, you understand," Aya continued. "You may think of it as a threshold, which you must cross in order to proceed from the outside to the inside. A boundary between two different spaces. I believe your magic has some sort of limitation in that regard?"

"Some varieties do," Minerva said absently. "There are stories of certain brands of thaumaturgy, or even of entirely magical beings, that cannot pass through the threshold without obtaining prior permission. The one that most people know about, thanks to those rail penny-dreadfuls... what is the word in Japanese? Dead beings who subsist on the blood of others?"

Aya told her. "Vampires," she said in English, before switching back to Japanese. "I know what you speak of. The stories we have are not an exact match, but they are similar enough for the cultural associations to be relevant."

"The exact terminology isn't relevant, anyhow. The principle behind a threshold is to denominate a barrier between one area and another. Between yours and mine. As such, the... flow? The flow is quite often different from one area to another, and the more one relies on the energy, the more one is affected." As Minerva was experiencing right at that moment, in fact. She had uprooted herself from her home and country, and travelled halfway across the known world to this distant land in the east. Little wonder that she had felt out of sorts ever since she set foot in Japan, where the myths and magic were alien and unfamiliar. Even the area around the shrine felt awkward, different.

And why was that? Was this shrine built here for social convenience, allowing worshippers to gather when desired? Or was its location chosen long before that? Was there something here that necessitated the presence of a shrine? There were several possible candidates, of varying plausibility.

Don't get ahead of yourself, Minerva. It was a classic mistake to speculate before proof, since one invariably started twisting the evidence to fit the hypothesis.

They had almost reached the top of the stone steps by now, an exercise that had taken them most of the morning, despite having set out at the break of dawn. Minerva was not sure what she had expected at their destination; a grand cathedral of worship was obviously not a possibility, considering the remote locale, but when they crested the lip of the stairs, Minerva had to quash a faint tinge of disappointment at the mundane appearance of the shrine, quite out of place from the effort required to reach it in the first place.

It was not a large shrine, although clearly it was of some importance, being set on a plateau partway up the side of a mountain. Someone saw fit to construct a shrine here, far from the rest of human habitation, along with the stone steps and the gateways on the path leading to it. Someone thought this place significant enough to have the shrine's maintainers take up residence here, regardless of the inconvenience to both congregation and clergy.

One such resident was placidly sweeping the path in front of the main building, using a broom made of bamboo and straw in the typical country style. The young woman was dressed in what Minerva vaguely recalled was the standard clothing of a low-level Shinto shrine maiden, based on her hurried research into the obscure world of Japanese religious traditions, as yet poorly-documented by Anglophone writers. White and red, with the red ribbon adorning up her long black hair providing what might have been a hint of individuality, or perhaps just a uniform-approved accessory.

The shrine maiden briefly turned her attention to her visitors, in the manner of a frequent daydreamer noting the ever-shifting shapes of the clouds in the sky: what lay before her eyes may have changed, but the change was worthy of no more than a moment's consideration, before the mind returned to weightier matters. It may well have been the first time since coming to Japan that Minerva felt no more unusual than her surroundings, a shift in status she wasn't sure she appreciated. The shrine maiden let her gaze rest on them for a moment, before returning to her duties in sweeping the grounds.

Aya glided forward, apparently unaffected by the heat of the afternoon. She continued past the shrine maiden without acknowledging her presence, an act that the shrine maiden returned with an equal lack of interest.

Aya's immediate destination was a small pavilion off to the side, which Minerva noticed was effectively a basin filled with water, sheltered by a roof to keep out the less subtle elements. Using an accompanying long-handled wooden dipper, Aya washed her hands, mouth, and the ladle's handle itself, with the stilted movements characteristic of a traditional ritual. Ablutions completed, she proceeded to the entrance of the main shrine building, where she stopped in front of what Minerva assumed to be a sort of altar. The entrance of the shrine was bracketed by a final torii gate, built into the architecture itself, under which a large wooden box took pride of place.

Aya turned to regard Minerva, her expression wordlessly instructing the Englishwoman to follow suit. A thousand protests leapt to Minerva's lips, all of which she bit back. Aya clearly did not care about the theological aspects of a witch from a Christian country coming to worship at a Shinto shrine. This was, yet again, another intricate social dance around the delicate, inflexible web of etiquette in Gensokyo.

She hurried past the shrine maiden, who continued to pretend obliviousness to their presence. Minerva tried to replicate the ritual of cleansing that Aya had performed: left hand, right hand, mouth, ladle. As a magician, Minerva had a good memory for details, and she was fairly certain that she had done everything correctly. The lack of any sort of magical surge confirmed her expectations that there were no inadvertent mystical traps lying in wait, apart from the general sense of uneasiness permeating the shrine environs.

Minerva stepped up beside Aya, and mimicked her pose, placing her hands together. After a minute or so, Aya frowned, as she finally realized that Minerva was not about to bow her head. Evidently deciding to let the matter pass, Aya clapped her hands three times, and did something complicated with her sleeves that resulted in several coins clattering through the slats on the wooden box. Minerva suppressed a smile as she remembered the collection plate at the end of services; every religion with any degree of organization required funds, no matter where in the world they were.

"Thank you," said the shrine maiden, standing close behind them.

Minerva spun around, managing to bring her startled reaction under control with some effort. She could not remember the last time someone had been able to sneak up so close to her without warning. Was she simply out of sorts from her inability to acclimatize herself to Gensokyo's magical flows? Was the shrine maiden adept at masking her presence, whether from natural talent or training?

"Hakurei," Aya greeted her. Minerva noted the lack of honorific.

"Hieda," the shrine maiden said affably. Now that Aya and Minerva had done the Correct Thing in acting out the role of worshippers at the shrine, they had been deemed worthy of attention, appearing back into the shrine maiden's field of vision. Having proven their existence to the shrine maiden, she granted them her full attention, playing the part of host to unexpected but welcome guests. "It is a pleasure to meet you again. I received your messages."

"Likewise," Aya said. Not truly sincere in that sentiment, but without the undercurrent of sarcasm and scorn that Minerva was used to. "Forgive the late introductions. This is-"

"Minerva Margatroid-san, yes," the shrine maiden said, turning to Minerva with a smile. "The greatest magician in the world."

Minerva took less than a second to sort out her thoughts. "You flatter me, Hakurei-san. I'm afraid the reality may disappoint, however; I am but a humble scholar." First, Aya was attempting to recover from her surprise: whatever she had told this Hakurei shrine maiden, that particular epithet had not been part of it, nor any reputation that might imply the title.

Second, the last time Minerva had been described as anything like that had been by Violet Hearn.

"I think the reality may be safe enough," Hakurei said cryptically. She brightened up. "Would you like some tea?" she asked, leaning her broom against a convenient pillar. "You must be tired from your journey here. I'm afraid I don't have much to offer, though."

Minerva cleared her throat. "I must admit that I was hoping to be able to survey the, er, caves that I was informed were in the area..."

Hakurei looked blankly at her. "Caves... oh, yes, the caves. They are not far from here, but they may be a little strenuous for..." She looked at Aya.

Aya shrugged genteelly, moving further into the shade of the main building. "I will remain here with Hakurei, Margatroid-san. I doubt you will want me underfoot while you search the caves for... whatever you are searching for." The twist in her tone made it clear that she knew exactly what Minerva meant to seek out, and while she did not quite approve, she did accept the necessity.

"There will be a fair amount of what may resemble dirt," Minerva said dryly. "Fortunately, I only need a small sample." The advantages of alchemical transmutation, coupled with the inconveniences of field work. City-born and city-bred, Minerva was still experienced enough with working her experiments in the rural countryside, but she could never be said to enjoy doing so.

"The caves are further up the mountain," Hakurei said. "I've not explored them myself, but I hear that they are quite extensive."

"Natural?"

"I've no idea."

Minerva sighed. "I'd best be about it, then. Hakurei-san, would you be so kind as to direct me to the caves?"

Hakurei's smile grew marginally sunnier. "I may be able to assist you further. I managed to find a map of the caves in the warehouse." She indicated another building, off to the side of the main shrine. "It even has directions to the known entrances. The closest one even has a trail leading towards it, since it seems to be a popular destination for explorers."

From behind Hakurei, Aya mouthed the words "youkai hunters" at Minerva.

Minerva nodded thoughtfully. "Aya-san, would you mind waiting here until Hakurei-san returns? With the map, I should be able to find my way back here on my own. Although I would appreciate it if someone were to come look for me should I fail to return by sunset."

"Of course, Margatroid-san," Aya said. "It has been a while since I talked to Hakurei, in any case."

"Please wait one moment," Hakurei said. "I'll go fetch the map. Now, where did I put it..."

-----

Minerva was thankful that she had brought along her notebook on this expedition.

The entrance to the caves had indeed been quite close to the shrine, less than an hour's travel away, even considering the rough trail that had been stamped out of the mountain wilderness by countless but infrequent adventurers. The map that Hakurei had given her was surprisingly clear and accurate, considering it had been drawn up by some amateur explorer long past. The notations were in some archaic script that Hakurei had helpfully explained; Minerva dutifully pencilled in the English translations on the map.

Some of the ancient scribbles had defeated even the shrine maiden, however. These tended to be concentrated along a certain path through the cave system, and Hakurei had warned Minerva that they may have indicated some sort of danger.

Which was why, as soon as Hakurei started off back to her shrine, Minerva had waited a few more minutes to be sure, before embarking on that very path.

Her initial collection was completed quickly enough; bats were very much present here, although not as many as Minerva had hoped. Their sparse numbers would have been odd in any other similar habitat, but as Minerva raised her lamp, surveying the surrounding cave walls, it was clear that this cave system was at least partly artificial.

Had this been a mining concern, sometime in the history of Gensokyo? The village was probably large enough to support a small industry of such, although Minerva had her doubts about the area's natural resources. The cave tunnels were wide enough for her to walk through without any difficulty, and left more than enough room for her to scrawl a few important runes in chalk onto several handy flat surfaces.

There was yet another odd feeling in here, pressing against Minerva's magic-honed senses. There was the impression of a vast slumbering beast just beyond the rocky walls, its slow heartbeats just beyond the edge of sensation. And yet, when Minerva tried to focus on that impression, it vanished into a mere flight of imagination, leaving her alone in the hot and stuffy tunnel.

Minerva continued onwards, wiping the sweat from her brow. There was something around here that she could almost identify, something that played just beyond her memories. And even as Minerva tried to pin it down, she was distracted by the incessant feeling that there was something else not quite right, something that was counter to expectations, something that yielded a clue in its nature out of place.

When she encountered the dead end, she also found her answers.

The map indicated that the caves went on for quite a while yet, even though the unknown cartographer had not been able to fully explore the depths of the system. However, a wall of rock barred Minerva's progress, evidence of some more recent cave-in.

Not, in itself, an unusual phenomenon, especially in unsupported cave tunnels like this, a fact which reminded Minerva that she should probably not stretch her luck any further by remaining in unsupported cave tunnels like this. What had caught Minerva's interest were the scraps of paper, now mostly in unreadable tatters, pasted across the rock wall almost haphazardly. When Minerva ran a hand over them, she could feel the traces of power remaining after countless years; she guessed more than a couple of centuries, but could not estimate a more exact date. The cave-in had been as artificial as the rest of the caves.

As Minerva searched along the wall, she found the other thing she had been looking for. With the lack of air circulation in the cave tunnels, a faint breeze from beyond the cave-in was easy enough to notice, especially when it had a distinctly noxious smell.

She brought her safety mining lamp close to the source of the breeze, and watched the flame colour change. This also resulted in a thoroughly unexpected discovery, which meant that by the time Minerva staggered back out of the caves in a daze, Aya and the shrine maiden were waiting irritably outside.

"I take it you found something interesting," Aya said. "Or you would have returned much earlier."

"I don't think it's a good idea to head back to the village in this state," Hakurei said dubiously. "I'll prepare a bath and bedding for you, and you can have a good rest tonight."

"An excellent idea," Minerva agreed, taking the opportunity to suck in several deep lungfuls of fresh air before nodding apologetically at Aya. "I did find something quite interesting, yes. I'm... not entirely sure what it means, however. I will need more study."

Aya pursed her lips, but did not press the issue further that day.

The bath and dinner passed in a dull haze, although Minerva did not recall anything about these events that warranted mention. She did remember noting the oddity of Hakurei living alone in the shrine, but pushed that fact aside for now. She contributed a few minor comments at dinner without much engagement from most of her mind, which was probably why Aya and Hakurei kept the conversation to small talk anyway.

Even after Minerva had settled into the bedding laid out on the floor of what she assumed was the guest room, she lay awake, staring blankly up at the ceiling, her vision filled with the patterns and lines that had sprung into focus when the light from the mining lamp had been fed with the gas from beyond the rock fall. It would indeed take much more study before she could discern the nature of the designs: were they meant to seal, protect, or trap? From which direction had the spellcasters expected the threat to come from?

Who had created those spells?

Minerva tilted her head. Aya had fallen asleep almost immediately, with the same iron-willed determination that she did everything else. Piled up somewhere in the far corner were their belongings, which included one tiny vial, sealed tight, containing a sample of whatever atmosphere had leaked past the cave-in.

There had been more than enough time since Minerva's return from the caves for her to have identified at least some of the individual scents that made up the mysterious breeze. There wasn't much she could do about it without further research, however.

Especially when her dreams that night, when she finally fell asleep, kept returning to the obvious conclusion for the unsettling presence of magic-infused brimstone.

[Iced Fairy]

Ah, it's a pleasure to see this return after so long.  And Minerva's find here amuses me as well.  I wonder if she'll learn that odd truth.

I look forward to the next segment, however long it takes.  (Though I hope it will be soon!)

[Esifex]

Ohh, this made a miserable day soooooooooooo much better for me, thank you thank you thank you

[Aya Squawkermaru]

Oh my gosh I have missed this so much. Thank you.

Minerva is too interesting for an OC, it's unfair :V

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

This is splendid~

Yeah, I was starting to wonder where this had gone! Can't wait to see what's next!

[Yayifications]

Tuning out the hammering of the rain outside, Minerva raised the teacup to her lips, using the opportunity to observe the shrine maiden.

Hakurei was, quite simply, bland. She was pretty, no doubt, albeit based on Minerva's rather British notions, which may not have the same effect here in Japan. For someone used to doing manual labour in the rural countryside of an old-fashioned nation, Hakurei kept herself well, with only a close inspection revealing the lines and calluses from her work.

And yet, there was something about the way she acted and spoke which caused her to fade beyond notice. One would be able to hold a conversation with her, and what she said could be remembered without difficulty afterwards, but her words gave no indication that any distinct personality lay behind that ever-present smile. It was as though the general population had been gathered, the outliers excluded, and the remaining individual personalities extracted, distilled, and averaged out into a uniform level, with the results molded into this platonic Example of a Common Person. A minor actor in a play, tasked with delivering a single line, their message far more important than who they were.

Minerva sipped the scaldingly hot tea. She had only know Hakurei for a day or so, which was hardly enough time to discern any hidden depths. Nevertheless, this may be the first time Minerva had failed to notice the very presence of hidden depths to discern.

"The Hakurei family have been caretakers of this shrine for as long as anyone remembers," Hakurei was saying, in response to Minerva's polite queries. "That's why people call it the Hakurei shrine."

A classic non-answer. Minerva wrestled with the temptation of asking direct questions, regardless of how rude they may seem. Hakurei was a shrine maiden maintaining this shrine alone, which, in Minerva's estimation, was about akin to a lay sister proclaiming jurisdiction over a convent sans Mother Superior. Certain circumstances could plausibly explain the situation, but Hakurei was steadfastly not providing any account of these circumstances.

Minerva tried again. "What, precisely, are your duties as a shrine maiden here, Hakurei-san?"

"Well, let's see..." Hakurei pondered this question with far more gravity than Minerva had assumed it warranted. "I keep the shrine grounds clean, and maintain the buildings as best as I can. I help visitors with their inquiries and requests, if they are within my humble abilities to fulfil. I perform the necessary rites during important dates, in order to please the gods. I-"

"Er, that is sufficient, Hakurei-san," Minerva quickly interrupted. Hakurei's listing had been delivered in the matter-of-fact tones of someone would not have minded continuing to recite from her mental script for as long as it took. Given that Hakurei had not mentioned anything beyond the standard duties of a shrine maiden as described in Minerva's rudimentary research, there was little point in letting her continue without cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "What I meant to ask, Hakurei-san, was whether you have any... unusual duties."

Hakurei tilted her head in what seemed like genuine incomprehension. "Unusual?"

"Involving youkai."

"You are approaching this issue from incorrect premises, Margatroid-san," Aya said, looking up from her perusal of Minerva's notebook. Minerva had shown them the sketches she had made in her notebook of the mysterious designs drawn over the cave-in rock fall, in the faint hope that either the shrine maiden or the historian would be able to identify some clue within. Hakurei had professed ignorance, but Aya mentioned a strange sense of familiarity with some of the patterns, which she was currently trying to pin down.

Hakurei folded her hands on her lap, head bowed, signifying that she was temporarily withdrawing from the conversation. Presumably she was willing to let Aya explore the limits of Minerva's ignorance.

"If my premises are incorrect, then I must re-examine them," Minerva said. "The chief alteration I would make as a new hypothesis is that dealing with youkai is, in fact, part of a Shinto shrine maiden's usual duties."

Aya nodded. "The truth is much more complex, of course. And a shrine maiden would not usually directly deal with issues involving youkai. But several of the rituals a shrine may hold do have the effect, whether primary or otherwise, of ensuring the supremacy of the gods against those that oppose them, including youkai."

"Something resembling how a sermon may assist in the eradication of sin, then. A pastor's duty may not be directly related to driving out demons, but in the course of his works, the demons may find their surroundings far more inimical."

"Just so. Therefore, when Hakurei performs the rite every year to welcome Amaterasu-oomikami-"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Amaterasu-oomikami," Aya repeated. "Or 'great goddess Amaterasu', if you prefer. The principal sun goddess of the Shinto faith, and one of the most powerful in the... what is your word for a collection of deities? The pantheon. There are many stories surrounding her, which I will not recite here. If you truly wish to know more, there is a copy of the Kojiki in the mansion." The dry irony in her voice was unmistakable.

Minerva frowned. "The Kojiki is the collection of history tales that your ancestor..."

"Hieda no Are, yes. I see you know the story of my family." Aya waved a hand in a gesture of dismissal. "But I digress. When Hakurei, or any shrine maiden anywhere in Japan, welcomes Amaterasu-oomikami into the new year, an aspect of the ritual is to suppress the rise of Amatsu-mikaboshi... that is, one of the gods of evil, as well as a god of the stars. The star you call Polaris, incidentally. Should Amatsu-mikaboshi gain dominance, the coming year will be marked by the spread of evil across the land, which would mean heightened youkai activity, among other things."

"There are other rituals that I have been called on to perform," Hakurei added. "The kagura..." She glanced at Aya, who had taken on the role of explanatory interlocutor.

"A dance to call down the gods to join them in celebration," Aya said. "Also involving Amaterasu-oomikami, as well as Ame-no-uzume, goddess of revelry and the dawn. Simply put, it is a ritual to lure the goddess Amaterasu out from a cave she had been hiding in, in order to ensure the rising of the sun. Since many youkai gain strength during the night, the dawn is a significant protection from youkai attacks."

Minerva nodded. "Thank you for explaining this to me. I am reminded of... I apologize, but I am not certain what a proper translation would be. Folklore? Folk beliefs? But with a very immediate importance and urgency, considering the reality of youkai here in Gensokyo." And of the Fair Folk in Europe, and who knew what else in the Americas and the rest of the world. Yet those had not been seen in many ages, compared to the constant threat the people of Gensokyo faced.

Saving humans from monsters...

"A useful simplification," Aya conceded, "even if there are several inconsistencies that may undermine any extrapolations from that assumption."

"I'll be careful," Minerva said evenly. "Have there been any youkai incursions up here at the shrine?"

Hakurei hesitated slightly. "There have not been any unwelcome youkai sightings here, no. The sacred boundaries around the shrine are meant to keep them out. You have seen the torii gates, for instance? The same principle applies to the rest of the shrine."

Minerva nodded amiably, while making a mental note of the unusual slipperiness in Hakurei's words. "But you appear to be living here alone, which, from what I understand, is not a safe prospect in Gensokyo."

"Oh, the shrine receives visitors quite often, and youkai seldom attack groups of people. In fact, the cherry trees behind the shrine are famous in Gensokyo as the best place to have flower-viewing parties in the spring, so it gets quite crowded around those times." Hakurei counted off items on her fingers. "And then there's the summer festival, the autumn festival, the new year's celebrations, the... well, it can be very busy at times."

"Hm." Minerva revised her initial estimation of Hakurei. The shrine maiden was not so much a tabula rasa where a personality should be, but more of a featureless barrier, shielding its contents through both impenetrability and banality. Neither chinks in the armour nor handholds for leverage could be found, and Minerva did not feel up to the task of verbally sparring with Hakurei. Although in this case, the analogy of tilting at an immovable object may have been more apt.

"Margatroid-san," Aya said distantly, "have you ever studied the use of Shinto or Taoist charms and seals before?"

"I'm sorry?" Minerva said, her train of thought broken.

"Your notebook." Aya held up the item in question, open to a few pages before the sketches of the cave designs. "I noticed that you have been working out some form of what seems like talisman-based magic, based on my limited understanding of the annotations."

Minerva relaxed. "Oh, yes. The credit for that idea should go to one of my acquaintances; a fellow Englishman, although I believe he has spent more than a few years in the Orient from time to time." A brilliant magician, if highly eccentric, and utterly infuriating to work with. "He had shared his preliminary notes with me, and I have been trying to work out his methodology based on those first principles."

Minerva had expected this brief digression to pass without further comment, but Hakurei had leaned closer to them, eyes bright with curiosity. "Could you please describe this system?" Hakurei asked. "You don't have to go into too much detail, but it sounds like something useful to know."

Mystified, Minerva complied. Aya seemed just as confused about Hakurei's sudden interest in magical theory. "The version in my notes has several changes from the original, since I was concerned more with the issue as a theoretical exercise than any intention to adapt it for practical use. The core of the system is a way to store and cast specific spells, albeit to a varying degree of specificity, without requiring an unworkable amount of on-the-spot preparation. This allows the use of magic of increasing complexity, through a simple invocation of the storage medium."

Minerva retrieved her notebook from Aya, and opened it to the relevant pages. "The original conception involved the creation and binding of semi-autonomous spirits, which I deemed to be far too excessive for most purposes. I think he wished to maintain a stable of partially independent... familiars? Is that the correct word? Djinn?"

"Shikigami," Aya supplied. "Spirits summoned to serve the onmyouji... that is, the summoner. They are not created as such, however, but merely bound."

It was probably not a surprise that certain magical concepts would have evolved in parallel throughout the world. "Something resembling that, then. In any case, that approach may be discarded as being too extravagant to our needs, but the structural framework of the cards... you can see the designs here, although this is just one method of doing it... is useful for storing a spell that may be reused at will, rather than expending itself after the first casting. Think of it not as a bullet or cannonball, but the pistol or cannon itself."

"With an infinite supply of ammunition?" Aya asked.

"Not... quite," Minerva said. "Even prepared beforehand, the cards will draw upon the energy of the caster, and the danger of overuse is much more pronounced; in normal circumstances, the time needed for casting a spell of complexity will allow for either the replenishment of energy, or more than enough warnings that the magician is incapable of performing the task at hand."

"What of outside sources of power?" Hakurei said. "From the gods, maybe?"

Minerva stared at her, puzzled.

"What Hakurei is referring to," Aya said, "are the Shinto talismans I mentioned earlier. They are not usually considered magic, any more than your Christian prayers. The ofuda... that is, a 'great note', has the name of a god and the name of the issuing shrine or representative inscribed upon it. These ofuda are used as charms of protection, be it against general harm or more specific ills."

As with the tattered remnants of paper found in the cave. "Mm. Then we return to the original case of the independent spirits bound to the cards," Minerva said. "It is certainly an option, but, as I said, not one that is necessary for this system. For one, it requires a skillset that not every practitioner may have, at the necessary level."

"The gods are not bound-"

"It doesn't matter," Minerva snapped. "The point of this entire exercise is to reduce the reliance on the capricious whims of outside forces, be they spirits or fae, gods or youkai." She caught the expressions of the others, and took a deep, calming breath. "I apologize for my outburst."

Aya and Hakurei adopted the thoroughly Oriental look of those who had just deleted the past few seconds of conversation from their personal realities, in order to maintain a harmonious and peaceful exchange of views. "Would it be too much of a bother to ask for a copy of your notes?" Hakurei asked.

Minerva quickly considered the possibilities. Hakurei was a shrine maiden at a Shinto shrine, which did not inevitably imply some sort of mystical prowess, any more than a given priest would be able to turn water into wine, at least without the aid of a distillery. However, this being Gensokyo, it would also not be unreasonable for Hakurei to possess supernatural powers as real as the youkai she no doubt had to devise countermeasures against, if only passively.

What would she need the notes for the card system for? Aya had brought up the Shinto talisman business, and Minerva could see how easily the cards could be reworked to include those aspects, and many more. Wasn't that why she had been working on the card system in the first place? Every change she had made had been to establish the foundation and architecture for a general system of magic, rather than the highly specific implementation that the original had been intended for.

Was Hakurei seeking a more powerful option for her own particular brand of magic?

"I will send you a copy as soon as I am able," Minerva said, "if you'll teach me all you can about Gensokyo and the youkai."

"Agreed," Hakurei said instantly. She stood, and bowed politely. "Thank you for your kind acceptance of my unreasonable request, Margatroid-san. Please, there is no need to stand; I was about to fetch something, and will return soon." Another bow, before she departed. Minerva could hear her humming, some local tune that faded into the distance.

"That was-" Aya caught herself. "I apologize, Margatroid-san, but I question the wisdom of that decision."

"I mean no offense, Aya-san, but I require some sort of idea about the mystical lay of the region," Minerva said, in quick, low tones. "Hakurei-san is the best person so far to give me that information. I am indebted to you, and your family's collection of tomes, for the historical aspects of my research, but it is understandably lacking in supernatural accounts beyond the Gensokyo Chronicles. Information about the youkai is well and good, but a survey of the natural... or rather, supernatural resources of this land would be invaluable."

"And if Hakurei fails to give it to you?"

"If she does not have the mystical powers I suspect she does, then there is no loss in giving her a copy of my notes on the card system. It will not be difficult to remove any potential hazards from the system: the notes Hakurei-san receives will be a harmless game, at most, unless she is able to engineer a breakthrough beyond my own understanding of the system, in which case the lecture I provided just now would have been more than sufficient. Besides, I expect that most of her time would be spent organizing my notes into something more coherent; I've not had the time or luxury to do so myself as yet."

"You know that is not what I mean, Margatroid-san."

Minerva shrugged. "I don't expect Hakurei-san to betray me over something like this. It is a gamble, but... she doesn't seem the type. Either she can use the card system, in which case she can help me with the youkai problem, or she cannot, in which case there is no loss. There would be no reason for her to use the knowledge for ill, since I doubt anything she can do with it will be more terrible than her present abilities. Or, for that matter, the youkai."

"Conceded," Aya said slowly. "Nevertheless..."

"You do not trust her. Why?"

Before Aya could reply, the humming returned, preceding Hakurei. She was holding several loosely-stitched books, which she laid on the table.

"I found these in the warehouse," Hakurei said. "They are journals by the previous Hakurei shrine keepers, although I'm not sure how far back they go. The words are a little, um, ancient..."

"I can help with those," Aya said.

Minerva picked up a book at random. It had a symbol embossed on its cover that even Minerva recognized. "Yin and yang. Duality and balance."

"An important duty of the Hakurei shrine," Hakurei said. "Maintaining the balance in Gensokyo." Her smile remained serene, fixed. "Such as it is."

"I see," Minerva said, clearly not.

"Please, feel free to borrow these as long as you want," Hakurei said. "There are probably more journals in storage, but I haven't been able to find them yet. Maybe one of them will have some answers about those drawings you found in the cave." She glanced at Minerva's notebook. "If I discover any, I'll let you know."

"We may hope." Aya stood, and bowed. "Thank you for your hospitality, Hakurei. The rain has stopped for now, so it is about time for us to return."

"Please don't mention it," Hakurei responded politely. "I'll see you to the bottom of the steps. Do come visit again."

-----

The servants at the Hieda mansion were not very good at hiding their relief at the return of their mistress. Aya pretended not to notice, and after a few curious stares, Minerva took her cue.

Alice had a present for Minerva, which she displayed proudly in her hand.

"It came out this morning," Miho informed Minerva. Judging from Alice's good cheer, Minerva assumed that the tooth had fallen out naturally, rather than having been induced to do so. "Alice has been telling me about this... what was it again?"

"Tooth fairy," Alice said.

Minerva looked at Aya.

"I am not aware of any such youkai present in Gensokyo," Aya said. "Yet, at any rate."

"Yes, I imagine financial transactions would be a specialized trait among them." Did Minerva have any shillings left? She'd have to check. Then again, yen would likely be more useful to Alice; Minerva wondered what the going exchange rate was. "Remember to keep it under your pillow, Alice, dear. And no peeking!"

Alice took on an air of injured pride at the merest suggestion that she would sully her honour by attempting to ambush any prospective tooth fairies.

"In the meantime, I've got to- yes, what is it?" Minerva said, turning to the servant who had been hovering nervously at the edges. The servant quailed; Minerva supposed he was new, judging from his age, and not quite over the whole mystique of the Foreign Sorceress.

"A delivery for you, it seems," Aya said. "More equipment?"

The deliveryman turned out to be Seiji, who grinned broadly as Minerva approached. "Maria managed to get one of these for a bargain," he said, indicated the wrapped bundles being carted in by the mansion's servants. "It's a... what is it called again? Lots of planets and stars and such, going round and round..."

"An orrery," Minerva said. "Thank you. I hadn't expected to find a working one here; it is a rare find. How should payment be arranged?"

"We'll put it on your tab. It's not as though you're difficult to find."

"Just so." Minerva inspected the bill of receipt. "Please relay my thanks to Kirisame-san. I'll drop by to settle accounts as soon as I can."

"No hurry. Maria's still looking for a couple more of your items, like the, er, whatever that's called..." Seiji blinked. "Oh, hi there. What's your name?"

Alice retreated further behind Minerva's legs, glaring at Seiji.

Seiji's smile was rueful. "I guess she doesn't like me much."

"Come now, Alice, don't be rude," Minerva chided. "This is Seiji, who has been a great help. Say hallo, Alice."

Alice made a sound that was partway between a mumbled greeting and a hiss.

"I suppose that's the best I can ask for," Seiji said. "Okay, Alice-chan, how about this: the next time I come to visit, I'll show you something amazing. How's that?"

Minerva stifled a chuckle at Alice's exasperated look. "I must warn you, Seiji-san, that magic tricks are somewhat passe for little Alice."

"But of course, Miss Magician." Seiji sketched a parody of a courtly bow. "Do you need help with that, um, what was it called again? Orrery? Some assembly may be required."

"No, thank you, I can manage," Minerva said. "Your offer is appreciated, however. I'll see you at the store, Seiji-san."

Aya regarded the disassembled orrery with poorly-disguised dismay. "I take it you will require more space for the storage and use of your equipment?"

"Well..."

Aya waved a hand wearily. "Fine. Please do not block the passageways more than you have to."

"Don't be so stiff, Aya," Miho said. "This looks like something that will be Highly Educational for Alice, and we must always make allowances for the education of children. Right, Alice? Oh, let me help you with that... see, this piece should go here, at the base..."

"I'm certainly learning something new every day," Minerva said helpfully.

"As do we all," Aya sighed.

[Esifex]

I love how you're portraying Hieda. The bored, exasperated, 'oh God what did I do to deserve having to entertain some foreigner like this' vibe that oozes from her is a very solid characterization.

I'm loving this more and more, honestly. I look forward to updates with much enthusiasm!

[nolrai2]

I agree with everything Esifex said.

[locoroco1]

Interesting. The origins of the spellcard system. I'm a little confused as to the timeline though. Assuming that the Alice in the story is the same one from the games, she's about the same age she is at her first appearance. And yet Gensokyo is still a part of Japan. Meaning this is hundreds of years before Reimu and Marisa were born.

[Esifex]

Interesting. The origins of the spellcard system. I'm a little confused as to the timeline though. Assuming that the Alice in the story is the same one from the games, she's about the same age she is at her first appearance. And yet Gensokyo is still a part of Japan. Meaning this is hundreds of years before Reimu and Marisa were born.

Alice is a Youkai, don't forget.

[nolrai2]

I wonder if this Alice ends up in Makai or not.

Either way will be interesting.

I was kind of assuming that this was not using pc98 cannon, and yet here's the Hakurai Seal showing up.

[Yayifications]

It was not particularly ladylike to fan oneself with a sheaf of notepaper, which was why Minerva took care to do so surreptitiously.

"Forgive me for speaking on a topic so devoid of interest and consequence as the weather," she muttered, "but is this sort of climate normal for Gensokyo? First the overbearing warmth of summer, followed by downpours, which then result in fog, upon which the cycle continues once again."

"The weather has been slightly unusual this past month or so," Aya admitted, handing her a proper fan, "but it is still within the realms of meteorological plausibility. In any case, autumn should be here in full force soon enough, even if it seems rather late this year. You might even be able to experience winter here in Gensokyo, Margatroid-san."

Minerva had travelled to enough regions with geographical features resembling Gensokyo's to know that the locals tended not to bother measuring snowfall using units as puny as inches. "I suspect my business here will take rather longer than that to resolve. Are there any special features of Gensokyo's winter that I should take note of?"

"Apart from a whole host of winter youkai?" Aya shrugged. "There are the usual hazards of winter in a rural mountainous area, but we have survived millennia of the same. It is not a difficult thing to overcome, as long as you do not do silly things like venture far outside the village alone."

"Lose many explorers that way?"

"A few," Aya said. "Youkai hunters who have more pride than sense. Unfortunate souls who wander a little too far, and are lost in the darkness. We forbid our children from leaving the village for a reason."

There didn't seem to be anything Minerva could say in response, so she changed the subject. "Do the mansion's servants have to follow us everywhere we go? We're just going to meet Miho-san and Alice at the school, aren't we?"

Aya glanced back at the two servants who had been trailing them from a respectful distance, as though alerted to their presence for the very first time. From what Minerva could gather, this unusual discretion was a special arrangement based on Minerva's presence; normally the servants would walk beside, or at least a few steps behind, the lady of the house, viz Aya. Presumably whoever had given the orders to lengthen the leash was worried about the contagion of Minerva's heretical Western philosophies.

Minerva recognized the servant couple, in any case. And a couple they were, if the rather determined female half of the pair had anything to say about it. The girl had approached Minerva one evening, asking for charms or potions to attract the attention of the more obtuse variety of young man. She had seemed disappointed when Minerva had gently declined to brew something up; as far as Minerva knew, there was no such thing as a true, effective love potion, and even if it existed, Minerva would not have known where to start.

Minerva gave her some advice, largely to do with the benefits of being direct, and a few perfume recommendations. The young man currently had a startled, wary expression, as though he suspected some subtle prank being played on him, but could not quite fathom what.

The servants seemed more preoccupied with their own little world than Aya and Minerva's conversation, anyway. "It is not entirely my decision, but the inconvenience is trivial," Aya said, dismissing the servants from her immediate sphere of notice. "I enjoy walks through the village like this, and there have hardly been any... incidents. Certainly none worthy of note."

Minerva reflected that any incident involving Aya's health worthy of note would probably happen only once. It would only need to happen once. "But they do come to your aid should you have any, shall we say, shortness of breath? Rendering immediate assistance?"

"Well... yes." Aya rallied. "But it is still something of a bother to both myself and the servants. I try to leave them at the mansion, but sometimes..."

"You'd need some way of calling attention to yourself when necessary, then," Minerva mused. "Shouting won't do, since you might not be able to summon the wind for it. A whistle? No, that runs into the same problem. A bell, then. A little silver bell that you can ring when you are in peril."

Aya stared at Minerva.

"It can be a very ladylike bell," Minerva said encouragingly. "Not too large. Handy for keeping in your purse."

"And if I ring it, I'm sure you will come flying to my rescue."

"On a white horse."

"A tempting, productive, and might I say heroic offer," Aya said. "But here is the schoolhouse, and it appears lessons are not yet over."

The schoolhouse was, in fact, an ancient annex of what seemed like a part of the local town hall equivalent, where the tiny civil service of the village held office. Some effort had been spent to spruce up the building with whitewash and paint, and Minerva could see the clear delineation between the work done by bored but professional workers on the administrative side, and by enthusiastic volunteers on the school side.

"Miho-san is teaching the younger children, isn't she?" Minerva asked, looking around for signs of authority figures to avoid, lest they be caught and forced to take tea with the smallest of talk. "Aya-san?"

Aya was staring at the administrative building, where the usual number of people were conducting the everyday business of running a large village without undue complications. Overall traffic was sparse, and was composed largely of messengers and errand boys, as well as the occasional civil servant venturing forth in search of an early lunch.

"Aya-san?" Minerva repeated.

"I apologize," Aya said distantly, as she started a beeline towards whatever had caught her interest. "There seems to be someone I must speak to, regarding a certain business that I had thought settled."

Minerva caught up with her after a few paces. "Would it be a bother if I joined you?"

Aya glanced at her. "I suppose not. I'll explain the situation to you as soon as I am able, later."

Aya's target turned out to be a middle-aged man, rail-thin and balding, with the lined face of a constant worrier. He had apparently nipped outside for a quick cigarette during a break in his duties, despite the heat that required him to mop the sweat off his brow frequently. Both his perspiration and lines of worry increased as he spotted Aya bearing down on him. He seemed to contemplate escape for a very brief moment, before resigning himself to his fate.

"Nakamuraya-san," Aya said without preamble. "I see you've finished your work in Tokyo."

"Er, yes," Nakamuraya said guiltily. "I just came back in last week."

"Which is strange, since you said you were going to be there for much longer."

"Things, er, things were expedited," Nakamuraya said. "Certain arrangements were made, and they helped greatly with my work. I am very grateful to those who agreed to assist me."

"What arrangements are these?"

"Oh, you know, this and that..."

"Which you have not yet elaborated to my satisfaction, even after you returned to the village last week. If I did not know any better, Nakamuraya-san, I would even say that you seem to have been avoiding me."

"Anyway," Nakamuraya said desperately, "this must be the, um, the magician."

Minerva took this cue to curtsey. "Minerva Margatroid, at your service. I am but a humble scholar of the arts arcane."

"There is no need to be modest, Margatroid-san," Aya said relentlessly. "Nakamuraya-san knows exactly who you are, and what you are. Don't you, Nakamuraya-san?"

Nakamuraya squirmed. "Well, not to the precise extent of... which is to say, it is a complicated matter, and I hardly think this is the right place to-"

Minerva kept her polite social smile on her face. "Do tell, Nakamuraya-san."

"I was... informed that a great magician would be coming to Japan, and to this village," Nakamuraya said. "I was in Tokyo on other business at the time, and felt it would be proper to present an official welcome and escort to our poor land. However, Hieda-sama had, er, pre-empted me by a few days..."

Thus far the hypothetical conspiracy did not sound all that menacing. Minerva had a fairly short list of Nakamuraya's possible informants, but she was not yet certain why it had been imperative that Aya had gotten to Minerva first, rather than Nakamuraya. Would it have made any difference? In any other situation, these maneuverings would have made sense in terms of whoever managed to gain Minerva's ear first and influence her opinions, but Aya had resisted telling Minerva anything but the most basic of information about Gensokyo. Was leaving Minerva with an open mind truly so important?

No, that was implausibly inefficient for all the parties involved. Discard that hypothesis, and create another.

"The assistance you received must be efficacious indeed, if you managed to complete it so soon, and go out of your way to pick up a prospective youkai hunter," Aya was saying. "One would think that the true priorities had been reversed."

"N-no, not at all," Nakamuraya said, mopping his brow. "The business was concluded satisfactorily, and the results will be forthcoming, if all goes well... I mean, all will go well, of course. There's nothing to worry about."

"You are strangely confident."

"Arrangements, yes, arrangements have been made." Nakamuraya spoke quickly, a condemned man confessing all he could before the noose was tightened around his neck. "And in the end Kuzunoha-san wasn't interested in travelling here, said that there were things to take care of in the capital, but now we have Margatroid-san the magician, don't we?"

"Libri vermis," Minerva corrected. "A mere scholar. But yes, I am presently engaged in finding a solution to your village's problems with unwelcome intrusions of the supernatural variety."

"Yet everything you have done," Aya said, "has been at the behest of..."

"I had no choice, Hieda-sama," Nakamuraya pleaded. "I was just following instructions. I, I understand your disapproval, truly I do, and I wish there was some other way, but these things happen. There's no helping it."

Before Aya could press further, the rapidly growing sounds of chatter drew their attention, as classes were dismissed. Nakamuraya took this opportunity to flee, mumbling about unfinished work at his desk.

"Aya!" This was from Miho, who was waving cheerfully towards them from the midst of a small clump of children. "Over here!"

Aya's disappointment at Nakamuraya's escape smoothed over into her usual quiet fondness for her cousin. "Good afternoon, Miho. How did lessons go?"

As Aya and Minerva approached, Alice detached herself from Miho's side to scuttle towards Minerva's skirts. Minerva absently patted the child's head.

"Quite well, actually!" Miho was saying. "I might see if I can get a full-time position here. Kamishirasawa-san is looking for more volunteer teachers to... ah, where are my manners? Everyone, this is Hieda no Aya-san, a very important person. And this is Margatroid-san, a guest who will be living with us in the village for a while. Say hallo!"

There was a general toccata of greetings from the handful of students clustered around Miho. Minerva guessed them to be between six to eight; Alice was already viewing them with the smug superiority of her extra years.

The other students of the school were dispersed throughout the area, with the older children gravitating to their little cliques, beyond the supervision of their teachers. Minerva noticed more than a few of them hurriedly averting their own stares at the strange foreign sorceress surveying their school.

There were less than forty students all told, with the oldest looking not more than sixteen.

"It is still a vast improvement from just a few years ago," Aya remarked, interrupting her aura of Very Important Person gravitas to read Minerva's thoughts. "Normally the parents would prefer work in the fields, or apprenticeships, over formal education, as soon as the child learns their way around livestock or tools. Little by little, but all the more sure for that, we are changing."

In between dealing with the shy but persistent demands of her charges, Miho quickly outlined the curriculum of the school: mornings were taken up by lessons for all ages. Come noon, the younger children would go down to the village for lunch, accompanied by their teachers, before returning for afternoon classes. The older students were dismissed at lunch; optional classes were available should they wish, which about half of them did. The rest returned home to learn their respective crafts or help out around the house.

Alice was thus in a peculiar situation: by age, she should return with the younger students, but by her education level, she fit far better with the more advanced classes. Enduring the afternoon's simple lessons would probably bore her to distraction.

"It's all a work in progress," Miho admitted. "We'll probably straighten out all the details after a few more years."

"You have decided to continue teaching here?" Minerva asked.

"If Ryotarou lets me, but there shouldn't be any problems there." A broad grin. "It'll give me plenty of practice with children, after all."

"What about you, Alice?" Aya said. "Are you interested in enrolling in Kamishirasawa-san's school?"

Alice indicated, with a wiggle of her hand, that the answer was yet unknown, and she would need a few more days and classes to decide.

"Fair enough," Minerva said. "At least there should be no objection to a shopping trip for stationery?" None were raised, and Alice seemed tolerant of the idea. "Aya-san, Miho-san, if you'll excuse us?"

Aya nodded. "We shall meet you back at the mansion."

As she departed, Minerva gave a small wave to the two servants loitering in the background, prompting them to come to some sort of attention. Since Aya would be staying at the schoolhouse with Miho, their responsibilities lay here. Minerva could not help her relief at being free from the polite, unobtrusive, and yet nigh-constant surveillance, even if the target of their watchfulness was not Minerva herself.

Minerva and Alice picked up some food on the way to the shops, to serve as their walking lunch. Chicken skewers, slathered in a dark sticky savoury sauce, putting Minerva in mind of the usual fairground foods, strong of taste and dangerous to moderation. Alice was perfectly content with this meal, attacking it with vigour now that she was temporarily assured not to lose any more milk teeth.

Their purchases included yet more notepaper, pencils, and a Japanese dictionary; Alice's weak subject at the moment was that language. Books to practice her reading comprehension skills on would presumably be available in the Hieda mansion, but Minerva also added a couple of collections of children's short stories as supplementary material.

The shopping trip turned general from there, after Alice had shown an interest in some soft fabrics, suitable for making doll clothes. This led to a congenial discussion with the shopkeeper on needlework, the cautious purchase of some short lengths of lace, directions to other stores of interest, and an afternoon spent most agreeably.

Almost without realizing it, they found themselves at Kirisame's store. The oddities and curios that were stocked within fascinated Alice, who flitted among the shelves, her attention caught by one trinket after another.

"Be careful with that," Minerva instructed. "If you break anything, you'll have to pay for it out of your own pocket."

"It's all right, Margatroid-san," Maria said indulgently. "I'm sure the girl..."

"Alice. She's under my care, at least for now."

"A lovely name. I'm sure Alice will be careful."

Alice nodded quickly, and clasped her hands behind her back to show willing.

"Was there anything in particular you were looking for?" Maria asked, diplomatically avoiding the subject of Alice's precise status with regards to Minerva. "I've managed to track down a few more of the items you wanted, but it will take some time before they arrive here. The disruption of the trade shipments to the village was not kind to business."

"Disruption?"

Maria shrugged. "It started about a few months or so back. Something about new bureaucratic rules on goods travelling through the country. I never could get a straight answer from the village business association, but I think it had much to do with taxes, or smuggling. Possibly both. Whatever the reason, the shipments haven't recovered."

Before Minerva's arrival to Gensokyo, but not by much. A coincidence?

Minerva shifted away from the counter, as more people entered the shop. "Well, I'll not keep you from your business," she said amiably. "I will browse around to see if anything catches my eye."

Kirisame's store was spacious but inconsistently lit; Minerva secreted herself in a shadowed corner, ostensibly inspecting a line of luck charms, but keeping an eye on Alice's movements, as well as the other customers. Most of these were not particularly notable, being men and women of the village looking for something or other for their homes or themselves. Conversation pieces, from all over the world.

One of them, a young lad of twelve or thirteen, was surely no customer. In fact, he slouched through the store in the manner of disaffected adolescents everywhere, but roused himself to give a quiet, warm greeting when he reached Maria. Maria, for her part, returned the affection, and the boy proceeded into the back of the shop with the easy familiarity of...

"Her son," said a voice beside Minerva in English.

Minerva set down the small silver handbell she had been holding with a sort of steely resignation. "I hope you realize that you have probably wasted both your time and mine with these charades, Miss Hearn."

Violet Hearn smiled easily, shifting her folded parasol to the crook of her arm. "Hardly a waste. I admit I was moderately alarmed when you failed to arrive at the capital as instructed." There was the slightest hint of emphasis on the last few words. "However, you have made your way to Gensokyo without undue delay, and so matters are proceeding as originally planned."

"Were you waiting for me long? Or did you send a representative in your stead?"

"The latter. I'm afraid Miss Aya got wind of my schemes, and arranged to intercept you before my representative could react. The difference is trivial, and perhaps it is better this way. You have a great ally with the Hieda family, Miss Margatroid."

Minerva turned to face Violet. "And you? What are you, Miss Hearn? Are you my benefactor, my ally, my rival, my foe, my puppeteer?"

"I am, as I always have been, my own counsel," Violet said, picking up a porcelain figurine of a cat. Some quirk of the manufacture had given it two tails; Minerva was not certain if this was an error or deliberate. "But know that from the beginning, even to the end, I will do anything to save this land. In that, if nothing else, I am firm of purpose."

"I have met your monsters," Minerva said. "Your youkai. It was only a fairy, simple and weak, but not something the humans here need assistance with. Even now, they don't seem to act as though they are under threat of destruction. What do they truly fear?"

Violet sighed, and replaced the figurine on the shelf. Minerva had the impression that she had failed some kind of minor test. "Fear takes on many forms, Miss Margatroid. Yes, the people of Gensokyo are cheerful, honest, and not given to wild panic. And yet have you not already heard of their warnings and advice? Do not venture too far out of the village. Never travel singly. Always have a friend walking beside you. Should you meet something not quite the same as yourself, be polite and respectful. Be wary of giving offense, however inadvertent. There is nothing to fear, if you follow the rules, but ask yourself, Miss Margatroid: why are these rules there?"

Minerva was silent for a moment. "And you still require me to save the humans from monsters?" she finally said.

"That is, indeed, what I require you to focus your efforts on doing," Violet agreed. "I will endeavour to provide assistance when I can, now that I am back in Gensokyo."

"A gracious offer, but, alas, suspect."

"I pray that you will accept my help in the spirit it was given," Violet said without hint of offense. "Although I understand that Miss Aya will most likely not approve of my interference. She is a cautious one, and rightly so. I will leave you your research, and its conclusions, so that you may be certain that what you know is correct and true. For now, I shall simply point you in a useful direction, and say that it may be productive to explore the dark forest not far from the village."

"To what end."

"There may be interesting discoveries found there," Violet said. "To whit, certain mushrooms which are native to Gensokyo, and Gensokyo only. Examining them and their properties may reveal further insights into the nature of this land; I believe you have already initiated your own experiments in this regard, and I hope this will hasten the process."

Minerva considered this. "I will keep it in mind, and thank you for the information, Miss Hearn."

"You are most welcome. However, do beware of the forest's mushrooms; they are of Gensokyo, and all that implies. Do not bring along your young ward, for instance," Violet said, glancing significantly at Alice.

"I had not considered doing so," Minerva said stiffly.

Violet bowed her head. "My apologies if I have given offense, Miss Margatroid. I wish you all the best in your task, both the immediate and the greater."

"A task that, for some reason, you could not accomplish yourself," Minerva noted.

Violet bobbed in a brief shadow of a curtsey. "But I am not the greatest magician in the world, am I? Do excuse me, Miss Margatroid, and good day." With that, she swept out of the store, humming a nameless tune to herself.

[Iced Fairy]

Interesting.  So that's where "Violet" has been.  That explains a lot, and opens up some more questions.

A great chapter as always.  I find myself caught between wanting more detail of the little side treks and a desire to see the plot continue along.  I'm eagerly awaiting the next update.

[nolrai2]

I love your characters.  Haida's condensation.  Violet's edge-case-ness. The village.

[Sect]

Nice little SMT reference there. And "Violet" is just as irritating as ever.

[Esifex]

I'm interested in how we still have yet to hear/see any actual dialogue come from Alice, rather than just summations of whatever she says. Very interesting way to keep her in the story without spreading the attention around too much.

[Yayifications]

Minerva was beginning to get very tired of carefully inspecting every mushroom she found, for the forest she was exploring had an astounding number of mushrooms, of every size and shape.


Minerva was beginning to get very tired of carefully inspecting every mushroom she found, for the forest she was exploring had an astounding number of mushrooms, of every size and shape. Some of these she recognized as specimens found elsewhere in the world, and thus not particularly interesting; some were otherwise familiar, but had some unusual property or other that might or might not have been significant. The latter went into a small sack Minerva carried, securely bound to the belt at her waist.

She was considering in her own mind whether the pleasure of simply sweeping everything she encountered into her sack would be worth the bother of having to pick it all apart later, when suddenly a white rabbit ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Minerva think it so very much out of the way to hear the rabbit mutter some litany of complaint under its breath. Much later, it would have occurred to Minerva that she ought to have wondered about this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural.

But when the rabbit actually took a silver pocket-watch out of its pink dress, and looked at it, and hurried on, Minerva shot to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a pocket-watch or a dress of any colour to take it out of.

The youkai would certainly have noticed Minerva by now; she was not making any effort to conceal herself, even as the forest surrounding her was full of nooks and shadows and hiding-places that interfered with lines of sight and senses of direction. And yet, the youkai seemed more concerned with keeping some appointment, for which it might very well be late. The good Reverend Dodgson had never seemed so prophetic.

Minerva scrambled towards the path the youkai had taken, half expecting to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole. Of course, Minerva was already in the Wonderland of Gensokyo; where would such a hole lead? Back to the mundane world of arithmetic and grammar lessons for little Alice, but Minerva was too large and too grown-up to fit into any rabbit-hole a young child might have fallen into.

The youkai could be seen in glimpses and hints, at the very periphery of Minerva's vision, for every time she turned, the youkai was no longer there. It was as quick and agile as its lagomorphic roots would suggest, and Minerva cursed as she became entangled in some tenacious underbrush. Every delay, however minor, would have been opportunity enough for the youkai to make a clean escape, but it seemed content to toy with the outlander witch who had trespassed onto its territory.

In her apprenticeship as a witch, Minerva had learned the basics of woodland tracking. She had been an indifferent student at best, city-born and city-bred, relying more on simple spells and charms to solve any immediate problems in this area of expertise. None of these spells would be useful in the heat of the chase, and Minerva was loathe to let the youkai go, now that she had seen it. She could imagine Aya's needle-sharp jibes even now...

The kerchief wrapped around her nose and mouth to filter the spores from the forest's mushrooms hampered her exertions; she pulled it off, trusting that the speed of her passage would hopefully protect her from the more inconvenient aspects of the fungoid infestation. The air was almost hazy with spores, giving it a thick, unpleasant smell that Minerva could not easily place; it put her in mind of too many old but unforgotten things, from the choking smoke of London's factories to the crowded stench of the Billingsgate fish market.

At least the youkai was making its presence known. Pink was not a useful colour to wear in the dark forest, and the youkai made full use of its visibility to dart in and out of Minerva's vision, even as she blundered through the undergrowth, clumsy and noisy and increasingly put-upon.

With her frustration mounting, it took just a bit too long for Minerva to realize that her foot, expecting solid ground, had encountered empty air instead.

Fortunately, the pit was not too deep. It seemed hastily-dug, and Minerva sustained no injuries, save to her pride. A child's trap, and the youkai had led her straight into it.

The floor of the pit had been liberally carpeted with mushrooms, and Minerva's fall had raised impressive clouds of spores. Minerva sucked in great lungfuls in surprise, hacking and coughing as she climbed to her feet again. The magic of Gensokyo had imbued these mushrooms with far more potency than the usual psilocybin, and judging from the way her vision swam, Minerva had ingested rather too much at once. She crouched, wheezing, waiting for her balance to return.

The youkai was nowhere to be seen. Minerva laid even odds on whether it had finally bored of the game of hide-and-seek, or if it was busily constructing new traps for the funny foreigner to fall into.

Taking stock of her surroundings, Minerva found that she had arrived not far from an unexpectedly sunlit clearing, in which a decrepit-lookng house stood in the midst of uncut grass.

"Curiouser and curiouser," Minerva murmured, stepping cautiously towards the house. It looked as though it had been transplanted directly from the English countryside; hardly the sort of thing one would expect to see in the middle of a gloomy forest in Gensokyo, Japan.

Where had this house come from? Why was it here? Was this the abandoned dwelling of one of Gensokyo's former youkai hunters? Why would it have been built in the middle of a forest?

Minerva stopped just short of the house, spotting some markings on the ground. The grass had been bent here, in a wide pattern that extended all around. Minerva was put in mind of those mysterious drawings on crop fields that caused many a stir back in England, even after they had been revealed to be the work of capricious weather and imaginative pranksters. True sorcerors usually had far better locales to practice their arts than the middle of a cornfield.

So: Minerva had lost a youkai, but found a house. Exchanging one mystery for another worked out to be an equitable trade.

The interior of the house was brighter than it seemed from the outside, albeit still dimly-lit. Most of the illumination came from the beam of sunlight shining cheerily through a large hole that had been punched through the roof and the upper floor, as though by a giant fist.

Minerva picked her way through the aged debris cluttering the floor, casting the occasional nervous glance upwards at every ominous creak; it would be particularly ignoble for her adventures in the Orient to be cut short by the collapse of an architectural anomaly. Fine particles danced in the light, and Minerva caught the scent of something sharp mingling with the ever-present spores. Wood smoke, perhaps, or rusting iron? The oxidization of some substance newly exposed to air, if Minerva's experiences with alchemy held true.

Up the decaying staircase, which creaked with every step. The upper level of the house held several rooms, each barren of furniture, interest, or youkai. Bedrooms, guest rooms, servant's quarters, and lumber rooms, no doubt.

A window frame had been knocked loose, and the lighter colour of the wood around the damage indicated it had been done recently. Minerva peered outside, down at the patterns in the grass that girded the house. Taking out her notebook, she spent a few moments sketching the salient points, annotating when she could. Something had happened on this location not long ago, that much was certain; the patterns on the grass had not yet succumbed to the elements. New patterns, old house, new damage to the window. Clues accumulated, but hypotheses formed much more slowly.

Pondering this latest development, Minerva stuffed her notebook back into her coat pocket. She took a few steps back, and promptly fell through the floor.

It may have been unfair to blame the youkai for this, Minerva reflected, when she next regained consciousness. Time and rotting wood would have had the same effects, waiting for someone suitably unwary to place their weight on that exact weak spot.

How much time had passed? Minerva appeared to be in the cellar of the house, illuminated only by the faint glow of, unsurprisingly, more fungus. The bioluminescence lent an eldritch glow to the air, casting unnatural shadows that crept along the edges of consciousness. Matters were not improved by the revelation, when Minerva finally roused herself to climb out of the hole she had made, of a sea of staring eyes.

Minerva had finally gone mad, in this land of fantasy and illusion. It was a small comfort to know that she had picked an eminently appropriate place to do so.

In fact, there were several advantages to this situation. Minerva brightened, when she considered that she would probably meet an untimely and instructive end to whatever terrors still lurked in the dark. Not only would this save everyone a lengthy and expensive repatriation to England and Bedlam, it would also serve as an important object lesson to any other would-be youkai hunters.

Best be up and about it, then. Minerva curtsied towards the eyes, felt that this was somehow insufficient, and turned it into a dramatic bow, swooping low. When she came back up, the eyes had disappeared.

Minerva was in the cellar, but it was not the same cellar she had just emerged from. It looked very much like it, and may have passed for it in an uncertain light, but this one was clean and free of fungal influence. An oil lamp in the corner cast its feeble illumination across a bare wooden floor, free of any blemishes from someone falling two storeys. The ceiling appeared to be quite pristine, and missing any obvious holes.

Minerva rotated slowly, surveying her surroundings. Egress could be achieved through a small doorway in an inconspicuous corner, leading to a stairwell lit by more oil lamps, rather better than the empty cellar.

The stairs led to a corridor in the Oriental style, complete with those impractical paper sliding doors Minerva had associated with that architecture. The European manor was clearly somewhere else, along with Minerva's good sense. Minerva wished them the benefit of each other's company.

She slid open one of the sliding doors, only to be confronted by another set. Opening this as well revealed yet another, and another, and another. Each antechamber was lit by identical lamps; no other furniture could be discerned.

"What manner of fool would build his home in such a pointless and infuriating manner?" Minerva said aloud. Her voice echoed oddly down the endless corridors, the paper dividing the rooms softly rustling their assent.

More paper doors were opened to reveal even more, and Minerva was no closer to her ultimate destination, wherever that may have been. Occasionally the path branched; every door only presented its copy beyond, and Minerva found herself wandering at random.

Somewhere else, Minerva must be lost in her own mind, and her newfound insanity was what allowed her to perceive the illusion of Progress, for that must be what the endless rooms and corridors represented. Japanese style, to signify her Predicament, being trapped halfway across the world from both civilization and reason.

As derangements went, this was less than satisfactory.

"In another moment down went Alice after it," Minerva sang, "never once considering how in the world she was to get out again." What else had happened, down that rabbit-hole? Snatches of rhyme and dialogue floated past Minerva's consciousness. It would make the tedium of opening the endless doors far less disagreeable, at least. "Do cats eat bats? Do bats eat cats? Do cats eat bats? Do bats eat-"

Minerva froze, her hand on the next door. Had that been a meow? No, it had sounded like a startled feline yelp. The hypothetical cat must have been surprised by Minerva's presence here. If Minerva had to guess, she would have placed the cat not more than one more door away.

She listened intently, but no sounds of little paws scampering away was evident. The cat must still be frozen in astonishment, waiting for the scary noisy human to depart.

Even a cat would be a tolerable companion, in this maze of doors. Minerva boldly threw open the door, and was immediately struck by a wall of heat and noise.

Before she could retreat, a wave of bodies pushed her forward into their midst, sending her hither and thither like a piece of jetsam on a roiling sea. Minerva caught impressions of revelry, laughter, sweat, alcohol, torches, and a constant booming drumbeat that thrummed out no rhythm she was familiar with. An opan pavilion of some sort was being paraded in the near distance. The entire procession seemed to be taking place in a large cavern of some sort, which seemed to be the site of an enormous subterranean city.

Someone pressed an object into her hand; Minerva clutched it grimly, hugging it to herself lest it be snatched out of her grasp by the motion of the crowd. When she was finally ejected into a pocket of calm, she turned it over in her hands. It was an irregular shape wrapped in a sort of parchment. She carefully unwrapped it, absently folding the parchment over and putting it in a pocket.

The package turned out to be a mask, bright red, depicting a fierce warrior with an extraordinarily long nose.

Everyone was wearing such a mask. And as Minerva stared, the pocket of calm she had found herself in gradually rippled outwards, silencing the revelers, who all turned to stare back with varying degrees of inebriation. Eight hundred bright red noses pointed accusingly at the intruder in their midst.

The man on the pavilion stood. From the luxurious state of his robes, he must be a very important person. Basso syllables rumbled forth, extending vowels to the point of unintelligibility, at least for Minerva's textbook-learned Japanese. This continued for some time.

Finally, the man stopped, and seemed to wait for some sort of response.

Minerva glanced down at the mask in her hand. "I don't know what you're so stuffy about," she said in English, "but I assume this Caucus-Race is over."

The crowd erupted in outraged howls about half a second before Minerva hurled the mask at the man on the pavilion with unerring aim. Then she ducked and ran into the nearest house, barreling through the open doorway, slamming the door shut behind her, and-

Silence. Minerva stood, breathing heavily, in the maze of doors once more.

There were no signs of an angry mob surging forth to burn the witch. Carefully, Minerva cracked open the door she had just come through, and saw only another antechamber beyond.

If that had been a hallucination, it had been a very convincing one. Minerva could still smell the rice wine and smoke, a lingering memory. And in her pocket, the piece of parchment that had been wrapped around the mask.

On the off chance that the parchment contained some message, Minerva unfolded it and smoothed it out. In the light of the oil lamps, images began to play across the page in a shadowy dance.

Minerva blinked. Moving pictures on a static piece of parchment was certainly something new. Evidently taking leave of her senses had made her imagination much more interesting.

Minerva rubbed at the parchment, and the pictures rippled at her touch. She flicked at a likely spot, and the image coalesced into a sketch of what looked like a pocket-watch. Where had Minerva seen such a pocket-watch before?

The parchment abruptly blanked out. No amount of shaking or rubbing was able to resummon the images from before.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Since neither cat nor mob were likely to make another appearance, Minerva stowed the parchment, and steadily began making her way through the maze once more.

"And what comes after?" she said aloud. "A wise old Caterpillar, no doubt, perched on a mushroom and asking-"

"Who are you?"

Minerva's head snapped up, and she stared at the large black raven that had perched on the next doorway. "I beg your pardon?"

"Who," the raven repeated, "are you?"

Minerva curtsied. "Minerva Margatroid, if it pleases you, Sir Raven. Or even if it doesn't please you; I can't help being who I am, I'm afraid."

The raven clicked its beak twice, and took wing. Minerva watched it fly back the way she had come.

"The caterpillar would have been more useful," she complained. "At least it would have told me which side of the mushroom would make me bigger. Maybe all of this would make more sense from a different point of view."

The response floated back, making the paper surroundings rustle oddly. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" Minerva countered. The paper responded, its rustlings forming the edges of words that remained out of hearing.

Disgruntled, Minerva stepped through the doorway, and found herself in a land of winter.

Or so it seemed at first. Gravel crunched underfoot, and Minerva stared around herself in surprise at what looked like a tree-lined path that extended to infinity.

Which was impossible, so Minerva revised her estimates; it was just a very, very long path, perhaps several hundred miles long, more than enough for the human eye and mind to accept as close to infinity. From the cherry trees on either side of the path, it was still sometime in summer, but the air had a chill that seeped to the bone.

A faint haze, almost like morning mist, hung in the air, failing to hide the bright glow of several points of light floating towards Minerva. Since this did not seem to be close to a marsh, Minerva doubted that these were the result of gas igniting. True fairy fire, then; quite suitable for Gensokyo.

The lights surrounded Minerva, staying just out of reach. Whenever Minerva tried to touch one, she always found that the lights were further away than they seemed, forever beyond her grasp.

The trees whispered in the breeze. The fairy fire danced along, and Minerva could hear the words beyond hearing, a jaunty little tune sung without music, set to the rhythm of her footfalls on the gravel.

O how could it have come to this
After all is done and said
Now we've got a silly English witch
Lost in the land of the dead

She thinks she's a youkai hunter now
Some kind of mystical detective
Won't anyone tell her please
That clearly her mind's gone defective

"Oh, be quiet," Minerva muttered. The singers seemed to find this hilarious, and bobbed along even more excitedly.

Japan! Japan!
Oh, what could she have been thinking
To travel so very far from home
On this ship quite obviously sinking

How doth the little magician
Know when she is done?
For you are old, Miss Minerva
And you're spoiling all the fun

An especially bold fairy fire darted before Minerva, and revealed itself to be a single eye, hanging placidly in space. Minerva found herself quite unsurprised at this, as the eye droned solo.

There once was a witch named Minerva
Who thought everyone would love her
We'll soon let her know
This isn't her show
And she'll finally get what she deserve-r

The rest of the lights joined in the whispered chorus.

She has her magic, her book, her name
Even that little girl-child so dear
But sadly, in the end she'll lose it all
There's nothing left for her, we fear

She knows very well by now
Pride goeth before a fall
And yet she still claims to be
The greatest magician of all

But stay! A word of pity
For the witch so very brave
To come all this way only to die
In a forgotten, lonely grave...

The wisps faded away with the mist, as Minerva stopped before a tree much larger than the others. It was girded by a gigantic, truly ancient rope, as thick as her waist, with half-rotted and illegible paper charms hung on it, spaced out at regular intervals. From the size of the tree, Minerva should have spotted it long before arriving; the fact that she had not done so was, once again, unsurprising.

At the foot of the tree stood an elegant coffin, upright. Beside the coffin, a grave had been neatly dug out, complete with a granite headstone in the shape of a cross. On the headstone perched a large black raven, preening its feathers.

Minerva approached the coffin, and read the discreet brass plate attached on the lid. There was no name; only a location, and a date.

East Hampshire, August 1867

There was what seemed to be the faintest of ticking sounds emerging from the coffin.

"Sir Raven," Minerva said.

The raven swivelled an eyeball towards her.

"Say 'nevermore'."

The raven gagged in disgust, and flew off into the distant skies.

Minerva paced around the coffin. It was really very well-made, of a sturdy dark wood. Unlike most coffins, however, this one did not seem to obey the laws of reality; when Minerva opened it up, she could see an expanse of forest stretching out inside.

A doorway in particularly poor taste, apparently.

Minerva stepped inside the coffin, and closed the lid behind her.

This was obviously not that fateful day in 1867, no matter what that brass plate said. The forest was one of the Oriental style, with long, thin stalks of bamboo serving the role of proper trees; therefore, Minerva deduced that she was still in Japan. Guided by the incessant ticking sound, Minerva set off, knowing not where her destination lay.

The coffin-entrance was nowhere to be found now. All that surrounded her was bamboo. Clearly she had to find what she was looking for, or wander around this forest lost until she starved to death or met an especially ferocious youkai. These incentives quickened her pace.

The ticking finally stopped, just as Minerva pushed through a bamboo thicket to witness a rabbit youkai in a pink dress in the final stages of setting up a pitfall trap.

Even now that Minerva had gotten a good look at her, she could not give a more detailed description much later. It was as though the image of a young girl in a pink dress was superimposed over the image of a rabbit, in the manner of one of those stereoscopic optical illusions that were in vogue in Europe. Seen one way, she was a girl. Shift your perspective ever so slightly, and she was a rabbit. Rabbit and girl occupied the same space, and which she was depended on how you looked at her.

The rabbit youkai had frozen in shock at being discovered in the midst of trap-making, which was all that allowed Minerva to leap forward to tackle the youkai in time.

The youkai recovered almost instantly, lashing out with a powerful kick that slammed into Minerva's gut, knocking the wind out of her. Minerva's flailing hands grabbed onto something, and she yanked hard.

Something snapped, and suddenly the youkai was free, as Minerva fell back with her unexpected prize. But there was no time to see what it was, as she fell into the pitfall the youkai had just dug, except she was falling much farther than the pit's depth would have allowed. The world shrank to a narrow circle of light as a hundred thousand eyes blinked open around her, every one whispering a song.

Poor Minerva, lost to rhyme
And reason, base and sublime
Hasn't got a clue
What she should do
Tick-tock, you're running out of time...

Much later, Minerva finally realized, staring up at the full moon as she lay on her back at the edge of the forest, that she had not, in fact, gone mad. She was still quite sane, and as such she still had responsibilities, such as figuring out a way to become some sort of moderately competent youkai hunter, as she had been tasked to do. This was a job that needed doing, regardless of the throbbing headache pounding through Minerva's skull.

The events of the past several hours seemed as unreal as a fever-dream, and Minerva would have dismissed it all as a mushroom-induced instance of such, if it had not been for the silver pocketwatch clutched in her hand, quietly ticking away.

When Minerva finally reached the Hieda mansion, Miho was waiting for her, worry written clear on her face. "Where have you been, Margatroid-san?" she cried. "We thought you had been taken by the youkai! What happened to you? What have you been doing?"

"Exploring the area," Minerva said, "meeting the locals, and partaking of their fine traditions. May I come in now? I find myself in dire need of a bath."

[nolrai2]

Hhm

[Iced Fairy]

That was a very nice chapter.  Thank you fro reminding me of the stranger side of Gensoukyo.

And Tewi's gonna be pissed that she lost her pocketwatch.  Those things have to be hard to find.

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

The Alice quote/paraphrase in the narration was yes.

[Esifex]

And almost spot-on, too. Nice touch!
Is Sir Raven an homage to the Discworld raven, Quoth?
'I don't say the 'N' word so just put it out of your mind!'

[Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin]

Actually, my first thought was of when a talking raven gets asked to say "nevermore" at one point in American Gods. (It replies, "F*** you!")

[Nao]

Your story is very interesting!
I'm looking forword to reading next chapter.

[ninryu]

Best chapter so far. I can't wait for the next one.

[Yayifications]

"It's just a pocket-watch, isn't it?" Miho asked, watching the silver glint in the sunlight. She turned the watch over in her hands, inspecting the casing. "Does it open up? I don't see any keyhole to wind it up."

"Mm."

"I mean, everything that you've described sounds a little unbelievable. No offense, of course. But since you brought this back, that means something did happen to you, right? You don't just find pocket-watches in the middle of the forest. At least none in this condition. Is this real silver, do you think? It doesn't seem to have tarnished from age."

"Mm."

Miho peered worriedly. "Margatroid-san? Are you feeling all right? Should I call for the doctor?"

"Hm? Oh, er, yes, I'm quite fine," Minerva said, startled out of her thoughts. A short, distracted silence occurred as her memory, running excellently without supervision, supplied the one-sided conversation of the past few minutes. "I haven't a clue about the make of the watch, I'm afraid. Metallurgy is not my metier."

"What, really?" Miho waved her hands in a vaguely mystical motion. "I thought alchemists were all about that thing, you know, about turning lead into gold."

"That... well, it is certainly possible," Minerva conceded. "I know of a very few methods, in theory, although I've never had the chance to put them into practice myself. All of them are highly inefficient, however, and hardly worth the effort and expense. You'll notice how many purported alchemists of the old stars-and-moons stripe are always going around trying to raise funds, which puts into question their ability to create their own income."

"Stars and moons... like the costume in your luggage?" Miho said brightly.

"It's, uh, expected of me," Minerva said. "Or at least of people like me." Witches, wizards, magicians, and other charlatans.

"So you can't tell if this watch is silver..."

Minerva nodded. "Not without causing noticeable damage to it, at any rate. And I am reluctant to do so, lest the owner demands its return." Miho handed the watch back to her, and Minerva slipped it into a pocket.

"Wasn't the owner a youkai?"

"Yes. Do think about that." Minerva settled back in her chair. Japanese tradition seemed to have something against the concept of chairs, which had posed a minor problem when Minerva had announced her intention to convalesce on whatever was the equivalent of the veranda here.

Two monstrously sturdy chairs had thus been brought out of dusty storage and dragged to the indicated location, accompanied by an equally hideous garden table. Miho perched at the edge of her chair, practically vibrating with excitement at this unusual arrangement, while Minerva had gradually sunk deeper into torpor, letting Miho's chatter flow cleanly over her.

The gathered Hieda family had been astonished, albeit in their own separate ways, at Minerva's survival in the dark forest outside the village. Her tale of strange lands and experiences had been dismissed as Just Another Incident that happened to foolhardy travellers who strayed where they should not have.

The description of that strange chilly land with the giant tree had caused significant consternation, however. The servants had immediately fled, and the Hieda patriarch's ever-present frown had grown even more disapproving. Order had only been restored after Aya reluctantly performed some ritual that involved a white kimono, copious amounts of salt, and, after the first embarrassing attempt, a small stepladder for Aya.

Minerva could easily guess the purpose of the ritual, and had formally apologized for introducing spiritual impurities into the home of her hosts. This had won her a grudging nod from the elder Hieda, and a visit from the local village doctor to treat her lungs, still reeling from excessive spore inhalation.

"Eye of newt?" Minerva had said weakly, as the doctor puttered off to grind up a mysterious powder.

"We tend to eschew the use of unproven ingredients in our medicine," Aya had replied. With curiosity: "Does eye of newt and toe of frog and all the rest actually work?"

"Not to my knowledge," Minerva admitted. "Or at least no more than their component ingredients, easily obtainable elsewhere in greater quantities. Newt's eyes tend not to be sufficiently large."

The resulting concoction, mixed with water, had been predictably foul. A week's further dosage had been prescribed, along with plenty of rest. Later, Minerva had managed to task a convenient servant with fetching a list of ingredients for the potion. Anything that tasted so bad had to be doing something impressive to her system.

Alice had been concerned over Minerva's health, fetching pillows and hot water and generally fretting noisily enough for Minerva to gently order her out of the room while she got some rest. Minerva did have to admit that the impromptu puppet-shows Alice held at her bedside were entertaining.

"How did Alice come up with that little story? The one about the love triangle involving two brothers and a fickle woman?" Minerva wondered aloud. She was gratified by Miho's guilty flinch.

"Ah, well, the children like to tell stories," Miho attempted. "Alice doesn't say much, but she listens very well. And children do pick up on what their parents gossip about, even if they don't quite understand... I hope Alice changed the names at least."

"Unless the village has two brothers named Teapot and Writing-Ink feuding for the love of Lady Overcoat, I would assume so. Where is Alice, by the way?"

"Pestering Aya about something or other, last I saw her," Miho said. "I couldn't tell what it was, except... yes? What is it?"

This last was to a maidservant nervously hovering at the edge of the invisible boundary that had surrounded Minerva since her return. Minerva had gleaned the impression that the salt-ritual had not been sufficient to cleanse her body and soul of whatever impurities it had picked up during her sojourn into the house of doors, but nobody dared to ask the foreign witch to undergo the full performance.

The maidservant ducked her head in a quick bow, and whispered something to Miho. Miho nodded, and rose. "Margatroid-san, there are more deliveries for you- actually, it's probably best that you stay here and get some more rest."

"No, it's all right," Minerva said, rising as well. "I might forget the use of my legs if I indulge further in sloth. Besides, I'd appreciate some stimulation to prevent rotting of the mind, as well as body."

The deliveryman was Seiji, once again. The little gathering had gained two more members in Aya and Alice, who had wandered over to see what the fuss was about.

"I see you're still alive," Seiji said cheerfully as he unburdened himself of packages.

"And upright, ambulatory, and in possession of my faculties," Minerva returned. "What had the betting pool been?"

"Ah, that would be telling. I did make a pretty profit, however. On your safe return, of course."

"Of course. With your permission, Aya-san... that one goes to my room, that one to the shed outside, and this..." Minerva unfolded the wrapping. "Oh, yes. This is a present for you, Aya-san."

Aya gingerly accepted the offering. "A hand-bell," she said flatly.

"I did mention it the last time, did I not?"

"You did." Aya gave the bell a tentative tinkle. The sound rang clear and true. "My thanks. I'm sure it will be useful, in some strange, unasked-for circumstance that would seem highly improbable at any other time."

"Such things happen a lot," Miho opined.

"And this is an improbable land," Minerva agreed. "Is that all, Seiji-san?"

"That's all for the day, yes," Seiji said. "There's just one more... ah, Alice-chan?"

Alice had retreated behind Aya when Seiji arrived. Upon being directly addressed, she hissed in alarm, and darted towards Minerva.

"Look, Alice-chan," Seiji said, crouching down, "I promised you I'd show you something nice, right? Here, look at this."

The gathered group duly considered the item in Seiji's hand.

"It's a very nice block of wood," Miho said encouragingly.

"No, that's not- well, okay, maybe it is. But that's not all it is," Seiji said. "Is there somewhere I can work with..."

"I'll be heading back to my work now," Aya sighed. "Please do stay for some tea while you're here, Kirisame-san. I'm sure Margatroid-san and Miho will be happy to have you here."

"You can join us outside," Minerva said. "We've set up a nice little tea party out on the, er..."

"Over here," Miho said, steering Seiji and Alice to where the garden table had been set up. "There's a great view of the courtyard, which is really terrific, and it's been the pride of the estate for many generations..."

Minerva caught up with Aya as the latter headed back to her study, still pondering the hand-bell. "Aya-san, did you manage to..."

"It was simple enough, yes," Aya said. "The term you want is 'tengu'. They're quite well-known in our mythology, and you might have seen a depiction of them yourself while browsing our library."

"Tengu... er..."

"Literally 'heavenly dog'. I'll write down the characters for you later. They are not always derived from canines, but are more often avian in appearance. The extended nose is an interpretation of a beak, for example. They are seen nowadays more as protectors and guardians, rather than actively malevolent, but they are fiercely... how would you say it? Territorial? They do not take trespassers lightly."

"What of the festival they were holding?"

Aya shrugged. "I have no basis for speculation. Many festivals are held for all sorts of reasons, including simply as a celebration of life. Your description was vague enough that it could have been anything, from the birth of an important heir to a ceremony for the gods."

"So I might have stumbled into some sort of version of Sunday service? It's a little rowdy for prayer, isn't it?"

"We do not sit quietly in a chapel to worship, Margatroid-san. When we wish to thank our gods, we dance."

When Minerva rejoined Miho and the others, Alice had evidently lost her wariness towards Seiji. Instead, the two of them were seated close together on the wooden step facing the courtyard. Alice was watching intently as Seiji expertly used a bewildering array of tools to carve out what seemed like a wooden doll's head.

"It's impressive, isn't it?" Miho said. "I'm going to get more tea. I'll be right back."

Minerva leaned in closer to the workshop in session. "I didn't know you could do that, Seiji-san. You don't look like you're capable of such skill."

Seiji paused in his woodwork long enough to direct a pained look at Minerva. "What did you think I was, anyway?"

"Well, I assumed you loitered around Maria-san's store until she sends you on errands..."

"I'm a carpenter," Seiji retorted, with mock outrage. "A really good one, see? I do all sorts of work, but I specialize in the little stuff. The fiddly bits that nobody else can do. I just help out at the store because, well..." He sobered. "Maria needs all the help she can get."

"Um." Heedless of her own dignity, Minerva clambered down to sit beside Alice. The little girl barely noticed her presence, focusing instead on the doll-carving. "Do you make dolls often?"

"Sure," Seiji replied. "Lots of them. Plenty of ways too. I've got a kiln behind my workshop; the old master said it was a gift from someone-or-other, and left it to me. So I can do porcelain too; learned the trick from someone who'd been to the West. Ah, but I've never been good at sewing, so you'll have to ask Maria for that."

"Is there a high demand for dolls in Gensokyo?"

"Hm, not higher than the rest of Japan, I'd think. You wouldn't believe the kind of orders I get when the Hina-matsuri comes about. People trying to outdo each other in ostentation..."

"I'm sorry, Hina-matsuri?"

"A day for girls," Miho interjected, setting the tea tray beside them. Minerva reflected that at least the Japanese kept their floors clean enough to eat off of, should the need arise. "It's on the third day of the third month, and it's full of dolls, all different kinds. Some are put on display, some are for performances, and some are... nagashi-bina? Curse dolls?"

"You don't stick pins in them, do you?" Minerva said in alarm. Alice glanced up with interest at this change of topic.

"No, no, it's more, um, making dolls out of paper to carry curses and bad fortune away. Or set them on fire to burn up, sometimes."

"Oh. Yes, I can see how that could work." Another familiar variation on sympathetic magic; wherever humans created objects in their image, there would be rituals to take advantage of that resemblance.

Seiji set his tools down. "That's about all I can do for now, Alice-chan. No, don't touch it yet! Wouldn't want you to get splinters. Sandpaper and paint's back at my workshop. But you do get the basic idea, don't you? The trick is looking at the wood, and seeing the doll inside."

Alice nodded eagerly.

"I can give the doll to you once it's finished," Seiji added slyly. "It might take a while, but since the basic work is done, it should be pretty soon. What do you think?"

"Rank bribery is hardly the act of a gentleman, Seiji-san," Minerva observed.

"Good thing I'm just a humble tradesman, isn't it?" Seiji said, grinning as he packed his tools away. "I get to enjoy the occasional drink and wager and, of course, the temptation of more impressionable minds."

Alice eyed him with suspicion.

Minerva stood. "Would you mind terribly if we accompanied you on your trip back to the village, Seiji-san? I believe I've earned the right to stretch my legs a little. I'm sure the doctor won't mind."

"Are you sure, Margatroid-san?" Miho said. "I can ask for someone to follow you if you'd like."

"It's all right, Miho-san. I'm sure Seiji is, at least in this respect, trustworthy and reliable. Isn't that right, Seiji-san?"

"Absolutely," Seiji said.

"So that's settled, then," Minerva said, driving over Miho's next objection. "What about you, Alice? Would you like to come along as well?"

Still glaring at Seiji, Alice hopped to her feet, and sidled over to Minerva's side.

Miho smiled tightly. "I'll tell Aya about your trip, just in case. Be careful, Margatroid-san. Don't push yourself too much."

"I shall remember that, Miho-san. Thank you for your concern."

With a final worried glance, Miho departed, tea tray and all. Minerva supposed there was some obscurely Japanese reason the servants were not allowed to handle the cleanup, apart from their lingering caution over Minerva's spiritual cleanliness.

Minerva took Alice's hand in hers. "By the way, Seiji-san, could I have a look at the doll?" It was indeed quite well-made, for something carved in less than a few hours. Minerva handed it back. "Your bribe has been evaluated and found adequate. Even so, I fear that should you take too long to come up with suitable terms, the prize may be forfeit."

Seiji shrugged. "I'll think of something."

-----

Maria looked as though she had been about to say something when Minerva entered, but thought better of it.

"Yes, I'm still alive," Minerva said wearily. "Does the whole town know about my little excursion?"

"It's not precisely a secret," Maria admitted. "If you don't mind my saying so, I hear there was even some sort of wager about, uh... something I didn't quite get the details of."

"So I've heard," Minerva said. Seiji had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. "What else has been going around?"

"Apart from the usual about being a youkai hunter from a faraway land, not much. There were rumours about how you scaled the mountain itself and single-handedly defeated its youkai, or that you were secretly casting a magic spell to strengthen yourself at the cost of the village, or that you fled back to your home country... it's nothing that hasn't been heard before."

About other youkai hunters, Minerva assumed.

Seiji cleared his throat. "Hey, mind if I take Alice-chan to the workshop? I want to show her the dolls in progress."

Minerva nodded consent, and Maria smiled. "Just be careful, Seiji-kun."

"Where is Seiji-san's workshop, by the way?" Minerva asked, once the two left.

"It's not far from here." Maria gave quick directions. "The roads are usually well-travelled, so Alice should be in no danger. And despite how he acts, Seiji-kun's actually quite responsible."

"Oh?"

Maria smiled. "I keep wondering when he'll settle down. Find someone who'll suit him, and take care of him. Seiji-kun's... well, I wouldn't say he's not interested in women, but he never stays with anyone long enough to form a connection."

"So he's not spoken for at the moment?" Minerva asked, then wondered why she asked.

"Usually he makes an excuse and leaves," Maria sighed. "And someone like him... he's a common target for gossip, I'm afraid, and very little of it true. Sometimes I think he's deliberately trying to cultivate that reputation of being a flighty person, just so he won't get pinned down by anyone."

"I admit I imagined that he would have had to fend the ladies off with a cudgel."

A quiet chuckle. "That nearly happened, early on. But, well..." Maria's smile faded. "I don't think he ever got over his brother's... my husband's..."

Minerva reached out to clasp the other woman's hands, unsure of the etiquette in these situations. "I'm sorry," she said.

"No, it's all right. It was a long time ago. My husband... just went out on a delivery one day. And he never came home. We... all of us, here in Gensokyo... we understood. We understand."

Saving humans from monsters, Minerva remembered. Why had Violet Hearn tried to fool her with that lie? Was it a lie at all? Or was Minerva trying to fool herself?

"Seiji-kun took it especially hard," Maria continued. "But we recovered, bit by bit. So it's all right now."

Minerva awkwardly patted Maria's hands. "I'm glad."

"I do worry about Seiji-kun, though," Maria said, returning the topic to a less painful nature. "Although I don't think I expected him to be so close to Alice. From what I hear, she's a little shy, isn't she?"

Minerva imagined little blonde Alice would have stood out in the middle of the other Japanese children. "Alice is... not very sociable, but she does have great enthusiasm for anything that matches her interests. Dolls are one of them, and Seiji-san's promised to show her as many as she wants. She has wisdom beyond her years, so I don't worry about her as much as I probably should."

"You can trust Seiji-kun with Alice's safety, if it helps. He's surprisingly good with children."

"So he is," Minerva mused, before realizing what she had said. She covered her confusion with a Japanese-style bow. "Oh, uh, I've just remembered to thank you for all your help, Maria-san. Providing me with all the supplies I need... I hope I haven't been too much of a bother."

Maria accepted the thanks with a smile. "Not at all, Margatroid-san. It's good to see someone dedicated to their work. If I can be of any more assistance, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Yes, er... I hope my work is not going to be uncomfortable to discuss..."

"This is Gensokyo," Maria reminded her. "We understand."

Minerva's reply was interrupted by the return of Seiji and Alice, having just concluded what sounded like especially delicate negotiations. "Margatroid-san," Seiji said mournfully, "I hope you know just how dangerous Alice-chan here can be."

Alice strutted back to Minerva's side, smug triumph plain across her face.

"As I perceive your continued possession of the shirt on your back, I hope your losses were not too dire," Minerva said. "What did she haggle you down to?"

"Uh... the terms of exchange are secret and confidential," Seiji said. "Did you know Alice-chan can do this sort of... sulky pout that just batters down any resistance? You need to keep an eye on that little girl, Margatroid-san."

"Apparently I do," Minerva said, looking down in surprise. Alice adopted an expression of cherubic innocence.

"Although... there is one condition she insisted on, that requires the backing of a third party," Seiji said. "Alice-chan wants to come visit the workshop when she can, so she can see how the dolls are made."

"I wouldn't mind keeping an eye on Alice after school," Maria offered. "You can pick her up here when she's finished."

An unexpected request. Maria and Seiji were certainly close enough friends by now to entrust Alice's care to, and Alice herself seemed to want this. There were many risks for a child as young as Alice wandering about, much less in a village in Gensokyo, Japan. But with Maria and Seiji as guardians, surely everything would be fine, right?

Minerva hemmed and hawed for a moment, before making the mistake of looking at Alice's face.

"Ha, yes," Seiji said. "That's the expression I was talking about, Margatroid-san."