Eh, so nobody seems to care enough about this to comment. Whatever. I wrote more.
The encounter happened in the following night, once Yukari and Yuyuko arranged for a graceful gazebo to be constructed in the peninsula on the misty lake. Yeah,
a japanese gazebo, get over it. That location was chosen for three important reasons:
1 - Scenic, to impress the barbarians
2 - open and windy, to minimize the damage their bad smell would cause
3 - surrounded by water, just in case.
Now Yukari isn?t an idiot, so she knew just ?water? couldn?t be a weakness, because, sincerely,
fuck the youkai with that kind of lame flaw. It had to be rain, or snow, or high winds, or dust, or frogs, or about 10 other forms of ?weather that?s not clear.? but that just meant Yukari had to keep about 15 prepared spells to deal with the bat winged brat if she got out of control. A small part of Yukari actually expected that the girl did something stupid and had to be put out, because it was frankly disgusting to see youkai people living like that (so yeah, you can berate Yukari all you want, but go and actually try to keep an open mind when experiencing the kind of culture shock that was possible back then. Harder than it looks).
A bigger part of Yukari was fascinated, however. That uncouth brat had learned new tricks during the brief mind war with her Ran, the gap youkai was sure of that thanks to the shikigami link. Talent, raw talent was something Yukari knew how to recognize and appreciate, and wasn?t she the Youkai Sage? Wasn?t she, right now, inviting all youkai to live peacefully in her realm? If she could somehow, tame this other awesome beast, just as she had tamed Ran, how the respect she?d receive would increase?
Yukari was lost in this kind of power trip when Ran signaled through their link. She opened the gap before her servant and corrected her posture, to appear more relaxed in her seat than she actually was. Her plan for the encounter was simple:
1 - Project absolute force and security to awe the barbarians
2 - Win them over
If you remember the anime event metaphor for planning I used back then and compare Yukari?s and the Witch?s plans, you can learn something: See, Yukari is the polar inverse of ?stupid?. And yet, most of the time, whenever possible in fact, her plans are the simplest possible. This, coming from a woman that can seriously make dozens of plans with dozens of steps and actually make all them succeed should tell something:
Keep It Simple, baka!Because even something simple like that can fail, as it indeed failed. There, I spoiled the ending again.
Out of the gap emerged Remilia and the Witch and this was when Yukari had the first surprise. The barbarians were clean. As in, they had bathed and perfumed themselves. Later she found that the they had asked Ran and Youki about how the japanese envoys could look so well groomed. The effect of a honest to goodness bath, with soapy water, as opposed to the wet clothes europeans seriously used back then, was astounding on a vampire. To be fair, so it was on the Witch too, but I already said that she looked like 120 years old and that she didn?t give a damn about beauty, anyway.
Remilia?s presence under the moonlight, as she stepped out of the gap, was already enough to make Yuyuko cover her mouth with the fan. It was not, unlike a few other vampires, that she sparkled (url not needed), or anything so
crasssimple. It was a mental effect instead: looking to that girl under that moonlight, and there couldn?t be anything better, ever. Yukari caught the hint that Yuyuko, and Youma standing guard behind them, and Youki who had now emerged from the gap, were specially weak against that.
Then the vampire spread her wings fully and jumped, rising slowly to the air as if she weighted no more than a
sakuracherry petal. For a moment even Yukari was about to fall for that. It was right then, when Yukari and Remilia?s eyes first met, with Remilia proudly gliding towards the gazebo, that the elder youkai noticed that her plan was a failure, and that all her power trips about taming the barbarian youkai came down, crashing and burning. Yukari knew right then that whatever the girl happened to be, that she was not a potential servant, but a potential rival.
?Well, whatever.? Yukari thought, changing plans, body language, everything. "If this impertinent brat wants a show, I'll give her one."
Yukari knew how to be subtle. The appreciation of muted and seemingly simple things is an entire part of japanese aesthetics, that she dominated well. But she also knew that
Shibui and
Wabi-sabi more often than not flied right over the heads of other youkai, and that's when the plain old overpowering display of force had its place. Gaps opened around the gazebo, not the nice, stable traveling gaps, but the crackling gaps, puking ultra-violet light, with white arms reaching out. Large demons emerged out of the gaps.
?Oh dear. Will there be killing, now? I had a lot of fun arranging this nice food spread, and you?ll just kill them?? said Yuyuko, a bit disappointed.
Youma, behind the ladies, clicked his mountain sized sword out of its sheath (a bit of exaggeration there, guys) and went into a half-kneeing position.
The Witch? The Witch did nothing but to narrow her eyes and hide her hands. That was pretty much what Yukari had come to expect from any magician, so she paid her no further notice. If things got as real as she by now hoped they did, Youki would cut her and the landscape behind her before she could chant a spell, anyway.
The Vampire? The vampire, by her turn, landed before Yukari, collected all her presence back to herself, folded her wings and did an elegant curtsy. The gap youkai noticed that the girl was already better at hiding her aura than she was on the day before.
?I want to hug this girl to death, Yukari, she?s just too cute.? said Yuyuko, leaning on her friend.
?As long as it ends with her death, I?m fine with it.? said Yukari, bowing down her head just a bit in response to Remilia?s greeting, never taking her eyes from the girl. Remilia had her own eyes lowered.
Since Remilia had backed down from that very first confrontation, Yukari's alert levels went down to a ?not kill her right now? level, so she gaped the demons away and they made the introductions. Yukari introduced herself and Yuyuko first, being sure to indicate their ?species? after the names: ?I?m Yakumo Yukari, the Youkai Sage.? ?This is my friend Saigyouji Yuyuko, princess of the ghosts.? etc.
The Witch translated that to the girl, who by her nods had already figured what was happening.
?I?m Remilia Scarlet, vampire, queen of the night.? she said in Latin, with a sweet childish voice.
Now, this is how language works: The girl had talked with the Witch beforehand, and quite obviously had memorized what to say. Yukari knew the tongue, so she got that the brat was named Remila and that she had just called herself a queen. So far, so good. Every other low-class youkai nobody calls him or herself king this, queen that, etc. Arrogance is pretty much a youkai trait. But the word ?vampire? was still just a sound for Yukari. Moreover, she was pretty sure the girl had just used a French word inside a Latin phrase, confirming that she was before something new.
"You are welcome to my realm, oh magician and vampire." she said, bowing to the guests. And then, signaling to her servants: "Now, I provided for some entertainment, so let's enjoy the evening."
For some time then, those supernatural beings could at least pretend that they were actually in a peaceful meeting. Youki brought a low table for them to sit around. Ran provided silk cushions for the the barbarians who certainly didn?t know how to properly sit, as they had imagined and just confirmed: The old woman tried to crouch, found it uncomfortable, and had to be assisted by the kitsune to find a sitting position that was easy on her bones. The girl sat down with her legs together, to the side of her body, her wings folded around her flanks.
Yuyuko, world class hostess, played the shamisen and sang. The barbarians were at least educated enough to bring a gift: the old woman reached inside her many folds of clothing and pulled a tightly wrapped bundle, containing something with the apparent size and shape of a human baby. Yukari looked to the gift with a neutral expression, while Yuyuko looked puzzled. It wouldn't be the first time visiting youkai brought her food like that, but Yukari thought that gifts of food were almost always in bad taste.
Then Ran respectfully unwrapped the gift to find a bloated mandrake root. Exposed, the properly dug root could be seen seeping magic. That was a ... rather more thoughtful gift, Yukari imagined, as she thanked them.
Youki and Ran served the food - Yukari had Yuyuko prepare an elegant but conservative table fit for youkai nobility, so they were served with gracefully arranged, fine cuts of four different meats: human, boar, pheasant, salmon. Vegetarian miso soup too, just in case. Yukari knew from experience that any being that could at least eat meat wouldn?t have problems with at least one of those. It was in a sense a test to know more about them.
Remilia went right for the human flesh (man eater, just as us, noted Yukari) but passing her finger over it, she noticed it was completely dried of blood. With a disappointed face and a visible pout that made Yuyuko prod Yukari under the table (?Cuuuuute! She?s so cute, I?ll die again! Give her to me, Yukari!?) Remilia put the dry flesh on her mouth and started chewing down, anyway. The Witch went hungrily for the three other meats, and had a good serving of soup too. (?So, their old women are just like ours. Why is that old women are always good eaters, Yukari? Do you see me as a granny because I eat too much? Do you??)
After they ate, the servants removed the table, Yuyuko took the shamisen again and Yukari forced some communication. The food choice test had just the previsible results, so it was time to find more about vampires, and figure at once the risks of dealing with one.
?What?s your relationship with that girl, magician?? she asked the Witch (during the introductions, the Witch said that she had a secret name that could not be spoken, which was totally acceptable for everybody there. She was, therefore, the ?magician?).
The magician blushed. She seriously did that.
?That girl is, well, she?s my friend.?
It was ?that girl? instead ?this girl? because Remilia had taken out her shoes and ran to the water side. She was seemingly just playing there, skipping around, kicking water and picking stones, the very image of innocence.
Yukari said: ?She?s ? My insistent friend here tells me to say that your little friend is just too cute.? (now stop the prodding, Yuyuko. The little kid is that one, see? Not you.)
?That she is. Somehow, I think she?s getting prettier with the age.? said the witch.
Well, of course, stupid. Yukari thought, but not said. What do you take us for? Our power concentrates with age. Are european magicians that ignorant? Or wait, could it just be that you?re in awe of your vampire friend? Next question:
?You said age, right? Then, how old is she? I see that if she was a human, she?d be about 10, but with us magical beings there?s no way to know but asking.?
?Oh, she was indeed about 10 when she became a vampire (take note, vampires are something like magicians, that can start living as humans). Counting the years has become a bit pointless since I stopped aging (well again of course, stupid. Skip the obvious useless information you could have the decency of not mentioning to me, of all beings) but she?s a bit over a century old, now.?
Whoa. Seriously, whoa. (Not Yukari?s actual thoughts) ?Two notes here: First and of no consequence: vampires, just as magicians, freeze their human growth once they become. Whatever.? The second bit of data was frankly bad news, through: ?But this is really a brat, she?s just 100 years old. And yet, she?s already dangerous like this.?
?She said she was a vampire. What is a vampire, after all??
The Witch hesitated. She and Remilia had had one of their discussions before coming to the encounter. The Witch wanted to operate on an obfuscation basis. Lie or hide everything not immediately evident, play it safe, learn everything we can, see if there?s treasure to be taken, get back safely.
Remilia, who had won the discussion (the Witch wondered when it was the last time she had actually won against the vampire) wanted to do pretty much the opposite. It was a bit cute, actually, that Remilia had basically the same plan as Yukari for the encounter:
1 - Overwhelm the japanese beings with my awesomeness
2 - win them over.
Well, that first step, the one about the overwhelming, had crumpled down pretty much completely once the blonde one had nonchalantly gated in like a dozen of huge devils to her side. So the fact was, Remilia also had changed her plans once she saw the cold, snarling reality. The vampire was up to something else now. What it was, the Witch didn?t know, since telepathy sadly wasn?t one of the powers every vampire got.
That put the Witch in a pinch: The original plan would go by candidly telling all the powers of a vampire, to convince the japanese that any kind of resistance was futile. But now? What to say? Remilia had backed down, so the Witch for once trusted her own ?be quiet, stupid!? instincts and said:
?Oh, you see. In the new world, there lives some bats who feed on blood. Vampire bats. My friend is one of these, who awakened.?
?Ooh...? Yukari nodded. That seemed adequate. Still...
?But... If these bats came from the new world, shouldn?t she be one of those painted indians that live there? Furthermore, didn?t you say right now that she lived as a human for 10 years??
?The vampire bats have their special ways. My speciality are the inert elements of nature, not the living beings, so I can?t offer an explanation for this.?
Yukari couldn?t really argument with that. Yeah, it was essentially a reduction to ?
it?s magic, you can?t explain it!? but even Yukari couldn?t figure the laws that governed what kind of beasts or objects could awake into youkai. Some of them did, some didn?t, and there were all kinds of weird rules governing each case, so she said:
?Magic is surely mysterious, uh? So, what the vampire bats can do? And what the vampires they become can do??
?They drink human blood to live and can evade the senses of their prey. They navigate perfectly in pure darkness. They?re strong as many man put together and faster than any of them. Indeed, they claim to be the rulers of night.?
Yeah, thanks for mentioning only the standard youkai powers and the things I already saw with my own eyes, magician. I see where this conversation is going. Yukari again thought. What she said was:
?Say, if they are beasts, we have something interesting here. My servant Ran is, pretty much as your friend, a beast that awakened. In her case, she was but a mere fox. Now, thanks to the mysteries of magic, mere foxes become very powerful awakened beasts, to the point that we call them the kings of beasts here.?
The witch narrowed her eyes. This time she was the one who could see where the conversation was going, and she didn?t like it one bit.
"My servant is little more than a kid, too, with just six tails. Your kid friend calls herself a queen and we have a young king here. It seems to me, that a little game is in order to settle the correct precedence."
Maybe the Witch just had used some secret communication, maybe it was just that Remilia had got bored of her play by the lake and came skipping to the gazebo. Yuyuko, who had got a nice serving of cute candid scenes while Remilia played by the lake could control herself better now. She properly covered her mouth with the fan and leaned on Yukari, saying: ?The next girl I see that?s vaguely like Remilia, I?ll kill and keep to myself, got it??
?Yes, my dear. Now prepare yourself, we?re about to see something good here.?
Remilia arrived and Yukari saw the witch explain tersely for her what had just transpired. The vampire tied her shoes looking very brightly to Yukari, then to Yuyuko, then to Ran. She beamed a smile that showed her fangs and nodded. The Witch turned to Yukari:
?She agreed to fight your servant. Now I wish to cast a spell and summon a weapon for her.?
?This is getting interesting, isn?t it?? chimed in Yuyuko, once Yukari translated that for her. ?I thought most beasts had better natural weapons, anyway.?
Yukari didn?t bother to translate Yuyuko for the Witch, instead just arching her eyebrows in a rather universal, wordless ?oh, really??
?My friend has delicate hands. She requested a sword.? said the witch, chanting a spell.
The spell was quickly spoken, a well made incantation of the metal school, and it solidified into a
Katzbalger, a style of one handed sword that some European warriors favored back then.
?If I may humbly request.? growled Youma ?Me and my son would be pleased to examine the weapon.?
Remilia giggled at that and for once Yukari knew that that was a genuine expression of glee: The savage looking Youma provoked that all the time, first by just speaking, since most people tended to assume looking to him that he was too dumb for that. Second because he actually had a pretty polite manner of speech, at least around the ladies (among other samurais, it was back to OOOOSSSHHHAAAA time, through). That second fit of giggle got lost on translation, since Youma had spoken in plain Japanese, having figured, Yukari imagined, that by speaking slowly and clearly enough, the barbarians would understand him. Keep hoping, Youma!
Yukari at once translated the request, the foreigners acquiesced and handed the sword, pommel first, to the huge half ghost. He took the blade respectfully and examined it as carefully as if it was a masterpiece. It was reassuring to have warriors who took their tools seriously around.
?It?s a solid blade!? Youma spoke, handling it back to the Witch, who then passed it to the vampire. That was telling. Youma was a hardcore zen buddhist (indeed, he was a hardcore
everything), without a grain of guile. He wouldn?t tell a lie, and he wouldn?t tell a bad thing about anything that could be used to kill a man - that would be just bad form. But he didn?t say ?it?s a well made blade? or ?it?s a exceedingly sharp, or balanced, or pointy, or anything else that really matters to an actual sword.? It was ?a solid blade?, instead. A dense, swordlike slab of steel, deadly only in the hands of someone strong enough to make that cut.
Yukari turned to her servant: ?Ran, the girl is very strong or fast, probably both, maybe more than you can deal with, so take care and don?t die.?
Ran listened to her mistress advice as if through thick headphones. Blood was pumping inside her head loud enough to deafen anything but the urges to kill, since Yukari had suggested the duel she had been wishing for since the hypnotism fiasco. The kitsune had worked herself into a killing frenzy aimed at the the little girl who took position a good 20 feet away from her and signalled that she was ready by a nearly universal ?come!? gesture with the tip of the sword.
Before we continue, it should be noted how freaking seriously beasts take combat with other beasts. Awakened animals, beasts are both youkai and biology, and biology takes territorial or precedence disputes very, very seriously. Ran was itching to make the girl pay for the mind tricks from before, and on guard against it, so it wasn?t at all surprising for her that the vampire girl disappeared as soon as she signaled the duel?s start.
?Appear! Coward! This is a fight!? Ran shouted.
?Ran, behind you!!!?
Yeah, this time it wasn?t hypnotism. Remilia had moved faster than Ran could see and was about to decapitate the fox from behind. All shounen manga like that. Again, since this is background story and Ran exists, you don?t even have to fear for her. What happened in the minutes that followed was a pretty severe domination by Remilia, who wasn?t even fighting like she actually did when she was serious about killing. She kept her claws retracted, didn?t use magic and kept flying to a minimum once it was clear that Ran had troubles following. She just kept that swordlike slab moving so fast that it was but a whistling silvery blur, using nothing but her raw strength, and pushed the kitsune to brink of collapse with it. Ran fought with everything she had. She counter attacked with her claws, she tried to bite and grapple, she evoked fire magic and tried to burn or tie down the vampire, all to no avail. The kitsune better spells required some seconds to chant, seconds the vampire wasn?t giving.
Remilia didn?t win the fight because she ?tired quickly? as the reliable combat narrator, the Witch, just explained. Vampire bats were like that, capable of real bursts of speed and power, but if the fight went for more than a few minutes, they?d expend all their reserves. So, by the end, Remilia let Ran take hold of her. Ran went immediately for the neck, claws ablaze, and Remilia immediately cried that she gave up, conceded, lost. The witch relayed this to Yukari, who relayed this to Ran and then relayed again, angrily, before the fox killed the girl. Really, you people who see how obedient Ran is nowadays...
Ran, by her turn, was a bit freaked out by having held Remilia?s neck firmly. Firmly here meaning ?with the intention of tearing it apart with her supernatural claws.? By the time Yukari sent the second warning, Ran?s killing instinct had being substituted by a ?what the hell am I holding here?!? weird feeling. In one moment she felt the girl's consciousness, in the next countless small minds compressed in the girl's shape, ready to dissolve and spread, then the just the girl again.
Remilia stood up and dusted off her dress, looking like a very contrite girl. Ran looked to her hand and to the girl, again and again.
Both vampire and fox returned to the group in silence, the winner having being clearly called out, but everybody was finding that a bit strange. The Witch said:
?Remilia will refrain to call herself the queen of night in deference to your fox.?
Yukari translated that for her group, not even bothering with adding her own thoughts to it.
?Maybe she will start calling herself the queen of jobbing, instead?? (to the ones still reading, indignant to see a Pro Wrestling term used with regards to events happening 500 years ago, be at ease. The world Yuyuko really used was one meaning essentially the same as jobbing, but with regards to the ritual shrine wrestling that would a bit later become Sumo. There. Immersion mantained)
Yukari was about to convey exactly that to words the barbarians could understand when Remilia did the surprising thing and pointed her sword to Youma: ?When I?m rested, I want to fight the big man there.?
?Excuse me?? went Yukari. ?You? Fighting Youma. And look, aren?t you tired, or wha-?
?If I may humbly state my opinion, the little girl, while in excellent physical form, is severely lacking in spirit. She has more to learn from my son.?
There, Youma went and spoke again. Yukari hadn't even bothered with translating that bizarre request, but the half-ghost correctly figured what it was by Remilia's body language.
And he was kind of going along with the girl?s wish. Or rather, he put his own twist on what was like, the sixth twist from that encounter? Yukari was getting tired of counting twists to decide who had the upper hand at any given moment. Couldn?t people act in a predictable manner, please?
?Sure then. Let Youki fight the vampire, if everybody wants to do that.? Yukari said, instead, first in Latin to the Witch, then in Japanese to her group.
?Oh my! My dear Youki will fight! Win, Youki, win!?
Youki stood up. To allow Remilia ?to rest?, they gave her about 10 minutes (during which what actually happens? Yukari wanted to ask. But everybody was getting along so fine...)
Spoiling it again, that second duel went down like this: It was over in an instant, and Remilia lost it, fair and square, no jobbing that time.
See, it was a matter of wrong perceptions. Remilia?s second plan for the encounter, once the situation became an apparent death trap, was this: ?I?ll pretend to be weak, but not as weak as to be laughed away. So I?ll lose to the mean looking monster girl there, and win against one of these soldiers here.? The keyword ruining Remilia?s plan was, of course, ?soldier?. Youma and Youki weren?t soldiers. They ate soldiers (ashigaru) for breakfast. By that time, Remilia actually had a fair share of fights against supernatural beasts back in Europe, to the point that she felt safe enough to place herself in melee range with one and just show off for a bit. But she had zero experience against attacks against her willpower and self-worth, like the standard Samurai steely glare before a duel.
So at the second match's first second, when youki directed his razor sharp focused intent to kill to Remilia, the vampire found herself unable to move. Her self confidence broke down. That boy, still too young to shave, had a better stake at living that her, so she could as well do him a favor and let herself to be cut, so it?s suddenly not only shounen manga again, but one of those psychological chapters. Remilia dropped the sword, wrapped herself in her wings and started to cry.
That, incidentally, was what allowed her and the Witch to leave Gensokyo alive. Yukari had been bothered by all the holes in the ?just a bat, lol? story, bothered that a foreign youkai could get that amazingly strong in just a century and was pretty much decided to play a safe hand and kill them right there, and then maybe make wards against vampires to avoid having them arriving on her land in the future.
But then she realized, that the vampire was but another example of what she kept seeing again and again from Europe. Something shiny and powerful on the outside, but hollow inside. ?They don?t meditate, they don?t focus, they don?t
nothing. She?s not dangerous, at all. How silly of me.?
So Yukari opened the gap back to Saint Tropez, and sent the barbarians back, but only after she and Yuyuko threw some condescending barbs at Remilia for breaking down like that. The vampire went home with a Buddhist rosary (hey, Youki had given it out of purely good will, with an earnest ?use this to meditate, it improves your willpower!?) and a gourd of human blood, so that she didn?t pass out before reaching home, because she was obviously weak like that.
Remilia?s rage was terrible. Once she made sure there were no sensors watching her, she let out her magic power explosively, in scream of anger and frustration that materialized as a burning red cross, some 30 feet high. She threw herself on the ground and cried, she threw the gourd away (after drinking the contents, however). To sum up, she threw a tantrum, and a nasty one at that.
The Witch feared for Remilia?s stability, remembering what had happened with Flandre recently. She didn?t want to carry along two broken girls, that would be a bit unfair. But then, Remilia calmed down and sat on the ground, as a kid. She looked to the Witch.
?Do you love me??
The Witch assured that yes, she loved her very much.
?Will you stay by my side, even if I do a ... a very dangerous thing??
Trick question. Damn kids and their tricky, egoistical questions.
?I won?t let you do such a thing, my dear. You know, I can make it rain on you to keep you down.?
?But... But when a king or a queen wants to do something, this thing can never be wrong. Everybody follows them, even to war, even to death.?
Yeah, good point, that. You could say that by 1615, an argument for the divine right of kings had a kind of good inertia going for it. People in general wanted to believe that. But then again, Remilia was talking to a Witch and most magicians have a default response for this kind of reasoning:
?I do not serve anyone, Remi. My loyalty is for Knowledge only.?
?Knowledge only, and not a drop for your dear Remi??
?Right. A drop of my loyalty for my dear Remi. And another drop for my dear Flandre, who I fear you?re not even thinking about now.?
?No, I think on my little sister all the time. First, I cannot let her see me slumped like this. I got to be the big sister.?
?Yeah, you get to be the big sister, which cannot happen if you die to stupid foreign monsters.?
?I won?t die to stupid foreign monsters. Instead, I?ll kill some of them, and rule over the rest.?
?Remilia...?
?I know what I?m talking about! See, these stones? They?re from
there. I went to the water margin to pick them. I know you can attune to them and take us there...?
?Remilia! One more word about this, and I swear!?
?I said I know what I?m talking about! It?s not something for now! Ouch! Stop hitting me!?
?It?s not something for any time! They are dangerous, they have these mysterious powers, like the one the boy used on you.?
?I?ll never fall to that again.? said Remilia, easily grabbing the staff the Witch was using to bonk her in the head. She had spoken in a lower, calculated voice that was pretty much the opposite of the high pitched spoiled girl she was being since they arrived home. The Witch was for once at a loss for words and approached the vampire:
?Remilia...?
?No, stop. No, I don?t want a hug. Well okay, I want a hug, but listen: I see now what he did with me, and I?ll show it to you: I?ll learn that and paralyze people exactly like he did with me, and then you'll see and then you?ll believe in me!?
?My dear, I believe in you, it?s just that... There?s so many, so many things that can go wrong...?
?I don?t care! You?re smart, I believe in you, too! You?ll make it work! I know it?s not something for now. We?ll need like, twenty years to prepare ourselves.?
?We?re not going anywhere.? said the Witch, but that sounded pretty much empty.
?You?re right, we?re not! We?re don't grow older, we grow stronger! So, let's stay here, and learn, and prepare. Now, let?s go home. I want to tell Flandre about the land we saw!?
That was pretty much the end of that discussion. Remilia was dead set on that idea, and as the Witch had just found out, some people, maybe by the Divine Right of the Kings, maybe by just stubbornness, could put an idea in their head and then move mountains, or even the entire world to get it.
Or maybe, you know, they could take possession of Gugnir, the spear of Odin, also called the Spear of Fate, that comes with power to move, well, fate itself. That was something that actually happened for Remilia, a bit later. Keep reading.