“I think unrest, and all these fleeing people, it’s bound to be a bad thing.” Rui opened her hands. “But it also means it’ll help your lord if he tries to gather opponents of the court.”
“Smart,” Myorin said. “Help me out of this.”
Myorin had no helmet, but her long hair was tied back under a white headband. Now she handed Rui her wrist-guards and began stripping off the lamellar armor, piece by piece.
“Were you scouting?”
“Just along the lines. Tsuna’s out there now, she’ll be back by sunrise.”
Rui helped her untie the large shoulder-shields that rested over her upper arms. The pauldrons could be shifted toward the front or back as needed and served as effective shields against incoming arrows. The armor underneath was heavier, but made of lamellar plates, and still allowed Myorin enough mobility to move quickly when it mattered.
“These fleeing people.” Rui struggled for the words. “It’s bound to be bad, but… it helps us, right?”
Myorin nodded. When her chest- and body-plates were removed, she held out her arms and Rui removed the arm-wrappings, then untied Myorin’s waist-guard, a pleated skirt of armor. Myorin shrugged out of the undershirt and began changing into more comfortable clothes. Rui, folding the armor segments carefully on Myorin’s wooden chest, caught sight of the woman’s bare torso for a moment, and saw the tattoo that stretched from her shoulders to the small of her back. It was the image of a spirit-animal with the body of a tiger, the face of a bear, and the tusks and nose of an elephant, eyes burning with power on her shoulder.
“You have tattoos?”
Myorin smirked. “Oh, I know. Not so common for a highborn, is it? It’s a baku. Dreameater. It comes in the night, takes your nightmares.”
Rui couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Myorin had turned her back on the arbitrary and hateful customs of her class, and intentionally marked herself with something that was usually seen as a signagainstsomeone, like a brand…
“I’ve never seen a noble do that,” she said at last. “Get a tattoo.”
“Well, I’m not a noble,” Myorin said. “Fuck ’em. Who cares what they think. I’m a Gensei.”
These warriors, Rui thought,they’re so proud. Their whole lives are about saving face.“What’s it for?”
“Protection,” Myorin said. “We pray to the god of dreams, to guide us, watch over us… You’re Jibashiri now. You should, too. We come at night, but when we come for our enemies, it’s not just their dreams we eat.”
She paused then, settling. “There is such a thing as evil in this world, little-sister. There’s such a thing as too far. But people don’t do anything, because they’re afraid. Afraid of upending what little stability they have. So, they just sit and wonder, ‘Why do things get worse?’ I have no tolerance for that.”
“Guess you’re right,” Rui said.
Myorin turned to her, close. “Why’re you out here, Rui? Why have you really come?”
A strange look, almost pity. Rui gazed at her feet.
Myorin shifted. “Everybody’s looking for someone, little-sister. It’s all right.”
“I want to help you,” Rui said. “But… I don’t know if I’ll do any good.”
“Do what you can. It’s good enough. Better than most.”
“Or it kills you,” Rui said.
Myorin sighed. “We don’t care about your birth, you know. We’re Jibashiri, we run on the ground. We’re dreameaters. All of us. That’s why they fucking hate me in the capital: ’cause I fight whattheyshould be fighting. They won’t see us as people until we make them see us, little-sister. So that’s what I do.”
“‘Evil acts bring evil outcomes’,” Rui quoted.
Myorin shrugged. “Lotta hate out there.” She fell silent then, and to Rui, seemed terribly sad.
“The louder you are to talk about that, the quicker they’ll be to shut you down,” Myorin said at last. “Quicker you’ll be dead.”
A few moments passed, and eventually the hour bell began to ring. Rui startled, realizing it had gotten late. “I should go.”
Myorin eyed her. “Stay a while.”
It was common for high warriors to take attendants as their bedpartners, and for a moment, Rui was awash with longing. With a feeling of… of what? Of being chosen? Yet what did she really want? Sex? Love? Friendship? She didn’t know. She stepped away.
