Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 6 – A Sister’s Concerns

[Ellaria POV]

My sister locked herself away many years ago, and no matter what I tried, she never came out of her domain; then, all of a sudden, she’s in my face going on about this ‘fluffy thing’ she wanted to help.

Though I don’t dislike the change, if anything, I welcome it wholeheartedly. I’ve always wanted her to get out a bit more as everyone around here seems to think she’s some dangerous and scary Goddess when, in reality, she’s just the cutest little thing.

Because of that, I really need to make sure this little kitsune is doing well; she could go on to change my sister for the better.

I pulled up a panel to check on what the little thing had done throughout the day.

Starting from when the little thing woke up, it opened on a scene of the little kitsune sitting outside of my sister’s temple, seemingly playing with her shadow.

While it was a fun moment and all, something about the shadow in particular stuck out like a sore thumb.

“That isn’t Dark Magic.”

Does that mean the Blessing didn’t work?

No, that can’t be the case. My sister checked and said it went through; she wouldn’t lie about that.

Maybe it’s a result of us forcing the Blessing onto her?

Well, not that it seemed to matter. The little kitsune started crying tears of joy as soon as she saw her new appearance, so I guess she got exactly what she wanted.

I wish I could see my sister’s face right now…

…

Maybe I’ll go pay her a visit in a bit. I’m sure she will let me in if only to tell me about how happy she made this little kitsune.

I started to skip ahead a bit, at least until I saw a strangely familiar face. It was a particularly large man who was staring rather intently at the little kitsune.

Now, where have I seen you before?…

It’s unusual for some random person to leave an impression on me, so they probably did something noteworthy recently.

…

“Ah, that’s right. He’s the one who got blacklisted from my temple last month.”

I’ve never understood these people. You would think they would get the message when something like that happens, but they never do for some reason. They always just blame something else.

I can’t believe he’s blaming that little kitsune. It’s definitely not because you came into the temple bragging about how you taught a heretic child a lesson before on your way there.

The only thing that I have ever managed to get through their heads is that they shouldn’t try to destroy my sister’s temple; It only took them trying three times...

“Come on Aria, you shouldn’t be thinking about this right now.”

I shook my head before turning my attention back to the little kitsune, just in time for me to see one of that man’s knights swing his sword at her back.

…

“I can’t believe it…” My head was now thoroughly buried in my palms.

…

She’ll live at least, but only just. It’s fortunate that my sister’s blessing made her a bit more resistant, but even then…

“I should at least do what I can.”

I called one of the Light Spirits in my domain over to my side before gesturing towards the panel with the scene unfolding on it.

“You see those three, I don’t want them in the temple.”

The Spirit nodded in acknowledgement, although rather strangely for a Spirit, it seemed a bit annoyed when it looked at the panel.

“Good, now go along. Send the message down.”

The Spirit immediately set off, leaving my domain and heading for the temple.

After a brief pause to let myself cool off a bit, I let out a sigh, now trying to think about what else I could do from here.

But there isn’t much I can do for her unless she comes to my temple…

…

If I’m all up in arms like this, I can only imagine how my sister feels right now…

Right after finishing that thought, I realised that something was strange. If I’m only just finding out about this now, my sister should have found out about it a while ago, but she hasn’t come in here crying to me about it yet.

Has something happened to her?

…

“I better just go and check.”

Getting up out of my seat, I gestured over to another one of the Light Spirits for it to follow me before setting out for my sister’s domain.

Once I got there, I noticed that she wasn’t in the main room, which wasn’t that unusual. What was unusual was that a door in the back was left slightly ajar.

I made my way over before peeking my head in.

“Sister, are you doing alright?”

After quickly looking around the room to try and find her, my eyes locked onto a mound of black fluff in the corner.

…

Walking up to the mound of fluff, I found my sister passed out on top of a pile of plushies, her arms wrapped around a fox plush with pure white fur and pale grey eyes.

“When did you make that?”

I don’t know who I was expecting to answer that…

I just decided it would be better to let it be a mystery for now…

It seems that she just ended up passing out after she met with the little kitsune in her dreams; it must have ended up taking everything she had in her to give her that blessing and then make her way into her dream.

Although she might have also used a bit on that plushie…

My eyes once again locked with the plushie’s pale grey eyes.

…

“Come on Aria, stop thinking about that.”

After scolding myself for being strangely obsessed with the existence of this plushie, I turned to the Light Spirit that came with me.

“Can you just watch over her and call me when she wakes up?”

The Spirit didn’t respond and just made its way over to my sister’s side.

I should probably prepare to calm her down when she wakes up.

“It’ll be a while before she wakes up, at least a year or two… Hopefully, that makes it easier to swallow the news.”

Having done all I could, I left the room and headed back to my domain.

“This should make for a good story at least.”