Kitsune of the Blue Sun

Chapter 168- Planning for Firefighting

[Keeno POV]

Inside the makeshift cave was surprisingly cozy. Though I don’t complain about the heat, it was pleasant being somewhere cooler than outside for a change. Pram was the happiest about it though. She practically burst out of the wagon she’d secluded herself in and laid on the cool stone floor like she’d never felt cold in her life.

Volundr for his part just smiled at her like a grandparent does to their grandchild. He had set up a large table and small cups of tea, light steam still wafting up from them. Two of the cups seemed to be boiling, making a small smile spread across my face. Sitting down at the table next to one of the boiling cups, I picked it up and sniffed it. It had a wonderful aroma that seemed to calm my nerves.  Volundr sat next to the other boiling cup while the others sat at whatever free seat was available.

“Please, enjoy yourselves. The journey through the desert is no easy thing, so any respite should be taken full advantage of.” (Volundr)

There were several murmurs of agreement as most of the knights picked up their cup and gingerly sipped at them, blissful expressions crossing their faces. I took a sip of my own boiling tea and was quite surprised. It was a mellow taste. Sweet yet lightly bitter with a hint of citrus followed by a strangely vanilla taste after a moment.

“I see you enjoy this tea, Princess. It is part of my most favored in my collection and I’d be glad to share a box or two of leaves with you.” (Volundr)

“I’ll gladly accept. In exchange, I have some wine taken from the Divine Domain. Would you care to add that to your collection?” (Keeno)

At that, the eyes of Volundr as well as several knights opened wide.  I couldn’t help but snicker at that considering we’ve all shared wine a few times, but I never mentioned this. Their expressions said that they would like to take it from me so I wouldn’t squander it by giving it to a dragon.

“I have more than one bottle, guys. Next time we share a cup, I’ll bring it out.” (Keeno)

That caused them to become relieved, though Volundr was still shocked.

“…Ahem.  My apologies, Princess. My reaction was very uncouth, though I will gladly accept this exchange.  It’s been an age and a half since I was graced with an opportunity such as this one.” (Volundr)

One of the several rings on his fingers lightly shone and two small boxes appeared which he then slid over to me.  I opened them after stopping them and looked inside. Several small pouches of green-gold leaves were inside. Nodding, I put the boxes away and brought out a wine bottle full of a very deep purple, bordering on black liquid.  The eyes of everyone present were drawn to the bottle that began to move along with the sound of stone grinding against stone.  Once it reached Volundr’s side, it vanished into a different one of his rings.

“With that done, to what do we owe the pleasure of this meeting?” (Keeno)

“Ah yes. Truthfully, I wished to meet you, Princess, at the border of this land, but as embarrassing as it is, I napped through it. After I awoke, I searched for your presence and only managed to find it when you put out that fire.  I’m assuming Her Majesty has informed you of my request?” (Volundr)

“The one to put out all of Fia’s flames that still burn here, correct?” (Keeno)

“That is indeed the one.  I would like to discuss it in more detail if you’ll allow me to impose upon your time.” (Volundr)

“I personally don’t mind, especially seeing as mum had many good things to say about you, but that’s me. I don’t know what Margaret and the others think about it.” (Keeno)

The two of us turned to Margaret.

“Truthfully, I’d prefer if we could do so at a later date. I know that it is something important, even more important than what we have to do, but the second we crossed the border, those in charge in the city knew we arrived. If we don’t get there after an appropriate time, things will get rather complicated and make things we have to do much more difficult.  Of course, this shouldn’t hold any sway over such a decision and the more I say, the less confident I am in my own position in this discussion.” (Margaret)

“Hmm.  How many more of these flames are left?” (Keeno)

“About 20.  They are spread sporadically and influence different sizes of land.  A few of the bigger ones overlap with other zones and can probably be put out at the same time, though I am only speculating at that.” (Volundr)

“Hmm.  Margaret, how far are we from our destination?” (Keeno)

“At the pace we are going, I’d say three weeks to a month. If we don’t run into any problems like a storm or large scorpions, we may be able to make it two weeks, but that’s only possible if we also push the horses to near death, which I’m not going to do.” (Margaret)

“Hmmm.  This may be rude of me, but what say you allow me ride in your back and we take care of the flames while everyone else keeps going?” (Keeno)

“I wouldn’t take it as rude, though I doubt you’d like the company of an old man like me.  Not to mention that we’d only be able to take care of at least half of the flames in that time period.” (Volundr)

“I wouldn’t mind. You could probably tell me some stories about mum.  Anyway, is it possible to make a map to show the areas of the flames?” (Keeno)

Volundr began to quietly chant a spell and the center of the table sunk until it became an extremely detailed areal view map. In the very center was a small ball representing the city we were heading to with circular indents scattered randomly across the map indicating fires.

“This one here is the one that was taken care of.” (Volundr)

A small indent was filled in, becoming flush with the rest of the map. I looked over everything, noting one big pit was practically on top of the city causing me to smile.  I pointed to several pits, letting tiny blue sparks fill them.

“We can take care of these depending on how fast you are, stopping at the one next to the city. There I can meet up with Margaret and the others and I can do what I need to do in the city before moving on to the rest.” (Keeno)

“Keeno, you have that smile that makes you look evil again.” (Pram)

“Well…I still remember that OTHER problem I have to deal with while in the city. Might as well make use of that fire before putting it out.” (Keeno)

Most of the knights went pale at my words, clearly remembering the nature of the problem I was talking about.

“Ah.  The plight of the kitsune, how unfortunate for the ‘nobility’ of Lokir.” (Volundr)

My gaze immediately shot towards Volundr. His words struck me as odd.

“Phobos.” (Keeno)

{…That dragon has odd choice in literature…but how does he have any of Phobos’s works?}

“Volundr, would you please enlighten me on how you have things written by Phobos.” (Keeno)

“How do you…ah yes, Divinity.  Before anything else, no, I am not an Apostle of his, but I do know several Apostles of other Gods. They have traded several of the works written by the God if Time and Fate with me for tea or other crafts I’ve made. I’ve read so many that their phrasing slips from my own lips sometimes. And it seems this particular god has earned your displeasure.  I apologize for rousing such negative sentiments.” (Volundr)

“He’s neutral for now, though I wish he wouldn’t meddle with things so much. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard much from him recently. What about you, Ama?” (Keeno)

{I haven’t either. Ever since Hresvelgr started to come out more, he’s secluded himself. Speaking of her, she will be coming over to visit at some point. I hope the two of you get to meet in person. I’ll even invite Fu and Moco and make it a party.}

I nodded and turned my attention back to the conversation here in the mortal world.

“Phobos aside, which flames would we be able to visit and still be able to meet up with everyone by the time they make it to the city?” (Keeno)

Skimming over the map, Volundr murmured a chant and several of the indents inverted. Some of them were in the other direction but were close enough together that they probably be taken care of the same day, depending on how fast we moved.  I rested my arms on the table as I steepled my fingers and dove into my thoughts. Before I could state my opinion, I noticed the Runic tattoos on my arms where Geri and Freki were, were starting to glow.

I stood up from the table and passed a pinch of Divinity into my arms. The two orbs promptly appeared in front of me, the blue and red-orange glow from them starting to become blinding. Everyone else shielded their eyes while I continued to watch.  Soon, cracks appeared on the orbs accompanied by the sound of glass cracking.  It reminded me of eggs, which in turn made me hungry, but that was beside the point.

Once a very loud crack sounded, the orbs shattered.  The light began fading and once it was gone, everyone could see the forms of two woman with skin the color of obsidian, clawed hands and feet covered in fluffy black fur.  Hair the same obsidian black that flowed to their waists.  From one of them I could feel heat radiating off of her, while the other one radiated cold.  They slowly stirred and sat up.  When they opened their eyes, flames began to leak out at the corners of their eyes.  One had red-orange flames that matched her eyes, while the other one’s were blue that radiated cold despite being flames.  I quickly pulled out two blankets from my ring to cover them since they were completely exposed and wrapped them around them.  They looked up at me and a happy gleam appeared in their eyes.

“Master…strong…pretty…will follow…forever.”

The blue one, Geri, spoke.  Her voice was hoarse, but that was expected.  The red one, Freki shakily moved.  She stood up, revealing she was the same height as me and stumblingly stepped over to me before kneeling down and wrapping one of my tails around her.

“Master smells good…must always protect Master…make Master…mine?” (Freki)

{OI!  SHE’S MINE AND I DON’T SHARE!!!!!}

“…Master’s Fated One…Freki will concede…sleepy…” (Freki)

I patted Freki’s head, and she closed her eyes and smiled.  She then shone and returned to the Runic tattoo on my left arm.

“Sister not smart…sleepy…” (Geri)

Geri moved over to my right side and vanished into the tattoo on that arm.

“Well that happened.” (Keeno)

{I’m going to have to teach them some manners.  Thinking she can have you when you are mine.}

“Don’t worry, Ama.  I’m going to teach them that I’m not available for anything they’d want me to do.” (Keeno)

{Doesn’t matter, I’m going to teach them too.}

“What was that?  I’ve never seen beings such as them.” (Volundr)

“Runic Death Spirits.  First of their kind.  All Death Spirits look similar now as well, according to two of my Valkyries.” (Keeno)

“…The world is indeed finally starting to change once more.” (Volundr)

I sat back down at my seat, and we continued the meeting.  It was finally decided that I would go with Volundr for a while to take care of several fires while everyone else continued on to the city.  We planned to meet up again a few days from the gate so I could enter with them and go from there.  Once everything was finalized, Volundr created a room for all of us to sleep in for the rest of the night.

Chaos Realm:

Alex: Payto!  What’s going on with my abilities!?  Why is everything so much more difficult to control?

I got stronger again.

Alex: Can you stop doing that so fast?  I was just getting used to the Nihility change, and now I have to get used to it again.

Meh.

Alex: DON’T JUST MEH!

Luna: Calm down or I’ll fluffify you again.

Alex: Please no.  I already have four tails, and they are a pain to take care of.  I don’t need a fifth.

Luna: …

Tamamo: …

…

Alex: …Yeah, I realized what I said after I said it.

Luna: Fluffify!

Alex: Nooooooooooooo!

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