SEN

She jolted as thunder boomed directly overhead. But her insides were already humming. Bells rang in her blood silent with warning. And the massive wheel in her head began turning and turning. It loomed over her so large she couldn't see it all. Grinding closer and closer it threatened to smash her into a pulp. All the while the tatarigami continued to laugh with vicious glee. Sen rocked forward onto the balls of her toes as the sound reached across the distance. It ensnared her with terror. But this time it pulled. The sound and the terrible sentiment it inspired towed her across the numbing distance. Once she got to the other side the obdurate iron she had become buckled beneath the powerful dread it inspired. And she slapped her hands over her ears not wanting to hear anymore.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

Even as she screamed shrieking bells obliterated the tatarigami's terrible glee. Megumi, Jae, and Kenka danced through the thickening curtains of snow in winking flashes of gold, silver, and blazes of color at odds with the whitening world. Naked and pale as ash Urami all but dissolved into the snow. But even as Sen struggled upright to add her bells to their song the hissing of the young priest's onusa slammed her back down to her hands and knees. Keiichi shouted through the blizzard with hoarse vehemence as he marshalled through obvious terror.

"Give back my sister, demon!"

Sen thrashed and gasped in the frozen mud and cutting grass as the hissing slithering sound of the paper dragged her back and forth. She fought to force herself upright against the quelling hand of the kannushi's wand but the weight of the tatarigami's bitter mocking laugh sent her back to her knees. Then the young priest began chanting eerie Shinto norito even as his voice and the whipping crack of paper were swallowed in the equally furious syncopated rhythm of unyielding bell song. Sen couldn't see anything through the thick coating drifts of snow. But she could hear. Sonorously Shurui's black iron carillons clanged and tolled as Megumi took the lead with astonishing confidence. The light high voices of the red, gold, and silver fans wove around her darting in and out as Jae and Kenka played a quickening accompaniment that grew bolder with every second. Even as she was forced to remain on the sidelines, helplessly crushed into the weeds quickly blanketed in snow Sen realized through the miring haze of panic that the humans were holding their own.

Just as suddenly as the snow began it petered out. Overwhelmed by the vast world that suddenly yawned beyond the claustrophobic curtains of fluffy white ice Sen blinked and cringed as a blade of light pierced the dark clouds if only for a second. Momentarily blinded one of the dancers faltered. They were only human. Sen couldn't see who. It didn't matter. The perfect harmony of their bell song broke with a dissonant tone. Gold and silver flashed at the bottom of the hill on the bank beside the frozen pond, but not the wink of Cinna's fans. Jae flew from his feet as Urami bent and slipped beneath the weakened melody only to shoulder him onto his back from across the distance. Another jangling clamor obliterated the power of the commanding percussion as he crashed down hard as he knocked backwards against Keiichi. They lost the grip on their fans and wand as they sprawled limp and stunned.

Here the boney fingers of Urami's extended hands closed as she grabbed hold of the peeling chimes he had produced and pulled hand over hand. Jae yelped as he skidded through the banks of snow toward the demon leaving Keiichi reaching after him uselessly. Scrambling ahead of him, Megumi and Kenka crisscrossed slicing and shredding the invisible lines that ensnared their friend. But even as he lurched to a stop in a deep rut Urami caught the remaining bells. They were two against three now, no longer evenly matched. Meg and Kenka crashed into each other with a sickening thud as the tatarigami jerked its clenched crossing hands down only to fling them apart.

Fans flew as they caught air like dandelion fluff ripped up in a brisk wind. Kenka disappeared into a thick drift of snow. Only his still splayed feet and the gleaming hem of his silver green hakama emerged. Megumi arched away about over the pond and smashed through the thin membrane of ice glazing the surface. Her bright peacock plumage was swallowed completely by the murky water. Before Meg could surface the film thickened to an impenetrable sheet of ice as Urami followed. The wretched naked thing plodded down the steep bank and slipping and quaking as the chilling touch of her bare feet froze the water.

She crouched peering blankly as beneath her bare toes Megumi hammered her hands on the underside of the ice. Panic surged in Sen as the ballerina remained little more than a pastel flash of colors in the murk beneath the frosted pane of the frozen water. Only Keiichi was left to slash his wand and chant in hoarse panic. The young priest scrambled down the bank after the tatarigami whippings his arms back and forth. The compelling voice of the wand slammed her to the ground. Urami went as well, collapsing on its knees gasping but remaining firmly rooted on the ice. Again it was laughing that horrible hissing rasp even as it flinched and quailed.

"You'll have t'kill us, Kei... Kill us both before we kill her an' grandad an' Kai an' Nani…"

Prayers failed the young priest at the lengthening list of names and he let loose a sobbing cry of agonized misery. Then he swung the onusa savagely. Sen was shocked as Urami knocked sideways and landed with a terrible crack that sent fractures spidered across the ice. His black lacquered hat knocked from his head as again Keiichi struck the demon with another vicious swing of rustling sound. It sent the emaciated thing skidding across the ice only to smash against the ice hardened shore of the bank where it's licking black flame extinguished and it lay still. Then across the distance muted glancing blows found Sen too. She knocked sideways landing with an astonishing burst of pain only to get hauled through the cutting blades of snowy grass by the invisible hands of the commanding force.

But even as Sen sprawled she reeled upright fighting to see through the weeds as the surface of the ice shattered. Megumi heaved out of the frozen murk gasping and sobbing as she collapsed over the brittle edge. Throwing her eyes back to Keiichi Sen stared stupidly as the priest stood over Urami's prone form shaking violently as he lifted his wand in both hands high as if making ready to bludgeon the tatarigami to death. Sen's hammering heart surged into her throat pulling her up onto her knees as the onusa remained poised high trembling as the priest hesitated. And she wanted to scream. She wanted to shriek and yell at him to finish what she couldn't; because by some terrible twist of Fate Keiichi was immune to the retribution Urami extracted from his papered wand. He had done what even Gods couldn't. But then his face twisted with torment so complete it was absolute. And Sen shook with horror that reached her all the way across the void, because he looked so much like Kiri in that moment the resemblance was astonishing.

Grim resolution hardened Keiichi as he lowered his wand to stand over Urami in silence. Struggling from his outer robe he carefully laid it over the tatarigami before inching back warily. At her feet Keiichi took up a silent vigil waiting for what she didn't know. All this Sen watched in cold uncomprehending disorientation. The breath rushed out of her in curls of smoke as she sagged down onto her knees suddenly sick with the knowledge that if it had been her who stood in Keiichi's place Urami would be dead. So would Kiri. She wouldn't even have hesitated. She wasn't even sure she'd be sorry. Horror left her shaking as she couched on her knees in the tall grass. Tears evaporated from her cheeks as she choked on a miserable sob and the smell of blood and fire. Oh, Gods! What was she becoming?

"Oh, fuck! Meg!"

Sen jumped as Jae swore explosively. Red and green stirred in the white snow as the humans slipped and scrambled out onto the ice to catch hold of Megumi and haul her up onto the snowy shore. The ballerina was quaking so viciously Sen could hear her teeth chattering all the way across the distance. Spiriting away her suzu, suddenly sickened by its touch, Sen threw herself upright and staggered down the hill knowing Megumi would most likely die from exposure if she didn't do something. Jae and Kenka shied from her with gasps as she threw open her arms already reaching.

"Give her to me."

Growling behind his lion-dog mask Jae pushed it up on his brow revealing a face to match as he refused with his usual curses. He clutched Megumi close in a possessive and protective posture that made it clear he wasn't letting go for anyone. In his arms Megumi pressed her face into the hard plates of his chest dragging in shuddering breath after breath making them both rattle and clatter as she shivered convulsively. Her peacock visage perched on her brow revealing her lips were as blue as her frozen armor. Kenka's face was just as pale as his willow mask when he emerged from beneath. Clutching one of Jae's pauldrons as if ready to yank his friend to his feet, the human's blank gaze never left Keiichi or the thing at his feet. Looking them over Sen was distantly relieved that they were mostly unharmed. Hunkering back on her heels Sen unlatching the grate in her heart she let her fire free. The humans flinched from her as curls of smoke drifted from her lips. Steam issued from her shoulder and the ground beneath her body as she exuded tremendous heat making the snow and ice melt.

"Jesus fucking Christ!"

Jae swore as he hurried jostled Megumi closer. She frowned sourly as he did. Already the ice on their armor was melting and the humans clambered closer. Never taking his hand from his friend's shoulder, Kenka timidly extended the other the way human's reached for a fire. As his fingers hovered just shy of touching awe lit up his sweet face as he stared at her openly.

"You're so warm."

Sen gritted her teeth as Kenka's words bounced off the iron surface of her heart. If only it was true. Right now she felt so very, very cold. Sen wasn't sure why but she cracked a joke. Maybe to prove she wasn't entirely gone.

"Saves a ton on the heating bills."

Jae snorted in amusement and his straight white teeth flashed as he smirked.

"No shit."

Sen took in Megumi's sigh in unsmiling satisfaction as the woman ceased to rattle. Some color returned to her blue lips as the bright mirrors of the ballerina's eyes watched her cautiously from their corners. All the while Jae rubbed her hands, until with another sour frown, Megumi tried to take them back. Jae wouldn't let her; holding them out to warm them against Sen's fire. Megumi sighed in exasperation, but rather than shove him away, Megumi leaned her head against Jae's plates sagging in exhausted relief. He startled, glancing down at her sharply only to go absolute red faced. Without a word, he continued his ministrations with single minded purpose.

Sen caught the thin smile that tugged the grim line of Kenka's mouth as he spared his eyes from the tatarigami for his friends. But then the willow-garbed human lurched to his feet hauling on Jae's shoulder. As he and Megumi scrambled upright Sen shot to her feet on clambering in front of them with her suzu furling in hand. There she cringed from the whisper of Keiichi's onusa as he brandished it in warning, holding his ground before the huddled figure at his feet. The reeds turned brittle and died as Urami sat up staring blankly at the robe draped over her legs as if she didn't know what it was. Contempt etched her wan features as the hungry black flame rekindled on her brow licking her burned and blistered scalp. Seared by its heat, eroded into ash. As cinders plumed the tatarigami rasped wearily scolding the terrified priest.

"You should have killed us when you had the chance, Keii-kun."

Showing the same flash of iron from earlier, he raised the quaking onusa and spat a command.

"I say again, demon! Give back my sister!"

Urami snorted as Kiri might have snorted only to lift her jet black eyee. All the warmth and light in the world seemed to flee in the face of her dour reply as Keiichi bleached of all color the same way Suzume did.

"What makes you think there's anything left to give back?"

The tatarigami's truths might as well have punched her in the face. Sen understood in a way no one could. Kiri'd given herself up to Urami the same way she'd given Chihiro to the fire. Sen wavered beneath the crushing hand of despair as she realized Keiichi's compassion was wasted; all of this was wasted; because there was nothing left to save. Then, in the distance, the music began. The lilting twang of Natsumi's biwa ran through her like an electric shock. Sen jolted bolt upright as drums and cymbals joined the quickening melody. Then Lin's voice called above it all. The sound was high and clear like a flash of sunlight in the dark. Distantly her friend sang of atoning for someone else's sins and mistakes. But it was in the snow, not the rain the song spoke of, that something changed.

Lifting her suzu she set the air clamoring with bells and turned her back on Urami, pacing in time along the snowy path toward the hill were her home had been slowly swinging the haft in time with the Godsong. One-two-ring! One-two-cring! As the startled humans looked on in confusion from the frozen shore Urami shook violently at the call of her bells. Lurching upright, the tatarigami shuffled forward mirroring her steps. One-two-three. One-two-three. Even as Sen's exposed back crawled with apprehension, nothing came. Retribution could not return to her times three as she did not reach with violence. Even as the music ended she kept unwavering time.

"What're you doing?"

Muddied, beaten, and short of breath, Keiichi scrambled up beside her catching his tipping eboshi hat. Pale as the drifts, and trembling from more than cold, the younger priest cast harried glances over his shoulder at what followed.

"Dancing."

Her curt reply left him casting about for more tremulous words.

"But why?!"

She didn't answer and instead kept her gaze firmly fixed on the path ahead. She didn't want Keiichi to know what she intended. Sen learned this trick from Okesa. She had every intention of dancing this God to death.

"Tricky, tricky, Sen."

As Urami seethed at her back Goshiro appeared in the path ahead so suddenly Sen gave a start. She almost lost her rhythm as the old man materialized out of thin air with his hands pressed together in front of his heart looped with a long string of prayer beads. She veered to go around only to have him glide sideways to block her path once more.

"Out of the way, priest!"

Sober and serene, he remained firmly fixed in her way. She couldn't break rhythm to knock him aside with bells. What was he thinking!? Before she could call for Lin to get the crazy old man, Urami hissed in contempt from behind her so close an icy chill of warning skittered between her shoulders.

"I begrudge you too, grandad. Neither you nor Keiichi can reach me now."

Keiichi hurriedly to Goshiro's side, but much to her dismay, not to usher the old man away. Instead he held his wand high wearing an expression of abject terror as he glanced between the demon at her back and his family. Quietly, calmly, as if nothing at all was wrong, the elder priest bowed with unhurried care and addressed Urami.

"There is one here who would reach you, O-tatarigami-sama."

Sen uttered a horrified snarl as Kai crept out from behind Goshiro's massive brocade sleeves. Red nosed and shivering visibly as his worn orange marshmallow coat offered little protection, the blank-faced little boy looked right at the tatarigami. Before she could start shouting for someone with sense to get these stupid humans out of her way before they got Kai killed, Sen's insides thrilled in dread as Urami jerked hard in her shadow bringing her to a lurching stop. Redoubling her efforts, she ground her teeth in fury and beginning to steam with effort heaving forward with every swing of her suzu. Her heels dug into the slippery mud, but she didn't get anywhere as Kai continued to search retribution's face only to inch forward. A gleam rounded his wide eyes as a familiar expression flitted through his pinched features.

"K-Kiri?"

Urami was just as shocked to see hope as Sen was. Behind her it pronounced the words against its will, biting off each and every one as it continued to drag her backwards.

"You… I… I…?"

Stunned by its confusion, Sen almost lost her rhythm. She jerked instinctively as, still clinging to a handful of the older priest's sleeve, Kai held out his other hand without hesitation. But not for her.

"It's okay, Kiri. You can still be my mom even though dad's gone. I'd really like that."

It was the truth. She was God enough to know that much. Wheeling round, Sen struggled to keep her ground circling her suzu in a desperate holding pattern. Now facing retribution, her bells chimed anxiously as she watched not at all sure what to make of its sudden resistance. All the while the black flame perched on its brow flickered and fluttered betraying its turmoil.

"It's okay if your friend needs to come too."

Sen twitched again, watching from the corners of her eyes as one of Goshiro's gnarled hands darted out to clasp the boy's shoulder. His voice was as sharp as his hazy pale eyes.

"What do you see, Kai?"

No longer scared, the kid was turning his face to the side peering at the tatarigami sideways.

"There's a bird under all the black stuff. His feathers are on fire."

Here Kai startled and fled behind the elder priest as Urami screeched furiously.

"Do not speak of him!"

Sen pitched and her rhythm finally broke as it stalked forward leave ice snapping and crackling beneath its bare feet. Before it could reach her Keiichi warded the demon off with a sideways swipe of his wand. Down it crashed only to heave back up returning the persuasion threefold, which Sen caught full in the face. The stinging impact left her ringing as down into the wet snow she smashed. But even as she fell, the younger priest remained standing. Ice snapped beneath her back and she cringed inward as Keiichi strode over her in a sweep of pleated skirts bringing Urami up short with the threat of the whispering onusa.

"O-tatarigami-sama, there is another with you. Perhaps he can reach you?"

As the elder priest doggedly pursued what Kai revealed, the black flame on its brow guttered leaving a fresh smear of soot in its wake. Even as it shook unsteadily, Urami sneered.

"He's nothing, kannushi!"

Baring its teeth, the tatarigami collected itself and advanced with reaching hands more claws than fingers only to come up short as Goshiro stepped behind Kai. Urami froze in place as he did, staring at Kai uncomprehending until, with an anguished cry, the younger priest strode forward swinging the paper fletched wand like a baseball bat. Sen twitched and quailed in sympathetic horror where she was burning a muddle hole through the ice. Back Keiichi fought the demon, knocking it from side to side withering the adjacent paddies as it foundered insensibly.

"Don't hurt her!"

As Kai screeched and scrambled after Keiichi Sen managed to catch the kid before he could get far. Struggling to keep a hold on him, Sen watched Goshiro follow in the young priest's wake doggedly pursuing what the God betrayed.

"Name him, O-tatarigami-sama!"

Panting with exertion, Keiichi paused with the onusa held poised to strike as Urami began to retreat clasping hands over its ears.

"Do not speak of him! Do not speak of him!"

Wearily grasping her suzu in one hand as she caught Kai around the middle with the other, Sen forced herself up out of the snow in a plume of steam and a cascade of bells that matched the ringing premonition humming in her blood. Weaving there on her feet with the sobbing kid kicking her shins, she barked truth in the elder priest's wake.

"His name's Garuda!"

The name flew from her like an arrow from a bow to strike Urami across the distance like a volley of bells. It reeled with an ear-splitting shriek that was far from human. The black flame on its brow blew out only to rekindle in a sizzling snap of viridian green. As it did the tatarigami crashed down onto its knees frantically clawing at its neck. More eerie fire flared between its fingers as a blazing band erupted into being encircling its neck. As that green blaze flashed, for a moment Sen wasn't there. Instead she was hurtled back to the shattered bathroom at the top floor of Aburaya watching in stony silence as Shurui shackled Kiri with the oni collar. Then she was back, weaving unsteadily as the fragrant scent of incense blew across the dead hillside on the heels of a hot wind at odds with the freshly fallen snow. As if conjured by the heat, those long lines of strange symbols rose to the surface of Urami's skin glowing like embers as it thrashed in the steaming snow.

Sen cringed as it threw back its face to scream again, but this time an eagle's screech. It cracked the air eliciting a roll of thunder from the low dour clouds. In that moment, Kiri was gone. In her place, Garuda tilted forward onto his knees still grimacing as if in great pain. As before, his eyes belonged to a bird of prey, slitted vertically and yellow like the mirrored gold loops threaded through his stretched earlobes. More gold traced the edges of his almond shaped eyes and the bow of his generous lips. It painted his entire brow, running down the hawk-like cut of his chiseled nose. Once more the exquisitely balance of both feminine and masculine beauty became lost in his expression of anguish. His bangles rang like bells leaving her shivering as he lowered his hands to his knees. His nails curved into razor sharp claws that drew at his knees as his eyes sharpened with disquiet; because beneath him, as if pinned in place by his presence, was a thicket of black shadow Sen found horrifyingly familiar. Dwindled small, and smoldering slightly, these writhed and clawed at the ground but got nowhere.

"Where's Kiri!?"

Sen could only stare as Garuda rocked back onto his heels regarding Keiichi askance with an entirely Godish expression of mystification. He blinked and cocked his head as a bird might when the young priest brandished his onusa. Keiichi was all but spent and trembling visibly. He startled as Goshiro placed a hand on his elbow and all but deflated at his grandfather's side as Garuda regarded the elder monk curiously. With all the stunning grace only a God could offer, Garuda pressed a hand to his bare chest almost demurely.

"She is here."

His lyrical voice was little more than a lilting whisper. Garuda flinched as Goshiro solemnly lifted one of his gnarled hands, pulling the fingers back with great effort until one crooked digit was left to point. With this he commanded in a voice that cracked like a whip.

"Return my grand-daughter, God-not-of-this-land."

Garuda blinked and his pupils tightened as the mirrored flash of his inhuman eyes focused entirely on the old priest. Here Garuda grew grim as if not entirely sure it was possible.

"In time."

That wasn't what Goshiro wanted to hear. A tremor went through his outstretched hand as the old priest drew himself up seeming to grow ten times taller and getting all kinds of scary as he did. Beside him Keiichi rallied, heaving the bristling onusa up onto his shoulder as if it weighed hundreds of pounds. Garuda hissed and cringed from the shushing rustle of the paper, leaning back and lifting a hand in front of his face. But he didn't get up and fly away like he had before. Sen realized why all in a horrifying flash like she'd looked into that stupid mirror. Leaving Kai in a lurch, she interjected herself between the priests and the God throwing out the suzu in warning.

"Stop!"

Keiichi gaped as the hard edge of Goshiro's sharp eyes turned carved into her instead.

"Do not interfere."

Immune to his censure, and the eerily heavy pressure of his pointing finger, Sen carefully lowered her humming suzu toward the ground.

"Look familiar?"

Goshiro's calm faltered ever so slightly as he glanced at the crawling shadows clawing at her heels. It took every ounce of her self-control not to flinch each time they grazed her skin sending fizzled of searing ice up her spine. She pronounced the next knowing it was truth. The God in her could offer that much.

"He's the only thing keeping that in check right now. Do you really want to compromise what little advantage we've gained?"

Keiichi couldn't look long. The younger priest shrank from the stain of black with an open look of horror that was slowly getting the better of him. His grandfather, however, remained unmoved as if he had seen all this before.

"Leave them with me."

The razor's edge of his gaze returned full force. Sen didn't so much as budge beneath it.

"And if we refuse?"

She twitched as ice crunched at her back. From the peripheries of her vision she caught a flash of red, blue, and green. A more than worried pinch gathered between Keiichi's brows as he slid the wand from his shoulder, because the onusa only worked on Gods. Goshiro didn't look worried at all. She really didn't want to find out why. Before this could go any further she slid her spare hand into her pocket and closed her fingers around the cold square of ceramic. At the same time, she tossed her suzu to the side lifting it slowly overhead. Bells sang as the kitchen back door sprouted from the snowy hillside complete with slider. She drew the dial round with a twist of her wrist and flicked it open. On the other side was the dim interior of the Sengen Jinja's living quarters. Keiichi tore in two as his stricken gaze cast back and forth between her, the door, and the God at her back. Still, he stayed beside his grandfather as the elder priest studied her with a cryptic expression bordering on dangerous. Where was the smiling old man who'd lost his mind? Suddenly she doubted that man ever existed.

"Go home."

This time it wasn't a command, but instead a plea; because there was nothing more the priests could do. Goshiro knew this much. His wizened face aged further with barely withheld anguish as he lowered his hand.

"Kai?"

As if only now remembering the kid, Keiichi turned all in a panic only to find his nephew knotted up under Lin's only arm. Sen startled at her friend's abrupt appearance. Like the rest of them, Lin was dressed for a fight and beat to hell because of it. Shit, was that blood? Even as far away as she was, Sen faltered at the sight of the red soaking through her friend's side. Lin didn't seem to be bothered by it. Instead she clutched the kid close glaring daggers at Keiichi through the burned oculars of her weasel mask, retreating a step and ready to bolt. Sen intervened before she could, pointing her suzu before the younger priest could heft up the onusa.

"Put him down."

Her friend snarled ferociously from behind her mask, making her claim clear.

"He's one of ours, Sen!"

Sen could only stare. Chihiro would have begged and sobbed and wheedled and apologized; because here was the price to be paid. Sen, however, knew she couldn't keep them both. She didn't so much as hesitate in the choosing.

"Yes. But he can't stay."

Lin jerked as if she'd slapped her. Her mouth fell open in shock at her flat refusal. Callously, Sen took advantage of that moment. It was the only way she'd be able to avert another fight that would end death. Bells rang cold and hard as she dipped and whirled so swiftly Lin set down Kai and the boy lurched forward with wooden steps before either of them realized they had done so against their will. Keiichi darted in to scoop up the stunned boy only to disappear through the door just as Lin snarled in rage and gave chase.

"No!"

Lin skidded to a halt in the snow quaking with outrage as bells sang again to ensnare her. Sen darted sideways to bar Lin's path standing firm as Goshiro slowly hobbled after his grandson. His voice was thick with bitterness as he muttered in passing.

"This is not finished, o-kami-sama."

No. It wasn't. But she had sense enough to keep her mouth shut. As the slider snicked shut Sen whirled again, commanding the door to sink back into the snow in a clash of bell song and for good reason. Lin sprinted right for it only to slide to a halt once more as it disappeared into the dead grass. Lin stalked in a circle around the place it disappeared clenching and unclenching her only fist like she wanted to hit something; probably her. Sen would've let her if Suzume hadn't come striding down the hill between them.

"Enough!"

Lin flinched from his bark only to gasp and press close, because the fox was carrying something wrapped up in his white robe. Only as Suzume sank to his knees and carefully shifted his burden did Sen see the blood stains. She stood stock still and charted the blot of black spreading from the curse on Kohaku's hand. Still, Sen started feeling absolutely nothing. She didn't so much as flinch as Garuda spoke up at her back as only a God could; because God's couldn't lie.

"Permit me. Else he will die."

A tremor went through her knees as that slowly sank in. Strange, after all she'd seen in Sengen's mirror, that they would bring her the briefest flash of relief. But that was problem with mirrors: they showed the world backwards and upside down.

In the end, Kohaku didn't die by Garuda's hands.

Because of them, he lived.

Notes:

Fuhen (普遍), which translates in many ways, is a song by the Japanese group Rin'. It's the ending theme for the Samurai 7 anime. I favor the translation ubiquity. The song is about the universality of suffering, but also the importance of not giving up in the face of that suffering, because anyone can change for the better if they let go of what's holding them to the past.

End Book 3: Wheel of Yamanote

To be continued in Book 4: Nakasendō