^^ Guardian of the Immortal Forest ^^

--- Tama Arashi-Kumo ---

I gazed at Yoko as she began to laugh uncontrollably, covering her mouth to hide her teeth, which showed while she laughed loudly, her sides heaving as her emotions overloaded, changing her fear to amusement.

She eventually calmed herself, and I smiled, walking into the crowds, which parted before Sora and I like water before the impassive bow of a mighty warship.

She gave Sora directions, and we found ourselves at a small forge, not her families.

She hopped down onto Sora's offered paw, and he gently set her in front of the kowtowing smiths.

I waited as she softly spoke to them, and they stood, though they wouldn't raise their heads, and gave her the metals she asked for swiftly, and silently. When she went to pay them, they refused politely, and she frowned at me.

I cleared my throat. "I am perhaps misunderstanding, but it seems she means to buy these metals from your honorable shop, correct?" I asked the taller man.

He bowed again. "Yes, Lord Kumo!"

"She does not wish to use my presence to take from you. The honorable Tanjo Clan would never stoop so low as to brigandry. It seems a fair price, and a good sale. Accept her custom, if you wish, but do not insult her honor by forcing a gift upon her." I said very quietly in his ear.

He bowed again. "Of course, Milord, I hadn't meant to insult!"

I nodded. "Of course not! I suspect you only meant to gift her for the honor of the presence of an Imperial Dragon!" I smiled amicably, and patted his shoulder like an old friends.

He smiled, relieved that he hadn't given insult, and nodded. "Exactly, My Lord Kumo!" He accepted the money she offered, and then I glimpsed a large golden amulet, built for a dragon's neck, or a horses.

"That amulet... is it for sale?" I asked, pointing at it.

He blanched. "I am so sorry, my lord, that is a commissioned work from Lord Yamen..."

"Ahh, think nothing of it. I simply marveled at your skill. Perhaps I will commission a piece as well? How would you like that, Sora?" I looked up.

He dipped his nose down slowly, and hummed. "I think I would like Silver, more... but it's very pretty, yes."

The man bowed, covering up his shock when the dragon had spoken. "I am humbled by your attention, Lord Sora!"

Sora blinked. "Hmm... well... thank you, I suppose. Lady Tanjo, you have more business, yes?"

She sighed. "I do..."

I waved to a small runner, one of the hundreds around the city, who had been watching with avid interest.

He approached cautiously, and bowed.

"I want you to run ahead to the other blacksmiths and shops in our path, and tell them that Lord Sora, Lord Kumo, and Lady Tanjo are going to be offended if we are received in this way again. We are to be received as normal Lords, here for business. A silver noble if the job is well done." I said softly.

He grinned and bowed again, then approached Yoko. "Which shops ya visitin'?" He asked simply.

She named them, looking at me oddly as he sprinted off swiftly. "Why?"

"Just a bit of warning for them." I smiled.

Sora huffed. "Good. I can only handle so much bowing." He grumbled.

She smiled and took his offered claw, being risen to his back smoothly. "You two bring trouble wherever you go, don't you?" She asked.

I raised an eyebrow, and then stroked his white hide. "It's a skill." I said sarcastically.

She blushed. "Ah... sorry."

"I am not offended. Arashi is the one who gets snippy about curses." Sora said simply, and started gliding down the streets, sniffing everything as I kept pace.

---

I gazed at the massive bag, stuffed full of metals, as she set in in her personal Forge, which sat next to her family forge in another building, and had been gifted to her for her 12th birthday by her four older brothers. "Why are you stockpiling metals?" I asked.

She grinned easily. "I'm starting a Shop! Father has given his blessing, and says as long as I still do his more intricate Detailing work, he'll stay out of my hair, here!"

"And that connects with your Hoard of metal... how?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh! I'm selling enchanted Amulets, but I need to test which metals are best for which type of enchantment!" She nodded.

I sat down, and Sora stuck his head through the giant window/hollow-wall, his body coiled up outside, probably displacing foot-traffic terribly.

"I see... can I help? Enchanting items is actually my second specialty." I smiled.

"And your first?" She asked.

I hummed and cupped my hand over her desk, then raised it, creating a low pressure zone, and then a miniature hurricane, complete with lightning and even clouds and rain, collected from the moisture in the air.

She gasped and clapped excitedly. "It's beautiful!!!"

I picked up a jar from nearby, and gently shooed it inside. "Feed it some water every day, and make sure it gets enough heat, and it should stay alive for a few months. Perhaps a bit... Better than flowers?" I asked.

She laughed. "Much better." She dropped some metal into the bottom of the jar, and then some water and gravel, and the hurricane started to grow. She slapped the cap on, and it settled down a bit.

She set it on her desk slowly, and smiled widely, then gently patted my hand. "I love it. Almost as much as your rehearsed poetry." She smirked.

I sighed. "That brat... well, I'm never living that down..."

"Oh no. Never." She shook her head sadly.

"Alright, smart-ass, see who helps you with your enchanting!" I turned up my nose, though my hand didn't leave hers.

"Ooh! So the elegant, noble Lord Kumo can swear? En Garde, Salope!" She laughed.

--- two years later ---

"No, no, please young master, be patient. The Flute is something that must be learned slowly; with the proper practice, you can-"

"Oh stop it, we both know my fingers are too long! I have an artists hands, not a flutist! Why can't I instead learn Sitar, or something similar?" I snapped.

"Because the Emperor bid you to learn an instrument, and the easy instruments will not impress him! The Dragon Flute is the most complex and precise of all Air-Instruments, and as you are bonded with a Dragon, I decided it was Fate you Learn!" He snapped back vehemently.

I glared at him with all my fury and rage in my eyes. "So you decide the Emperor's whims, and even Fate, now?!?" I hissed.

He flinched. "No, I-... I apologize, Lord Kumo... I was wrong. Forgive me."

"I am not he you should ask forgiveness of. Leave my sight, teacher, until we are in better moods to learn in." I sighed and sat back in my chair.

A cane slapped my shoulders sharply, as he walked out of the room. "Sit up straight, boy!"

I yelped and looked at my grandmother, (the diminutive woman more imposing than any adversary,) then sat up straight. "I apologize, Grandmother."

She nodded. "Hm. Where is Lady Sei? I have not seen her much, lately... she helped my mother to raise me, did you know?" She asked, looking out over the Courtyard, filled with dragons.

"I did, yes. You have regaled me with many wonderful stories about growing up in a Dragon's arms. It's no wonder you are so fiery..." I muttered.

"It's also no wonder I have excellent hearing." She smirked.

"Of course, grandmother." I sighed.

"Hmm... yes. And Sora? He is almost fully-grown, now, yes?" She gazed at the dragon, who was bigger by half than all the others, except his mother and the other adults, whom he was almost exactly equal in size to.

"He has a few years left yet, actually. The dragon-physician said that he would grow, at full-size, to be almost 450ft long, though he won't get much wider than he is now, so at least he will be able to fit inside the Palace, still." I smiled fondly at the luminescent beast, soaking up sunlight.

She patted my cheek. "There's a smile, hmm? Always so formal around me. I have no patience for it." She chided gently, a change of pace I wasn't prepared for.

I blinked a few times. "Oh... well, I do my best to bring honor to-"

"Save that, child, for the courtiers and politicians. I am neither. I am an old woman who wants to see her grandchildren, and make beautiful Porcelain, and that is all. Speaking of which, that Fire-Opal Urn was a piece of Art... though you usually don't use colors, and specifically Red, as that is Tan-Quan's style..." she sighed.

"I only do my best, Grandmother."

She nodded. "True... ah! And another thing! Don't disrespect your teachers!" She smacked my skull with her hand swiftly.

I sighed. "I try not to, but they are so very... boring."

"Such is the way of things, boy, get used to it. Now you will learn the Sitar, like I did, and that is all there is to it." She said dryly.

I bowed. "As you wish, Grandmother."

"Hmph." She grumbled at me, and fixed my hair, and finally sat down next to me on the couch. "Now where does an old woman get some tea around here?" She asked suddenly.

---

I stood outside the shop, breathing deeply. 'Just walk in, and hand her the present. You can do it. You know she'll like it, it's one of her favorite styles of paint... don't be a coward! I thought you weren't able to feel fear?!?'

"Arashi? What are you doing?"

I yelped and jumped almost two feet in the air, surprised by Yoko standing behind me, tapping my shoulder.

She snorted, (a rather unladylike mannerism, but so she always was.) "And you're supposed to be some sort of Martial Arts Prodigy?" She said dryly.

I grinned ruefully. "Ahem... yes. I-... I-um..."

"Oh please you look like you're going to faint, come on inside." She laughed and pulled me inside, plopping me down in a seat, and sitting across from me. "What's this all about, then?" She asked directly.

I held out the package wordlessly.

She hummed and opened it, then gasped, gazing at the deep reds and blacks of the painting. "It's beautiful, Arashi, I love it!" She set it on her desk, next to the tiny storm she'd managed to keep alive in a jar for two full years.

I nodded. "T-that's good..."

She smiled mischievously. "You know, usually, you'd send a poem with this kind of present... but I like this, the personal feeling of the present. Feels much more... real. Less rehearsed."

I sighed. "Yes, well...

'Summer Winds
Swift Changes
New Colors.'

I think the verbiage could be better, but-"

She covered my mouth suddenly, gazing at the roof, which creaked softly as soon as I stopped speaking.

I flinched and tackled her as the roof caved in, and two men came through it, wrestling for a sword.

I recognized Lee-Kahn, who I thought was back at the castle, and I quickly dove into the fray, breaking the attacker's shoulder-blades with two well-placed kicks, then another shattered the collarbone.

I helped Yoko up, then Lee-Kahn. "What is happening here? An assassin?" I asked him.

He nodded, and gestured to Yoko.

"Targeting her, not me?" I asked.

He nodded, then held out a dead snake. He pointed at her, then made the hand-sign (a recently devised system for him to rudimentarily communicate with me,) for 'Sleep'.

"In her bed?" I confirmed.

He nodded.

"Damn it all..." I hissed.

She blinked slowly. "So... wait... I have assassins after me? Well that won't do at all, will it?" She picked up a heavy hammer, and slammed it down on the assassin's left ankle.

He screamed, and she flipped him onto his back, and rested the hammer threateningly on his crotch. "Who is trying to kill me?" She hissed.

He stared at her impassively, despite his pain, and Lee-Kahn sighed, then made the sign for 'Eunuch'.

"He's a Eunuch, Yoko." I said quietly.

She frowned. "It'll still hurt. I'm the daughter of a Blacksmith, and I've swung this hammer since I was a child. You think having your balls cut off was painful? Wait until I smash you fingers off with blunt force!" She growled at him threateningly.

He paled, but remained silent.

She nodded, and spread his hand out, and raised the hammer, her shoulder muscles tending and bulging to three-times their normal size.

A visible sweat started on his forehead, and she brought the hammer down.

---

"So, Lord Noshito, hmm? Who would have guessed? My main competitor's financial backer, how quaint." She said disinterestedly, polishing the powdered bone and blood from her hammer.

Lee-Kahn gazed at her, then looked at me, raising two thumbs and a wolfish grin, then the sign for 'Marry'.

She smirked. "What's that mean?"

"He's telling me to marry you, before someone else snatches you up. Ha! As if anyone else could handle your... uniqueness." I said dryly.

She laughed loudly. "True, true. No, there aren't suitors lined up down the street... but that's alright with me. I have a perfectly kind gentleman to fill my time, without ever expecting anything from me." She patted my cheek, and then hummed a soft tune.

"I only wish your presence, and voice." I smiled.

She smiled. "You're sweet, as always, but why you still bring me amazing gifts like this is beyond me. They are so out of place in this little shop, regardless of whether the owner comes from a Noble Family." She stroked the painting frame, made of white-oak, a rare wood, as expensive as raw black opals.

I gazed at the White Stag, amongst a blood-colored forest. "It is called 'Guardian of the Immortal Forest'. Fitting, I think, for you... a pure being amongst filth and blood, protecting those around you with the ferocity of a Tigress."

She smiled bashfully. "Always so eloquent... Now, enough with these romantic talks, let us speak of my enemy." She switched tracks, knowing it would distract me.

"Yes... let us speak of the Dead in respectful tones." I smirked.