[Koi World]

Kenji nods, but has to giggle a bit at the last part.

And I'm eighteen. Most of the time, it'd be a hundred years before I was let out of the cave! But I'm only half dragon, and Mom and Dad trust Myobi to keep me out of too much trouble.

They reach the gates of the castle. It truly does deserve the name, if only in style: it would be little more than a mountain outpost in the glorious days of the empire. But it is tastefully and exquisitely built with innumerable decorations and carvings, statues and arrangements of plants.

There is no guard... none is needed here. Kenji leads them inside, past a garden that was clearly tended carefully for a long time but is starting to be overgrown. Kenji sighs

I do my best... but I'm no gardener. Grandfather hasn't been able to tend to the garden, and asked us to stop bringing gifts...

He looks to a small "grove" of cherry saplings, the oldest of which has been growing for perhaps nine years... and briefly forgets his guests

They say that if you really, truly, need to understand time, look to the trees. They know and alter the passage of time. If you can understand them, then you can change the world.

he shakes his head

Sorry, old nonsense and fairy tales. Come on, this way.

[Sanctuary]

Komatsu winces

I was afraid it'd be something like that. Well... if that's what it has to be then let's go.

he shrinks back before she can touch the damaged limb anyway, then nods and follows

King Agadashi started the reconciliation, many lives of men ago: teaching us to be more like the kind Kitsune... or at least like the mischievous Nogitsune rather than the dreadful Oni whom we tended to associate with. He is a great man: kind, brilliant, and wise... but he is also old, and the succession is contested between his sons who would see his legacy continue, and his younger brother's... who would return to the old ways.

Verise hmms

We treat it like a space engagement, then: the 'Fury it is, with only minor marine support. How fast do you need us there?