It was quiet for a little while, then Shi asked “Was there some information you wanted to give me?” Information…? Oh, because I had said that Koh had said he liked information. I nodded again, then half shook my head. I…wanted to see if what Shi knew was the same as what Mother had said. Since Shi himself was a demon, I didn`t think it would be new information for him. But…what exactly did I want confirmed first? I knew a little, but I didn`t really want to talk a lot yet…But since I was a demon now too I needed to know if what I knew was accurate. Shi waited patiently while I figured out how to start. I liked that Shi was patient. Shi was even more patient than mother, I`d realized. So far, Shi always waited as long as I wanted him to, calmly, but I remembered times where mother had gotten tired of waiting and turned away to do something else while she waited.
“…Vampire legends…” I started with finally. “Mother said they came from demons, because when they`re summoned, demons have to drink blood. Vampires attack people for their blood.” Shi nodded. “That is partially true. However, it isn`t just when we`re summoned. Even before we`re summoned we require blood, though certainly being on Earth makes us require more.” It did? I couldn`t remember mother or books making such a distinction, so the new information was interesting. “As well,” Shi continued, “We will not attack anyone unless they provoke it. You are a demon now too, little one. Would you attack someone just for their blood?” I shook my head. I would not. So demons weren`t so different then, if they wouldn`t attack… but…
“All of them?” I asked. “All the demons are the same and won`t attack people?” Shi hesitated, then answered, “Much as humans all vary in personality, so too do demons. A person is not clearly black or white, but somewhere in between.” Like I`d thought before! Why had mother then met so many mean people…?
I didn`t ask. Shi was good at answering questions, but he hadn`t known mother, so he couldn`t answer that one. But thinking of mother…why had she thought that demons only needed to drink blood after they were summoned? If they always had to drink blood.. And that reminded me of something else about the summoning.
“I read…” I paused trying to remember the exact phrasing, and when I couldn`t, shrugged and paraphrased. “I read that some demons, when summoned, are wild, like animals, like Koh,” Which was the kind that I had thought would attack people, “and some are more like people, like you.” Shi nodded. “That is so. And as you have pointed out before, it is some of these wild ones that may attack people. I cannot give you a guarantee that no demons will attack others, just that most of us will not. Although so far as being summoned goes, Kohriko is a special case because he does not have all his memories.” I looked up at Koh, who wasn`t looking down at us anymore, but had gone back to pacing. He did that a lot, though if I called him, I knew he would come immediately. He always did.
What else did I want to know…? “…demons and humans are not the same at all?” I confirmed. Shi nodded. “Yes. Demons and humans, for all that they look alike, are two different species.” So there were some similarities. But I knew that they didn`t eat regular food, and they were stronger. And could jump much higher.
“…you said I could still eat vegetables,” I remembered now. “And you ate a bite. But Koh won`t touch them. Do demons not normally eat food?” Shi half smiled. “We can. Do we usually? Perhaps not. There is no need to, unless we are trying to blend in with humans. However I have known other demons who do like the taste of human food and will eat it whether they need to or not.” But even without memories, Koh wouldn`t.
I looked at Shi. He knew that Koh didn`t have his memories, so… “You said that Koh was a special case…why doesn`t Koh have all his memories?” Shi was quiet for a long couple of minutes before he sighed a little and replied. “…I regret that I cannot answer that, Little One, as I don`t know. I`m trying to find out, as I wish to know as well. All I do know at the moment is that it has something to do with the fact that he was insubstantial when he arrived here.” Shi looked at me for a moment, then suggested, “Perhaps you can help. Do you remember anything in particular that Kohriko did while insubstantial?”
I was surprised. He didn`t know? I remembered that mother would sometimes not know, and then she`d go into town and come back with a new book for me, about whatever it was that she didn`t know. Even demons didn`t know everything. I looked up at Koh again as I considered Shi`s question. “…He…looked around, like he was searching for something.” I remembered. It had caught my attention that he had been searching. He had never said what he was searching for, and I didn`t know if he`d answer if I asked. I considered what else I knew about demons. But I wasn`t sure what else to say at the moment, so I half shrugged. Shi nodded, understanding that I was done talking for now. Shi was good at understanding.
“Thank you, Little One, you have given me food for thought.” Shi said, getting up and going back over to the sticks. It was sunny today, which meant that it would be especially cold tonight, so we needed those sticks for the fire. After a moment, I got up and went over to help him, but on the other side of the tree branch. Shi smiled when I did, and it was quiet for a few minutes.
There was a spider on one of the branches and I jumped a little because it surprised me. I hadn`t seen it until I almost put my hand on it. Koh was immediately back down in the ravine, having seen me jump. He was somehow quicker than Shi, who had stood when I jumped. Koh crouched beside me, looking at me questioningly because he didn`t see anything. “It was just a spider,” I said, but I leaned against him a little. I didn`t like being startled. Koh smoothed my hair and looked back towards the branches, finding and extracting the spider so that it couldn`t startle me again.
When I wanted to draw the next day, but it hadn`t rained in a while, I splashed water out of the river and drew there. Shi and Koh both watched when I did that, interested. So since I had already shown them mother, and the cottage, this time I drew for them what the garden had looked like when…when mother had…had been alive and kept it nicely tended. “Is that the garden near the cottage, Little One?” Shi guessed. I nodded. “Mother always…always kept it nice.” Koh gave me a hug.
Shi studied the picture for a long moment. “You`re very good at drawing, little one.” I smiled at the compliment. Mother had always told me too, and sometimes she had brought my better drawings into town to exchange for milk and eggs. “I like drawing.” I told him. “I always…always drew when mother went to the village.”
Picking up another stick, Shi splashed a little water slightly away from my drawing so that he wouldn`t ruin it, and drew a very simple square and triangle. A house? “If this is the cottage, where was the village, Little One? Do you remember?” I frowned at the simple drawing—it looked nothing like a cottage, never mind the cottage I had lived in with mother. But I thought back so that I could answer Shi`s question like he answered mine. “Mother always…she always went into the forest…” but the forest was so…so…big! There were so many different paths…how had mother never gotten lost? I still couldn`t find the way from the ravine to the cottage, even though I`d gone with Koh and Shi a couple of times.
Koh tilted my head a little so that I looked up at him. He had done that a couple of times recently, I think so that he could see my expression if I wasn`t looking at him. Village…? I shook my head, and looked back at Shi, who was patiently waiting for an answer. He was always patient. “I…I don`t know. I`ve never…never been to the village.” Shi sat back on his heels and studied me for a long minute, but his gaze was gentle. “Never?” Shi asked. I nodded. “Mother…mother always said I couldn`t leave the cottage until I was grown up.” She had never said why, just that she`d explain when I was older. Shi had a thoughtful expression again.
“Little One,” Shi waited until I looked at him. “How old were you in 1645?” The year that mother…Koh rested his chin on my head, and I thought back. When mother…had…had died, I had been… “…14?” It had been a long time ago… “I was born in the year of our Lord 1631, mother said.” Shi nodded slowly, like he had expected that answer. I tilted my head a little, curious. If he had already known, why had he asked?
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