Chapter 8:

During the warm seasons the Westin clan will take their meals wherever they please. A large kitchen is set up at the back of the temple that is open for anybody to come and take food at their own leisure, but during the winter meals are made at set times and everybody eats together in the great hall. Not that every disciple necessarily had to follow this custom, but with a monster picking young students off many are fearful of being alone so they stay close together in large groups.

When Sae is handed a bowl of thick stew with beef, potatoes, and other vegetables swimming in the broth he politely waits for the person to leave before he nonchalantly passes the food off to Trae who only quirks a brow at this. Sae instead pours himself a cup of steaming tea so that it appears he is participating in this meal like a human being.

Scripp finds an interest in Frey and she playfully paws at her for attention. Frey is hesitant to interact with her at first, but with Scripp’s insistence Frey eventually gives in and starts to pet the large cat like she’s an average pet.

“Oh!” Frey exclaims as her fingers run across silky fur, “It's so soft!” The boys turn and take an interest. Hona is too shy and Trae too stubborn to interact with the shadowkin so even though they are both equally interested they make no move to follow her example.

Sae smiles and leans over Hona’s lap to talk to Frey, “And what did you expect a shadowkin to feel like?”

“Erm, I guess slimy…”

Scripp perks her ears at this and flicks her tail in annoyance. Sae only laughs though, “You realize that my robes are made of the same thing? Do they look slimy?”

Frey’s eyes widen, “Eh, really?” Without waiting for permission she reaches forward and touches the sleeve of Sae’s robes. “It really is the same!”

Hona finally gets curious enough that he also reaches out a hand to feel Sae’s clothes. “It feels like horse, but softer…” He describes the texture with a thoughtful expression.

“You can’t wear shadows, they disappear after they die.” Trae argues dispassionately from the side.

“Oh, that’s true. They do disappear after they’re killed.” Hona reluctantly agrees. He looks to Sae for an explanation.

“They don’t disappear, when a shadowkin dies it returns back to being a dead shadow. The longer it’s been dead the lower quality the fur will be.” Sae’s smile doesn’t falter as he adds on. “For the best quality, like what I’m wearing, you’d take the fur while the shadowkin is still alive.”

The other three grimace at this comment and the two Westin siblings withdraw their hands from Sae. Scripp though stands up with a purr rumbling in her chest and she slinks over to Sae’s side where her shape dissolves into something amorphous that surrounds him.

Sae bursts out in a laugh at Scripp’s playfulness and he corrects his earlier statement, “Aye, aye, you’re right, the best quality isn’t from what’s taken.” He admits this as Scripp’s form settles around him like a cloak, she looks completely inanimate now, the only giveaway that she is a living creature is the slight twitches from the corners and still the soft sound of purring that can be heard. Sae continues to giggle happily at Scripp’s affection while the other’s watch with mixed feelings.

Frey being the boldest in the group asks what they’re all thinking, “The creatures that we call demons, are they all like this?” She points at Scripp as she talks.

“No, of course not. The same way that not all humans are of the same disposition. Most shadowkin that you encounter in the lightlands are babies. Scripp and Strigg are hundreds of years old so of course they’re much smarter. Ah!” Sae leans in closer to the group, “You can tell how old a shadowkin is by how vocal they are. Babies can’t make any sound, but older ones can.”

Frey’s expression is of disbelief from Sae’s words, “Hundreds of years? Really? You’re making stuff up now!”

Sae grins, “Well, it’s a rough estimate. Time isn’t recorded in the Shadowlands since there isn’t any day or night there.”

Frey finds herself eagerly leaning over Hona’s lap again to hear better, “Ehh? Really? That place what is it truly like? Even in our library, all records of there are only conjecture and hypothesis. Nobody’s ever actually been there and back!”

Sae smiles obligingly and gives a brief description, “The Shadowlands are barren and vast. The ground is made of hard earth and there is a river that stretches between two large mountains. The sky is always dark except for a few stars that watch after the shadowkin. There is no weather there either, the skies are always clear and there is nary a breath of wind.” Sae shifts his weight, his shoulder bumping into Hona’s as he moves closer to Frey, “And can you tell me why it’s like that? You should know very well.” He teases as Frey and Hona frown in thought.

“Oh!” Frey slaps her hand against her brother’s knee as she thinks of the answer. “It's because that place is godless! Here we have day and night and changing seasons because the gods control these things! But there are no gods there so of course they wouldn’t experience things like that!” Frey grins confidently at her answer.

Sae’s smile is strangely subdued, but he agrees with Frey’s estimate. “Aye, there are no gods in the Shadowlands. Now tell me, what type of deaths have occurred here?” The sudden shift in topic throws everyone off. Scripp dissolves off Sae’s shoulders and rematerializes on the floor between him and Hona again. A heavy atmosphere hangs over the group. “Do not change the subject either.” Sae’s tone is dangerously serious. His change in demeanor is so vast that nobody knows how to respond. Even Trae is left mute and brooding as he observes his little brother.

The three look between themselves until finally Trae gives in. He sighs and puts down his bowl of food as he addresses the situation. “It's like this, three months ago, after the first snowfall, a body was discovered. This person was a servant here, there were no markings on the outside of the body that would indicate how this person died so the doctor looked inside…”

Sae leans forward, “And?”

Trae rolls his eyes at Sae’s ghoulish eagerness. In the end it’s Hona who answers, in a subdued voice he says, “The insides were rancid. The organs were all pulped and rotting. My father thinks it might’ve been some kind of curse or poison. It’s happened twice more, once last month and again already this month.” He glances around at the other people in the room with them.

Everybody here is quietly chatting and eating, to an outsider this would seem like perfectly normal behavior from the Westin clan, but Hona knows that this is far from normal. Nobody is laughing, there aren’t any playful discussions, or any heated debates. The tension is as heavy as the snow that buries them in.

“Ahh, and these people who died, were they all servants? Or were any of them disciples or students?”

Hona nods his head, “The last one was a disciple. She was new to our clan though and she was not particularly close to anyone.”

Sae’s smile broadens, “I see. So it isn’t a curse or a poison than. I have an idea about what type of monster you have, but I won’t know until I can examine a body myself.”

Trae scoffs and scowls, “Just like that? The people here have been scouring through every book and scroll they possess and haven’t been able to find an answer. You think you know after only being here for a few hours?”

The younger brother smirks arrogantly, “You mean you haven’t been able to find anything. Of course the Crest clan’s expertise extends only to the types of monsters that haunt the waterways. In the Shadowlands all types of monsters come and go, so naturally I’m very familiar with all different types of them.”

Hona sighs at the sight of the two brothers bickering. He looks to Frey who just shrugs. These two are as close as siblings can be so of course listening to Trae and Sae causes them some concern. But Hona also remembers that the two Crest boys have actually always been like this, ever since they were little, there’s always been some sort of argument between them. The look on Trae’s face though is not one he’s ever used with Sae before. Their arguments before were always in a playful way, now Trae looks genuinely angry with his little brother.